Is 100k a large salary?

[aspiring]

Some strong debates over the weekend around this:

The £100,000 tax trap is destroying aspiration

Many wealthy parents are on a mission to earn less in order to cash in on free childcare

www.telegraph.co.uk

Jeremy Hunt: Chancellor says £100,000 not a huge salary in Surrey

Mr Hunt says an upper limit on earnings to access free childcare is an issue he "would really like to sort out".

www.google.com

Do people think it is not a good enough/big enough salary?

 

[hawker1986]

Well on the basis that it’s 3x the UK average and £100k would put you in the top 4% of earners then yes it’s a large salary.

Sounds like your issue is the cost of childcare and housing?

 

[Ayahuasca]

I’m getting Deja vu. You seem obsessed with this topic.

 

[Derek W]

Not like you to raise an issue with that figure

 

[aspiring]

Well on the basis that it’s 3x the UK average and £100k would put you in the top 4% of earners then yes it’s a large salary.

Sounds like your issue is the cost of childcare and housing?

More the case that JH says its not a large salary? Although UK average is 35k

 

[aspiring]

I’m getting Deja vu. You seem obsessed with this topic.

It is a topic that has had prominence ocer the weekend. I find the bit in the article about not taking on promotions to avoid tax trap very interesting.

 

[paradigm]

Surely "large" is relative. You tend to live to your means, your home, your way of life, everything that you do day-to-day, week-by-week will be driven by what you have earned up to that point. If your outgoings have increased by x% because of inflation or interest rate rises then it doesn't matter what your salary is, you'll still feel the pinch if you are close to living to your means.

Sure, those earning more, with a large home have more opportunity to downsize their lives to make more of their salary during times of increased financial pressure, but doing so isn't exactly simple, quick or cut and dry.

 

[aspiring]

Surely "large" is relative. You tend to live to your means, your home, your way of life, everything that you do day-to-day, week-by-week will be driven by what you have earned up to that point. If your outgoings have increased by x% because of inflation or interest rate rises then it doesn't matter what your salary is, you'll still feel the pinch if you are close to living to your means.

Sure, those earning more, with a large home have more opportunity to downsize their lives to make more of their salary during times of increased financial pressure, but doing so isn't exactly simple, quick or cut and dry.

Agree it is relative but there must be some idea of what is actually a good/large salary as a general parameter

 

[FerretBoy]

Destroying aspiration? Anyone earning 100k could put 50k into their pension and avoid 40% tax and also keep child benefit (getting easier going forward).

 

[Craig R]

If it is enough to put you in the top tax bracket, it is a large salary.

 

[Angst]

Not even sure why there's any debate around this. It puts you in the top % of earners in the UK and globally, how can it be seem as anything but a large amount.
Any arguments to the contrary about living to your means and increasing outgoings with a higher wage only further prove its a large income.

 

[A2Z]

Why do you keep making topics around the same thing? Getting boring and it's borderline troll like.

 

[Kenai]

Your life will be more fulfilling if you lose the obsession with wage, salary, income tax etc.

 

[delta0]

Depends where you live. Godalming is an expensive area (as referenced in the article for this comment). You could earn significantly less somewhere else and afford similar.

 

[413x]

It's a large salary
Its a comment by the tories in very poor taste
It's a vote loser

 

[dlockers]

Depends on the playing field. For the places where folk on 100k+ generally need to live, you are in a pool of ultra wealthy with institutional wealth or boomers who have lucked out.

If you are trying to gain parity with those groups, then no, it isn't much at all. Your perspectives change as you earn more, and you realise just how much you need to be as comfortable as you deserve.

 

[Freddie1980]

It's a large salary for most but I can see it being seen as 'decent' if your living in south and your salary is the only income coming into the household and you have a wife and two kids to support.

 

[Mason-]

More the case that JH says its not a large salary? Although UK average is 35k

Be fair, that's not what he said, he said it's not a large salary for Surrey. What you said sounds ludicrous, what he actually said isn't. But don't let the full context of what someone says get in the way of political point scoring.

Example - 2 pretty bog standard ex-council 3 bed semis in Durham vs Surrey:

Check out this 3 bedroom semi-detached house for sale on Rightmove

3 bedroom semi-detached house for sale in Newlands Road, Carrville, Durham, DH1 for £195,000. Marketed by Robinsons, Durham

www.rightmove.co.uk

Check out this 3 bedroom house for sale on Rightmove

3 bedroom house for sale in Cheyne Walk, Horley, Surrey, RH6 for £425,000. Marketed by Mayhew Estates, Horley

www.rightmove.co.uk

He said he had been speaking to "a lady from Godalming" about eligibility for the government’s childcare offer, which is not available if one parent is earning more than £100,000, and said, external: "I am aware that it is not huge salary in our area if you have a mortgage to pay."

If we're talking about Godalming

Check out this 3 bedroom semi-detached house for sale on Rightmove

3 bedroom semi-detached house for sale in Miltons Crescent, Godalming, GU7 for £575,000. Marketed by Purplebricks, covering Guildford

www.rightmove.co.uk

 

[danlightbulb]

It's absolutely huge salary from any objective perspective.

Yes it may not feel huge if you've expanded your lifestyle to suit, but that's not the point.

 

[SpellowHouse]

Some strong debates over the weekend around this:

The £100,000 tax trap is destroying aspiration

Many wealthy parents are on a mission to earn less in order to cash in on free childcare

www.telegraph.co.uk

Jeremy Hunt: Chancellor says £100,000 not a huge salary in Surrey

Mr Hunt says an upper limit on earnings to access free childcare is an issue he "would really like to sort out".

www.google.com

Do people think it is not a good enough/big enough salary?

The Telegraph. That well known left-wing paper

Of course they would say it's a tax trap.

100K is a good salary for most people. It certainly does not rate as "rich".

Most politicians and Telegraph readers aspire to much more than that, so to them it's a poor salary.