fatscoobfella1

iTrader: (1)

Just sounds like people living beyond there means to me...

Ever heard the saying,"cut your cloth according to your size" ?

eelz

iTrader: (10)

I'd say 'living the lifestyle according to income' everybody would like a little more but so long as there is food on the table and fuel in the car... I'm still a happy chappy

-shane-

iTrader: (40)

As you say it depends we're u live etc I live just outside Ipswich, nice area and have a 3 bedroom detached house with a garage about 15 years old cost 180k we earn about 45k between us and it's ok

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Oh dear....I currently have Eight

(and four motorbikes)

Funkii Munkii

Grass the thieving c*nt up

Funkii Munkii

Liking the Avatar fella, a fellow Trailer Park Boys fan

Bubbles is a legend

eelz

iTrader: (10)

Nice one fella, Jim layhe one of my fave characters but bubbles is quality.the Conky episode cracks me up

Leslie

Can't think how anyone can complain it they are on £40K a year.

My pension etc comes to just over half that and we live comfortably enough accepting that we have to be careful how we spend it. We avoid going into debt like the plague and we are quite happy with our Mini which we have had for just under 6 years now. I look after it and it looks smart and goes well.

The only holiday as such is when Mrs Leslie went to New Zealand to stay with close friends for a short time.

There is no way we would complain about our lot, we accept any shortcomings such as not buying new cars etc. etc. Life is too short to worry about what the Jones's can manage!

Les

SouthWalesSam

iTrader: (1)

+1

Yes, it's difficult all round and it looks like going to stay that way for a while yet, but it's great to hear someone who's not whinging, for a change!

GlesgaKiss

An old female relative of mine is much the same. She actually gets by on what must seem like pennies to some people, but she's self-reliant and happy. For her, life has never been about the material.

davyboy

I am convinced money does not buy you happyness....to a point. I feel I am at a a point in life where I would not do any things differently, just spend more doing it. I really don't feel this would make me any happier.

Les I assume you don't have a mortgage to worry about old chap. I could manage on much less if I did not have that to pay.

I've said it before, if food and fuel keep going up, then I will only be able to ski once a year and that would make me feel poverty striken!

Nimbus

It didn't say they had a 300k mortgage, only a 300k house.

TelBoy

Yep, and the problem is that everybody now expects to be able to go down the same path. This is a transitional period that will be difficult for many to accept.

davyboy

I think we have more now than they did in the 50s and 60s.

How many families could have 2 cars, 2 holidays a year, go out for meals regularly etc?

TelBoy

In their fifties and sixties, Dave? Their age?

Ciaran

iTrader: (16)

I have to say I feel sorry for people in expensive areas. My 2 bed semi with off road parking was £95k. Combined wage is in excess of £100k but we are in a very fortunate situation.
We have no kids both working and have 3 cars. I have a daily and the impreza.
Due to living in the sticks we have no choice but to have a car each.
Aged 28 and 58 months left on my mortgage

I have plenty mates who all live on the bread line and can't afford holidays and have to pay rent as they can't afford to save up a deposit to get a mortgage.

Rent in our area tends to be in excess of what a 25 year 90% mortgage would be but this means people can't save any money.
I can't imagine how it must be for people who live in areas with high house values

Tidgy

I want to see exact figures as far as earning, they always say they earn more than us never given exact figures.

I earn less than i did 5 yers ago because of redundancy and actualy finding another job rather than going on benefits, i havn't had a payrise in 4 years, not even to cover inflation.

Leslie

Yes I must admit of course that the mortgage has been all paid off now, and in the days when I was still paying it, it was a big hole in the monthly finances. I well know the problems associated with that of course.

Nowhere near the difference though between my present income and a salary of £40K annually.

Brown's attack on pensions in his day was very bad and has devalued present day pensions, and the proposed changes to a setup which people signed up to in the first place is just as questionable.

Les

Funkii Munkii

I would imagine for most families 2 cars are a necessity in the modern world, but I would say the 2 hols and regular meals out/take aways aren't that common in the present climate.

SouthWalesSam

iTrader: (1)

Yes, but only up to a point.

There were more jobs 40 years ago but unemployment rose to 3.3 million just 10 years later. And in that time there've been 3 recessions before the one we're in now.

To buy a house you needed to save a 25-30% deposit and the building society had to know you before it considered a loan. The house I bought for "not much" had no carpet, no central heating, 1930s wiring, damp & woodworm.

The 50 to 60 year old clients that we see with good pensions provision are those that have spent most of their working lives in the public sector or banks or inherited money from their parents. Most people in their 50s and 60s don't have anywhere near enough put by for their retirement.

Don't want you to go away with the idea that it's all been easy.

The thing that really made the difference though, which we've all lost today, is that we had cheap food, cheap transport and cheap entertainment.

DonNedly

iTrader: (10)

aww the poor women can't afford to send her kids to private school.
But she can afford 3 holidays a year and a new car every 2 years.

davyboy

Fair point!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

To send one child to private school for a year will equate to about £26-30k gross income, more if you are a higher rate tax payer, much more.

