Jump to content
House Price Crash Forum

Mr & Mrs Average In Ni


Shotoflight

Recommended Posts

0
HOLA441

The car insurance story and all the utility price increases got me thinking about affordability. As well as that, my car Insurance is up, car tax is due and it cost me £81 to put 60 litres of petrol in the motor this morning. I need 900 litres of heating oil within the next month, to boot.

Anyhoo, lets try a little back of the fag packet budget for Mr. & Mrs. (or shacked up) Average and 2 sprogs. Some like to use the dual income model when assessing affordability. I will leave Incomes to the end. The calculations will be rough and ready and include assumptions and averages, so massive amounts of room for arguments – I also aim to err on the conservative side. But that is not the purpose. The purpose is that you recognise much of what follows, not necessarily all, and are able to take a pragmatic view of the current situation.

So, first some assumptions – sprogs at school – one boy one girl. Two parents working. ‘Only’ one car. £135k mort off £150k. Had £15k deposit. 3% rate = £640pm repayment. House fully furnished and decorated – all large items paid for and relatively reliable.

No Sky, No debt (credit card/personal loan), nothing beginning with an I (pad/phone/pod/pad), No football shirts, PS3 games, Blu rays, princess outfits. No job loss insurance, no mortgage insurance, No private pension, No charitable giving, no money put away for saving or emergencies, no pets. No Christmas, Birthdays or Anniversaries. Wedding paid off years ago.

Might have Expenses – all Monthly

Child care Granny £0 Creche £200

Car Loan Average £200?

Holiday (£1,000 for 4) £80

Essential Expenses

Mort £640

Bldg & Contents Ins £20

Food £320

Clothes £100

Electric/oil/gas £80

TV licence/Line Rental/Internet £35

Mobile phones x2 £30

Car Ins £75

Car Tax £15

Car Maint (tyres/service/MOT) £40

Car Fuel (social & work) £100

Social Life (fags/booze/mags/papers/bet/eat out/cinema/swim/zoo) £100

School x 2 (Lunch £3 daily, uniform, shoes, trips) £150

Work x 2 (clothes, odd lunch, coffee) say less than £2 daily £80

Ocassional expenses (replacement/upgrade TV/PC etc) £40

House maint internal/external, furniture, decorating £50

I make that a conservative £1825 expenditure, post tax joint income, before a car loan, holiday, child care or any other debt – Student, credit card or personal loan. Which I think is unrealistic. And look at all the other exclusions to get here.

A car loan, holiday and childcare put this to £2,300 per month without any other debt, frivolities or, dare I say it, luxuries.

Now here’s the thing – a 4% rise in interest rates ups the mortgage to £954, an increase of £315 per month making £2615.

Inflation is 5%, there is little sign of wage inflation and job security is tight. Imagine if one or both lose jobs.

Mr and Mr average, in an average house on average (dual) household income.

On the edge.

Edited by Shotoflight
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 959
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

1
HOLA442

everyday i hear stories of people doing what they can to avoid these rising costs or getting new income. Ive heard of scams to smuggle cigarettes, to claiming from old employers on old injuries to collecting firewood like an obsession. The struggle can be seen everywhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2
HOLA443

The car insurance story and all the utility price increases got me thinking about affordability. As well as that, my car Insurance is up, car tax is due and it cost me £81 to put 60 litres of petrol in the motor this morning. I need 900 litres of heating oil within the next month, to boot.

Anyhoo, lets try a little back of the fag packet budget for Mr. & Mrs. (or shacked up) Average and 2 sprogs. Some like to use the dual income model when assessing affordability. I will leave Incomes to the end. The calculations will be rough and ready and include assumptions and averages, so massive amounts of room for arguments – I also aim to err on the conservative side. But that is not the purpose. The purpose is that you recognise much of what follows, not necessarily all, and are able to take a pragmatic view of the current situation.

So, first some assumptions – sprogs at school – one boy one girl. Two parents working. ‘Only’ one car. £135k mort off £150k. Had £15k deposit. 3% rate = £640pm repayment. House fully furnished and decorated – all large items paid for and relatively reliable.

