relocation to UK 120k household income

[homealone2022]

Hi,

Currently live in a different country but DH has just been offered a post in London with an annual salary of 120k. The post looks really interesting but we've heard that London is very expensive so not sure whether it would be enough for our family to live on - it would be DH, myself and our seven year old son. Would anyone have any pointers as to whether it's enough and what we can expect? Thank you

Depends on what you are looking for! 3 bed house in Highams Park - yes you’ll be fine! 3 bed house in Hampstead - no way!

Yes agree it totally depends on your expectations - if you're hoping to live in central (zone 1 or 2) London in anything other than a shoebox, send your DS to private school, drive a Porsche, go first class to the Caribbean or skiing every half term, you'll be struggling. On the other hand if you're OK with a flat in zone 3-4 or a house in a commuter town, your DS can attend state school and you have reasonable lifestyle expectations you'll be perfectly comfortable - I think schools will be your biggest problem TBH - in a lot of parts of London good schools are oversubscribed and you won't be allowed to join a waiting list until you 'land' and have a semi-permanent address in London - will the relocation package provided for your husband cover at least a few terms private school fees for your DS? Even if so I would be concerned about disrupting him to move his school twice, unless you go for private throughout, which will be £20k a year minimum (more for senior school if you stay that long) which obviously will mean major lifestyle sacrifices... What will your housing situation be, will you rent or buy? If buy how much capital can you put into a property?

I think you need to look at what you expect to get for your £120k. If you come from a country where having a maid and a gardener is common, then no chance! If you want a 4 or 5 bedroom house with a garden in a nice area of London itself, again no chance. But if you are looking to rent a 2 or 3 bedroom house outside London but commutable, and hoping to be able to be able to get a cleaner for a couple of hours a week, then possible. Where I live (which is also expensive) you should be able to do that easily. None of these scenarios include private schools thougn.

Join the FB group Two Fat Expats, you will get loads of great advice on there

The key issue is whether you own a house to sell or to rent out to cover your rent in the U.K.

A family house to buy in inner London would start at about 1.2 million, to rent would be 40-50k a year.

If you don’t mind a flat, and you don’t mind going further out, it would be less obviously.

This is almost exactly us! One salary of a little more than that, one non earner and one seven year old.

We manage very well on a mortgage payment of about 2k a month. Leaves plenty over for bills and savings but we’re not at all extravagant or spend thousands on holidays or anything.

At £120k you can put into a pension with little reduction in income as you drop back into a personal allowance

A post tax income of £120k is about 65 to 70k per year so plenty to live on however it would entirely depend on childcare costs, the rental/mortgage values for the area you are in and whether you financially contribute to the household, as to whether you can have an affluent life on that income. It is certainly enough to live on, even if it doesn't give you the lifestyle you desire.
My husband earns that in a northern city and I also work full time in a professional role so for us it is more than enough but if you are in the highest cost areas of London maybe it would equate to the sort of income someone earning half that would be on in a less affluent area.

Why do people post questions like this with no info as to the type of property they are looking for ; where they want to live, etc etc.

OP, you might as well ask, "How long is a piece of string?" How do you expect people to advise you?

"London" is one of the largest cities in the world comprising of billionaires to homeless people and just about everything in between.

Any ideas on areas you'd like to live in? Or have you just "heard London is expensive?"

£120k isn't a huge salary for London. Especially if it's a single salary as it's in the salary spot that takes a beating for tax as over £100k you lose the personal tax free allowance. It's approx £6k per month net.

...there are probably a lot of people earning more but the vast majority of people are earning less. You'd be in something like the top 7% of earners and not all live in London.

Sorry I should have been a bit more specific and thank you to everyone who's commented. I guess that our current plan is to rent - 2-3 bedroom apartment as we're only planning to be here from a couple of years. My plan would be to request a sabbatical from my job so this would be our total household income.

Haven't quite got as far as schools and are just trying to weigh up the options. I am assuming that we could use state schools and healthcare - though I clearly need to doublecheck that as well.

My husband is really excited about the prospect of living in London but we need to make sure it all adds up.

If you're not going to be working you presumably won't have any childcare costs so you should be fine on that salary. Will your DH need to commute into the city?

Partner pointed out you would be better off posting this question in an 'ex-pats in the U.K. ' Facebook group where you will find lots of people from different countries discussing pros and cons of moving.
MumsNet isn't really the place

I would say yes but depending on the lifestyle you want will depend on how comfortably. I presume you are any to live in London for the experience (or that’s the impression I got from your posts) but many would chose to commute in from somewhere like Surrey, Hertfordshire or Kent to get more for their money property wise.

If you could post general area his office would be in then people could advise on good places to live to get into the office (if he even needs to be in the office - many don’t now) and with good schools. What age are your children?

in summary I would say 100% that salary is enough to have a great life in London but how far it will go will vary depending on what you want.

Living in London is brilliant, frustrating and saps a lot of energy. It's not just about the money. Would you be happy here?

You can get a 3 bed flat in zone 2 for around 30k pa. But it will be very small.

I live in what is considered a fairly desirable part of London on the borders of zone 2/3. There are lots of green spaces and many good primary schools with an easy enough commute into the city, depending on where work is (not on tube so rely on trains and buses). 3 bed flats are around £2,200 per calendar month to rent. Take that out of the take home salary, then factor in council tax, utilities (about to get very expensive), insurances, food, (car, petrol, car tax and insurance?), mobile phone contracts, TV and broadband. Then see.

Many people who work in London commute into work and live outside of London. Depends if you want a really nice house or will make do with flat or apartment.

I think his office is somewhere around Liverpool Street. Ideally, we would like to live in London as that would be the whole point of moving for myself and our son. DH is just excited about the new job. So we could squeeze into a 2 bed although it might be a bit annoying when our friends and family come to visit

a 3 bed flat near Liv St will be extortionate. You can do it but rent at bills in London near there prob £2,500 a month easily, if lucky.

Actually more like £4k a month right now!

Are you intending to continue normal lifetime financial planning? Is some sort of retirement savings or pension on offer over and above the £120k?

If not: I reckon £120k pa will be about £7,000 a month. My rule of thumb has been to divide income equally three ways between long-term savings, accommodation and spending. On that basis you'd have £2,300 for accommodation. Allowing a bit of slippage look for what you can get for £2,000 within three miles of Liverpool St.

You won't be living in luxury, but it's alright.

Your best bet would be to look on Rightmove and see what you can get for your budget. Of course it's doable on a salary of £120k but whether or not you'd be happy with what you can get for your money is the question.

Exactly! £4k is more realistic for a 3 bed near Liv St if the OP wants the 3rd bedroom to be useable (rather than just a tiny office/boxroom). Some of the posters on this thread are out of touch with current rental prices - and current income tax rates (£120k is £6.1k net/month)

(I'm the Chair of Board of Directors for a company that owns a 110 flat gated development within walking distance of Liverpool St).

It'd be cheaper for the OP to rent a 2 bed and pay for any visitors to stay in a nearby hotel unless the visitors are coming for weeks/months. There are lots of reasonably priced hotels in the area. E1 is booming with hotels. The whole area is booming (hence the hike in rents, especially following the opening of the Elizabeth line last week).

I think it will depend on what you're used to at the moment. Are you able to visit? Pick a few areas within your budget and get on their local Facebook pages to get a feel of the people on there. As PP says get on some forums. Do DH's new workplace offer much support for those who are relocating??