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.

Me and DH used to be on that kind of combined salary (before tax), and with two kids at nursery, we barely managed. I literally had £2 spare at the end of the month, after all expenses had been accounted for. Nursery costs (even using childcare vouchers, and the 15 free hours per week... it was before this got raised to 30) amounted to one of our salaries. Rent was £875 per month, so not too different from OP. And we had to count every penny, and couldn't save for rainy days, or afford more than essentials. No leisure budget at all. Horrid.

So, no, not comfortable at all for a family with two kids in nursery (but two kids at school? much more comfy)

We live on less than half of that and still have a life. 60K would mean a VERY comfortable life.

We are in the shires and 16 miles outside of London and rental on a 3 bed semi would be at least £1400 per month. We both earn 30k, one pro rata and we struggle.

We have only one income of 38 grand and two kids and I consider us to be doing okay... we are north west tho so low house prices. We own a 4 bed house on that salary.
So yeah I'd be living the life of Riley if we had 60 grand lol!
You'd be living in poverty on 60 grand in some parts of the UK tho...

I think if you can afford a cleaner now and then, and you own your own home, and you are actually paying into a pension, then yes you are comfortable..... mumsnet seems like a different world sometimes. Being able to pay for private education is a sign of wealth not comfort. Its hardly a necessity is it? (I'm not trying to criticise anyone who prioritised paying for education for their children but I really don't think it comes under the average bracket of comfortable)

I mean, it depends on your outgoings, doesn't it. If you own your own home, the size of your mortgage will vary wildly depending on when you bought your home. Rent will probably be bigger still in the southeast. Unless this £60K figure is net of tax, there's that, NI, VAT if applicable. Pension (haha), student loan repayments if applicable, childcare if your kids are young, student loan top-up if they're not so young. Insurances - life, household, motor, income replacement, dread diseases, travel, depending on your needs. Car tax, MOT, fuel, parking, car maintenance, breakdown cover or public transport costs. Food, clothes/school uniform/shoes, professional subscriptions or union dues, phones, internet. I haven't really started on luxuries (although admittedly not all the foregoing are strictly essential)... holidays, pets, entertainment/going out/staying in/school trips/extracurricular activities/hobbies/sports/books, work on the house if applicable, further study, savings (lol), repayment of debts...

Expenses, like work, expand into the space given, but I would say £60K gross doesn't go as far as you might like to think it does, especially in the southeast.

But hey, well done, OP.

Like all things, it depends on you.

If you have high rent / high mortgage repayments and you have to pay for train season tickets to commute and full-time nursery fees for two children (or if you choose to pay for private schooling), or care home fees for an elderly relative, or you have debt to repay, then no, I wouldn't say £60k would make you very comfortable. You could even be struggling.

If you have very few outgoings, a good mortgage deal, no childcare costs etc then yes it would be great!

But everyone is different.

It really depends on your life choices are -
For us, it would not be enough at all - but we live in London and have bigger outgoings.

Well as someone who makes £16k (before tax) and lives in the south east (not too far out from the M25) I would say it’s very comfortable and seems like a fortune!
But it’s relative and I think most incomes are largely seen as good or low based on necessary outgoings - the key one being your mortgage or rent. High rents and mortgages (particularly those who could only put down a bare minimum deposit) can make that salary low. However there are certainly cheaper homes and areas within the south east - swings and roundabouts.
Comfort levels are also based on how far people push their salary - so most people need a car for example but could save money by buying cheaper cars, whereas a lot of people splash out on this and get them on finance. And if they can comfortably rather than buying a cheap banger then why not?

I think the term comfortable is being able to pay your necessities and affording luxuries which you know can be cut. So for example if things went totally tits up for me financially I would get rid of things like Sky and would stop spontaneous shopping (who I have to control anyway!) - holidays are also luxuries to be saved for and if the roof leaks, bye bye.

So I would say £60k can definitely be comfortable. However if you’re trying to live off £60k with a £2000 a month mortgage plus £1000 nursery fees monthly and £350 on your car each month plus the rest then it probably isn’t. But then one could argue that people should downsize homes etc......finding the balance. I think £60k would be great.