No Sky, No debt (credit card/personal loan), nothing beginning with an I (pad/phone/pod/pad), No football shirts, PS3 games, princess outfits. No job loss insurance, no mortgage insurance, No private pension, No charitable giving, no money put away for saving or emergencies, no pets.

Might have Expenses – all Monthly

Child care Granny £0 Creche £200

Car Loan Average £200?

Holiday (£1,000 for 4) £80

Essential Expenses

Mort £640

Bldg & Contents Ins £20

Food £320

Clothes £100

Electric/oil/gas £80

TV licence/Line Rental/Internet £35

Mobile phones x2 £30

Car Ins £75

Car Tax £15

Car Maint (tyres/service/MOT) £40

Car Fuel (social & work) £100

Social Life (fags/booze/mags/papers/bet/eat out/cinema/swim/zoo) £100

School x 2 (Lunch £3 daily, uniform, shoes, trips) £150

Work x 2 (clothes, odd lunch, coffee) say less than £2 daily £80

Ocassional expenses (replacement/upgrade TV/PC etc) £40

House maint internal/external, furniture, decorating £50

I make that a conservative £1825 post tax joint income before a car loan, holiday, child care or any other debt – Student, credit card or personal loan. Which I think is unrealistic. And look at all the other exclusions to get here.

A car loan, holiday and childcare put this to £2,300 per month without any other debt, frivolities or, dare I say it, luxuries.

Now here’s the thing – a 4% rise in interest rates ups the mortgage to £954, an increase of £315 per month making £2615.

Inflation is 5%, there is little sign of wage inflation and job security is tight. Imagine if one or both lose jobs.

Mr and Mr average, in an average house on average (dual) household income.

On the edge.

Is anyone still wondering why most prefer to stay jobless and live in social housing? More free time to play with the kids and no need to worry about any of the above.

But seriously, the above sounds about right, and it is a struggle for the average.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3
HOLA444

I make that a conservative £1825 post tax joint income before a car loan, holiday, child care or any other debt – Student, credit card or personal loan. Which I think is unrealistic.

Even if average couple were both only earning minimum wage, if they were working 38 hours per week their joint income after tax would be £1730 a month, only £95 short of your conservative figure.

Oh yes, having 2 kids would result in child benefit figure of £130 a month, not even taking into account family tax credits.

So the MINIMUM a family with 2 kids, both parents working fulltime would bring in would be £1860 a month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4
HOLA445

Essential Expenses

Mort £640 would guess rent a bit less - can go for smaller house anyway in knowledge you don't need to future proof it, save rental £50

Bldg & Contents Ins £20 can avoid as renter, save £20

Food £320

Clothes £100 eh??, save £50 by being tight

Electric/oil/gas £80

TV licence/Line Rental/Internet £35

Mobile phones x2 £30 should go PAYG, save loads, say £10 saved

Car Ins £75 £expensive, get low ins car, save £25

Car Tax £15 get a low tax band car, save £12 per mnth ins

Car Maint (tyres/service/MOT) £40

Car Fuel (social & work) £100

Social Life (fags/booze/mags/papers/bet/eat out/cinema/swim/zoo) £100

School x 2 (Lunch £3 daily, uniform, shoes, trips) £150

Work x 2 (clothes, odd lunch, coffee) say less than £2 daily £80

Ocassional expenses (replacement/upgrade TV/PC etc) £40

House maint internal/external, furniture, decorating £50; save £10 for renter as no maintenance costs

so a frugal renter in the same scenario saves roughly 50+20+50+10+25+12+10 = £177 per month

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5
HOLA446

Don't forget the 38Hours x 2 x 4weeks x £6.08 (from oct) = £1848.32 BEFORE tax + child benefit figure of £130 (no tax)

Just goes to show that a mortgage is the least of peoples worrys, all we need is a steady 5% inflating for the next couple of years coupled with no / low pay rises. should do the job nicely.

Well done Merv.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6
HOLA447
7
HOLA448

Average car insurance in NI £920. 84% higher than UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14731015

The point I'm making is that most of the above costs are necessary and indeed frugal, hence some averaging. Of course I'm leaving myself wide open for a kicking on this so don't intend to argue. Costs can be saved of course but what I'm suggesting is that it takes a large chunk of income to 'survive' and a lot of it is inescapable.

