Household income. Where are you?

[chonka901]

https://ifs.org.uk/toolsanddresources/wheredooyoufitt_in

Using this link and putting in everything joint net income ,including child benefit and maintenance which I think it takes into account. It has us at 73 percent. Not a stealth boast before any states that. Genuinely surprised.

I certainly don't feel like this but appreciate people survive on less. It doesn't take into account mortgages, rent, generational wealth, inheritance, childcare etc so is a guide.

It is eye opening though.

I feel poor compared to my friends though. We definitely are not the London elite. Just public sector workers in the North. I guess the maintenance helps. My friends must be in the top 20 percent.

You aren’t 91st centile on 50k each with 2 kids. We earn more than that.

Higher than 55%

I am aware how privileged we are as my siblings run their households on half our income.

We’re at around 50% which surprised me as I feel quite well off.

I think it's stupid. It doesn't consider your accommodation cost. Are rent is more than 50% of our income. That make us poor.

95% which I’m very surprised about and doubt very much.

78%

It’s really quite difficult to get it right I think. It’s also really weird the way that if you put in you have no children you’re put at a lower one - surely couples without kids would earn more not less?

is it because of increased age of first time parents, lower birth rates & it's couples with higher incomes who are the ones having dc's?

3%

This is misleading.

I have a very low income - basically disability benefits. I own my own home and have substantial savings which I am actually living on until I get my pensions (also substantial)

In conclusion, Your income is so high that you lie beyond the far right hand side of the chart.

So it says. It doesn't make us feel wealthy.
Thank heaven for public service pensions, contributed to over many years.

It makes no sense. We are then told by the Rowntree foundation constantly that 1 in 3 kids likes in poverty. But according to this the average couple with 2 kids earn 100k.

Interesting. I've had a lot of financial changes over the last year, so I did it a few times to see how we've moved. I didn't add on the housing.

First is where we were last summer before my oldest went to uni: 2%

Then where we were after (he's on a sponsored cadetship so we're not paying any of his costs when he's away, so I just removed him): 4%

And where we're are now with my career change and my second child becoming an adult in an apprenticeship working full-time (so moved her from child to adult and adjusted the income): 18%

I thought we'd be higher, I'm quite content with where we're at, but that may be in comparison to where I've been before.

Another calculator that may be of interest, looking at it from a global perspective, though unlike the IFS one, it doesn't change from what I can tell if you count people as adults or children - it's just number in house, income, and which country as it calculates cost of living per country: www.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i

With that one, I've moved from richer than 67.9% to 72.4% to 80.7% of the global population.

10% yep bout right.

I think it's stupid. It doesn't consider your accommodation cost. Are rent is more than 50% of our income. That make us poor.

There is a little box to tick that says "Check this box if you would like to calculate your place in the income distribution with housing costs deducted"

Theres a button to press above calculate that says

Check this box if you would like to calculate your place in the income distribution with housing costs deducted

Click on it to add your housing costs.

Also make sure your household income is minus all tax

Well I put that amount and council tax costs into the calculator and it came up as 91%. This seems reasonable as the 40% tax level has unofficially affected the top 10% of earners. Where did you get your figures from?

We're just under 50%, which really surprised me, I'd have thought we were closer to 60%. We were managing just fine until VAT on school fees was brought in (although foreign holidays were way out of reach) - now things are getting much tighter though.

Are you using gross not net?

It didn't work when I did it. None of the household bills are in my name but I contribute towards it. But so does another person as well as the Bill payer. Oh well. I know I'm broke anyway! 🤷

That's the number I put into the calculator. Two adults on £50k each.

21%

It's interesting to do.

Can't be bothered to waste the energy to have what I already know confirmed. Always been near the bottom of the heap but this does not define me as a person.

@WellerUser This is why even the high earners feel they're skint.

The high earners feel skint because every single one of them in this thread is essentially saying "well I don't have any disposable income left after I have paid for everything."

Well no shit, because that's the sole application of money- for buying things.

It's like saying "I don't eat much food because there's no food left after I have eaten 2 McDonalds, 2 chippies, and 3 Chinese takeaways today." The logic is completely bonkers and unhinged, which would suggest that high earnings is not positively correlated with intelligence.

If you're taking 2 holidays a year, spending loads of money on an ugly car, putting huge amounts of money into a mortgage for a luxury home, spending money on hobbies, buying new clothes, buying phones and other tech gadgets, eating out on a regular basis, sending children to a private school... then no, you are not skint.

But you have to deduct tax and NI and add on child benefit. Unless your 50k is net each when gross will be circa 140.

We were 31%. Then I put in our housing cots and we are 9%. The housing cost are important.

According to this we’re only just above average.

I currently do all the above and am far from skint. Well apart from the luxury home.