Question time man top 5 percent.

[refraction]

Did anyone see the man on QT asking about tax?

Apparently he doesn't even think he is in the top 50 percent of earners.

All doctors earn more apparently and solicitors.

How out of touch with reality?

He didn't come across well and very out of touch.

He’s been brainwashed sadly along with many others

It's mine, mine I tell you, all mine.

I didn’t think £80k puts you in the top 5 per cent though.

It does

Plonker.

But there are a lot of people who think lawyers, doctors, business owners etc are all on 6 figure salaries from day one of their career.

Winston Churchill once said that the biggest argument against democracy was a 5 minute chat with the average voter. When you listen to the likes of that moron on Question Time, you have to wonder if he was right.

Perhaps passing an IQ test before you are allowed to vote might not be such a bad idea.

What I really want to know, is what organisation pays this complete tool £80K+ a year.

Let's hope it's not a school, and it turns out he's Head of Maths.

It wasn't even just that bloke either! There were a few people in the audience agreeing with him and the woman sat next to him huffing and saying "Rubbish!" at the idea that any solicitors earned under £80k.

Where does Question Time FIND these people? Who on earth thinks that £80k is a below average salary?

It can be hard to believe how little most people are paid. It can also be hard to believe that you are in the top 5% when you are struggling to get by, its counter intuitive.

Greedy git.

James O’Brien on LBC is talking about this just now. Very interesting to hear about people’s perception of wealth.

where was QT being filmed?

Bolton. With guests from the local conservative club no doubt.

He just unreasonably annoyed me. Quite angry.

Like a pp, I sat there wondering who on earth such an out of touch idiot could be capable of earning £80k. Unbelievable.

We are well above the £80,000, we have a normal 4 bed house, nothing special, one uk and one Spain break under £2,000 a year. We eat out at a chain restaurant once a week and we have £6,000 savings. We are at no point rich. I think the propblem is that everything in London is so expensive. I understand that most people earn less than us and that we are very lucky but when I think when people hear top 5% they imagine posh clothes and cars, big houses and holidays. That just isn't the reality.

This is why statistics like “top 5%” are so poor, as a prediction to how wealthy people feel. In some parts of the country £80k would have yo living and owning a 4 bed house and able to have holidays every year. In London it is doing very well and enables the purchase of a 1 bed flat in zone 2-3. It is perfectly conceivable that someone who earns £80k does not feel in the top 5%. They are in the top 5% for a very disparate geographical country.

Just seen the original Op said 50% not 5%, but the argument is still appropriate.

HiJenny a person owning a 4 bedroom house (did you say in London?), having 2 holidays a year and eating out once a week ... really is rich. I suspect you mix with people with similar incomes and don't realise how most of the country live.

I think he confided top 5% of uk earners with top of uk 5% wealth, lumping in the oligarchs and such. Obviously wealth is relative but you’re taking home about 4.5k a month on 80k, it’s not a meagre wage.

*confused

one uk and one Spain break under £2,000 a year
We eat out at a chain restaurant once a week
have £6,000 savings
We are at no point rich

With respect @HiJenny35, you are rich. You live in a 4 bed house and have 2 holidays per year. You eat out every week and have a months worth of income in savings. That is rich. You may not like to think it is because some people are RICHER, but that doesn't mean that you aren't.

A 4 bedroom house is not normal, nobody I know has a 4 bedroom house and I live in the Midlands in a fairly cheap area.

That is exactly the issue with some people. That they think a 4 bedroom house (in London) and eating out once a week is normal. It's not, and the average person does not have that.

@HiJenny35 many people would consider you ‘rich’ though. Rich doesn’t necessarily mean Ferraris and butlers, it can mean decent size houses and not worrying about paying the bills and taking multiple holidays a year.

Who on earth thinks that £80k is a below average salary

A significant minority of Mumsnet, thus illustrated by HiJenny

We are well above the £80,000...We are at no point rich

Yes you are.
I am rich too, though I earn less than you.
You are in the wealthiest 5% of the UK, and easily in the top 1% of income earners on the planet.*
You might feel poor compared to a millionaire splashing around the cash on a reality TV show but by objective measurements you are rich. The problem is your expectations of what wealth feels like, not the amount you earn.

*An income of $32,400 per year puts someone in the top 1% of income earners in the world. To reach the top 1% worldwide in terms of wealth—not just income but all you own—you'd have to possess $770,000 in net worth.