Depends where you live. You certainly won’t be particularly comfortable in some parts of the South East on that sort of money – unless you already own a house.
>Workers typically feel they need a £49,300 salary to live comfortably
PER WEEK
Flippin ‘eck! I reckon I could be comfortable on that all right.
Out of interest, does that figure match at all with what the average wage would be if it had kept up with inflation-? Or is it purely what people aspire to?
As someone on a lot more, I still feel uncomfortable
Maybe £50k is good for a northerner
>Workers feel that £49,300 would be a “comfortable” salary to live on typically, as living costs surge, according to a survey.
and
>More than a quarter (26%) of people stated they are unhappy with their current salary, Reed found.
So I take it that “comfortable” is being used as a code for quite well-off? Because you can’t have the “happy with what I can afford”-wages be 150% of median salary, and have three quarters of the population be satisfied with their pay. Those numbers don’t mesh.
My experience was I wasn’t really that comfortable until I got to £50k and even then it still felt that I didn’t have much to spend. I wasn’t struggling, but I’d have to think carefully about anything more than £250 or so.
I doubt many people are able to start saving on less than £50k. It would be a good level to set minimum wage. Unfortunately that would bankrupt most businesses. The only solution I can think of is universal basic income of say £32k which would bring those on the current minimum wage up to that level. The effect on the economy would be massively positive if people had more money to spend. It could be easily recouped through VAT and with an aggressive redistributive income tax policy.
My Sister in law in fleet has a household income of around that and definitely is dirt poor
Yeah, I can see that. Im on £29k and am pretty much pay check to pay check. £49k would allow me to have a few luxuries and actually save some money
Lifestyle creep ain’t a joke but those findings seem accurate to my experience, even as the breadwinner in my household
If my work offered me a £49,000 salary I’d be skipping into work with a big grin on my face
That’s more than the salary of Americans. Talk about delusional
Well of course.
Ubiquitous and rampant consumer culture and constant political pandering to the asset holding classes means an enormous proportion of people in this country can no longer discern between a need and a want.
Income only tells half the story, outgoings are just as, if not more important. Can be a big earner but if you live beyond your means it’s irrelevant.
Bit anecdotal but I have a friend who earns £150k+ but always has to have the latest gadgets, doesn’t shop around for value, rents a place that is too big for his needs instead of investing in a flat and generally doesn’t spend sensibly. Despite all that money he claims he lives paycheck to paycheck.
If the government just increased the tax brackets for inflation I personally wouldn’t need as much gross salary!!
I think it depends on your understanding of comfortable and your position.
For example if I had a fully paid off house, I would be happy at 30k.
I would have enough money to tun my Yaris, do my shopping, go Gym, and have some hobbies.
I wouldn’t need to go on expensive international holidays, to be comfortable or live in some luxurious life.
I live pretty well on £27k a year before tax. Would be nice to earn £49k though, not sure what I would do with all tha tmoney though?
Fucking hell I love how now the middle class are finally realising they are acutally wage slaves like the rest of us, they are finally admitting they are pompous as fuck.
With 50k I could have 4 extra kids and still be laughing.
“Comfortable”? LMAO, maybe if you are in the centre of london, anywhere else, that salary is big bucks.
Since when did “comfortable” mean “I can basically buy whatever the fuck I want when I want?”
EDIT: Lmao the downvotes from the upset middle class people spending £350 a month for their car they “need”. Struck a nerve have I? How do you think people survive on minimum wage?
What is comfortable? For example my Nephew and I earn roughly the same and also live in the same area, both have mortgage payments in the £700-900 range. I live far more comfortably than him because I haven’t driven up huge amounts of debt by buying designer clothes, a brand new car every 3 years, the latest phone every 18 months or so etc.
He may have more stuff than me but I have savings, investments and financial security. He has none of that. Both of us could survive on far less if he stopped buying crap and I stopped investing & saving.
People are really skipping over the comfortably part.
Glad the article has a geographical break down, headline seems irrelevant otherwise…
Here are the average salaries workers said they could live comfortably on, according to the survey:
– East Midlands, £45,000
– East of England, £44,000
– London, £65,000
– North East, £46,000
– North West, £47,000
– Northern Ireland, £46,000
– Scotland, £48,000
– South East, £49,000
– South West, £51,000
– Wales, £47,000
Still I know parts of Wales and the North that I’ve live like a king for these amounts so it’s a very subjective matter.
But given that London is so much higher I think it’s safe to say the headline is accurate in saying that most of the country believe they need far more than the median to live.
Interestingly I think the situation is far worse than this.
I think this is accounting for people who have paid off their mortgage or better skewing these numbers.
Aka people who say they as a couple can live off 1.5 of the median salary.
I reckon if you remove these people or change it to under 40s it will heavily change to more like £60k, that’s what a couple needs in most places to get a mortgage & pay for it.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if it went higher than £60k because affordability check are likely to mean needing a higher income than that.
If I’ve learned anything from this comment thread it’s “don’t have kids”
Yea those people are uninformed. Like most of the UK with regards to what salaries should had they scaled with house prices. We have US levels of housing prices and less than half the salaries.
I’m 33, single & renting in Surrey. £22.5k salary. £50k sounds more than just comfortable.. that sounds like a god damn luxurious millionaires lifestyle!! I would literally never worry about money again on that salary!! lol
Note though some of the people in this thread who do earn that sort of money who still believe themselves to be struggling.
It’s not about the figure necessarily, it’s about lifestyle creep. People commit to more and more expenses as their salary gradually rises. So in order to be able to genuinely comfortable on this kind of salary, one would still need to be careful with money and analytical about where it is going.
28 comments
Sounds about right
Is this workers who rent or homeowners?
