What's your total annual income - anonymous poll

[Sasaferrato]

people also have expensive all-consuming hobbies, such as children

Someone mentioned on here about their child leaving university, and that was the end of their financial commitment... I didn't burst their bubble.

 

[stethoscope]

£37k gross salary here, and no other incomes/earnings. Some credit card debt and a loan but managed to get those down considerably the last few years. £2k in savings.
Live on my own, no dependents, mortgage on a flat, don't drive, don't spend particularly heavily, work from home. Usually have a couple hundred quid disposable per month after outgoings inc. utilities.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I earn £63k and feel somewhat embarrassed given what others say they have to live on; including some I’ve denounced as middle class.

Yeah, we spend more on holidays than what some on here make in a year pre-tax, seeing that is a bit of a

When I looked at buying new cars and how the finance worked, I thought surely that can't be right. Optional final payment? Of four times the deposit? Pound a mile charge if you go over your annual mileage in...your own car? You'd have to be simple in the brains to fall for that.

Have never and would never borrow to buy a car, save money and buy outright, anything else leads to a world of pain.

I should also add that I am far far happier now than I was as a university lecturer earning more than twice as much.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

And you Louis MacNeice own the thread.

 

[cesare]

Good that it's right for you of course. But SpookyFrank sounds against it, that's how it came up. I'm not judging you, you go for what's right for you. I'm not that keen on hire-purchase equivalents but that's just me.

If for some reason you couldn't keep up the payments, what would you own?

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Have never and would never borrow to buy a car, save money and buy outright, anything else leads to a world of pain.

If only it was always that simple.

 

[Rimbaud]

27.5k, plus bonus which can be around 5k.

 

[Orang Utan]

I’ve always been aware of my middle-class privilege on here, but I have to say I now feel like a pauper compared to some other folk on here, especially the prolier-than-thous!

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

just going over the 20K planned for this current tax year for the first time, got over the 10K bit in the tax year 2019-20. Self employed working part time about 2.5 days + a week.
No mortgage, cheap rent , single with an ex and shared custody dogs. Need a new full set of teeth though so that'll be my savings gone when I get around to it.

 

[Thora]

I’ve always been aware of my middle-class privilege on here, but I have to say I now feel like a pauper compared to some other folk on here, especially the promise-than-thous!

What makes you middle class?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

What makes you middle class?

Posting on urban

 

[Orang Utan]

What makes you middle class?

Parents/family/culture/education/cultural capital.
I possibly count as a property owner too as I own a princely 1/8th of my home
I am aware that from a purely Marxist point of view I could be considered working class, but if I went round describing myself as such, especially at work, I’d probably get punched in the gob

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I’ve always been aware of my middle-class privilege on here, but I have to say I now feel like a pauper compared to some other folk on here, especially the promise-than-thous!

Sorry.

 

[Rimbaud]

I’ve always been aware of my middle-class privilege on here, but I have to say I now feel like a pauper compared to some other folk on here, especially the promise-than-thous!

I would like to add that I was on minimum wage only 6 months ago. Part time masters in Software Engineering already paying for itself.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Mind you, I have a MC drinking buddy who earns less than me but is a home owner which is pretty much paid off owing to his background.

 

[contadino]

Both at a macro level e.g. it'd focus our attention on how the wealthiest don't pay their fair share, and how, as a society we value the wrong jobs. And at a micro level, insofar as employers would struggle to justify paying different rates for the same job.

I'm totally into this. We can access company directorships via companies house and I think people's tax returns and donations should be public domain in the same way. A tax return doesn't necessarily indicate wealth but it should demonstrate that the tax burden is paid.

 

[Orang Utan]

Mind you, I have a MC drinking buddy who earns less than me but is a home owner which is pretty much paid off owing to his background.

Aye, this is one of those privileges that a lot of middle class folk don’t seem to appreciate. I live in a fully owned flat, so only have to cover bills and other living expenses. It was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement but the rental market has to so bad in the past few years that I daren’t move, esp with my poor credit.

