6 figure incomes and can't afford a load of bread?

[LemonyFresh]

Is it just me or has there been a influx of posts about household incomes of over 100k or similar and complaining or wondering how they're skint at the end of the month and struggling? Is it a stealth boast or do these people actually struggle?

Am I really in the minority with a household income of less than half of this?!

I know we tend to spend to our means but even when DP and I are having a flush month I don't see the point in over spending for the sake of it.

Also I do live in the US. My friends who are struggling in London have had offers to work here and turned them down because their goal is to move up north, close to family. The hospital here offered to arrange their shifts to help minimize childcare. My friend told me it was really hard to say no.

My council tax is less than half of yours, that's because I made the choice to live in small and cheap to run house. My bills are less than £50 a week.

I stick to money threads that are discussing figures similar to my own. I wouldn't post on someone's thread about how to cope on 100K because I don't have any experience of that.
I earn 16k, and another 2k from my second, part time job. I would advise people struggling with money to get a second job like mine - but this advice would be meaningless to those on higher incomes - 16-18k makes a big big difference to me - 100k-102k probably won't!

"How to cope on 100k", that's funny.

Earning a bunch of money and finding regular expenses to spend it all on so you don't have masses sitting around spare is not the same as not having enough money.

I'm sure loads and loads of people on £100k+ have bills that suck up most of it, it's kind of how money works. But it doesn't mean you're struggling. The things you're spending the money on are things that people on £20/£30/£40k can't even consider, and never will. You have the 'dream' lifestyle. It costs money!

brasty It is what kills them. The kids are very close to starting school and they can't wait. Their childcare needs will go from 90 to about 60 hours. They pay less for overnights so they will be saving quite a bit.

brasty ; We do our main shop at whole foods. Prices tend to be somewhat steep (not complaining, just a choice because of two gluten intolerant children and convenience). Although I have shared custody with ex, DD mostly lives with us as her father lives abroad. DH's son is with us 2 weeks each month. Groceries include wine and a few edible treats. As you said, it's comfortable, but definitely nowhere close to rich. I wasn't complaining just stating how I understood how the lady's expenses in the article could add up.

Namechanger - correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think a single person on here has claimed that they "can't cope" on £100k or above. They are just trying to give perspectives on how circumstances differ and where the money tends to go.

Biggest 'surprise' outgoing recently has been trying to take my 2-year-old to fun places somewhere other than the park or farm and often end up spending £20 - £25 a time. Sounds ridiculous but went to soft play which was £8 for all of us then they were sold out of a lot of food so had to have more expensive meals when we'd been intending to have a quick sandwich etc.
Educational place yesterday charged £5 for kids' lunchbox items (overpriced and crap selection) and £8 for a chicken sandwich and slice of cake! I guess I didn't really expect it as used to kiddie cafe prices.

Will bring packed lunch next time although part of the 'treat' for me was not having to make sandwiches myself for once!

Mmm you can get absolutely rinsed on things like soft play. Some are cheap and cheerful but some are an outrageous cost! I'm lucky as during term time there's a playgroup for no more than £1 within walking distance every day near me. Some of them are a bit shit though, in fairness.

silent we don't go to soft play type places because where I am it's $1000 for an annual membership. We do have an excellent library that has free activities that I can sometimes get on the list for. No joke for the weekend puppet show tickets open up at 6am and if you haven't signed up by 6:05am you are not going to get a ticket. We also use the library tickets to manhattan museums and bring our own food if DH can't expense it or have it comped through vouchers he is given by his customers.

So many English people who first move over go to the soft play type places and it takes them 18 months to find the cheaper places. A lot of people here move to the luxury flats because of the facilities (play room for the kids, a swimming pool, gym etc) saves them a fortune because nanny shares with another family in the same building is easy and you don't have to pay for activities. One building is highly sought after because the play room is like a soft play. Families think they need this but they don't. It's a want.

mumto2 I think you have given a lot away with your comment about your tax bill and the schooling options. Do you really think you should only pay tax for things you benefit from or approve of? I remember Adele saying she didn't see why she should pay tax when she couldn't even use public transport any more.

