To sometimes wonder how people afford their lifestyles?

[Babysafari]

Most people that I know appear to have really nice lifestyles. New cars, really nice houses all done out immaculate and on nice roads. Holidays abroad several times a year to nice places too. I've also noticed that most of the parents at school pick their dc up themselves (I'm on maternity leave). There are loads of dads at the school gates too and a lot of mums and dads do the school runs together. A lot of these people are really young too.

One of the dads is a road sweeper so won't be being paid loads and his wife doesn't work, yet they are always doing the school run together but they seem to have the above lifestyle.

Me and dh have a decent household income, hardly rich but 50k, we're not struggling at all but our cars are old, we can only afford cheap holidays, dh works really long hours and is never there for school runs.

I'm not being deliberately envious, logically I know they could have family help or anything I guess people just make it look so easy, I wonder how they do it.

[minifingerz]

I'm staggered by people being given houses.

I mean, wow!

[maggiethemagpie]

A lot of people have money in the family, maybe not their own but parents who are generous and have a lot tucked away.

my husband for example his parents bought a flat in central london outright for him in the 90s which we now rent out, that's his income as he's a SAHD.

People probably wonder how we can manage on one (my) salary but in reality we have a second income no one knows about.

No one's business but ours.

[TooMuchMNTime]

Hobbit, you mean £650 per person at Disneuland right?

[noisytoys]

I spent the majority of my late teens and 20's living the lifestyle you describe. 100% mortgage, then racked up loans, overdrafts and credit card debts. Thankfully when the shit hit the fan there was enough equity to remortgage and clear the lot. It was a major life lesson that I'm glad to have learnt young. Don't have any of that lifestyle now because everything I have has been saved and paid for.

[StickTheDMWhereTheSunDontShine]

Do councils still employ road sweepers in these times of austerity?

[loobieloo32]

They could also run their own business as well as working, I used to do this on eBay quite a few years ago now and used to make enough after all usual expenses to afford luxuries we wouldn't have otherwise. This year is the first year since 2008 we have even considered a holiday we want to London for two days and will be going to Wales for a week with 3dc have to say our day to say expenses are pretty low, I changed job so a one and a half hour commute is now 10 minutes (and much cheaper!) I'm very much a primark kind of woman for the whole family, we don't much go out as a couple as no one to watch children, we love in an area with lots of free places to have fun as a family. We have a bit of debt for the car but our old one we bought had it two months and it gave up the goose and simply didn't have the money (and needed it to get to work as was an hour and a half away at the time) to get a new one.

I've just typed all that and realised we probably don't fit into the lavish lifestyle category lol

[ABCAlwaysBeCunting]

FFS. Why can't people mind their own fucking business.

We afford our lifestyle of nice cars, holidays and shopping in Waitrose because we both have careers and earn good money. OK?

Anything else you want to ask about our private finances, OP?

[Doyouthinktheysaurus]

When my dses were little, people thought I was a sahm because I did all the school runs but i worked nights all weekend as a nurse and sacrificed sleep and my relationship

I also got an insurance payout having had cancer. Yes, I did get comments about how l Lucky I was

[suit2845321oie]

How do people know so much about what their friends earn? Do you discuss it? I have no idea what any friends earn or what money they have unless they're teachers or doctors and even then it's only a guess.

We look like we have a really affluent lifestyle, and we probably do, but I know that For example on holidays we pay a fraction of what friends do. We fly at unsociable hours, fly indirect or cut our holidays slightly short to get the best prices. We never buy packages and always negotiate on Accomodation or pay for it on air miles. We buy most of our electrics secondhand by trading in old ones e.g I just bought an 18 month old MacBook Air for £350. Kids iPhones are all second hand. I have a premium watch and beautiful bling engagement ring, second hand. Nice cars, again never new, all second hand.

We save literally thousands a year like this.

[shazzarooney999]

It does make you laugh doesnt it when some people are sat at hopme on theyre arses all day like my next door neighbours, wife not worked a day in her life! husband had before he met her and yet hey ho they now own a £10,000 car, now thats what pisses me off!!!!!

[maninawomansworld01]

I'm staggered by people being given houses.

I mean, wow!

It happens. 6 years ago my parents gave me everything. The farm, a few associated businesses, a dozen rental properties. Total about £10m worth today.
We didn't exactly go on a spending spree but the friends who didn't know my family / background and had only know us living in a little cottage in the village thought we must have won the lottery or something.

[MadisonAvenue]

From the outside, a branch of our family appear (that word again) to have it all and really they should. We know that the husband inherited around £50000 from his side of the family, both work full time, their daughters have left home and they didn't pay a huge amount for their house. They have foreign holidays, eat out a couple of times a week, have lots of takeaways, bottle of nice wine every night etc. They both have cars, a hot tub in the garden, a dog which is an expensive breed to buy and she's always dressed very nicely.

However, we know that the husband (in his late 50s) often asks his 80something year old father for help. His father had to buy him a car so that he can get to work, on occasions he's had to give him money for petrol otherwise he wouldn't be able to drive home from visiting. Other family members have paid their mortgage for them at times. We were invited for a meal by them at their house and there was no expense spared, but we later found out that another family member who was also 'invited' had actually bought the food which made me feel so guilty when I later found out as this person is a single parent who doesn't earn a lot but is sensible with money in order to get by without debt.
The dog isn't insured so I dread to think what would happen if they were faced with a large vet bill.