£900 rental on a 3 bed semi would be unheard of in most shire areas unless it was in an “undesirable” location.

We're a 29year old couple in one of the 'shires in south east. Combined income is £52k. We're comfortable now but need a bigger house and to add £25k to our income if we ever want children. I think £60k would be a struggle if you had kids

Oh good, another Mumsnet stealth boast. Yawn.

We're on a similar salary to you and it sounds like we have a similar definition of comfortable. Sometimes I wonder if the difference in definitions is whether someone has ever been poor. I've always considered comfortable to mean able to buy whatever food I need, when I need it, house and look after my children, not worry about paying the bills, pay my pension, no debt, and have money left over at the end of the month to put into savings. The rest makes no real difference to my quality of life - I can be as happy camping as I can in a nice hotel in Tuscany (I've experienced both). But maybe because there are times in my life when I haven't been able to do those things...especially the food part.

Well it totally depends on your outgoings OP.we earn over 75k between us and I'm part time. However, we have no mortgage, car payments, we don't have council tax or water bills here either. So on a whole we earn plenty for us...but for others it may not be enough

Depends so much on your outgoings surely. We have a combined salary of £85kish but in the south east with a big mortgage on a 4 bed detached, 1 child in nursery and another on the way, I certainly dont feel rich. After savings and paying into pension we have around £800 a month between us which has to also pay for petrol. That pretty much gets used each month so whilst I dont feel uncomfortable I would certainly struggle on £60k.

@feistyoneyouare

Oh good, another Mumsnet stealth boast. Yawn.

Tiresome isn’t it?

@Rightthen24

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

This definitely belongs in the 'what is a stealth boast' thread.

Funny thing is, I don't think any of what OP is listing is brag-worthy at all, I'm on an average salary and can afford those things 🤷🏽‍♀️ nothing special

That's probably about exactly what DH and I earn between us (me around £32k, him £28k, I am pro rata as I'm part time, otherwise I would earn more like £37-38k.

We definitely don't bring home £4000 take home between us, mine is £2k and DH's slightly less. We both pay into pensions, me more so, and I'm also still paying off a student loan.

I would say we're comfortable (paying around £500-600 a month in childcare, £250 for a lease car, home owners with a mortgage of about £1500 a month. But we're definitely not more than comfortable, we save a couple of hundred a month but that goes in a pot towards our never ending house renovation costs so we don't have loads spare by any means. We use interest free credit cards to pay for unexpected expenses.

I think it's all relative with what each person defines as comfortable.
We are in the northwest and Our joint income is just less than 40k pre tax but we rarely eat out (only on very special occasions), cook from scratch, we do have 2 cars but they're old ones, and like you op I don't struggle with having to buy treats or emergency repairs.
We have mortgage and when we first took it out in 2010/11 our income was even less than it is now but we had enough savings for a 20 percent mortgage.
We are just not big spenders and I worked part time when the DC were younger so childcare costs were nil.

Our household bills are £3500 a month plus food plus petrol plus dh train fare when he goes in so I don't think we would be comfortable on your salary with 2 adults a teenager and 2 Children.

But we have a big mortgage as we live in an expensive area. Each to their own you cut your cloth etc.

20 percent deposit not mortgage

@PremierInn

It's not bad but I would call it meh, and definitely not very comfortable

It's not bad, but I'd call it more than we earn now, and it would make us considerably more comfortable.

All depends on your essential outgoings I suppose.

We have an income of about 30k between us. We are comfortable and have disposable income but we live in south west rent is cheap and kids no longer at home.. although still need support

Op said it’s not bad money if your not paying out for excessive mortgage or rental costs. It is a moot point. Most people with young children pay rent or mortgages. If I lived mortgage free I would consider myself well off.

It is all relative as a PP said. It's almost a pointless question really (sorry not meant rudely), because it is so completely dependent on your lifestyle and expectations.

I dunno...I pay my nanny that. I guess she makes ends meet...