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?

Marriage Allowance stuff below moochypooch:

www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance

You can't transfer all of it, only £1150 maximum, and not at all if the other person is a higher rate taxpayer. You also don't have to be a SAHP, you could still be working and transfer some/all of the £1150 if you're not using it all yourself. If you're going to do it, do it before the end of the tax year.

You can only transfer if your OH earns between £11,501 and £45,000.

Feck, a SAHP is only worth £230 to the government.

It's not a SAHP allowance, it's a low/no earning married person allowance. It's nothing to do with SAHPs really. Obviously a lot of the people transferring will be SAHPs, but you don't need to have children in the household. Or even at all. You also don't get it if you're a SAHP and not married/civil partnered.

Oh and you can also be working. You'd need to be earning under 10.4kish to transfer all of it. That's twenty odd hours a week NMW.

shimmer, not all sahp are there out of choice, nor are they all able to work (eg, they may have disabilities or mental health issues that preclude them from holding down a job), or they may be simply unable to find suitable work, especially if they've been a sahp for a long time and out of the workplace. Not everyone can afford to retrain either.

I understand that. But we are taking specifically about SAHP whose DPs earn 60k. So there is a lot more choice in that income bracket re affording childcare, retaining etc than for the average person.

Retraining

Depends on where exactly they live and their essential outgoings (eg, mortgage, household bills) and any debts.

Either way it still stands that, in general, you'd take home more money if your household income comes from 2 similar wages as opposed to one large one (as you'd obviously pay less tax and may still qualify for some benefits).

I'm in the East Midlands and I'd consider a "good wage" to be anything over 25k and a high wage to be over 40k.

Just did the test and DH and I currently come out as having a higher income than 72% of the population, which will fall to 59% when our child is born!

It doesn't feel like we're that well off, ie: we can't afford to run a car, have a holiday every year or live anywhere larger than a 2 bed house, but then again, we are paying off debts right now.

Feck, a SAHP is only worth £230 to the government

I don’t get this. Who considers their “worth to the government” in light of their career or life choices?

Hit “post” too soon.

What I mean is, from a governmental POV, a non-earner doesn’t generate income tax, regardless of whether they’re a SAHP, or other reason. Why would you think a SAHP would be “worth” more?

Depends on where you live what you do and your ambitions.
I would think good wage is upwards of 100K

Interesting to see other opinions, which reminded me of an old thread I read this morning
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/1087134-Where-do-people-get-ther-money-from-What-is-a-normal-income

What I would like to know is what are these jobs where people are earning 50k, 70k, 100kplus?

Half the jobs I see advertised on the web, rarely state the salary.
How can someone decide to change career path or apply if salary is unknown.

If anyone willing to share type of jobs and expected salary, that would be helpful.

I think it depends on your outgoings, I work part time and my dh earns a ‘good’ wage but our mortgage is eye popping for a modest house and our childcare costs are big (although thankfully we are passed the nursery fees stage). We are luckier now our parents have retired and can help a little with childcare however dh works away a lot and commutes for three hours a day.

I'm in the south east. Most of my friends ear under 30k and most have some form of managerial role. I count myself as being on a good wage earning 40k. I could comfortably manage to pay mortgage and all bills as well as have some left over, that equates to a good wage to me..

I would say £50k+.

Professionals (lawyers, doctors, engineers, surveyors, pharmacists, accountants, bankers, architects, IT folks, uni lecturers) with l5 years experience will be on £40-50k.
Then think what their bosses are earning!

So really those very high salaries are the command of the a very few people who have years and years of experience. So really changing career unless your very young with years to get to the top isn't the answer.
Unless you are in the SE where salaries are higher to match living costs.

Haven't RTFT but the £27000 ish is the median, not the mean, and is used to avoid the average being skewed by high earning outliers.

I think it depends were you are in your career and your expenses/were you live. I’m about to graduate and starting into a job at 22K. If I budget well I can be comfortable on this and I feel for me it’s a good wage. But I’m also single with no kids and I wouldn’t be happy staying on this wage forever.

Medic 60-70K
I’m training (surgical specialty) what we call ST6 so 8 years post graduation from Med school.
50% allowance due to oncall intensity plus lots of lucrative locums. Not really sure how much but can easily get about 3500-3800 in a month (I also pay slightly higher tax due to underpayment one year).

As said I would consider 100k good to high and 150k upwards very good-excellent. I’m in West Mids.

Household income of 100k or above. My cousin’s husband has an individual salary of £90k but she doesn’t work, so they don’t really enjoy the same lifestyle as my dh and I who have a household income of such. Bil pays a lot more, proportionally, in tax, and take home is far less than us.

It depends on stage of career and expenses that come with that. I am sure many of my superiors (Consultants) are on a lot lot more especially in my particular specialty as private practice is so lucrative, but training can be expensive with exams, courses, conferences, publications, travel and relocation costs. Also depends on where you are in country. It’s all relative to career though.

a good household wage is £40,000k for one earner, £2,400 per month after tax plus the extra £80 per month you'd get for child benefit for one child. we've lived on this when we were in our first house we bought just after the 2007 property crash in an expensive area when i was a sahm.

fast forward 11 years later and we now have a high mortgage and council tax is huge so what we'd need to be VERY comfortable is about £6,000 per month after tax, which means one of us would have to earn £122,000 per year.

what jobs can earn £100k? unlikely to earn this unless you are 40 - 45 years plus with a good 15-18 years experience.
i know several people who earn around £80- 120k per years

• director of finance and strategy for a large national company (not a plc)
• partner in law firm
• procurement consultant
• head of a local government service eg head of finance and capital assets
• head of a business function for a national construction comany
• doctor with a specialism
• senior level management in a Multi national company