What’s the comfortable household income for private school in London?

[gobbledoops]

Just that really. I have spoken to a few colleagues who are in the 200K household income range, which to my mind would have put them comfortably in the private school for two DC zone, but who are sending their kids to state schools because of financial concerns. So, private school parents, what do you earn to be comfortable sending two kids to private schools and paying for after school care, mortgage and all the bills?

Let’s not make this a VAT thread please.

We have one DC in a private prep in London, and we (jointly) earn around £130k.

But we also rent a flat and are nowhere near buying our own home.

@lemonstolemonade West London (it's also a Catholic school which is likely part of the reason!)

We are on 300k plus bonuses (not banker bonuses, 10 percent etc), large mortgate and it’s super super tight ! 2 in expensive prep in SE. No cleaner no gardener no sky etc.

how do you think people afford to buy houses in London? Terraces in my old zone 3, not very sexy part of London are approaching £1M - you need a pretty hefty salary (usually x2) just to have a family home in many parts of London. There are a lot of households on £200k+, but unfortunately most of it goes to housing. People in that salary bracket can afford a big mortgage (on a not very big house) or private school, but not both.

We have north of £300k joint and are worried about the vat increase but it’s manageable as still primary

we have a decent enough house with the mortgage that goes with it but not as much of the naice lifestyle - not loads of holidays etc - or in fact any really other than staycations. and our car is very simple and 10 years old. But that’s a sacrifice we are willing to make.

I have friends with dc in state schools that tell me to buy mulberries or a nice bmw or go to Mauritius or wherever - but we can’t. But again that’s a sacrifice that we are to make

that said, hoping and expecting a promotion or rise soon though and would need to consider what we do for secondary which is some time away

We have 3 (twins so you know…) and did (an extremely basic) -state primary in zone 2 London until y5/6. But needed a nanny which is A LOT through primary. but we are okay but not much more on £350k salary ex bonuses (about 30% extra but not guaranteed so we don’t live off them). It’s fine but for example we couldn’t afford an Ikos 1 week break in school holidays. That’s our entire holiday budget for 2 years not one week. We are boring and don’t spend money on cars and my kitchen has seen much better days. Mortgage still biggish but 12 years in so starting to be okay.

Joint income of £450k, we have one dc in prep and one in preschool who will start at the prep nursery in 2025. Planning to send both private until uni. We have invested well so we have a comfortable cushion which would cover all fees and extra expenses and things like uni and house deposits. We aren't worried about the VAT increase although it's a pain, but won't affect our lifestyle or savings.

We have a moderate mortgage on a 4 bed house in zone 2, no car (by choice), low travel costs (walk/cycle to work and school), pension contributions aren't high due to tapering rules but maxed out as much as possible plus ISAs and unsheltered investing. We don't need wraparound care or school holiday care but primary aged dc does lots of clubs and activity camps. We have 2 overseas holidays a year (one short haul one long haul, plus smaller UK breaks). No family childcare or financial help or inheritances.

Surprised that so many are on decent (£200-400k) joint incomes, sound like they are living hand to mouth. Isn't anyone investing their earnings..

Do you have 1 or 2 in private primary?

How do you do wraparound care and holidays?

I think some are investing but some have large mortgages and high costs so not being able to save and focus on future income increases. The only issue with that is costs only increase in the future, like healthcare, old age, house for kids, uni, secondary school. It's hard to always think of future when you want to ensure kids go to great schools, which means either expensive house, expensive school or both.

Tax takes an enormous amount from high earners.

One parent earning £200k and a SAHP would have take home pay of £118k.

If they each earn £100k then household take-home pay is £137k - but then they will inevitably have childcare costs which more than offset that difference if below secondary.

Private school fees for 2 at £20k pa = £40k

25 year repayment £500k mortgage (not much in the SE - this is a huge part of the problem) = £36k

Commuting into London from zone 4 for both parents = £5k

Council tax:£3k

That's leaving £2.8k family income per month for all other living costs. (max of £4.5k if both parents earn exactly the same and zero childcare cost). Of course that's enough to live on, but it's not the flash life with cars and holidays you might expect when you hear £200k.

If you live somewhere with lower housing costs and commute by car, it's obviously going to make a huge difference and becomes more comfortable.

If the government didn't take £80k of a £200k income (in contrast to taking less than £8k of a £40k income) it would also be very different.

