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?

In 1996 my house sold for 76k. It’s worth 600k now. It’s not a fair comparison

@toomychtiss with hindsight we wish we had stretched ourselves more but we could only borrow £46k (3xDH salary + 1xMine was the multiplier) and we’ve never moved. Just a 3 bed 1940s end of terrace.

Massively depends but I tend to agree with you.

Housing is the biggie as PP said - when did people buy, what's their mortgage like?

Monster commute/s to factor in?

Number of DC? Age? Childcare needs? Cost?

How are earnings split? (I earn a tenth what DH does, but have the time to wander around Lidl and get hand-me-downs for the kids)

I bought my first flat (in London!) in an unfashionable area when I was on a £39k annual salary, about a decade ago - it was £179k, and I just about scraped together a 10% deposit. Overnight the lovely but unremarkable suburb it was in became fashionable and within a short time (four years?) an identical one next door sold for £140k more. When it came time to move we had equity. And so on. So that when the delightful but financially ruinous multiple birth came along more recently, we basically just shrugged our shoulders. Not so easy for everyone.

If I'd have bought in the 90s I'd be thrilled with today's house prices and rolling around on my piles of cash whilst living mortgage free.

Alas my Mum decided to wait till she was 19 to have me so I lost out on the cheap houses ables to be bought on one person's salary.

This is a good example, I earn a fraction of this, my student loan was paid off many years ago (pre-fees) so nothing to pay back there. Income is about half of this, but I also don't have childcare costs and my mortgage payment is a fraction of this - so available money after these costs are taken into account is pretty much the same. I can see that whilst it is not struggling (I don't feel like we are) it also not the life of riley despite earning almost 3 x what I do.

Ours was £46k now worth <£250k

ALL OF THIS 100% ^^

My inlaws paid £18k for their house and sold it for £650k

On the basis that works out at £4k+ per month net, and you're spending £600/month on mortgage and childcare, I
can't imagine your budgeting needs to be all that tight!

Ah Mumsnet at it’s best where 100K isn’t a lot.

It's all relative though 100k sounds like loads. My income is 3k a month give or take some people would think that is a lot of money but it's tight. Fixed bills Mortgage, CT, Car loan, Fuel bills, life insurance, road tax, broadband, car insurance, buildings and contents insurance are high.

A chunky mortgage payment (especially if you were on variable as your repayments have gone up by £££s) or high childcare bills it can feel tight.

I think there is also an attitude of entitlement, work hard earn decent money and I should be able to.... name your vices hair, nails, eating out, holiday in the sun, shiny new car. I don't do any of those but I spend a lot of my money on kids activities. Gym membership for swimming (I make them wash properly after so saves on hot water at home nowadays), ballet, drama, rugby, music lessons and the petrol to get them there. Hopefully they grow up to appreciate the sacrifices I've made instead of entitled sods

If they're in London and their kids are preschoolers then their nursery bill alone could be £4-6000 pm.

The thing is, a household income of £100k, split £70k and £30k gives you around £6k a month net, after a 6% pension contribution and ignoring student loans. A £450k mortgage on a £600k property (which won’t get you much in many parts of the county) will cost you around £2,200 over 25 years at 3.25%. At 4.25% it’s nearer £2,450. Childcare for a working couple with 2 children could easily be £1,000 a month each if they’re young, and maybe £1,500 for a pre school and one with after school clubs.

So now you’re down to £1,800 to £2,300 left to cover a running a car, council tax, food, bills, savings and what have you. For a family of 4 in a three bed house that’s not living in luxury, and a rise in costs of several hundred pounds a month will hurt. Not as much as it will hurt someone with less to start with, but if they’re in the south and have only bought a house in the last few years, maybe to cope with a new family, you can see how they’d be worried, and not have as much wiggle room to cut back as you’d think.

@Nidan2Sandan

person 1 and 2 may only both have £100 disposable but the second one has more options the first person probably can't get a cheaper flat even in the worst area they are already in the cheapest eating the cheapest food, the second family has more options as to where to cut costs they may not feel they are in a better position but they are

also although you could not have predicted the throwing money at covid or Putin invading Ukraine, you should have predicted that the economy has always gone through cycles of up and down and that interest rates would not continue to be so low for ever and that inflation may go up again. There has been wars, trade wars, cold wars and epidemics since the beginning of history and always will be; how precisely they will affect us is an unknown quantity but that life will always be on a smooth upward projectory is nonsense, on both a personal and national level. Recessions are a regular occurance and having no savings on an above average income was and is and always will be financially naive at best and stupid at worst

@InThatCaseCanIHaveARaise but how much is it worth now?

@InThatCaseCanIHaveARaise sorry I see you answered that.

And this is the exact sort of downright ridiculous comment that high earners make all the time.

If you are struggling on a £100k income, then you need to cut your cloth. For you, that might be no holiday this year. It might be getting rid of the car and buying a cheaper one outright instead of on finance. It might even mean the children don't get to do 3 or four different hobbies and have to cut back to one.

Someone on £25k will have to cut back on food bills, heating the house, and possibly things like insurance in order to be able to afford to pay their bills.

There's nothing wrong with upgrading your home, car and activities as your salary increases - but it's insulting to insinuate that because you've actively chosen to spend your money that you're struggling in the same way a person who earns next to nothing is.

Yes it's doable, I totally agree. We can't afford to go skiing where we are now, and we definitely couldn't afford to go skiing if we quit our jobs and moved further north. Stupid comments like that, again, show how out of touch with other people's lives half the posters on here are.

Funny enough I do know people who live near us on a lot less and yes they manage. But comparing us being a bit worried about the coming winter to people who are living hand to mouth and go without meals so their kids get enough and saying that means we mismanage our money is a bit ridiculous, dont you think?

@Simonjt

a joint income of £100K can mean as much as £9K more take home pay a year than one person earning £100K due to tax differences. That’s £750 a month more to play with.

it is the people thinking they are struggling on 50- 100k that are out of touch with the reality, they just can't seem to grasp that being in the top 5-10% of earners is privileged beyond most peoples dreams and so talking of struggling is insensitive and crass. Struggling means choosing between food and heating it is not only eating out once a month instead of once a week
even 50k is more than the average Londoner

What about a couple who are both divorced so essentially starting again but have to take out a relatively high mortgage over a much shorter period due to age? So many factors to consider. Most people live within their means!

My boss's best friends are a couple of surgeons who earn shedloads.

But they apparently are mortgaged up to the hilt with an enormous house that his wife can't stop renovating. So they now have 'money problems' that they talk about, a lot.

Choosing between eating and heating in Northern Europe with its hard winters is not 'Struggling' @Cottagecheeseisnotcheese. And that's not even considering the having a home to heat to start with. That's the kind of living conditions that are on the poverty line.
Many people are not in touch with the reality of the other 90 per cent of the population. In general we are all very ignorant. It is a limitation inherent to the human brain.
It is obvious that many many are facing a horrible time. And of course, there are not those with the highest salaries

It really, really depends on the area though. 100k here wouldn't stretch far by any means. Rentals and childcare here is easily 6-8k monthly where I am. Op you really cant understand why income and expenses differ per area?

You are mortgage free.

You have no child care costs.
So you have much more disposal income.

How can you not get that?