Salary Reality Check

System

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

I had a water filter replaced for a pack of cigars....

All the water came through brown, and nicotine-stained.

http://instantrimshot.com/classic/?sound=rimshot

ruggedtoast

black_taxi wrote: »

taxman must know the average wage,anyone outside this by a margin will raise red flag,you can maybe claim very low wages,but how do you then get a mortgage

I know a couple who have just retired after running their own small plumbing business for decades. You can certainly do 'some' cash in hand but its not as lucrative as everyone thinks.

For a start most people these days for big jobs dont want to pay in cash, or think its dodgy and they wont get a warranty. Secondly, as you said the tax man audits even small businesses regularly in person, and if it looks like you're earning more than you are claiming , or not earning enough then you are in trouble.

Apparently one year they actually did completely break even with no profit or loss and were really worried about it because it triggered an audit.

ruggedtoast

MrRee wrote: »

The self employed declare FAR less than they actually earn - we all know that.

Plumber may well declare £27,000 ..... I can guarantee it's nearer £150,000 (adding tax and NI to the cash payments received).

Take Dentists, most are self employed with their own little companies - pay their partners min wage - lease a Mercedes - pay just corporation tax - take a small wage (this is what is declared to surveys) ............... the majority are on £250,000+ for 30 hours a week - I know!

There are plenty others, of course ..... in my company most contractors are being paid £2,000 a day!

The stated average wage of £26,000 is laughable - as we all know - no-one can possibly live on that!

I can guarantee you it isn't, having close friends who have worked in plumbing for years with the phone ringing off the hook.

ruggedtoast

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Don't agree. You are resorting to your usual negativity.

Firstly, you failed to comment about the higher salaries in the SE.

Secondly, you appear to think that there was a time when a young couple with children, already renting, with just one parent earning average salary, could simply buy a nice 2-bed house.

Your son, aged 20, has secured a decent shop assistant job and is earning average salary - as is his female colleague to whom he has become attached. They come to you explaining that they wish to make a 'life plan' between them and they ask for "Fatherly advice". I cannot believe you would suggest:

1. Get married.
2. Go out and rent a decent place to live.
3. Start the family immediately, and mother packs in the job just before birth.
4. Now start saving hard, and think about putting down a deposit and getting a mortgage to buy somewhere...

Home ownership never has, and never will, 'come with the milk'. It generally comes only after very careful planning, self sacrifice, avoidance of large overheads, and quite a bit of patience. Achieving it is mainly about choices.

Wouldn't a better 'advice' be along the lines of....

1. Continue courting, while both stay at home.
2. Save extremely hard. Enjoy all the 'free' things in life. Perhaps sacrifice expensive holidays....
3. When you have amassed something like a decent deposit and a bit more, go an get a mortgage on joint salaries.
4. Get married. Move in.
5. Continue working hard, saving hard.....
6. When finances permit, consider having children.... using childcare if necessary....

People who have made specific choices [or sometimes not even thought about it... just bumbling along letting things 'happen' without understanding consequences] simply do not deserve sympathy when they point to someone who made totally different choices and say "Why can't I afford what he can....?"

So the point has no merit whatsoever.

This is all very nice. Some day it will dawn on people on this board that most tenants have to pay more in rent than a comparative 'owner' occupier pays on a mortgage.

Until then, f3ckless renters, can't save, won't listen to sense, iphones... yadda yadda, blah blah.

CLAPTON

ruggedtoast wrote: »

For a start most people these days for big jobs dont want to pay in cash, or think its dodgy and they wont get a warranty. Secondly, as you said the tax man audits even small businesses regularly in person, and if it looks like you're earning more than you are claiming , or not earning enough then you are in trouble.

Apparently one year they actually did completely break even with no profit or loss and were really worried about it because it triggered an audit.

amazing: all the exceptions to this must live in a little cluster round my village

dryhat

I wonder which "earnings" figure these people use when applying for a liar loan?

lostinrates

michaels wrote: »

Being old fashioned I assume the couple probably pool their resources, at least one of them probably has a flat to sell and after having bought the 2/3 bed together they then look at whether (with materity pay, tax credits and child benefit) they can afford to have kid(s). 1 Bed flats are included in the average house price figures so surely it is not unreasonable for single people (or indeed couples) to aspire to buy them?

If one has a flat to sell are they really true ftbs?

lostinrates

CLAPTON wrote: »

amazing: all the excepts to this must live in a little cluster round my village

In truth is that not partly the theory behind that post code profiling we had linked to the board recently?

So its probably quite true that lots of us see more 'excepts' than the rest of us.

Loughton_Monkey

ruggedtoast wrote: »

This is all very nice. Some day it will dawn on people on this board that most tenants have to pay more in rent than a comparative 'owner' occupier pays on a mortgage.

Until then, f3ckless renters, can't save, won't listen to sense, iphones... yadda yadda, blah blah.

Goats & Monkeys!

Did you think this was a secret known only to 'rentiers'? Of course it is obvious that tenants are paying mortgage+. So why do it? We afforded a house for the main reason that we rented a cheap [and I mean cheap] 1-bed top floor hovel so that we could soon take on a mortgage at less cost than renting the same property that we bought first time.

Everyone is different, and has different priorities. It is not uncommon, and nothing wrong with choosing to rent a reasonable place - if that's the priority. But it clearly has implications. Don't be surprised at the implications.

Isn't it the same as cars? A car has costs, depreciation being a significant one. If I save up and buy my first, then I can afford to save up [i.e. pay depreciation monthly] and buy another one for cash in 5 years. If I buy my first on credit/HP, then of course I'd struggle to save up for a replacement, and would then have to have the next one on credit as well....

This is mathematics. It is common sense. It is life. There is no magic wand.

It's a free world and I have no objection to people making specific choices. I do, however, have little time for the view that 'something should be done...' or 'isn't this a sad plight...' when the outcome of any choice is reasonably foreseeable.

CLAPTON

lostinrates wrote: »

In truth is that not partly the theory behind that post code profiling we had linked to the board recently?

So its probably quite true that lots of us see more 'excepts' than the rest of us.

quite right, there's a cluster of dyslexics here too