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?

Some people are never happy no matter what they have - they just like moaning! Can be really wearing to deal with, though.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at anything on MN these days, but to see someone describe their own father as childless is a first!

you lack basic reading and comprehension skills too

@mortgages for pointing out that professional fees are not the preserve of those on £100k? You seem to be a bit lacking in insight

There's a phrase for this in the US: "The term for this is poor mouth, which, according to the dictionary, is defined as “unjustified complaining, esp to excite sympathy.” (According to a translation of Flann O’Brien’s classic novel The Poor Mouth, in Gaelic and Old Irish “ ‘putting on the poor mouth’ means making a pretense of being poor or in bad circumstances in order to gain advantage.”) We poor-mouth when we labor to prove (sometimes to ourselves) that life is harder than it really is."

www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a10295555/poor-mouth/

And a possible explanation as to why it is making a big comeback:
"Then 2008 happened—downsizing, foreclosing, nationwide suffering—and suddenly plutocrats started leaving Madison Avenue stores with goodies hidden in brown paper shopping bags. Out of guilt, or a desire to avoid the fate of Marie-Antoinette, the prevailing code among the rich was to avoid too obvious exhibitions of their ever-accumulating wealth."

@thisaintphaedra
Sorry I did not mean to say that being poor is not difficult - I know that it can consume every moment of thought when you are worrying about paying bills.

What I meant was that the people who moan on and on about how hard up they are- are not usually hard up to the extent of counting every penny - they just moan because really they would like more money (the old keeping up with the Joneses) - have had several people like this who I have worked alongside and it is very wearing. One person kept on moaning and then I found out later that their household income was at least £10K more than mine with similar outgoings and I would have never considered myself hardup!

I have also worked alongside people who are really struggling and it is an all consuming problem for them but they would rarely talk about it - you would just pick up an odd comment here and there.

My DH thinks we’re poor I think we are comfortable not loaded but definitely not living month to month either it drives me mad! My view on it is if you have enough for food and bills you are well off if you have money left over to enjoy yourself you are doing well! He thinks you have to have a million in the bank before you are rich 🙄

It's all relative. Earning £100k a year puts them in the 40% tax bracket so they'll only actually be bringing home £60k a year.
If they were renting, that's at least £1300 a month for a 4 bed house. So after paying rent that brings it down to £44500 ish.
Then bills, council tax, medication, food, cars etc.
Life is expensive.

I agree if you can't get by on £100'000 even in London you aren't budgeting correctly !

Try being disabled and unable to work. My partner and I, along with our baby survive on around 1100 a month total

It's all relative. Earning £100k a year puts them in the 40% tax bracket so they'll only actually be bringing home £60k a year.

Someone working full time on the national ‘living’ wage earns £14.942 a year. That puts them in the 20% tax bracket. They also pay NI. Their monthly take home pay is £1,142.

If they were renting, that's at least £1300 a month for a 4 bed house. So after paying rent that brings it down to £44500ish

That brings it down to....errr....minus £158.

Then bills, council tax, medication, food, cars etc.

Then....where’s the money for bills, council tax, medication, food, cars etc?

Life is expensive.

Yep. And someone on £100k a year has a standard of living the majority of people can only dream of.

Can someone enlighten me please. Doesn't the tax credit system level everything at the lower end of the pay scale? Doesn't it make everything up to around £42,ooo or abouts, with benefits?

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

Utter bollucks. Maybe the miserable fuckers should learn to budget better

Doesn't the tax credit system level everything at the lower end of the pay scale? Doesn't it make everything up to around £42,ooo or abouts, with benefits?

PMSL. Sure, sign me up then

Whoopsie I should have explained for a family of four.

A friend at work was telling me how when her business went under and she was getting cards refused and wondering how she could survive, her sister was talking about how she had a spare 25k lying around and couldn't think what to do with ( she didn't expect the cash, she just thought the conversation insensitive). People have no idea sometimes!

£42k? Where do people get this bollocks from?

We’re pretty well off but only spend on things we need, as a result we have managed to save quite nicely. £100k is a lot, even in London.

Doesn't the tax credit system level everything at the lower end of the pay scale? Doesn't it make everything up to around £42,ooo or abouts, with benefits?

As others have said, that’s not correct. Could I ask, just out of interest, where did you hear that figure of £42k?

When I was a single parent and living from hand-to-mouth, a relative wouldn't believe that I didn't have a spare £1000 or two that I could invest in his latest recommendation. Some people just have no idea.

And the idea that benefits etc take everyone up to £42,000 or thereabouts. Dear oh dear! And 40% tax means that those on £100k take home £60k? Really? what about tax free allowances and what is earned in the lower tax bracket(s). I don't profess to know everything, but common, some common sense, please.

Take home is £5,545 per month on £100k
www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php

Take home is more than this if both parents are working obviously, this is for one earner.

Someone who earns 100k takes home maximum 66.5k. It will be less if there are student loans &/or pension contributions.

Not trawled through thread but poor mouth what a brilliant description!!

I'm fed up of that too. The only people who have moaned about money are those who yes are fucking well off!

The rich think that they are poor when they have to touch capital.They may be a millionaire in assets but capital is sacrosanct..

£42k was just a guess? I don't know exactly what the threshold is.

Child tax credit isn't just for the poorest families – households with an income of up to £50,000 may be entitled to some child tax credit if there are at least three children.

It's all means tested according to hours worked or income support paid, cost of housing, childcare paid ect. What is the threshold then?

£42,000!! fuck me! I wish. Try halving it and then take a bit more away.