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?!

Yes Giddy and Gwen it's not the sole reason but you have kind of proved my point about the thing with the sandwiches 'only' adding up to £750 a year. That's a lot of money and it's only one little thing but if you think like that (have that mindset) you are more likely to think that it's 'only' £20 a week for a takeaway (over £1000 a year), 'only' £20 a week for a few drinks after work and so on. It's when you add all the little things together you suddenly have enough for a couple of big things, like a car deposit or a couple of holidays.

I just wish I was the thrifty sort but unfortunately I'm in the 'it's only a sarnie' brigade :o My parents were very thrifty though and had lots more holidays than their friends who smoked, drank and had a takeaway every Saturday night.

But obviously there are lots of other factors - inheritances for one, or being able to get on the property ladder at the right time. For a lot of people my age who went to uni, it seemed for a long time that people who left school and went straight into work were much better off than graduates because they were able to get on the property ladder before the prices went mad.

my dad was brought up in poverty. I was brought up with little spare cash. we have both saved in adulthood and gone without a lot of friparies in life to be able to buy a house, holidays and second hand but good reliable but not flashy cars. people would be surprised at what we go without and how we save. you can either spend the money on lots of little things which may not be noticable or save for the bigger things which people see.

also some people spend everything and more and worry nothing about tomorrow. others save and have money put by for a rainy day.

some people are lucky knowing how to save. others have never been taught or had to.

TowerRavenSeven yes but you in reality you stepped up the ladder when sadly your mother died by giving you room for choices

maybe without that you would of not been at an advantage, we just dont know but you have been able to save for Uni for your child which nobody i know can do

as far as im aware any child of mine or friends children will incur huge debt at Uni thats even if they will be able to go

it just seems the one's on the bottom without parental help have very limited choices,where else the ones that get help seem to have many more advantages

ok im going of on a tangent here so will pipe down

what i dont understand is if people are maxing their CC/overdraft etc dont they think the time will come when it all comes crashing down

i just dont get it,and have people seen it happen to others

Sorry forgot to add that my grandfathers both died youngish and that inspired my parents to obtain adequate life insurance. When my father died my mother conservatively invested the money and then when she died we became the beneficiaries. Dh and I also have good life insurance. Is this idea prevalent or not? In our circle it's agreed it's a must.

OP do you think your friend is telling fibs or have you seen it with your own eyes?

Im amazed when people speculate over others money like this. Im sitting here thinking, there is not ONE friend I have where I can categorically say, I know what their DH earns. & they wouldn't know what my OH earns either. How are people able to speculate without hard facts? Some of the implied benefit fraud comments make me uncomfortable. Reminds me of that programme few years back where a couple decided their neighbours were committing benefit fraud because they had a nice lifestyle. So they reported them.

It turned out they had valid reasons for being able to afford their lifestyle and the nosey, neighbours were entirely wrong. But the shit hit the fan because it was found out, who had falsely reported them. I can't recall what happened in the end but Id guess they're not friendly neighbours anymore, are they? I think the couple were branded troublemakers by the rest of the street and Im not surprised. Based on NO evidence at all, they'd decided fraud was being committed. Bit like MN a lot of the time

Seaside you are right on in our case although dh and I both made good salaries before I had ds but we never based our lifestyle on two incomes. I'm not saying for a time we didn't Have two incomes we just didn't live like we did. That has helped enormously and probably more than the inheritance itself. I just wanted to give another side of the coin on the op because people are wondering how some people can do it.

You can have all the advantages but be unwise in using them - I have a family member whose parents bought her a mini home (trailer) to live in, she would rather spend her money going out to eat then paying the house insurance on it and when there was a fire she hadn't had insurance and she's paying for it to this day. It happened 12 years ago. It's more a combination of good (or bad) luck/financial smarts and common sense that makes it possible.

agree luck can make a big differrence to many things throughout life

ive always thought ive had a few lucky breaks,where else some never seem to get that no matter how hard they try

it's life i guess

Flight sales on at the moment, that's when I get mine.

Dubai return in June -

BA First Class £2600
Virgin Upperclass £1300

of course some people know what their friends earn

i have a very close friend and she knows my income the same as i know her's but were are best mates for years so i dont think its that unusual and have always been close,holidays together,looking after others dc's,go out just us two etc etc but that has been over years

also when her ex left her with a mortgage and 3 dc's i had to take her to the DWP and council,i was glad to help

of course the huge majority we dont know as our relationships are differrent and what i call a aquantance others would call a friend,im talking a longterm warts and all friend

Yes Giddy and Gwen it's not the sole reason but you have kind of proved my point about the thing with the sandwiches 'only' adding up to £750 a year. That's a lot of money and it's only one little thing but if you think like that (have that mindset) you are more likely to think that it's 'only' £20 a week for a takeaway (over £1000 a year), 'only' £20 a week for a few drinks after work and so on. It's when you add all the little things together you suddenly have enough for a couple of big things, like a car deposit or a couple of holidays

That's more or less how I think. For a long time, spending £750 a year on sandwiches or £1000 a year in the pub would have meant that I wouldn't have had enough money for bills/mortgage/petrol/proper food/car repairs etc, so I really had to cut down on these things.

Luckily I can afford them now, but once I had got passed the 'can't afford to pay the gas bill stage' I was then on the 'spend £750 a year on sandwiches or go on holiday' stage but not being able to afford both. I would always prefer to have a holiday even if it meant making my own lunch.

