Average incomes

[flabbergastedfinances]

Found out that the average family income is around £30,000 a year and I can not believe it. I don't know a single family on anywhere near this low, lowest is possibly 70k mark between two teachers but majority have two earners pulling in 40+ each or one higher earner on 80/90k+

How on earth is 30,000 even possible in light of minimum wage and benefits/tax credits etc? What is even more shocking is that I used the where do you fit in calculator and we are apparently in top 98% of families in the uk. No chance, absolutely no chance.

We might have a high ish mortgage (still only £1000 so not outrageous) and have slipped into bad spending habits (Uber's, eating lunch out every day, new clothes now and then) but we are hardly excessive. We can't afford to run two cars, can't afford foreign holidays, can't afford the posher shops like Boden or northface new and yet this chart tells me we have it better than nearly everyone else in the country?! What am I missing?!

We have a child in childcare a few days a week, so that and mortgage are biggest expenses but combined that's only £1500 and I see everyone else buying £300 coats, spending 1000s on holidays, children in private schools and I am utterly stumped.

How can the average family income be £30,000? Which families are surviving on that? None I know that's for sure and I just refuse to believe that's an actual reality

🙈🙈🙈🙈 Jesus Christ, I'm speechless.

I'm highly qualified but geographically disadvantaged. I work in a NMW job but most of them in retail don't offer full time hours. I'm single, earn around £10,000 pa, pay all the bills by myself, have a second job with high profile but VERY variable earnings (usually barely cover the council tax).

Just imagine living on £10,000 a year, OP. Imagine not being able to afford to heat your home. Imagine worrying what will happen when you retire and can't afford the rent on a pension. Imagine asking about benefits and being told you 'just have to get a better job' when you are approaching retirement age, no savings, no private pension.

It's my reality. And I'm lucky, my kids are grown up, i can eat cheap food and wear lots of clothes to keep warm.

I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven if our household income was £30k.

DH brings in £24k (gross). I can't work because I have a chronic, life-long autoimmune illness, but because it fluctuates without warning ATOS in their infinite wisdom and against the advice of my GP and hospital consultant decided I wasn't eligible for any financial help. Despite the fact I'm in constant pain and some days find it hard to walk. Even if someone did offer me a job, I'm not sure they'd tolerate me calling in sick several times a month. Or week, when I'm in a particularly bad way.

We can't afford a car which makes getting around difficult for me. We've never been on holiday. Eating out is a rare treat and we've never been to a 'proper' restaurant.

Even so, we know there are people a lot worse off than us. We've never had to use a food bank, for example. We can afford rent and an hour or so of heating a day when it gets really cold. We can share a bottle of wine on a Saturday evening. It could be a lot worse.

Your ignorance is startling, OP.

I think you could have done a bit of research before posting this OP. You have been insensitive and have probably upset some posters.

You have been insensitive and have probably upset some posters.

I'm pretty sure that was the aim of the post.

For the posters on 70-100k who describe themselves as "not well off" or struggling, what would you consider a comfortable wage to live on? I'm finding it hard to comprehend that only those on 6 figure salaries and above are able to have a decent standard of living. Our mortgage is about £1000/month and our household income is less than half the OPs and i wouldn't say we were struggling.
I could accept it more if you said "i don't now why, as we earn good money, but we seem to struggle"

@ReceptacleForTheRespectable I don't think that was the aim, surely you wouldn't come on a public forum and make an almighty tit of yourself. I'm embarrassed for the op.

I can only imagine that the more money you have the more you buy 😂 and commit to, like a large mortgage, expensive cars, holidays and hobbies/memberships

The only way to be ‘better off’ is to increase your incomings and keep your outgoings static or decrease them. When my salary has risen I haven’t changed anything major in my outgoings so I feel ‘better off’. I tend to splurge on the things I see as luxury such as having the heating on for longer and buying better food

How much money do you think cleaners, care assistants, retail workers, warehouse workers, hospitality workers get OP? Do you really think the cashier that serves you in the supermarket is on 35k? Also although 70pc of women work, a lot of those work part time, so will be on half the normal wage plus no opportunities for propotion if they are on 2 or 3 days.

This thread is like the opposite of this one
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3671172-29-5k-earnings-who-are-you-and-how

@Skinnychip for me it's not a number as such but more being able to afford a bigger home. A bog standard 3 bed terrace with no off street parking & small garden is 1.2m, you need to earn a lot to afford that. Those same homes were about 200k in the late 90s but unfortunately I was doing my A-Levels.

