To be amazed at how much money some people seem to have?

[EverythingTurnsToSkittles]

I'm talking about people who just do totally normal, average/low paid jobs, but just seem to have money coming out of their ears!

Someone that I know has one child and lives with her partner, who works in a manual low skilled job. She doesn't work. In the past year they have been to Dubai, flying first class, Cyprus, Center Parcs three times, plus several foreign weekend mini breaks in Europe. They also live in a really nice house and certainly don't seem to go without in terms of clothes, eating out, cars, etc.

Do a lot of people who live like this on a seemingly low income have family money? I have come across quite a lot of people like this recently and am intrigued about how they do it?!

On the other hand, look at how these poor souls are suffering.

Poor dears, they earn £190K a year and two properties collectively worth over £1million, and they just don't know how they're going to scrape together the school fees for their daughters.

My sister lives on a nice big house 4 bed detached three reception rooms etc she a teacher her dh works doing something with machinary not massivley well paid , I was a nurse ( now not working as a I, m a carer ) dh works in a warehouse so our incomes at the time were not hugely different but i was in a two bed flat ,they wwere able to afford their home because 1) they bought and sold there previous house at the right time and 2) my bil got a large inheritance when his uncle died suddenly .

veritat My heart bleeds. Twats.

Could easily be inheritance.

When we went to Florida last year some people were very surprised. DH does a manual job, I'm a SAHM and we have 5 children (1 on the way).

However, they totally underestimate his salary, I inherited my grandparents flat that I now rent out so I do have a small income despite being a SAHM and when DH's first wife died her insurances and planning meant the mortgage was paid off. My friend pays £600 a month for her mortgage for a similar house - over 15 years that's a lot of disposable income.

Also we (well I) am really frugal with a lot of things. I don't spend half as much as a couple of friends on the grocery shop despite us being a bigger family. I have the time to keep on top of things like switching electricity supplier etc.

We go on lots of days out with the kids that people comment on, but I spend time finding deals on as many as possible. Mostly we just spend our money on different things.

I am amazed at the telegraph people in the link £190K per annum and have no savings other than the equity in their homes! Or the next one I clicked on was a headteacher couple living onsite at a private boarding school where they work, paying out £15k school fees but only saving £100 per month.

There's often a threads like this - it tends to boil down to either you are mistaken about their income (either the wage is higher than you think, or they have additional income from something like a rental property or a pension - a friend at uni had a pension as her dad had died when she was young and all dependents got a pension), or they are having financial help from family (either regular, on going or a lump sum inheritance), or the things cost less than you think- either due to using airmiles, or deals of some sort.

All you see is what they are spending on, not what they aren't spending on.

That said, the nicest cars in the carpark belong to the guys who work shifts, with maybe a NVQ, and not the degree qualified professionals who do 9-5.

I suspect a lot of people are living on credit but there must surely be a limit to how long you can continue at that rate?

That's true about not spending desert - SIL used to get a bit sniffy about some of the things she saw us spending on. We've always prioritised holidays and food. And got some not very subtle digs from her about it. Yet we've never had Sky or fancy mobiles and she spent a lot on big nights out clubbing that she conveniently glossed over Crucially, we also got on the property ladder early when prices were pretty cheap. (that's pure luck)

^Me too inspectormontalbano - can't be worse than the pond life I encounter in my professional and not so well paid current employment. Shall we become wastewater people together?
^

Oops. That's in US dollars.

What is it? It's one of the best kept secrets as far as jobs go, at least in the US. People think it means you wallow around in the sewers. Nope. It's pretty much all automated and you sit and monitor computers for the most part. It does require schooling, certification tests, and what might be thought of as an apprenticeship. Most of the jobs are government jobs, too, so great benefits.

It's a great job, but most people can't get over the lack of 'prestige' in the job title. "Oh, you work in a sewer plant? Really?" Fuck 'em. Fuck em all the way to the bank.

I'm guessing this is an attempt at a sly benefit bash.

Interest only mortgages account for quite a lot of people's disposable income. Also when they bought and the level of debt they took on. IF indeed they bought. Renting is common even for families with kids in private education.

I see people's finances as an IFA and sometimes it's frightening. The biggest credit card debt recently was 80k

However, inheritance also hands over large sums and people rarely talk about it.

I also see huge pension pots that if people had spent, would have created quite a lifestyle.

People choose to spend on different things. Dh and I prioritise saving, with the hope of sending ds (and any siblings that may come along) to private school and for retirement etc. We have a big house in a fairly pricey area of the country. But other than that no obvious luxury's like fancy cars or exotic holidays.
We have friends who have a lower (but still good) income who spend a lot more than us as 'you only live once!' But they have zero savings and had no money for a deposit on their house until parents stepped in.

