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.

@BubblyBarbara NW - South Manchester. I completely agree you can get family houses for less, but in Didsbury / Chorlton / Altrincham within walking distance of the tram and at least 4 bed with a garden you’re definitely in that ballpark. Agree it’s a bit of a bubble though.

OP this is not the place for this topic. If you read MN often you should realise that everyone here is beyond royalty with their wealth - anything under 80k a year is paltry. At 60k, you may as well class yourself as utter scum.

Jalapeno

Comfortable means you can afford your bills and have a little spare for fun which I basically what you have. It's not well off or wealthy but the word meh probably does spring to kind as it's neither here nor there

Comfortable means you can afford your bills and have a little spare for fun which I basically what you have. It's not well off or wealthy but the word meh probably does spring to MIND (Doh) as it's neither here nor there

All the things you describe are pretty much why I would call it meh, so it really is subjective! It's not poverty or scrimping, but neither is being able to buy what you want at a supermarket particularly exciting as a level of affluence
It's ok, it's fine, it's not poverty, but it's not 'very comfortable' it's just 'meh'

It’s all relative and depends on what you do.

Tbh, we live in the SE and we’re both professionals - so that as combined income would not be great.

See I think the reason I’d say I wasn’t “really comfortable” is because I couldn’t do all the things you just listed. I could do one or two a month, but not all of them. And that’s on an old battered car and only a holiday every couple of years. Comfortable = yes I can afford my bills and a few extras. I’m genuinely surprised you can afford the holidays you list plus a cleaner and not question how much your food shop is.

@VestroPrincipiDivino

Our entire society and economy is based on encouraging people to spend as much money as possible. And it does a very good job of it. So while I think 60k is plenty to live a good life, most people are subconsciously (and consciously!) pushed into spending lots of money on things they don't need, which makes them feel like 60k is not enough.

Beautifully put.

I think its comfortable. I feel comfortable on slightly less in an expensive bit of the SE. It a lot depends on housing i think. If you have that income and bought a house in 1999 it probably feels incredibly comfortable compared to renting. And if you've had that income a while you have had time to save for a buffer etc.

I dont really understand the point of this thread 🙈 all responses from OP are 'showy and look at me'

It's fine, it's about what DH and I earn between us (before tax). We live in Scotland so have a three bedroom house, three children, two cars and have a pretty comfortable life really. We can't afford foreign holidays though, they are beyond our reach just now but we do have to pay childcare for all three children just now (only one is at school) so hopefully this will change.

We have a very similar income with a small mortgage and we are comfortable. I'm happy with the disposable income that we have and I only work 3 days a week.

My sister and her DH earn about 25K a year more than we do and they say it's not enough, they are both striving for further promotion.

I think it depends on your priorities/aspirations. So long as we can afford a holiday every year and regular day trips with the children I'm happy.

We get through a lot more money and don't feel very well off. Mortgage £900, but bills £600 partly due to the listing requirements. Plus broadband, mobiles etc. Before covid £500 each on season ticket, each month. Worked long hours with long commute, so full time nanny working 60 hours cost almost £3000 a month. So the basic budget before food or anything else was £5500. That needs to come out of net pay.

@BritneyS our council tax is only £110pcm (we’re a really low band for some reason and I’ve not questioned it!). G&E £61, water £40, internet £30, various insurance £80, Spotify £15, Netflix £6. So £350 or thereabouts.

If you can comfortably live on it, then it’s comfortable. Comfort means different things to different people so you can’t really pull a figure out of your arse and say ‘is this a comfortable wage?’

OMG I would love life if we had that much! Our income was lost when I became disabled - I was so ill for many years that I only started thinking I might be able to work pt about 8 years ago. I got a job and that was fine - exhausting (4 hrs, 3 days a week!) but it was wonderful. Then the office closed and that was it. For the last few years, I have learnt how useless I am and that no one wants to employ someone like me.

We survive with no holidays, no outings, no fancy food, no pub lunches, no restaurants etc. We cook from scratch every day. Our income is currently less than 10K. When/if COVID restrictions end, things will pick up a little but it will take a long time, not an immediate improvement.

I dont really understand the point of this thread 🙈 all responses from OP are 'showy and look at me

The point of this thread is how far a combined income of' just' 60k is very comfortable and not at all 'just 60k'

It sounds as those you are managing well, op, and happy which is the most important thing. Your income is not bad, you have enough to do what you want. Enjoy it! Many people are never content, contentment is a rare virtue.

These types of posts are so pointless. Everyone has different expenditures, priorities and living standards that they are happy with.

Depends where in the southeast.
Childcare here in the southeast is £6.50 per hour, so even only covering 40 hours per week, that’s about £1200 per month.
A 2 bedroom apartment is around £900. House will be more.
Council tax - easy £250, electricity plus gas £60.
That makes £2400, leaving £1400 for everything else.
Commute (either train, parking or both), £200 per person.
Leaves £1000
Savings should be about 10% of household income, so £380 (to cover rainy day fund, new car fund, replace appliances, holidays, christmas etc).
Waterbill: about £ 20 per month
Still to pay: car, food, clothes, hobbies, occasional luxuries, gifts etc.You have £600 for that. Very doable, but not exactly luxurious.

It depends what you're used to. From experience I can tell you that it seems like an absolute fortune if you're used to earning less then fairly quickly it becomes normal and it's not quite enough.

Take home of £3.5k per month, with £1k mortgage, £1k childcare, £500 on council tax/utilities/phone leaves £1k. To cover fuel (my fuel cost is £250 a month), food (£100 per week so another £400), car/house/per insurances (£100) leaves £250 for everything else, savings, christmas, birthdays, house and car maintenance, never mind holidays)
That's not struggling but also not comfortable.

Even if you're spending 2k on the house cost and childcare, that's 1800

Our housing costs are £2k a month. The everything else (council tax, utilities, food - Sainsburys) comes to way more than £1800 so no we couldn't manage on that salary. Our commuting costs alone (normally) are £600 a month! Cheap car but still needs taxing insuring etc.

but to give you an idea, rental for a 3 bed semi is around 1k a month. And we're 40 mins from St Pancreas
That’s a bargain compared to the majority of the southeast.