Moaning about being ‘poor’ when rich

[freetone]

AIBU to think if you are childless, go on 3 holidays abroad per year and live in a 4 bed detached house on a private road then you don’t have the right to moan about being ‘poor’? My DF and his wife have been like this recently. He earns over £150k a year. It shows how far away from reality they are imo. Really gets on my nerves when there are millions of people genuinely struggling. Anyone else experienced people like my Father?

No one is saying that those living on £100k are equal to multi millionaires in life style

But it is certainly enough to live a comfortable life in London if you make the right choices

Or move out of London I you want a larger property and have move cash at the end of the month and communicate like thousands do

Commute

Not communicate 😖

@ Mortgages, surely if your job’s salaried, those - apart from commuting, which everyone pays regardless of salary - are all employers costs?

@DramaRamaLlama, I think we can agree that it is probably rich or at least well off, but it will not give you the lifestyle that some people seem to think that it will and most people in that earning bracket will be aware that it could stop at any time through ill health or getting fired. This can obviously happen in any earning bracket, but I think most people in that earning bracket would probably rather save their spare money than go on multiple foreign holidays a year. Also, they will likely have spent years earning less than that, paying off student debts etc., so it isn’t as if they have been earning that much their entire lives. And if they want to earn even more money, then they may need to spend money to progress (think having more childcare to put in the face time at work). In my experience the big spenders are people getting into debt and not paying themselves first (i.e., saving) - some of them earn well and some of them less so.

@Alsohuman, not all employers pay for practising certificates, CPD courses, professional body memberships and extra qualifications. These are investments in your future self too, so ultimately worth forking out for if you have to.

Langrish utter tosh. I earn £40k, live (rent at great cost) alone in London, after all my outgoings I still manage to bung a few hundred in a savings account, buy myself treats and go on holiday. I feel incredibly well-off and if I made such profligate choices that I was in my overdraft each month I'd have no one to blame but myself. The fact I have an above average wage makes me very fortunate whether I live in London or live frugally or not

OK, so you’re investing in yourself and your career progression, I accept that. You can hardly complain about it coming out of your £100k salary then.

@Alsohuman, where am I complaining and where did I say I had a £100K salary? All I am saying is that there are certain job-related expenses that come with some jobs that may attract a higher salary, so the salary might not go as far as you think it should (albeit you might get some tax relief for some of the job-related expenses). By the way, I have done the same job I am doing now but in the public sector, which had a lower salary (below national average), but my employer paid for those sorts of things.

Sorry crossed lines, I should have made it clear it was to Mortgages!

Alsohuman where did I complain! I was merely stating other costs that need to be taken into account with “high” salaried professional jobs- not complaining at all and yes it is an investment but it’s still money that needs to be spent meaning less of your take home pay overall.

Some were staying if you are on 100K= 5K per month without taking into account necessary deductions hence that means you don’t actually have 5K to spend- simple arithmetic!

@mortgages presumably "simple arithmetic" applies to everyone though?!

No one thinks that you get your £5k and once you've paid your mortgage it is all "spare cash". Everyone has responsibilities and I suspect those responsibilities are felt more acutely by those on 20k than those in 100k

No one is saying that those living on £100k are equal to multi millionaires in life style

But it is certainly enough to live a comfortable life in London if you make the right choices

Absolutely this ^^

I've not heard anyone say that 100k earners have diamond shoes and go on holiday every weekend. But is does grate when you spend your entire 100k salary, and say it's all relative

Bitbored 5000 for a 2 bed, minimum if you have a family, obviously not factoring social housing.

lalafafa shame you didn’t bother to read the thread before posting such nonsense. I shared a link to a two bedroom house with a garden earlier for circa £1500 25m drive from Camden Town.

Everyone with a professional career has to pay CPD and registration fees btw to people highlighting that people on £100k are likely to. I pay two lots of professional fees annually and my OH pays just one but it costs a bomb, also has to pay for his mandatory exams which cost hundreds if not more. And you know what? On a combined income of circa £75k we both pinch ourselves at how lucky we are to even have the cash to do so, when colleagues in more junior roles still have all of the same costs as us only with far less money to do it with.

It’s a bit of a side step to make this debate ‘people on £100k aren’t jetting off to the Caribbean and shopping exclusively at Harrods you know’ when not one poster has suggested this. People are suggesting £100k is an immense salary that gives you plenty of choices and freedoms and puts you in the top earners in the country, something most people could never dream of. In my area wages are so low people regularly talk about how they’re sad they’ll never break the £20k barrier on their salaries.

Drama please go and reread my post- the items I listed are professional costs incurred- you would never be on 20K and expected to pay out 1000s in indemnity fees

Drama please go and reread my post- the items I listed are professional costs incurred- you would never be on 20K and expected to pay out 1000s in indemnity fees

You are really saying that your “professional costs” mean your take home after those costs and tax is roughly that of someone on 20k?

And people on 20k do have professional expenses. Maybe not 1000’s, but people like swimming instructors will still need to be governing body membership and insurance, CPD refreshers- coaching courses these days can be 600-2000 depending on level. Maybe not in the same league, but still likely a comparable % of total earnings.

There is no way someone on 100k+ has so many necessary expenses it puts them on the same financial footing as someone on 20k. Otherwise why bother? Why not do what pp plans to do and jack it all in for a 16 hr/week job and benefits, and be better off?

@mortgages - so what? Professional costs are not the preserve of those on £100k.

When I was on circa £40k I had to pay for my practice certificate. Now I'm on many multiples of that my employer does.

It's crass in the extreme for anyone to pretend they're poor on £100k

To paraphrase from Charles Dickins' "David Copperfield":

“Annual income £10k, annual expenditure £9.9k, result happiness. Annual income £100k, annual expenditure £101k, result misery."

Wow single parent of 2 kids here and I earned just over £14k last tax year (which equates to around £1k per month. I own my own home - pay mortgage still - and pay my bills, feed my kids, have a car etc . I don’t call myself poor. I don’t have any holidays abroad but we try for day trips using national trust and English heritage membership and blue Peter badges. We also try and get out camping for a few nights 2 or 3 times during the summer season using the various memberships whilst there.

It winds me up when people complain they’re poor and are having holidays and flash cars and regularly go out to the pub/meals etc.

I had a friend at uni who complained she was skint when her bank account got below £5k. I, on the other hand, was working 3 nights a week whilst doing a full time teacher training degree (required 9-5 lectures 5 days a week and teaching practice so non of this 12 hours a week business).

Slightly less bad but I had a friend who was angry he was so broke he had to cancel his Netflix and Sky+ subscription.

I mean yes he wasn't rich but those things are luxurious you sound daft complaining about having to lose.

My PIL were basically going on 3x 5-10 day holidays a year... and telling us how “poor” they were.

My DH one day said... may be you should cut down on the holidays if you’re that poor.

It’s put this nonsense to bed for good! Happy days!!
It’s hilarious how some people just lack perspective or common sense.

As I said re-read my post- no where did I equate 100k minus professional expenses to salary of someone on 20K

For someone claiming to be on multiples of 40k you lack basic reading and comprehension skills too

There's a massive difference between "poor" and "broke". Anyone on a high income can be broke but to confuse that with being poor is just idiocy.
We are broke. We have very little cash to spend every month. But that's our choice. We have high income and have lots of commitments we have chosen ( big house, big mortgage, daughters riding lessons ) for example) which make us broke. Sometimes I moan about being broke ( but am careful who I moan to) but every day I'm grateful for not being poor and for the high standard of living I get from the things we pay out for