I also think that outside perception can be quite different to reality. During the week dh works in the city but come the weekend we just want to relax (and dress accordingly!) if you saw us on the weekend you might think we look like young scruffy so and so's!

My wife's brother constantly implies during our conversations that he earns a lot more money than I do. I nod and smile.

He is quite explicit about his salary. At a guess I would say he embelishes it by 15-20% however even taking his headline figure at face value it is not much more than A third of what I make.

At some point I know he will figure it out for himself.

Is there a chance you have got it wrong over how much other people earn?

I have friends like this, well a friend. She spends like no ones business.

One year she told me that she was having a pedigree Great Dane for her birthday. Ok. Then they were going to Florida disney for 3 weeks, for her birthday. Then there were 3 or 4 other very expensive gifts (jewellery etc) for her birthday.

Her husband worked in a factory and she didnt work at all Turned out he was working 14 hour days, 7 days a week to rake in the overtime to pay for it. When he was admitted to hospital after collapsing from exhaustion, all she could talk about was how they were going to pay the balance on the holiday.

AFAIK they are still together and her lifestyle hasnt changed if her brand new top of the range Audi is anything to go by. I know that he doesnt go to the hobby he shared with exDH anymore, citing lack of time and money....

A lot of the time it'll be credit.

So many people have no savings, a shit load of debt that they can manage the payments on while they're working, but as soon as something goes wrong - job loss, illness - they're up shit creek. It's frightening.

(Debt advice is my day job, I see this a lot.)

I tend to think these people are probably living on debt. DH and I have a household income of £80K, we live in a cheap area so don't have a massive mortgage, we drive one car (owned outright), we never go abroad on holiday, we don't have sky, smart phones etc. Admittedly we do have an enormous childcare cost. We couldn't afford the lifestyle some people seem to have. On the other hand we don't have any debt except the mortgage (which we overpay), we both have pensions and we have lots of savings. So we have a cushion to fall back on which is worth more than the obvious stuff.

I had no idea that people with assets over £1Million were in the top 1% of wealth owners.

I think some people are just very good at making money stretch. I really don't believe people can have any sort of luxury lifestyle on eligible benefits. I also think it's harder to exist on credit these days; the days are over of ever increasing credit limits and store cards for all. And at some point debt catches up with you I speak from experience

My DH is great with money. He earns an average salary yet had paid his mortgage off by age 34. He piles money into his pension, and still manages to contribute his share of the household bills and add to his savings. He has no children but is tremendously generous to his family and my kids.

Me - not so good. Earn significantly more and haven't managed to build up a significant savings pot so far. I did have to pay for full time childcare as a single parent for many years and that is a huge cost.

I get this kind of crap all the time, being a single parent who looks to be doing OK. Apparently being a single parent and driving a new car or living in a nice area or being seen at the cinema just isn't good enough. I'm supposed to be miserable, living on gruel and water.

I am doing OK 'cos I work full time, 'cos I am mortgage-free, and because my parents are generous with support for my children's activities. I am additionally used to scrimping and saving having lived with my ex for so long (long story) and old habits die hard. Very hard. So I'm doing OK. Not that it's anyone else's business.

But I do love (and I mean really, really love) winding up the idiots who have the audacity to ask me 'how can you afford that questions. We travel first class everywhere, I use champagne as loo cleaner and all my fillings are solid gold...

I have a friend, single mum who only works part time term time only as an administrator. She has a nice house, new car, goes out regularly, buys nice clothes, smokes and manages foreign holidays every year.

Her money is made up from part time salary, benefits and cash in hand job which she doesn't declare.

My other friend and her husband bring in around 45k a year and have a new car, lovely detached house wonderful holidays paid for by their parents who for some reason appear to be wadded. My friend isn't sure how the parents made their money as the had very ordinary jobs. She just doesn't ask questions!

I know three families like this. Neither of the couple work and they all thave big houses, flash cars and holidays. All three of them are from farming families and inherited loads of money. Lucky them!

I think a lot of it is paid for on credit TBH.

However, a lot is also about priorities. For example, if I stopped paying my pension contribution, life assurance, mortgage protection, income protection, children's savings accounts, contents insurance, pet insurance, I too would be able to afford a flasher car and at least another foreign holiday a year.

To me, the guarantee of my long-term security and the knowledge that should the worst happen me and/or my DC would be financially ok, is worth that sacrifice.

A lot will depend on their housing costs though. For no reason other than luck, I have a small mortgage. The difference this has made is massive.

Maybe they sell that expensive glittery shite on facebook?