2018: What's considered a decent wage within reason?

Nasher said:
Yep, if I was renting my house I'd be paying at least £3-400 a month more, it's crazy how much of a money black hole renting is. My mortgage won't go up every year either.
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Crazy thing is, I couldn't buy the place I live in as they wouldn't lend me that much, and yet I comfortably afford the rent (£600) which is presumably a good piece more than any potential mortgage repayment!
 
DanTheMan said:
Whenever these sorts of threads crop up, I always question if I am living a different life to most people on here.

We have a combined household income of £52k give or take which seems on low/average for this forum. There's 2 adults, 1 child in childcare 3 days per week and 2 dogs. We have £160k remaining on the mortgage, 2 cars, one is financed through a loan with around £9k remaining.

After all expenses including food, we have roughly £1k spare disposable income and I don't feel particularly stretched or panicked financially.
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Same. Although I know I live a different life to most people

But it sure is interesting and eye opening to read these type of threads.
 
Me and my Mrs are 42. We have 3 kids......22, 19 & 14. Other than feeding them and occasionally buying clothes for the youngest they don’t cost much financially -but emotionally!! Oh my! (Hard work).
 
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38, on £115,000 working from home. Used to work in London with a massive commute and less money.

My wife works two days per week and looks after our two little ones when they’re not at nursery/school.

We didn’t have help from rich parents or inheritances, got a nice house all paid for by ourselves, could have overseas holidays but putting money away for school fees instead.

Doesn’t go far when your tax free allowance is 0, big mortgage and paying into a pension.
 
Having my own business I could probably pay myself around £150k without compromising the cash flow but have decided to take £80k or so to leave more in the business, in order to keep upgrading the company assets. I know then, if I need some emergencies monies, it’s money in the bank really.

It’s great that the wife doesn’t have to work. I can put all my energy into the business while she takes care of the home etc. Sounds a little old fashioned, but she’s a little older than me and has worked her ass off for years commuting and working silly hours so it’s well deserved.

We have a decent lifestyle - no kids (2 dogs instead lol), have a very nice penthouse duplex (with lots of equity in it), I have a Nissan GTR, wife a TT and share a 1 series beema. We don’t live a particularly lavish lifestyle. One, maybe two holidays abroad each year, the very occasional night out and the odd bit of clothes shopping. We do try to maintain a very good diet so food shops can be a little steep sometimes.

Life is pretty good but it comes with hard work and long hours.
 
regulus said:
Same. Although I know I live a different life to most people

But it sure is interesting and eye opening to read these type of threads.
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Haha I wish, sub 25k here, wifeis below the tax bracket.

No mortgage as we can't afford a deposit,luckily we have cheap rent otherwise we'd be in really trouble.

I have some spendng money but not loadsor as much as I'd like
 
You know your wage is ok when they start wanting to charge you the higher tax bracket on it. So you cant win really, put it into a pension and avoid entering the higher tax rate maybe. They used to allow early retirement/pension at 50 I think (and still work) but pretty sure that trick isnt available any more. Hard to say below that level as the wage could be ok if your costs are low also.
Easiest way to earn more is to waste less, goto MoneySavingExpert forums and find out where you are burning money
 
So many variables that it's impossible to come to a figure that works for everyone as where they live and how they live will be the main factors. I have earned London money for 20 plus years in the main but I have lived in the Midlands all my life and we are a double income no kids household. I was earning in to 6 figures in my late 20's early 30's and I am now 50 and I have been there most of the time since,well there on a few years. Like most people who earn well (as opposed to those I would call wealthy) I have managed to spend my money without too much trouble. Be it property, cars, holidays, watches, toys, tech or clothes, it tends to get spent without too much trouble. We have several grand left each month even on a bad month but we still manage to spend it, sometimes on frivolous stuff, sometimes on house/home and sometimes on holidays/clothes/weekends away.

Then I can have a high 5 figure month (even a 6 on a couple of occasions) and that is fantastic but it still tends to go somehow. I think when you earn 30K you look at that and often can't comprehend how, but when you are more accustomed to it then it's not too difficult. I spent over 3K on the Goodwood Revival, 10K on the East Coast US holiday, £15K West Coast because we did it as a life experience we could talk about and enjoy, because we can and don't have school fees! I bought some cars, some watches and soon it goes. I have spent 5K on clothes in the last year (I lost weight), 8K on HiFi and then god knows how much on crap from Amazon because I wanted to spend. Then add the house repairs and it's gone and I am looking for my next wage drop.

I could have died in January, I also found out I have a VERY rare immune disorder that if not managed will kill me, so my outlook has changed somewhat and why I am talking about money on here, something I have actually not done that often. :D One life, enjoy it people.
 
