To think if you are a family of 4 and struggling on £100k…

[LetMeSpeak]

That it is purely down to mismanagement.

I saw a debate on social media and I also know a few people on 6 figure salaries, have extremely nice houses and cars. Yet complain that they are stuggling the same way others with less money. Aibu to think if you are really struggling even in this economy, a lot of it is due to mismanagement with your money?

But the op is about family income

100k isn't double the average family income if both parents work full time

Actually no, it's a percentage of his salary based on his rank. It's also a kind of pension that no longer exists so opting out would be a ridiculous mistake.

You are completely tone deaf about pension contributions it seems, and entirely lacking in knowledge of how they work as well it seems. Perhaps you should go off and sulk somewhere else.

and they are in the richest 10% in their area

is that based on paye only?

Oh yes this is very annoying.

In my area there are regular houses that a family with one teacher's salary could buy in the 1970s. Now you need two senior leaders' salaries to buy the same house.

Surely you can understand that circumstances differ regardless of wages? If they earn £100k then it’s likely they have a high mortgage cost, high utility bills, contracted “extras” (phones, TV, magazines) etc that they can’t get out of just because the cost of living has gone up. Mortgages don’t just go away because you earn £100k, neither will your energy bills or any of the contracts you’ve already entered in to, even if you cancel them. Sure it’s not exactly bread line stuff, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that it’s impossible for them to be struggling to make ends meet. Yeah ok if they’re referring to only being able to go out for 2 meals a week instead of 4 as “struggling” then YANBU, but I can fully see how anyone, regardless of income, would be struggling with the breadth and speed of price rises.

It is not that it isn't a lot - I think it is a lot - but it is now necessary to earn a lot to have a relatively unremarkable home in the SE. The same buildings 40 years ago would have been occupied by people earning considerably less in real terms. It has all gone a bit mad, basically.

The housing issue makes 100k for a 20 something year old so different to 100k for someone who has bought a home, even say 3 years ago. We are on 80k combined, paying 1200 in rent, saving like mad to buy a house, now completely freaked out by interest rates and there is just no way we could afford to have children with all their associsted costs. Student loan also takes out a huge chunk and on a salary of 40k I'll never it pay back. No phone on contract, no TV, no TV license, a work car, 2nd hand furniture, holidays are camping in the UK. 80k is barely enough to raise a family as a young couple with no parental help in the south east.

Yes 100k on paper is a lot particularly because of wage stagnation. However it doesn't buy you anything like the life you may think it does because of the crazy house market.

I grew up in London, my house was a large semi detached & my mum didn't work. Pretty much the same story for my neighbours & school friends (some mums worked p/t). Those houses would cost 1.8m now.

yeah we earn loads more than 100k between us but 30k private school fees a year and 15k childcare costs a year eat loads of that and the mortgage takes the rest. Yes boohoo poor us having kids in private school, but changing their school again now would be kind of traumatic for them. Obviously not as traumatic as having to choose between heating or eating, but significantly more than nothing.

Honestly I think most people are guilty of increasing their financial commitments as their wages increase. We live a comfortable life on half of that and whenever we get spare money in our pocket we don't immediately find a new hobby or find somewhere bigger to live.

We pull in 3 grand a month and this is enough to cover everything and save 500pcm. We decided to live in a 2 bed flat in a very very nice area, because although we could afford more, we don't want to be living paycheck to paycheck. We have been on 2 holidays abroad this year, we have a nice car on finance, sky, Netflix, etc.

I do think it's worth remembering that complaining about the pinch is totally fine no matter of your wage, but understand that despite having not so much money in your account, you likely have plenty to show for it in the name of a large house, a nice car, hobbies, gym memberships etc etc.

OP I understand your frustrations. I just think people's standards of living are different. Some would think it unethical and cruel for the poor children to live in a 2 bed flat and share a room. I'm totally happy with it if it means we are more than comfortable. As many people have said, it's about priorities.

God you sound judgmental- there could be millions of reasons why those people are struggling, not just “mismanagement.” For example sudden illness, disability, child who has an accident and needs a live in carer, or someone who needs treatment for something like mental health, care home fees, elderly relative who needs a nurse paying for, not being able to sell the house (lots of larger houses are not selling). None of these are mismanagement.

We earn 100 grand a year between us. After paying mortgage, childcare, petrol and shopping etc... we have a moderate amount of disposable income and save about 250 a month. We take one foreign holiday a year. We have to watch spending too much money on clothes and toiletries. We live comfortably but not luxuriously. We don't turn the heat on or use hot water. I boiled the kettle earlier to wash my face. I think people are delusional about money. We are already having to mind our money so it's clear that people earning far less are going to be struggling. It's sobering. If someone told me 20 years ago that we'd be earning 100 grand in 2022, I would have thought that we'd be rich but the reality in 2022 is different. Obviously it'll get easier when we're not paying wrap around childcare.

