To think people who live paycheck to paycheck on high salaries are just bad with money?

[QuirkyOchreOP]

If you’re making £50k+ and still struggling, isn’t that just a budgeting issue?

£50k isn't a high wage.

We're on reasonably good salaries now. But I have to stress the now. It's only in the last couple of years (covid and flexible working arrangements which allowed me to find a way to manage my disabled child's needs and climb the career ladder) that our salaries have increased to good. We have 15+ years of scraping by and borrowing to undo, right at the point that our children, who are amazing, are becoming very very expensive. It's going to take us years to stop living paycheck to paycheck. We're not bad with money - we just had setbacks. HTH.

You’d need to be on at least 3 x that for a mortgage on a 3 bed place near good schools in a lot of UK cities. It’s such a depressing place to live.

Depends, where do you live (cost of accommodation) and do you have kids (nursery and childcare costs)? Moving may not be possible if it means you can’t keep your 50k job.

There are people earning 50k with massive differences in disposable income, just factoring in those two things. Let alone single parent vs a couple or how early you were able to get on the property ladder etc.

Your statement is true in some cases and a massive oversimplification more generally.

School fees? You can't just list that in everyday expenses. That's as optional as a few long haul holidays a year. No one would claim they're not frivolous whilst having several nice holidays.

50k

3200 a month

1300 on mortgage or rent - uk average rent

2000 on nursery fees- 2 kids average uk

Oops all gone

Of course nursery fees are only that high for a few years but those few years will be very tough

My ex was rubbish with money he used to earn £70k after tax years ago when it seemed like much more. He burned through it all really quickly. Drove me bonkers. I think there’s a self confidence thing of never having struggled. He was completely assured that he’d always have a job and be earning decent money.

I think there are circumstances where it's a reasonable risk to live paycheck to paycheck for a few years when, say, your kids are in childcare or there is some other temporary expenditure but changing your live style entirely (e.g. by selling your house) to ease the immediate financial pressure will end up being really costly.

But I think most people in that situation are there because they are spending more on things like holidays that won't suddenly not be needed anymore in a few years time and where there are much cheaper alternatives they could choose.

Let me guess, you either paid for childcare decades ago or you have free family childcare (or, like me, no children).

I live a very comfortable life on £50,000 a year but that’s because I don’t have children and I’m old enough to have not only paid off my mortgage but to have shedloads of equity from previous properties so I currently live somewhere nice currently valued at 7 times my salary. If I was paying a mortgage based on three times my salary, I’d be living in a not very nice area in a tiny flat and barely scraping by (and no, I’m not in London).

Bear in mind a couple on NMW will earn £50,000 and will take home more money than one person earning £50,000 (since they have separate tax allowances). Do you really think barely getting by on NMW is ‘just a budgeting issue’?

My rent alone in the south east (not London) is £1600 a month. I am a single parent. I am frugal. I shop in charity shops and vinted for clothes, toys, games. I have to have a minimum 3.7k a month just to cover outgoings

if it’s two kids at nursery or two at uni your fecked

other bills like different types of insurance really add up

😄

Pressed the wrong thing at the voting. AIBU. 50 k is not much at all. Our household income is 54 and it all goes away ! After tax and pension deduction we bring about 2300 home. I can just tell you what it all went on. Our rent is 1400 as you cannot find anything cheaper and decent in the area that we live and we have got no cars to move outside of the city and to travel back to work (not London). We had guests staying over Christmas so had to cook a lot more/ use the heating a lot more etc. As a result our January's bill with some eco friendly electricity company was 780 pounds. We were shocked but it had to be paid. So our rent and this bill (its normally 250) had eaten most of our salary already we didnt even get a chance to blow it on avocados and coffee. The rest went to food (asda) and paying for some clubs for children. Hardly a luxury lifestyle. So not its not budget its the realistic price increases we are dealing with so not 50 k is not a high salary for a family with kids especially who rent.

Got my numbers wrong there as meant 3200. A family with 2 kids

Absolute rubbish. No UC or benefits here but have far less income than that. Lots of people are terrible with money.

Oh totally, because ensuring a decent education is right up there with splurging on a yacht or diamond-encrusted dog collars. 😆

A diamond encrusted dog collar would be cheaper!

If you’re on 50k private education is a very foolhardy decision.

Frankly I think it is. It is something most people can't even begin to consider. Given you can attend a state school and get all As just like you would at a private school, it's a colossal expense on something not necessary. Absolutely your choice if you choose to spend your money that way, but don't complain you've no money left over at the end of the month as though you're in the same boat as someone not paying school fees.

50k was 40k in 2020 & 33k in 2010

How much are you spending on:
a) housing
b) childcare
As it is these that are the main offenders.

People hear 50k and assume the take home pay is the same as 25k take home pay, but doubled, the truth is it’s not even close to it.

Obviously outgoings are inportant.

£50k is the equivalent of £37k pre-Brexit, which was considered okay at the time, but not "high".

In any case, high-earners living month-to-month aren't necessarily bad with money...it's entirely possible that they used to be bad with money and they're paying off their poor choices.

I know quite a few people in that position.

I felt richer on less than that pre kids than I do now on way more.

I, too, would be interested to know.

£50k? That’s some people’s holiday budget.