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.

Great
I didn't know that
Learnt something there !!!

gin yeah, everyone has a personal tax free allowance, then anything above that is taxed at 20%, then i believe above £43k and £150k that portion is taxed at 40%, then any income in excess of £150k is taxed at 45%. those figures may not be 100% accurate, but thats a ballpark figure. so not even the richest person in the UK pays half their money in tax.

I think the posters on here are being unfair! just because a household earns what seen as a large sum of money the family have contributed at least £70k in tax ....

Has anybody actually read the article in the F.T ..

The article (rather than what has been spun) does not make any mention of being unlucky or 'poor'.

The article is about how much money it costs, to live a lifestyle which people mistakingly believe £200k a year could.

People on here though need to get a reailty check if they think an income of £200k makes you rich. ! footballers earn more in 2 weeks....

Yes its a very high income , however it depands on your outgoings, lifestyle and your friendship groups perceptions.

I wonder how much is spent on looking after elderly relatives. Care costs can be crazy.
With two earners on 90k they should have 9k a month take home, after a 10% company pension.
I'd estimate mortgage at 1k and nursery at 2k.
allow 1k for bills, car lease/loan and groceries.
They should still have 5k "disposable". Maybe they have two travel cards too. If they have care fees of 4k then they would be struggling, is that likely?

What I find sad is how a top 5% earner isn't having a "really" rich lifestyle. What percentage of the country does have that lifestyle?

I know lots of people on £200k + who struggle to pay for what they've committed to: private education, mortgages, holidays, school trips.

The fact is, the more you earn, the more you pay.

I know a lot of these expenses are voluntary, but I guess they also come with the lifestyle and what they have come to expect for themselves.

Funny how we deride the rich miser. Just a thought.

It's all about perception of lifestyle though. Private school, nannies etc is a really rich lifestyle. Not having to struggle to pay the bills is a really rich lifestyle. The super rich are something else, and their money is inherited (generally) not earned.

Rollercoaster. Probally less than the top 1% ! Which is what it has always been: say £5 Million in assets Or £500-600k pa income.

£500-600k pa is probally the same as what £200k(£ 2 million in assets) was 20 years ago ! such has been the huge increase in cost of living a luxury or 'millonaire' life.

She is delusional if she thinks she is the squeezed middle, but maybe that's her perception because she is not willing to compromise on the private school and her lifestyle. I read somewhere that the man who allegedly killed his wife and child a few weeks ago was worried about living on £14k a week. Ridiculous and completely outrageous that he thought they would all be better off dead than slumming it n £14k a week.

Most of us would like to money troubles like that. DH and I could live like kings on 30k. I have no sympathy. With that money you can cut your cloth to fit FFS!

The article is about how much money it costs, to live a lifestyle which people mistakingly believe £200k a year could

I agree with this statement - £200k doesn’t buy what people would consider to be a millionaire lifestyle (big house in London, first class flights to long haul luxury holidays, private schools, yachts) but it means that they are very much at the top of the income scale, so by no means ‘the squeezed middle’ so are rich by comparison to the vast majority of other people. The squeezed middle is probably about a quarter or less of £200k (£30k to £50k at most).

If they don't think they have a very comfortable lifestyle then that is because they are choosing to spend their money on the wrong things and have a warped perception of what is essential and what is a luxury.

People can spend an awful lot of money by going for a much more expensive option for all sorts of things, than the standard/typical, what people on more average incomes can afford.

So their house is a family house in London rather than living in a cheaper area.
Shopping is whatever you want from Ocado rather than a budgeted amount at Tesco/Aldi
Cars are large, expensive and new instead of a 10 year old more modest version
Restaurants are £100 pp Michelin star instead of Pizza Express with a voucher
Candles are from Jo Malone instead of Ikea or Yankee

Both examples are still a house, car, weekly shop, meal out and a candle, it's just the former probably costs about 4 times as much.

The median average household income is probably more like £40-50k or possibly even less than that so they are well above the squeezed middle.

DH went to an exclusive private school and is still in touch with many of his classmates. Quite a few come from terrifically wealthy families and earn relatively high salaries. His best friend is lovely, but has no concept of living within your means. He and his DW bought an enormous house in Kenilworth that was brand new and cost more than three times our house. They earn less per year than DH and I; we just moved further out of that area to get more space for our money. They are now stuck with a house that's valued at less than they paid for it, with an interest-only mortgage because they couldn't afford the repayments any other way. I look at them and shake my head that anyone could be so daft; they don't take holidays, can't afford their DCs school fees without the help of their parents and when things like hoovers and washing machines break down, they panic about how they'll replace them. All for a postcode. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen.

I can see why you could still consider yourself 'struggling' on an income of £200k after getting to know these people. I feel no sympathy, but it's absolutely possible.

People on here though need to get a reailty check if they think an income of £200k makes you rich. ! footballers earn more in 2 weeks....

No one is niave enough to not expect there to be people that get paid a lot of money, the issue is her normalising her wealth to being a 'squeezed middle' income family and that people on benefits 'get it all for free'

These type of people go to the polls with this mindset and their friends and have no concept of what it is like for people at the bottom. and we end up with austerity bollocks, cutting services, giving rich people tax breaks, etc and establishment people feigning disgust at how much the EU costs us when tax evasion and avoidance costs each of us 4 times the EU costs.

