To be fed up with all the threads about high earners feeling poor

[trekking1]

It's always the same condescending "I've worked so hard and only have a 3 bedroom house in a great location and an expensive car", as if 1. that's not a lot 2. people who make 5 times less do not work as hard!

And the suprised pikachu face that having a degree did not magically get them a 500k job. That is not how capitalism works folks

I think part the problem is the basics now need two incomes to be affordable at whatever level you are earning at. One person may have been able to cover the basics of housing, bills etc and the other earner could cover the more luxury parts of life such as holidays and days out. Everyone is feeling the pinch because the same money isn’t going so far as it was and people are finding they have little reward to what they earn. Cost of living needs to drop to single salary. I don’t know anyone on a typical 40hr min wage job who can cover housing and basics with help from UC or simply just struggling to buy food. Cost of living needs to fall back to a level someone in that situation has affordable options. If that happened everyone who earns would find their own lifestyle improved back to what they expect to have for their earning level.

I’m a single mum on a low income so I also wonder why on Earth people struggle on much higher incomes than me but I do understand the frustration of being told once you earn x you can have a certain lifestyle but when you finally get there cost of living has eroded those expectations.

If you’re on a very low income and have children it’s likely that you have a lot subsidised. Universal credit, COL payments, free prescriptions, FSM, funded childcare… very easy to lose touch with how much things actually cost and therefore the outgoings of people who aren’t entitled to anything

Pay them in another country!

Lol £1600 is my income in total. I manage quite well on it

The threshold is so low that you basically need to be unemployed or a single parent working part time. Most of the parents on UC are not entitled to those things.

To be on fsm your parents need to earn less than £7200 per year. So of course they have a lot subsidised. I expect they aren't sat around talking about the suckers on six figure incomes who miss out on all the free stuff.

"Because people from all walks of life work hard but the inference is they haven't and that's why that statement offends. Truth be told those on lower incomes often work harder than others."

Generally, that's not true. If I think of those I know on higher incomes, they worked their arses off getting qualified as dentists, drs, lawyers, accountants, IT specialists, successful business owners. Lower income jobs don't often require that kind of initial hard work and investment in learning.
Salaries are usually reflective of the hard work it's taken to get to that position, which is why the statement 'I worked hard' is usually true.
Of course, almost everyone who works, works hard. No one's going to pay you for lazing around and not doing your job.

The real problem we have is that salaries are generally low in this country even for those in professional jobs.
That's why some people who work full time still end up receiving top up benefits and why those who are in professional jobs are feeling like they're struggling.

This is something we should all be angry about.

Anyone of any stature of income can feel anxiety and worry over finances. Sympathy and empathy are not finite resources that we have to ration out, and empathising with someone concerned over money does not mean there’s any less empathy or understanding for anyone else’s position or worry.

No one is required to gush or even respond to posts they don’t want to – but it’s certainly not necessary to belittle anyone else’s feelings. They are never saying they have it worse, they are simply saying they feel worried or sad.

Giving the old ‘boo hoo’ response or starting a whole thread about it(!) is, quite frankly, gross, and you should have a word with yourself.

More than half of that would go on renting a room in lots of places. Earnings are one part of the picture.

I'm 27 and have worked hard FOR YEARS and still ONLY have one main house and a TINY buy-to-let. We only managed 4 holidays last year whereas everyone I know goes away for at least 6. My kids don't even have their own horses - they have to share! 😭🎻

How are you affording childcare?

It costs more than £1600 a month here to put a single child in nursery. Quite a lot more than that in fact.

Yeah but you wouldn’t say oh I’m so poor. You might complain you have a lot less than you wouod have done years ago. I don’t know, I’ve also seen people who would’ve been ok years ago now be in poverty. It sticks with you.

Well this is the million dollar question isn’t it?

I once saw a poster on here pouring scorn on higher earners, saying how well she coped on £1500 a month. Upon pressing she disclosed she had no mortgage, was retired with no dependents.

People disclose their salary but never their actual expenses which are the relevant part, and whether or not they receive some kind of help with them.

No but they’re entitled to UC which, if you have children, is generous. No point saying ‘I take home 1500 a month’ if UC gives you an extra £800 on top.

This is the root of most people complaining about CoL despite having technically very high salaries.

£100k after tax, pension, student loan is around £5k a month.

Then two children in childcare is £4k a month.

So suddenly the ‘big salary’ isn’t feeling very big anymore, and having the tax free childcare and free hours removed feels very unfair.

And in my experience in London, people might be spending another £3k+ on their mortgage at today’s rates for a still pretty modest property - so they’re spending £7-8k a month to cover childcare, mortgage, council tax. There is not much left from two decent salaries!

Is it generous? I get £400 a month UC as a single parent.

@Newsenmum not poor just not where they thought they would be on that money. Mainly due to housing costs and childcare and heavy taxation. It's tough to be at the top of your game career wise and only be able to cover your bils. That's what people are posting about. They are not saying they are living in poverty. Mumsnet should be a free space to say whatever is on your mind.

You are so hilariously out of touch it’s funny.

read about pregnant then screwed - a charity set up specifically because so many women get pregnant and their job screws them.

read just about anything and you’ll see that there is a motherhood penalty particularly in the corporate world

This is what I was trying to say earlier amongst my peers who are high earners all we can talk about is where to move to that’s lower tax and better standard of living

apparently I can’t know because I don’t know all high earners

The problem with the ‘shut up, pay up, fuck you and fuck off if you don’t like it’ is that higher earners are doing exactly that, and have been for a while. There is a net loss of higher earners from the UK, which is in the top three of countries seeing wealth outflow.

https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/henley-private-wealth-migration-report-2023/inflows-outflows

So there you go! Higher earners are taking the ‘fuck off’ advice, except of course that’s actually quite the problem.

Indeed. I see it too, and on a personal level am in the process of doing it too.

This. It’s callous and narcissistic to respond to someone’s worries about their finances with “what about meeee”. If you don’t have anything supportive to say, move on and hide the thread

Its not generous in the slightest.

A single parent with one child gets £700 but is only allowed to earn £631 before they start deducting. Not all childcare costs are paid either.

Could you manage a mortgage and all your bills on just over £1300?

Of course it is entirely possible to end up losing a career if you take years out. Millions of women have watched their careers crash and burn for this very reason. Not just ‘slow down’ but literally disappear. Some of your comments demonstrate an alarming detachment from reality…

Similar to another PP, I work in IT/Tech. The field moves incredibly quickly. I have several former colleagues who took time out to have DC. They then found it virtually impossible to return to reasonably paid jobs in Tech after a gap of even a small number of years out because their skills were completely outdated. On the rare occasions they were invited to interviews they found they were out of their depth as employers expect you to be up to date with the latest Tech trends etc and have actual hands on experience (so even taking courses to upskill is not enough). Most now work in lower paid school run or admin jobs.

See above for women who also work in fields such as Finance or Law.

I wouldn't say UC is generous.