To have expected more in life from working to reach this salary?

[grethrow]

I’m early forties and earn 75k. I know this isn’t huge money but it’s well above average salaries in the uk. I worked hard to get to this point (I’m not saying people who earn less don’t work hard).

I guess along the way I always thought I would be able to have a really comfortable life on this salary. I have one ds who is 11 but his costs don’t really factor in much as his dad pays for most stuff (ds lives with me so dad pays a decent amount).

I assumed going on holiday would be easy but renting a cottage in Devon in a nice area for a week is around 1,500, then there’s travel costs and food etc when you’re there! Going abroad long haul is extortionate. I guess these things are just about doable for me but it’s not easy.

I am having a privileged whinge. I know that. But I do feel sometimes like maybe at 18 I shouldn’t have bothered. My parents had a similar income (taking into account inflation) and me and my brother both went to independent schools, grew up in a large home and parents had very nice cars. It wouldn’t be possible for me to go and buy a nice car outright. I know people have it much worse but I still feel cheated and like it is a slog for very little, fair of me to feel this? Do others feel this?

'They have not' – what does that refer to?

“I know it’s not much money…” 😂😂😂

The point to the salary is that its better than trying to live off £30k. Every one wanting to put their fingers in their ears and go 'la la la can't hear you, this is a privilege moan thread for privileged people, not a race to the bottom' is missing the point. The £30k people are answering the question. They are telling OP why its worth earning £75k, because if she didn't she'd be in their shoes.

Ita a huge salary. Almost our combines salaries.

Your issue is that you're a single income household. You're right that 75k is a good salary but its actually less takehome than 2 x £37k salaries because of the tax situation - only one nil rate band and 20% allowance etc.
Plus actually a household with two incomes of £38k wouldn't be seen as a high earning household.
Its frustrating but thats why you don't feel that well off.

What on earth are you whingeing about; your job, your salary, price of rent/kid/holidays/cars, what?

Seems like it's all about the money to you. Sounds like you need to get out more and talk to people who actually are struggling to make ends meet, might give you a bit more perspective.

You are a one income household, that’s the difference from your parents.

you are doing very well to be on your own and affording everything. Well done.

Sorry! Wrong post quoted. It was supposed to agreewith salaries have not kept up with housing costs post below the one I ended up quoting.

£75k is about double the average salary

But this is all skewed due to the cost of housing & the fact so many own their own homes.

I know the feeling Op. My weekly Fortnum and Mason shop has increased by £65 per month. I don't know how I'll ever be able to afford christmas now.

Lifestyle creep.

You'd be surprised how easy it is for the "oh, I can afford it" mentality to creep in. I think I'm lucky that way; I'm not that person. My outgoings are the same earning 100k as they would be earning 25k.

I'd examine your outgoings. It's easy for the random Amazon purchase, that pair of shoes, the "I'll treat myself" at the supermarket, takeaways, "I really love my smoked salmon", "what's the harm on a taxi", a million TV subscriptions, etc to add up.

My best friend is on 22k and spends all his disposable income on takeaways and clubs. I literally spend £20 on my monthly gym membership.

The OP is talking about how far her money goes.

And as she describes in her OP, she had expected she would be more easily able to afford holidays, cars, perhaps even private education on her salary - as her parents had done.

And she can’t. Lots of people will feel like this - life has become so much more expensive, housing being the main culprit (for far more modest housing!).

People earning £75k are seen as very earners and have a high (possibly even 50%+) marginal tax rate. For someone to then find they actually have quite a modest standard of living, is probably a bit of a surprise.

The reality is that £75k is basically an equivalent income to two people on minimum wage however.

People should (and do) strive for a better quality of life, and if society can no longer actually support this because the cost of living is so insanely high / single earners are so penalised by the tax system, that’s a massive failure of the UK.

yep

IKR 🙄

Living and holidaying as a single adult is expensive. We’d fit our family of three in that same Devon cottage for £1500 and consider it good value. You can’t really compare your single salary to your parents both earning.

You can go abroad all inclusive for that price as well, sod a cottage in Devon!

Not everyone likes a week's AI in Spain!

Devon and Cornwall are particularly expensive locations, you could get a cheaper holiday on the UK, I'm sure.

With the new minimum wage rate, the take home on £75k is the same as two workers on minimum wage + child benefit.

I see your point, but I also do think this is a case of being more grateful for what you have. Money doesn't go as far now as it used to. DH and I are both in professions but earn much less than you combined! And we pay for our DS's stuff out of that. I think comparing across generations will.never go well as inflation has far outstripped income.

But OP isn't saying she wouldn't be worse off at £30k, she's just saying, when having reflected on salaries and presumptions she would have expected more on £75k – that's just an observation. And, similarly, those on a much lower income may imagine what it's like to live on £75k and have a bigger imagination than what they could actually afford. Yes, they would have 'more' but would they have 'as much' as they think they would?

I'm on £65k, and worked out recently that if I had a £38k job without my current commute, I would have the same money in the bank. So, yes, sometimes, on reflection, the job may not be worth it.

Holiday cottages don’t have to cost £1500 per week in Devon, presuming it’s just you a partner and your son, here’s a rather lovely one for £978 during the school holidays in July, it’s far cheaper out of holidays obviously, maybe you need to look at your budgeting.

www.holidaycottages.co.uk/cottage/oc-29573-little-chapel

It’s not obvious at all. How much do you save each month for holiday costs? How much do you save for emergencies? How much do you save in total?

But one person on that salary pays lots more tax than you.

I was just thinking that too! My parents bought their house for £39k in 1985. They've just sold it for £400k – even accounting for inflation, this is absolutely why salaries just cannot keep up.

I'm an old lefty history degree in the 80s student activist against Thatcher. I strongly believe that our country would be happier if it were more equal as it was when I was a child. I have a very good salary now and my partner earns in the top 5% I was startled to find out so I personally feel very rich but I still understand these types of posts. Our cost of living and wage structures were massively negatively impacted by the disastrous austerity programme of the decade and a half of Tory misrule. TheSecondMrsCampbellBlack,
Which is a great user name, but I respectfully disagree it's not the present labour government who are the problem. I haven't blamed Brexit as I don't think we can truly yet judge what negative impact that is having whereas we know that privatisation by Thatcher and Major and austerity have created more poverty and inequality, and Blair barely pressed pause on it.

For a dose of perspective, some children in my DS' school get free school meals because their household income is less than 7.5k a year. Just to repeat: household income annually lower than 7.5k. And often that's for multiple kids.