Is it rude to ask your annual income?

[dontcomeatme]

I am always gobsmacked and a little in awe whenever a thread gets onto the topic of money. Posters often stating they have an annual income of 100k+, but still struggling with finances for example. I am really interested to see if this is a demographic thing, so same job = totally different salary depending on location. Which I understand would then be reflected in the cost of living for the area.
But if any MNers feel comfortable I wanted to start a thread where everyone could state their

• individual annual income + job title
• the house as a whole annual income if different
• plus where you live.

No one is obligated so if you dont want to absolutely fine. This is more out of my own curiosity than anything!

Ours -

• OH annual salary before tax £37k, head of year in a comprehensive
• I am SAHM so just CB coming in which we put aside for 2 DC
• North East of England.

We live quite comfortably, just bought a home, save for both DC and a rainy day fund, able to do stuff with DC every weekend and holidays (in the uk) every year, no debt other than mortgage.

According to HMRC, 350,000 people earn > £100K. As there are 28.4m households in UK, this means that no more than 1.2% of households include someone with a six figure income.

For context on benefits:

you have to early a ridiculously small amount to qualify for free prescriptions and free school meals.

I’m a single mum of 3
I earn 12k a year.
I get £240 a month CB
£1100 Universal Credit

£26800 a year. Still significantly less than people who earn too much to get help.

I don’t get free school meals, prescriptions and anything else people think is “free” I get single persons council tax reduction as anyone single does.

Most people i know earn well under £100k whole family and survive. This thread l doesn’t represent those people. This forum has seemingly a large proportion of high earners. Or maybe those that earn minimum wage don’t feel like posting their wages….

We earn 75k between us ( public sector)
We got a cheap house and mortgage has £40k left and lots of equity. Gtr Manc.
Low bills, prioritise holidays but short breaks regularly. No kids which means that we are comfortable and can save too. One old but well looked after car:

Looked at the wrong figure. Actually 1.8m people earn > £100K. So, taking into account that there will be some households with 2 people in this category, approx 6% of households include someone earning 6 figures.

London salaries are much higher than the rest of the country. You need to be earning £105K to be in top 10% of London full time employees whereas in rest of UK this ranges from £58K in Wales to £74K in South East.

I make £70k post-tax, self-employed accountant, Home Counties. Divorced, DC grown and flown, mortgage and car paid off. Excess income goes in ISA, then pension, but I also choose to pay for things for DC eg family holidays in UK, therapy, dentistry, when I feel like it. They are all in steady public sector jobs and have bought their homes with the help of £50k deposits bequeathed to them by my parents, so they don’t need my help as such. I travelled a lot in my 20s and don’t really fancy it much any more so tbh I don’t have much scope to spend money, though if I spot an opportunity i definitely go for it!. I’ve been very lucky and pinch myself regularly, as I know very well it can all go to shit quite easily if I or the DC suffer more health issues.

You might think she's working, but perhaps she's posting on MN about her big salary from her Big Job.

But these threads always go the same way and illustrate how easy it is to generate misleading information if your sample is unrepresentative.

This is sort of indicative as to why household income as a total might be misleading.

Assuming 5% pension contribution the above household has £120k pa take home.

Another household on the same gross income of £170k pa but with one earner would get £101k, so the difference is massive

@Ofchrisoh I know it is a good salary. I was just curious about the figures. It looks like the ONS collects the data based on gross amounts, and if people reduce their gross salary via salary sacrifice into their pension, then their salary is recorded as under £100k. So people might say ‘I earn £130’, but actually they are sacrificing £30.1k into their pension so falling under the £100k stats. I know a lot of my friends (expensive years of young children) are doing this.

I think outgoings matter too. So £100 k is about £5.5 k a month. But if you’re in the south east, childcare at a bog standard nursery is £2.2k plus per child. A normal three bed semi in my town is about £700k, so the mortgage payments are large.

I think one thing this thread has opened my eyes to is how low some mortgages are. That makes a huge difference. We bought recently so our mortgage on a normal four bed house is big. That plus childcare for two toddlers takes up the bulk of our earnings

Lol well quite. She is on mat leave right now so who knows!

And I should be grading papers!

Me £60k
DH £70k ish (self employed)
South East. House paid for

£32k - full time practice nurse, qualified as a nurse 35 years ago.

I also find threads like these interesting. Because I came from a background that wouldn’t have imagined a salary of over £100k. Very different to my partner who went to boarding school and had high earning parents, and mixed in circles where people were doing very well.

