To wonder what a ‘good wage’ is?

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Not really an AIBU but something I’ve been pondering on, and posting here for traffic and opinions.

I often see people mentioning that someone earns ‘a good wage’ or indeed a high wage, but what that means in practice is clearly dependent on many factors, not least the area someone lives in but also their dependents.

I work in an industry where I talk to people on very high wages all the time about their jobs, which I think skews my view of what’s normal. I was involved in a discussion in another forum recently where it was mentioned the average salary at the moment is £27,000. Of course this is a mean average, skewed by a few very high salaries, and most people are below that. But many people were commenting that they didn’t know anyone who earned that much and had never earned anywhere near that themselves.

I’ve also been fascinated by this calculator from the Institute of Fiscal Studies that shows where households fall in the stratification of the country www.ifs.org.uk/wheredoyoufitin/
I think a lot of people would be surprised by it. When DP and I each earned the average salary (no kids) we were still in the top 25/30% ish of households which seems mad, and we live in an expensive area.

I’m wondering - what do you think a ‘good wage’ is, and at one point does something become a high wage?

I earn 29k and DH 47k. No DC. Our situations might improve or things could go tits up at any moment (e.g. job loss or illness). I feel incredibly lucky atm. We have a mortgage we can overpay, and can go on nice holidays. We don't have Sky, don't have fancy cars and rarely go out to eat but that's because we prefer to spend any extra money on going away. I tell myself every day how fortunate we are. It saddens me to see how many people say: we earn this but if we earned x amount more we would feel comfortable. That's such a trap. The goalposts will keep moving and you'll never be happy that way.

I earn 28k - it is definitely not a high salary where I live. My rent ( housing association) is 20k a year for a 3 bed

It saddens me to see how many people say: we earn this but if we earned x amount more we would feel comfortable. That's such a trap. The goalposts will keep moving and you'll never be happy that way.

This^^

Completely agree with Indigo.

We were London. There was a point taking into account school fees for two teenagers where we needed £6k min pcm and that was without a mortgage. Fees, council tax, insurances, utilities, fares, work expenses, hiusehold maintenance, car, food, birthdays, christmas. I won't be believed but we are not extravagant.

At uni DS's halls were over £6kpa. Next year we will have an undergrad and post grad child to support.

Some private schools now offer people with household incomes up to 80k a discount.

And yes schools & getting into 1 is a nightmare. The school my DC1 will attend has a catchment of 200m. Catchments were not such an issue in my youth, my primary school was 25 min away.

“It saddens me to see how many people say: we earn this but if we earned x amount more we would feel comfortable. That's such a trap. The goalposts will keep moving and you'll never be happy that way.”

I kind of agree, as you can’t live a happy life if dissatisfied, but, there’s nothing wrong with targets and aspiration, for some people those are financial goals

midnight Our costs with 3DC and childcare of £30k a year because we both work FT are £60k. We own our home and hustle on everything. I don't care that my next door neighbor has a shiny new car or the guys opposite just spent their Christmas holidays on a cruise to the Galápagos Islands. I'm happy for them and I welcome them sharing their experiences with us but I don't need to keep up with anyone.

We sleep reasonably well at night and this will improve as we build our savings back up. My thought has been that if you keep your living costs low, a drop in income isn't so painful for the family.

I know we are in the 1-2% income wise. I know 98-99% of people earn less. A good wage is always going to be subject to where you live, hours worked and general conditions in the workplace. Benefits do play a role, as they should. A good wage should mean an employee isn't having to rely on any support from the government.

yes you can be a lawyer in any City but if you are a barrister with a niche practice you can't if there is only one Bar

At some point a decision will have been taken to specialise in that particular field though, rather than others that will have more availability of jobs in different areas of the country, but probably with less attractive salaries.

Mnet is very odd about pay as it seems the wives of the top 10% earners are all in here and cannot fathom that many many others aren't and £30k is a decent salary even in the south east if you look at actual earnings! I think it's pretty insulting to say £70k is a good salary when so few will ever earn that (even in the south east). Realistically, if you're on average or above then you're on a good wage imo.
Unfortunately the figures on here just make people who are actually on good salaries feel like they're failing when they're not.
I've looked at jobs in the south east in the guardian and even fairly senior roles are £30-£50k but some on here will tell me they're not on "a good wage" which is bonkers!

The 100k jobs are rarely advertised word of mouth and who you know specific roles. I have worked in my firm for 15 years very fortunate and rewards are good.

My wife has just secured a 3day week 85k role starting next month.
She is vastly experienced in her field and is often sought out for specific contracts. 6-12months £75-£120k. It can be a bit haphazard with 4-6 week gaps in employment with a little uncertainty.

Neither of these roles would be available outside of London.

