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.

At 45K take home per year and £1K in mortgage and almost nothing in childcare for 1 dc, I am guessing your average disposable income per month for fun spends (after bills and food) is around £2K which is generous.

Dh and I used to earn quite a bit more than that but had much less fun spends disposable a month because of 2 dcs, ft nursery/private school fees and a relatively big mortgage.

My rule of thumb is how much fun spends can I afford per month. I would consider my threshold being £700 per person per month. Dh's is higher because he buys so much online.

OP, it does not sound like you are saving much. That would make me pretty uncomfortable. You should aim to save £800-1000 a month between the both of you, including pension.

Depends where in the South East? Hastings area, yes that’s comfortable.

Within commuter distance of London/Gatwick and less comfortable. I think a combined income of 90+ is comfortable for those areas. But depends obviously on your mortgage, savings, living costs, potential for career progression. Also if one of you suddenly lost your income could you still pay all the bills comfortably?

Our joint income is higher than this but our core bills are off one salary only. We then overpay the mortgage/save with the rest. We still have fun but it makes me sleep better at night knowing we are financially secure. We probably look poor though, smaller house, older cars but I’d much rather this then live beyond our means like so many do to keep up with the Jones’s!

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.

Yep, I do wonder what people actually expect. I feel extremely fortunate because we can afford to heat our home, have an occasional takeaway, have a big freezer we can fill with food to save on shopping costs. That's comfortable to me. So much of what people consider comfortable are actually luxuries.

Our joint income is a few grand more than this per year (before tax) and I’d say we are comfortable but still have to be a bit careful what we spend each month. I used to be completely skint and got into a lot of mess with payday loans etc when I was younger so it’s nice to not go to bed every night with any financial worries. We’ll never be “rich” but as long as we’re comfortable that’s all I care about. Oh and we live in the East Midlands so living costs are very low compared to somewhere like London

We would struggle on £60k but we live in an expensive part of Surrey. (£60k would just cover the mortgage and bills but we would have nothing left to 'live')

In my part of Scotland that would be plenty. It would leave us with around £2500 disposable after all bills which I would consider very generous.

This place is like a different planet sometimes. You must all be so rich.

I had to slap myself upside the head yesterday for feeling the pinch when I went out for a £100 lunch with my parents (I paid and then winced on the way home). We bring in c£120k (I say we, I work min wage hospitality, DH does the heavy lifting). It’s a salary we could only have dreamed of in the early days.

I think my point is that you live to your means, and the higher the income the higher the living costs. If we still lived in our first house we’d be rolling in it, but if we still lived on that wage then a £100 lunch would be fantasy land.

£60k would cover our mortgage and bills and not much else.

@Morgan12

In my part of Scotland that would be plenty. It would leave us with around £2500 disposable after all bills which I would consider very generous.

This place is like a different planet sometimes. You must all be so rich.

We live in Surrey, (commuter town 50 mins from Waterloo by train) we earn about 30k a year and are by no means poor. I think people are in a living different universe to me let alone planet!!!

It’s incredible that anyone thinks £60k isn’t comfortable. Just staggering. Our joint salary is very significantly more but we don’t spend anything like that much per year.

If your costs are higher, that’s likely because a chunk of what you’re buying is more expensive stuff- no one “needs” a fancy car, or Starbucks every weekday, or top-end makeup, skin care, clothing, hair cuts, Waitrose, Gusto, meals out, weekly takeaways, mineral water, a cleaner, NCT classes, ski-holidays, overseas holidays, weekends away, etc etc. Lots of families feel comfortable with their children not going to fee-paying schools, not having private tuition, not having riding lessons or music lessons. And a lot of the time, cheaper housing is available...
Some of them might be nice-to-have, sure, but but not necessary for “comfort” or happiness.

Its about what myself and DP earn when im in work. I grew up poor and tbh i feel totally comfortable, almost wealthy on it! I have simple needs though i guess. Not into flash cars or designer clothes, foreign holidays etc. Being able to afford coffee and takeaways while paying my pension is bob on for me

Thankfully there have been some sensible posters on here, on the last couple pages.
But to some of the other posters I want to say, you are disgustingly ungrateful! You should be ashamed of yourselves! If you do have a decent income at least be aware of how lucky you are you ungrateful sods!
And no Im not jealous, Im perfectly comfortable (maybe not by some ppls outlandish standards, but by mine).I just find it disgusting how there are people on here whinging about how tight money is because of private school fees and 3rd cars! Give your head a wobble!

