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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to ask what salary and savings count as wealthy here?

47 replies

Lalaland1988 · 14/03/2026 01:57

Just that really. I saw a post on here earlier about how mumsnet must entice a middle class crowd. I don't even know what middle class means anymore so I'm intrigued to know what the average mumsnetter might find a wealthy salary plus savings pot for parents in their 30s and 40s would be

OP posts:
Ohthatsabitshit · 14/03/2026 14:42

Class is nothing to do with money. If it was we’d just talk about income brackets. It’s culture and while you can embrace another’s culture there will always remain the bedrock of your own.

Most people won’t post their financial status on line eve anonymously, so you aren’t getting a true picture of experience, just the experience of those without filter.

Charlize43 · 14/03/2026 14:46

OldieWoldie · 14/03/2026 14:06

Retired on 13k a year, sick of young people who earn mega money saying we had it easy! I'd consider 20k salary as rich as its way above anything we've ever earned as a couple, working for 50 years.

Is that with or without State Pension?

I'm 59 so I am moving towards retirement and curious. I haven't been a huge earner so I will get a modest pension.

Browningpers · 14/03/2026 14:56

It’s a completely subjective question and you can be “middle class” or even “upper class” and not have a pot to piss in.

You could be middle class on a six figure income but it all go straight out the door on mortgage, bills, holidays and other spending.

My grandparents were firmly working class (coal miner and cleaner) and when they died they had upwards of £50k in the bank. My grandad had a generous pit pension, they lived in a council house with very low rent, and had a low cost lifestyle - no fancy holidays, no big meals out, no car, just occasional coach day trip and a few halves in the WMC sometimes.

Me and DH have middle class jobs and lifestyle and earn together upwards of £140k but if one of us lost our job it’d only be a few months before we were in real difficulty.

MidnightPatrol · 14/03/2026 15:08

OldieWoldie · 14/03/2026 14:06

Retired on 13k a year, sick of young people who earn mega money saying we had it easy! I'd consider 20k salary as rich as its way above anything we've ever earned as a couple, working for 50 years.

£20k is £5k less than full time on minimum wage

Bluepatternedplates · 14/03/2026 16:14

OldieWoldie · 14/03/2026 14:06

Retired on 13k a year, sick of young people who earn mega money saying we had it easy! I'd consider 20k salary as rich as its way above anything we've ever earned as a couple, working for 50 years.

how sad is this!

Shakshuka4ever · 14/03/2026 17:33

MidnightPatrol · 14/03/2026 15:08

£20k is £5k less than full time on minimum wage

You know what this just brought to my mind.
Last time NMW was so it would work out less than 10k a year was iirc 2007. In restaurant the staff makimg nmw would make 9-10k on 40 hour week. Manager used to get 20-25k.
Now nmw staff makes 25-26k and manager 32k usually from ads I've seen. Manager salried, staff takes on extra hours and they could make same as the manager!
I actually know people who stepped down because they wrre doing ridiculous hours on salaried and ended up under nmw actually in last few years.

Happy to be corrected on numbers.

LostInTheDream · 14/03/2026 18:29

I'd agree, class has nothing to do with wealth really and people do get very confused. It's also blurred when it comes to values and behaviours, there used to be a lot more social mobility than there is now.

Someone who had family with doctors, lawyers etc going back the last 200 years would quite possibly be in a position of generational wealth far beyond, say a family that would be considered middle class where the first person who went to university went in the 1970s (or later). This said, I would say less jobs required a degree for entry (my grandparents didn't have them and we're in quite skilled jobs), where now it's easy to say you must have a degree or master's in X (librarian being an example).

Tradespeople will almost certainly consider them selves working class but will likely do very well financially if they have a good reputation.

I've got no idea what the average middle class salary or savings pot looks like, it's rarely discussed. People have different priorities and it will be different at different ages. But what I would say is that salaries that look decent on paper (say above 60k) no longer bring with them the lifestyle and ability to save that they would have done 5 years ago.

I find people 10 years older than me often have houses that were cheaper, have never paid a student loan and got their career established pre 2008 so we will never be comparable (and people 10 years younger than me will say the same about us no doubt).

Shakshuka4ever · 14/03/2026 18:39

But what I would say is that salaries that look decent on paper (say above 60k) no longer bring with them the lifestyle and ability to save that they would have done 5 years ago.

They absolutely don't and some people refuse to see it.
I was on 21k 10 years ago and I did fine. Eat fone, had nice apartment even on nmw before with DH, travelled to see our familes abroad, partied a lot, saved, actually bought a house (yeah ok cheap north england hpuse, bit lovely) on single salary mortgage. 60k 10 years ago would be ridiculously good lifestyle for us. I mean whoomp one. Now we have higjer salaries than we did 10 years ago and it's tight. Gone are my syandards which are now luxuries like buying fresh shelfish every couple of weeks.

Everyone got a "paycut" in last 10-15 years. And a big one

JacquesHarlow · 14/03/2026 18:46

Shakshuka4ever · 14/03/2026 18:39

But what I would say is that salaries that look decent on paper (say above 60k) no longer bring with them the lifestyle and ability to save that they would have done 5 years ago.

They absolutely don't and some people refuse to see it.
I was on 21k 10 years ago and I did fine. Eat fone, had nice apartment even on nmw before with DH, travelled to see our familes abroad, partied a lot, saved, actually bought a house (yeah ok cheap north england hpuse, bit lovely) on single salary mortgage. 60k 10 years ago would be ridiculously good lifestyle for us. I mean whoomp one. Now we have higjer salaries than we did 10 years ago and it's tight. Gone are my syandards which are now luxuries like buying fresh shelfish every couple of weeks.