Schools in our area are not good enough multiple language and behavioural issues hence we have gone down the private route. This an expensive choice but DS is flying in the environment and is super happy whilst remaining grounded.

We lead a modest lifestyle but the vast mortgage and school fees soon eat up cash.

We may consider going vegan 3 nights a week if we need to tighten our belts.... ;-)

@LordWalterTheCourageous I completely get that and clearly people do earn high salaries. What frustrates me it that on mnet those salaries are spouted as "the norm" which simply isn't the case and the salary calculators show that.

£70k a year is totally normal for a FT role in my field of accounting if you are qualified (chartered) and have 10 years of PQ experience. I am also aware that not many people are chartered accountants!!!!!

It's a pyramid and always will be. That's why it's vital that income is redistributed.

Clearly not anyone earning over 50k is in the top 10%.

10 people in every 100 have a good job and income.

There are also 10 people in every hundred who have a good job / business are self employed and fiddle their income tax.

I dont understand the comment saying it is insulting that what some consider as high earners think good wage to them is not enough. When you earn more your lifestyle changes, to an extent your needs change. Nobody is trying to insult anybody. OP asked and people answer.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
For the avoidance of doubt - HMRC Data set as published by the Government. www.gov.uk/government/statistics/percentile-points-from-1-to-99-for-total-income-before-and-after-tax
Most recent figures are 2014/15

A salary of £50,000 before tax puts you in the top 10% of earners

A salary of £120,000 before tax puts you in the top 1% in the UK

PS
Half of all taxpayers earn less than £22,400 as per link
and half of all adults do not pay income tax as per budget statements
so 3/4 of adults live on less than that amount

so in fact, the £50k salary puts you in the top 2.5% by income
just saying.

AllPizzas partly but unless you love what you do you will never maximise your earnings. Also it isn't always a conscious choice. You may enter with a broader range of work and some early cases define your profile and you do more similar work and before you know it, you are the expert. DH was defined in that way by 35/36 by which time we had a DC starting school and by the time we were early 40s said DC were plugged into schools and we had a sttong local network.

I have had two careers. Both succesful, both leading to very high salaries after 10 and 15 years for two different fields. I retrained 15 years ago and took prof quals. I didn't go to uni; I'm not particularly academic or intellectual. The people I work with have been in the organisation longer than me, have had the same training. I wouldn't say i'm even that ambitious but I analyse very quickly, see the gap, fill it with a solution and have presence and can yap to a large audience convincingly. I have fallen into roles twice. I have no idea why really.

We earn £130k between us (south east but work in London) and based on all the reports/websites etc that puts us both in the top 10%, maybe even 5% but our lifestyle doesn't reflect that.

We're both 30 and have a relatively high mortgage and a baby to pay for but hardly live the high life!
Realistically we would struggle a bit if either of us earned below £50k I think.

I dont understand the comment saying it is insulting that what some consider as high earners think good wage to them is not enough. When you earn more your lifestyle changes, to an extent your needs change. Nobody is trying to insult anybody. OP asked and people answer.

It is insulting to say you are eating vegan 3 times a week when you are that sort of income as it isn't enough.

If you are going on what is enough in each posters eyes then the thread is pointless as majority will spend to what they earn and want more than they have.

Wrt the 'London' jobs. I would say my DH has a job he can only do in London and has very few transferable skills from this job that wouldn't lead to another job which is only in London. If the arse fell out of his industry -Which i very much doubt it will unless there was some kind of technological apocalypse - then i suppose he could go back to the military and that would be a pay cut of about 70%. But i expect the military would station him London too as that's where the offices of his corps would be.

As for me, i have always had what i would call 'makes more sense to live in London' jobs. I worked in uni and art galleries. While i acknowledge there are plenty of these in other Locations there is a much higher density in London. Moving somewhere that has one gallery/museum and one Uni would be a bit foolish without a backup plan. Which i don't have. I also have very few transferable skills. In fact i reckon i'm only employable now in a bar or as a cleaner.

Talkin - that's individual salary tho and not household income. According the the link you posted upthread, 2 people with a joint income of £50k gross with no dc (top 21%) are better off than a family with 2 dc with one person earning £100k gross (top 23%).

Wow my OH gets 26 and I get 22 and we are more than comfortable :-)

motherofdragons - I think everyone is indeed aware that £70k goes a long way in many / most areas. It doesn't change the fact that they also know the cost of living in the areas where they do actually live and that a family would struggle, on that income, unless you had family help to get on the property ladder (or otherwise, you were in some other form of very subsidised housing).

mrskoala
A couple will get two sets of tax and NI allowance so yes, take home will be higher

but the point stands that a £50k salary is more than over 90% of the country gets paid
which the "I'm struggling on £72k" brigade really should bear in mind sometimes.