Do you think you will ever been well off one day?

[Schoolrunishell]

I earn a decent enough salary but not decent enough to live a good life. I earn around 50k in total which isn’t bad but not enough for me to live the life I want to 😩 I’m currently studying so hopefully be able to apply for higher paid roles next year. But then a higher paid role comes with more stress and less family time.

I always think oh this is temporary and we will have money one day. But in reality there’s a high possibility that I won’t and this is just my life and I will keep going until I’m 67.

Depends what you want in life. Me and my DP are VERY fortunate. Our joint income is above six figures. We own a house each, not big, each roughly worth the national average. We will buy one slightly bigger house together at some point with a small mortgage. And hope to be mortgage free before 50.
but we don’t buy flashy clothes, get beauty treatments very rarely, don’t care for flash cars and latest tech.
we do travel a lot though.
I do feel rich though. I became a single parent at 21 earning 12k. It was choosing to heat or eat. It was walking around Tesco with a pad and pen so I didn’t go over my 30 pound a week grocery budget. Being too poor to shop in Aldi because they didn’t accept credit cards at the time and I had no wages left after rent and utilities.

I think if your idea of rich is material things you’ll always feel poor because there will always be things you haven’t got

It depends what you want and where you're prepared to live.

I live in the south and our joint pre tax income is £70k (me 30k, him 40k, i'm part time). 1 child.

Out of that I feel like we live very well. Fresh meals, nice enough car (over 5 years old), days out, overpay mortgage enough that we will be done by the time we are mid 40s. We also manage a nice foreign holiday every other year. The more you pay off your house, the more you have to spend.

But we don't buy much by way of new clothes, make up, cars, mini breaks, we don't go out every weekend, nor do we buy takeaways. Even having a car payment would mean making cuts.

Eta we don't have Nice tech either. A single amazon fire pad and 2 old secondhand phones on a sim only deal. £10 p/m each.

Not saying or judging car payments or phones but they are a choice and if they make you happy go for it. But it might mean missing a mini break. Its all about what you want. We want holidays and no mortgage so we pay that first.

It depends on what your ambitions are. I've found the more money you have the more things you will find to spend it on. The only way to be well off is to have a lifestyle well below your means.

I'm mortgage free and comfortable. I could still easily go broke if I bought all the crap I wanted. I was looking at buying a horse yesterday, (I used to have three, about ten years ago, when I lived on a farm) and had to talk myself down from it. Not so much for the cost of the horse but the ongoing financial commitment.

The secret to being happy is not wanting more than you already have.

Agree woth this. As soon as I buy the thing I've wanted for months, something else becomes the focus (even if I love the purchase). There's always wanting more.

Yes I am mid 20s and currently earning £50k which is ok but I have a career path that should see me earning over £200k in around 7/8 years and I’m trying to work my backside off to make sure I achieve it so that myself and my husband and kids have a want for nothing life.

Unlikely. If anything it's set to get worse when I stop getting the child bit of UC. I work full time in childcare but it doesn't meet my our goings. There is no inheritance due either from anywhere.

I'd consider us well off. I was just thinking yesterday that I'm very lucky to be able to put money in godsons card, buy friends flowers and DC whatever thay want (but I hold back so they learn the value of money). We dont worry from month to month.

We are good savers, our Mortgage is paid off. No cleaners, gardeners etc. I'm super low maintenance.

We travel a lot.

I think we are such good savers I'm nearly afraid to make the big purchases, am a terrible procrastinator though.

My partner and I earn much less than the figures mentioned in this thread, and I feel quite well off right now. I feel our quality of life is great... dont worry about bills or mortgage, and can afford little luxuries. Savings in the bank for emergencies. No kids though, I think that's the kicker. I don't think we could afford kids really.. 🙁

£50k salary would be plenty for me to live the life I want. I'm happy living in my little flat, I don't want a big house and my bills and housing costs are very low. I just want enough money to visit all the countries I'd like to see.

I earn £29k, hopefully one day I'll be on £50k.

50k is way beyond anything that I’ll be on in my lifetime, even combined with DH’s salary. The only way we’ll ever have money is from a lottery win, but I still can’t help but feel a little bit sorry for you because you sound so unhappy. Do you feel like you’re wishing your life away a bit?

I earn 25k my partner 40k and I consider us well of because we appreciate everything and everyone we have.

