To think a combined salary of 60k is really comfortable?

[BathedInLavender]

OUTSIDE of London. But still in the South East. This isn't a conversation about London because that obviously won't go very far there full stop.

AIBU to think a combined salary of 60k is actually comfortable and not 'meh' at all.

DH earns 30k, I earn the same but I'm part time so it's less because of pro rata. We aren't struggling by any means. If I returned to FT we would have a lot more spare cash, and we have a fair bit now. We don't have cheap housing costs, £900per month just on that.

I spend a lot of money on ridiculous crap and we holiday every year with DC.

It's not bad money if you're not paying out for an excessive mortgage or rental costs, I'd say.

The other thing is I suppose that yes, if you have a huge mortgage that takes a lot of your salary then it may not feel as though you're well off, but being able to afford such a mortgage in the first place means that you are, compared to a lot of people.

We live okay on 50,000. Not loaded.
I earn 2k after tax which is 31.5k per year husband under 20k.

Anyways seperate accounts. I save 440 per month husband saves 100. If we had same earnings per month I think u should be saving 880 or 900 pounds every month.

I have a loan at 200 ish per month and a car at 250 a month and then few things on finance. Our mortgage is 430 per month.

I'd agree its comfy but u need to save around 900 per month

I'd say it's barely anything and couldn't live on they but that's not what you want to hear is it OP?

I'd feel rich on that salary, dh & I joint earn about half of that.

Think people will view comfortable differently. for me to not to check the bank before every supermarket shop, to buy essentials household to kids things without counting pennies and having a holiday every year etc would make me very comfortable.

surely its really depended on WHERE you live? Is 60k comfortable? Sure it is, in cheaper parts of the UK. Obvs not in London or some home counties. Our nursery fees here is about 70 pounds-ish a day.

We earn around £50-60k jointly in east Suffolk and don't have much to splash about. Cost of living isn't cheap here but we do like nice stuff but don't have posh cars or multiple holidays and a small house. Middle earners are squeezed, we get no help and pay for everything

I'm a single parent working pt and earn a lot less. I have a good stable job, a good pension scheme, very low mortgage payments, decent house in a nice enough area with a big garden. I also don't like to over spend and am happy with an old car and cheap clothes etc so I'm very comfortable. I could afford one expensive holiday every couple of years but I chose to have two or 3 budget holidays a year instead. I think it's all down to your mindset and what's important to you - having nice "stuff", expensive hobbies, travel or if you're happy with a much lower key lifestyle.

Depends on when you bought the house surely? We are south east on combined 65k, saving for a deposit alongside rent. Unless we are very lucky mortgage will be over 1000 a month for a basic 2 bed, gardenless terrace plus quite a bit of commuting costs for both of us. Of course if we had bought a house for half the current value 20 years ago it would be a different story.

Sounds great to me!

I think a lot of people moaning about expenditures forget that they made those choices. You don’t have to have kids 2 years apart and have two lots of nursery fees. You don’t have to have a 4 bed house. Spending a lot on those things and then not having a lot of fun money at the end of the month isn’t really being “squeezed”.

I wouldn’t call it ‘really’ comfortable.
Comfortable maybe...heads above water, no sleepless nights worrying about how the bills are getting paid.....but I’m not sure we’d manage holidays as well on that.

Comfortable. We earn similar, own a car outright, will be mortgage free in 5 years when dc starts secondary school and £1500 per month covers all bills. We have no debt and could comfortably afford a family holiday to Disney World every year. Within my friendship groups that would be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

That said, we share a 15 year old car and spend modestly (some months DH literally spends nothing, sometimes he will buy himself a book or CD or something collectable). We never 'go shopping' for recreation or buy the associated takeaway coffee. We also eat a lot of economy food. When we occasionally go out we often pick up the restaurant bill for family and buy rounds so we aren't tight. We just aren't bars and clubs or retail types.

We don't have money worries so yes, comfortable.

It depends what your situation is. DH and I have a unique income setup but bring in more than that each year but we have 4 children and a working farm and small business to run. We live very comfortably, have multiple cars, children have plenty, we are very fortunate to never worry about being able to pay bills or buy food but we managed very happily on much less in the past and could again. If you're on 60k with no children, mortgage or debts then it's an extortionate income. If you're on 60k with a huge mortgage, lots of bills, 8 kids and a pet alpaca you're likely going to need to be careful.

Depends what your outgoings are. We earn similar between us but we have no mortgage, no childcare, no debt. So we do feel we are comfortable but still have to "watch" what we spend. We don't spend frivolously though and very rarely go out for meals etc.

We earn roughly 56k in the South and we are trying to save for a mortgage and finding it very hard. It is only comfortable if you have already got a mortgage and you have got to the stage where the repayments have reduced significantly due to buying years ago before house prices went crazy. We aren't starving and can pay the bills, but no big holidays abroad and meals out. I buy quite a lot of second had clothes too and drive a banger.

