Is a 60k salary in London ok to get by?

Ybe

lika_86 said:

Ybe said:

Ybe said:

lika_86 said:

£60k with a 5% pension contribution but no student loans means £3500 a month take home.

I used to rent a one bedroom flat (no outside space) in Whitechapel which was walking distance to the City so minimal travel costs. Before the recent rise in costs, that was £1450 a month. 

So, £2k left after rent. Then there's bills, £100+ for council tax, let's say £50 for internet, £200 a month for other bills, that's £350 total for essential bills.

So £1650 left. Assuming you live alone then £300 for essential food, maybe some bought lunches, £50 a month for a few tube journeys. 

So, £1,300 left. Take off £60 a month for a mobile phone and say £80 a month for a gym membership or whatever hobbies/charity donations/takeaways float your boat.

£1,150 left. Let's say £500 for long term savings, £200 for holiday savings.

£450 left. That's just over £100 a week for going out. Bottles of bog standard wine/fizz in a central London but not fancy places we've ended up at after work/in an evening can be £30+.

It's very doable but certainly not the high life that that salary would get you elsewhere in the country. I'd say a lifestyle of going out three or four times a week would mean compromises elsewhere. 

Obviously if you were to live in either a house share or with someone then a lot of essential costs then go down because they're split.

This is living in zone 1 right?  Zone 4 is fine. Looking at zone 4, rent is well under 2k. I can see 1200-1400 on rightmove. 

Also one does not need to spend £60 on phone bills, £80 on gym membership or £50 on internet. These costs are excessive. 

That's Zone 2 (hence only £50 on travel), of course you'd be looking at closer to £2k now. You can get cheaper rent the further out you move but commuting costs go up. I always used to walk to and from work and could walk to Shoreditch etc. Taxis home etc for the odd time you need them are also cheaper. London is a case of balancing rent vs commuting costs and time.

I didn't post this as an invitation to criticise the spending breakdown. These are fairly reasonable costs (good luck getting super fast internet, needed for wfh, for much less than £50) for things that most people do have but which could easily be replaced by whatever you spend money on (clothes, nights out etc). The point is, it's indicative of a not lavish London lifestyle and a breakdown of how quickly a decent salary can go on 'normal' things. If you think that these are excessive, I'd suggest you do a similar breakdown based on what you spend money on and see how feasible the life you want is.

You can get 50-60mbps fibre broadband for £20-30 per month. 

JacJac1

There's a rental crisis here in London, so those £1,400 places you're seeing on Rightmove are likely gone by the time you've seen the listing - people are having to pay above the advertised prices and/or pay for a few months up front.

£60k is definitely doable but going out 3 or 4 times will depend on how lavish these nights out are. Going out with 3 or 4 friends, a round of drinks is going to cost you £30ish a time, plus maybe you get some food, and an Uber home. So you're looking at £60 for a modest evening. For a big night, think £100+.

lika_86

Ybe said:

Also £30 for a glass of wine is not normal. This is a very lavish lifestyle. 

Yes it would be. As you will see I mentioned that as the cost of a bottle (I.e a few drinks or one round). You asked a question about costs, I have done my best to give you a breakdown of what a life in London on £60k might look like, not a precise breakdown of actual costs or what everyone spends their money on. Many people do of course live on a lot less. 

SavingPennies_2

Ybe said:

Ybe said:

lika_86 said:

£60k with a 5% pension contribution but no student loans means £3500 a month take home.

I used to rent a one bedroom flat (no outside space) in Whitechapel which was walking distance to the City so minimal travel costs. Before the recent rise in costs, that was £1450 a month. 

So, £2k left after rent. Then there's bills, £100+ for council tax, let's say £50 for internet, £200 a month for other bills, that's £350 total for essential bills.

So £1650 left. Assuming you live alone then £300 for essential food, maybe some bought lunches, £50 a month for a few tube journeys. 

So, £1,300 left. Take off £60 a month for a mobile phone and say £80 a month for a gym membership or whatever hobbies/charity donations/takeaways float your boat.

£1,150 left. Let's say £500 for long term savings, £200 for holiday savings.

£450 left. That's just over £100 a week for going out. Bottles of bog standard wine/fizz in a central London but not fancy places we've ended up at after work/in an evening can be £30+.

It's very doable but certainly not the high life that that salary would get you elsewhere in the country. I'd say a lifestyle of going out three or four times a week would mean compromises elsewhere. 

Obviously if you were to live in either a house share or with someone then a lot of essential costs then go down because they're split.

This is living in zone 1 right?  Zone 4 is fine. Looking at zone 4, rent is well under 2k. I can see 1200-1400 on rightmove. 

Also one does not need to spend £60 on phone bills, £80 on gym membership or £50 on internet. These costs are excessive. 

It was given as a demonstration and I think fairy accurate. No everyone doesn't spend £80 on gym membership but they likely spend that on something else, buying clothes and makeup, making model aeroplanes - or whatever! And £30 for an evening of drinks sounds about right too and I don't live in London.

You slightly contradict yourself in the OP as the Q was "is 60k enough to get by" but the content of your post describes a lifestyle that is more than getting by: holidays and going out 3 or 4 times a week is more than getting by!

What is your current situation? Eg if you are renting in another big city with a similar lifestyle it would be easier to judge, if you live with parents it's harder. What is important to you? I think you can get by yes, but compromises will have to be made, such as on location as others have said.

lisyloo

Ybe said:

lika_86 said:

£60k with a 5% pension contribution but no student loans means £3500 a month take home.

I used to rent a one bedroom flat (no outside space) in Whitechapel which was walking distance to the City so minimal travel costs. Before the recent rise in costs, that was £1450 a month. 

