Is £40,000 really a liveable income for families in the UK?

PasturesNew

Cleaver wrote: »

Blimey. It's safe to say Jimmy that I've never come across anyone before where pretty much every single person they know is minimum wage or unemployed, constantly unlucky in life, completely unskilled and frankly hapless at making anything good happen in their lives. It's like you all exist in some tenement slum in 19th century Lancashire.

*waves*

Hello.... most of the people I've known/mixed with have been this sort and while I did have some minor job successes overall I'm not really likely to amount to much any more/now.

I'm skilled.... but my skills aren't needed where I live - and employers don't wish my skills to be provided by a female of my age, preferring younger (usually male) people 'just like them', which these days means somebody with a degree that can wear a suit well.

Once you've not worked, or gone self-employed, or taken "any job", etc then it's a slippery slope.... keep it up and mix/match that lot for 4-5 years and you can forget being considered employable.

Jimmy_31

Cleaver wrote: »

Blimey. It's safe to say Jimmy that I've never come across anyone before where pretty much every single person they know is minimum wage or unemployed, constantly unlucky in life, completely unskilled and frankly hapless at making anything good happen in their lives. It's like you all exist in some tenement slum in 19th century Lancashire.

I dont recall mentioning minimum wage, completely unskilled and frankly hapless.

Let me know how it goes when your industry goes to 5hit.

lostinrates

Cleaver wrote: »

Blimey. It's safe to say Jimmy that I've never come across anyone before where pretty much every single person they know is minimum wage or unemployed, constantly unlucky in life, completely unskilled and frankly hapless at making anything good happen in their lives. It's like you all exist in some tenement slum in 19th century Lancashire.

Thinking about it, ouldn't thi group of people be more naturally socilly limited though?

Lessmoney to socialise and travel etc might by default mean mean both more socially and geographically confined.

ukcarper

Voyager2002 wrote: »

It all depends on their housing situation...

If work commitments oblige them to live within striking distance of Central London, and they didn't have a substantial deposit to buy a home, then they might well be really struggling after servicing a mortgage on more than 90 per cent of the market price of a family home in that part of the world, or (even worse) paying free market rents. If they live anywhere else, or are able to control their housing costs, then they will be extremely wealthy by any realistic standard.

Where I live a reasonable 3-bed house can be bought for £200k 25-year mortgage for £180k = £1064 at 5%, yearly season ticket to Waterloo (45min) £254 a month council tax £150 total £1468.

Take home pays £2643 + £143 child benefit = £2786 less £1468 = £1300

lostinrates

ukcarper wrote: »

Where I live a reasonable 3-bed house can be bought for £200k 25-year mortgage for £180k = £1064 at 5%, yearly season ticket to Waterloo (45min) £254 a month council tax £150 total £1468.

Take home pays £2643 + £143 child benefit = £2786 less £1468 = £1300

some jobs in London have a requirement you reside within M25, does your area fit that too?

ukcarper

lostinrates wrote: »

some jobs in London have a requirement you reside within M25, does your area fit that too?

No but plenty of people here commute to London.

chewmylegoff

lostinrates wrote: »

some jobs in London have a requirement you reside within M25, does your area fit that too?

Eh? Really? Like what?

lostinrates

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Eh? Really? Like what?

Like my dads last job. DH is ''strongly asked'' to reside within a certain distance from the office.

When googling for examples for you, I also just found ad for jobs who must live within M25, and many more for within 30 mins of M25..which is a more flexible boundary certainly. These include sales and engineering roles,(the sales one I ouldn't have thought of) some exectutive roles. I know of others.

Some jobs offer transport home within m25 area too..so not a must but a strongly advised, and a practical necessity if you travel home outside hours when transport runs with your required working pattern (hence the tai service ithin M25). My guess is HR might lean towards within M25 applications if there is a choice in such circustances?

ukcarper

Most of the trains in the southeast going to London in the rush hour are pretty full and the motorways are solid so quite a few companies must employ people from outside M25.

vivatifosi

I live outside the M25, but I looked at a job earlier in the year in London which I was considered for, because my train would only take half an hour (with five-ten mins in the car one end and a five minute walk the other), the criteria with them was time, not distance. I wonder if distance is a dangerous precedent to set, as it can be a lot quicker being on one of the fast commuter lines than stuck at the end of a tube line with a lot of stops. Plus if my train doesn't run, I just drive a few miles to one of the other fast ones I can take.