Question for the wealthiest 10%... how?

guitarman001

It's great to read these stories, but a little depressing if you're nowhere near that 10%! I'd say I'm middle of the road. Almost 30 and almost hitting £50k - started earning 6 years ago and only recently bumped up, but never likely to earn more than £65k or so max, I reckon (unless I move country)... if I'm lucky! Don't have to work ridiculous hours and currently save a lot as staying at home. Studied engineering and work in Scotland - poor weather but housing is far more affordable than down South. I wont get much inheritance and my girlfriend doesn't earn much. So say she was on £6k and I am on £50k, that's £56k. Two professionals would earn well above that, and even two people who've been in 'normal' jobs for a long time will probably exceed that - engineering should pay more! At the low end of the salary scale, it's shocking - I feel for my girlfriend! Fortunately her flat is paid off so we can save a lot even if I were to move in. Mortgage really is the killer. It's really hard to get out of that low-paid rut. At the other end, I've got friends getting a hell of a lot more (and in some cases doing an easier job - thankfully I enjoy mine!) - IT in banking, banking itself (longer hours, though), oil & gas (not easier when on the rig!) etc - all close to or over £100k. Yes - easier.

We plan to save so that we only have to take out a 40% mortgage on a detached house (and hopefully pay it off before I'm 40), unless we move to California or Germany or the like (that'd be lifestyle choice/adventure over financial security). I always used to think that getting past £40k would be a great achievement but it really doesn't feel like it, even though I'm still living as if I were on £25k or less! Without my girlfriend's flat, my future housing situation would be horrid (though again, still at home for now). She has some savings though little pension. I have a good contributory pension scheme (total 13% in a month) and currently £33k savings (plus a paid off car, say £10k total d'oh... and paid almos £10k off my £15 student loan... I cringe at the £33k savings though - should be a lot more), saving £1.5k a month right now as few outgoings (but I enjoy a good holiday etc) - lost a whopping £20k gambling on AIM shares as could never afford a house anyway. Trying to build it back up! I think this is about as good as it gets in terms of income:life balance. I have to work my @ss off for everything in my life and annoyingly I have friends who get everything given to them on a plate by their parents - !!!!!!s lol...

The big evil has been house price inflation. If you were lucky enough to have been born in the right time, you'll have made a killing on 'property' (I HATE that word). My generation are shafted on that front. I deplore anybody using property as an investment, e.g. BTL. Why not hog up food and petrol and push up the price for everybody else? Morally repugnant IMO, but that's me. Anyway, I am the only one to go to University - almost didn't... came from a relatively poor background and still living in that same household.

black_taxi_2

U have the lowest interest rates ever

Age 30 an 33k savings an paid off car is excellent

50k wage--majority of wages are under 20k

I'm not sure what kind of hours u work

For net 20k I need to put in 55+

grey_gym_sock

atush wrote: »

my OH is a chartered acct who trained 4 decades ago and never paid a bean (and was paid). Now my oldest is a trainee and is paid a fair old whack for his age (plus pension and benefits).

Sorry,but you may be 50 years out of your time frame perhaps?

yes, might be 50 or 60 years ago. it's called historical perspective.

Linton

guitarman001 wrote: »

It's great to read these stories, but a little depressing if you're nowhere near that 10%! I'd say I'm middle of the road. Almost 30 and almost hitting £50k - started earning 6 years ago and only recently bumped up, but never likely to earn more than £65k or so max, I reckon (unless I move country)... if I'm lucky! ........

At £50K I would say that you are in the top 10% of individual income. See here for a graph for 2009-2010. Now all you need is a spouse earning something similar and 20 years of prudent living and you could well be in the lucky top 10% of household wealth.

gadgetmind

Two spouses earning £50k will be massively better off than one spouse earning £100k because you'll get 2x personal allowances, 2x 20% tax brackets, etc.

There are also advantages to spreading pension savings between two to avoid tax in retirement.

I keep telling my wife this!

jackyann

gadgetmind wrote: »

That's about £28kpa at age 65 without anything for spouse on death or escalation.

You clearly do understand this, but many with generous final salary pensions (with linking and 50% (?) for spouse) don't realise how much capital it would take to afford this elsewhere.

My in-laws used be teachers and are now millionaires. They don't believe me regards the latter bit but it's true!

It's less than that, but it was the pre 1995 scheme, and I had the right to retire at 55. You are right that many of us who are / were in public swervice don't appreciate how much that is worth, but that is because our mindset was very different.
As I have often written, those who told me I was a fool to go into nursing over 40 years ago, don't think I'm such a fool now!

atush

Linton wrote: »

At £50K I would say that you are in the top 10% of individual income. See here for a graph for 2009-2010. Now all you need is a spouse earning something similar and 20 years of prudent living and you could well be in the lucky top 10% of household wealth.

Perhaps time for your girlfriend to retrain for a higher paying job?

bigfreddiel

racing_blue wrote: »

Belonging to the wealthiest 10% of households required total wealth greater than £967,000.

A hard-working and smart guy in his 30s who currently sits somewhere between the 50th and 90th centiles- what should he do maximise his chances of joining this club in the future?

just worked mine out and surprisingly i'm up there in the top 10% with a total wealth of £1.2m - give or take the odd £50k

i say surprisingly as 15 years ago i was unemployed but had paid off my mortgage and had a few thousand in the bank

since then with low risk and low cost passive investing, average paid civil service job (great pension), paying off credit cards every month, not taking out loans, using ISA allowances, and just sensible living it's just accumulated.

be wary of any financial advisor, if you don't understand them walk away find another that you can understand and who understands you.
this may prove harder than you think tho'!

don't buy things you don't need - you may think you need them but in reality you don't - especially if you need to use credit

the old adage - if you need to ask the price you can;t afford it

hope that helps

fj

atush

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

yes, might be 50 or 60 years ago. it's called historical perspective.

At 20 years per generation, I call that ancient history

Marine_life

I've posted before elsewhere but I am in the top 10% and although not particularly wealthy I do have high earnings (last year around 500k including bonus.

I am partner in one of the big accounting firms and got here through being in the right place at the right time, being good at what I do and hard work (in that order). Times are not as good as they were and my earnings reduced by around 100k in the last two years.

I am 48 now and have only really been earning big money for the last 8-9 years.

We will pay off our mortgage this year meaning we will have around 800k in property assets (our house plus a small holiday home) around 1.0 million in pension assets, 600k in other pension savings and around 500 k in cash (or cash equivalents).