Minimum £72k salary required to allow me to take home same as my 19 year old nanny

[knakered]

Nanny nick has done the "big sums"...so we need to earn £72k to to take home the same as my nanny - lets not get into disposable income...4 kids/mortgage etc...vs living at homewith parents ..ho ..hum..

1100 pcm to cover basic costs

250pcm food and household items
200pcm student loans being paid off
150pcm council tax
150pcm energy bills, water etc
150pcm payment on a car loan
100pcm insurance on car, house, car tax etc
50pcm donation to charity
70pcm clothes for the family
50pcm petrol

That leaves them with a net overdraft increasing by 70 per month.

I would describe that as basic costs.

Charity begins at home in my book.

There's NO WAY I'd give such a percentage of my wage to charity, if it meant I was increasing my overdraft by the same amount each month.

JMI - Sally

£70 a month on clothes??

howe many of you are there and have you tried leather knee/elbow patches?

clothes and charity??????

What are these things you talk about, please explain yourself.

Well I suppose you could combine the two, buy the clothes at a charity shop and therefore save yourself the overdraft!

Just skimmed and seen the CM rate £3.20 per hour [thud as I fall of the chair] average going rate around here is £5.50 ie I know one who charges only £4.50per hour I know several charging £6.50ph and most are somewhere in between. There again we would qualify for a little bit of help towards childcare via CTC oh and if I return to work we will be a whole £50 per week better off.........mmm that's all be education and professional qualifications are worth.

However, 4 dc is was my choice so we shall continue to live a frugal life and be glad that I have the dc I wanted!

Okay can I ask a thick question why does someone need a £300k mortgage? Unless they suddenly get pregnant with quads and need to buy a 3 bed terrace?????? Surely renting would be cheapers.

Sorry I shouldn't skim read but if you can't afford your house live somewhere cheaper!

Apologies if I am about to get thrown rotten fruit at but here goes....

Not everyone can just up sticks and move to the location of their choice, just because of house prices. This is a non-argument along the lines of Xenia's favourite "Everyone has the opportunity to be rich if they really want to" line.

In my case, DH is fairly specialised and would find it fairly hard to relocate. I work part time and there is no way I could find an equivalent part time job elsewhere - not built up the reputation and history in the job etc. That's before you consider schools, nursery places, friends, support network.

Yes we could emigrate or move to the north, but we would be no better off without two jobs. And we would lose a lot more.

Within commuting distance of both our jobs, we could not find a house for less than 300k. We don't have a house, it's a modest flat that we bought 6 years ago.

I imagine that someone round here on 100k would want to buy a house. It is one of the cheapest areas in the SE. If they can afford a 300k mortgage, then that's probably what they would get. It would not be an outrageously good house for that money either.

cloudhopper, thanks for putting up the sums for us!

I feel a bit like that at times so here's our costs:

Household income per month AFTER TAX= £3,500

Costs:
Mortgage = £1,000/ month (and round here to get a 3 bed terrace rental wouldn't be any cheaper)
Utilities = £500/month
Food = £400/month
university fees and associated costs (because I am putting myself through uni) = £100/month
Clothes = £50/month
Toiletries, nappies etc = £50/month
Car hire (we dont' own a car but hire one 4 times a year to visit family) =£100/month

that leaves £1,300 to cover f/t childcare and any other fripperies like holidays etc. Now I can work with those sums, we did make a decision to have a kid and knew there would be a financial burden. Two things annoy me though:

Firstly; DH and I both get taxed on our earnings. (thats two lots of tax) Then if we pay a nanny we have to pay tax on what we pay her (tax 3) then she gets taxed on her pay (tax 4)

Secondly; As I said before I would strongly resent paying an unqualified nanny with only 1-2 yrs experience MORE than I earn.

I don't think being a nanny/childminder is a 'low skill' job. But I don't think that every nanny is worth £25k!

