Are the majority of people on here well-off?

[ThisBloodyNoiseInMyHead]

As the title says, are most people on here financially well-off?

I've read about a woman who earns £32k a year, another who decorates every year, one who has got 1 4 bedroomed detached house, anther who has got a "budget" of £1 million to buy a house.

I live in a 1930s semi (mortgage paid), my husband earns £25k, I don't work (recovering from being very ill last year)and we haven't decorated for about 6 years. Am I the only working-class -strapped for cash- person on here?

@Savvysix1984

In real life, the high earning men I know are all married to high earning women. I even know women who out earn their husbands which seems very very rare on here

^^
Every female in my close circle (sisters, friends- about 8 in total) all out-earn their dh except 1. All in professional roles- solicitor, headteacher, accountants etc.

Almost every female I know does not do paid work and is married to a big breadwinning husband. A lot of people met at work tho - eg in a bank, so if the women had not given up work on having children, perhaps they would be on equal pay.

And some of these people will eg. buy a holiday house in Southwold (£1m) with their bonus. It happens and I do get a bit jealous. I am OK off, but not that.

Average enough here.. I earn 30k a year and hubby earns 45k.. 4 kids, two cars and a mortgage on a nice house doesn't leave much to spare but we never do without!

@Savvysix1984

In real life, the high earning men I know are all married to high earning women. I even know women who out earn their husbands which seems very very rare on here

^^
Every female in my close circle (sisters, friends- about 8 in total) all out-earn their dh except 1. All in professional roles- solicitor, headteacher, accountants etc.

Same. Most women I know out earn their partners, for various reasons, and at each end of the income scale.

I must move in mixed circles as I see both variations
Some friends reliant on benefits
Others high earners in million pound houses.
Some wives higher earners and others stah

I agree with you and you've nicely demonstrated my point.

By the OP standards we would be classed as financially well off, but to US we dont feel well off because we are having to watch every penny still. So it is indeed all relative.

Pensions is an area we are lucky in, well, DH is lucky in. It's his pension that's the earner, mine is like yours. But he signed a 30 year career with the Police and when that is fulfilled we will have a very nice, solvent lifestyle. Will pay off our mortgage and be debt free with a yearly pension the equivalent of a £30k a year salary. But only because we plow every possible penny into it and so often run out of cash flow each month. DH car needs vital repairs which we couldn't do so it's off the road till he gets paid again and we can fix it then.

DH grew up fairly well off. I grew up in absolute poverty, and before Food Banks were a thing. So my view on finances were very different to his. He considered us poor when I considered us wealthy, back in our early marriage (before kids and before big promotions).

That was to @Rummikub

Yes, I own my house - we struggled for 30 years to pay a mortgage, as well as bringing up a family. We're in our 60s. Definitely not well-off, but I suppose we're better off than a lot of people.

Yes agree

As I said previously choices are possible due to finances. Obviously people make different choices - spend most or save to live well later.

Ex was a teacher and I’ve had a lot of choices taken away due to divorce and it’s been hard to get back on track.
I tell my dc to be self reliant- never give up your own career.

I thought we were relatively well off...but then I read threads about private schools and how if DC don't get into the local 'outstanding' state choice, private school is apparently a totally viable option. There does seem to be some very wealthy people on here, not on here to boast but you can sort of read between the lines. Well, maybe not, but put it this way, if you're able to afford to privately educate multiple DC without breaking a sweat, then to me you are wealthy!

Why would anyone be surprised that people on MN earn vastly more or vastly less than them? How is this even a question - it’s the internet

On MN, anyone with a multi-millionaire husband lives in a multi-million £ house would be accused of one or all of the following -

1. lying
2. ‘stealth-boasting’
3. being ‘tone deaf’

So, if anything, wealthy people tend keep very quiet about it, to be perfectly honest.

@bullbyh

Honestly I'm always surprised how little people earn on here. I feel like people in very serious professional careers just don't earn enough money for their effort at all. I always wonder why they don't get into different industries. Unless of course they love their jobs and they're actually helping people- like NHS, police etc.

I decided early on, I was either going to work in some sort of 'giving back' job OR I was going to go 100 percent into what would make me the most money. I saw how expensive life is and decided to go for the second option.

I am nothing special at all, but stumbled across a career in tech after university and everyone I know in my industry makes at least 150 k. We aren't special and we don't work anywhere near as hard as some people do. Starting salaries in my industry are at the very least 30-40 k plus bonus etc.

Like I said, we are nothing special at all. There's just a lot of money in the industry. Also lots of people without degrees work in my industry, so not having a degree isn't a blocker.

