AIBU - We’re struggling to get by on £200,000 a year

[BreakingDad77]

next.ft.com/content/d6f1e58e-20c9-11e6-aa98-db1e01fabc0c

Just actually gobsmacked by her comments -

“In theory, with our household income, we are in the top 5 per cent of the UK population and yet it does not feel that way,” she says. “If you’re earning millions of pounds, then you’re OK — and at the other end of the spectrum you get everything paid for. We are caught in the middle where we are paying for everything.”

Yeah because you know those on benefits get such a cushy deal...WTAF

Just all feeds into why UK is one of the mist unequal countries in Europe.

Its ironic as with the EU ref Brexiters going on about how all the other EU countries are crap and yet we have some much bigger problems closer to home.

"I think it is perhaps arguable that with children there is not much difference between earning £50k and earning £200k."

It's not only arguable, it's a parallel fucking universe. Talk about a bubble.

Not all childcare involves £40k nannies. God, I'm not sure how we actually survive(d) Except we absolutely do (did). On way less than £200k. With two kids. Believe me, I would have noticed had we magically earned another two thirds more than we do (did..: I'm including this because for half my children's lives we lived in London on less than half my current salary. Which would make us having lived on less than a quarter, with child care and a foreign holiday a year. Ok it it was camping but we did cross the channel.)

Again - there are people in this country counting every penny. Thinking £200k is squeezed is offensive and deluded.

Isn't this the classic fable of the fishermans wife?

How is it a lazy generalisation when I quoted what I know to be true of MY very well earning colleagues? Sadly they are mostly tax avoiders. Depressing but true.

If I'd said "all those rich fuckers" then you'd have a point. But I didn't.

Yeah, guess it is, we earn 170,000 a year on one salary, it's in no way shit, we have no help, no nannies, no shite, BUT, but, but, but, but, but ,but, but,but....

BUT - My husband is a man who takes risks, he has throughout our lives, and we have lost a huge amount at the same time, we have risked everything and come up with nothing.

BUT...My sister and her husband earn Much More, they earn 500,000 a year, because that's what they do

BUT, My other brother will earn 1,000,000 a year, because that's what he does.

And my other brother??????

And we're only middle class.

Ouch! Just goes to show that money can't buy you happiness if life is such a struggle for her😂
Seriously though, the more money you earn, the more you spend. We have many friends with top jobs and huge salaries who work long hours in the city and therefore have to live within an easy commute. So they have paid over the odds for their house, taken on huge mortgages, pay large amounts of tax, have to employ expensive nannies because they are never at home, take expensive holidays to recover from stressful jobs and to make up for total lack of social time during normal working life. It's a treadmill. When you live like this £200k will never be enough....

hound what on earth do you siblings do to earn so much?
What does your other brother do?

“In theory, with our household income, we are in the top 5 per cent of the UK population and yet it does not feel that way,” she says. “If you’re earning millions of pounds, then you’re OK — and at the other end of the spectrum you get everything paid for. We are caught in the middle where we are paying for everything.”

Idiot woman.

She wants to meet some of these people who 'get everything paid for' and look at their eyes. What fraction of her net income does she think that 'everything' adds up to anyway? Complete thicko.

I'd make CAB/housing advice centre/care leavers' project volunteering compulsory for everyone at 21 for 6 months, I really, really, seriously would

Shut up with the BS comments, I'm wealthy but I work hard. It's the everyday people who work a lot harder.

I don't think there is a huge amount between 50k and 200k, it depends how you live.

French, My siblings?

Ok, the girls are the eldest, right

My eldest sister is an artist who earns fuck all, she has owned her house from a young age and paints, she paints and smokes weed, she owns her life and always has, they own a comic shop, they do their stuff.

My next oldest sister, is married to a marketing man, she works for the BBC, he works for the man, she has worked for the BEEB for ten years, she's a an advisor to trust, he's a man who fell upon a highly paid job, between them they earn , I would guess 500,000.

One of my other brother's is a Service Transition Manager, I have no idea what that means, I know it pays about 90,000 a year though. His wife is Head of Interim Management and Operations for a recruitment agency, she's on about 70,000.

My husband is an IT contractor who works for about 600-700 a day, because he sells people obscure languages.

And my other brother? He is a linguist, he speaks Russian, he went to a very good University and everyone wants to know what he does. And he does it for a huge amount of money.

Ans that's that!

Me? I do fuck all, I watch the watchers....

I think it is high taxation that annoys this woman. She could do something about it and relocate abroad for a few years. We go sick of paying for others in the UK and left, sure we have to pay health insurance, school fees and rent but knowing you aren't supporting the feckless does make a difference to your quality of life!

And do you know what? I have no idea how we all ended up, for the main part, being high earners. I'm from an academic family (as in a family of academics), if I look at my contemporaries they're generally high-earning, in the 75k+ bracket, my contemporaries, my friends are all from very mixed backgrounds, but they all earn decent amounts of cash, but very few break the 250k barrier.

And we live in the North for those that say there are no well paying jobs up here.

I appreciate that we may not be typical, but we're not unusual.

I admit I wasn't aware that you lose your personal allowance over £122k, mostly because that's a figure that is so far out of my earning potential as to be practically mythical . But still, my point stands that you don't pay half your income in tax.

Not sure Great, we pay over £50,000 a year in tax, I'm not sure that makes us better people, it doesn't, it doesn't, I went to a Half-term thingy for my DD today, she goes because she has ASD, it was bloody awful, really awful, she loves it, I wouldn't go if she didn't, it was underfunded and shit, it made me feel horrible when I spoke to the other children.

And their toothless Dads picked them up...and I saw the difference between them and us.

I did offer to volunteer, but I'm not sure if I can as a service user.

Actually as their combined incomes are£200k, then they pay less tax than one person earning £200k.

I disagree re the comments about the article being about 200k not buying a millionaire lifestyle (well obviously not). There is specific reference to the squeezed middle. The squeezed middle is 40k ish outside London, probably higher in London but not 200.

It just makes me think about my opposite neighbour who probably has a similar household income to us (well it must be at least what ours is, which is 85k ish not in the SE). She is always complaining they have no money, DH and I are just . I mean wtaf...... we are really well off. I suspect the woman in the article is actually just shit with money.

As has been pointed out, the 'woman' in question is a bot! She doesn't exist, she is click bait.

Anyhoo - while I agree that £200k is not 'rich' in London (and that might seem airy and faux to some) it is of course still affluent and we all have choices. It's sad if you see yourself as struggling at that level of income - apart from anything else you are not enjoying your life and your wealth so what's the point??

Flamingflume and others

I stand corrected, but realistically, if you have an income in excess of £110,000 losing a £10k tax free allowance is not going to break any sensible persons budget.

Like others have said, and I have said before, my DH earns a lot and I sometimes boggle at the amount of tax he pays. Some months he pays more tax that month than I earn in 6 months. That doesn't make me think 'oh no, poor DH'. It makes me think 'lucky, hard working, well paid DH who earns so much he can pay that much tax and still have enough left over to live a very nice life (in Croydon) '. Well I don't literally think that, but that's my background feeling around it.

Isn't this more about greed, avarice and keeping up with the jonses though?
My brother was always a bit of a snob and social climber. No dc him and his Mrs were earning about £100k 10 years ago but they'd bought a property in one of the most expensive parts of the country. Compared to their neighbors they were poverty stricken, compared to me they were rockerfella.

Hiros I wonder how the 'feckless' live in your country of choice? What a despicable attitude.