Young couple cannot afford a family on 100k per year!

[dottiedodah]

All subjective of course.Young couple feel they are unable to afford a family ,With lots of expenses .YABU they should just save and keep going .YANBU if they want children then they would have to cut back .Apologies DM link!

But people do.

There are a lot of single parents on minimum wage topped up with in work benefits and child benefit.

There are single parents on benefits with no family support.

They exist so clearly it's doable.

Totally. We have a similar income as a family. But we live in a cheap area: large house cost us £250k (5 bed, dining kitchen, 2 reception, 3 bath). Also childcare is cheaper.

it all depends on so many variables: but £100k in Scotland is not the same as £100k in London

@IncompleteSenten true - when I looked at it, UC would barely just cover childcare
So no money for nappies, clothes, anything like that
I can't have a child and rely that UC would give me a random amount of money that could change or be taken away at any time, same with free childcare hours
Don't know how it works if you're in rented, maybe you get more for housing costs as rent is higher than my mortgage

If I was in a relationship then it would be different with two wages coming in

Sorry I misread and thought it was a hypothetical.

In that case I think they've both knocked 7 or 8 years off 🤔

That’s why if you want children, you have them when you are young and on a junior salary. You don’t wait until you are at senior level raking in a ton of cash and pushing forty.

I didn’t realise that you were in charge of what age people have children at.

the absolute irony in the UK is that it’s fine to have kids that the taxpayer pays for, but if you have the audacity to want to earn well, a good chunk is taken from you…

By the time they have a baby nursery fees will be more subsidized. But renovation costs are like measuring how long is a piece of string... they can just stop renovating and live somewhere within budget especially a they're not in London

Could be topped up with some type of benefits. Or could have bought their house quite young at a low price / inherited money/ have low cost social housing

I swear there's a thread like this every other day

To be fair to them, they do acknowledge that if they stayed in their previous house they would have more disposable income but they wanted the fancy cottage needing work

So the whole article is a bit stupid and pointless then.

"We have a decent income but bought a house that was too expensive for and it's not even close to where we work so that's another £160 per week to get there"

They could do the same article with a couple earning 200k a year, who just bought a house that was too expensive and lived far away from where they work 😂

It seems entirely predictable and avoidable that if you wait until 38 and £100k/yr salary that you might have prioritised poorly if you do want children. The Government support is there for young families who are at the low end of their earning potential. It isn’t there for mature couples hitting their peak earning years. This couple knew this all along, they aren’t the age of couples where the help and rules changed on them midstream. They’ve known and failed to plan (I am talking about this couple who afaik have no fertility issues)

I am being a bit harsh though because when I had my children, I wasn’t in the U.K. I was in a country with zero paid maternity leave, zero free or subsidised hours of childcare, and no free family help either. Our earnings were 1/4th of theirs and just above the threshold for any state benefits. But we made it work. And as we were young, our income grew with the children and that is how it is supposed to go imho.

My daughter lives in East Sussex,earning about £35000 ,paying nursery fees,rent about £1400 and just about managing…luckily I can fill in the gaps.
Its very hard out there with bills.

Why do you care so much?

Me and DP earn a little under £100k a year between us, both working in professional industries. We can only afford to rent a small flat in a London commuter area (near family) and wouldn't be able to provide the upbringing I'd want for our children, or the upbringing they need. I'm from an 'unskilled' working class family and I doubt I could provide half of what my not-very-well-off parents provided me with growing up - eg. a garden, my own bedroom, sports clubs/dance classes, occasional UK holidays - which is quite depressing. So essentially we consider ourselves unable to afford to have kids.

Sorry but this is ridiculous, just because someone is a single parent if they are earning this much they don’t need social help funding childcare.

There are people on a lot less who don’t get help either and manage on less than half this. This salary is hardly the squeezed middle.

Also we don’t know she made any sacrifices versus having an extremely supportive start, got it through her social connections, or it’s just a lucrative field that she’s in.

Some people do earn a lot and do very little work. The idea of a meritocracy is also just that - it implies a level playing field, which simply doesn’t exist.

I read the piece this morning and my first reaction was one of them or nether actually want children. She works mainly form home, so zilch travel expenses and commuting time there. They think the spare bedroom is too small -no problem for a baby or toddler, they are worried about providing for hobbies and after school activities - come on. The renovation costs are NOT an on going expense once done, so that would fall off. If they really wanted a child, they have to do what everyone else does - close your eyes, hold your nose and jump off the cliff

In London or working in London it really isn't. I have a friend who is a SP and on 80. She commutes, pays a fortune for her elderly mother's care and supports her brother and his child, really doesn't leave her with much at all.

She’s 33. He’s 38

I can’t see how that’s true. I just can’t.

I had already taken into consideration SP in London.

In your example she is earning £20,000 less than was quoted in the PP… plus you have said “paying a fortune” for DMs care AND supporting DB and DN as well.

Her income is supporting 2 households as well as her own so amazing if she has anything left and shows what’s possible.

Absolutely ridiculous. Of course you can raise a child on that income. Anyone who says you can’t is deluded.

You'd struggle to cover a mortgage and childcare on £100k in parts of the SE. They're being sensible with what they can afford vs the lifestyle they want. Of course if the clock starts ticking, they could obviously make the necessary cut backs and manage.