LEO-RS

It will actually cost you the same, you just need to earn more (I doubt a basic rate taxpayer has the means to send a child to private school anyway)

£40k as a single earner with a 6% (£200pm) pension contribution will give you £2,300pm net.
£40k as 2 earners each earning £20k with a 6% (£100pm) pension contribution will give the couple £2,500pm net.

It's not a bad amount if your mortgage/rent is low and you dont need to send your kids to nursery. My mortgage is £1400 and my nursery fees are £1400, we get through about £600 worth of fuel each month and spend around £400 in food. Havent even mentioned all the other bills, it's an extortionate amount of outgoings.

It's a sort of taboo subject speaking about salaries, I've never seen the issue personally, I earn circa £70k, wife around £45k, gives us about £6k per month to which we have very little left over every month We dont feel particularly wealthy yet earn near enough 3 x this £40k figure. I suspect its the time of our lives, 3 young kids, none at school yet and a big mahoosive mortgage to pay down. In the future when the mortgage has dissapeared and the kids no longer need looking after we may begin to feel a lot more comfortable.

A good friend of mine has a similar joint income but yet he lives in a £275pm HA home and has no kids, he doesn't drive anything particularly flashy either so he must be rolling in it. It's all relative, in London a £100k salary is not going to go anywhere near as far as it does in the North.

thesyn

Met up with some friends at the weekend. Was told that one of my contempories, a consultant surgeon married to a part time GP could not manage on his income from NHS, was based oop north so private work is not great and so has moved out to Dubai to work for the last 10 or so years before retirement.

Reason; 1 mill still left on his mortgage and two young sons boarding at Eton ( £70k+ of earned income yearly )

As has been stated before being comfortable depends on your outgoings and your expectations.

ChefDude

surely, it's about what you spend, not what you earn

I earn lots but, most importantly, spend... less

and live in a terraced house and only have 1 volvo

fatscoobfella1

iTrader: (1)

I would love to earn 70k+... I would be able to retire within 5 years!!..

Retiring at 48 would be bliss!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Im on 50 odd (I say odd as it depends on call out, bonus etc) and the missus about 12, but only recently, having been living pretty much hand to mouth due to having three kids, all lads that just need a lot of spending on, they eat a lot and are always doing stuff that costs us money !

Am hoping next year is better now she is working and I don't go overdrawn, just sold an ISA to pay off the O/D, so am now debt free, don't owe anyone a penny but that is through luck and not spunking loads of money on crap, I have an eight year old car, I could buy a brand new RR Sport on finance but I know that I cant actually in reality afford it.

People seemed through the previous "boom" years to live as if they had 100 grand plus salaries when they were on 30 but kept borrowing against the house to perpetuate an illusion of wealth, all those X5's, nice holidays and everything getting "Prosumer" and "Premium", a lot forgot they were just another punter and lived this lifestyle and now its come crashing down round their ears.

So now, everyone is getting grumpy with "the rich", i.e. those *******s on 40 grand a year or more, living high on the hog, it isn't the middle earners the ire should be directed at, I earn 50 grand a year because I went to college, studied hard and kept learning, I did additional exams, took risks and got out of bloody local government. I get taxed to f*ck whilst I see scroungers doing nothing and the super rich avoiding paying anything because they can exploit loopholes.

We stayed pretty prudent through the flash harry times of the late nineties and early noughties, I could have got debt for fancy stuff but chose not to, I drove a hundred quid Metro and a Pug 309 when everyone seemed to have a 40 grand off roader.

I make no apologies for a decent-ish salary, I support five of us on it, no benefits, the kids all go to private school, for which we used savings and the in laws pay the fees now so that frees up three places at a state school and my tax money can go elsewhere, usually to pay for feckless chav breeders and those we import from the four corners of the planet.

I am sat here working at seven pm because that is what is needed to earn a decent wage, even a crap one sometimes.


We are saving up to help our kids through Uni, another massive bill coming my way but I do what I should, not what I could, might change my mind soon.

Luan Pra bang

Interesting thread . Without getting too specific I used to have a very high mortgage meaning I had to do lots of work. Now the last few years, thanks to a well chosen tracker mortgage, I have been working a few hours per day and having lots of fun . With my special deal about to end I really don't want to go back to a proper working day so how the fudge I am going to pay a 300k + mortgage AND work the equivalent of two days a week, remains to be seen. Either way 40k would get me know where. Luckily I have some land with planning permission that will serve as a pension as I have no ability to save money and no pension.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Always makes me giggle when I see threads like this. Once upon a time it would wind me up, but now I feel sorry for those 'struggling' on sizeable combined/singular incomes.

I'm not ashamed to say as a 3rd year apprentice I don't earn a great deal. My Mrs is a stay-at-home mum to our 8 month old son. Monthly incomings after tax are about £1,500-£1,600. On this we eat well, I tax/insure/fill/service etc. a Subaru, pay a £360 p/m mortgage, have TV/internet/phoneline through Virgin etc. We don't have a great deal left at the end of the month but we're happy given the circumstances.

Some on here obviously over spend when money can be saved being frugal. Meh, it's not my money you waste on crap


Oh and for the record I was aged 20 and on £15k (in my old job) when I got a 97% £75,000 mortgage in February 2005 through Halifax with NO issue.