To consider £60-70k a high salary?

[rebsemmie]

Just that really, I just had a general chat with a few friends about work and salaries (not talking about our own salaries, just chatting in general). We are all in our late 20s, unmarried and childfree, so we were not discussing in terms of household incomes, just in terms of single people's income.

Much to my surprise, some of my friends did not consider a salary in the range of £60-70k (for one single person) to be very high, they though it was "alright". One of them said you "come on, you can barely afford to rent a place on your own with that income!"

I was a bit surprised as my salary is well over 30% lower than that, and I considered myself quite fortunate and well-off! Granted, we are in London which is very expensive, but still..

AIBU to think my friends are a bit detached from reality if they think a salary of £60-70k is just "alright" for one person??

turnipfarmers
70k for doing the payroll?! What else does she do to command 70k a year, it can't just be doing the payroll surely?

I know a few payroll managers that are on around that... I'm not that lucky yet though

It is significantly more than most people earn. That's a fact, so there's not much debate to be had. It is objectively a high salary.

Agreed that it's just the houses that skew it. I live in a 2 bed ex council flat with a joint income which allows us a couple of holidays a year and eating out when we want so thats great and we are lucky.. but i have no children and even if i cut every possible expense and holiday etc out, the mortgage multiplier just wouldn't work to get us near to the 800k plus needed in SW London for something very run down

So many people live in a glass bubble...

Holy guacamole! £60 to 70K is massive, IMO!! And people in their 20s don't think this is high. Oh my goodness. I'm a bit gobsmacked.

It is a higher than average salary. I don't care what people spend their money on but it is irritating when people say that they don't feel well off on that money because they have such a big mortgage or whatever - that's a choice you make. I'd be over the moon with £60k

Are these graduates in high-wage occupations in London?

I only know 1 person who earns within that bracket. He doesnt live in london.

I consider it a high wage.

Fuck me! I’m out in all weathers 365 days a year, no days off, no sick pay or holiday pay. Pfftttt what’s a holiday?! Haven’t had one of those in over 10 years.

I think I probably earn £20,000 there or there abouts. It’s just not worth it, is it 😫

BitchQueen - when you live in London, it isn't really 'up to you' to have a massive mortgage / rent. It costs what it costs. Where I live a normal 2 bed flat would cost 500k +. That's just the reality.

This is like asking how long is a piece of string.

If you work in the City then the answer will be 'no'. If you work in a low paid sector in a deprived part of the country, then the answer will be 'yes'.

It is well above average across the UK, but probably wouldn't be considered particularly high in London or some parts of SE England.

Dozer DN is in her 20s and not a graduate. She started as a Saturday girl and worked her way up. Is now store manager (women's fashion shop in central London) and as I said up thread earns £70k.

She does late shifts where she is locking up after the shop shuts at 10pm so needs to be living in central London which costs megabucks. She flat shares with two other women in their 20s in a gorgeous three bed flat in a naice area of London. They all earn similar I believe or they wouldn't be able to afford it.

Even if you live further out, travel costs are huge.

Of course it's high for London! Most people in London don't see salaries anywhere near that!

I'm mid-twenties, live and work in centralish London on £35K a year comfortably as a single person, so of course you can rent on £60-70K!

toothpaste are you self employed? No days off is pretty much illegal otherwise.......

Fuck me, not that high? Unable to rent?

I earn 30k, rent a flat with a partner and still save a grand a month. I would LOVE to have a 70k salary, I could save up for a nice house in no time.

These people that claim this money "disappears", where?! Do you wipe your arse with it?

BitchQueen - when you live in London, it isn't really 'up to you' to have a massive mortgage / rent. It costs what it costs. Where I live a normal 2 bed flat would cost 500k +. That's just the reality.

I think the point is that you are choosing to live in London (etc). Many people would choose a longer and more expensive commute, or a different profession, or moving away entirely. Many people make those different choices.

When DH and I graduated we had the choice of looking at jobs in London on good salaries but living in a shoebox, or going regional and earning less but having the potential to live somewhere bigger (etc). We chose differently from some of our peers so perhaps they earn twice what we do but we have a house in the countryside with garden/wildlife/clean air or whatever.

I think it's a great salary for a single someone in their late 20's without kids.

It's probably not enough if you're a single mum with 5 kids renting in London and paying for childcare.

It's all relative no?

It's a good salary, yes. However it would be difficult to buy in London on that kind of money.

That tells you more about property in London than the salary though.

It's a shame your circle of mates feel like that. There are so many great, worthwhile and much needed jobs in this country that cannot begin to offer a salary like that. My DD wants to be a junior doctor - she's a top academic. She will earn around £27k after 5 years of training. I hope they don't see this as a hard and fast measure of self worth.
It is true in London after tax and payment of a rent, bills, travel etc....I can see there's not a whole lot left - but that's London. The rents and actually doing anything as soon as you step outside your door are crazy.

I earned £65k this year.

It’s loads of money!

Having said that, my idea of wealth is going to Tesco’s and putting whatever I like the look of in my basket without worrying about price.

It's all relative. One of my DCs earns more than that - they are 9 years out of uni (and not an investment banker.) But they live in London, are paying off student loans ( has a Masters) and their rent is £2K a month (shared with a partner.)

If you earn £70K in London and want to live in zone 1 you will need almost 10 x your salary for a 2-bed flat .

If you live up north you could buy a house for around £100K in some areas.

You can't compare salaries across the country.

We're not in London, but yes £60-70,000 does seem like a high salary to me. Obviously anyone earning this amount will be a higher rate tax payer.

I think you get used to living within your means. We have three lots of friends who earn far more than us, live in similar size properties in our area, but regularly run out of money a week or so before pay day. I'm not saying we have loads left, but we're constantly reviewing how much we have, adjusting our spending if we've recently spent quite a bit or have a large bill coming up. My friend recently insisted it had to be nothing but a Bosch washing machine (£500) recently, wouldn't ever go in Lidl or Aldi and eating out involves 3 courses, whereas we're getting an Indesit for just over £200, I regularly visit Lidl for cheaper options and sometimes eating out is just a main meal at our local but we still enjoy a change.

60-70K is a huge salary, epsecially for one person in their 20s. I have never earned that much and if I did, I would consider myself rich.

I have worked for years, now not far off retirement and living in the South-east, my salary is in the low 40s and I consider myself very well off indeed - although I do get extra perks with my work.
However, I'm single (family grown up, no partner these days) and no mortgage either. But I never earned more even when the children were younger and I did have a family to support...I managed on considerably less, in fact.