Well your mortgage will be paid off at some point & you should have equity so that may help.
The easiest way is family help/inheritance otherwise you need to rely on a job with a high salary which is often pretty stressful.

What I need to do is sell up and move up north I think. Would be possible but for having children in school and an exh who they need to see and who would never leave London.

Do you have any inheritance likely to come your way? That’s the game changer. Our situation changed overnight when a relative died and enabled us to pay off our mortgage. To outsiders are circumstances haven’t changed, but not having to pay £1000+ every month has massively changed our outlook and spending habits.

We are on £70k combined with 4 kids. Mortgage quite big but everyone has their own room and feel pretty well off. We have a holiday every year. Lots of camping trips and weekend trips away. A car, 2 dogs, no savings but usually make it to the end of the month OK. Savings would be nice but don't spend or want to spend on clothes/nails/hair/stuff.
Occasionally repaint some walls but house alright!

I sometimes think similarly.

We earn ok, but not high earners. Mine will hopefully go up a little bit each year, DH's will probably only go up by inflation (if that).

So I am aware that to save and be "better off" I need to avoid our expenditure rising with our income.

We, sadly, have a large mortgage, however it is our forever home and we love it. Although it does also need a lot of work which we are currently having to find money for.

Currently the mortgage runs until we are 60. We can't overpay at the moment (particularly while doing renovations) but hope to start overpaying in a few years.

Two young kids. We do have holidays. We don't buy branded / expensive clothes, or have up to date tech etc. Drive an old car.

I think ultimately you just need to do the best with what you've got, pay into a pension, and live within your means. There's nothing else you can do really. Just live your life, sounds like you are doing fine.

I'm on about 50k and feel the same. No scope for promotion or a higher salary really. It is what it is. Feel like everyone around us is loaded, but that's probably just the circles we run in. I try to focus on the fact we're so much better off than a lot of people and feel grateful for what I have.

No, the reverse. I used to be comparatively well off. I'm OK now but not well off. Hey ho.

Depends on your definition of well off really. I left home at 17 - spent years on incapacity benefit due to severe PTSD. Moved into a rented house when I was heavily pregnant at 20 and had nothing but a mattress on the floor and a deck chair in the living room.
I worked hard to get myself out of that situation to the point where I have a small amount of savings - my kids get whatever they want and need in life (which most recently was the extortionate car insurance for my oldest first car). When I first started working I was excited to have £30 'spare' each week... as in I could buy new clothes or treat food.

I am well off now.

I receive just over £37k in pensions pa. I feel very well off.

My mortgage is paid off, the only debts I have are utilities and I live with my adult child and their partner. They pay for food, household upkeep, car running and maintenance.

Any big items we tend to share the cost.

Because I'm now quite frail, I rarely go anywhere, so I don't spend much money. So I have money, but bugger all to spend it on.

Be careful what you wish for, but I wouldn't swap my "now" for the uncertainty of not knowing if I could afford to pay my mortgage each month when I was a struggling single parent.

Everything is relative.DH and I both earning really good salaries (6 figure).

He thinks this is normal & aspires to what I'd consider an extremely wealthy lifestyle.

I think we're absolutely nailing it, not even 40 and got the big 4 bed house, plenty of money for kids activities, never have to worry about the bills. Im thinking what more could we need? Don't need a bigger house, just get lost in it. Too much to clean

My husband earns 6 figures, I don’t work due to caring for a disabled sibling. We own our home outright, a gift from parents. My parents are very wealthy so I imagine we will inherit a lot, one day. Until then, we are fine just plodding along.

I can't see how until we pay off our mortgage which will be until our 60s. Although we earn well, we don't live like other people who earn the same as us do, probably because we bought late and still have a crazy mortgage while our neighbours are mostly mortgage free. But I'm not sure how we could really have done anything different rather than working, renting, saving, getting promoted and only then managing to save a deposit to get a mortgage to buy a flat in London. We don't have fancy cars or tech and we go on one eurocamp type holiday a year. I'm amazed how people can afford four family holidays a year plus weekends away and constant renovations when only one is working. It's mind boggling unless you're on 200 or 300k.

@HotPotato123 6 figure income on part time hours? impressive?

If you keep chasing material things you will never be happy. We are comfortable and don't worry about money we holiday abroad twice a year, own two luxury cars without finance and two homes. But we don't drink or smoke, don't go out in the evenings or have loads of takeaways and only clothes shop when we want something particular. I am happy with where we are financially and don't crave anymore then we have