How much would you need to earn to be "Comfortable"

I think about 60k - 80k for me, that would allow my wife to not work and look after kids (when we have them), have a good house and not need to worry about spending a bit of money here and there
 
The Halk said:
As a UK citizen, paying UK tax... how much would you need to earn each year, gross, to be comfortable - in a job that gave you satisfaction. Please don't answer with what you would want to earn - I'm sure we would all want to earn so much that we'd have no money issues ever.

Sort of brought on by the discussion on degrees.

I'll start it off.

In a job that stimulated me, and allowed me to do something worthwhile I'd need no more than £25K a year.
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Yeah 25k a year about me. If I could be in a job that I absolutely love that pays 25k vs one that is *okay* or *boring* that pays say 40k, I'd genuinely take the first.
 
Well around Nottingham, a nice house costs around £250,000. So based on a 2.5x income mortgage multiple, a £100k combined household income sounds about right, which equates to about £150k before tax!! House prices really have got out of control.

Earning between 25k-30k before you hit 30 is respectable.
 
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Couldn't really say. If I earnt more, I'd adjust my lifestyle to suit, hence never being comfortable.
 
It all depends what you're lifestyle is like, where you live, whether you already own a house.

For example, if I wanted to live where I wanted to live (Clifton, Bristol), I think I would need megabucks, primarily because I would need to be a higher earner to pull together say a 25% deposit for a mortgage. Small 2 bed flat in Clifton is about £230k - £250k, so that's £65,000 cash, I'd need to have just to be able to buy a place. It would be impossible to save that on £30k a year.
 
MarkDavis said:
It all depends what you're lifestyle is like, where you live, whether you already own a house.

For example, if I wanted to live where I wanted to live (Clifton, Bristol), I think I would need megabucks, primarily because I would need to be a higher earner to pull together say a 25% deposit for a mortgage. Small 2 bed flat in Clifton is about £230k - £250k, so that's £65,000 cash, I'd need to have just to be able to buy a place. It would be impossible to save that on £30k a year.
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To be honest, it would be totally unrealistic to expect to buy a house in Clifton on a single income of £30k a year. You wouldn't even consider it.

That doesn't mean you couldn't live in a comfortable house less than a mile away.
 
seek said:
That doesn't mean you don't know how much money you need to be comfortable. It means you don't know what kind of lifestyle you'd be content with.

Let me guess, you're under 30.
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And if my lifestyle is constantly changing then how would I know what I would need to be comfortable?

Don't tell me if your wage doubled you wouldn't change your lifestyle in the slightest and just dump the rest in the bank.

What does it matter how old I am?
 
As a disposable income (after tax, rent/mortgage, bills, etc) to look after my family then I'd be able to survive on 6k/year and probably fairly comfortable on 12k/year.
 
Managing fine on about £25k, but that's on a very favourable mortgage with the bank of mum and dad. If it was about £35k I'd be very happy.
 
There is only one answer to this question:

You can never truely be comfortable, because the more you earn, the more you spend.

:)
 
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