to think this income, savings and wealth calculator might give people some perspective on where they fit in

[cakeorwine]

It's from the Office for National Statistics. (based on pre Covid)

www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc1802/calculator/index.html

It uses the OECD equivalised disposable income - so basically it looks at your household and determines the relative income needed. Some people might take umbrage at this - especially with the increase in energy bills. The idea is that certain households need more income for the same lifestyle compared to a household with fewer people in.

For example - a household with 2 adults would need an income that is 1.5 x bigger than a household with a single adult in to maintain a similar lifestyle.

It doesn't take into account situations like separated parents, chilldren being away at Uni, but it does give an indication.

I think it might surprise some people where there income and savings are. But then again, a high income in some places is offset by a high mortgage.

The equivalised income is used in all set of datasets when looking at poverty.

Turns out I am doing ok...which has surprised me.

We are bottom 20%, that's taking into account dh, ds2 and my salaries. Ds1 is a student with no income and dd is still in 6th form.
When I did this during covid we were bottom 10%.

bottom 40% for everything

Top 20% for household money which is surprising as a single Mum! Bottom 20% for savings though. My 50% equity in my house is my savings!

Bottom 30% income, 50% property wealth & spend, top 40% savings although was a bit lax on the definition as included retained company earnings.

Wow, bottom 20%. To be fair I am a widow and only have my income which is above the National average but I am at the top pay scale for my profession but public sector so has been stagnant for over a decade. I know that I struggle in that I have no money left for savings, cannot replace my boiler etc, but compared to families I work with I am at least able to pay utilities (at the moment), have enough to eat etc.

I work with families who suffer severe deprivation and have done since this government have been in power due to benefit cuts- long before the current crisis. I know my view is skewed because of this, but if I am in the bottom 20% earning nearly 40 000 a year, it shows how the super wealthy really must be raking in.

Exactly.

I have four pensions, totalling hundreds of thousands but that's not taken into consideration. I wonder why? Also, what about BitCoin?

The instructions say to include investments and shares in the savings calculation, so it isn’t just looking at cash.

it doesn’t include pensions though, so if you prioritise pensions as a way to hold investments it will skew the results a bit.

I thought the children bit was the age of your children. I was shaken when it said I was bottom 10% for income as I thought I was doing ok. Then realised I had told the calculator I had 17 children 😅

Off to work on my savings...

Top 50% for everything except spending. We are pension heavy so wasn’t sure where to include that.

Do feel humbled as I thought we were doing better than that…

I'm in bottom 20% for everything, not surprising, I'm disabled & on benefits.

What I don’t understand with the equivalency bit with the savings is it basically cut the amount I put by 50%.

No it’s take home (net) you enter

What I don’t understand with the equivalency bit with the savings is it basically cut the amount I put by 50%.

i don't get this either

Bottom 10% for income & spending (so I'm doing something right there) bottom 40% fir savings and top 40% for property. I work full time, term time, for the local authority in a school. It's bloody hard work. Makes me wonder what I do it all for when I'm right at the bottom income-wise 😢

bottom 40%

spending in the bottom 20% - i am not sure what that means

80 % of households spend more than your household on items.

I think that this will be interesting when energy prices increase - and the underlying ONS data is used to inform Government policies.

I am a bit sceptical about the equivalence bit - on some incomes, having fewer people in a house does not have a major impact on the salary needed to run the house - energy and mortgages are the key factors and energy costs don't go up by 50% if you have an extra adult in.

Your household's income is in the bottom 30%.

Your household's savings are in the bottom 50%.

Your household's property wealth is in the top 50%.

Your household's spending is in the bottom 10%.

I got top 50 for in one and bottom 50 and bottom 30 for everything else.

Top 10% for income (doesn't feel like it in the SE)

Top 50% for savings and property (not 30 yet I suppose)

Top 30% for spending

Interesting. Feeling thankful, as a pp said.

Top 10-20% for first 3 categories, bottom 50% or something for spending.

It seems to mix its intentions a bit. If it's focusing on disposable income, then equity in house isn't that relevant - I'm not about to sell my house because I can't afford my gas bill.

And for my savings, it's high as it's eventually destined for my pension, but don't want to risk tieing it all up until I'm 57, in case I need it before then.

As others have said, doesn't take into account stage of life, or pension. My pension is low for my age as I concentrated on mortgage in last decades. And my income isn't high, I'm not a higher rate tax payer. Higher than national average, but I live in London.

Bottom 40% for everything, except savings where we’re bottom 10% as we only bought our house 2 months ago. Interesting! We were quite poor a few years back so I feel very lucky with where we’re at and having been able to buy a house at all.

Well, that was a shocker. Top 10% for everything except spending where we’re in the bottom 40%. Frankly I’m stunned.