Glad to see it provoking some thought, so thanks.

Moving on,

Lets up the ante here a bit

Perhaps they have 2 smartphones

PS3 console & games for treats

A WII for the girl & they both want mobiles

A holiday costing more than £250 each for a change

Birthday's, Christmas, Anniversaries even going to someone elses wedding

2 cars - why not, plenty seem to manage

Some debt servicing - credit card/student

What wee boy doesn't have a football shirt. Tickets for a game.

Take send the wife to Take That

Pet food for the mutt

A dirty weekend if you are lucky!

And then there's the divorce or job loss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8
HOLA449

This thread is looking like an S.O.A. thats ( Statment of affairs) , posted on the bankruptacy threads on MSE .

Every one has different spends and commitments some say spend less here / more there , cut this out add this in .

However from what im seeing , hearing and feeling myself people are struggling . The money coming in is not going up the essential costs going out are rising very fast and people are struggling.

I look at a handfull of £20 notes and they mean nothing they evaporate from the pockets very quickly . It reminds me of going on holiday to Spain 30 years ago when people sneered at the paper money calling it MICKY MOUSE money . It looked a lot but meant nothing as the spending power was little our own money is now like this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9
HOLA4410

The car insurance story and all the utility price increases got me thinking about affordability. As well as that, my car Insurance is up, car tax is due and it cost me £81 to put 60 litres of petrol in the motor this morning. I need 900 litres of heating oil within the next month, to boot.

Anyhoo, lets try a little back of the fag packet budget for Mr. & Mrs. (or shacked up) Average and 2 sprogs. Some like to use the dual income model when assessing affordability. I will leave Incomes to the end. The calculations will be rough and ready and include assumptions and averages, so massive amounts of room for arguments – I also aim to err on the conservative side. But that is not the purpose. The purpose is that you recognise much of what follows, not necessarily all, and are able to take a pragmatic view of the current situation.

So, first some assumptions – sprogs at school – one boy one girl. Two parents working. ‘Only’ one car. £135k mort off £150k. Had £15k deposit. 3% rate = £640pm repayment. House fully furnished and decorated – all large items paid for and relatively reliable.

No Sky, No debt (credit card/personal loan), nothing beginning with an I (pad/phone/pod/pad), No football shirts, PS3 games, Blu rays, princess outfits. No job loss insurance, no mortgage insurance, No private pension, No charitable giving, no money put away for saving or emergencies, no pets. No Christmas, Birthdays or Anniversaries. Wedding paid off years ago.

Might have Expenses – all Monthly

Child care Granny £0 Creche £200

Car Loan Average £200?

Holiday (£1,000 for 4) £80

Essential Expenses

Mort £640

Bldg & Contents Ins £20

Food £320

Clothes £100

Electric/oil/gas £80

TV licence/Line Rental/Internet £35

Mobile phones x2 £30

Car Ins £75

Car Tax £15

Car Maint (tyres/service/MOT) £40

Car Fuel (social & work) £100

Social Life (fags/booze/mags/papers/bet/eat out/cinema/swim/zoo) £100

School x 2 (Lunch £3 daily, uniform, shoes, trips) £150

Work x 2 (clothes, odd lunch, coffee) say less than £2 daily £80

Ocassional expenses (replacement/upgrade TV/PC etc) £40

House maint internal/external, furniture, decorating £50

I make that a conservative £1825 expenditure, post tax joint income, before a car loan, holiday, child care or any other debt – Student, credit card or personal loan. Which I think is unrealistic. And look at all the other exclusions to get here.

A car loan, holiday and childcare put this to £2,300 per month without any other debt, frivolities or, dare I say it, luxuries.

Now here’s the thing – a 4% rise in interest rates ups the mortgage to £954, an increase of £315 per month making £2615.

Inflation is 5%, there is little sign of wage inflation and job security is tight. Imagine if one or both lose jobs.

Mr and Mr average, in an average house on average (dual) household income.

On the edge.

Good thread - liking the analysis. Some realism for a change and bringing the 'affordability' debate into real life context.

