175k salary and all gone

[175allgone]

This will ruffle some feathers, but after tax, mortgage , childcare, living expenses….there doesn’t seem much left. SE London, commuting, wrap around care. Whilst I appreciate I’m not having to watch my bills I’m hardly living an extravagant lifestyle.

Your childcare cost is ridiculous. I would say that's rather obvious...

But frankly your thread is rather tasteless when so many people don't have enough money to eat, heat their home, and pay the bills.

@Bjorkdidit Im not up to date on employer minimum contributions, what are they? I don’t think 12k a yr is a massive pension saving though. I mean the OP may be public sector so could be getting a huge contribution but we don’t know.

Childcare being 4k a month isn’t that unbelievable, I pay £1,800 a month for 1 DC in the South West

People always max out their spending

to commute to the highly paid jobs you need to live in certain areas.. those areas are expensive. To work full time with kids you need childcare in the expensive areas you live in

you need a certain car for your social circle, you want certain holidays. It’s just what people do.

There are choices you’re making about where you live, what job you do etc etc

my mate lives in Guildford and is a London lawyer as is his wife. They have 2 kids.

because of the long hours they work in central London they ‘need’ an apartment in London as well as their big home in Guildford

their kids need to get tutoring to get into the local grammar etc etc

they could spend less if they wanted to but they make their choices and are short of money

same as you. live in Birmingham and commute into London. problem sorted

Interesting you live in Islington where 3 schools have closed/are closing. There are far fewer people living in the Borough with kids as it is unaffordable

you need to be mindful of this when choosing a school as falling rolls will have ramifications

A nanny and a second income? Are you a single parent?

Similar take home to you, Nanny 4x days a week = £2,500. Compressed week.

Even @ 5 days a week a nanny would be cheaper surely?

There's a shark over there, you may have missed jumping it

How are you earning £175k, what do you d

And how much are you putting in your pension? Doesn't seem much as your take home without pension is £ 8,711

Can you break childcare bill down? £184 a day for 2 kids?

Unbelievable.

We currently have the highest tax burden in more than 70 years. In the 14 years that the Tory party has been in power, they have tripled the national debt and overseen the greatest redistribution from the poor to the very wealthiest (I.e., the very top 1%).

Both DH and I are high rate tax payers, we do not fear Labour. Frankly, when our rivers and lakes are flowing with excrement, it is beyond the pale to hear people say “oh but wait until Labour gets in.”

My mortgage is only £500 a month, and that’s including an overpayment of £100 I’m making.

But I live in a small house in a remote part of the country, which you probably wouldn’t want to do.

That childcare bill is insane. What is the kind of nursery they go to, some sort of private elite mega ultra fancy one, to be charging that kind of insanity?

@YouJustDoYou google a local nursery & check. My childminder was £70 a day 4/5 yrs ago.

Nest says the standard contribution from all sources is 8% so around £14k pa.

But my point still stands, £12k pa is quite a lot more than the £1800 that someone gave as the amount going into the OPs pension.

Try an app called you need a budget- it tracks every penny leaving the bank, it can be quite revealing to see how many bits and bobs go out that add up to hundreds a month. You haven’t said too much but the obvious places to save are take always, coffees out, meals out compared to home cooking. People do tend to live up to their means however much they earn especially when house buying. I’m sorry you haven’t had much sympathy here, you do have a very very good income, but have also already committed to high mortgage etc meaning you need that job it’s a tough one. We live in herts, so not cheap, combined income of 3200 monthly take home so have had to find ways to make that work with tight budgeting!

I think people assume that when you earn stellar amounts you have loads of money. But tax and NI are real killers and that huge headline amount quickly reduces after tax. As everyone has said childcare is your problem. Is a nanny cheaper? Once they are at school that bill will reduce, even wrap around isn't that expensive, when interest rates go down switch your mortgage and be frugal for a while and pay off any credit cards.

'I guess I worry next bill is the wrap around care, extra curricular etc'

What did you think when you planned your children? Did you not calculate how much kids are going to cost you?

