To not feel that well off with a household income of £100k?

[phalendrina]

Live in London. Both of us are on £50k. We work 9am-7pm. Sometimes longer. Can’t afford to buy yet.

When I was younger I always thought a household on £100k would feel well off. We don’t. Obviously we are fortunate to afford food and rent etc, but we can’t afford long haul holidays or nice clothes.

I get £156 a month for my 2 DC in child benefit. We’re not entitled to any other form of universal credit or benefits. That’s less than £1900 a year so doesn’t make a huge difference to our salaries.

Not trying to be picky but there is room for savings in your monthly expenditure. Meal deals and school lunches take a huge amount each month. Sandwiches, fruit and flasks or refills water would save you almost £200 a month or £2400 a year.

People that are on less income would look at that £200 a month as waste.
There are plenty of areas fir savings on such large salaries if you really want to. Thanks for sharing.

It's not clear from the OP (who has disappeared) whether there are children in the scenario she describes.

However even if lower paid workers get certain benefits I'm pretty sure they wouldn't add up to an equivalent of 100k....

Yes it is v expensive to live in London and it is indeed all relative. Someone bringing in 100k will probably have high outgoings and therefore may not be left with much each month. Same with someone earning 200k and the same with someone earning 500k. No one is saying you should be left with thousands each month, we all know how high bills are now and cost of living is through the roof, especially in and around London and we all have to be careful with our spending. But will I ever feel sympathy for these people earning that amount of money who come online moaning over the fact they can't go on a long haul holiday or afford nice clothes? Definitely not. On the news every single day there are stories of people who can't afford to pay their bills, have to use food banks to feed their kids, who are living in mould infested housing, who have to go to charities to get school uniforms for their kids, so on the face of it, you may not feel like you are 'well off' but I would ask you to have another look at your surroundings, the fact you can pay your rent and get a food shop in and I think you will find you are indeed 'well off' in life.

You’ll find £100k goes a lot further in other areas of the country. We have an income of £90k and it’s absolutely fine (South West) That’s for 2 adults plus one daughter still at home and son left home.

You forgot the memo op. Socialist or pensioners net now. You can’t complain about all your bills and tax. Keep working to fund the state there’s a good op.

Fgs one of these threads again I'm sure people put these on to wind people up and have a gloat.

It doesn’t matter because you WONT GET that same income working the in rest of the country. Nowhere near! DH earns 100k. Same job is 35k locally

Do you think all the £100k households are out of London? In the public sector salaries are largely standardised with just a few grand given for London weighting.

A £65k premium is not usual, especially in this hybrid world.

OP hasn't been back.

I do agree with you. You'd think with that salary a decent quality of life, eg a holiday or two, nights out but these days squeezed so tight, not much quality of life, it's rubbish.

I can see what you mean. My DH and I earn 80k between us in the South East. I work 25 hours to do school pick ups as no one else to help. Once we pay mortgage, bills and food shop as well as swimming and Taekwon-Do lessons, we don’t have much left! We started to save and then the car needed MOT and a service and now the hob that cost about 1k has broken! So savings gone again… I know we are luckier than many others but things just cost so much more now!

I get it @phalendrina

100k doesn’t go far when you pay 2.5k a month in rent, and household bills on top, the cost of electric and gas is extortionate, then factor in childcare, fuel, food. Pretty sure council tax went up by 5% 🤷‍♀️

Yes it’s a good wage I am not denying that but still cost of living has eaten away at most people spare money. This will end in disaster.

I have all these expenses too, on a £26k income. And private speech and language is a massive luxury which so many families that need it cannot afford, to the point where it cannot even be considered an option. A pipe dream maybe.

I get it, OP. Most of it has already been said:

• London is very expensive for housing and childcare, so on 100k you don’t really experience a lifestyle bump into the Waitrose/nice holidays & clothes/private school/big family house near work bracket. Especially true since inflation has made essentials like food and energy so much more expensive.
• The 100k+ jobs are disproportionately London based, and many of those jobs are big-city-only type jobs, so it’s not as simple as relocating somewhere cheaper to get more for your money. The price of keeping the job and moving further out is a long commute with a quality of life hit and higher transport bills, which for many isn’t a trade-off worth making.

It’s obviously still a very first world problem, but OP isn’t crazy or out of touch for noticing that 100k doesn’t buy what she thought it would.

Also, people on lower tax cannot comprehend what 40% and 45% tax actually looks like. Especially when you lose child benefit and personal allowance. Two pinch points where marginal rates are at least 70% tax. It’s not as simple as 4x a 25k salary.

The OP might not be paying (much) 40% tax if her and partner each earn 50k...?
And I can comprehend those numbers thanks, even though I don't earn anywhere near enough for them to be relevant to my own income.

Also, people on lower tax cannot comprehend what 40% and 45% tax actually looks like.

Oh don't be so patronising 🙄

We live in London. We earn more than OP combined. Nowhere near the breadline and very grateful for all that we have but we don't feel rich. Yes London is a choice and it was a choice made after much consideration. We are minority ethnic groups and wanted to reduce chances of DC feeling othered by some people. This has been our unfortunate experience outside London, even in the south east of England.

It’s the truth.

And that £14,000 would feel like £100,000 in some countries. Again,
perspective.

Other people being poorer does not mean that OP is going to feel, or in fact going to be, rich.

Many of us can do maths and if not, there’s always a calculator or google.

Oh dear, that's a shame. Get a dog on a string and hang around outside Marks. Supplement your miserable income. All beggars are millionaires apparently.

Live in Scotland and combined we earn around the £80k-95k mark

3 DCs, 1 car, normal 3 bedroom house no debt.

And we are tight just now so i believe you OP.

We shop in aldi, takeaway once a week, we dont live extravagantly by any means but our money went so much further say 5 years ago on a lower income than now.

We get by and are very grateful.

It’s the truth.

Based on....? I'm a higher rate tax payer now but was well aware of the tax expectations on wages prior to becoming one.

It’s obvious what the thread is about from the title, anyone that has a problem with the subject, who thinks only those in dire poverty are allowed to dictate the tone of ‘the room’, is free to not engage.