I would urge anyone looking for a change to look into tech jobs. I think it's a lucrative sector and not as hard to get into as finance / banking etc.

DH is in tech and the only people it pays that well for, here, are a handful of contractors. The only higher rate taxpayers in his company are the ones who run it. He could earn slightly more but would either lose the relative security of a, salaried, permanent job, or work-life balance, which is pretty good, right now. We have a decent sized house, in a good area, with a comfortable mortgage and a good cushion of savings.

I think the brilliance of mumsnet is that it attracts people across the whole demographic and you get such a variety of perspectives. Furthermore being well-off is relative, you own a property outright and don't work - for many people trapped in a cycle of renting and debt that is a complete fantasy. Most of my social circle earn £100K+ but have corresponding expenses, mortgages, school fees and I don't think they feel "well-off".

I’ve been accused of lying because I mentioned my salary of over €200k on a thread. I was told that no one who earned that would be on mumsnet. My response was to ask why wouldn’t they/I? My posts could be at any time of the day or night, as I frequently do overnight on-call so could be woken at any time and might then browse whilst awake, or I could be awake because I’m worried about a patient, so I browse mindlessly to relax, equally I could shut myself in my office with a cup of tea after a busy morning clinic and spend 15 minutes online. There’s no reason for me not to be posting here. When I pointed that out I was then told that I should have more fun and interesting things to do with my time given that I had such earnings to spend. But, the reality is that I still have to work, and work long hours with additional on-call commitments, I still have to pay a mortgage for shorter few years, I still have caring responsibilities for an elderly relative etc so it’s not like I have oodles of free time to lark about on yachts. I do go on luxury holidays (covid permitting) and I do spend on good quality high end clothes, bags, household items, furniture etc but at the end of the day I’m still fitting work, caring and other stuff into 24 hours.

another few years, not shorter

@PickAChew well, I'm not a contractor or owners and the salaries I described are actually at the lower to mid end.

I know people in my company and companies I've worked at previously who are on large accounts, earning upwards of 700 k a year. They're not contractors or owners. They just work hard and have done well to find customers who are spending a lot on the tech.

DH works for a MC law firm where the partners earn 1.5m, but it's a tiny %

£32k? Do you mean £320k?

@ColourMeExhausted

I thought we were relatively well off...but then I read threads about private schools and how if DC don't get into the local 'outstanding' state choice, private school is apparently a totally viable option. There does seem to be some very wealthy people on here, not on here to boast but you can sort of read between the lines. Well, maybe not, but put it this way, if you're able to afford to privately educate multiple DC without breaking a sweat, then to me you are wealthy!

There are people on here who employ nannies and housekeepers, and that puts them squarely in the wealthy bracket for me.

@FindingMeno

No you're not and I think some employ a bit of make believe.

We are by no means rich but we are well off. I don't think people employ make believe most of the time, I think there is just way more money around than you think. My friend just jumped from a £475000 house to a 1.25 million pound house with a £500000 mortgage. They will pay the mortgage off in 5 years. Her husband is a solicitor and she doesn't work. And no, no other debts

32k really isn't well off when house prices in your local area are 10 times that. Some people would say move somewhere cheaper, but it's not so easy when you've lived there most of your life and it's where your family, friends and job is.

I'd say you are quite well off if you are mortgage free. You probably also have the option to downsize.

Mortgage free is well off. Are you working class if you don't work?

You can be searching for a £1.4 million property in SW6, doesn’t mean your actually going to buy one!

Well of course there are huge ranges everywhere, and also huge ranges in what people consider to be 'well-off'.

We earn £72k between us but where we live the average price for a 3 bedroom house is £808,000 at the moment and well out of our reach. We live in a one bedroom flat, about to upgrade to a small 2 bed cottage and are only on the ladder at all because I inherited a decent sum a few years ago. We don't have to worry much at the moment, but if/when we have children so either a lower income or nursery fees we'll need to be much more careful.

I know a few people here in houses (mortgaged) at over a million, but none are to my mind enormously wealthy day to day, budgets are still watched elsewhere and they're not wildly extravagant due to enormous mortgage payments.

Meanwhile obviously others are really very very stretched where each penny counts and an unexpected bill or rise in rent can mean no food or warmth.

All kinds of people exist on these boards, but the nature of the site itself leans slightly towards the higher end I think.

Ihopeyoulikemymuff Yes, I'm working class - I worked from the age of 16 (left school on the Friday, started work the following Monday) up to when my 1st son was born. I did P/T to fit in with my children. I worked full-time when they were older, right up until last July when I had Covid (on a ventilator 2 weeks) then a stroke. Now diagnosed with a brain tumour, so I can't work at the moment.