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?

It is a lot but then it depends on lifestyle we earn around £160,000 mortgage is low £620 a month cars come to £1000 don’t have really big bills apart from those nursery is £400 a month no debts I’d still say we live an above average lifestyle not high class but it’s probably due to lifestyle , have the privilege not to worry about bills what we spend on a weekend etc etc I’ve had alot less money and managed well I honestly think the more money you have the more you spend.

Not everybody on >100K is a lazy so and so doing very little.

No one said that 🧘🏽‍♀️

I can't understand how you can't understand that 40k could feel like a fortune. We never can afford to buy each other Christmas presents. We don't go on holiday. We turn down school trips as can't afford them. We have many times been staring down the barrel of the night before rent day waiting for a payment to come in knowing if it doesn't we can't pay our rent.
We have spent years laying in bed worrying about the next bill, the next expense knowing we don't have enough money. I had to put tights and shoe polish back a few months ago doing the food shop even though I needed them for an interview because I couldn't afford them. That's an exhausting and crippling way to live.

So for us being comfortable, being able to pay our bills without that all consuming fear, without bouncing the direct debits until the next student loan payment comes through, that is game changing. It's more than my parents ever earned and more than I've ever earned.

There will be costs associated with that yes. But childcare will decrease as DD will be at her specialist secondary by then which provides much cheaper wrap around care than our specialist SEND childminder and DS will be old enough to catch the bus home and have a key!

I'm just trying to show that for those of us that have spent many years with an absolute pittance, doing our best to get by, sums that are even half of those mentioned in the OP are what we can only dream of.

@Butterflyfluff we are on nowhere near that amount currently! Our student income as I've stated is £12000 and on top of that DH pulls in 2 days a week of earnings which pays the princely sum of £200 per week. That covers our childcare bill and leaves a tiny bit over. I tutor but it's sporadic and have an Etsy shop. Between the two that's about £400 a month on average but in reality some months it's double that and others I sell nothing and will only have 1 tutoring session each week. We then get £140 a month child benefit and £340 in DLA. That's it.

We get paid our student money in 3 instalments. That is our rent covered. The DLA covers our elec. every thing else is paid for in nervous fits and starts. We frequently bounce direct debits and then manage to clear the backlog when the next chunk of money comes through. DH will skip lectures and pull in more days at work for a week if we are short for rent or the car insurance is about to be cancelled. We manage to stave off getting into actual debt but often have "we need to pay 2 months of x bill this month" or "I've just checked and that bill bounced so we need to call them next week and pay it" type arrears. Nothing sold onto debt collection agencies by the skin of our teeth. I was a little creative when I said we had £800 in savings - we do but that's technically next months share of bills after we sold a car to cover the summer hols bills!

That to me is just about getting by. So yes, having actual salaries will be game changing. And no we don't qualify for benefits due to the student finance.

This is absolutely true. In south east ourselves and combined income 120k (though majority from 1earner so more comes off in tax than if say 2 x 60k). Have opted to have secondhand cheaper cars not expensive financed ones, haven't holidayed abroad for a good 4 years, no private schools or medical, and chose to live in a small terrace as thats all we needed. No designer clothes or anything. Eat out couple of times a month, coffees out every week and couple of lunches, when food shopping dont look at prices etc however do not have expensive tastes and both working class backgrounds. As a result we have 100k in the bank though now are buying a bigger property. Have friends who have more income than us who owe because they spend everything they get and live beyond means. Also have friends who earn a bit less - 80-90k pa based on what they have said- yet similarly spend everything they get and are in debt and blame the state of the country for the fact they arent on the housing ladder when actually they could've if they had realised how lucky they are to earn what they do and spent less, saved more. We bought when one of us was minimum wage and other on 30k - times different now but point is we have always been more savers/when income has increased we haven't then spent all the extra. Means we haven't lost sight of how lucky we are and that in reality our incomes do mean we have a lot. A lot of people have lost sight of their privilege I feel

How can your rent be covered by your student loan if you get £12,000 per year and your rent is £14,400 per year more

How come your Dh is earning £200 per week but between you that only accounts for £400 per month
£200 per week is £10400 per year
If you are meaning you are earning £200 per month then your income is the equivalent of one salary of just under £45,000 per annum

I think because your money gets paid to your bank in smaller amounts you are not adding it up and working out just how much per year you actually get. Then what that amount would be the equivalent to if you were to start work and had to pay tax and NI. Also atm you aren’t having pensions or student loans deducted and you don’t have to commute to work etc

Can you not see that all these things are deducted from your salary when you start to work and what your income is now is nearly as much as the £50,000 joint income you are dreaming of.

The richer you get, the more extra money you need to increase your level of satisfaction. If you're steadily earning around £100,000 a month and are falling over yourself to make even more - extra money probably won't bring you much happiness. It's better to start looking for it in something else. On blippi net worth, I learned a lot of new earnings, so I advise you not to stop at one goal.

I tell my kids all the time, it’s not what you earn, it’s what you spend. DS earns £1200 a month and wants to take GF to a show in the west end, dinner and a night in a hotel. Doesn’t seem to habe grasped that he can’t afford it.

My wife and I both grew up on council estates and left school with no qualifications. We now have a combined income of around £100k, when people say we are lucky my wife says the harder we work the luckier we become.

when people say we are lucky my wife says the harder we work the luckier we become.

That's a rather over simplistic way of looking at it. People doing some of the lowest paid jobs work very hard after all.

I'd recommend reading Hard Work by Polly Toynbee.

That's nice, dear.

I think you’re right. My income is probably just under the equivalent of that, if you income untaxed maintenance as net pay.

It doesn’t give us a luxurious life (and we live in a London zone 5) but it makes us luckier than most.

It depends where you live! A one bed flat in a cheapish area is about £1500 to rent in London and probably roughly the same mortgage if you have a 10% deposit. Add other bills to that and you won't feel like you have masses to spend.

The big factor in how well off people are is increasingly WEALTH, not income. If you get a few hundred grand towards your home from family, or a home bought outright, as many of my London friends have received, it's a very different ballgame.

How does the cost of private school fees even come into this debate?

Whether people accept it or not if you are at the point where you have a choice to even pay them, you are in a comfortable position.

Private school fees are not an necessity at all.

This is a slightly old thread but with relevant points on it. £100k is 5650 a month after tax but many will have 9% student loan payment on top of that an to earn £100k may have to be in London with £2k a month rent and may be £50k a year childcare for 2 babies so the 5650 may be 5k after student loan and 3k after rent and then minus £1k after childcare!!!!

Completely depends where you live. Where we are the average 3 bedroom family home averages a bit under £800k to buy or £2500 a month to rent, and childcare in a nursery setting is circa £100 per day, so a household income of £100k isn't going to stretch that far for a family with a child or two in childcare and a decent sized home.

Where my parents live £100k as a household income would afford a very comfortable home and lifestyle indeed.

it was this time last year when my mortgage was only 1000£ a month and i only had 1 in nursery - now its 1900£ - and ive 2 in nursery = 4k a month! so no its not a lot anymore!