To ask how much your OH earns if you are a stay at home parent?

[LittleLeif]

Or how much did you have in savings?
This is very very nosey of me but I am trying to figure out if it is viable for me to ever stay at home with my baby. Unfortunately I have to go back to work full time but am hoping to maybe take a career break when she is a two or three.
We are both in jobs where you get opportunities for annually or bi-annually pay rises that can be quite substantial so I'm interested to see if he will be earning enough to support us for a year by then.
TIA

as people think £100k means you keep 100k

Nobody thinks that. Nice of you to assume the peasants don't understand how tax works though

Not a sahp but dh earns about 45k and we have figured out we would be ok if I gave up work.

We're up north with a relatively small mortgage, two small boys, savings, only one car, and not materialistic in the slightest.

Luckysky makes some very good points! I expect absolutely no-one to get out their violins , but we are in the situation she describes-

I'm SAHP and due to health issues, unlikely to enter paid employment again. DH is a very high earner and falls into the 100-150k band at which you lose the personal tax allowance that everyone assumes is universal. He has to pay both employer and employee pensions contributions on his profit share/income (GP partner rate) and that comes to an astonishing amount, 26% of his income I think. If he works an extra shift, gets to keep about 20p in each additional £ he earns
Dual income family members have, on more than one occasion, groused about us not picking up the entire bill for big family restaurant outings because we are seen as being the rich ones ("only joking" type comments about moths in his wallet, tightness, you could afford to eat here every night, must have millions in the bank etc). That did stop after bit of a row with a sibling in which his paper napkin calculation showed that after tax, pension and mortgage, dual income, always pleading poverty sibling and spouse with fewer DC to support had about £500-1000 a year less to live on than us, and we did not actual have "3x as much money to spare as anyone else in the family"... to be fair to Sibling, they had a good idea of DH earrings but were utterly shocked at the size of both his tax bill and pension contributions.

I think you should do whatever you truly want to do. We are living off my partners wage of £17.5K. Admittedly we do get help with our rent as we live in Kent and our monthly rent for a 2 bed semi is £950. It is tough but I would rather go without holidays and shopping sprees to be at home with my son. No matter what your budget, things will always be tight if you aren't working but it is always doable if you are prepared to sacrifice things xxx I know it is a tough decision so wishing you luck xx

DH earns about 43k gross. We have three DDs plus pets. No mortgage now - the house (3 bed semi in Glasgow suburb) was paid off several years ago. Holidays are one week in April, two in July, usually SC in the UK, cottage, appartment or caravan park. Every two or three years we go abroad. We are comfortable if not loaded.

I was just thinking you must be incredibly far away cory, I live in Manchester and it's only 2 hours on the fast train, but it's £250. I suppose it's cheaper with a season ticket? Otherwise you would be spending 50k a year!

Dh earns about 20k, we just could not do it so I went part time as the next best thing. Things are tight but dcs have told me they would rather have me at home more than expensive holidays and lots of 'stuff'.

I think it's feasible to a certain extent regardless of salary level, you cut your cloth accordingly. When I became a SAHM my husband earned much less than he does now, we managed but didn't have much spare for luxuries, now we do. Depends on what sort of lifestyle you want.

Southern Hampshire, Nightman: trains perhaps less fast and then you have to factor in time to get to station and across London. We could live closer but commute would still be expensive. Season ticket is cheaper and dh's office provide a loan scheme for workers.

Ah right. I hadn't realised it would take so long to get to Southern Hampshire from London.

My husband was earning about 25k when we had our daughter and was paying student loan on that too. It was very tight but we survived and I would do it again. We had to budget everything, didn't do take always, shopped with a calculator etc.

In the GP example above they could just not make a pension contribution. I don't and have chosen to work until I die instead although it is possible NHS GP contracts force self employed GP partners to retire at particular ages. That would increase their net income by 25% now.

lettucewrap we have something similar, although dp earns less than your dh. Dp earns £47.5k a year, relatives of ours recently found this out and we became 'loaded'. They earn around half of this but they don't pay into a pension scheme at all, pay very low 'mortgage' (his parents bought them a house and take small repayments at 0%interest), no debt (ever, this is a big one), cars bought for them, big tickets items bought for them (carpets, kitchens, windows for the house etc). They simply looked at a salary and made assumptions about what we could afford.

Lucky, seriously, you have opted out of the NHS pension scheme? Wow. In almost all circumstances I can think of, that would be unwise.

Or have you chosen to withdraw from it when you reached a certain level of projected pension income you felt happy with?

Working until you die is a risky strategy- too much risk of you not dying, but becoming ill enough to stop you working... A pension would be quite handy in those circumstances.

I'm not a doctor. I just generate the income and tax which pays for doctors' pensions looking on in awe at the largesse we bestow on state sector pensioners....... I don't have a pension other than state. I have never had an employer contribution to a pension either.

My father worked until 2 years before he died. My chidlren's other grandfather worked until he was about 88. I think we will manage fine as I own my own business. I have a good long way - 30 years before I am even 85.

Lucysky on o e level you are being completely absurd. On another for a self employed person without employers contributions, as GP partners are, possibly a pension isn't such a worthwhile investment as it is for others. DH has only a small pension because he decided it was a mugs game for someone whose family don't reach much beyond 75. But he is very disciplined about investments and spending. What would have gone into a pension went into a cpl of buy to lets in London which have tripled or more in value and produce an income as well as various other investments. But he earns a lot more than a GP whose decisions are closer to call i think.

£37,000 basic but can be closer to £50,000 if he did lots of private work; although we prefer our time together. I have already given up my awful job at 4 months pregnant and plan to be a SAHM.

DH earns £200k and I earn £60k pre tax. I am pregnant and still not considering being a SAHM. Because I don't want to make lifestyle sacrifices and I like earning my own money to spend on myself and the baby.

And the post about tax below is true - as is the sentiment about relatives who think you should pay for everything!

I earn 24k and DP is a stay at home parent.

DH earns 56k-70k depending on annual bonus. I earn 22k part time. At the moment our circumstances means we cannot afford for me to be a SAHM. In a couple of years, yes it would be financially possible but my youngest would be starting school, I would have a weakened case to be a SAHM plus I think it would drive me mad. I am actually quite lazy and lethargic when at home and not working. For me, I would become depressed and fat. I am just not a 'homely person'.

Ontheroses- GP partners pay BOTH employer and employee contributions on their income/profit share that's why the % is so large. It's been raised again so my figure of 26% of income was out of date. It's currently 14.5% employer, 14.5% employee, making it an eye watering 29% in total.

Although it is voluntary lettuce. If they preferred they could choose not to pay themselves a pension from the business and sav up money, put it in property or whatever or take a risk they will die young or not retire until they are 80. My doctor (not GP) father worked full time until 77 for example although he was forced to leave his NHS role at 63 as they had an age limit of that then for his role.

175k. It's v comfortable and we have 3 dc and school fees. But we can't afford big holidays or anything

175k. It's v comfortable and we have 3 dc and school fees. But we can't afford big holidays or anything

lettucewrap that's exactly what my post said. No wonder visiting the GP is akin to banging my head against a brick wall just read the notes, can you repeat what the consultant wrote please because it doesn't square with what you are saying

No wonder you lot feel skint - you have to be a lot more on the ball in the real world .