Ignore last statement in previous post, I was cutting and pasting trying to get my thoughts in order.

It's all very altruistic if they are spending nearly half their income on care for elderly relatives but it doesn't say that they are and they are under no legal obligation to do so. Fine if they choose to, and that would be kind of relevent in an article where they claim to be struggling with outgoings.

*People on here though need to get a reailty check if they think an income of £200k makes you rich. ! footballers earn more in 2 weeks....

Yes its a very high income , however it depands on your outgoings, lifestyle and your friendship groups perceptions.*

first point- it DOES make you rich, globally speaking. its a figure that the vast majority of the globe will never see in a lifetime, let alone in a year

second point- lifestyle, outgoings and 'friendship group perceptions' are all choices you make. so, in yes it does depend. it depends on how you choose to spend your money.

You can be crap with money no matter how much you earn. It's possible to spend everything no matter how much it is. She's not hard done by, she's just bad with money, as people of all income brackets can be

it DOES make you rich, globally speaking. its a figure that the vast majority of the globe will never see in a lifetime, let alone in a year

absolutely impossible to compare between countries. Even a family living under the so-called level of poverty here will be considered as extremely wealthy somewhere else. Having a roof, a bed, running water, even access to food bank if you go there, police and fireman protection, access to medical care and education is a dream for others. If you go there, we are all rich in this country. Even a homeless person will get medical treatment. I have been in countries where you don't even get an aspirin until you give cash to the nurse to pay for it.

I don't think that is what people were talking about here.

I wish. I could managed very well on half on quarter of that amount but used to using just £20-30 a week on food although i have increased that recently with a new job.

FFS, do me a favour anyone who thinks she's got anywhere near a valid point! I'm assuming though she really does mean they get 200k in, not that's their gross income and a lot goes in tax. But if they get 200k net income she's being more than ridiculous!

The mortgage can't be more than about 50k a year, private schooling/nanny for ONE child is not going to be more than 30k, stick 40k in the bank for savings and there's STILL 80k left for bills, Waitrose, new car or kitchen and jetting off somewhere naice a couple of times, you're having a laugh if you expect someone to need budgeting skills to stick to that, they just need to have the merest smidgen of common sense. I agree there's a squeezed middle but they are nowhere near it.

I'm not saying this woman is squeezed middle, but people on this type of income do pay a hell of a lot of tax, but don't earn enough to avoid (or even evade if they're dishonest) it successfully. And if you are in a PAYE job you automatically pay your whack, unlike (many) self-employed people who have ways and means of reducing their tax bill.

Also if I were on £200K in Stoke I'd be bathing in ass's milk, but in London not so much.

Clearly the level income is high, but she is entitled to her opinion, the family will be paying a huge amount of tax. How they choose to spend there income is their own business. Many people who earn over the 40 per cent tax band are finding that their standard of living is not as it used to be. given they are often households with two parents working they have a right to question how their taxes are spent. That is not saying that life is easy for those who are in receipt of benefits, but if you are working to provide for your family then you are giving up you free/ leisure time and therefore want to feel your taxes are spent in line with your views.

I am struggling to see the "squeezed" for this couple. They are roughly the same age as DH and me at 45 and 49 and bought their house at a similar time to us. My question is why did they not have the pension sorted, the house paid for and a big cushion of savings in the bank before having their one DC aged 40+?

However I have a lot more sympathy for the 2 newly promoted consultant doctors who may well come along to buy their house in a few years time with joint salaries of £200k and huge student debt to service. I am doubtful they would even get a mortgage on the £700k property even with a sizeable deposit, especially if they have childcare costs. I think either London wages will have to rise substantially or house prices will have to fall.

But around here we are very average, and there are swathes and swathes of houses nicer/ more expensive than ours. Perhaps those thinking that £200k is loads are living in much more affordable areas. Most of my friends are what would be considered as high earning professionals (household income >£100k) and the majority of them have modest houses and can't afford private school fees or designer clothes, new cars or luxury holidays. We have a relatively nice house but it's tatty, needs work which we can't afford, we're having one UK holiday (albeit a nice one), we have one car. I will be sending my son to private school in September because I have chosen to do that (for various reasons, one being that the local good primary school is a faith school which I strongly disagree with), but the fees will come mostly out of savings this year because I still need a nanny to care for my younger child while I'm at work and that is v expensive. Of course we're "richer" than those in developing countries or those struggling on benefits, no one is denying that, but I can see how someone on that income could, rightly or wrongly, consider themselves the "middle". And btw I think the "middle" is pretty broad in her description.

I just feel sorry for somebody who has more than ten times the income of my household and thinks they are struggling and hard done by. They must have worked hard to achieve that income but it doesn't seem as thought their choices have brought happiness.

It is a good household income. To deny it makes her look silly.

It isn't an uncommon amount especially in the SE. No one I know earning that sort of salary moans about not having enough. Surely you just count yourself bloody lucky no?