[Batteriesallgone]

People always think we have it easy because I'm a SAHM and DH 'chooses his hours'. What that means is that he can, for example, come on the school run - but he always put the hours in and we've lost countless weekends, evenings, etc to him needing to work. He works from home a lot. People make sarky comments all the time about him skiving and choosing his wage (he owns and runs a big company) but if I try and point out that to have a Saturday with him I need to book it months in advance I'm just being silly, apparently. I know we're lucky and I'm very proud of him but it does grate sometimes that people don't see how hard he works. Still it's a sign of success to appear swan-like I guess!

[BikeRunSki]

Credit
Inheritance
Don't work 9-5

[OhTheRoses]

I can never work this out either but I think that the money we spend on life insurance, pensions, savings, etc, goes on consumables.

My mum's friends daughter bought a house in about 1992 for £42k, with a £38k mortgage. As the house has increased in value so has the mortgage. She's about 46 now and has had multiple cruises and Florida trips and nice cars, sometimes funded by mum and dad who have probably spent all their savings on their dds as well as providing shed loads of free childcare.

It might end up being quite a problem for people I think.

We have had a few snarky comments about my scruffy cars and Tu shoes. I don't give a hoot.

[RebelandaStunner]

These days I have a low paid part time , bottom of the company job. People are always when they ask where we live or where we're off on holiday or I say we're off to our holiday cottage for the weekend. No debts.
It's all legitimately acquired through various means, I promise.
You can't possibly guess what money people have based on jobs/age etc.

[LunaLoveg00d]

I think it's mostly down to spending priorities.

We have a comfortable lifestyle. We have lots of "nice things" and luxuries like expensive holidays. But we don't smoke and never have, don't often drink much, don't have extravagant nights out with friends, don't spend on things like clothes, handbags, shoes, beauty treatments, don't have expensive hobbies.

[TooMuchMNTime]

OhTheRoses
I've had acquaintances comment on my frugality
But saving that money means a lot more to me than having stuff or eating take away. I don't really think I am that frugal in fact, but I remember a friend's boyfriend coming by and laughing at my old big backed TV, which I kept till it stopped working, because, it worked?!

[OhTheRoses]

We had one of those toomuch. In fact our TV now is only a 32" flat screen jobby that I paid less than £409 for last year when big backed bugger died. We own one TV.

[Fomalhaut]

We have a nice house. We bought the land and built it ourselves. The area then got developed and now the plots go for 3x what we paid. So we have a nice house because we took a risk and it paid off. Bit of luck, bit of judgement.
We are pretty frugal in many ways. No debt other than the mortgage, don't go out much, other than cheap free fun. Don't really spend much on consumer goods. Lucky enough to live in a country with v cheap childcare. Not keen on putting stuff on credit cards.

We know people who are up to their eyeballs in debt and people who have families chucking them the odd 20k to furnish the house (not us!!) - you just don't know what people's finances are.

We do ok and I try not to compare - we aren't rich, we are t poor (although I grew up poor.) comparison is the thief of joy, and all that.

[Handsoffmysweets]

Why does that piss you off shazza?

[Bails2014]

Someone people just work hard and don't worry about what other people have that they don't.

[Babysafari]

ABCcunt wtf? I've not asked anyone to share details of their finances nor have I any intentions of doing so.

[Changesofmind]

I work PT in a professional career and earn above the average UK full time wage despite only working 20 hours per week. DH is MD of a large business that he built from scratch. We both worked our backsides off to get to the position we are in now. That's how we afford two holidays a year and a detached house with indoor swimming pool and two expensive cars.

That said we also both lease our cars which on paper looks like a £50k debt between us. But having bought cars for cash before, it makes no sense as on a lease you get a newer car if you accept that you're paying for the depreciation.

Oh and I do the afternoon school run. DH does the mornings. Doesn't mean we don't both work and earn decent money.

[PeppermintInfusion]

It's all about appearances, aside from the debt and familial help, some people focus on having a really nice car/house/holidays/clothes but are extremely frugal in other areas, eg never eat out ever but go on holidays, wear primark clothes but carry mulberry bags, etc.

Also, to get a lot of professional jobs which look good based on salary alone, most have been to uni, got student debt, got a taste for travelling/partying/not being sensible/not settling down and this impacts on their disposable income when they eventually have a job. Someone who went straight into work has been earning the entire time, perhaps 7+ years extra to a graduate, no student debt. The people I know who are the most well off fall into this category. A lot of white collar workers have limited capacity to earn overtime, compared to someone earning similar but can pull in double time for a while when they want to book next year's holiday or they get paid a premium because they work antisocial hours compared to a 9-5er. A lot of office jobs let you work from home now which gives the appearance of a life of leisure.
Also childcare fees make a big difference in disposable income.

In terms of inheritance, it's not just from parents but single aunts/uncles who money comes to them because they have no direct descendants, or an only child who has inherited everything or a big life insurance payout.