Havings kids is the expensive bit. At least with the mortage the proportion of salary needed to service the cost generally diminshes with time through inflation. Some of us more mature posters will know that the opposite applies to kids and the growth in costs seems to be exponential as they progress through the teenage years!

All this realism can get very sobering at times - no wonder 'extend and pretend' is so popular.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10
HOLA4411

Good thread - liking the analysis. Some realism for a change and bringing the 'affordability' debate into real life context.

Havings kids is the expensive bit. At least with the mortage the proportion of salary needed to service the cost generally diminshes with time through inflation. Some of us more mature posters will know that the opposite applies to kids and the growth in costs seems to be exponential as they progress through the teenage years!

All this realism can get very sobering at times - no wonder 'extend and pretend' is so popular.

My feeling is that many people don't (can't) face this reality until it is (or is almost) too late because a) it is unpleasant and b ) they don't have to. It could be skirted around (or ignored) in the boom times, because boom time would continue and there would be no bust. And there was always another source of cheap debt.

I only figured out the exact ins and outs of my mortgage a few years ago alongside some other budgetary home truths. Complacency was my (inexcusable) excuse. I'm as guilty as most, in that respect.

Work all the above out with the average house at £250k, as it was a few years ago, and you start get a sense of the financial issues some people may be experiencing.

The (more responsible) banks are making mortgage applicants go through the above process and have been for some time. Affordability calculations really do help to manage expectations. This is feeding through to house sales and, more importantly, house prices.

Remember - the initial premise/scenario is a 'no debt' situation, which may not be average at all.

Edited by Shotoflight
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11
HOLA4412

My feeling is that many people don't (can't) face this reality until it is (or is almost) too late because a) it is unpleasant and b ) they don't have to. It could be skirted around (or ignored) in the boom times, because boom time would continue and there would be no bust. And there was always another source of cheap debt.

I only figured out the exact ins and outs of my mortgage a few years ago alongside some other budgetary home truths. Complacency was my (inexcusable) excuse. I'm as guilty as most, in that respect.

Work all the above out with the average house at £250k, as it was a few years ago, and you start get a sense of the financial issues some people may be experiencing.

The (more responsible) banks are making mortgage applicants go through the above process and have been for some time. Affordability calculations really do help to manage expectations. This is feeding through to house sales and, more importantly, house prices.

Remember - the initial premise/scenario is a 'no debt' situation, which may not be average at all.

All of this reinforces my view that 'affordability' is the only game in town now and will be the great house price leveller, whether that happens by wage inflation or house price deflation or a combination of both.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12
HOLA4413

Of some relevance - UK. I'm sure it's on the main thread - apologies if a double post.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/mortgages/8732205/Banks-to-tell-families-cut-back-or-face-losing-your-home.html

More than 30,000 home owners will be told to spend less on nights out, Sky television, gym membership and mobile phones so they can concentrate on paying back their mortgage.

Experts said that while it was normal practice for banks to embark on credit checks on customers it was unprecedented for so many families to be targeted after their mortgage had been approved.

“Some people won’t cope when interest rates rise, but for others there are remedies,” said Richard Banks, the AKAR chief executive who is a former director of Alliance & Leicester.

“They need to think about what is their most important debt. It is not their credit card or renewing their Sky subscription, or going out for the latest mobile technology. It is their mortgage.

It is estimated that a one percentage point rise in interest rates will reduce the disposable income available to each UK household by £230 a year.

UKAR wants to ensure that borrowers have enough money to pay off their mortgages rather than spend their disposable incomes on lifestyle or luxury items.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13
HOLA4414
14
HOLA4415

I'm glad to see this thread ... this is exactly the type of point that I try to make around affordability.

EA's, House sellers and all other VI's just don't understand this ... the reason being that they don't have to. But it becomes incredibly frustrating when they bleat on about houses never being so affordable, best time to buy and talk about markets bottoming out when they don't understand, nor consider just what impact house prices have on the lifestyle of the joe public. The affordability argument is regularly manipulated by comparing it to 2007 prices ... almost 50% down ... whoop-di-doo ... lets all run out and celebrate. Compared to 2000 they are still shockingly high. Are asking prices 50% down - hell no!

