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??

Well pup, I'm pretty sure that 2 people each earning £60,000 even in London can still have a nice life. Maybe not the lavish lifestyle they want (or think they deserve) but still pretty damn fab. Even with a couple of children. And I know that's true because so so many people DO manage just fine on that and much less.

oh what would be your definition of a modest family house? How much should it cost?

Objectively it is a high salary because about 95% of people earn less.

Obviously your standard of living will depend on your out goings, but you can only say that it is a low salary if you think pretty much everyone in the U.K. has a low salary.

@hibbledibble no one actually has to live in London. One can always commute. My husband is a high earner. We live in a cheapish area (house prices are like an eighth of what they are in London) and he commutes.

no one actually has to live in London

What about nurses, bus drivers, police, teachers etc?

Hibble, I don't live in a cheap area. Well I sort of do, as I moved. I used to have a fancy schmancy house in the middle of Edinburgh but I had to choose between my fancy house and high costs and a much smaller house with much smaller costs. Moving obviously not always an option for people but for many it IS an option but they want to keep up their more expensive lifestyle.

I know one person who earns over this. I can only dream of getting a job earning that much

You are talking such bollocks DairyIsClosed.

Being able to pay for two children in private education in London means you have an exceptionally high salary. Maybe not in your circles, but in terms of averages - even London averages. I assume you are an educated person - why don't you understand that?

It's a high salary. Obviously. But the question is, what is expected in return? When I graduated almost 20 years ago, one of my cohort went into the city on this sort of salary. I remember speaking to him a few months later, and he commented that it was the first day off he'd had in 6 weeks. It was a Saturday.

On the other hand, I know those in their 30's who can command that sort of salary and do work 9-5 (approximately) because they have specialist technical skills, and the experience to know how to apply them (and don't need to live/work in London to do so, so no commute). That's surely a better combination.

I really need to go do stuff so can't argue debate anymore. But I'm stubborn enough that I don't want anyone to think they've 'won' if I don't reply. 😂 I'm right, so ner. (And you think you're right so ner ner to me)!

Its become more & more common for private schools to offer bursaries to families earning 80k because prices are crazy these days. I very happy for my kids to go to state schools as I did.

Two people on salaries of £60,000 are unlikely to be first time buyers so they will have one if not two properties to sell. Therefore they will not need a mortgage of £900,000. I've been on the property ladder in London for 30 years and I don't expect to be able to buy a £900,000 property without serious thinking about it either.

dairy yes it is possible to commute, but again there is a huge expense associated with this, as other posters have already pointed out

0h

Well you’ve not really engaged in the debate as you didn’t answer my question. I’m off now too, Ner Ner 😜

This thread has got me thinking. I know my salary is really low (12k) but lower than I thought compared to all this, I don't claim any benefits at all, I don't want to, but have been really struggling recently. I can't actually imagine earning that much, sometimes I do feel weird about things like eg have only three pairs of shoes, don't ever go away (literally, one night in the past year)... etc... things need to change... somehow. I just feel a bit weird reading all this.

Hilarious.. I must start looking for my 200k starting salary.

And no. People don't have to live in any place where a family house costs almost a million. Broaden your horizons, you might enjoy it

himalayansalt but the average age of a ftb is increasing year on year & I believe is 34 in some boroughs. Which is also an age people might be considering children.

You would still be looking at 500-600k for a 2 bed flat in many parts of London.

In some parts of the world the whole village COMBINED would struggle to earn 70k in a lifetime.

Well it’s a funny old thing. My DP and best friend graduated last year and their salary goes up to £50k next year, they won’t even be 25.they’re both training as accountants.

In my career ( technically I’m higher qualified but I’m a journalist) it would take me 15 years of experience to hit that (if I ever did).

Both equally respected professions but I think people would be shocked at the disparity between the salaries for different kinds of work.

A high salary in IT consultancy in a specialist field commands £125k plus. My manager is on at least £150k and annual bonuses is £££ depending on sales performance and commissions. That's SE, not London. Graduates get £40k+. Contractor day rates £600 per day.

And also for many people who buy today or even 2 years ago they will not see the massive increases in value we have seen over the last decade so how to they progress to that house.

I don't expect to be able to buy a £900,000 property without serious thinking about it either.

I don’t expect a house in Mitcham to cost 900k

puppower - I know all that. My first purchase was a 1 bed flat in Hackney when it was a scary dump that no one would touch with a bargepole, with a friend. One of us slept on the sofa bed in the living room. We had reasonable salaries for the time. I'm just saying that ftbs with no substantial deposit are not the target market for 4 bedroom houses.

who is the target market for house that costs that much in Mitcham?

What I earn, same age. Consider it adequate but not great.

I would consider that very much an OK salary (I would say anything above £50k is OK)

Haha hahaha

I'm really really well off and have never earned 50k. I was embarrassed the other day by my privilege and didn't post on a thread about holidays. Okay, so I earn 48 (well minus parental leave so probably 45) so if 50k up is OK then is 45 a bit shit?

DH earns a similar amount and we could afford private schools if we wanted to.

You do realise that lots of people on MN are actually struggling to put food on the table don't you? I think your head needs a big wobble tbh.