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?

My mortgage paid off and no childcare. C tax is £119 . Electric appx £32 and gas £10 ( prepay with no standing charges) car about £50 on personal use. Sim contract £7 Water £16

All the people saying depends on outgoings is exactly the OPs point.

No it's not proving the OP point

If you as a couple have children and then he leaves you whilst they are young it's too bloody late - you can't send the kids back

If you both have a job and then one gets ill or made redundant...

Yes there are some people who are shit at money management , who spend everything they get and make a rod for their own back with huge mortgages

and there are many who get shafted by life before they have had time to save up for things

I think it depends on outgoings, where you live etc. Of course some people are bad with money, but for a lot it's just circumstantial.

I'm on 40k a year atm and living quite comfortably with enough left over after outgoings to have take outs, day trips out, meals out etc.
A few years ago I went through an appalling time and was living off 22k a year and often had to choose between bills, rent and food etc. So that could be why I feel like I live comfortably on 40k when my outgoings are more or less the same.

You'd pay £1500+++ pcm for a studio flat or a room in a house share round here. Add on bills and commuting and food and you'd soon feel the pinch.

No,it's a cost of living issue. Having to pay £1600 rent as a starting point

Just like my sister who retired a couple of years ago stating her upset that everyone thought they were well-off but they never seemed have much left at the end of the month…..
well, if you can afford 4-5 holidays a year, at least two abroad, 2 new cars every 3 years, expensive clothes and hairdresser etc…etc.
then YES, you are well off!
fair enough her husband had a very good paying job which obviously lead to a very good pension, but please don’t try to convince me you’re hard done by…..and if I hear “but we’re only pensioners” again, when trying to get out of doing something she doesn’t want to….ill scream!

Yeah my bills are all going up including my greedy freeholder asking for over £400 a month in service charges. I'm cutting back on other things but yeah, I'll have to move because my housing costs in London are stupid.

£1300 mortgage
Around a grand on bills and debts.
No travel costs thank god.
Cat care.
Maintaining a teenage daughter part of the time.

My money will go much further where I want to go and live. The only extra is the cost of train fares.

But some outgoings are non-negotiable. Rent/mortgage for instance - you need a roof over your head! Having an under-occupied home is a choice but most people are talking about the basic outgoings needed to survive, not luxury.

Not really. We were living comfortably but then our mortgage went up by £550. Gas and electric went up by £170. Water up £30. Not to mention all the other increases. So now we live pay check to pay check.

re cars. This is maintenance and fuel costs for commuting, not sure how that is classed as a luxury when there are no bus routes or trains where I live. As for the adult children, it would cost me more than that if they lived at home without jobs…

Our household income (2 adults working full time) is roughly £55k. We have one primary school DS.

Mortgage is £350 and few outgoings other than essential bills. Two cars neither are younger than 10 years.

IMO we have a good lifestyle, last year we went on 2 holidays, we don't stress about about food shopping or additional expenses but this is entirely down to budgeting, saving (I save roughly £200 pcm) but most importantly, being very bloody lucky because of our circumstances. If we both earned £50k the biggest difference would be having no mortgage.

Having lived on Carer's Allowance of approx 10 pound a day for 13 years you can assume my answer.

I mean, is there a problem with this in principle though? Ignoring specific salaries as they go further in different places than others, say you had two societies, one where people on say the 10th percentile of income are struggling to afford kids without top-ups. And one where people on the 50th percentile are struggling, or even higher.

Society can function if it's only people on low incomes who can't make it. You can have the top 90% either subsidise them because there aren't too many, or you can say "tough luck, get a better job" and have it be fine because the other 90% can keep things going. I mean, it sucks individually if you're one of the 10%. But your society can still be stable and functioning.

But if we're talking about 50%+ of your population we have a societal problem.

It's not just a mean wording bias.

Sorry to detract but I can't bear 'paycheck' to 'paycheck' unless you're American. It would be cheque in the UK and I should think very few, if any, people are paid by cheque in 2025. Payday is surely a better term?

My sister saved for years for her first house with her partner. They moved in having had a survey that said everything was fine and within a year had to spend £25 grand on a new roof then various other things went wrong so they are now in a bit of debt. I absolutely don't think they are bad with money. Life just happens.

@thrive25 ive only just seen your reply, but since the report you have linked is the TUC (so not impartial), and out of date, I thought I would supply an alternative view.

Wage inflation does exist, and in real terms employers are facing increases of 3% plus inflation per year over the past 10 years. I work in HR/Reward in the private sector. Again I am sorry for those that can’t meet costs, but it is housing that is crippling incomes. Putting the burden of these costs onto employers is not the answer. That will result in price increases and redundancies (and fewer apprenticeships being created as under 21s see a more than 10% increase in wages from April 2025.

According to recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as of February 2025, the annual growth in average UK employee earnings (excluding bonuses) is around 5.9%, with total earnings (including bonuses) at 6.0% - signifying a significant level of wage inflation in the UK; when adjusted for inflation, real earnings growth is around 3.4%.

Key points about UK wage inflation 2015-2025:
Recent trend:
As of February 2025, the average annual growth in regular earnings is recorded at 5.9%.

Including bonuses:
When including bonuses, the annual growth in total earnings is reported at 6.0%.

Real earnings growth:
After adjusting for inflation, real earnings are estimated to have grown by approximately 3.4%.

Sector differences:
The private sector is seeing a higher rate of wage growth compared to the public sector.

It is housing that is the problem and its roots are the sale of the council homes in the 80s

There is no longer the option of a safe, for life, rent not for profit home for everyone so the market has spiralled out of control- it affect home costs and other property meaning that the biggest share of your nursery fees is going not on the staff that care for your kids but to the pocket of the building owner