Hi Guys...OP here!!....fascinating...just want to clarify a couple of things...I am not jealous of my nanny I have NEVER complained about her - she does a fab job and worth every penny ...I do not resent paying her a well deserved salary - not sure how that was interpreted from my original posting I have posted on another thread as FioFio well knows and I explained the reason a different cohort of mners post in legal/finance - and have a different take...not sure why the complaints were about bringing this topic to different audiences...those complaining kept posting...clearly a topic close to peoples hearts with still a lot to say. Also I think the angle was unique...we all know the figures of what is costs to go to work for ZERO in order to pay the nanny - I was just wondering what the calculation would be to have the same disposable income -...not sure what a "troll" is...I will repeat again to Fio Fio that I havent come back as I work fulltime and with 4 children - Im just a little preoccupied...I think another angle on how this debate as evolved between the have and have nots...with the green eyed monster raising its ugly head...throwing "normal people cant afford a nanny" as some sort of insult is just shooting yourself and all of us parents in the foot...a nanny is by far the cheapeast option in my area if you have 2 under school age....so in my opinion this just alienates lower to middle income earners - whereby they are unable to go out to work due to the cost of childcare - this is a disgrace eg our key workers cant afford to be parents we can and must do somthing about it other countries do ..

If I was paying a nanny £25k she would have to be fecking good, qualified (2yrs NNEB min), plus additional training in nursing or teaching and at least 10 ys experience. Wouldn't pay an unqualified 19r old with a bit of babysitting experience much more than minimum wage, but then I wouldn't employ a nanny like that.

Skcibble...what do you mean you wouldnt employ a nanny like that?

I wouldn't employ an unqualified nanny with not much experience to care for young children alone in my house, especially not a 19yr old. As a mothers help perhaps but not solecharge 5 days a week.

I was that nanny, I was 18 and had very little experience aprt from working on a few playschemes, I had sole charge for over 10 hours a day 5 days a week, didn't earn £25k though, about £75 a week and an extra £5 for doing ironing.

So seeing it from the other side as I mum now I def wouldn't employ a nanny like that.

lol!

did your nanny enjoy her Caribbean holiday?

I wish I had more disposable income than my nanny, but I do think we are in a phase of our life where the overhead expenses are just at its peak and hopefully will come down some time in the near future (we have 2 kids under 3). Having said that, I am trying my best to pay her the best rate i can as i think she is fab fab fab and love her to bits. In fact, i actively give her advice on how to manage her money so that she can have a nice nest egg when she finishes her career as a nanny (D and I work in stock market/fund management) - that way, when it's her turn to have children, she can have options in terms of childcare if she chooses to go down this route. I wouldn't necessarily jump to the conclusion that because some mothers wish they had more disposable income than their nannies mean they are jealous/unappreciative of them.

knackered - I do think you make a fair comment, but one of the joys of mumsnet is that people from very different perspectives will comment, and make you see your ideas from a different point of view.

I think it is a worthwhile debate to have - there are things wrong with our society, and I don't see a problem with questioning the staus quo in this way.

There's an affordability time-bomb waiting to go off for young people who didn't buy their houses in time and who are paying full-whack for their childcare living away from their parents.

And your example at least shows something about the take-home pay of a mother after tax and childcare.

It seems strange to me that some people discuss the "cost" of an nanny in the same way as the cost of a weekly shop. Surely this person is looking after the most precious thing in your life, for very long hours.

Just because she doesnt have a degree it doesnt make her worth the money any less - if you get someone who is professional, reliable, your feel safe & happy leaving your children with her and they like her surely she is worth it?

I guess its just one of the sacrifices you make when you decide to have children, I could never earn enough to cover the expense if I worked part time and I sure as hell dont want to miss out on the years of my childrens lives when they actually want to be with me by working full time.

Knackered...I wasnt responding to your op but some of the other comments on here.

Do you not think part of the problem now is that the family support people would have traditionally had with regard to childcare just doesnt exist anymore.

We often dont live near our extended families and if we do our (retired) parents are still working as they cannot live on the pension alone.

I am actually offended by this:

By knakered on Tue 13-Feb-07 23:50:10

throwing "normal people cant afford a nanny" as some sort of insult is just shooting yourself and all of us parents in the foot...a nanny is by far the cheapeast option in my area if you have 2 under school age

It was not an insult, it was a statement of fact. Why is it shooting myself in the foot? I work (and fortunately for me on significantly more than the minimum wage), I did have two under school age, I do not have family nearby and I could not have afforded a nanny. So in my area (and most of the country) a nanny is not the cheapest option. I have a good education, and a decent lifestyle so why would I be jealous that I cannot afford a nanny?

Fio I thought it was because I posted:

"Normal people on average incomes do not have nannies." Which was in response to a post from uwilla which used the expression "normal people on average incomes". (I know I should use her new name..)

I actually agree with the idea of tax breaks on childcare, but I think it is the assumptions, like you say.