What is a good salary in UK at present?

Here's something for you all to consider. I lost a decent job 6 months ago and I'm now on U/C (temporarily hopefully). I'm managing just fine for now on £9k p/a with a roof over my head, bills paid, food in the fridge, and I own a basic 72 plate car that's fully legal and insured. I'll admit I've had some help from family to get to this point but I just want to point out that we can all manage on much less money if we really make an effort to sacrifice, budget, and focus on the basics.
I think if I was single with no dependents I could just about get by on 15K a year if I went back to Lincolnshire - no idea how I'd do it on less than that, as you really need a car out there, and you'd struggle to rent somewhere as well unless you went into a HMO if you earnt anything less.

Are you in a house share or living with family out of interest?
 
As a single person I would say 50k to be extremely comfortable Midlands and North. (House ownership, holidays and hobbies)

There are massive variables though. I knew of people who earnt far more than we do as a couple but blew it all on takeaway, pubs etc and have very little. Massive mortgage and a smaller house and not even kids. (We have 2). They must have been on circa 90K combined before tax which is a huge wage for the east midlands. Living in a 3 bed semi.

This seems to answer the OP's question though.


You put all your bits in and it works it all out.

We are in the top 35% (I sure as hell don't feel like it) but if I were to sell off my kids we would be in top 12% which just seems mad and explains why a lot choose not to have kids.

Back in 2007 before we had kids and wages adjusted for inflation we were working in a factory in junior leadership roles fresh out of school that anyone could do. With overtime we had a combined salary adjusted for inflation of 80+K between us. I think that paints a massive picture in itself compared to now.

Just put figures in.
90+ (that's a 85k combined income) & 0 kids

2 kids would make it 72pc - quite the drop. Wonder how they calcs it

90 is a surprise seeing all the fancy houses etc out there. Certainly don't think going to end up with a house in top 10pc of houses.
 
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90 is a surprise seeing all the fancy houses etc out there. Certainly don't think going to end up with a house in top 10pc of houses.
Which is why this thread is so dumb really. Totally depends on individual circumstances. Bought your "forever" house 20 years ago and on 85k combined now? You're golden. Not on the property ladder yet on 85k? Enjoy struggling to make ends meet on your average semi.
 
I've no idea but if my Mrs doesn't find more work by Jan the 1st we'll be living off of my £47.5k wage. That'll be fun, mortgage of around £1100 a month and it's myself, wife and two kids. We'll manage, but it'll be tight budget wise. We do have savings we can dip into but obviously the aim would be to not.

There'll be no more cafe stops at the weekend or other treat type purchases. I can live with that though.
 
If you’re concerned about location then I don’t think you’re a big earner. Big earners aren’t concerned with the cost of living. Maybe that’s the telling metric?
 
I've no idea but if my Mrs doesn't find more work by Jan the 1st we'll be living off of my £47.5k wage. That'll be fun, mortgage of around £1100 a month and it's myself, wife and two kids. We'll manage, but it'll be tight budget wise. We do have savings we can dip into but obviously the aim would be to not.

There'll be no more cafe stops at the weekend or other treat type purchases. I can live with that though.

Good luck. Your situation sounds like hell on earth to me in terms of having responsibilities and commitments. I'm a lone wolf type of guy.
 
If you’re concerned about location then I don’t think you’re a big earner. Big earners aren’t concerned with the cost of living. Maybe that’s the telling metric?

Surely everything is relative though? If you are high earner on say 100k a year but you have a big mortgage of 4k a month to go along with it then obviously it is going to effect you some what as that holiday to the Caribbean will have to be traded in for two weeks in Magaluf. Not to mention the rate increases on a 4k per month mortgage will be huge.
 