There was an article posted on here a while back highlighting that the younger generation would need to be earning the equivalent of 4 times what their parents earned in order to enjoy the same sort of lifestyle. Whilst I am not suggesting that our parents had bags full of money that they slept in each night it is a fair (and worrying) comparison to make when you drill down the facts and figures.

Most vendors need to wake up and realise that they do not have the right to demand such ridiculous sums of money for their homes. There really is no logic to the argument other than them clinging onto the argument that prices only ever go up and therefore resisting all drops with great ferocity on the way down because its not the perceived norm and must be a blip. I still hear the odd comment about when house prices start to rise again and it makes me want to scream when I hear this. Are ppl really that stupid that they think that there is no ceiling to what prices can rise to???? If that is the case then where does it all end ... when no-one can afford them?? If wage inflation was rising at the same rate then fair enough but its not, and it has really been wage deflation for the last 5 years. There is so much more to the housing market than just supply and demand (EA's logic) ... it may well play a part but affordability is the biggy.

Income to Price ratio's for affordability can vary between banks, but the long term average is around 3.5 for a reason - its based on evidence of sustainable mortgage lending, simple as that. Chuck in the fact that the cost of living is constantly rising, coupled with interest rate rises at some point and you may find that this average reduces in the future. I don't believe that Banks just pluck the figures on what to base this on out of the air ... they obviously consider what is sustainable. They clearly stopped using this during the peak and look what happened. It is worth remembering that this is only a guide, the bank will complete an application considering all of your income against your outgoings and if there isn't sufficient disposable income to support the loan then it won't be approved. This is what we are seeing more and more of ... open your eyes and see it for what it is. MTG's are being declined due to lack of affordability ... if they stack up they will be approved, but dont kids yourself that they are being approved for Mr & Mrs Average because for the most part they are not.

Shotoflight had a good stab at a breakdown of monthlt costs and i'm struggling to see whether ppl agreed or disagreed with it on first read over the posts. I would say it is prob on the light side for outgoings

A few extra points that I would add would be that because the loans for MTGs are higher now the cost to fully protect these loans is higher and ppl would be paying on average £50 on top just to get life & critical illness cover for it. Very few ppl have no debt and the hangover from the credit card balance transfer years still remains with many paying out £100's on minimum payments each month with massive outstanding balances. Very few can afford to save for Christmas so they instead use credit cards, store cards, club books, credit unions ... they all have to be paid back. Its scary to think just how many ppl are still living off debt ... robbing peter to pay paul. There has been plenty of articles from various bodies backing this up.

The key point made however is that households are now dependant on 2 incomes to sustain the current mortgage repayments for an average house. This clearly can not be supported long term. If and when people start to have kids ... which they will - it will not be sustainable for them. Its a timebomb waiting to go off. I would like to think that ppl still value having a family over having a big home ... maybe not??

Child care costs are horrendous and im speaking from experience. This is the biggest killer of all. A full time nursery costs in the region of £750 per month PER CHILD. Unless you have a granny who is prepared to mind your kids for free them you are up the creek without a paddle.

Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

Edited by tinbin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15
HOLA4416

I'm glad to see this thread ... this is exactly the type of point that I try to make around affordability.

EA's, House sellers and all other VI's just don't understand this ... the reason being that they don't have to. But it becomes incredibly frustrating when they bleat on about houses never being so affordable, best time to buy and talk about markets bottoming out when they don't understand, nor consider just what impact house prices have on the lifestyle of the joe public. The affordability argument is regularly manipulated by comparing it to 2007 prices ... almost 50% down ... whoop-di-doo ... lets all run out and celebrate. Compared to 2000 they are still shockingly high. Are asking prices 50% down - hell no!

There was an article posted on here a while back highlighting that the younger generation would need to be earning the equivalent of 4 times what their parents earned in order to enjoy the same sort of lifestyle. Whilst I am not suggesting that our parents had bags full of money that they slept in each night it is a fair (and worrying) comparison to make when you drill down the facts and figures.

