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..

I have been thinking about why I, on my comparatively peanuts salary (and with my tax-deductible childcare), feel so strongly about this issue for higher earners than me.

And I've come to the following conclusion. If lower and middle income families are struggling financially, they cannot earn their way out of it at the moment. Generally speaking if you work more hours, you pay most of the extra in childcare and tax. If you get a better job, the salary increase is totally dwarfed by the childcare costs.

Equally, pay rises are netted off against loss of working families tax credit, or at the bottom end benefit payments. There is no incentive to climb your way out and up the salary ladder, even if you can.

Live-in nannies are cheaper than nurseries or childminders for two young children in every area in which I have looked. I probably neglected to say "live-in" earlier. Sorry.

We rent because we can't afford to get on the property ladder. And, we actually moved to a bigger house in order to provide a room for a live-in nanny. The cost of the nanny including such things as the increased rent and grocery bill is cheaper than a nursery.

We are normal people and we can't afford to no have a live-in nanny. One of the reasons I support this thread is because it brings this fact to the attention of many who think nannies are for the rich. Live in nannies are the most economical form of full time childcare for 2 or more young children.

I agree, Cloudhopper.

Buffy have you seen what 300k buys you in London?

eluisis (see I have managed your new name ) my nursery charges £31.50 a day - so for two children (both under the age of 3 when the nursery grant kicks in) that would be £63 for a 10 hour day. Could I really get a live-in nanny for £63/day, including the associated living costs?

However in my case, I work 3 days a week, so having a live-in nanny is, therefore, much less viable.

show me CD

You can't buy a house for £300K in my area, a not that salubrious suburb of London, with the odd gastropub but no tube and right by Peckham! look

Bugger, link doesn't work! Oh well, you can only find two bed flats. A very small two bed house starts at around £325K

Where I live, this is what you get for 300k, an amount of mortgage that we will never be able to aspire to in a million years.

Raynes Park

Believe me Raynes Park is a very ordinary suburb - no high rollers here.

Or down the road in Worcester Park, slightly further out.

Worcester Park

Or finally, Sutton, which is a very mixed bag of areas. This house is in what I would describe as a run down suburban road, with a fairly high count of "washing machines in the front garden".

Sutton

Much as I like it here, I would not say it is

omg you get

this

for 300k here

OMG nailpolish!

I have been trying to persuade dh to move out of London for about 6 years now, and have finally accepted that we are staying.

I like it except for the crap housing.

But maybe it shows what I mean about your income being virtually irrelevant before your cost of living is considered?

Yes, but you don't have anywhere NEAR the percentage of people making £100k/pa in that region as you do in the Southeast, naily.

It's ALL relative!

Exactly, cloud.

If the place is £300,000, and you make £30,000 b/c that's what is considered a very good sum in some regions, well, then, you may as well stay where you are.

That's the thing, lots of people bang on about how 'cheap' housing is in some locations, but they fail to point out a) chances for employment are limited, meaning you face a llllooonnnggg commute or unemployment/season employment b) wages tend to be lower as well.

i would love to stay in london

im a city girl, me

People in that region where that house is regularly commute hundreds of miles a week.

True. We have the sheer stupidity to live in an area where everyone else seems to be earning 100k.

As my dad put it when I asked him why they live in a such a dump of a town (my home town).

"Why live somewhere where everyone is richer than you? I prefer to live like a king among paupers."

He has a black sense of humour by the way, my dad.

my dh commutes 180 miles a day

We have three people just in this office who commute about 100 miles/day.

And you would get this around here. So it looks like house prices are more of an issue than child care costs.

I do remember DH and I stretching ourselves when we bought this house (6 1/2 years ago) and knowing that I was pg and this would affect our cash levels and it being a little bit worrying. But, of course, we were lucky and did the right thing and the house is now worth twice as much as we paid, not that that makes any difference because we can't afford to sell it. As it happens currently our mortgage and childcare costs are quite similar.

I commute nearly 50 miles a day. And DH when he is in the office commutes more than that.

At least if your housing costs are high, you feel you have something to show for it.

Childcare being taxed twice (unlike your mortgage) just gives you a feeling of waste somehow.