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Surely everything is relative though? If you are high earner on say 100k a year but you have a big mortgage of 4k a month to go along with it then obviously it is going to effect you some what as that holiday to the Caribbean will have to be traded in for two weeks in Magaluf. Not to mention the rate increases on a 4k per month mortgage will be huge.
Fair point about mortgage rates, which can impact many that haven't got longterm fixed (housey smug smile) but I was really on about everything else. I can only use me as an example, but had I not had a fixed mortgage, I still would not have struggled to pay my mortgage and I would not have had to cut back on other things too much. Now I am probably massively under mortgaged for my earning level and also I'm 56, so have had it a while and it would have been probably gone had I not got divorced.

I see lots of people referencing location and levels of earning for more normal roles and I get the importance of that. For serious high earners however, wage weighting based on location doesn't really exist. My commentary about location being irrelevant is based partly on that but also the fact that people will commute to where they need to be. Wealth will still live to means, but you have more room to play with typically unless you run the lifestyle to the limit, which of course many do.

But no question that this debate is 100% circumstance based however. :)
 
Fair point about mortgage rates, which can impact many that haven't got longterm fixed (housey smug smile) but I was really on about everything else. I can only use me as an example, but had I not had a fixed mortgage, I still would not have struggled to pay my mortgage and I would not have had to cut back on other things too much. Now I am probably massively under mortgaged for my earning level and also I'm 56, so have had it a while and it would have been probably gone had I not got divorced.

I see lots of people referencing location and levels of earning for more normal roles and I get the importance of that. For serious high earners however, wage weighting based on location doesn't really exist. My commentary about location being irrelevant is based partly on that but also the fact that people will commute to where they need to be. Wealth will still live to means, but you have more room to play with typically unless you run the lifestyle to the limit, which of course many do.

But no question that this debate is 100% circumstance based however. :)

This. Once you get past a certain level it's irrelevant. Even here where its super expensive, once you're past 250k, it's basically fine regardless unless you have an extravagant lifestyle.

I know a lot of junior people on 100-150k that would still be shaken by the macro factors and cost of going out etc. I remember hiring one grad who was fresh in CH, who was on 100k + 30k bonus and he was like I could never spend 10k a month. Catching up with him recently as an informal mentor......he definitely spends it and only nowis really startingto get to grips with real life. :D :D

So the world is basically the same over. Its not fair but it is what it is.
 
It’s funny how much housing cost input skews the result…

If you’re on a peanuts sub-£1k per month boomer mortgage, live in the sticks or are fully paid off, then of course you’re going to have oodles of cash to spare.

My parent's mortgage was sub-£100 in the 90s up until it was paid off in the mid-2000s. :D
 
My parent's mortgage was sub-£100 in the 90s up until it was paid off in the mid-2000s. :D
My parents were talking about looking forward to paying theirs off only 3 or 4 years ago. It was like £150/month!

And, for more fun context, I bought my first house only 12 years after my parents did theirs. Similar house values in present day. My mortgage on that first house purchase is still running (I've made it bigger, but the original is still its own account) and it costs me £800/month.
 
Surely everything is relative though? If you are high earner on say 100k a year but you have a big mortgage of 4k a month to go along with it then obviously it is going to effect you some what as that holiday to the Caribbean will have to be traded in for two weeks in Magaluf. Not to mention the rate increases on a 4k per month mortgage will be huge.
I know you are generalising with the figures, but once you start to earn over £50,270, you become increasingly impacted by the cost of living. You will unlikely be able to afford a holiday at all with a £4k/month mortgage on £100k a year after tax. (ignoring the fact that lenders won't allow you to take a mortgage with those amounts)

Pay rises are a joke compared to inflation. If you get a 5% pay rise and earn over £50,270, boom, you only get a 3% increase in take home pay after tax. So you now have a 3% increase to offset against price inflation 3 times that amount.

Raising interests rates isn't working either. Inflation has increased far higher on the items that we have very limited choice in the amount of spending - energy, fuel, food, etc. The logic seems to be, spend less on food and the price will drop along with inflation (most have already switched to cheaper brands etc). The reality is, people are spending less on clothes, holidays, cars etc - but it's not making any difference, people still have to buy food.