Delvis said:
Haha I wish, sub 25k here, wifeis below the tax bracket.

No mortgage as we can't afford a deposit,luckily we have cheap rent otherwise we'd be in really trouble.

I have some spendng money but not loadsor as much as I'd like
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We live WELL below sub 25k if it makes you feel better.
 
Housey said:
So many variables that it's impossible to come to a figure that works for everyone as where they live and how they live will be the main factors. I have earned London money for 20 plus years in the main but I have lived in the Midlands all my life and we are a double income no kids household. I was earning in to 6 figures in my late 20's early 30's and I am now 50 and I have been there most of the time since,well there on a few years. Like most people who earn well (as opposed to those I would call wealthy) I have managed to spend my money without too much trouble. Be it property, cars, holidays, watches, toys, tech or clothes, it tends to get spent without too much trouble. We have several grand left each month even on a bad month but we still manage to spend it, sometimes on frivolous stuff, sometimes on house/home and sometimes on holidays/clothes/weekends away.

Then I can have a high 5 figure month (even a 6 on a couple of occasions) and that is fantastic but it still tends to go somehow. I think when you earn 30K you look at that and often can't comprehend how, but when you are more accustomed to it then it's not too difficult. I spent over 3K on the Goodwood Revival, 10K on the East Coast US holiday, £15K West Coast because we did it as a life experience we could talk about and enjoy, because we can and don't have school fees! I bought some cars, some watches and soon it goes. I have spent 5K on clothes in the last year (I lost weight), 8K on HiFi and then god knows how much on crap from Amazon because I wanted to spend. Then add the house repairs and it's gone and I am looking for my next wage drop.

I could have died in January, I also found out I have a VERY rare immune disorder that if not managed will kill me, so my outlook has changed somewhat and why I am talking about money on here, something I have actually not done that often. :D One life, enjoy it people.
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silversurfer said:
You know your wage is ok when they start wanting to charge you the higher tax bracket on it. So you cant win really, put it into a pension and avoid entering the higher tax rate maybe. They used to allow early retirement/pension at 50 I think (and still work) but pretty sure that trick isnt available any more. Hard to say below that level as the wage could be ok if your costs are low also.
Easiest way to earn more is to waste less, goto MoneySavingExpert forums and find out where you are burning money
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Currently I put my payrises into my pension. Normal income for my wife and I is enough to live pretty well now that childcare is almost a thing of the past. I want this standard of living for the rest of my life, not just while I'm working.
 
40-45k is what I need to live very comfortably in the Midlands. No kids, mortgaged house with my woman. Two holidays a year etc.

However I could quite easily live on 20-30k

You tend to live by your wage so I don’t think there is such thing as a high wage because your lifestyle tends to lean towards it if that makes sense??

Me : 40k-45k PA

Mrs : 20k PA
 
Ha ha ,I'm definitely in the minority here I earnt 13.5k last year (single) but I own a beautiful house on a hillside ,mortgage free . Don't really need more than that as my 3/4 day weekends are spent bodyboarding or coastal walking ,or things I used to do here as a tourist not many years back . Had my car 16 years from new , council tax is pretty cheap ,water rates £17 month (that's with the biggest garden over 160 ft) and heating oil lasts ages
So can live happily on that amount ,getting normal stuff like my gaming laptop and walking gear ect recently and 1k of speculative gold exploration shares last year
Need to nail my food shopping though hence a recent thread !
 
moon man said:
Ha ha ,I'm definitely in the minority here I earnt 13.5k last year (single) but I own a beautiful house on a hillside ,mortgage free . Don't really need more than that as my 3/4 day weekends are spent bodyboarding or coastal walking ,or things I used to do here as a tourist not many years back . Had my car 16 years from new , council tax is pretty cheap ,water rates £17 month (that's with the biggest garden over 160 ft) and heating oil lasts ages
So can live happily on that amount ,getting normal stuff like my gaming laptop and walking gear ect recently and 1k of speculative gold exploration shares last year
Need to nail my food shopping though hence a recent thread !
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And this is the lesson. Focus on what makes you content and happy and not on what others earn. We can’t all earn big. Many don’t have what it takes or aren’t willing to make the sacrifices it takes, they will never achieve it. Some don’t get the breaks, aren’t in the right place at the right time or simply don’t get lucky.

One thing money can bring especially if you have shared passions is exposure to stuff and people you would not normally meet in life and what that has shown me is I am just better paid than some but so far from wealthy it’s pointless to even consider getting there at my age as the difference is vast. I earn a wage, proper wealthy tend to pay them or can drop millions from reserves on frivolous stuff. It has also shown me their often utter detachment from normal and often I find that sad, tasteless and an imbalance I don’t like too much.
 
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