To wonder where all these peoples spend there money?

[choiceofwords]

I have a household income of around 50k. We eat out regularly, nice and quiet neighbourhood, DC always in nice clothes, run a nice car, save a little.

I am quite a big spender and not great at watching what I spend so I don't feel comfortable because I'm careful with cash.

Yet people, multiple people on MN, often seem to start threads suggesting anything below much more than this is poor?

I really don't understand it.

I have friends on much less that still do nice things like go out and on holiday every year. Obviously the same won't be true for everyone on similar incomes but I just wondered where these 'anything less than 100k' tribes are coming from.

Well, it depends where you live doesn’t it? And what your priorities are with regard to what you buy.
We leave in a town with fairly cheap housing and our income is approaching £100k. But our mortgage is £500 a month and I own my car (DH has a company car) so we have a lot of disposable income. If we lived in London or the commuter belt, we would probably not be so comfortable.
It’s not that difficult to grasp really.

@daisypond that sounds miserable to me 

@GenevaMaybe I've only been to Geneva a couple of times so don't know it well but it has a really strange "feel" to it of being awash with money if you know what I mean... it feels expensive.

There’s huge variables- many survive on tiny household incomes and spend their life counting the pennies either through choice or necessity. Many put themselves into debt for non essential items. Others spend huge amounts on handbags, shoes, makeup etc. Most do something in the middle ground.
It changes as life passes along and priorities change - mortgages paid off, children not needing childcare etc. On the whole, it gets easier as you get older and progress in your careers but there are often hidden costs to higher earning.
A CEO has to but reasonable presents for their directors, PAs, office managers, diary manger etc. Entertainment tends to be with peers who choose more expensive activities and restaurants.
Work clothes cannot be a Tesco suit and poly cotton shirt anymore.
You’re more likely to need evening wear and to have to travel further to events. You’ll often have to go to charity events and throw money in envelopes or bid in auctions for things you don’t want.
You can’t arrive in a clapped out ford transit held together by string. There are expectations placed on many higher earners - that is not to say it’s harder than being poor but there are some things that cost more as you earn more.

@orangeteal wages in Geneva are very high!! They have the highest minimum wage in the world afaik.its all relative. Primary teachers in Geneva are the highest paid in the world I think.., approx 100k afaik.

Yes the minimum wage is £19 per hour

My rule of thumb when I get a wage hike is to maybe increase monthly spending by £30-50 and put the rest of the increase into savings.

My lifestyle spending has increased far more slowly than my savings total

I think also people use credit cards and pay interest, so their money goes quicker.

One at uni worked full time for a year before going, and had worked at least part time since 16, and worked this last summer - in second year now . She has plenty of money, and she gets our parental top up as deemed the right amount to pay by the student loans company. I would certainly buy a coat if needed, but she doesn’t. She buys all her clothes second hand. All of my DC make a small, and sometimes quite large, income buying and selling second hand clothing. All the DC bought their own “fashion”clothes themselves or would get something as their token Christmas present. I would buy school uniform and coats and school shoes and essentials. But only one was interested in fashion. They don’t need glasses. We learned to be more careful with money when DH lost his job a while ago, and it was very scary - all the things you take for granted and how quickly your lifestyle can be whisked away. It was hard to find another job. He earned more than now, but not a huge amount more, and that made us take careful account. But as he’s seriously ill, it will possibly soon come down to me as the sole earner, and I have redundancy looming over me. That certainly focuses the mind no end.

Wow @choiceofwords consider yourself in a very lucky position then, rented household here, 1 resident kid and 2 extra adult teen kids most weekends, last 3 mths only one income , total just under £12K no benefits or extra help, can't afford heating oil let alone a holiday, us adults eat once a day often less to ensure kids are ok, believe me it's a soulless grinding existance, be grateful for what you have rather than judgey, cos that's how your post comes across

Mibs What on earth are you on about? You reply as if I was slating on people unable to live comfortably, they say, on less that a theee figure salary. When in reality I was just explaining that 50k mark is often very comfortable/

Obviously your situation is entirely different if you're only bringing in £12K

I agree @choiceofwords. I have a few friends that think I'm loaded. I've never actually told them how much I earn and they'd be shocked that it's less than them. The difference is in the details. 6 year old cars kept for years instead of new cars every 3. We eat out once a month using Tesco points v their twice a week. We take pack ups to the park. They spend £40 on the local theme park entry and another £40 on lunch whilst they're there.

I'm feel I've got enough Because I have health, a home, transport, food and friends. It's interesting that people on here slate the frugal lifestyle as something they wouldn't want and depressing. I don't see my life as depressing at all!