So I think it’s so important to read this stuff. And also so important to share salary info with friends and with peers at work, especially for women. I know it has helped me, and the secrecy around money kind of traps us a bit. Businesses will pay the minimum they can get away with, and (to generalise) women don’t advocate for themselves the way men do at appraisals and at salary negotiations

I was earning £41k, DH on £34k, mortgage £570pm, we were very comfortable.

Then there was some restructuring at my workplace, meaning my temporary promotion ended quite suddenly, and my salary has dropped to £26k, and prices are continuing to skyrocket.

We overpay our mortgage by £200pm, put money in DD's saving account, and have managed to sustain our lifestyle more or less, with a lot of juggling, but we have very little leftover afterwards.

That’s exactly like me. In London, similar salary. But for nearly two decades I was a single parent and had to prioritise everything ahead of my pension.

Married no kids mid-40s. Lawyer. DH is changing careers so no income from him currently. On £330k per year plus discretionary bonus which works out net around £50k once a year. Work in London live outside of London. Financially support my mum and have two mortgages. Definitely have enough money although I am going to sell my house to cut some costs so I have a bit more flexibility in the future.

In my real life I dont think i know of any women that earn over 40k and I know one man who earns over 100k its just not the norm in my circle to have what I see as big incomes.

I'm sure a lot I'm just no privvy to. Certainly at school drop of so many are rocking up in brand new big cars yet they have what I see as regular jobs. Maybe it's credit cards,gifts or debt who knows.
It always feels like others know some sort of secret about money/juggling life that I don't.

I have a child with additional needs so would need very expensive specialised childcare that doesn't really exist in my area so I could even a hope of a career.

There are so many invisible factors to why a person or family have been successful (if we are looking at jobs/money as sucess) Even down to family support of just growing up being encouraged and family saying yeah go for that job, train for that. Things like Grandparents helping with childcare. Helping with deposits or buying your first car. I genuinely thought at school I would be able to get around all the traditional barriers for women that historically trapped them. I remember being told women could have it all.Only to realise now I was starting from a different position and there still are so many barriers for women. It so important for women particularly to talk about money and their path and decisions they have made or avoided.

I think this is a really interesting point, and am example of why everyone gets defensive. (Not meaning to pop at you PP, just that you laid out your figures!) - from your figures tour income is 12k, but your take home with benefits etc is 28k - which would take a salary of about 34k to achieve.

For interest I just put through the benefits calc a couple living around me (expensive area TBF) with 3 kids. Both on minimum wage at 16 hours a week, so about 200 a week. So they would say their income is about 20k. But with the benefits, their actual income is around 50k(UC 2.1k/MTH, cb 262) which would take an income of 70k to achieve.

I am not benefits bashing - a civilised society supports all members. But it seems to me a lot of low and middle earners end up in around the same position, but often don't see it. The example above couple could be genuinely struggling on their 20k salaries, and think someone on 70k has 3.5x as much money so should be on easy st, and resents them complaining.

And then 70k is a 30k jump to 100k, taxed at 40% that is 1500 a month extra, a lot of which is easily eaten up by a slightly bigger house or nursery fees to support longer working hours - and those earners aren't in an especially more comfortable position either, despite the significant income difference on paper!

Totally agree, I know someone who regularly spouts - 'oh my DH only earns minimum wage and I can't work' But fails to include in her income the massive UC payments, rent paid, council tax reduction and various disability benefits in her household income.

I earn £45k. I am a home dog boarder.
DH earns £51k as a Police officer (top band)
So that's £96k household income.
We live in the North.

I think what is often forgotten in money threads, is how much your expenditure can vary, just as much as income. We have no childcare fees, as kids are grown, and our mortgage is only £236 per month as it's almost finished. DH has commuting costs, but mine are nil, because I WFH.

Wage and benefits we get about £28k a year. We have a mortgage, not rent. Not entitled to free school meals, prescriptions, or council tax reductions. Luckily the mortgage is small and we live in the north.

I am sure she would prefer not to be disabled or others in the family be disabled.

And so it starts.

If you re-read properly I wasn't criticising her disability - I was stating that many families say they are on low income/minimum wage, but fail to add in their substantial benefits as family household income

Yes I don't doubt they get quite a bit but I am sure they would prefer to not need it.

To OP - are those net incomes? Your husbands salary seems low for a teacher

I work in a small business a manager (vague, I know). Salary is £37.5k.

Household income £62k currently - likely to go up to £70k next year.

Live in the North West. Own a house with a mortgage. Not rich, but comfortably-off - we go on a big 5-week-long holiday every other year, have plenty to spend on hobbies etc. No children, which I suspect makes a huge difference.