Now I can probably afford to buy lunch out more often than I do, and still afford holidays and bills, but I still probably only do it once a week because it just seems to be such a waste of money - I can make a nicer lunch myself for a lot less money and the 'bought lunch is a luxury' mindset is totally ingrained.

Some bought lunches feel like a treat, but I find it quite depressing paying £3 for a crappy supermarket sandwich - it's almost like a punishment for not being organised and making my own lunch.

How people spend their money can have a big an impact as what they actually earn - some people spend absolutely loads and have nothing to show for it. Others are more careful and really get value of out whatever money they have.

I will admit to having little sympathy with people like Towers relative. Certain things are necesscities and others are luxuries. As grown ups, we need to understand that the necesscities need to be covered before we can allow ourselves the luxuries .

I agree seaside...I know what my friends earn and vice versa.

We have conversations about finances, applying for jobs, redundancy packages, financial situation, etc. I don't think that's particularly unusual for close friends.

I agree seaside...I know what my friends know what I earn and vice versa.

We have conversations about finances, applying for jobs, redundancy packages, financial situation, etc. I don't think that's particularly unusual for close friends.

Barbara...in my early 20's when I was a ridiculous spendthrift I used to get a coffee on the way to the office, one on my morning break and one on my afternoon break. They were large lattes and cost £3.30 each.

I worked out I was spending £2,200 a year on coffee at work!!! Enough for at least one luxury holiday to the Maldives!

Where's OP? It's almost like they wanted to start a benefit fraud/bashing thread.

Very interesting thread. I have a close relative who from the outside lives really comfortably. However its all smoke and mirrors, interest only mortgage, credit cards maxed out etc. It is now all crashing down.

However, I don't think they are that bothered. They aren't in the first flush of youth either and have lived like this for a while but honestly there are indeed some people who just shift money around, spend what they have and when its all gone THEN decide what to do next...

I think most people realise that no amount of benefit fraud is going to pay for the example in the OP. The first class flights to Dubai alone would cost more than £10k according to Tummy never mind the rest of the holidays. Anyone with that sort of lifestyle will have received an inheritence or won the lottery probably.

I’m not sure coffee shops were that widespread when I was in my early 20s in the mid 1990s. Coincidentally stumbly, your coffee spend was pretty much the same as our mortgage payment at that age.

We paid £32k for a 2 bed terrace in 1995 and our monthly mortgage was £180. The only reason we bought was because we couldn’t afford to pay rent – it would have cost about twice as much to rent the same house.

Luckily it worked out OK, but at the time we earned less than £15k between us hence not being able to afford much above the basics.

I don't know how much my friends and their partners earn. I don't even know most of my family members earnings, I was quite surprised recently when I found out my SIL's salary only because she was discussing whether to take a particular job.

We do have very vague conversations about being able to afford certain things, and I've helped out with specific financial advice for some so sometimes I do have more of an idea. But we'd never sit down and talk figures.

agree Hillingdon i know a couple of people like that ,one good example is a bricklayer very good at his job

has been pretty consistent in work his whole life,he is 55 now and finding the work hard,he as always commanded good money and was averaging £18-20 an hr up until 7-8 yrs ago (lots more cheaper labour now) anyway he has spent his whole life in the pub after work and weekends

Always rented or on a couple of occassions lived with a partner,he has nothing and i mean nothing to show for it (been single for a while,no surprise really

the money that he drank away is pitiful and unlike some other tradesman i know pretty well who bought 25-30 years ago and are mortgage or nearly mortgage free he is in a rented room

hes feeling the physical part of his job now and who no's how long he can carry on,its really sad but he was earning fantastic money and is probably going to have a miserable retiremnet

money just runs through some peoples hands

I can't believe people know what their friends earn in relation to them, how much their property is worth, etc.

I don't know this sort of information about very many of my friends. If they choose to share it, I assume they're only sharing part of it. Who tells their friends or anyone their exact financial status?!

Anyway OP I would just assume they have extra income somewhere that you don't know about. [shrug]

I have friends who tell me all about their finances, I don't ask. I know how much one friend inherited from her dad, roughly what she earns, what help she gets from her mother. Some people never talk about money, others do.

Do they have family close by?

If we didn't have to pay for childcare we'd be £1200 a month better off.

There is also a group of people who think 'someone else' will sort them out, pay for their old age etc. I think these entitled people are growing in number...

I went on holiday a few years ago and sadly ended up in a hospital in the Far East. I was there for a week and to relieve the boredom would wander around and sit in reception I would hang my head in shame at the British people turning up and demanding medical attention. One chap had clearly fallen over drunk as a skunk and was kicking off saying he had no money for insurance and no credit cards (funny he managed to get himself there from the UK!) and threatening to call the British Embassy.

Apparently 25% of people go on holiday without health insurance. I am staggered at the reasoning behind this. What do they think they are going to do if they fall ill - blag their way to treatment?

I know what lots of people earn tbh. Its also really easy to find out the value of a house. A couple of clicks and its done. I know someone who got an interest only mortgage and then cashed in the endownments to fund their lifestyle. They felt life was worth living NOW and also expected the 'government' to sort out the fall out should they get into difficulties.

I don't know if people are selectively believing something or not. There was something in the news a few months ago about a man who had died and his pension died with him. The wife was shown with a sad face saying she didn't know that despite this man getting more every month on single life cover it meant that if he died she would be left with nothing. She also had never worked because it wasn't the done thing according to her and also her deceased DH liked her to look after the house and such like.

How times have changed... (or have they!)