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

If people want to get away from min wage jobs, they do have the option of gaining qualifications which would enable them to earn more

I have a first class honours degree. I work a NMW job because this is a very rural environment and there isn't much else available locally. Nearest city is a good hour's drive away and, whilst I could probably get a better paying job there, the cost of driving to and fro and the extra time would make it ridiculous.

So I choose to be time rich and money poor. Not everyone doing an NMW job is the possessor of one GCSE in cookery...

I genuinely haven't the faintest what any of my friends earn. It's only on MN that subjects such as "how much are your mortgage repayments?" as well as "what's your weight and clothing size?" are considered reasonable topics of conversation. I've always been a one income family, so huge variations depending on contract, in London or locally, part or full time over the last 30 years.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I earn less than the national average and I'm pretty sure from their spending habits (and theirs/their dPs jobs) that my friends earn a lot more but I've never dreamt of asking them, neither have they volunteered the information!!
I live in se and a pretty middle class town. I have heard people talk about "having to tighten their belts" while booking a few foreign holidays a year, and having a 6 bed house refurbed!.

The OP lives in a bubble. It’s just offensive to read.

Think this is the site OP is talking about.

www.ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in

OP, we are a family of four, my husband and I both in 'professional' jobs, though I have now stopped work to be a SAHP, my DH earns about £34k I think in what many consider quite a prestigious career, and I don't think we are entitled to any help, though we of course get child benefit. We run two cars, have foreign holidays admittedly not the Maldives (!) but usually a week all inclusive in a nice hotel in Greece or similar, thought we are now tied to school holidays so we may have to downgrade holidays a bit as the costs jump so much! I am very careful with money but my DH less so, expensive hobby etc! I get what you mean, our combined salary pre-kids was £60k ish with company car etc so much better but actually our quality of life is very similar and somehow we are affording two children too! You would probably be amazed how much spare cash you could free up, though if you love your lifestyle just enjoy it!

Seriously. What a strange post. Can you get any more patronising to those who are in single parent families? Zero hour contracts families?

I remember a similar thread a few months ago where someone started with a similar premise:

'I've just read that the average household income is £30.000 I don't know anyone who earns anywhere near that!'

We all live in bubbles, however much we think we don't.

And it's also inconceivable for people on (very) low incomes to understand how very quickly people adjust to incremental increases in income, such that people don't really feel any better off, and/or still feel as if they're just getting by.

Surely where you live has a massive impact on how far your money goes. I earn over the average income, but my partner earns NMW. That's plenty for us, with no children, to live comfortably and save money. But we're in Scotland, rent is lower, we have low expenditures, etc.

My household currently has an annual income of £44k pre tax.
When I go back after mat leave our income will drop according to my hours..
Because my partner earns £21k..even if I quit work completely.. we are entitled to.
Zero.
You got it
Absolutely nothing.
Apart from £20 a week child benefit that everyone gets. But other than that.. even a household income as "low" as £21k doesn't get topped up.
Just FYI.

I think the figure you are quoting is household income, not "family income" whatever that means. A household can be a single, young person, earning say £20k who is not entitled to any benefits. A household can be a single pensioner- unless they have a private pension they will not be on £30k. Many households are also single parent households.

If you're reliant on benefits only, the benefit cap is set at £20,000 outside of London, or £23,000 in London.

You're definitely wrong in assuming that every family has two full time incomes- there are still lots of households in the UK where only one parent works, for all sorts of reasons. The other parent may be disabled or struggling to find work. They may choose not to work for childcare reasons. There are also lots of families where one parent only works part time, for similar reasons, or sometimes both parents work part time, to help juggle childcare or because that's all that's available.

Clearly, you've never lived anywhere where actually well paying, full time jobs are pretty rare. People on this thread have talked about the North/South divide, but I grew up in Cornwall- a lot of jobs in the area are in tourism, lots of hours in the summer, but not many or none in the winter. Many people are stuck in dead end jobs, with little chance for advancement. Obviously, a lot of people move away, but that's not easy to do if you have no savings and all your extended family live in the area you were born. It's very easy to get trapped in a cycle of low wage jobs and debt.

I am especially aware of how difficult life is for some families now I am a teacher, but I was aware of problems before this- because I read newspapers and I make an effort to be aware of what's going on in this country. It doesn't take much to educate yourself.

@BackforGood ha ha cross post!