If highly-paid people think like that, they justify to themselves the tax minimising or avoidance measures that deprive the rest of the country of the means to improve. Pulling up the fucking drawbridge.

I hope if I ever earn that kind of money, I am still proud to pay my taxes and contribute to society.

I do think the whole income tax system needs an overhaul.

Everything's relative

You have completely misinterpreted that MsJuniper. To take one small line in my post and extrapolate it to an inference like that?? You don't know us as people at all, so please don't derive inferences that are so far removed from who we are.
I'm a big believer in having a moral social conscience, and we pay our taxes like most do, and regardless of what we have ever earned in our careers, have always insisted on a set percentage of our income to charities we support. And we encourage our children to do the same. I am offended by your remark.

I live on 14k a year, but will happily swap with someone who had 100k and can't manage

Well, if you break it down:

£100k after tax, assuming two £50k salaries, taxed at higher rate is c. £6,100 net pm. In London, you can assume a mortgage of around £2,000pm. If two young kids, nursery fees of say £1,500pm. Commuting costs of £300+. Utilities and council tax would run to another £400. Already you're below £2,000. Then the costs of other expenses; insurance, clothing, food etc etc.

I appreciate £100,000 is a lot of money, but certainly in London you can run through that kind of cash in no time.

And as you have drawn such an offhand inference..it is the sub standard educational system that we have for our taxes that irks me, not the fact that we are paying for something we do not use.
Let's face it, do you think all the other people who are doing the same, would be spending their hard earned cash, if the education our state provided, was up to scratch?
I don't think so!

I don't think there's hardly a person in the land whether they earn £20k or £100k who doesn't think their taxes could be spent by the government (whichever one is in power!). Just because a higher earner expresses that thought out loud doesn't automatically make them an immoral tax dodger.

Except £2000 just on food, clothes and entertainment is a lot of money. Yes paying for nursery full time for 2 kids is very expensive. But once they start school, that mythical family on £50k each, will have more money.
£2000 a month is more than my total take home pay. In fact our household income of £36,000 which is above average, leaves us with a take home pay of £2,560. We pay mortgage of £800 a month, council tax of £170. We also go on holiday most years, and have nights out.

But because we used to have very little money, and most of our friends are the same, our nights out are very cheap - a £10 for both of us say. Also although our families live a long way away, our friends all help each other out. Anything from babysitting, to DIY. I guess others pay for this help.

mum sorry to ask a really stupid question but why didn't you move to an area with better state schools if the fees strain your budget to such a degree?

I can think of areas where the state schools would be out of the question for me and I have aspie DC so I can well imagine aggravating special circumstances but negative cash flow would keep me awake at night so I was just wondering about the other push/pull factors considering the choice a six figure income brings.

I realise that's possibly too nosey a question. Do feel free to say so.

Its 6.1k if there are no student loan repayments or pension contributions. Realistically, odds are they wouldn't both have neither of these. £1500 per month is also quite a conservative estimate for childcare x 2. I realise there are people on these salaries who might have some family help etc, but there are also people who don't.

Manumission - hope you don't mind me commenting on your question. In London particularly, house prices in many areas have more than doubled since 2006. People are consequently living in a huge asset, albeit not a liquid one. People tend not to want to downsize or downgrade their homes, especially while they have children living with them. If your house is worth 4 million (not uncommon at all in central London), even a parallel move to area with better state schools will cost around half a million in stamp duty - which is probably more than the school fees!
So people stay put, pay the school fees and invest in the value of their own properties by doing basements, extensions etc.

£2000 per month after taxes, bills, commuting, childcare and mortgage/rent is loads, though. I appreciate it's not as much as the super-rich earn, but I just don't get how you can be struggling on that kind of money, unless you're very bad with money in the first place or in significant amounts of debt.

Yes actually that was quite conservative considering I paid £1200pm for 3 days for 2 some years ago! And also, yes student loans (though I never had one and DH paid his off before we met). Still, you see what I'm saying - it seems like loads but it can easily disappear. If you factored in private school fees and extra curriculars I can easily see how one might feel really stretched on such an income.

We left London theee years ago Paloma, which probably tells you something about my own thinking and also influences my thinking a bit. But I've never been of the camp that thinks of homes as assets.