These threads drive me mad. It depends where you live and what your outgoings are. We are all at different stages in life and circumstances change, so it's a bit of a pointless debate. Quite a lot of the wealthy people in your town could lose it all easily tomorrow by bad decisions, ill health or abrupt economic change. No point measuring yourself against someone who is king today, but could easily be a pauper tomorrow.

Depends on all sorts of factors. Could be all going well now. Then one gets ill, one gets made redundant. Major work needed on home. Parent needs care. No work after age 52. You dont know the half of what your life will bring. No matter what you prepared for.

I wouldn’t want to be on £60k combined. That wouldn’t be comfortable for me. But I appreciate everyone is different.

We live in Surrey (a very expensive part) earn a lot less than £60k a year (try half of that).

We do own our own home (2 bed only 1 bath to the absolute shock of DDs school friend 😂 ). I would consider ourselves very comfortable. I guess it is perspective though. We can pay the bills and eat well. DD clothed and has plenty of toys. We cannot afford fancy cars, holidays or designer clothes, or eating out often.

Personally I don’t I don’t think we need any of those things. What I will say is I do think we may be looked down upon by some of the richer folks (mainly at the local school which seems to become more and more private school like every fucking day). Is it because we don’t drive the right car or wear the right clothes etc? 🤷‍♀️ In a way I am glad of this because at least if people like me it is for who I am not what I have or what networking opportunity I can offer them. (It absolutely diddly squat BTW 😂)

People who think having enough money to pay the bills and eat are poor have never struggled, like so many do, to know where the next meal is coming from. Or having to chose between paying the rent or eating. I would say wherever you are if you are earning £60k you are doing pretty well for yourself and should perhaps try to be happy with your lot.

For perspective DP bought his first house before he would have been priced out of the market by people moving down from London and pushing the prices up. We could not afford this if starting from scratch now. However, the price jump meant we had a nice deposit when we bought a home together so that’s the positive side of it. However we are unlikely to be able to afford to move to a bigger a place in our area because of the astronomical prices - massive downside. We would love more children but want to be able to live within our means. Sometimes I feel quite sad about this but we could always move away from our family, extended family and home town to somewhere more affordable probably miles away.

Everyday I am grateful we don’t have to rent. I know we are lucky. Even renting we would be living a much more indulgent lifestyle than we are currently on £60k but am grateful for what we have which is much more than just money!

Sorry for the rant! Just there ARE people earning less than £60k and surviving in the Home Counties FFS.

I don't understand how people end up with these huge mortgages. We have combined pre tax income of 30,000, and they will only lend 100,000 meaning it's 500 a month to pay back. Which is a lot less than we are paying in rent.
We live comfortably in the north on 30,000, have one car, holidays when we want, spend a fortune on food (150 per week for 2 plus a baby eek). Have several years salary saved. Buy stuff we want but often second hand. Both work PT so minimal nursery fees. Not extravagant but definitely not missing out. I think our lifestyle is nice and also reasonably environmentally friendly. Lots of time with family and for hobbies. Couldn't afford private school but I don't consider that to be important - they are only for a tiny elite anyway. I could earn more than double what I do by increasing to ft, but much prefer the time to the money.

Living here £60 k would be considered wealthy as it really is a large amount of money and there are not many jobs paying that much. Most people I know are on about half that, less if they are single. But obviously costs are lower. You can buy a house for £55k (not a nice house in a nice area but a roof over your head) and a nice semi in a residential area will be between £100 to £150k.

We live offshore and we struggle on that amount if money. Schooling isn't great, so we spend a lot on extra tutoring. Also a lot on safety nets, so private healthcare, critical illness, redundancy cover, longterm sickness cover, life insurance and obviously pensions. Saving some for university fees. 2 old cars racking up bills constantly. We are not particularly comfortable. Old house, mortgage not massive, but constant renovation costs and expensive to maintain (we want rid of it). We know people who live far better than us on far less, but if they were made redundant or had a health crisis, they'd be in a dicey place financially. We weathered a recent redundancy fairly well.

This is where I start to think I’m living in a parallel universe
I earn less than 40k with mortgage of £800+ a month, single adult - but I’m 50+ I’m also helping DM with care top ups, adult DC also get help from bank of Mum, DP is unemployed and struggling - I pay his rent top ups, mobile n broadband, car insurance and feed him when there is more month than UC

I fon’t understand these posts about money and salary. Obviously it’s relative? One person’s slumming it is another’s luxury? Surely you know this?
Yabu

To anyone saying "I couldn't live on 60k" do you mean currently or ever? Did you never have a broke phase or a student lifestyle?

I'd bloody love 60k a year to be honest. You sound like you're doing well for yourself, OP, I'd ignore anything else if you feel comfortable in your financial situation.

I mean, it is definitely more fortunate than most people, but 1 kid vs 3 kids is different. Also, petrol costs, work hours (requirement for childminder) make a difference. 2 people working full time with 40min commute may be hard to juggle with kids. Train season ticket to London can be a lot. So lots of variables.

I earn that for working a 25 hr week. It pays for a few bills but my dh is the main earner . I wouldn’t consider it to be an amazing joint salary