And there is no way on your household income you cannot afford a foreign holiday.
Maybe look at your expenditure.

Yes op everyone in the South East is on a walking salary. The cleaners, the care assistants, the toilet attendants! Get real op!

You're on the 98th centile, I think that's how it should have been termed.

It sounds like you have the privilege of never having had to worry about paying your basic bills and that's probably why you feel you're struggling. Struggling is relative- for the average person, it's probably more like ensuring there's enough money to buy a full weeks shop at the end of the month.

Its all relative isn't it? You say you DO struggle, but that will be down to what you are prioritising financially. Other families really struggle because they have no choice!

My 'ex' friend of 10 yrs sounds like you in your post. She was born, with what I referred to as a silver spoon in her mouth and had no concept that wealth wasn't an option for everyone. In contrast, I grew up in a one parent family on a council estate. She grew up in a very much sought after postcode, and literally thought a childhood pony, private education and a top of the range car for a 17th birthday gift was the norm.

Back to your post that 30k is low. We lived on that when I was a SAHP, some of my friends on a lot less, and some an awful lot more, all with different lifestyles and priorities.

We are now on less than 70k jointly, about 55k. I am very aware I am fortunate in comparison to others, yet those on much more would view me as poor. However, after seeing my ex friend several months ago in her extremely large and stunning home, with a top of the range car and privately educated DC's. She said she was skint each month, had to really budget for food etc. It never occurred to her a fancy car wasn't a necessity, nor a massive mortgage. In contrast we decided not to upsize as our mortgage is only £400, so we could enjoy a disposable income.

When DP and I met we survived on 10k a yr! One of my favourite memories was the pride I felt having saved literally pennies for weeks to get us a take-away curry and chips! I am not romanticising being poor, but that effort was on par, (if not in monetary value) with our situation now where we put money away to go abroad.

Our household income is just over 45k and our social group is pretty similar to ours, but I’m still aware that there are a massive percentage of people living on far less than this. Every week I go to the church where the food bank is and there is always a man spooning cereal in to bags. I assume they buy it in large quantities as it is cheaper and then bag it up, so each family only gets enough for however many meals their food parcel is meant to last. It upsets me each week that they can’t just give each family a full box of cornflakes.

If people want to get away from min wage jobs, they do have the option of gaining qualifications which would enable them to earn more
I actually fall in to this group of people. Sadly, it isn’t as simple as you think. We would have to loose my 15k income for the year or two that I was studying, pay for the course fees, because they wouldn’t be free for a mature student and then I would have to find a job again. We can not afford for me to do this. So I stay in the minimum wage job I have at the moment because I don’t really have the choice to do anything else.

I think people are just being harsh to the OP. It is easy to be in a bubble. We earn just over £100k between the two of us but we are far from the richest amongst DCs school friends or the clubs they go to. However I am keenly aware we are better off if we go into one of the cities close to us. (The other is filled with people in private schools where semis are over 1 million). I can easily see how you can feel you can’t afford all the things the other people have despite earning a good income.

This post has incensed me beyond words. Our family salary is 11k lower than the average. We have our reasons. It’s not easy but don’t fucking claim we don’t exist.

If people want to get away from min wage jobs, they do have the option of gaining qualifications which would enable them to earn more

I wish people understood that this is not always the case. Qualifications do not automatically equal more pay. See my previous post. A degree is desirable for my £18k job and everyone on the team has one. Plenty more low paying jobs that want a degree too.

Oh do get off the OP's back. She's admitted she was ignorant. She's apologised. It's very easy indeed to assume one's own life is the norm. She seems less goody than the pillock who spouted the "get on yer bike" narrative as a way out of poverty.

@Maryann1975 have you looked at career change loans or grants from your local ed authority? Have you looked at online courses for whatever you want to do? Many unis now do distance learning with attendance a few weekends a year. Have you explored courses that run in the evenings or weekends? You may find there are options you have not yet discovered.

You HAVE noticed we've had a Tory government for the past 10 years OP?!?

I'm in the 98 percentile and considerably better off than the OP so the percentiles make little sense other than indicating there is one fucker of a divide in this stinking country, between the haves and the have nots. We all have the chance to show our disgust at this fact, on 12 December.

Groan. You are so incredibly short sighted. Wake up, pull your head out of your arse, and don't talk such shit.

So you've never met people who aren't middle class and prosperous like you so therefore they can't possibly exist? Oooookay.