That’s about what I was making, yeah.
Depends where you live. You certainly won’t be particularly comfortable in some parts of the South East on that sort of money – unless you already own a house.
>Workers typically feel they need a £49,300 salary to live comfortably
PER WEEK
Flippin ‘eck! I reckon I could be comfortable on that all right.
Out of interest, does that figure match at all with what the average wage would be if it had kept up with inflation-? Or is it purely what people aspire to?
As someone on a lot more, I still feel uncomfortable
Maybe £50k is good for a northerner
>Workers feel that £49,300 would be a “comfortable” salary to live on typically, as living costs surge, according to a survey.
and
>More than a quarter (26%) of people stated they are unhappy with their current salary, Reed found.
So I take it that “comfortable” is being used as a code for quite well-off? Because you can’t have the “happy with what I can afford”-wages be 150% of median salary, and have three quarters of the population be satisfied with their pay. Those numbers don’t mesh.
My experience was I wasn’t really that comfortable until I got to £50k and even then it still felt that I didn’t have much to spend. I wasn’t struggling, but I’d have to think carefully about anything more than £250 or so.
I doubt many people are able to start saving on less than £50k. It would be a good level to set minimum wage. Unfortunately that would bankrupt most businesses. The only solution I can think of is universal basic income of say £32k which would bring those on the current minimum wage up to that level. The effect on the economy would be massively positive if people had more money to spend. It could be easily recouped through VAT and with an aggressive redistributive income tax policy.
My Sister in law in fleet has a household income of around that and definitely is dirt poor
Yeah, I can see that. Im on £29k and am pretty much pay check to pay check. £49k would allow me to have a few luxuries and actually save some money
Lifestyle creep ain’t a joke but those findings seem accurate to my experience, even as the breadwinner in my household
If my work offered me a £49,000 salary I’d be skipping into work with a big grin on my face
That’s more than the salary of Americans. Talk about delusional
Well of course.
Ubiquitous and rampant consumer culture and constant political pandering to the asset holding classes means an enormous proportion of people in this country can no longer discern between a need and a want.
Income only tells half the story, outgoings are just as, if not more important. Can be a big earner but if you live beyond your means it’s irrelevant.
Bit anecdotal but I have a friend who earns £150k+ but always has to have the latest gadgets, doesn’t shop around for value, rents a place that is too big for his needs instead of investing in a flat and generally doesn’t spend sensibly. Despite all that money he claims he lives paycheck to paycheck.
If the government just increased the tax brackets for inflation I personally wouldn’t need as much gross salary!!
I think it depends on your understanding of comfortable and your position.
For example if I had a fully paid off house, I would be happy at 30k.
I would have enough money to tun my Yaris, do my shopping, go Gym, and have some hobbies.
I wouldn’t need to go on expensive international holidays, to be comfortable or live in some luxurious life.
I live pretty well on £27k a year before tax. Would be nice to earn £49k though, not sure what I would do with all tha tmoney though?
Fucking hell I love how now the middle class are finally realising they are acutally wage slaves like the rest of us, they are finally admitting they are pompous as fuck.
With 50k I could have 4 extra kids and still be laughing.
“Comfortable”? LMAO, maybe if you are in the centre of london, anywhere else, that salary is big bucks.
Since when did “comfortable” mean “I can basically buy whatever the fuck I want when I want?”
EDIT: Lmao the downvotes from the upset middle class people spending £350 a month for their car they “need”. Struck a nerve have I? How do you think people survive on minimum wage?
What is comfortable? For example my Nephew and I earn roughly the same and also live in the same area, both have mortgage payments in the £700-900 range. I live far more comfortably than him because I haven’t driven up huge amounts of debt by buying designer clothes, a brand new car every 3 years, the latest phone every 18 months or so etc.
He may have more stuff than me but I have savings, investments and financial security. He has none of that. Both of us could survive on far less if he stopped buying crap and I stopped investing & saving.
People are really skipping over the comfortably part.
Glad the article has a geographical break down, headline seems irrelevant otherwise…
Here are the average salaries workers said they could live comfortably on, according to the survey:
– East Midlands, £45,000
– East of England, £44,000
– London, £65,000
– North East, £46,000
– North West, £47,000
– Northern Ireland, £46,000
– Scotland, £48,000
– South East, £49,000
– South West, £51,000
– Wales, £47,000
Still I know parts of Wales and the North that I’ve live like a king for these amounts so it’s a very subjective matter.
But given that London is so much higher I think it’s safe to say the headline is accurate in saying that most of the country believe they need far more than the median to live.
Interestingly I think the situation is far worse than this.
I think this is accounting for people who have paid off their mortgage or better skewing these numbers.
Aka people who say they as a couple can live off 1.5 of the median salary.
I reckon if you remove these people or change it to under 40s it will heavily change to more like £60k, that’s what a couple needs in most places to get a mortgage & pay for it.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if it went higher than £60k because affordability check are likely to mean needing a higher income than that.
If I’ve learned anything from this comment thread it’s “don’t have kids”
Yea those people are uninformed. Like most of the UK with regards to what salaries should had they scaled with house prices. We have US levels of housing prices and less than half the salaries.
I’m 33, single & renting in Surrey. £22.5k salary. £50k sounds more than just comfortable.. that sounds like a god damn luxurious millionaires lifestyle!! I would literally never worry about money again on that salary!! lol
Note though some of the people in this thread who do earn that sort of money who still believe themselves to be struggling.
It’s not about the figure necessarily, it’s about lifestyle creep. People commit to more and more expenses as their salary gradually rises. So in order to be able to genuinely comfortable on this kind of salary, one would still need to be careful with money and analytical about where it is going.