Income brackets: PERCEPTIONS of low and high?

ukcarper

BillJones wrote: »

In touch with what, then, that you can claim that you are in touch with it, but I am not?

I've lived in London on £6k a year, I've hd to choose between eating and heating, and I'm from a mining village in the North, so I honestly don't understand what you think you "get" that I don't.

Then I would have thought you would know £100k was a high salary. I can accept that working long hours in the city it could easily not be enough but I would have though you could see it was high.

onlyroz

We have a household income of around £75k. We both work full time. Our two children are now school age and so the childcare bill has reduced massively - just the after school club and holiday club to pay for now. We have a 4-bed end-terrace house in Berkshire, and are fortunate enough to have found well-paying jobs outside of London. Our mortgage is not so massive as it could be because my husband was lucky enough to have bought his previous flat for £45k in 1995 and we sold it in 2007 for £200k. We can afford to have two holidays a year (one UK based and one overseas) and we run two new cars on the Peugeot Just-Add-Fuel scheme.

I consider us to be pretty well off - certainly above "comfortable", but certainly not "rich". We could certainly manage on a household income of say £40-50k but we'd have to curtail our lifestyle quite considerably, and we'd probably have to downsize to a 3-bed.

For a single childless individual I'd consider anything lower than around £15k to be a "low" income, with "middle" income stretching up to around £30k. My first job after finishing my PhD was £28k and at the time I thought that was a magnificent salary. I'm still only 34, and I'm at an intermediate level in my career, so I'd hope to eventually end up on £70k+ within a decade or so, and then I'd consider myself to be a high earner.

lostinrates

ringo_24601 wrote: »

lostinrates - my wife just found out what my relation has been offered as his new salary. I feel a bit ill! On the plus side, his new firm is in my sector and he's said he'll see if there's any good jobs going for me.

It's very easy to misunderstand people on these boards!

I am sorry for your illness and hope you recover soon, and congratulate your family on its financial blessings.

[Deleted User]

Ha, he's a tight git and him earning 4 times as much as me won't mean better birthday presents! I'm surrounded by rich relatives.. some of which won't even perceive themselves as rich

Then again, my wife thinks I grew up in a poor household because "we didn't have an au pair" ;-)

lostinrates

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Ha, he's a tight git and him earning 4 times as much as me won't mean better birthday presents! I'm surrounded by rich relatives.. some of which won't even perceive themselves as rich

Then again, my wife thinks I grew up in a poor household because "we didn't have an au pair" ;-)

Should it mean better birthday gifts?

[Deleted User]

Yes


ok, no

Wealth does not always correlate with generosity

purch

ukcarper wrote: »

Then I would have thought you would know £100k was a high salary. I can accept that working long hours in the city it could easily not be enough but I would have though you could see it was high.

Not sure what "working in the City" would have to do with it.

They don't work longer hours than many other workers, but get paid hugely more, have the potential to earn even hugely hugely more and the job is as easy as pie.

Anyone who feels stressed by working in the City is clearly in the wrong job !!!

lostinrates

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Yes


ok, no

Wealth does not always correlate with generosity

Or share ideals.

My very close friends and family bar DH do not buy me birthday gifts at all. Its appreciated by me they know me well enough not to. I however. ( when reminded its a birthday coming up ) am happy to buy a gift as I appreciate it makes them feel loved. Its nothing about 'wealth' lavk of it or anything its just about personality and me being a difficult baggage. When friends do buy me gifts I hope I am gracious about it though, as it is appreciated, but not so much as their company !

somethingcorporate

purch wrote: »

Not sure what "working in the City" would have to do with it.

They don't work longer hours than many other workers, but get paid hugely more, have the potential to earn even hugely hugely more and the job is as easy as pie.

Anyone who feels stressed by working in the City is clearly in the wrong job !!!

What do you do for a living?

BillJones

ukcarper wrote: »

Then I would have thought you would know £100k was a high salary. I can accept that working long hours in the city it could easily not be enough but I would have though you could see it was high.

Yes, it's high relative to the general population, but we aren't discussing the literal reality of the amount, but the perceptions of what is "enough", "comfortable" "a lot" and so on.

£100k is loads if you are a primary school teacher in Northumberland, but it's a very small amount if you are a desk head in JPM chase who lives by the office, for example.