We are on roughly that, and it is very comfortable which I am very grateful for, having grown up poor those memories never go really, so I still have a different mentality when it comes to money now.

For example, we live in the first house we purchased. It's terraced, and whilst we could afford a much bigger house, we decided not to increase our outgoings along with pay increases early on. Neither of us have that 'keeping up with the jones' mentality so that helps.

Our DC's want for nothing, we go abroad for a couple of weeks each year, also long weekends away. Take-always, meals out aren't a problem. I can buy new clothes as soon as they need them, or send money to my eldest DC at uni when she needs it......In comparison, when I was a little girl, I only thought millionaires had those things my DC's have, so......It's all relative.

It's all relative OP

If you are happy and manage to live within your means then good for you

I'm in Surrey/Berkshire. With my ex we have combined before tax of 50/60k and we were fine with that. We could go on holiday etc. We couldn't afford to buy a place though, as we found saving difficult on that with DC at nursery etc.

60k in my part of Surrey is zilch.

If you’ve been lucky enough to get on the property ladder when housing was more affordable then, yes, it’s probably fairly comfortable but if you’re one of the unlucky few whose had to pay 650k for a three bed terrace, with monthly repayments of 2k then it’s really not a lot of money at all.

Our rent is £1400 and childcare is about £500 so ok but not cushy, no way of buying without serious help. We do have a bit of savings ~£5k in case of emergencies/next maternity leave.

And our salary is fairly evenly split now so I guess the most tax efficient?

Doesn't it depend on the size of your outgoings? If you have 2 cars for commuting purposes, maybe childcare costs and a large mortgage then 60k gets swallowed up pretty quickly tbh.

If you are happy with your life and have enough money not to cause you worries you are winning really. We earn what mumsnet will consider meh wages (around £40k each) but I have a non contributory final salary pension so that’s a saving, we only have one car as we are close to work and school so don’t need two and we are generally not that bothered about having new/expensive things (tv is coming up on 15, most furniture from IKEA, don’t really go in for anything designer). We also live in the North East, which is relatively cheap. As a result that amount gets us a 6 bed Victorian terrace a short walk from the sea & at least pre covid bought us 2-3 holidays a year, eating out most weekends, theatre trips, tennis, dance & swimming lessons for the kids and stupid amounts of music, books & Lego.
We can’t do anything we want. We do have to consider the cost of things and compromise but it’s things like shall we have 4 nights at the Disney hotel in the castle or shall we do 4 nights at a cheaper Disney resort plus a couple of nights in the centre of Paris or shall we buy a new iPad & have dinner out or shall we go to a nice hotel for the weekend. It’s not like it’s shall we put the heating on for longer or get the kids new shoes or even shall we buy the kids swimming lessons or shall we have a family meal out. With little things we can generally afford to do both if we want. We have friends who live in the same area, earn more (or lie about their income) & are always saying they have no money. In general on our income it’s because they confuse wants with needs. You don’t need designer clothes, the latest smart TV, the top subscription on Sky, a takeaway every Friday etc etc. Nothing wrong with spending money on them and all perfectly valid things to want to buy. It’s just silly to buy them then complain you’ve no money after the essentials because they are no more essential than our family meals out, lessons, books, holidays Lego etc. I always think people would be happier if they worried less about what they think they are supposed to have or what people will think about them not having/doing certain things

I don't think I would pay for education even if I won the lottery. It sounds like they end up paying for so much more than just the fees - suddenly "having" to start riding etc. Just no. My eldest loves her primary.

It’s too subjective, OP.

Much of the south east is expensive, especially if you have a huge mortgage and childcare bills and three or more children. Add in commuting costs and you may not be left with loads.

I don’t really see the point of these threads. It’s a huge sum to the majority, and less to the minority. It just depends on your circumstances, debt levels and outgoings.

This is so subjective! We get just under 70k between us - mostly DH's salary. It's not bad but it's not a huge amount either. By the time we pay mortgage, two cars, commuting costs, household bills, DH's maintenance and everything else etc we aren't exactly rolling in it. It all depends on your circumstances so this is such a weird question!

I wouldn’t say it’s very comfortable, nor would I expect someone to struggle on a 60k income, enough to live a pretty normal life, some luxuries and have a couple of holidays.

Day to day we would be comfortable on 60k but it still wouldn't be enough to get a mortgage on a family house in my home town without a huge deposit.

Though you could also not be that comfortable day-to-day and put money towards the huge deposit (that is our plan for when I finish mat leave, though we'll be earning less than 60k).