What is a good salary?

[MCFC_ Phil]

My old mum,God rest her Soul used to have a saying, when I was building my business up, make sure you work to live, not live to work.
I used to have a rule of thumb, when the price of a pint became more expensive in terms of time taken to earn it, rather than drink it,I would give the drink up.
Fortunately over the years I have managed to stay ahead with my earnings.

I can drink a pint in 5 seconds

 

[grunge]

I don't think it is that difficult to make a reasonable starting point on this:

To be able to afford a mortgage on the average UK house - price 270k - repayment 1200 pm (250k mortgage)

Food per month - £300

Utilities and Council tax - 400 a month.

Insurance 100

As a starting point, that is 2000 a month net salary

That is for a single person.

You can add about 400 onto that mortgage with todays rates. Then there’s pensions, travel expenses to get to work etc etc. If I had to go into the office everyday that’s about 350 a month ( for me, granted I’m probably the top end for commute costs )

Then actually saving for a mortgage if paying rent.

 

[Stephen Ireland's pants]

I can drink a pint in 5 seconds

Fuck off ÷/

 

[CarlosTevez'sEnglishTutor]

Some great replies in this thread, thanks.

For background, I have a decent job with a good career path but most of my colleagues are silver spoon merchants propped up by wealthy parents. Therefore, I don't have many peers to discuss such matters with.

Me and the Mrs won't see a penny from our families as they are very working class, and it will be us helping them to survive in the not so distant future. Her parents have never been able to afford their own home. We are both early 30s and come to the conclusion that it's looking very unlikely we will be able to have a family as we don't want to bring anyone into this world that we can't give a good life to, or at least give more than what we got as kids. Love doesn't always win, you need a good start in life in an ever-inflating world. Plus you are obviously against the clock in terms of a window for childbirth as my Mrs get further into her 30s.

We travel a lot which has definitely hindered us getting on the housing ladder. Our collective view changed during the pandemic and we didn't really get to go anywhere as kids, so we like to see the world while we are young and able, and we know we wouldn't get to see these places if we had kids. We are still renting but it's a lovely property in a convenient location, we have lived in some real dumps and bad areas previously when money wasn't so good. We will have our own place in the next 2 years, I'm sure of it. It'll take a bit more cutting of our cloth and doing well at work.

I'm very grateful for everything I have in life, especially as everything I own is paid for in full by my own work. It's great to see other people's outlook on this topic as we don't have suitable family or peers to discuss these topics with and weren't taught anything around finances in school.

 

[MCFC_ Phil]

Fuck off ÷/

You struggling?

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

One that covers the mortgage, all costs, a few comforts and leaves a little for savings.

That’s what comfortable is.

 

[117 M34]

Why would a single person want a £270k house? Nice worse case scenario there.

Realistically those figures should be:
Rent £600 pcm, council tax (band c/d - £150, utilities £100, insurance £30 (small car - 1 driver), food around £150, petrol or transport £100. So that's around £1k without luxuries.

If you have 2 people contributing, affording a larger house and possibly a mortgage is realistic. That or a bigger wage and buy a house yourself.

I've just looked on rightmove and there are currently 6 properties for rent in greater Manchester for £600 or less.
All 1 bedroom flats/apartments and none look very appealing. And none are in a location that many would say was appealing.

 

[oldius]

Why would a single person want a £270k house? Nice worse case scenario there.

Realistically those figures should be:
Rent £600 pcm, council tax (band c/d - £150, utilities £100, insurance £30 (small car - 1 driver), food around £150, petrol or transport £100. So that's around £1k without luxuries.

If you have 2 people contributing, affording a larger house and possibly a mortgage is realistic. That or a bigger wage and buy a house yourself.

That is simply the average cost of a home in the UK.
My daughter pays 1700 a month for a flat in Ancoats.
The average UK rent is £1180 a month.
£100 a month on transport?
Insurance £30?
Utilities 100 a month?

I was referring to home insurance, I didn't even add car insurance, nor the cost of owning a car. I think your figures are hugely out, unless you want a house share.

The cheapest insurance policy for young people is about a grand. My daughter, 25, had just insured a Renault Clio 1.2 and without a black-box, the cheapest insurance was 1200. With one, 900.

 

[Stephen Ireland's pants]

You struggling?

I would definitely struggle to drink a pint in 5 seconds.

 

[Kompany Car]

The cheapest insurance policy for young people is about a grand. My daughter, 25, had just insured a Renault Clio 1.2 and without a black-box, the cheapest insurance was 1200. With one, 900.

Jesus that's a lot mate for a 25yr old, my lad is only 19, he's got a Polo and we pay just over 1200 fully comp with no black box fitted, he's only got 1yr no claims so far. I have noticed that some cars and not ones you'd expect are disproportionately more expensive to insure however. We were going to get him a Fiesta (only 1.0 Zetec), it was £300 more to insure than the Polo which actually has a more powerful engine.