We're on a higher wage but our mortgages are £9,400 a month (we have a holiday home) but we stuck to one child because of all the costs associated with them, so we have no surprises.

I'm not surprised at all @175allgone . I wouldn't expect anyone in London or elsewhere with a big mortgage and childcare to be living an extravagant life on £175K.

As you've already explained after tax, pension, and student loans it is 'only' £8.5K. We lived a very comfortable but not extravagant life for the last twenty odd years averaging that as a household income (in the SW not London). The difference comes much later - can afford to retire early and well due to pension savings, can afford to overpay mortgage after childcare years end (if state school), can afford to give DC financial gifts to help with various things including house deposits - all whilst living comfortably in a nice but nothing special house. If you're first generation earning a higher wage (so no generous house deposit/GP paying for childcare and/or school fees) then I think this is the deal unless you earn a lot more.

What’s your childcare? I’m assuming nanny at that price? That’s an easy place to make savings. And how are your bills & commuting coming to £1000? Definitely stuff you can cut down on there.

If you’re genuinely curious about how people survive in the SE, we do things like choose not to live in Islington despite perhaps having grown up there. We buy small properties in a cheaper area so our mortgage repayments aren’t so large. We send our children to council run nurseries (which are brilliant by the way!). We live frugally so our bills are nowhere near £1000. We chose age gaps between children so we’re not paying for childcare for two.

Knowing what Islington can be like, you probably do feel hard done by, or even dare I say poor compared to some of your neighbours. I think sometimes it’s good to remind ourselves that we might be living in a bit of a bubble that can distort our perception of our own realities.

You’ve made choices that mean you spend all your salary at the moment. Some of them you can’t change right now (mortgage), some of them you can. Either way, you’re benefitting from owning a house in a lovely area, having what I hope is excellent childcare and you know that soon enough you’ll be nearly £4000 better off a month. That is, for many families, their entire income…

I doubt that you would cause gentrification all on your own 🧐

But my point still stands, £12k pa is quite a lot more than the £1800 that someone gave as the amount going into the OPs pension.

But that’s what the OP is paying in which is what the poster referred to (I think). I’m just not sure how 12k pa in total means a massive pension, which is my point.

I know what you mean OP. It's absolutely ridiculous that someone on such a huge salary is left with nothin to save and no money for luxuries like holidays at the end of the month, and I mean that sincerely. Makes you realise how hard it must be for a lot of others. We have a similar income between us and a similar mortgage but our childcare costs are much lower as we only have our two in nursery 3 days a week and I do one day with them, a grandparent another day. That allows us to save a bit. But we certainly don't live an extravagant lifestyle outside of that. We hardly ever eat out, I very rarely buy clothes. The kids get new clothes when we need them and I do try and take them out for day trips but to relatively cheap places.

Are you a single income household?

This comes down to how you feel, OP. Most people could look at what you’ve laid out in spend and find you a solution (e.g. rent your house out, release some equity to reduce your hours or change jobs, etc, etc).

But if you feel unhappy and resentful, why stay doing all this- who’s it for? Do you feel trapped and tied to this lifestyle? You still have choices and options to change your life path, especially as your children are so young. Many, many people don’t. Make some changes.

If overall you’re happy on the inside, have the career and family home you’ve always wanted, then it’s a bit of a first world moan that won’t land well on here. The childcare costs absolutely stink in this country, but it is what it is, especially in London. I’m not even sure a new government would/could change that in the timeline you’d need…

No. Our income is £178k and take home p/m is £9k – no student loans out of that. Just tax, national insurance and average pension contributions.

Nothing like a high salary to bring out the envy in some folks.

I don’t think it’s tasteless tbh.

My dc are older but the childcare costs posters have described on this thread are eye watering, and opening.

OP doesn’t seem to be asking for sympathy just wondering how people manage it given she’s well aware she’s a high earner.

And how are your bills & commuting coming to £1000?

is that a lot?

Council tax,
Insurances including personal ones
Food
Utilities