To ask you honestly what are your first thoughts on seeing this?

[gemful]

NC’d for this

A couple. 2 dc (no childcare)
A brand new, new build house. Mortgaged.
Two brand new cars.
They don’t dress designer but the present well.
She has a few designer handbags.
gadgets are always good brands, latest I phones, shark hairdryers, robot hoover.
very organised and tidy home, both work full time in good jobs.
They do family outings every few weekends but not every weekend.
Honesty, what are your first thoughts?!

I have one. It cuts out constantly. Spend lots of time blowing into the back of it.

We all have different priorities. Before I joined MN I couldn’t fathom going without holidays for years in order to afford nice furniture, but I saw on a thread recently on the Holidays board someone who hadn’t been away for years and years as they’d been redecorating and wanted nice furniture.

I don’t own a car because I live centrally, but I spend an eye-watering amount on festivals each year (could easily buy a brand new small car every year).

Horses for courses. 🤗

Honestly my first thought on reading the OP was more money than taste 😂In reality does anyone actually notice if someone else has "the latest I phone"?

Well the mortgage is not paid off…🤣 we overpay though. We’re still only early/mid 30’s
We have great holidays and dc are in great schools (not private though) I have no interest in that.

I’d think they’re probably over-leveraged and racking up a lot of debt.

@gemful you must have had your kids v young! Not at all relevant to the thread, but sounds like you've done really well professionally while managing the early years with 2 kids, so well done you!!

If you’re only in your early 30s with a 13 and a 10 year old, then you’ve done well and definitely disprove the theory that teenage pregnancy always results in a lower quality of life (which is bandied about on MN a lot).

Really? We’ve got two cars, because we both drive and take those cars places.

They are 16 and 21 reg, so not brand new, but we do have two. Didn’t realise it was uncommon!

Why would I think anything?

I was 21…I’m 34now…yes it was young. I was 17 when I finished school. 20 finishing my degree. Got pregnant and had dd1. Worked since she was 1 and only stopped for mat leave. Dh is 35

Ah sorry, I thought you said early 30s which would imply a teenage pregnancy. In any case, you’ve done well.

I should imagine it's more they are questioning how your figures add up. I can understand that based on everything you've said.
You say you earn approx £132k between you and you:

• overpay on your mortgage payments which are already circa £2k each month
• save over £2k each month
• pay bonuses (part of £132k income?) into pensions on top of 8.5% monthly pension contributions
• despite having kids young and straight out of uni have managed to achieve salaries that are reasonably above average
• have regular holidays
• two brand new cars paid for out of savings (yours costing approx 2.5 years worth of your own savings)
• branded new phones, designer handbags, gadgets etc
• pay plenty into insurance/life policies to cover all eventualities life may throw

Maybe this is all true and you are both fantastic with money, but I can see why some people may question it.
Most of the people I know who are good with money and/or well off, tend not to spend out on brand new cars as they know they depreciate quickly.

My degree was in economics…same as dh. We are very good with money. My dh has also had a redundancy payout about 5 years ago. Walked straight into a new job. We invested that money. I know new cars depreciate, I get that entirely, but most cars do. These cars will be kept for at least 10 years all going well. They are more economical for us right now. It wasn’t a rash decision.

If your degree was in economics and you went straight into employment, why on earth would your family assume you only earn £31k full-time? Clearly maths doesn't run in the family.

No it doesn’t 😬 they think because we work 9-5 roles and we have office jobs that we earn on average I suppose and on reflection up until now we have presented as very average. My sister is a teacher and my brother works in a warehouse.

I missed the post about £31k. That is absolutely ridiculous and anyone with any knowledge of degrees and graduate jobs will know that Economics graduates are among the highest paid including earning the highest starting salaries (which themselves are over £31k!). So to assume an Economics graduate who has worked full-time for 14 years bar a couple of mat leaves is only earning £31k p.a. is bonkers.

Edit: Mind you, two Economics graduates who have always worked full-time only bringing in a household income of £132k 14 years into their careers is also very surprising!

A full-time teacher will also earn above £31k. If head of department etc probably earning more than you. Again doesn't explain.

Yes if we moved, we want a good balance so have opted for where we are right now. That might change and probably will.

@Crushed23 agreed. My dc has Maths/Economics degree and their graduate starting salary is £70k. They did work hard to get this though and certainly wouldn't have achieved it if pregnant!

I’ve just caught up on the OP’s posts and I’m so confused by it all lol. I’m invested now though 😂 and want to know how she got on the property ladder 13 years ago aged 21 when she was fresh out of uni with a newborn. Inheritance?

Magic wand?

That you have some misplaced jealousy.

What did the neighbour actually say that prompted this extremely goady and detailed apost? 😂 I’m in a very similar position to you (but I’m assuming from how long you’ve been working that I’m a few years younger) so not saying this out of jealousy but this thread has made me cringe

My dh is a year older than me, he walked into a graduate role that was very well paid at the time. We had both worked throughout uni. Didn’t live away from home. We had a good deposit and the house was cheap as it was a doer upper and rural. We extended it a little and refurbished it where we could and made a great profit on it. Right place…right time.

Walked into a “very well paid” graduate job but only progressed to £70k in 15 years? What happened? I’m the same age, my first graduate job wasn’t exactly in the very well paid category and I reached £70k within 5 years. All my peers did.