How much do you need to live in London? (I think I have enough!)

[Ethicaldebacle]

I've asked before about moving to London and basically everyone agreed it was a good idea, but we didn't really touch the financial aspect.

I posted about my pension on Reddit (because I think I have a fairly solid plan all things considered) but everybody got fixated about not being able to afford to live in London

So housing and transport costs aside, (because I've done that calculation already), how much do you spend a month?

We shop at Lidl for the most part, and go out twice a month. I don't go to the salon or anything like that, and the gym is out peloton (so cheaper as it's for both). One car.

We're talking about Z3, one DC in secondary school.

For the sake of this conversation we have £7k every month to play around after housing and travel cards.

Bump

Of course you can live in London on £7k a month after paying for housing and travel.

That’s probably equivalent to a £200k household income.

£7k a month spending money? Yeah, you’ll be fine.

I have less than that but live well in London - eat out whenever I like, shop at Waitrose, go to the theatre regularly etc.

what do you spend your money on now, and what are you expecting will be more expensive in London?

What do you imagine goes on in London?

Holidays for the most part. Also I'd get a pay bump due to being able to acces hybrids roles in London.

It's not that, it's that people on Reddit thought I was basically delusional. But I couldn't understand why.

Aside maybe from housing, London is probably cheaper than many other places to live. Lots of free things to do for a start

You can live in London on minimum wage, lots of people do. There’s no minimum or maximum entry requirement once you turn off the north or south circular!!

I feel like you could do with some financial education though, as you seem to have no idea on what you spend things on if you’re wondering if you have enough money? You say you shop at Lidl so you are aware of grocery prices in general, they don’t make us shop at Fortnums here (especially if you are Z3!), you’re still free to choose what you spend your money on!!

Just cut your cloth according, surely you know how to do this?!! And stop using Reddit for financial advice!!

If you're only going out twice a month and shop at lidl you'll barely touch your 7k. We have a similar income and save around 2-3k a month then burn through the rest with evenings out and groceries from expensive indy shops. In other words totally unnecessary expenditure.

No, no I KNOW I had enough money but people on Reddit thought there was no way we'd live on that :/

I still don't understand why or how they came to that conclusion

Strong disagree, everything is more expensive other than bus tickets.

Why do you care what random people on Reddit think?! I doubt they’re all financial advisors. You need to get a bit of confidence in yourself and your decisions. You’ll be fine, people survive on a lot less and a lot more. Be more assertive!!

Maybe the people commenting on Reddit have more disposable income than you, and wouldn’t be able to survive on less and maintain their lifestyle? Their finances and opinions don’t affect your life or decisions though!

Maybe they didn't realise 7k was after housing & transport costs.

Did you say you were earning 250k etc & Reddit said it wasn't enough?

It was the personal finance sub ... And everybody fixated on that, when all I was asking was about downsizing (after we retire) to top up our pension, which yes is extremely low given our age, but we're currently mortgage free, and we'll have a small (for London terms) mortgage.

London (Z3) will always be more expensive than a small house in the Norfolk countryside.

Where do you live now?

Things are pricier in London, but not so much so that you can't budget round it. For example, a coffee from an indy shop will be more expensive than one in e.g. Bolton, but you can just use a chain or don't buy a coffee.

There's no compulsory expenditure beyond housing and bills.

Parking is expensive, but again that's optional and avoidable. Public transport is generally cheaper than elsewhere. There are the same cheap chain supermarkets, clothes shops etc.

No, we'd be earning £150k, but with a small mortgage (for London) of around £1500.

It was the personal finance sub ... And everybody fixated on that, when all I was asking was about downsizing (after we retire) to top up our pension, which yes is extremely low given our age, but we're currently mortgage free, and we'll have a small (for London terms) mortgage.

So they focused on your pension?

In Cornwall where things can already be expensive.

Why will your mortgage be. £1500?

No, they focused on telling me over and over that I wouldn't survive in London with our income. Not so much on the pension. Although the London house value is an element of our retirement for sure.

Because we own a £600k house outright

This is one of the most pointless threads I've seen. OP - "After paying for housing and travel we will have £7k a month to live on. Is that enough?"
Obviously you can live on that - unless you eat liquid gold. Fuxake.

Just out of curiosity why are you thinking of moving to London? Just being nosey

I don't like where we live and to be able to climb the ladder. For better or for worse the better jobs are hybrid.