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

There is 150k between it, maths don't change depending on how you live.

There isn't 150k between them as the state steal 50% of earnings and nor do you get a tax allowance - single person allowance if one person earns the whole sum. Your 150k difference is 75k or even less. I suspect in that case one of them doesn't work full time. We don't know if they earn £100k each but people calling someone a rich bitch should be nicer.

The surprising thing is why people want to publish this stuff in the first place - it will never go well. She pays for a £700k house (mortgage) in Croydon and presumably has at least £20k child care bills.

Never moan, never explain. Just get on with life is usually the best thing. If you want more money earn it.

Nobody steals anything. You pay your taxes to fund all the services you use, ffs.

I don't know how they drum them up! You never get sympathy when you earn a lot. Een when I had to pay my ex a small fiortune on the divorce, court order says I pay 5x sets of school fees, no savings, over drawn, working full time, no child benefit,. £90k a year mortgage, etc etc... oh woe is me - not... no one will ever have sympathy for anyone who earns a lot. We shouldn't expect it. However I have a right to say tax is far far too high in the UK. I don't expect people to agree of course as the average person only pays about £3k tax and NI a year.

Hiros, please don't feel you need to hurry back to UK.

I really have no sympathy for her whatsoever. My husband no longer works due to ill health (not entitled to any benefits as they don't agree with his diagnosis) I earn less than 17k and get £14.00 a month tax credits. Between us we have paid tax and Ni for nearly 80 years. Nearly every month I have to borrow from my adult children and no-one has any idea how absolutely humiliating and soul destroying that is. We have not had a holiday for 5 years and we never go out. So if anybody has got a violin please play a tune for me. In rl I don't moan like this but sometimes it all gets a bit much.

Taxation is not stealing! You get the services of living in a civilised society in return for those taxes.

She is totally clueless if she thinks she is squeezed. I suppose she does have a very high mortgage though so probably doesn't feel rich. I have a friend whose family income is similar and she always comments about being "crippled" with a large mortgage. Apparently I am "lucky" that we have nearly paid off ours. The fact that she would/could be in similar position if she had bought a less expensive house rather than a huge one (we don't live in London or Southeast) seems to escape her. It also doesn't seem to occur to her that Waitrose may not be the cheapest place to buy her groceries.

Many of you are missing the mortgage point. She doesn't have a 700k mortgage - they paid 200k for the house.

There's a lot to be said for reverse engineering your expectations so you feel better off and content with your lot. For example if paying school fees makes you feel poor, don't choose independent schools. If paying for car loans feels like a millstone, drive something modest or give up having a car. If a massive mortgage worries you, live somewhere cheaper. It's not rocket science. You don't have to keep up with the Jones's.

Another point. I live in a pretty posh area, and asked my accountant how all the people around us afforded lavish lifestyles with amazing kitchens, multiple school fees, BMWs, exotic long haul holidays, ponies and so on, because I was wondering why we apparently couldn't despite earning a fair wedge between us. His reply? "They can't. Either they are overspending or grandparents are chipping in. Believe me, I see their accounts".

I felt a lot better after that. That was when the Austerity Housekeeping website and book were born, and when I realised that it's daft to fret about this stuff when you can easily live within your means.

'Bout the same level of income here. We feel quite wealthy frankly.

Live in a nice part of the country. Don't borrow. Don't overspend. Don't show off what we've got. Also don't want much. I wonder whether you're trying to impress/chase a lifestyle in the next income bracket up ? Always a mistake. And you'll always feel badly off.

I've been a benefit Mum too so know what real poverty feels like. I must say there's also a sense of social freedom in being poor!

Kids at private school? Three foreign holidays a year? Shop at Harrods?

No matter which income level you sit in, you'll always feel badly off. Sure, in good area, the council tax is horrendous. Big houses cost a lot in maintenance and bills. It's the way of the world. But it's insensitive to talk about in publicly! Look at the replies! You're doing OK. Maybe it's a case of managing funds better?

If she can't cope I'll swop my income for hers and see how I do. I should be so lucky to have her problems. Oy vey.

Support the squeezed bottom.
.

There is an article in today's FT about this - the writer makes the same points as many people above, that people on £200k are very lucky compared to most people (as most of us of course accept). He does however mention that we have reverted to the norm of 150 yeas ago - a very very few well off people and most other people with few pay rises for the last 10 years, the kind of demise of the upper middle class and that it is not surprising that people in that group are not happy they cannot buy the houses they want, pay school fees, go on holidays.

Most of us on these kinds of incomes pay vast amounts of tax. the state confiscates about half of all we earn and of c ourse I don't expect any sympathy for that and my children leave school (yes fee paying) next year and then I can live anywhere as I earn money by email so will either stay or pick a jurisdicton with a tax rate I like - my choice.

If she has the brains to earn this kind of money, she has the brains to live within her means, Funny thing is she lives in a very cheap house for outer London, what I think of her is far too rude to be printed!!!

Actually the article doesn't tell us very much about her. "Aged 45, she works in IT marketing for a large consumer goods company and lives in a £700,000 house in Croydon, south London. Married with a four-year-old daughter, the combined income of Nisha and her husband nudges £200,000 a year."

"One commenter on the piece, by the alias Inequal7, writes:

The maths ruins the story.

Gross [income] = £200k

Net annual = £130k

Net monthly = £10,800

One child’s school fees = £15,000 (generous, given her child is four)

One mortgage on a £700k house, 10% deposit at 3% = £3,000 (generous, given interest rate is possible at 1.5%)

So even with that there is £6,600 per month left

Say £600 for bills…

which leaves £6,000 a month. Even in London this is enough to live on."

Mind you that person has ignored after school childcare and childcare in all holidays which is likely to be about about £1k a month.

It sounds like she was misquoted which is why people are silly to allow themselves to be profiled for these kinds of articles.

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/anger-at-claims-london-pair-on-200k-struggle-to-make-ends-meet-a3261991.html

'At the other end of the spectrum you get everything paid for' yes as a single mum on benefits I get my rent paid for. I then get £550 to pay for everything else... £25 council tax £100 gas and electric £35 water rates £50 car insurance £15 car tax £50 phone and wifi £10 tv licence that's the bills leaves me £165. Just over £40 a week to feed us both, put nappies on baby's bum, clothe him, fuel for the car and activities... Yet I'd still class myself as lucky.

This article is just insane! We've both worked full time but never had even half of her income and have always kept our heads well above water. Two of our four kids went to private secondary school for 2-4 years each. We've now paid off our mortgage, retired, left London and helped all our children to buy houses. For heavens sake, is she living on lobster and driving a Maserati? Or perhaps she does her gardening in couture clothing and Louboutins? What on earth is she doing with her money?