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.

FlyingPenguine if you earn £32,000, you are not in the top 5%.

I think the real issue is that the top 5% do not feel well off under a Conservative government that has implemented policies to make their standard of life poorer than under the last Labour government.

I liked the faces of everyone around him as the penny dropped what he was saying.

All except the woman next to him - presumably she came with him

www.accountancydaily.co/labour-raise-corporation-tax-26

You could argue whether the £300k turnover threshold is appropriate. But that's another question.

Watching his reaction, I would imagine he still doesn't believe it

There's a book about 'being socially shamed on social media' and what happens next.

I wonder what's happened to him and how he feels since then?

I wonder what's happened to him and how he feels since then?

Me too-I would love to see him being interviewed now.

Does he understand what he said was wrong? Or does he still think he was right? Would he admit ‘I got it wrong-that’s not what I meant’?

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/childcare-costs

This suggests that the average inner London nursery cost is £330 per week for 50 hours.

That's £17,160 for a year (making the assumption that all 52 weeks are paid for).

The source is given as theFamily and Childcare Trust (2019).

I have relatives living in the SE who pay c. £300 a week, so that sounds about right to me. £20-25k is certainly not an average childcare cost, even in London.

I can understand that he doesn’t feel rich on £80k, her certainly isn’t in the top 5% of wealth in the country. DH is in the top 10% of earners in the country. We live in a terraced house in SELondon and if we wanted to get a mortgage to buy our house now we wouldn’t be able to as our joint income is too low! Fortunately we bought our house in the 80s for three times joint income and paid the mortgage off quite a while ago.

People are confusing earnings with wealth. If you earn £4K a month but all but £600 of it goes on mortgage, train pass and childcare then you certainly won’t feel wealthy.

Google tube drivers earnings... who would have thought that a tube drivers would be among the highest earners in the U.K. Look out for the strikes if their taxation increases.

Xenia I think you make a very good point

who would have thought that a tube drivers would be among the highest earners in the U.K

I wonder if there is a proper job market for that role?

Is supply and demand working for the role of tube driver? How many people apply for roles and how many are suitable?

I don't want to change the thread to be about nursery fees but if £17k is average bet that includes toddlers and it probably includes places right out where I live in zoner 5 outer London borough so I suspect if you pick a baby in a mile or two of the City of London your £17k gets up to my £20k or even £25k.

That of course is another issue of the parents - do you schlepp in from zone 5 as I did when I had a small baby leaving it out here all day which adds 2 hours a day to the childcare you need or do you pay an extra £3k + to have it looked after near your work and then you also pay an inner London £24k or £36k rent.

One in five people earn the minimum wage.

The average salary is around 25k apparently. Around here, most jobs are retail / tourism / hospitality / admin paying from 15k - 20k.

I’ve looked and solicitors jobs are 30-40k.

But people bringing home far less than £4K a month are still paying for train passes and mortgages and childcare.

I appreciate that £80k is not private yacht money but you’d have to be delusional to think it puts you in the lower 50% of earners.

Xenia's figures look right to me. We pay 15k in zone 4. Zone 1 fees are likely to be much much more expensive.

Between us, we bring home over £80k. I don’t feel rich but I would never say that on television! I KNOW we are well off compared to most people but not wealthy. Two properties, one mortgage free and being rented out. Three holidays abroad a year. Shop at Waitrose and eat out once a week.

We have one car (Secondhand) and it’s not new at all - but no monthly fees, just running costs.

Childcare - our parents do that.

No debt and around 30k in savings.

Statistically it is definitely in the upper quartile. However, I can fully see how for some people it does not feel like a lot. £80K in London for a single parent is not enough to not pay for basic private rent and two sets of unsubsidised childcare fees, never mind such luxuries as food , travel, clothes etc.

The report that page is based on specified that the £330 is for nursery for under twos, but doesn't define 'inner London'.

