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

GeneHunt_2

MrRee wrote: »

Teachers salaries are poor, you're right - they are around £55k in Private Education.

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

It is admirable to send your child to Private School ..... sadly, I didn't, as I'm not actually that generous

Nah, it won't - it just allows your kids to mix with the likes of Peaches Geldof and Nigella Lawson's kids....:D

Don't believe me?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/drugs-epidemic-in-top-public-schools-519968.html

GeneHunt_2

ringo_24601 wrote: »

He can afford it,

Yes but at what cost? If he's spent £672k on educating his 2 kids - surely there are better things to do with £672k when you only earn £120k pa?

Prothet_of_Doom

It's not hard.

£120K = £72k after deductions
£72K - £45K (School fees)= £27K
£27K - Interest on £350K = £13K

So They About £1100 a month to live on.

I bet it feels a bit tight.

[Deleted User]

GeneHunt wrote: »

Yes but at what cost? If he's spent £672k on educating his 2 kids - surely there are better things to do with £672k when you only earn £120k pa?

He earns the money and gets to choose how to spend it. I have friends earning ~ £100k between them, and they choose to send their kids privately; sacrificing holidays to do so.

Personally I'm going to try to get my kids in on a scholarship since I can't afford it

lisyloo

let him be. Live and let live.

Hang on a minute.
He's put himself in the press and deliberately discussed his spending (presumably for a fee).
He must expect comments, some of which won't agree with him.
If he wanted privacy he shouldn't have put himself in the public eye.
Not a justified complaint IMO, the whole reason they sell papers is for people to read and hence criticise and discuss.

I have no issues with how people decide to spend their own money.
However they shouldn't complain about the consequences of their own decisions.
That goes both for spending and also for exposing themselves in the national press.

I think the article does have some value in showing how even the higher paid are being squeezed (in a relative sense).

GeorgeHowell

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

It's not hard.

£120K = £72k after deductions
£72K - £45K (School fees)= £27K
£27K - Interest on £350K = £13K

So They About £1100 a month to live on.

I bet it feels a bit tight.

If people are loony enough to spend vast amounts on school fees that they can't afford then yes it probably does.

Leaving asides the Westminsters and the Etons, the benefit of education at private schools for non-gifted children is questionable anyway. The best education of all is at most of the remaining state grammar schools where selection is on academic merit rather than who can scrape the money together. Scrimping to afford school fees is usually out of a combination of misguided concern and snobbery. What people should do is try to get their children into a half-decent state comp and then set about managing things themselves -- take an active interest all the time, encourage, coach, create an intelligent and learning environment within the home and to an extent the leisure activities, stress the importance of education these days, spend time with the kids instead of disappearing to the gym or the pub, insist that homework is done and help, encourage children to participate in intelligent extra-mural activities, challenge deficiencies at the school, join the PTA and be active, if possible become a parent governor.

If all parents did this I'd guarantee that our state education system would be a lot better than it is. Not all teachers are bad, and a lot will tell you that a lot of the problems arise from parents' unwillingness and inability to meet them half way in terms of providing the right disciplinary and educational environment. It's easier for some people to sit round the gogglebox, watching Gogglebox, every night and then moan because their kids don't get all As in the GCSEs.

captainhindsight_2

A lot of private schools are status symbols for the parents, the only decent ones are £30,000+ as they are the only ones that are truly selective and attract parents from all around the world and different backgrounds. This gives the children the opportunity to mix with diverse groups from all walks of life, and not just mix with pretentious local snobs looking to out do each other whilst there living on the bread line....

redux

Someone I know who earned maybe about £120,000 a year owns 3 or 4 houses.

4 kids, no private school, cycle or run to work sometimes.

Made redundant including payoff for shares in company, bought house in France outright and 2 buy to let flats with maybe 50% mortgages, etc ...

Similar age to the man in the article, two kids at university. Currently working 3 days a week 150 miles from home. Could probably retire if he wanted to.

As people are suggesting, the addiction to private education has a lot to answer for.

I overheard two friends talking a year or two ago, who each had about a million in their pension funds and other investments. No kids.

GeneHunt_2

ringo_24601 wrote: »

He earns the money and gets to choose how to spend it. I have friends earning ~ £100k between them, and they choose to send their kids privately; sacrificing holidays to do so.

Personally I'm going to try to get my kids in on a scholarship since I can't afford it

Well, my 2 have been through FREE state education (non-grammar school) - eldest got A*A*A at A level and my youngest looks like achieving highly too - he has a place at Bath Business School for September if he gets AAA.

If we had spent just £10k a year (easily done) on private education the cost would have been a minimum of £280,000. For what? I have absolutely no idea why people waste their money on private education (and then moan because they are poor and will have to work until they die)

BillJones

GeneHunt wrote: »

If we had spent just £10k a year (easily done) on private education the cost would have been a minimum of £280,000. For what? I have absolutely no idea why people waste their money on private education (and then moan because they are poor and will have to work until they die)

I suppose that there's a belief that it buys them entry to the best jobs.

It doesn't, especially when there are comp kids like me making the hiring decisions...