'I make £120,000 but I can’t recall the last time we went out for dinner’

GeorgeHowell

MrRee wrote: »

What Private Education gets you is networking - you WILL get a high paid job and no mistake.

I don't think that's necessarily true, but the last thing we want is a not- what-you-know-but-who-you-know society, where everything is run by Oxbridge chinless wonders like the civil service.

System

TBH £120k for someone in their 50's isn't really a huge amount. I worked in the city until last year and I knew people in their early to mid 30s that were already around the £70-£80k mark and couples of a similar age earning above £150k. These were people just doing regular professional jobs like audit manager, surveyor etc.


Also £22,500 after tax per child for a secondary school fee isn't really a huge amount in the South East either. I don't know if that school is one of the best in the country but there are plenty of independent schools that are not anywhere near the top end that charge those kind of fees.


I thought the article was a bit pointless. It just stated a life style choice which is actually very common for people in those circles.

MrRee_2

Well said Walcott, a few people posting here seem to think:-

1. £120k is a high wage - it isn't.

2. £350k Mortgage at 53 is bad - it isn't.

3. Private education doesn't buy you entry to the top table - it does.

GeorgeHowell

MrRee wrote: »

Well said Walcott, a few people posting here seem to think:-

1. £120k is a high wage - it isn't.

2. £350k Mortgage at 53 is bad - it isn't.

3. Private education doesn't buy you entry to the top table - it does.

Shouldn't you be going out to sign on ? Or don't they do it that way on Zog ?

You don't actually wind anyone up with this childish claptrap in the way that you hope/think. People like me think you're stupid, and the lefties think you're ...... stupid ......

Bringing Happiness where there is Gloom!

Go on, bring some happiness to many .... do one

lostinrates

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

I know this could be another thread topic, but I am intrigued by the concept that an expensive education is automatically "the best start in life." You have to check very carefully what the fees are paying for, as it often isn't the teachers' salaries. A good friend of mine went to a private school until the age of 13 and hated it. He says the standard of teaching and the general atmosphere at the local comp were so much better, but he doesn't like to mention it to his dad as he knows how expensive the first school was.

I know this is really mean of me, but I did snigger when I met some posh types whose privately educated son hadn't even scraped a B in A Level Geography and therefore couldn't get into his first university choice. What a waste of money when they all get straight As these days!

Friends of my age who earn significantly more all have huge mortgages, run two cars, spend loads on grocery shopping and branded items, have the full Sky package but no savings and moan about being skint. I earn a secretary's wage but consider I eat well, make the most of living in London, enjoy hobbies & travelling and have money in the bank.

A couple I know made the decision to live off one salary when they had kids; meaning no foreign holidays, no luxuries and a very slow ongoing house DIY project. Many people cannot physically contemplate a reduction in outgoings once they have reached a certain earnings threshold; for them such a step is unacceptably regressive.

There is a poster here who talks about the difficulties her children with 'different education needs' have faced and are facing in mainstream school. People forget that private school covers a huge range of options. Some are selective and highly academic, And I think the parents and children themselves feel pressured to achieve educationally. Some foster the best in all children, just like comprehensives, but with a better individual focus. My nieces have just finished and are finishing their school education. The best Private education offered them choices tailored to them, different schools chosen to suit them or their needs.

Does it guarantee success, nope, no way. People and luck are always what make and break. Any number of dolts had everything handed to them on a plate and wasted it, and others have achieved everything from their own steam. Its interesting to ponder of the talents of the successful who were not fostered well in their youths HAD been fostered what they might achieve.

Ultimately I feel choice in education is important. I also very strongly feel inverse snobbery is not the opposite of snobbery, both are as narrow in their outlook and miss choices and possibilities.

the_flying_pig

see below for my comments on Ree's post.

MrRee wrote: »

1. £120k is a high wage - it isn't. [well, yeah, objectively it is. it's incomparably closer to the middle of top 1% than the middle of the middle]

2. £350k Mortgage at 53 is bad - it isn't.[well, objectively it is high. average mortgage debt across all owners is less than £100k & 53 isn't young. as it happens i agree that this bloke appears to have the means for it to be more than managable & hence not 'bad']

3. Private education doesn't buy you entry to the top table - it does [eh, of course it gives the beneficiaries a flying start, people wouldn't pay so much for it otherwise].

bugslet

lostinrates wrote: »

Does it guarantee success, nope, no way. People and luck are always what make and break. Any number of dolts had everything handed to them on a plate and wasted it, and others have achieved everything from their own steam. Its interesting to ponder of the talents of the successful who were not fostered well in their youths HAD been fostered what they might achieve.

Ultimately I feel choice in education is important. I also very strongly feel inverse snobbery is not the opposite of snobbery, both are as narrow in their outlook and miss choices and possibilities.

Couldn't agree more lir.

My only point with the chap in the article is it's no good moaning about downgrading to Tesco and lack of meals out, when you have options on how you spend your money. He's made a decision about his children's education and there are cutbacks to be made. Live with it.

mayonnaise

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Just because he's got a £350k mortgage doesn't mean he lives in a £350k value house, does it?

No it doesn't. It's probably worth much more.

I checked Zoopla (yes I know), currently 275 properties for sale in Farnham, average asking price 794K.

lostinrates

bugslet wrote: »

Couldn't agree more lir.

My only point with the chap in the article is it's no good moaning about downgrading to Tesco and lack of meals out, when you have options on how you spend your money. He's made a decision about his children's education and there are cutbacks to be made. Live with it.[/QUOTE

I agree we have choices, And that most of us make a mixture of good and not so good ones.

But I don't think that's necessarily the point.

I think the point of the piece is that money doesn't stretch like it used to, and that realistic choices are cutting in higher up payscales than people like to imagine.

PasturesNew

MrRee wrote: »

£350k would barely get you a beach hut where I am - and that's the truth!

You must live near me .... although, to be fair, you'd get change out of £350k, but lose that quickly by buying the watercraft you needed and paying the annual rent fees.