 

[Orang Utan]

As it happens, there was an article about inherited privilege in the paper this weekend:

Why inheritance is the dirty secret of the middle classes – harder to talk about than sex | Money | The Guardian

Forget boomers v millennials: is the real divide between people who inherit from their parents – and those who don’t?

amp.theguardian.com

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

As it happens, there was an article about inherited privilege in the paper this weekend:

Why inheritance is the dirty secret of the middle classes – harder to talk about than sex | Money | The Guardian

Forget boomers v millennials: is the real divide between people who inherit from their parents – and those who don’t?

amp.theguardian.com

Urgh. 100% inheritance tax now.

 

[Athos]

Aye, this is one of those privileges that a lot of middle class folk don’t seem to appreciate. I live in a fully owned flat, so only have to cover bills and other living expenses. It was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement but the rental market has to so bad in the past few years that I daren’t move, esp with my poor credit.

But if you only own 1/8 doesn't that mean that most people with mortgages have more equity in their home, plus their share is growing all the time?

 

[Athos]

Double post

 

[stethoscope]

...

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

just going over the 20K planned for this current tax year for the first time, got over the 10K bit in the tax year 2019-20. Self employed working part time about 2.5 days + a week.
No mortgage, cheap rent , single with an ex and shared custody dogs. Need a new full set of teeth though so that'll be my savings gone when I get around to it.

to add: definitely middle class due to chance and have inherited land and houses in France which can turn into the higher bracket of wages in the poll so certainly not poor.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Aye, this is one of those privileges that a lot of middle class folk don’t seem to appreciate. I live in a fully owned flat, so only have to cover bills and other living expenses. It was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement but the rental market has to so bad in the past few years that I daren’t move, esp with my poor credit.

If you’re sitting pretty why move? I wouldn’t.

 

[Elpenor]

As it happens, there was an article about inherited privilege in the paper this weekend:

Why inheritance is the dirty secret of the middle classes – harder to talk about than sex | Money | The Guardian

Forget boomers v millennials: is the real divide between people who inherit from their parents – and those who don’t?

amp.theguardian.com

I read that, my takeaway is that it’s so heavily linked to house prices it also perpetuates regional inequality

 

[8ball]

Urgh. 100% inheritance tax now.

That will just encourage people to spend all their money on their kids before they die.

Fairest thing would be to confiscate children shortly after birth and raise them in Government warehouses.

 

[Orang Utan]

If you’re sitting pretty why move? I wouldn’t.

a wish for financial independence and regaining the skills needed for such an existence

 

[Athos]

Most people's biggest single expense is housing. Between the Boomers' generation and today's young people, that's roughly trebled in real terms, whereas wages have been largely stagnant. So, whereas it used to be possible to buy a house with a mortgage on a single w/c wage, that's no longer realistic. And that means more renting, such that today's youngsters will pay more for housing, but have no asset to show for it.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

The 'boomer vs millennial' arguments were always oversimplified. I'm first gen m/c with w/c parents. My parents were fortunate in terms of the mortgage 'ladder' and buying houses over the years. They've 'downsized' in the last fifteen years, and moving up North has helped with some savings. However, they've never had much in the way of money, Dad was sole wage earner for most of their lives. Private pensions have failed to deliver over the years, the opting in/out serps malarchy, both benefit from their state pension. Other than them owning their house (but as they're in their 70s, that really depends on their onward health), I'm still better off than they are.
(my parents get very frustrated at the 'broad-brushes' often implied by politicians over their generation and wealth)

I’m similar. Parents own/ed property but that has no benefit to me until my mother dies in which case I’ll inherit half her bungalow. Thankfully she’s still about and enjoying her retirement, albeit sadly without my father.
Going on everyone else I do earn a lot which is more to do with where Im located and successful collective bargaining than anything else. But I still own nothing. Private landlords take my money for housing and always have.

 

[Supine]

That will just encourage people to spend all their money on their kids before they die.

Fairest thing would be to confiscate children shortly after birth and raise them in Government warehouses.

Topcat needs a chimney sweep

 

[Athos]

I’m similar. Parents own/ed property but that has no benefit to me until my mother dies in which case I’ll inherit half her bungalow. Thankfully she’s still about and enjoying her retirement, albeit sadly without my father.
Going on everyone else I do earn a lot which is more to do with where Im located and successful collective bargaining than anything else. But I still own nothing. Private landlords take my money for housing and always have.

Surely you could get a mortgage with that wage?