@daisypond I don't know how you can say on 1 hand you have enough money but don't do presents, TV, £50 a week on food etc and also if your teenagers have jobs which pays for things then everything is not coming out of the 55k pot.

flowerycurtain yes precisely.
There was a pp who mentioned being 'easily pleased'. The more I think about it, all this really means is being grateful for all that you do have.
Lets face it, the vast majority of MNers have 'enough.'
It must be awful to be constantly coveting the next status symbol/gadget/holiday destination without stopping to consider your present good fortune.

I also think there is a misconception about higher earners & spending. My circle includes GPs, accountants, detectives, teachers, lawyers, etc We all shop in Aldi or Lidl, we all drive 2nd hand cars, consider Centre Parcs expensive, do lots of our own DIY, buy 2nd hand, sell on stuff on ebay etc.

My DC teenage income from their part-time jobs is for them to do what they like with - it’s their money. Of course they aren’t buying family food and paying the bills and paying their way with it when they are schoolchildren and I’m responsible for them. Not even one at uni has to pay rent and board when home for the holidays.

But they are using it for clothes & socialising?

We have a fairly high income and moderate expenses as we have no mortgage on our house anymore. Money seems to fly out in huge chunks anyway. In last 4 years we've replaced the gas furnace, central air condition and the roof (including the roof deck). That all added up to about $60.

DS is in uni. That's about $45k per year all in (after scholarships!). Yes, we've been saving for this since he was a baby, but it's still money out the door. DD starts uni next fall and we don't know exactly what that will cost but expect it to be similar to DS.

My 2009 Subaru Forester will soon need a big repair so we're trading it in on a 2020 Forester. That will cost about $25k net. Too bad, but we got almost 150k miles out of it and had a lot of great holidays traveling in it.

We don't live extravagantly. There's still a lot of necessary spending.

Up until a few weeks ago our income was around £65k. But we live just outside London so expensive mortgage for a pretty shitty house, we also pay a lot into our pension as we will retire at 50 so want a good life then. We also have 3 kids, 3 cats, 2 cars and a school that seems to always just want £1 per child for xyz event every few weeks. Plus Wow day payments times 3 & school trips every half term times 3.

Now I've started working so our income is now closer to £90k but i have child care fees at £200 a week, plus paying to park at work every day etc. We actually dont have that much more disposable income.

Our rent is £1500 (London), bills incl car insurance and petrol another £500, nursery and childminder (with 30 hours funded) another £750... it builds up really quickly.

But imagine if your income was lower/more average stanski.

If you were on £30k, monthly income around £2-2.3k pm, or maybe a little less if paying pension, student loans etc, then you simply would not have the money available to spend £1500 on rent, £750 on nursery and £500 on bills, with food and any entertainment/luxuries/leisure activities on top, so just because well paid people manage to spend all their high incomes on what seems like boring essentials, it still means that they are better off and able to make better choices than lower paid people who still need to find somewhere to live, someone to look after their DC while they are at work, put food on the table, pay the bills etc et.

@BarbaraofSeville oh of course. I'm not disputing that at all, nor complaining. It is what it is.

OP I earn double what you earn, I have no idea what people spend their money on to be in financial trouble on decent wages.

I’m a lone parent with one child who is in reception, so i pay for before and after school childcare, and two activities per week. We live in the borough of Hackney, I own the flat we live in (Shoreditch) and a 50% share in a flat in Stoke Newington. I also own a parking space.

We eat out a bit too much, lunch every saturday and sunday least, and sometimes in a Thursday after school.

I have a cleaner for a few hours a week. I don’t buy lots of clothes or trainers, but I do tend to buy expensive clothes and trainers.

We go on holidays, this year we have done Cornwall, the forest of dean, Spain, Disney Paris (although that was free) and Japan (to see a WC game and do Disney).

We have more than enough to live on and could maintain our lifestyle on quite a bit less without being in financial difficulty. I quit my job for a year four years ago as well, so it isn’t like I had plenty in the bank as a safety net.

We have an income of over £100k, our mortgage alone is £2.5k for a four bed that needs a lot of work (Cheshire), £1000 on childcare (nursery not nanny). I still shop at Aldi, we only have one car. We save in pensions and we pay to commute. Holidays in this country only. Life is just expensive?!

Perhaps slightly off topic but I've always wondered, too, how people find UK holidays cheaper than going abroad?

I've looked at doing one before. Even looked at really budget friendly options. By the time I factored in everything, a little bit of spending money, etc, it was just as expensive/more expensive than an all inclusive in Turkey/Spain for the week or two!

'We only have one car' - plenty of people have no car.