Everyone got a "paycut" in last 10-15 years. And a big one

Everyone got a "paycut" in last 10-15 years. And a big one

And yet so many folk only look at the appreciating value of their houses... it's just tiresome how much we've moved in the UK from a salary based economy,

to an asset based economy that rewards those whose parents started on the board earlier than others.

Before any sour grapes, this is written by a homeowner who benefited from a great education, an overly well-paid job and bonuses , and having the fortune to buy somewhere the first time which appreciated in value.

And I still think it's wrong.

SexIsNotNebulous · 14/03/2026 19:16

We had nothing in our 30s and 40s. In our very late 50s, we have no mortgage, put our children through university, paid for their weddings, bought their first cars, helped with first homes, have pensions worth about 600,000 each, savings of 419000, inheritances “possible” on both sides.

A big, fat, zero two decades ago .

Beck30 · 14/03/2026 19:58

Wealth means assets, not annual income. Maybe if you earn multiples of average incomes you could accumulate wealth, but that depends (largely) on how much of that is spent, or invested well or badly over quite a period of time.

I saw some stats recently from the Institute for Fiscal Studies which seemed to suggest that the average couple in their 50's had household wealth of something like £500k (I didn't look closely so maybe I misinterpreted the graph). If that's true then maybe 'wealthy' is what - £5m+?

Fluffybagel · 14/03/2026 20:41

I’m on £55k per annum, DH is on roughly the same, I have £30k in savings, he has his own savings, our money is separate, mortgage free home, 2 year old car (that I paid for in cash £25k) with the help of hubby. In our 30s, with no children. I don’t think we have a particularly extravagant lifestyle day to day, but we do like to go abroad a few times a year. I don’t think we’re wealthy!

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 14/03/2026 20:46

I have no idea what normal is as no one I know talks about money. We have enough to pay off the house if we want to, but right now we don’t need to. We are still frugal though as I have anxiety around money and prefer to save.

Snugs10 · 15/03/2026 01:59

The class definition used not to be just how much you earnt but what your job was. Middle class was someone

Snugs10 · 15/03/2026 02:00

The class definition used not to be just how much you earnt but what your job was. Middle class was someone

HelenaWaiting · 15/03/2026 02:12

Your husband must be on at least £200k; you are either earning the same or are a SAHM with a trust fund. You and DH must own at least two properties and have a live-in nanny or kids in private education. But, most importantly, you must be able to make a free-range, medium chicken feed a family of four for a week.

abbynabby23 · 15/03/2026 09:59

Lalaland1988 · 14/03/2026 01:57

Just that really. I saw a post on here earlier about how mumsnet must entice a middle class crowd. I don't even know what middle class means anymore so I'm intrigued to know what the average mumsnetter might find a wealthy salary plus savings pot for parents in their 30s and 40s would be

Depends on factors : where you live, how old you are, if you have kids etc. Our family household is about £200k which for many sounds a lot. But living in London, having 3 kids and a mortgage adds up a lot and we are far from well off

WhatNextImScared · 15/03/2026 10:01

Lalaland1988 · 14/03/2026 02:10

Well I thought so, then I saw that post I mentioned, with many either agreeing or saying that people mainly exaggerated their wealth over the forum. It made me wonder who is here actually reading and participating on this and furthermore what would they actually class as middle class or wealthy.

fyi I'm an immigrant on a bang average salary, my husband makes a lot more than me but when I moved here I saw England as a place of opportunity and was excited when I moved here, now I go back home and see people thriving a lot more than what I see here on the same schooling / background. So just curious really

Edited

I understand what you mean but thriving isn’t all to do with wealth, beyond quite basic financial security. Thriving is feeling comfort in where you are.

Parentoffour · 15/03/2026 13:16

It’s so difficult to say, I’m a teacher and my husband is an high earner and I teacher sociology this is one of the topics we talk about. Class includes many things such as education, income and job. But on a personal level I’ve noticed it doesn’t matter as much as it’s used to because the middle class is becoming extinct. You could be unemployed on benefits and have the same income as someone on say 50+ after they pay tax and student loan etc. you could be on a high income and rent in London for you could be on a low income and inherit a house and end up more wealthy, it’s all relative.

Satisfiedwithanapple · 15/03/2026 13:29

It’s highly subjective OP.

I have relatively simple life expectations and think I’m really well off because I have everything I want with money left over. Plenty to eat out, go on holiday, do what I want. I have a good salary and modestly high savings.

But I have nowhere near enough money to service the £1M house with two land rovers and everything designer-type lifestyle. And if I posted my salary they would pile in to gleefully tell me I’m not a ‘high earner’

MadMumOfTwoHorrors · 15/03/2026 14:25

Class most definitely does not have anything to do with wealth. You only have to look at some of the extremely wealthy footballers and their wives or someone like Katie Price to see wealth without class. But that’s not a dig. Each to their own. It’s just an example of how the two are not linked.
There are also plenty of middle class people who don’t have a huge income or have lost their money somehow, but you don’t lose your class just because you don’t have as much money as you once did.
To me, class is as much about how you conduct yourself, the circles you move in, and the morals you live by as it is about how much money you have.

Notmyreality · 15/03/2026 21:36

I’m “North American”.

No one says that.

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