Inflation has been caused by the pandemic, Brexit and the Ukraine war. People's spending habits are not going to fix it.
The country is being forced to make sacrifices to ensure the top 1% can continue to live their extravagant lifestyles.
 
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Raising interests rates isn't working either. Inflation has increased far higher on the items that we have very limited choice in the amount of spending - energy, fuel, food, etc. The logic seems to be, spend less on food and the price will drop along with inflation (most have already switched to cheaper brands etc). The reality is, people are spending less on clothes, holidays, cars etc - but it's not making any difference, people still have to buy food.

Inflation has been caused by the pandemic, Brexit and the Ukraine war. People's spending habits are not going to fix it.
The country is being forced to make sacrifices to ensure the top 1% can continue to live their extravagant lifestyles.

Raising interest rates is working but will need even higher rates, or longer periods of it, ulimately things need to break, thats the point.

People are not spending less on clothes, holidays, cars, we can observe relevant companies, IAG posted results recently, and its looking very good, Cruise lines are operating fully booked, Disney parks are fully booked, etc.

Inflation is not caused by the ukraine war or brexit. The impact of the pandemic is the money being printed at extreme levels, that is your inflation.
 
Raising interest rates is working but will need even higher rates, or longer periods of it, ulimately things need to break, thats the point.

People are not spending less on clothes, holidays, cars, we can observe relevant companies, IAG posted results recently, and its looking very good, Cruise lines are operating fully booked, Disney parks are fully booked, etc.

Inflation is not caused by the ukraine war or brexit. The impact of the pandemic is the money being printed at extreme levels, that is your inflation.

Sorry, I'm struggling to make sense of your post.

What do you mean by money "being printed"? If you mean literally - printed cash is in decline.

Are you suggesting that the war in Ukraine has not significantly pushed up oil, gas and food prices?

Cars registrations are still at an all time low for the last 10 years...?
YearNumber of new car registrations (source: SMMT)
20221,614,063
20211,647,181
20201,632,064
20192,311,140
20182,367,147
20172,540,617
20162,692,786
20152,633,503
20142,476,435
20132,264,737
20122,044,609
20111,941,253
 
Sorry, I'm struggling to make sense of your post.

What do you mean by money "being printed"? If you mean literally - printed cash is in decline.

Are you suggesting that the war in Ukraine has not significantly pushed up oil, gas and food prices?

Cars registrations are still at an all time low for the last 10 years...?

I use the phrase money printing because its easy to understand, what is happening is quantitative easing via central banks purchasing government bonds, therefore monetizing the debt.

I.e. The government creates a bonds, the central bank buys it from them, thus the government now has currency to spend and spend they do, hence the inflation.

Ukraine war has pushed up prices, but this is not inflation, market sentiment and various supply/demand side surges is not inflation.

People are not spending less, forget about car registrations look at companies that sell something you can cut, like holidays, look at the airlines, they are doing well, look at the travel industry and other consumer discretionary, spending is not reduced.

The country is being forced to make sacrifices, (but not enough yet), because the people of this country allowed for the government to lockdown the entire country, then print countless billions to spend in various things.

The top 1% are fine in all situations, they can continue to live extravagant lifestyles regardless of what occurs.
 
Pay rises are a joke compared to inflation. If you get a 5% pay rise and earn over £50,270, boom, you only get a 3% increase in take home pay after tax. So you now have a 3% increase to offset against price inflation 3 times that amount.
You go from 32% tax to 42%. It's not that big a deal.

Though the child benefit claw back hitting at the same point does start to make the eyes water. At 11% for the first child and 7% for any additional, you can soon be nearing a 100% tax rate, particularly if you have a student loan.
 
You go from 32% tax to 42%. It's not that big a deal.

Though the child benefit claw back hitting at the same point does start to make the eyes water. At 11% for the first child and 7% for any additional, you can soon be nearing a 100% tax rate, particularly if you have a student loan.
At that point you'd be upping your pension contributions (or doing APC/AVCs if you've got a DB pension) to keep below the threshold, and for tax relief.
 
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