These threads do have a tendency to be full on people on higher incomes claiming that they have mandatory additional expenses, and those claims very rarely bear scrutiny. The fact is that there are plenty of people on lower incomes who have to work and pay childcare. Being able to choose the slightly more expensive option (even just being able to choose a nursery over a childminder), is a privilege that many don't have.

Some expenses are higher in London, but by no means all. An earlier poster was citing £2.5k council tax as an outrageous amount. Well that's what I pay as well, nowhere near London. My utilities are no less than a Londoner's. Heating probably costs me more as I live in a colder part of the country. My food and clothes are similarly no cheaper than a Londoner's.

Yes, housing is more expensive in London, but there are other factors to consider. I think a lot of the "£100k doesn't go far in London" people just live in a bubble.... they only mix with other highly paid professionals, don't know anyone who lives on less and therefore assume it's impossible.

not wealthy. Two properties, one mortgage free and being rented out. Three holidays abroad a year. Shop at Waitrose and eat out once a week

You're having a laugh, surely? Two properties, no mortgage (your tenants are paying the rental mortgage), and you think you're not wealthy? Pull your head out of your arse and look around you, ffs.

I don’t feel rich but I would never say that on television! I KNOW we are well off compared to most people but not wealthy. Two properties, one mortgage free and being rented out. Three holidays abroad a year. Shop at Waitrose and eat out once a week

I should imagine to many people, your lifestyle would feel wealthy to them.

And I know that my lifestyle is a luxury to other people. I can afford to run a car, I don't worry too much when I go to the supermarket but I do watch it, I go abroad on holiday once a year, I have a mortgage that I can afford and I don't worry about paying my heating and fuel costs.

(This is in danger of going into the 'luxury' sketch from Monty Python)

Statistically it is definitely in the upper quartile.

As has been said many, many times on this thread, £80k is top 5%. Not upper quartile.

In 2017, £36,000 would put someone in the upper quartile. Think about that for a second.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/percentile-points-from-1-to-99-for-total-income-before-and-after-tax

My DH is on 45k. We live in Leeds in an extended 4 bed detached house in a very nice neighbourhood. We can afford one holiday a year, usually in a caravan or a cottage in this country. We also have one mini-break a year, usually for our anniversary, while our DDs have sleepovers with their cousins.

We can afford for me to be a SAHM for our 2 adopted DDs of 10 and 7. DD1 has SN and has always required a lot of appointments, which mean that it's very helpful that we're not both working.

We manage fine, particularly now that we're also receiving DLA for DD1 and carer's allowance for me. I also have money of my own from an inheritance.

80k to me sounds like a fortune! The man in question sounds like a complete idiot and should have kept his mouth shut!

I think his comment has highlighted how poorly paid Brits are for the economy they live in

You're having a laugh, surely? Two properties, no mortgage (your tenants are paying the rental mortgage), and you think you're not wealthy? grin Pull your head out of your arse and look around you, ffs.

My mum can go one better. They own two properties outright in a desirable part of the country about half an hour drive apart. They spend half the week in each (work related - the cause is fair, but the solution is beyond ridiculous).

The mental gymnastics she goes to to avoid defining herself as "not rich" are Olympian. And she hasn't stopped banging on about it since they bought the other place.

By the definition up thread, they're top 1% worldwide.

In 2017, £36,000 would put someone in the upper quartile. Think about that for a second

I love statistics.

Quartiles are great, as are percentiles - and even more interesting when you dig deeper into the data and look at the percentile differences between regions and even cities.

£36,000 is the national upper quartile.

If you were to have that wage in poorer parts of the country, you'd be up in the top 10%.

But if you had that wage in richer parts, you'd be in the bottom quartile - possibly.

I wonder what percentile £80k is on in Bolton?

Ahhhh but on other posts, everyone claims to earn six figures as an individual! You know the ones I mean, “how much do you earn.” Really don’t feel wealthy on my teaching salary of 35k which is then pro rata because I’m part time. Compared to the 90% of MNetters who claim to earn 80k+ each. Not as a household.