to be shocked that people think 100k isn’t adequate

[wutheringheights3]

We live in London (zone 2/3 so fairly central for families). We have a household income/wage of 95k-120k each year and it only varies because we’re both self employed.

We own our house and luckily don’t have a mortgage anymore, can afford for DD to have a pony, DS wanted to go to our local secondary school but had the option of the independent sector, as did DD who took advantage of it. We’re also very grateful that we can afford to go away 2/3 times a year (usually somewhere warm in summer for a few weeks, a European city break and Cornwall/Scotland). We also have a lot of savings and have money put aside for the children for university/adult life.

DH and I are by no means incredibly wealthy, just very comfortable.
However, I just don’t understand how people think 100K isn’t enough to live on in London comfortably. Many of DS’ friends parents earn less than us and still live lovely lives in the capital.

chop I don’t know our bills etc off the top of my head but later on I’ll have a look and find out that for you. We live in an original 3 bedroom, normal terrace victorian house but we extended the loft so it’s a 4 bedroom house now although I’m not sure if it would be considered one or not as it’s not the original attic. We would have been able to afford to send both to private school but DS preferred our local school so we only send one. I’ll admit, we would have had to give up a few luxeries to send both private. Our holidays aren’t too expensive as we self cater in villas instead of going to hotels and book quite far in advance. In Cornwall, Spain and Scotland we stay in friends/family houses so that is a massive help when we need a holiday but don’t want to spend loads.

I think it's lovely you joined Mumsnet just to tell us all about this OP.

You have a household income of 120. No mortgage. Bil, in his 20's earns 90k. How did he manage that then?

What jobs do you all have?

So? Of course you're comfortable. And?

Shocker - someone who has no rent and mortgage has extra money!

Is your house large enough to accommodate your inflated braggy ego and yep that pony must be shergar

(I’m not in the UK so converting to sterling for this post. After mandatory pension, income tax etc, I bring home about 57% of my salary so using 43% as “tax” just for ease)

My mortgage is £2,500 a month. That’s for a two-bedroom apartment in a very expensive city. So £30,000 of my net salary goes on mortgage, which equates to just under £53,000 of my gross salary.

You can’t talk about affordability of living without taking housing in to account.

Both self employed? So what do you both do? And how much do you both bring to the table?

rofl...
its the lack of housing costs OP that make you so smug

as for saying you could have it all bar the pony when you did have a mortgage i bet your mortgage was tiny compared to people who bought recently in london.

My DP sold his ex marital home recently, he bought it 15 odd yrs ago and his mortgage was 400k then. The house sold for 1.4 million so people buying it now have a 8000k mortgage on same property ...his repayments were tiny compared to what theirs will be.

this has to be the most blatant smuggy stealth boast i have ever seen

Why are you all having a pop at the OP because she has no mortgage, so obviously she has no grasp on reality. I took it that she was saying that earning £100K allowed her to pay off her mortgage!

😂

Is it just me who's wondering where the pony lives in zone 2-3?! I'm imagining it lives next door to the OP, where they've turned the adjoining terraced house into a nice ensuite stable with all mod cons....

OMG just seen you use your friends and family as hotels when 'you dont want to spend a lot'

that is just awful ....hope you accommodate them back in your london home whenever they don't want to pay london hotel prices

@wutheringheights3 thanks for the response

I don't know why people are getting so upset about your post

You bought at the right time and don't have an extravagant lifestyle eg yes you do go away 2-3 times a year but not on luxury holidays. You were not afraid to give your two children different educational opportunities whereas most parents would feel if you go private for one, need to do it for the other etc

Is 120K your post tax income though?

This thread is utterly bonkers. A pony? Five holidays a year aren’t enough? Some of you don’t live on this planet or are taking the piss.

You are massively taking the piss.

Single person can live anywhere. Families need to consider schools and have more than one bedroom. They might want a park nearby etc

The average house price in London is about £500k. On an income of £100k pa you can borrow £350k. £150k deposits usuallycome from luck (living at home), inheritance or a big redundancy payout.

Your holidays are at other people's houses so massively less than others ffs. You really have no clue how lucky you are

Our holidays aren’t too expensive as we self cater in villas instead of going to hotels and book quite far in advance. In Cornwall, Spain and Scotland we stay in friends/family houses so that is a massive help when we need a holiday but don’t want to spend loads.

So your definition of a cheaper holiday is to rent a villa and to book in advance? And your family and friends have second homes in holiday destinations? If you’re the low earner you say you are, OP, I think you can safely say you married well.

Just sayin’

Well, yes. I frequently read threads here about what a struggle it is to live on our household income, but actually we manage to have a very nice life, and I get a bit bemused by some of the posts about how £100k really isn't a lot, when it seems a huge amount to me. I think that in some cases having a high income gets quite expensive, and people seem to need to buy in lots more services and have high grooming requirements and so on.

Both coming from poor backgrounds dh and I have worked hard to achieve a joint income of 100k. However with debts built up over the years including from my exh, 3 mat leaves, expensive mortgage, teenagers etc. 100k does not allow us to be frivolous. Aldi is my favourite place

YANBU. 100k should be more than adequate.

Admittedly I'm not in London, but my household income, including housing benefit and tax credits, is £21k. I am the single parent of 3 children, none of whom go to private school or have a pony. We do not go on 5 holidays a year.

However I can afford to run a car, pay my rent and bills on time, and feed my family. £100k would be an astronomical amount to me.

We have a comparable household income. We have a small mortgage. We still couldn’t afford two kids in private school and a pony.

Private secondary is about £50-60k for two kids per year. £90k income is about £60k net.

What planet are you on?

I'd really like to slap you across the face.

Are you for real?

I have a similar income (before deductions), I live in zone 1 with one child and we’re crammed into a fairly small one bedroom flat. How can you think having no housing costs has little impact on how comfortable you are financially?!

Maybe op means a My Little Pony

@wutheringheights3

Merry He works in the city for a tech company I think.

So you have no idea what your husband actually does for a living?!