To those saying you could downsize......where would you like me to downsize to if the whole of south east is really expensive. We could move further out but when you take into account train tickets that an extra 5k per year each. so what you are really saying is that in cheap parts of the country people should struggle on 100k per year which is maybe fair enough. However, in London a small 2 bed flat is 500k so with a couple of kids - you arent really downsizing from that - are you?

@@midgetastic but that's not what thus thread is about, there are approximately 5 billion threads covering that topic.

@Cottagecheeseisnotcheese, I don't have 100,000 (as I said combined 80,000) and I would never dream of complaining anywhere about this. But I live in a very average area facing the North Circular and the rent (I wish it was the mortgage) eats almost everything. I have a 10 years old car that is only driven to football (both huscand and I cycle over 20 km return to work). My kids go to state schools and I can see how this is becoming very difficult for many. If anything, the knowledge that I am not splurging on anything but I am in a very good place compared to many, makes me empathise fully with others living in much worse salaries and who cannot even rent in a cheaper place (if available) because nobody would want them as tenants.

It’ll be mortgage payments and/or school fees. I don’t have much sympathy - it’s not exactly the same as actually not having enough money!

But it’s housing cost- and it’s not just London. We live in a 3 bed new terrace elsewhere in the south. It’s a very, very high mortgage because of how high house prices are here, and we pay a £900pm nursery bill. That’s why we don’t have spare ££ to play with - but it’s the choice we made, so I’d certainly never moan about it!

Not going skiing fgs 😂

We have a combined income of about 100k and cannot move to a cheaper house because one doesn't exist (London), we don't own a car, we can't reduce our outgoings for commuting to work, food, childcare costs. We barely have any disposable income as it is. We could move North but that would mean taking massive pay cuts each and then being in the same boat as we are in now, so what is the solution?

Some of these statements on this thread really show how out of touch people are with the judgements they make on other people's lives, just like whichever arsehole millionaire politician who said people struggling to feed their kids needed to just buy own brand pasta. Totally out of touch.

There are endless threads with
People bashing each other

And it just supports the mess we are in

It's the wrong question , and asking it deflects attention from where it should be focused

It serves the Tory governments agenda

So I will point it out wherever o see it even if you don't like that

So if you live / work in London and need to buy a place to house 4, you will be paying a mortgage on a property if £500k (for a flat…) Add childcare for 2 kids, plus the normal bills to your expenses, deduct tax, pension, student loan (a higher sum on a higher salary) and your disposable cash probably isn’t enough for a life of luxury.

I wouldn't say mismanagement, but I would say living beyond their means. Even in expensive areas you can live well on £100k, you just won't have an affluent lifestyle. Where we live our salaries go a long way

Our house: Mortgage = 2000/month. Nursery fees for two kids £100/day each = around £3000 a month. Bills, petrol, heating, groceries etc = £1000 month. Ongoing house renovations/issues £££. Taxman more £££. Couple of meals out a month, weddings to attend, birthdays etc all £££. It works but we can never not watch what we're spending.

To offer another perspective; none of us prepared for a pandemic or economic crash. Me & DH have an income of around £120K and sometimes are still left short at the end of the month. Expensive car we now don’t need due to WFH but have a contact on, rising mortgage due to interest rates and ours running out at the wrong time, rising cost of living and household bills. It’s all starting to add up and our outgoings have nearly doubled in the last three years. We’re still doing okay comparatively but are noticing the pinch. We shop at Asda, reduced holidays and socialising and are still trying to build back up our savings from redundancy due to covid. It’s not as simple as seeing an annual salary.

Changing school is not traumatic, that is far too dramatic. I wouldn't want to change my child's school, but it isn't traumatic for most.

Changing school is really not even on the same scale as choosing between heating and eating.

@candycaneframe the average household income last year in london was £615 a week or 31980 a year which is less than half of 65K ( the take home from 100k) this is the median not mean so it means exactly 50% of londoners take home more and 50% less, it is £80 more than UK average per week

the point is that 90% of londoners are on less than 100K so both relatively and actually it is a lot as most people have a lot less in fact the average londoner has half at best, the other 90% are not all singles in flat shares a large proportion are families too

I am not saying 100k is enough for cruises private education dining at the Ivy etc I am just saying it is not struggling in any way shape or form

anyone starting their kids in private education must surely have given some thought to how will this continue if I can't work, if my partner gets ill, if we have to go part time, if costs of education rise much faster than inflation or other fairly normal life events

I don't know why you are presuming low income households don't have mortgages and associated costs of maintenance like you've included for higher income households.

Life isn't static. Many higher income people become low income because shit happens. Divorce/bereavement/ill health/disability etc..

How are you meant to service a £1000 mortgage when UC is under £400? . You dont. You lose your home ultimately.

The naivety is mind blowing if they genuinely think they are struggling on 100k .