Well clearly what is posted and what is actual may differ considerably but making a tit of yourself is priceless

to clear up a few things; before children I had a very good job, if he left me for someone with 'more about them' (thanks for that, by the way) then I would go back to work. I intend to at some point anyway but being home with them right now is a choice we made for our family. I'm aware how fortunate I am to have this opportunity.

This thread has been eye opening. Thank you so much for every comment, I'm sorry if I was insensitive at any point. The bubble bit is true, it is very easy to just not see what isn't in front of you and to believe that everyone has it figured it out. I really appreciate people explaining how the finances work in their homes. I did not realise how many fathers didn't pay for their children or how bad the benefits system was because I just didn't know. Yes I should have done but I didn't. I do now and I am grateful.

Friends and I have always been open about money. Now I realise it's possibly because we are all in fortunate positions but I do think keeping incomes secret and not discussing money makes it taboo and actually contributes to no one knowing what is going on anywhere.

I'm not stupid in general, just very very unaware in this area. I didn't realise nmw stays the same and I'm embarrassed by that but how would I know? I do now anyway and I'm shocked.

Anyway, thank you so much and I am sorry for any offence I may have caused with my posts

@Skinnychipfor me it's not a number as such but more being able to afford a bigger home. A bog standard 3 bed terrace with no off street parking & small garden is 1.2m, you need to earn a lot to afford that

Where is this though? Even for London that must be a pretty expensive area. If you are on NMW you wouldn't be able to afford to buy any sort of house

flabbergastedfinances
What was your 'very good job' and how much did you earn?

For the posters on 70-100k who describe themselves as "not well off" or struggling, what would you consider a comfortable wage to live on? I'm finding it hard to comprehend that only those on 6 figure salaries and above are able to have a decent standard of living. Our mortgage is about £1000/month and our household income is less than half the OPs and i wouldn't say we were struggling.
I could accept it more if you said "i don't now why, as we earn good money, but we seem to struggle"

God knows, but it's interesting that in general, posters on 70-100k and struggling rarely have their choices called into question. Meanwhile those on 20-30k (and lower) usually do. Told to move to a cheaper area, get a better job/education, work harder, be smarter, not have children as a choice, basically cut costs no matter what and be socially responsible, earn more and pay more tax. Yet someone like the OP struggling (I haven't seen it here might be wrong) aren't told to downsize their house and therefore smaller mortgage, stop sending child to childcare when it's not needed, cut down on luxuries and for her to go and get a job, pay tax and be more socially responsible.
Double standard really when you think about it.

Glad you've learnt a few things op 👍 I don't think you were being insensitive, just very naive.

@cccameron it was related to my postgraduate qualifications and I was on £43,000 when I stopped

Thank you @flabbergastedfinances for coming back to answer these questions. I'm still curious as to what exactly you did, how much you earned, how long you have been out of work for and what you'd expect to earn on your return. Then subtract 50% of annual childcare costs. That's your actual pay before other expenses.

@Skinnychip SW London where I was born & raised. My parents were immigrants as were many of my neighbours. They all could buy properties despite having relatively normal jobs & many only had one parent working.

Meanwhile those on 20-30k (and lower) usually do. Told to move to a cheaper area, get a better job/education, work harder, be smarter, not have children as a choice

I disagree with that. Posters always say people like me should leave London, why I am less entitled to live where I live then someone pushed out of Cornwall? Plus it just pushes the problem elsewhere, I know a fair few people who are buying up north to rent out so they are in the ladder & continuing to rent in London.

I would like more than 2 dc but just not affordable.

@VaggieMight good job I'm happily married and not looking then

It's also about trading one life for another

25 years ago we earned entry level salaries (combined £18,000) and owned a tiny two bed in the Midlands. We could afford to go out to the cinema during the week, at weekends all day in the pub, nightclubbing (!), for dinner. Foreign holidays twice a year.

And we could still pay for all our bills

Fast forward and the house is a (slightly bigger) flat in London and we earn 5 times that and our mortgage is 8 times our first mortgage, our bills are enormous and we do NONE of the above.
And we HAVE to live here as our jobs mostly exist here (mine definitely)

I've not been on a foreign holiday in 15 years as we can't afford it now/choose not to spend our money on it

All I can say is I definitely had more disposable income in the past as things were far cheaper - cinema was £3.95, dinner out was a fiver etc. I could have a whole weekend 'out out' for £20/£30.

My sister has more disposable income than me now even though she earns probably a third of my salary as her mortgage is £180 a month.

Everyone has to live somewhere and these huge salaries are paying to rent or buy in the south east

And I also know I'm 'well off' on paper but I actually have monthly control, unless I move/dh dies/children stop uni/ dog stops needing daycare of about £400