So, £2k left after rent. Then there's bills, £100+ for council tax, let's say £50 for internet, £200 a month for other bills, that's £350 total for essential bills.

So £1650 left. Assuming you live alone then £300 for essential food, maybe some bought lunches, £50 a month for a few tube journeys. 

So, £1,300 left. Take off £60 a month for a mobile phone and say £80 a month for a gym membership or whatever hobbies/charity donations/takeaways float your boat.

£1,150 left. Let's say £500 for long term savings, £200 for holiday savings.

£450 left. That's just over £100 a week for going out. Bottles of bog standard wine/fizz in a central London but not fancy places we've ended up at after work/in an evening can be £30+.

It's very doable but certainly not the high life that that salary would get you elsewhere in the country. I'd say a lifestyle of going out three or four times a week would mean compromises elsewhere. 

Obviously if you were to live in either a house share or with someone then a lot of essential costs then go down because they're split.

This is living in zone 1 right?  Zone 4 is fine. Looking at zone 4, rent is well under 2k. I can see 1200-1400 on rightmove. 

Commute will go up.

Generally it doesn’t get cheaper moving out as the rents are priced within an inch of their life.
what I mean by that is that is the commute is £100 per month more, the rent will be around £100 per month less, so no easy savings to be had.

the devil here is in the detail.
you've implied you are willing to nurse a single glass of wine all night and are quite frugal.
in that case I’d say you’d be fine.
there are quite a few cheap places to go for a night out e.g. comedy gigs can be free or very cheap.

I wouldn’t say it’s normal to nurse a glass of wine all night, most people would want a couple of drinks throughout an evening, but on what you’ve said so far I think you could make it work.

why don’t you do your own budget in excel (its easy to adjust then).

I would urge you not to forget your pension.
the 5% that someone else mentioned is really minimal especially if you don’t want to work until 67+. 10% will be a lot better if you can afford it.
of course all these things are a trade-off that we all face and not a priority for you right now, but just make sure you don’t regret it later on in life. There’s a massive difference between retiring at 55 and 67 (possibly 68) as the latter doesn’t provide many years of great health on average.

but if you want it then go for it.
my suggestion would be do a budget in excel and adjust it as you go.

I’m in the run up to retirement and I have a budget that I adjust quite frequently.

GDB2222

We have a couple of flats above my old office that we let out. In Finchley, Zone 4.  The rent on a 2 bed flat round here, is significantly less than the figures being bandied around above. That’s for comfortable, but not lavish, in a pleasant suburb.  About 10 minutes walk from the station, and door to door it would probably be 45 minutes commute to central London. 

On the other hand, you would need to factor in a zone 4 Oyster card, at about £200 a month.

The occasional taxi ride from central London late at night might be around £50. The last underground train from central london is around midnight, so that taxi rides could add significantly to the cost of a bit of late night clubbing.

Personally, I would not want to live in the centre of London, but I am an old fogey, so don’t take any notice of that.

lisyloo

We’re middle aged and we lived very centrally.
we absolutely loved it and the location allowed us to go to theatres and cinemas in the week without a long journey home afterwards.
we loved having everything on our doorstep.

the compromise was mainly size, ok (but not great) accommodation I.e. the minimum acceptable, and cost,
most people choose the zone 4 option.

sourpuss2021

One person earning £60k in London in a non-WFH job can have a good time living in a shared flat in a pleasant zone 2 neighbourhood where there are a lot of other young professionals.   This might be in Battersea. Clapham, Islington, “posh Peckham”, or Hackney, for example.

But on that budget I think you should  forget about being able to rent your own flat! It’s not enough to be able to do much else.

And you would be competing with couples with greater spending power.  Or living somewhere grotty or distant and dull where  life wouldn’t be much fun.

I would say wait till you’re on £80k or have a partner to move in with, before looking to rent your own flat without having to drastically compromise on much of what you’re looking for.

bouicca21

Living in London is expensive, but just how expensive depends on lifestyle.  Even when younger I never had the energy for 2-3 nights out a week, but for those who do it depends on just what those nights out consist of . Are we talking clubbing, an after work visit to the pub, posh wine bar, theatre, cinema?  Ditto holidays - camping or 5* luxury on the other side of the world?

Even getting home late at night/early hours of the morning is a matter of choice - no need for a taxi, London has a good selection of night buses.

And OP could choose to join a flat share or conversely rent a bigger place and get a lodger.

i do suspect that food bills will be high - if out that much OP isn’t going to be cooking but will be spending a lot on takeaways and restaurants.

Windofchange

My first proper job in 2001 paid 20k a year and I lived the life of Riley in a large house share in Wimbledon. Just carried on our student tricks really - loads of cheap beer and wine at someone’s house before then walking to whatever the club of choice was that evening and not needing to drink a huge amount as we were already well oiled. Rent was £400 a month for a decent double (seven bedroom house) and allowed me to live in an area that I never would have been able to afford alone. Depends on your social circle but I knew people all over the city so would just sleep on the sofa and make my way home the next morning. Sometimes I’d get lucky and get a bed for the night if you catch my drift…

Commute wise I cycled everywhere and work was 7 miles each way so no train fares etc. managed to put a bit into a pension but really my life was about having fun and I certainly achieved that. I’d echo the comments above and suggest moving into a house share. I had so much fun living with others and perhaps I’m lucky in that I never fell out with anyone or had nightmare neighbours etc. 

If you’re not a youngster and / or the above makes you feel nauseous, to answer your question, yes you could live on 60k a year in London. Go out to zone 4/5 and look at the train maps. I currently commute into work in Whitechapel from zone 4 and the fare is £4.50 a day on the overground, so about £100 a month. You can rent a one bed around my neck of the woods in south london for about £1000 a month and then add your bills ontop of that. Gives you plenty to have fun with.