To think you are not skint on £70k, even in Central London??

[LottaLou]

Just had a ridiculous conversation with a friend who lives and works in Central London. She is in digital marketing, which is a field where salaries can vary significantly, so until now I had no idea what kind of salary she might be on. She is single and childfree, so no dependants.

She always complains that she does not have enough money to do this and do that, how skint she is at the end of the month, they should pay her more for her job and so on. I usually listen to her and sympathize, as I have had money problems in the past, and I know how tough it can be.

Well today she (accidentally) revealed to me that she is on bloody £70k, which is more than twice my salary!! I am stunned as I genuiney thought she was on some "barely above NMW" money, given how often she complains about being skint!

I love her dearly and I will always be her friend, but AIBU to tell her to STFU the next time she starts complaining about being skint?

Johnnyfinland ''However, it's not as simple as saying if you can afford £2k rent you can afford a mortgage. You may be able to afford the repayments but the deposit is what would catch you out. Even a modest property in London is 500k. Generally people can only borrow about 3-4 times their salary so even earning 70k and with a huge 20% deposit of 100k she'd still need to borrow 400, which wouldn't happen. She'd get lent between 210-280k meaning she'd have to have a deposit of almost 300k and even on 70 grand that would take an age to save.''

But not all properties are 500k, Croydon and places which are around 10 miles from Soho flats can be bought for 300k. Plenty of ppl live in these areas and commute daily. Just because 1 works in central London does not mean they must live there. For most people property in around central London[even couples] is out of their price range. On a 70k salary, surely you could get a 300k mortgage?

Johnnyfinland And add to that-flats in central areas such as canary wharf can still be snapped up for 350k if you check Rightmove.

Oh and I walked past a 2 bed in Eastham when I was in london [quite close to central] a few weeks which was selling at 290k.

East Ham? Canary Wharf? We were talking Kensington boiler. I think everyone knows cheaper areas are available

Tbh being a student is quite different to living there as an adult with a busy job.

Holy

Wow, what a reaction. The parent's aren't moaning about it, they just happened to mention it, we are friends.
My point is it doesn't matter how much you have as long as the basic needs are met. Of course anything else is luxury, and lifestyle choice.
However, it proves a point that one person's rich is another person's skint.

Totally. I don’t think £200k salary is anything like £32k school fees territory (which would be boarding at a top school) I have friends who earn twice that who wouldn’t even entertain the idea

But it’s clearly a luxury, no one stated anything to the contrary

Fruitcorner123 and boomboom12

I live in an area with no tube, so cheaper housing costs and I had a really good deposit.

Also mean I use the buses not the tube - £1.50 a journey x 10 a week means only £60 basic travel costs.

Council tax is low because I live alone = 25% discount

YABU. You have no idea what her finances are. She could have a lot of outstanding debt, be supporting family members, or be socking savings away like mad for retirement, a home, a vacation, whatever.

I give myself X amount to spend each month after bills, and everything else after that goes into savings or paying off debt. So I might have a thousand in the bank, but because it's earmarked for savings/debt, I am budget skint, even if not truly skint.

By my reckoning, after tax (50% on that income?) she’s getting around £3,400 and that’s before any national insurance, pension payments and other deductions.. so given the high cost of living in London then I can understand why she feels that she is ‘skint’

If you live in central London the tube isn’t really relevant- you can basically walk everywhere faster. Is it really central? Can’t think of anywhere central so far away from a Tube houses are significantly cheap enough to attract people who can’t afford central London in the first place?

I think a lot of it is expectation though. Many people will have had parents who earned the equivalent of 70k & on that income they probably bought a house in London & supported a family. I think 70k puts you in the top 5% of earners so if you reach that salary you probably expect to have more choice & that’s probably why she is moaning.

DerelictWreck Thanks but the OP is probably not in the position to buy & that’s the problem for many.

''Tbh being a student is quite different to living there as an adult with a busy job.''
No not really, I did not live in a student house, I lived with other adult professionals and it was a quiet and adult house- granted I was in my late 40s at the time but still. A girl from my class[aged 21] lived down the street from me in a similar style quite adult professional house [no parties, no noise] and we paid around the same. This area was close to central London too.

I thought you said it was easy London? Docklands way?

I lived in similar house as a student. Student digs don’t really exist in London I find. Not uncommon.

EAST not easy

''East Ham? Canary Wharf? We were talking Kensington boiler. I think everyone knows cheaper areas are available ''

Yes but if ppl cannot afford Kensington and plan to spend longterm in London why on earth pay through the nose to stay there with nothing to gain in the longterm by it? Ofcourse we would all like to live in our ideal house in our ideal area with the porsche out the front but if you cannot afford it why not look for elsewhere like Canary Wharf? It is your own property at the end of the day then. Rent is dead money. Is it really all that worth it to pay through the nose to live in Kensington in a property that will never be your own??

She always complains that she doesn't have enough money to do this and do that and she's skint at the end of the month.. I listen and sympathise because I've had money difficulties

Come on Cardigan if she was "socking away money for retirement, a home, a vacation, whatever" she'd have some bloody front moaning on to her much poorer friend about it! How crass.

Because people can do what they like? That doesn’t stop them being annoying people who whinge a lot!

''I thought you said it was easy London? Docklands way?''

Are you addressing that to me?

Yes- you said you lived docklands way then said it was close to central London

No i never revealed where i lived when i lived in london. I quoted houseprices in the docklands from looking at prices in rightmove. I was then in Eastham visiting for a weekend at a cousin's 25th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago when I saw a 2 bed going for 290k.

When I stayed in London[I no longer live there having moved back to my home county] , I lived in Stratford area which is quite close to central by train.

You can't just walk everywhere in London. What if you have to look smart for a meeting and it's really hot? What if you're wearing heels? What if you have many files/other tools of your trade to carry? What if you're on the clock, i.e. charging by the minute? What if you've been in since 7am and it's now 10pm?

Sure you can walk to some things. But you can't say that living in London means no travel costs because you can walk everywhere - it's just not true for most people IME.

Cycling may be a bit more feasible, but that has some of the same issues (and a host of other ones!).

I didn’t say you never have to use public transport for cost reasons, I am struggling to imagine what area of central London you live in that isn’t near a tube station. I am
Wondering whether people have very different ideas of central London (like “near Stratford”)

''Wondering whether people have very different ideas of central(like “near Stratford”) ''

i never said it was central london, I said it was near. Considering it is only around 25 mins by train to Trafalgar square, I'd say that is near.

I managed to live in a desirable part of Zone 2 very comfortably on £25k, so I personally think she's being ridiculous!!