Do you think £100,000 a year household income is a lot of money?

[SleepDreamThinkHuge]

I think it is a lot of money even in London where I live. When I hear people say things like "£100,000 is not enough to live on even in London" I think to myself what are they talking about. I have a family of four and we can only dream of earning that amount. The maximum I can see us earning is about £60k if we are lucky. Currently on over £40k combined income with still a relatively high rent and everything does go on bills and other necessities. But sometimes we are lucky and manage to save some money a year. Luckily no debt. I just think to myself £100,000 would be life changing even in London.

What are your thoughts? What do you consider to be average and above average in London and the city you are from?

Our household salary is a bit over 100k but we can afford a week skiing, a summer holiday abroad and usually a week in a UK cottageand a couple of weekends away. We also pay for one child to attend private school.
100k is loads.

The answer is all relative, isn't it?

To some people, who are used to having enough money to buy whatever they want, having an annual household income of £100k (and no capital, so that income is the only financial resource) would feel like poverty.

To others, £100k per year would be the stuff of dreams and fantasy and they would feel incredibly rich.

In absolute terms, when compared with the various averages of UK household income, yes £100k is a lot.

Everyone (well most people!) live to their income so if you live comfortably on £60000 you’ll think it’s a lot. If your income is £120000 and you live comfortably but with expensive mortgage etc you’ll think £100000 is not enough

@3WildOnes when did you buy your home?

There are a lot of people in London being paid by the state to sit on their backsides doing nothing all day, which does affect the numbers.

Exactly.

People take a reasonable starting point, that spending money on things like private school doesn't make an income not low, but then completely fail to consider the impact of age and the way in which some people are massively more exposed to the downsides of economic policy in the last couple of decades than others.

Ultimately, it is a high income and it's also possible for it not to cover much after a modest home, childcare, commuting costs and any student loan payments are added to the normal food and utilities. Those things aren't mutually exclusive. And the reason for this is the factors you mention.

I don't believe that's true

There are a lot of factors that go into how much people are paid.

But it is a privilege to decide how that income is spent. Beyond the basics of food and shelter.

A separate bedroom per child, a private garden for example, are choices that are a privilege

that's was for @GCHeretic

We are in London and are on £190k. Aside from nice holidays , we live surprisingly average to the outside world . I say this from someone who had a working class ( border line lower class) upbringing.

We shop at Aldi , I dye my hair at home (although occasionally get it done in a salon ). I don’t spend crazy amounts of money on clothing or makeup . We do love fun days out on the weekend though .

We put a lot of our money into our house which we are doing up. We bought a fixer up ( a real fixer upper haha) and it’s been taking us a while to do it up . It’s quite old and neglected.

6/7 years ago we were on 90k , renting a nice place and had a higher disposable income because we didn’t have kids or a house with a high mortgage. To the outside world we probably looked like we had more money than we do now .

So to answer your question , 100K is a lot of money but depending on your expenses it doesn’t always leave you will a high disposable income .

The average cost of buying a property is less than the average?

No, it’s exactly the same number. The average house price is a measure of transactions, not of some calculated total value of the stock, so it is, by definition, the average price paid in the period in question.

Certainly.

But you don't have to buy a property at an average price.

You can buy a cheaper one

You'd take home around 65K and pay just about £27500 in taxes as a sole earner.
Obviously if a couple earned 50k each they would have a joint allowance of 25k before paying tax so you'd have more as a couple.
You'd also keep and child benefit under 50k.
It's a good wage but as always it depends entirely on your financial burden and outgoings.
It's all relative, how many celebrities go bankrupt but have earned millions?

@Runnerbeansflower Are you seriously advocating that two teens of opposite genders share a bedroom? Because unless you mean otherwise, that's what you are saying.

Most families today in the West would aim for a bedroom for each child of different genders once one of them reaches puberty.

Likewise, outside space. Not a necessity but certainly covetable.

You are coming over as a little out of touch what with your insistence that flats for £150K exist in London (unless they are shared ownership .)

A separate bedroom per child

I thought it was considered to be classed as overcrowding if dc of opposite sex over 10 share a bedroom? so you think it's privileged & local authorities should not use that policy?

Sorry, my earlier post made no sense.

The 'average' in the sense of a mean is irrelevant.

The range is more significant.

@Runnerbeansflower 20% of children in the UK share a room

Hardly the norm

@frazzledmess

Those things are affecting people on a lot less than 100k too.

@GCHeretic

No one is doing better than me. Earning more a moral attribute. In fact in some cases its distinctly lacking in morals

As I have said in previous posts, siblings of the same sex.

@Topgub where did I say otherwise?

But not damaging to them.

So a choice.

The UK makes it difficult to accumulate generational wealth. You are only allowed to pass on £325,000 before the 40% tax kicks in.

In the USA, an individual can leave $12.06 million to heirs and pay no federal estate or gift tax, while a married couple can shield $24.12 million. For a couple who already maxed out lifetime gifts, the new higher exemption means that there's room for them to give away another $720,000 in 2022.

Why such a discrepancy?

Our current home, just over a year ago, we maxxed out on our mortgage at 4.5 x our earnings, so over 500k mortgage. But interest rates were low and we fixed for 10 years.
We had a large deposit but we don't live in a very expensive part of London.

Not in London. While our combined income is around £200k, we lead a very average lifestyle. Not denying it’s a lot of money but it doesn’t make for the luxurious lifestyle that some people think it might. This is despite having no mortgage/private school/nursery fees. We don’t have to worry about money and can replace something if needed but we are far from being in the bracket of being able to buy a boat, spend 10k on a holiday etc.

What is lost in these threads is the fact London is a bloody big place.
So 100k salary will not provide a naice lifestyle if you live zone1 or 2..
We have a flat edge of zone 1/2, 2 beds, small garden, basement flat. It's £2850 a month in rent.
If you had bills, food, childcare for say 1 child and travel costs.. Then a total salary of 100k would probably cover it.. But certainly not much left over.
If you want to live out in zone 6 then your rent will be a lot less.