AIBU to be baffled by colleague on same wage living lavishly?

[Cherryred2]

AIBU to think that some people are so unaffected by the COL and to find it strange. A woman at work is just living a life that seems so alien to me and the others. She is just back from a weekend in London (not for any reason), went to a show, had dinners, shopping spree etc. last year bought a new house and a new car!! Is doing a Disney Paris and Paris holiday this summer! Is going on another trip to Budapest with her sister,spa weekend with her mum and sister, a few days to Rome with her DS because “he loves history and would love to see the colleseum and is thinking of where to go with her dd because she has to make it fair. I asked her if she had plans this weekend and they were out for dinner Friday night and Saturday night for two different celebrations. I’m constantly thinking WTF! The crazy thing is we earn the same which is approximately 50k, I mentioned a credit card last year and she said “oh no I don’t do credit cards, never had one, I hate them, I’m so fearful of debt, mortgage is my only debt and I overpay on that!” I’m baffled!

Low mortgage? Inheritance? Husband earns ££££££?

Well paid other half or inheritance?

She's clearly a drug dealer.

Everyone spends differently, maybe she just has great savings and her dh earns well too?!it doesn’t matter how or why! Our mortgage is 2k and we still manage to save 2.5k per month

She probably has a DH earning a lot. There's a low earning assistant at my work who's absolutely rolling in it. Turns out her husband is a big shot lawyer

She’s lying about the debt obvs. People rack up tens of thousands of pounds in loans, credit cards, buy now pay later etc to fund this sort of lifestyle. You can also pay for holidays in instalments.

Do you both have partners? Maybe her partner is earning more than yours.

Do you have debts? Maybe her fear of credit means that her wage goes on living rather than paying off debts.

I’m a planner, things like holidays would come from my holiday savings. I spend only what I have.

Exactly, what’s baffling.

if she avoids debt she has probably saved a fair bit over time to us now. She could also have received some inheritance. Maybe a settlement.

She may have a cheaper house and/or better mortgage rate. She may live frugally day to day in order to be able to splash out. Perhaps she’s a Groupon Queen.

She could be the head of a massive underground crime syndicate, and living off illegal means - just using her day job as a front for respectability.

Or she might just handle money better than you do. It’s a bit hard to know really.

Do you seriously think that two people on the same wage must therefore have identical other resources such as inheritance/wealthy partner/generous parents/countless other factors which you don't know about??

Basically this.

I have a high mortgage and high childcare costs. When I compare myself to those who have grandparent help for childcare or who got on the property ladder earlier than me and have mortgages of £500 versus mine at £1400 it’s easy to see how with those two things combined they’ve got £1000-1500 extra spare cash than me every single month. That’s a huge difference between two families earning the same.

also some families have help from their parents financially chuckin them bits of cash here and there. And other families have an exceptionally high earning other half or have passive income eg renting out property etc.

it can be frustrating to compare but it’s not really about their £50k a year - it’s life circumstances

First post nails it! Some people have income/capital outside of what they earn.

I live a little bit like this, not exactly quite as much, but we paid off our mortgage years ago.

Or she might have money from family or big pot of savings and wants to plough through it. Dont blame her.

bit of an assumption there! There could be loads of other reasons

she possibly has no mortgage or a very low mortgage due to buying at the right time

lottery win

prioritising her spending

inhertance

side hustle

husband earning a lot

recieving benefits on the side

High earning partner, inheritance, family help, freed up capital from the house sale if she downsized, investments, or it could all be on credit despite what she says; there are lots of ways people fund things other than current salary.

Nothing baffling here. I earn about double what you earn in a public sector job in an expensive city and most of my colleagues have stay at home wives. My husband works in finance. No inheritance. We obviously are able to afford things — private school, much more expensive house — that most of my colleagues can’t. Pisses me off when they assume I inherited money. Also when they assume my husband will stay at home in a crisis to look after our children!

I occasionally wondered why people who DH works with seem to have so much more money than us. Generally it’s 1) both are high paid (I earn about 20% of what DH earns) and 2) they had children significantly later than us having built up lots of funds to have small mortgages, lots of investments etc.

Oh dear not another jealous post.

I dont have any debt and I dont pay for things in instalments.

Someone in my team inherited and has a huge house with fully paid off mortgage, massive new car etc. Her lifestyle is definitely better than mine and that of our big boss, who must earn double what she does. It just is.

😆 😂 😆 😂 😆

Big win on the bounty with Calvin & Leanne?
Rich family/husband
Inheritance/financial settlement.

Some people are really good at finding deals - it's almost like a sport sometimes. If she invested wisely when younger then she's probably got a good cushion. Or a second income of some sort.

Not always, I live very much like this. No debt other than mortgage, ample savings etc. there s not always a negative side to it, some people just have the money to do these things. I have never had a credit card and I’m 40…I’m lucky to have never needed one but it’s possible to get through life without one.

This is like me - I’m sure my colleagues might think this way - I’m on the same wage but seem to be able to afford other stuff - in my case - my husband was in IB and had been for 20 years - then opened his own company and does well with that too.