What do you think is a ‘good’ income these days for…

[Greenlp]

Two adults and one child?

I am constantly being told that our income is very good (from online sources, media etc, small talk with friends who don’t know our earnings but make general comments on income/standard of living). I feel like our income is not good enough for a good standard of living. We constantly have to cut back.

What's odd is that you seem to be able to afford over £50k in school fees, but don't know what a capital letter is. Mind blowing!

We have a similar monthly income, but the mortgage is £1500. No school fees but we travel more than anyone I know. This is because we have elderly relatives who live far away in the uk and abroad. I'd say most of our money goes on travelling.
Some people earn an absolute fortune but have very high outgoings. Others earn little but have low outgoings.
My parents, for example, survived on a single low wage but were given a house so never had a mortgage. They kept costs extremely low throughout my childhood. All clothes from jumble sales, never bought so much as a bag of crisps or a drink when out

odd

or rather

Odd

😆

🙄

I don’t think you can sustain school fees on that income.

I’m a single parent, take home is currently £5k. My fixed outgoings are £2.2k a month, no food petrol, clothes, haircuts, holidays, socialising etc. in that. I’m happy with our life. I can support DC at uni, run mine/DC’s cars and do the things I want to do generally (which aren’t massively extravagant as a rule).

I budget for everything, forecasting a year ahead.

We have a similar income and have a very good standard of living for 2 adults and 2 kids. But my idea of a good standard of living doesn’t include private school and we don’t live in one of the most expensive areas of the country (but not one of the least either).

You have a good income.

It just isn't enough to comfortably pay school fees.

Private school either needs a very high income, grandparents paying (very common) or a good income and cash strapped parents.

You've gone for the third option.

We’re in SW London, household income of £90k, mortgage and bills together is about £2.5k a month. Our children are in state schools and we don’t have any car loans or anything so we still have enough for extra curriculars and holidays etc (nothing super fancy but lovely nonetheless!).

If we had bought our first home 10 years later than we did (we bought our first place in our early 20s), our mortgage payments would be double so we’d have a lot less disposable income.

You do earn good money but not good enough for private school fees 🤷‍♀️

It would make a million more times sense to move somewhere with decent state schools.

What a stupid question. You dont gve any details about your home and family, where you reside etc. If my income was £20,000.00 a year, I'd be singing. I'm a widow, own m home and drive a small vehicle.

Following on from my previous post, I've worked out we have about £6k a month. Although I realise this is a very good income we really don't have much left at the end of the month. Some months we don't save a penny .
We definitely couldn't afford private schools. Fortunately we don't need to as we're very happy with the state schools here. They couldn't be any better.

@Greenlp I do feel like with private school you end up paying less in extra curricular in some ways. For example, one of my children plays rugby, squash, hockey and other sports as part of school - this includes weekly training sessions and matches which take place on a weekend so that element of extra curricular is included in the fees. We also don't pay for any extra tuition for academic subjects.

Our take home and mortgage is similar and would never afford private school for our only. The cost gets bigger and higher the older they get (husband was a private school teacher for many years).

We have a nice house, good lifestyle, holidays, cars etc on that income. People aren't thinking of affording private school on this sort of middle income!

I mean, you can’t comfortably afford private school, so that’s it really. Private school is not ‘needed’, you just want it. If you want to continue to pay for it you’re going to have to suck up having the subpar income for it.

Good controversial topic 😁
60K is very good if you're retired, mortgage free, no kids and have a rental property.

The Mortgage and childcare fees make all the difference!

We take home about £5800, but our mortgage is only £235 and we have no childcare fees, as the kids are adults.

Back when we had 2 kids in nursery, I was only clearing £140pm after their fees had been paid! Seems crazy now, but going back to work meant I kept my career. All money was shared, btw, but that was the way I looked at it - that I was working for £140pm.

Housing costs are low, our mortgage is around £800pcm, ctax is high and seems to increase regularly and utilities are around £350pcm across the year. We don't have loads of other costs though either, car is a 2016 estate which we bought outright so it's just insurance, tax etc and we aim to use it as little as possible, we live in a city centre so can do many things within a 30 min drive which helps. Work commuting is about £60 per week by train.

You said the state schools nearby are bad - not that they don’t exist. So it’s definitely not “literally” an essential expense. Presumably some kids go to these schools?

Some schools would offer a means-tested bursary at your income level so worth looking at any support you can get if you're struggling to make ends meet. Most schools don't publish them but I've seen school bursary tables over £100k combined income.

@SallyWD equally with a low mortgage (I think you said that) & 6k I don’t understand how you can’t save a penny.

Most schools don't publish them but I've seen school bursary tables over £100k combined income.

Thats true, I’ve seen 120k I think.

I don't know. My son does no extra curricular activities, and my daughter does two activities a week. In total these come to £15 a month.

Housing costs are low, our mortgage is around £800pcm

And would it cost that to buy your house now?

There's no wiggle room there. That would make me nervous. A spike in energy prices, school fee increases (VAT?), mortgage rate hikes. So many costs are out of your control. I would be reluctant to depend on a future inheritance. Cash in the bank is the only sure thing. Are you near the limit for affordability wrt your mortgage? Could you/would you draw down equity to finish off private schooling?

Not sure how old your DC is. But I would plan how you would fund the remaining years (to 11 or to 16 with a decent margin for increases) if you weren't able to pay out of your salary any more. If the whole thing is teetering on the edge, then maybe your current set up will be stressful. Crashing out of private into anywhere that has a space will be hard. I know some areas are dire for state schooling, but there are always options. Commuting to nearby area, moving house, home ed, or doing state while using some of that £1.7k for tutoring/enrichment.

But to answer this thread at all, people have to come up with a view of "good".

Most people are answering on the basis of being able to cover all essential costs, with a buffer to cover emergencies, and a few luxuries (perhaps a holiday once a year, but not jetting to exotic locations multiple times).

Private school is not included in most people's definition of a "good" lifestyle, and I admit I am struggling to work out where the OP lives that the state primary schools are amongst the worst in the country but her house is worth £600K.