to get hacked off at journalists moaning about how oh so hard it is to afford school fees

[emkana]

like in the Daily Telegraph for example today

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml;jsessionid=AFH51SI3AUOK5QFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/education/ 2008/01/30/faclass130.xml&page=2

It is relative. My brother living with working girlfriend) earns what I consider a shedload (well 6 figures) and it far outnumbers our joint income which by many standards is pretty good.
Hey he is 36 and cannot afford to buy a house! Or to have kids or to get married!

Its quite hard to really know whether that kind of income is derived from working in the public sector or not I suppose.....even with a joint income of £150,000 you would never know if this was derived from public or private sector, would you?

I would imagine that wages outside London are significantly lower- weren't they the couple who lived in Portsmouth?

I think it really depends on what you do in the private sector tbh....in London or elsewhere..

I imagine that 75k in the public sector is getting to be reasonably senior

Whereas in the private sector it is not of course

Has anybody read the comments at the bottom of Sam Leith's piece? Oh dear, seems like the Daily Telegraph readers do feel very beleaguered and hard done by

Emkana, CaraLondon

I read the Sam Leith piece. It's the only piece of the Telegraph that I have ever read and thought "how sensible"

I particularly liked the line:

Like a herd of mastodons bellowing mournfully from the depths of a prehistoric swamp, the Home Counties' hard-pressed gave vent to their woe. Squeaking amid the general chorus could be heard the angry yelps of Right-wing velociraptors, and the sententious honks of the herbivorous velociraptors.

Funny as well as sensible

Been thinking about this overnight, and it seems clear to me now that the way to make a fortune is to position yourself in a niche market with clients who can afford to pay or haven't the choice not to pay what you are asking (is it Red Adair who caps blazing oil wells?).

Teaching, social work etc all fall down in this economic model of value as they are neither niche markets (plenty people still wanting to become one) nor have well-off customers. Whatever personal satisfaction a person may draw from "social" occupations, this is never going to be translated into hard cash until a lot more people have left the profession, and those that are left are able to handle classes of 70 with massive discipline problems without resorting to violence. So teaching probably not such a good option for anyone hoping to make a mint.

My 14 r old son had a brain wave the other day on the way to judo. He said "Mummy, what you need to do is become a contract killer. They make loads of cash." Don't know what that says about his view of me. I just pondered how to write the hitwoman training off against tax.

Never mind the bollocks, here's the sex pistols

I always thought private investigator would be a fun job. I'd like someone hire to get Mann out of prison in Equatorial Guinea or whatever he is, spring him out of jail etc.... that would be fun and there is a woman who captures back abroad children who have been illegally snatched by a foreign parents. Certainly no need for children just to pick the duller career options.

"So teaching probably not such a good option for anyone hoping to make a mint."

In my job, you know not to give away advice free - bad policy. I am going to make an exception:

Duchesse - on the man bites dog principle - please don't think of being a journalist.

Rachel Johnson says in today's paper - stop moping www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rachel_johnson/article3294439.ece

?We?re going to Devon on a family adventure holiday,? said another, naming a residential coastal centre that my daughter?s day school uses for its trips. ?I?m renting out two rooms in my house for extra cash.? ?I?ve had to take a full-time job as an admin assistant to pay the mortgage, but I?d rather be a nurse.? ?My husband?s car?s three years old now and he usually trades it in after one.? ?I can?t afford Waitrose any more.? ?I never buy fashion any more, I buy one or two classic things I think will last.? ?I used to buy designer, now I don?t even buy classics, I?m down to catalogue.? ?George?s fees are being paid by the Bank of Mum and Dad.? ?I got our electricity bill today, it was almost £500.?

[vomit]

good article. My heart bleeds for those having to choose between a ski-ing holiday or extra paiano lessons for little cressida.
They need to get a grip. When its heating or food then they can moan.

I agree nmc- what a load of crap.

I'm still wondering about the reference to George's fees coming from the bank of Mum an Dad... Who on earth should be paying for them? Or do they mean the fees are now coming out of their overdraft?

I think she meant the grandparents are paying. Probably lessen the inheritance somewhat.

Why does these people think the world owes them a living? They need to live within their means, like most of us have to do.

Why do these....

I'm imagining they are still living within their old means, and that rises in things like mortgage rates have taken their toll on the family budget. fwiw, I do think that housing is extortionately expensive in this country, and that the fact that many of us treat our house as a form of long-term investment leaves people who are not house-earners even further disadvantaged.

Istr that mortages come with a warning that rates can go up as well as down. We've paid interest of 15% on mortages in the past.

i had great hopes for dd1's economic future when she announced she wants to be 'a Leader'. Visions of G8 summits and all the rest of it! then it turned out she meant one of the girls who leads the younger ones around in riding lessons

Yes, 15%. People don't know how good they've been having it on interest rates for so long. It is going to be an interesting year or two.

I guess now would be a good time to get a fixed rate mortgage then if one were considering getting one?