comfortable salary

Meh. I "earn" ~ £650 a month (Student loan and work on top). And I love how things are.

I eat great food, rent a nice house with the GF, see my friends socially all the time, play football twice a week, have the normal house stuff etc.

I guess I don't drive, or have the latest PC, have a 2 million inch 3d TV, all sky packages, thermostat on 30 degrees 24/7, chavtastic clothes or eat out 5 nights a week.

But then again, if I actually did have money, I doubt I would anyway :p
 
alx said:
Problem is what do you define as 'comfortable' and 'enjoying life'. Does 'enjoy' mean you're just not unhappy on the salary you earn? Does it mean you can afford most of the things you want to buy (holidays, cars etc)?

I guess the issue is that to different people they mean different things.

I'm sure I could live in London on £25k and enjoy myself (go out with mates etc) but probably couldn't afford many holidays/trips away or afford to live in a nice/central area. It's all very subjective.
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I agree that anything like this is subjective, but to believe someone needs to earn £60k to be comfortable is verging on dillusional. On this basis 90% of the UK population don't live comfortably...

2 questions for those that would like to answer them
- Do you personally earn £60k or more?
- Do you live a comfortable lifestyle?

I can guess the trend...
 
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Angilion said:
I wouldn't be surprised if there are people with a million in assets and an income of >£100K a year who are thinking that they could use maybe 20% more to be comfortable.
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Also known as "Keeping up with the Joneses"

Oh and with regards to the 100K I find from experience the more you earn (and the higher up the corporate tree) the less you actually spend of your own money.
 
I only earn £14000 pa and my missus earns £16000 pa. We rent at £700 pm and live very happily. True we cant buy a new car ever day or eat swan every Friday, we manage.
 
explicit4u said:
Comfortable in London... At least £32,000 IMO.
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That certainly isn't comfortable at all.

Renting a non-hole and including travel and other general loving expenses won't leave you that much to have a good time in London. For some people it can be adequate to get on by but tbh I would say the 40% tax band barrier would be an ideal minimum.

Early £40k should do as a starting point.

Wish it was that easy.

krooton said:
My gf and I are both on £24k, have just bought a flat, run a car, she has a horse, and I spend £250 a month clearing debt I racked up in my youth.

We don't really eat out, but eat very well at home, and go the cinema / theatre from time to time.

Sure, I might be a bit of deal/discount whore and we both use TopCashBack, but we're perfectly comfortable for the time being (things will change when we want a house and kids).
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Kudos to you buddy, feel like I know you from all your stories and posts :D:D:D

It can be done, just need to curb random and pointless spends. Toptable, topchasback, planning food shops, getting the best deals on bills all adds up. Found it hard when I was in London, but that's because it was my first year and spent like a happy camper with a new job.
 
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Cobra-UK said:
I only earn £14000 pa and my missus earns £16000 pa. We rent at £700 pm and live very happily. True we cant buy a new car ever day or eat swan every Friday, we manage.
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Ahh you see you simply must eat swan twice a week or you cannot be classed as living comfortably. Mmmm lovely swan.
 
Depends entirely on your circumstances imho. In my experience the more you earn the more you tend to spend without realising it.
 
Depends where you live but I think you could be comfortable on about £20k in the south depending on if there's two of you earning that and living together.

I don't really need more and I'm a bit over that, living on my own and running two cars.
 
LordSplodge said:
Most people don't earn that much. Are you really saying that most people aren't "comfortable" and have holidays?

There really must be some kind of reality distortion field in effect in this thread.
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comfortable |ˈkəmfərtəbəl; ˈkəmftərbəl|
adjective

1 providing physical ease and relaxation
• physically relaxed and free from constraint.
• free from stress or fear
• free from financial worry
2 as large as is needed or wanted
• with a wide margin
 
Depends on what you grew up with and what you've become accustomed too.

I live in Cheshire and earn between 30 and 35k, can buy almost anything i want whenever i want, eat well and live in a nice place with investment in several other properties and enough left over to monkey around in Shares.

I'm happy with what i have considering i'm almost at the bottom of my career rung, but it's always nice to have more money.

If i lived in London i'd want 40-45k to live the same (at a guess).
 
Living comfortably in London could mean an incredibly broad spectrum of things, depending on where you want to live. You can be very comfortable in Brixton on £25-30k, but you're going to struggle in Chelsea on much less than £50k. I live in an average part of London (Isle of Dogs) and my rent is c£25k.
 
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I'm on £25k (Just shy of £1,400 per month after tax, NI and student loan).

For the month:
£450 goes on Rent/Bills
£300ish goes on food and petrol
£300 goes into savings
£150 goes on car insurance

That leaves me with about £200 left for a social life / luxury purchases.

I would say that I'm living comfortably (for my age and situation) but it would be nice to be a little less 'tight' at the end of each month I would say around £30k would be a sweet spot.

However, if I needed to pay for a major event like a wedding or to start raising a child/children I think I would need to be pushing the £35/40k mark.

*edit* Having said the above, I realise that by simply getting rid of the car that costs nearly £2k a year to insure would be a good way to have spare cash in my pocket!
 
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