What do you think classes as a high earner?

[ThinkingABoutThinking221]

Just after ppls opinions on this.

Hear alot about the cost of living etc and the big divide between high and low earners......

What do you think would constitute as a high earner and why? Baring in mind everyone's personal circs......

£70k+

Because I was saying how much my husband earns and pointing out that your “£40000 is a low income” followed by “everyone on under £40k gets twice that in benefits” is bollocks. Even with my PIP, £40k is still way more than our household income has ever been or is ever likely to be.

I’m glad my life is so interesting to you that you remember every detail 🙄.

When I earned 70k, I felt well off so maybe round about that as a single salary. Earn much less now.

If a single person earns 70k, max borrowing from the bank for a mortgage is around 280k-315k. Won't find a decent house to live without a hefty deposit somewhere like London especially if paying rent whilst trying to save. So whilst I say I felt well off at the time, I was paying cheap rent £350/month and child free.

Why would I include that in my income? I earn 28k oh and yes I don’t pay the £120 a year (or however much it is now) for a pre payment as I have hashimotos
you don’t see people saying they earn 100k but get free prescriptions for hashimotos it’s not salary based

i get 25% off council tax as a single home owner but that’s it

These comments are so out of touch sometimes.

70k+ I think

Regardless of how people choose to disseminate their income I would say top 5% of earners.

Of course then you have all the permutations of peoples living circumstances and people get bogged down with this. Even to the point of disagreements with what is a necessity.

Honestly about £250k now. It's crazy. The cost of housing and life in general means you have to earn so so much to feel truly well off.

Can we also add that what really matters is whether someone has a mortgage, what is the household income and a number of dependants? Someone with a huge mortgage in London and 3 kids won’t be well off on £120k household income but someone else without kids with a small mortgage or no mortgage at all can live a decent lifestyle.

For people scoffing at £500k, in London’s nicer areas, a 4 bedroom terraced house can easily be £3 million.

For me, someone “well off” is someone who can buy a nice family home in a nice “leafy” area of the city they live and work in, close to nice schools and easy enough commute to work.

If you had managed to accrue a £1 million deposit, your monthly mortgage cost would still be £10k - don’t forget the £250k stamp duty tax you’ll need to save for as well. At £500k income, your monthly income is £21k, which makes your mortgage on that 4-bed 50% of your income.

Presumably 500k earners don’t start work at this level, so you have to assume a level of saving over a career (at various income levels) to achieve £1mil deposit, so assume this takes 10 years.

To service a £2 mil mortgage you do need to be earning around £500k as a household. It’s housing that’s the kicker that makes the figures so crazy in London.

And of course, there is a massive advantage for those who bought property before the big boom, who have made millions on a property they purchased for a few hundred thousand. and a massive disadvantage for any high earners who are mid 30s and missed all this.

This is why I think stamp duty should be replaced with capital gains tax on primary residences.

The people who have seen million pound gains should be paying a tax on that windfall instead of people entering the property market now, or trying to upsize when their first home has seen stagnating value and their deposit has only increased through savings.

+£60k.

A clear illustration of how people on super high incomes lose all sight of normality.

Theres plenty of decent areas where family homes cost less than a million, even in London.

Oh but it wouldn’t be naice would it ?

I live in a part of London where you can buy family homes for under 500k and commute easily to the city. £3m isn’t the norm

I know there are areas of London where you can buy cheaper homes than £3 million! But the question is what do you class as a “high earner” AKA “rich” - for me a high earner is someone who can afford to buy a nice family home in the nice parts of their city.

In London this is places like Dulwich, Highgate, Richmond, Islington, Primrose Hill, Hampstead, Chiswick. Family homes in those areas are easily 2-4 mil! Yes I’m sure you can find cheaper even in these areas but if you want bedrooms, done up, a garden etc - the prices are insane.

And yes this is only “naice” places @itsthetea! That’s literally the requirement in my definition of “high earner”.

My point simply being that house prices in London totally skew the concept of what makes a “high earner” if said high earner is trying to buy a family home with garden etc.

It just seems wild to me that buying a nice but not wildly luxurious home like this https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/168136436 is well beyond the reaches of “high earners” as commonly defined on here as being around £100k.

Why does this matter? Because if the public view people on >£100k as absolutely rolling in dosh when they’re not, then tax policy etc will distort/create perverse incentives - eg the current “tax cliff” for childcare benefits to be cut.

If you are single, live in a fully paid off flat (not in London or anywhere expensive), then £100k will be a high earning salary.

£100k could be peanuts if you are married with 3 kids, giant mortgage, pets and spouse lost job for example.

it all depends really

I do wonder what all of these people do who earn over £100k. I have a very demanding and stressful role in the NHS and on £54k. Work from home out of hours unpaid too 😞.

80ish k in the north

i’d def not count this as “rich” though. Very comfortable yes.

Easy to achieve these salaries in corporate law and banking in London. I work in a law firm (not a lawyer) and even our newly qualified lawyers earn £150k straight out of training. It’s obscene really what their salaries go up to, when you consider what they actually contribute to society versus the likes of our nurses and healthcare workers. Sorry off topic there 😅

We earned just over 140k last year…I wouldn’t consider us high earners. My base pay is 50k and dh earns 70k but we get paid for any OT.

That’s between you though. My reply of £100k was based on one person. I don’t class 2 x £50k earners as high earners

I think maybe over £100k

Most of my friends are on £50k- £75k and we’re none of us flush. Nowadays it’s a “pay the mortgage, bills, feed and clothe the kids, get one week in Spain and one staycation a year” kind of salary.

We all have to budget/ panic about unexpected costs etc.

Pre 2019 £100k seemed like a good salary not now. We need our second salary now with one of us on that.

Over £200k. But it depends on stage of life.

It’s not really it’s reflective of the fact that they are income generating. I too think drs and nurses should be paid vastly more but that doesn’t fit with a free at point of use model so careful what you wish for.

junior lawyers in the type of city firm you are referring to probably work 70 plus hours a week (it’s basically 2 jobs where your holiday and weekend can be cancelled without notice), pay 9% of their taxes salary into student loan and their marginal tax rate is over 60%. Add to that for many it’s a short career and the fact rent is probably £2k a month it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.