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.

This is another moron offering themselves up for today's Two Minutes' Hate.

It's not quite as unedifying as when it's some idiot at the other end of the economic scale being ripped to shreds but it's still pretty grim.

Come on people. Are we not better than this? Do we have to fall for this goady bullshit?

shark I will and already did go there that by comparison we are all rich in this country. to say you can't compare across countries.....why cant you? I think you totally can and should compare across countries and then when you realise how goddamn lucky we are here compared to most have a word with ourselves if we are bleating and moaning because private school leaves us with less than shitloads to spend a month.

I live very very near her and we earn less than half their salaries with us both commuting to work full time and 3 kids so I do not have sympathy for her, no.

I do agree, however, that figures that sound like silly money elsewhere in the country really don't go far within M25. For a few years I got into debt paying £2k a month n childcare (more than I earnt) as an investment for the future and am now reaping the rewards

I'm a single parent with 3 children. I'm a full time student on an NHS bursary but until recently, I was on working full-time with some top ups from tax credits and what-not. even with those top ups I was bringing in around a 10th of her income. Now, i'm aware that where I live is cheaper, but its not a 10th of the cost of London and I managed to live just fine. budgeting and saving for when things went pearshaped. I even managed a holiday abroad this year. a cheap as chips camping holiday done buget styley, but abroad none the less. I have a roof over my head, I have food for my children, we have treats sometimes. So that makes me rich. I might have months where I have £3.50 to last me 5 days, buts no one starves. I dont have any time for anyone who says they are struggling on that income.

I'm playing the world's saddest song on the world's smallest violin just for her

I'll swap you for my £300 a month pension !

thegreatfuckability not everyone has a personal allowance. It's gradually removed over a certain income which results in a marginal tax rate of 60 pc for some people. So they may end up paying much more than they would if it was simply tiered as you describe.

Actually....they're on roughly £100k gross per year. I know that sounds like a lot but it's not that much in London.

£700k sounds like a huge house to those who don't live in the London area but in reality it's probably a very normal 3 bed house or similar. They'll be paying a few grand each to commute to work.

To earn that sort or money they probably have to be out of the house from 7.30am-7.30pm at least which means for young children you need to pay for a nanny or au pair (most young professionals in London don't have family nearby).

State schools in Croydon can be pretty grim.

I'm not saying I think she's hard done by at all; however for the hours they probably work and the money they earn I suspect the money doesn't go as far in terms of lifestyle as people outside of this area think.

They'll be contributing something like £100k a year in tax.

People on mumsnet rarely seem to appreciate that those who earn more pay more tax so that's all going to the exchequer.

Paying £700k for a house that would cost less than a third that amount elsewhere is another extravagant choice.

No-one has to live in London and there are jobs elsewhere which would offer a better quality of life because you don't have to pay such ridiculous amounts for housing.

People on mumsnet rarely seem to appreciate that those who earn more pay more tax so that's all going to the exchequer

When I was on 17k a year I hardly noticed tax coming off. Paid so little.

Now I'm on a lot higher salary and think 'fuck me that's a whack I'm paying in tax' every time I see my payslip!

We have an income higher than this couple. We don't pay £100k in tax. That's 50% tax on a 200k income! However, our tax burden is progressive and so it should be. That's fair.

Poorer people pay more tax overall as a percentage of their income than those who are richer.

This includes VAT.

There's a really good book which is based on the research of those who are, objectively, high earners. They literally have no clue what it is like to live on the breadline and make ridiculous assumptions about living costs.

Hence silly comments about benefits etc.

I was in sainsburys today and saw a woman who was buying the basics line for everything and was checking her lists carefully as she walked around. I, on the other hand, just chucked stuff in the trolley without thinking twice.

It brought home to me that we probably had wildly different incomes and even though, with a combined salary of £130k ish, I sometimes feel a bit like we are not exactly well off, I'm quite clearly am.

It is all about the choices you make.

Yes and council tax. Council tax benefit has been cut. Yet another regressive tax.

My friend claims poverty all the fucking time they earn about £180k between them, live in a £600k house, 2 kids in private and children have expensive hobbies such as horse riding and about 50k in savings and multi millionaire parents who when the leap off this mortal coil they will inherit. She moans all the time about how skint they are. It is so frustrating to listen too especially when a good friend of ours is living on the breadline quite literally

The problem may be that this person has no experience of real poverty and probably no inclination to find out what it is like. I used to live in NE Hants, in a rather affluent area.

I was talking to a woman who lived there and who was fretting over her children's school fees. I was therefore genuinely interested why she wanted to send her children to a private school, so I asked her! Her reply was "what alternative do I have". I suggested the choice of two excellent local comprehensive schools. The local schools were not at the bottom of the national league tables, in fact they were nearer the top and I pointed this out.

Her reply was - "good God, I could not do that, my husband says these comprehensives are full of criminals and drug addicts". She then went on to moan about how difficult it was to get 'a woman who does' and organise the mowing of a one acre lawn. I really believe she was not bragging, just a product of her background and upbringing.

Maybe this person is also insulated from the realities.

Sad - but may be true

She's on over 3 grand a week and she's waiting for people to get their violins out.
Some people really do not know when theyve got in good.
The poor little rich girl

Same planet, different worlds.

EGo

What nonsense. When you move into the higher tax brackets you only pay the higher percentage rate on the amount you earn over the limit, so you still get a tax free allowance and the amount you pay the base rate on before starting to pay the extra percentage when you move into the high earning bracket.

My DH earns a bit more than the couple in the article (at the moment - long may it last). Whilst he undoubtedly pays a LOT of tax there is still plenty left
to allow us a very nice life right now and to save for the future. However even on a high income we still budget and prioritise our spending choices. We realise the money is finite unlike the lady in the article.