I think it would be interesting to know what percentage of kids at private school have grandparents contributing to some (or all) of their fees (or whose grandparents have contributed to the family finances in some other way, eg by contributing to a deposit to keep housing costs down). I suspect the percentage would be quite high, allowing parents on high - but not insanely high - salaries to afford it.

Our household income is around 200k and we wouldn’t consider that anything like enough to afford to send our two private, they are at the local state schools.

Why do you put that much in pension is it to bring your income down for tax?
Doesn't that mean you can't get mortgages?

My working hours mean I can do school pickups and holidays. DH does drop offs.

Yeah / going over 100k means you lose your tax free allowance so you pay a lot of tax on the portion over that threshold. Take home pay on 100k is about 68k and take home pay on 150k is about 91k. That means you earn an extra 50k but you receive an extra 23k. I don’t have a massive pension so I’m saving some tax and contributing heavily at the moment.

mortgage affordability looks at your gross income so it’s unaffected by pension contributions.

Surely it depends on your mortgage. I know people earning £140k with 2 kids in private school (£70k a year total) but they are choosing education over lifestyle and no mortgage as paid off via inheritance. They share one car, one modest holiday etc

One SAHP, single earner Base over £200k + bonus and one DC in prep and it’s fine now largely because the Prep school is under £20k a year and our mortgage is low as we purchased 15 years ago in an area which wasn’t desirable and have pre kids thrown money at reducing it. Secondaries are with vat north £30k a year and it’s just not possible to do this comfortably on this salary in inner London while to saving for pensions for both (tapered allowance and SAHP mean reduction in a ability to save), save for a rainy day and save for our DC. We are not on the breadline and are very privileged in many ways but have a house that is not flash, a very old car and don’t have a lavish holiday every year. I think if we were not wanting to also ensure we had pensions and means to support ourselves and not rely solely on the state in older age then we could just about do secondary - that’s assuming fee increases each year at a decent rate not the 8%it’s currently been!

@gobbledoops

Remember not everyone lives in London too. Private school fees here are £12-15k pa and a 4 bed detached is £500k not even in a cheap part of the country

Most families I know with 2 in a London private school are on 80-120k or 400k+. It tends to be a choice made by families who either can’t buy into a decent school catchment (so don’t bother buying a house) or the super rich.

DS started in private primary in 2021 when DH earned 150k plus 40% bonus. Mortgage was 1600pcm for a 4 bed house that needs a lot of work we had bought 8 years before, at the very edges of London in a not trendy area.

I am now working and I earn 100k, fees are 22k a year and the part time nanny is 1200pcm. The hours we work aren’t compatible with the wraparound care and this covers what we need in holidays too. Holiday club is about £45 a day.

It feels comfortable- we go on holidays a few times a year albeit not IKOS but our cars are two 12 year old Peugeot 206s.

Most people I know at these kinds of income levels are very reliant on bonuses /dividends and so don’t have a lot of visibility on their annual income - which means paying school fees might not feel very comfortable as their base salaries just cover the day-to-day outgoings.

Particularly given a mortgage in London might set you back £4k a month at the moment for a pretty modest family house.

And then in regard to having investment income… it depends on their journey to that salary really.

Between the cost of education, housing, childcare etc (on probably lower salaries) they might not have accumulated enough to help fund school fees / may not regard education as the key financial priority vs accruing savings / buying equity in the company they work for / trying to pay down their scary mortgage or save to upsize.

I’d have thought we would be able to comfortably afford school fees but it basically requires us operating ‘at a loss’ all year.

Just as an aside.... Those who think they can't afford private fees, wait until uni. You will need to top up at least £10k per year per child.

@KnittedCardi £10k a year for three years a very different ballgame to £25-30k a year for 14 years.

Yes, the take home post tax is a killer as you never see half of what you make. And the mortgage is big, as there has been such a jump in both prices and rates over the past few years. People who bought 15 years ago are the winners, as they are now sometimes within catchments that are currently unaffordable even for those on pretty high salaries. In parts of non-fancy zone 3 West London, a modest house that was £4-500k 15 years ago is £1.5 million now, minimum. A PP said you can either do a mortgage or private school, not both on £200k. This was never the case in the past. I'm often baffled at how families currently moving in to London at today's prices are making it work.