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.

You have 7k a month AFTER housing costs? Jesus wept. You'll be fine. Of course you will. How much do these Reddit lunatics believe London keyworkers, cleaners, and retail staff get paid? Seriously, you can't run a city just on financial services, those dudes need places to eat lunch.

I am going to go and have a lie down now.

Yes, you absolutely can live in London on that budget. I know plenty of people who manage on less. Especially as your mortgage is so low.

No idea what the redditors were basing their opinions on, but they are wrong.

It will be! Or at least based on the Listen to the Taxman website

I think London can be cheaper than outside - lots of deals available for restaurants and theatre, free travel if you're over 60, I don't think supermarkets or utilities are more expensive than elsewhere.

So do you not have these jobs currently?

You’re both in your 40s and your joint pension pot is only £50k? And you’re banking on a house increasing in value sufficiently to retire on when you downsize?

Yeah that’s why Reddit are saying you can’t.

You need to go see a financial advisor.

I could yes that's the lower end of the range the average is more around £150k. I'm a head of department at a software company. I hope to get director level once we can move. My goal is to retire as VP.

We've only got £50k between us BUT my DH has always been on NMW and I didn't move here until much older, and not all of my jobs have been well paid.

After we got married my main goal was to have a decent basis for a quality of life (for the present) which is why the pensions have always been an after thought.

We're finally getting out of the "hole" which is why I'm starting to be more serious about our pension

You’re both in your 40s and your joint pension pot is only £50k? And you’re banking on a house increasing in value sufficiently to retire on when you downsize?

Yeah that’s why Reddit are saying you can’t.

This is why the Reddit thread went left!

Yes, you can live on 7k a month but I would be whacking a large portion of that into pensions.

I do! Just within a fully remote role which do command a lower salary.

Your Reddit post says you earn less than £100k joint. And your mortgage will be 1500-1800 per month but you will both pay 50% your pension.
Honestly it all sounds poorly thought out and deluded. You’re assuming you’ll walk into a 150k job but you don’t earn anything near that now. You’ll then somehow increase your mortgage will also paying huge amounts into your pension.
Relying on your only home or a 3 bed in outer London being your pension pot is also sort of ridiculous. You’re going to move your kids to London in their teens and they will likely need the family home for longer. Is downsizing to a one bed going to be a nice life? Your children will never be able to visit you.

No, I'm not banking on the house increasing in value. I'm banking on at least keeping it's value as we'll downsize to a house that's cheaper to where we currently live in.

You need to save aggressively into a pension not rely on downsizing

7k after housing is HUGE😵

Yes I don't because I've had to take remote jobs and right now because I took a small pay cut to get a title bump. The theory being that it will pay off in the long run.

The salaries have been increasing in the past year or so (which is promising). My current role but within a hybrid setting makes very close to £100k on its own.

If I had £7k left over after housing costs and travel I’d probably re-think and live somewhere much more central because you can apply a lot more to a mortgage on that level of income. If you want the London experience and you’ve got the funds why live in Z3?

Assuming NO PENSION contributions £150k after tax is around £7,600.

but if you have a mortgage of £1,500 then you will have £6,100 for living costs - and less once you take off the transport costs you are referring to.

so you will have around £6k.

which if you spend all of it would be fine for London. But surely you won’t because you WILL be saving into pensions

Right cancel my comment. I see now that this is pie in the sky right now.

You're planning on doing this once your DS leaves school - so how long is that?
House prices change rapidly at times.
As do mortgage offers.
You'll both need to get new jobs - not easy at the moment.
Then you're relying on this nonexistent house to retain value to downsize to another nonexistent house mortgage free to retire?

It all seems a little pie-in-the-sky, guesswork and back of an envelope type planning.....

What part of reddit did you go to?. Is it the part for members of the Royal family? How is 7k after housing and travel cards Not enough?. That will give you an amazing quality of life in London?. Maybe its for people that pay for private school?

Oh - is your DS planning on uni after school. Because with that level of income, he will only be entitled to minimum loan - your are expected to top that up. Depending where he goes, that can mount up.

But your currently role doesn’t, because it’s not what you earn. It’s not as simple as saying you will earn X in London.
It it was so easy for you to jump to a 150k role in London why not do that now? Some hybrid roles are 2 days a week, one night in a hotel is significantly cheaper than moving to London.

Your “7k after housing” is disingenuous because you’re also saying you and your DH will put 50% into a pension so the actual money after deductions and housing is way less.

£600k 5 bed detached house in Cornwall. £100k joint income. Fully remote role
You want to move to London to a more expensive smaller, likely less nice house so you can earn more but then spend everything extra you earn on a mortgage?
Makes zero sense to me
Why can't you improve your pensions now whilst in Cornwall? £100k joint income no commuting costs or mortgage??

💯💯💯even 7k before housing would be heavenly for me.

a) I hate Cornwall
b) I hate working remotely
c) all the things I tend to like happen in London

To the PP about the salary question and why I can't commute.

I did try when I worked for Amazon, but it was the most exhausting thing in the world and never got to see my kids.

Which zone 3 is this?.