Tax in UK

[aspiring]

The crazy thing is you'd earn more in a household if 2 of you earned 50k than if only 1 of you earned 100k.

Just look at the graphics posted here in this thread:



If both of you earn 50k you end up with £5936 combined household income on a monthly basis.

But just one of you earning 100k you end up with £5287 monthly.

That's a heck of a difference. And this is what I mean by people not realising that 100k is actually all that magical.

50k is a very good salary too and as a family you'd be better off in some ways as you'd also get the tax free childcare and 30hrs free childcare.

50k each is a good salary.

50k single income.is.not good nowadays.

 

[aspiring]

DB pensions are vulnerable to this. DC are not. These days most people are on DC.

what are DB pensions?

 

[aspiring]

It is not easy to get a job paying north of £50k.

depends on your career?

 

[aspiring]

Not really - a few years of decent pay rises gets you over 125k and then for how long do you want to see your standard of living gradually decrease by never increasing your take-home?

Why would take home not increase? 100k-125k is lot of take home.

 

[aspiring]

I have always thought its better to have big tax bill than a small one, means you are earning more money, no one is going to reject a payrise taking you from £99K to £110K just because of the tax implications. The reality is unless you are earning crazy high money avoiding tax is hard, (not like it used to be) the only legit way to avoid it is pension contributions, but even then you can only go so far. I have been lucky to have had sizable tax returns in my life and many not so, I much prefer the sizable years. The other point to say is that people generally live to their means, when high earners say 100K+ isn't that much, its because they probably have a big house, nice car, bigger plans, so never feel "well off" in disposable income terms (not making any judgement / excuses here, I have experience of both, mind you, I was "coerced" into leaving our perfectly nice 3 bed semi by the ex)

You sum it up nicely. Even a salary of 80k is a lot and people live comfortably.

If you spend wisely and save well 80k-100k is very comfortable living in the UK.

If you spend silly and do not know how to save no money will ever be enough.

 

[aspiring]

If you earn £99k it's effectively £34/h after tax. It's only the bit between 100-125k that drops to a lower rate that's still much higher than average.

Yeah spot on. 100k is a gigantic wage in current times.

Remember when Alan sugar used to offer 100k salaries to his winner on apprentice.

 

[aspiring]

I really beg to differ on that........... its not AS rich a salary as it used to be......... and it is less rich a salary in london than elsewhere....

but i earn well under half of that, and where i live is not cheap either (not far from Cambridge) and i have a comfortable life style.

someone mentioned having 4 kids and a wife.......... i would say in the modern world if you want to have 4 kids then that is a choice you make........... This probably isnt the thread to go down that rabbit hole.... but I would suggest that in most relationships these days in the modern world, both parties can be expected to be earners...... not just the man.

we have 1 lad and both my wife and i do our bit for child care equally and make use of after school clubs and holiday clubs so we can both work.

This is so true.

100K is super comfortable. It is strange that people seem to think otherwise especially in current climate of economy downturn.

If you are living not far from Cambridge on around 50k etc then that is pretty damn good

 

[aspiring]

How do people saying this rationalise the fact that a £100k salary represents the top 3-4%?

£100k would absolutely be life changing for most people.

A one off £100k would be life changing for most people, let alone as a yearly salary.

yeah and there must be a reason that only 3-4% of the ENTIRE UK population earn that?

100k would cover everything well if you save and not waste money. Hell even 80k would easily give you a nice standard.

 

[aspiring]

Yet you disregard my entire first paragraph that people saying £100k fixes everything and it’s life changing. Yet higher earners have said completely the opposite.

I would personally edge my bet on taking the advice of someone who is actually in that position and not picking this magic 100k life changing figure.

So what is a good salary in the UK then?

 

[aspiring]

The thing is, that makes you rich in the eyes of a large amount of people. And I imagine it's because you've reached this point over a long time, small, incremental changes that you don't really notice.

But, ask someone on an average wage down here and owning a home is life changing, having multiple holidays per year is life changing, not having to choose between which bill you pay is life changing, being able to afford to have kids is life changing, having excess at the end of the month for savings, pension etc? Life changing.

Your life has changed as you've earned more, and £100k would be life changing for a whole lot of people. I'm sure you can understand people saying £100k isn't rich, isn't that much etc. is insulting to the 88% of people that earn less than half of that?

To those who are saying 100k isn't that great, why is half of the population on strike?

Rail drivers get 60k and say not enough
Teaches and nurses on 30-50k and say not enough.

