To be so annoyed at this woman's financial incompetence

[LovingLimePeer]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/mailplus/article-14476595/six-figure-salary-rich-comfortable-heres-why.html?ico=mol_mobile_home&login&signinStatus=registered&signinMethod=google&dataCaptured=true&flowVariant=social_registration_nosubscribe#

For 1 person:
£500 on food
£750 on car expenses
£650 on cost of dog ownership
'a few holidays per year'
£250 cleaner

£200 pension (not enough!)

I'm just so fed up of all these well-paid financially illiterate people writing sob stories for the telegraph/daily mail about how they can't survive on their salaries.

This woman complaining about her £100000 salary not being enough could save £2100 per month if she bought a sensible car, didn't have dogs/a cleaner and took in a lodger.

With £2100 she could pay off her 23 year mortgage in just over 5 years OR
Retire at 68 with a pension pot in today's money of ~£1460000 (i.e. retirement income of £58000 per year in today's money). Not including money already saved in a pension.

If I assume she has saved £200/month into a pension for her whole career, she would have ~£427000 at retirement, enough for £17000 a year private pension, which given her extremely high expenditure.is simply not enough.

She thinks earning £20000-£40000 more would be enough but this is an expenditure, rather than income issue.

I'm just fed up of these people complaining. I suspect they'll end up poor in retirement, having never learned to live within their means with the rest of us paying for their stupidity.

The dog bit is easy. Doggy daycare, stunningly expensive if you use it often. I checked recently here just out of curiosity. £25 per day for one dog/day
Food maybe £50 pm per dog, insurance, vaccinations =expensive animals, dogs.

Yeah that bit sounds odd. Hello Fresh makes meals for 2. Unless she freezes meals I can't see how it works for her anyway. Its been a while since I used Hello Fresh, but I paid c. £30 for 3 x 2 portion meals per week. So 6 meals. That is c. £120 for 24 main meals. Not a bargain, but where is the rest of it going???

I disagree that I'm easily influenced—if that were the case, my spending habits would likely reflect it.

I follow the economist and the BBC for news. Finance and the economy are personal interests of mine. That said, some of the articles that get pushed to me on Facebook are particularly bizarre, like this one, which is why I found it worth discussing.

You're not easily influened to spend money, but you're easily manipulated into reacting how trashy tabloids want you to.

You were manipulated into reacting to the article, which was exactly the author's intent. It's alarming if you are unable to see that.

If she’s spending on dog care, cleaner, gardener etc she’s spending on employing people in her local economy - something which ought to be lauded instead of despised. 100k doesn’t go as far as it should. This woman pays 1000s in tax and then spends the rest in our economy - if she stops spending and sticks it all in her pension it will have a detrimental effect on her local economy and her taxable income would be less. We should want high earners to feel they can spend unless we want to live in a country where we all only spend the bare minimum at large faceless corporations and anything left is squirrelled away ‘just in case’.

True. I have my doubts that this article is genuine, but I'm delighted that there exist people who pay cleaners and dog groomers, and I want them to continue doing so. I know people who do both jobs, that's their living and it matters!

£2100 per month if she bought a sensible car, didn't have dogs/a cleaner and took in a lodger.

YABU.

Her point is absolutely valid: it is more expensive to live independently as a single person than as a couple.

So, she's supposed to give up having a dog? Even though she lives on her own and a dog is a good companion and an aid to safety (I have a dog who would guard me from intruders).

Ad I imagine to pull in the salary she earns, she doesn't have much time for domesticity, and no partner to share the load - so a cleaner is probably necessary to enable her to earn what she does.

And because she's single, she should take in a lodger? I know, let's force all of you on benefits to take in a lodger and get rid of your pets. Because, really, what are you complaining about?

She's paying for your benefits, by paying far more tax than a married couple.

People in couples have no.idea. Really you don't

1. I don't dispute that it is more expensive individually to live as a single person. Never have. I lived as a single person for many years earning £22000-£35000. I am well aware life is more expensive as a single person.

1. I took a lodger while a higher rate payer. If someone doesn't mind sharing the space, £600/month is equivalent to more than a £12000 pay rise to a higher rate tax payer and can be used to put £1000 per month into a pension. It's not always a choice for the desperate. It can be a choice for those who want to maximise the pension benefits.

1. My main issue with the article as previously stated is her complaint that she is not even comfortable on £100000 and that she would need £20000 to £40000 to even be comfortable. I disagree, she is spending her way out of comfort.

1. I don't receive any benefits in the usual sense of the word. I'm ineligible for child benefit as my husband and I both earn above the threshold.

I think 'boo fucking hoo' sums up my attitude to that article. Can't say I'm particularly annoyed about it, more rolly-eyed and a tad amused.

Utterly mortifying though, to parade your complete financial illiteracy to the world in that way 😳

But she won't be on nearly 5 times your wage once tax and NI are taken into account. More like 2.5 - 3 times min wage. Appreciate it still a lot of money and still more than your net salary, but I find on Mumsnet especially, people look solely at headline gross salary and not what net income result will be.

I had a friend who used to be very vocal about how much more than her I earned (she saw the ad published for my job with salary). We were both single parents of two children. But her part time salary, topped up with tax credits and housing benefit meant my so called big salary was £50 a month net more than all her income. I had the pleasure of working 39 hours a week against her 21. It was what it was. I chose to do the job I did and long term it has paid off well for me but it used to grate when she went on about how much money I had because of my big salary.