To ask if you earn a lot LESS than 50k per year?

[Afternooninthepark]

On the back of another thread which was asking about £50k + earners (and me being naturally nosy!) I just wonder if there are many on here earning a lot less and wonder what you do for a living?
I’ve been on Mumsnet for years and there does seem to be many very high earners on here with some very interesting careers.
I’m not one of them unfortunately. Dh earns around £35k pa (45 hrs pw) and due to some health issues I only work very part time. We are both in everyday kind of jobs not careers but we are very happy nonetheless.
Anyone else earning an ‘average’ wage in ‘average’ jobs?

TA 37 hours term time around £13k topped up with tax credits to around £20k.
I’ve got a reasonable lifestyle, nice house (rented), car, holidays, no debts, about 5k in savings.

Dental nurse on 21K before tax

Tube station supervisor. About £43k, plus free travel on TfL managed services. Work on stations in Zone 2-3. Zone 1 and major station supervisors are on about £45-47k. So not much less than £50k. I am extremely fortunate. Even though some customers don't understand what social distancing is

A lot lot less! But then I’m on minimum wage & only work 16 hours a week.

I don't think a truly low income (or just a low income) is all relative.

£11k pa is low no matter where you live in the UK.

Middle and high incomes may be relative depending on outgoings but a low income is just a low income.

Even people on universal credit and disabled have to pay towards council tax so a low income is not at all relative.

flirtygirl my neighbor is a part time cleaner and her husband is a game keeper. I don't have access to their earned income obviously but I know it must be low. However they own a very large detached house with a separate spacious 2 bedroom flat over their double garage and connected workshop, which they rent out to another family. They were given the land the house is built on by the husband's parents as a wedding present and the extended family pitched in to build the house. Where we live their house is worth about 750,000€

They're poor and rich There are a lot of families like that in the rural area I live in.

Well said flirty.

A low income is a low income.

@anothernotherone - but you're not talking about income. I know far too many people who live on daddy's money and earn fuck all. So what, that makes it ok that others who earn fuck all are struggling, because they should have had the forethought to be born into a rich family?

Fashion designer, 35k

SarahAndQuack that is an incredibly bizzare way to twist what I said, how did you get to lacking the forethought to be born into a rich family A deliberately weird misinterpretation of the point that some people on a low income are not poor in terms of assets and it very much can be relative if people are asset to h and income poor.

My neighbours are from a farming family going back generations who own loads of land, some of which is in a village and had planning permission granted, but they aren't rolling in daddy's money - there's not much actual cash but there are big paid for detached houses with in some cases attached flats to let out.

In rural areas especially there are plenty of people with free or paid for houses and sometimes land but very low incomes.

I earn about £44,500 as Head of English in a school and my husband earns £42,000 as a teacher too. We feel quite well off, although wish childcare costs weren't so high. Our mortgage is about £800, but we used to pay closer to £1600 so that was a massive saving for us which gave lots more disposable income. X

@EileenAlanna, well done, you should be very proud of yourself! Your flat sounds lovely and homely, where there's a will there's a way!

@mrspworkingmummy out of curiosity is that the typical head of English salary or would you start off on lower and build up to that ?

£14k. Nurse, part time.

I didn't at all mean to offend you! I'm sorry that I obviously have.

I only meant to point out that, if you're going to bring into the question the kind of family people are born into, you're no longer talking about income. A person who is 'poor' because their money is sunk into property in a very different boat from someone who is poor because they genuinely have very little.

I do see that someone might have assets but not earn much. That is a tricky situation, of course, and lots of people feel very sad to face selling their assets, whether that means selling off a farm that's no longer productive, or selling of a second home, or selling of a house and going back to renting. Obviously there are huge differences between each of those situations, and obviously they are upsetting in different ways.

But, the fact remains that if we're talking about income, it makes sense to talk about income. You mention a family who seem well off because they were born into a rich family. That does not mean their income is good. If they have to sell of their property, that is very sad for them, but it does not mean we should take them as representative of people in that income bracket, and assume most people have property to sell off.

I work in public service admin, my role would be £26k FT. I do 20 hours. DH earns around £35K which includes a shift allowance.

Nhs professional. Lot less than £50,000

Having your words twisted and thrown back at you is always really annoying, that's all.

My neighbours' situation interests me on threads like these especially as I know quite a number of people in very similar set ups, very working class seeming people too whose families have lived in the area since time immemorial and who could as soon sell up and move far enough to live more cheaply and use their theoretical assets as they could sprout wings and fly.

Their situation sparks my interest partly because we rent and have a better income (2 salaries, not "high earners" but in terms of actual salary even I earn more than both my neighbours put together on a nurse level salary) but no assets except our savings account and paid for but oldish economical cars. We're also not local and pre kids were very mobile, moving where the work was. We've tried to give the kids stability and roots but could move far more easily than the neighbors, especially psychologically.

The neighbours just don't pay for things - not just housing costs but childcare when the children were small, because family did any childcare needed.

People's circumstances do play a massive role in how well off they are on a certain income, and that's not limited to "born with a silver spoon" rich wastrels.

It always surprises me how many people seem to earn such a lot. Most people I know are on average wage or lower, just a couple £40 - £50k

Most people I work with earn around 40k+ and they are in their 20s up north. People with the same title as me are on 50+ closer to 60 and most are early 30s. I dont think people are lying, it depends on the industry you are working in.

Having your words twisted and thrown back at you is always really annoying, that's all.

But I have not twisted your words?

You admit you are talking about people who have options beyond what you might expect from their income. You may think they couldn't sell up and use their money - but, they could.

This is the same argument I often hear. 'We can't possibly afford x, we would lose the house!' 'How could we do that ... we would lose the business!' 'That would never work - why, we would have to sell the farm!'

It is horribly sad to have to sell your house, or your farm, or you business. It is truly shit.

But, please don't compare it to the situation of someone who is already that poor and does not have a house or a farm or a business to sell!

Not currently work but once I return I’ll be on about £30k in accounting (but a very junior role, not accountability, fairly flexible with lots of benefits etc etc). I’m very young though so I suppose that’s fine. Once you deduct tax and expenses relating to work etc though it doesn’t even cover childcare.

@SarahAndQuack equally the wealthiest people tend to have low incomes (not surprising given that incomes are taxed so heavily). Very few people get rich through a high income unless they’re wise enough to invest in assets with a good yield/return. The ones that do often ditch their high salaried jobs pretty quickly.

SarahAndQuack it's a thread about income not about having no options though. It is a valid point that income is far from the whole picture. Income is relative, and some people have no significant outgoings - whether because they live with their mum or because they live in their own mortgage free house.
Some have dependents, some none. Some have free childcare from family regardless of how much money family have, some pay for full time childcare in order to work.

Some people can only do their job in locations which are expensive to live in, some can be mobile and move somewhere cheaper without giving up work and reducing their income to benefits. Some already live somewhere affordable.

A health care assistant in Guildford might earn £10 per hour while someone doing the same job in Liverpool earns £8 per hour, but who's better off given the different housing costs? Especially if the health care assistant in Liverpool's mum does free childcare...

Income is relative to all the other factors in the individual's life.

I'm on 30k, working in the construction industry (office based)
I was SO shocked to see just how many neuroscientists and astronauts and other fantastic occupations seem to dwell in the depths of Mumsnet...a lot of little porky pies lurking I reckon!!

@NemophilistRebel No, it's low for Head of English in a secondary school. Usually it's paid on leadership range from around £48,000 up to about £55,000. I work in a smaller school so am on the top teachers' scale, which is around £40,000, plus a responsibility point of £4500.