Highly qualified individuals would crave 100k

 

[aspiring]

One site said average wage non London in 2000 was £19,978, and in 2023 £29,600 average wage non London. Based on the inflation rates it should be between £36,000 and £40,406.00, should be around £ 38,403.00. Based on this you really think £100,000k is a lot these days.

year	amount	inflation rate
2000	£19,978.00	0.03
2001	£20,577.34	0.02
2002	£20,988.89	0.02
2003	£21,408.66	0.03
2004	£22,050.92	0.03
2005	£22,712.45	0.03
2006	£23,393.83	0.03
2007	£24,095.64	0.04
2008	£25,059.47	0.04
2009	£26,061.84	-0.01
2010	£25,801.23	0.05
2011	£27,091.29	0.05
2012	£28,445.85	0.03
2013	£29,299.23	0.03
2014	£30,178.20	0.02
2015	£30,781.77	0.01
2016	£31,089.59	0.02
2017	£31,711.38	0.04
2018	£32,979.83	0.03
2019	£33,969.23	0.03
2020	£34,988.30	0.02
2021	£35,688.07	0.02
2022	£36,401.83	0.11
2023	£40,406.03	0.11

Yes if you look at this, clearly 100k a lot?

 

[aspiring]

Take home on £100K is roughly £67K

Take home on "outlined average" is roughly £34K

£33K PA a year; £2,800 monthly difference. Hardly lifechanging; as outlined it will be relative (could potentially afford bigger house, 2 cars) plus you lose things like child benefit and loose child care hours

£33k extra yearly is significant

 

[aspiring]

You know the highest earners don't pay tax or come up as listed in the percentage range you highlighted. They end up paying CGT or cooperation tax etc .

Good chance it more like 10% of the population that earn 80k plus in this country.

I would call £150k plus a high earner.
Anything below £40k is a mid to lower earner.

so your saying 100k is mid earner?

 

[aspiring]

A lot of people look up to "6 figures" and have discussed the almost sense of pride to reach such a figure.

100k is not easy to get and the reason for that is because it is so high

 

[aspiring]

.

£100,000 income.
£67,049.68 after tax
£9600 just to travel into London.
Leaves you with £57400,
£1600 rent leaves you with £38,200.

And £38200 is a good left over?

 

[aspiring]

of course it does!.
relative to the average working person in the uk £100k is an incredibly high wage and even compared to the average working person in london its still a damn good chunk of change. Sure if you want to benchmark against Elon musk its a pittance but if that is how you benchmark your salary i would say that is rishi sunak levels of not understanding the life of the average working person in the uk.

There are loads of properties in the commuter belt of london as well, so its not like you have to buy a house in Nottinghill (Royston has a line to london and prices there are more more sensible - tho not cheap, more than enough for a 100k salary to get you on the ladder even as a singleton (and as a working couple with say 1 on 100k and lets say 1 on 40k............................. you are looking at a 4bed+ no problem)

having a high wage does not mean being utterly loaded. simply being able to cover your bills and not worrying about "sensible" spending as well as putting a little aside for a rainy day puts you in a better position than most in the uk... (and we are still just about considered a fairly affluent country)

BTW i live just outside of cambridge and my salary is less than half of that, and i still consider myself fortunate and am able to afford a nice car, and have luxury items like solar and battery etc..... I have to save for them for sure........ but i dont think not having everything available to me without having to think about it is a good yard stick for am i in a fortunate financial position or not.

(my wife works as well........ but we have a child and he does not go without anything he needs - and tbh gets more of what he wants than he probably should (way WAY more than i ever got) . Personally i do not believe a single persons salary should necersarily be expected to be good enough to cover yourself and your child AND you partner in luxury....... imo the days of a worker and a housewife are generally long gone. we all need to work and equally all need to pull our weight around the home and with child care.

Good points theres no need to live in middle of London. Sure there is plenty of affordable accomodation outside of London.

 

[aspiring]

Most people would drool for a 100k wage during the current cost of living crisis

 

[aspiring]

Would rail drivers strike if they got 100k?

 

[aspiring]

Probably. They'd find a reason to strike, like working hours or conditions or something.

That's less to do with pay and more to do with union interference.

Train drivers are well paid, it's mainly the ground staff that aren't, and arguably have an equally tricky job as they have to deal with customers daily and help maintain the railway, deal with timetables, etc....

Your saying train drivers drivers are paid well and most get 60k.

However your saying 100k is not a good salary?

 

[aspiring]

a really interesting read:

How much money do you need to live comfortably in the UK?

How much money do you need to live comfortably in the UK? Compare average salaries and discover the ideal income for your household

www.raisin.co.uk

100K would be well above limits mentioned in the article