Most vendors need to wake up and realise that they do not have the right to demand such ridiculous sums of money for their homes. There really is no logic to the argument other than them clinging onto the argument that prices only ever go up and therefore resisting all drops with great ferocity on the way down because its not the perceived norm and must be a blip. I still hear the odd comment about when house prices start to rise again and it makes me want to scream when I hear this. Are ppl really that stupid that they think that there is no ceiling to what prices can rise to???? If that is the case then where does it all end ... when no-one can afford them?? If wage inflation was rising at the same rate then fair enough but its not, and it has really been wage deflation for the last 5 years. There is so much more to the housing market than just supply and demand (EA's logic) ... it may well play a part but affordability is the biggy.

Income to Price ratio's for affordability can vary between banks, but the long term average is around 3.5 for a reason - its based on evidence of sustainable mortgage lending, simple as that. Chuck in the fact that the cost of living is constantly rising, coupled with interest rate rises at some point and you may find that this average reduces in the future. I don't believe that Banks just pluck the figures on what to base this on out of the air ... they obviously consider what is sustainable. They clearly stopped using this during the peak and look what happened. It is worth remembering that this is only a guide, the bank will complete an application considering all of your income against your outgoings and if there isn't sufficient disposable income to support the loan then it won't be approved. This is what we are seeing more and more of ... open your eyes and see it for what it is. MTG's are being declined due to lack of affordability ... if they stack up they will be approved, but dont kids yourself that they are being approved for Mr & Mrs Average because for the most part they are not.

Shotoflight had a good stab at a breakdown of monthlt costs and i'm struggling to see whether ppl agreed or disagreed with it on first read over the posts. I would say it is prob on the light side for outgoings

A few extra points that I would add would be that because the loans for MTGs are higher now the cost to fully protect these loans is higher and ppl would be paying on average £50 on top just to get life & critical illness cover for it. Very few ppl have no debt and the hangover from the credit card balance transfer years still remains with many paying out £100's on minimum payments each month with massive outstanding balances. Very few can afford to save for Christmas so they instead use credit cards, store cards, club books, credit unions ... they all have to be paid back. Its scary to think just how many ppl are still living off debt ... robbing peter to pay paul. There has been plenty of articles from various bodies backing this up.

The key point made however is that households are now dependant on 2 incomes to sustain the current mortgage repayments for an average house. This clearly can not be supported long term. If and when people start to have kids ... which they will - it will not be sustainable for them. Its a timebomb waiting to go off. I would like to think that ppl still value having a family over having a big home ... maybe not??

Child care costs are horrendous and im speaking from experience. This is the biggest killer of all. A full time nursery costs in the region of £750 per month PER CHILD. Unless you have a granny who is prepared to mind your kids for free them you are up the creek without a paddle.

Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

I appreciate the comments. Lolacarrascal is great with numbers and graphs which I find really useful and informative, I just wanted to 'quantify' some of the other discussions and provoke thought at a practical level.

You came to the conclusion I was alluding to re affordability, good time to buy etc.

You will note I didn't quote the average household income. The point was for people to use the bones of my figures - ie inescapable rising costs, then add on the extras to suit your lifestyle/spend eg childcare as you did or even a packet of fags at £6 per day = £180 per month, gym membership or whatever.

Whatever it is, then work your way backwards to see what post tax household income you would need to facilitate this. Without any unexpected surprises or luxuries. What about planning for your futures?

As you say my figures are very conservative, I believe. 2 yrs ago I was told by my local bank that the AVERAGE mort on their books was £1,000 per month. Look at some of the cars people drive - a two car family is probably close to the average now. Know anyone that's been to Disneyworld recently - I'll bet you do - there's £7k for a family of 4.

And I would suggest most families carry some debt -or credit - not including the Mort. See below for a further lending (and saving) source

Credit unions in Northern Ireland have close to 460,000 adult members and almost 90,000 juvenile depositors. They hold £942m in deposits and have made loans of £522m.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14737508

Don't forget the transaction costs to buy/move house upfront in the first place - Solicitor, stamp duty, EA, app fee etc.

I hope this post has added something to the affordability debate (albeit in a blunt and slightly awkward way) and is not seen, as was suggested, as a MSE Bankrupt's SOA - though that would no doubt be fascinating in terms of spending habits and the income/outgoings issues some people have, and often refuse to address.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16
HOLA4417

Child care costs are horrendous and im speaking from experience. This is the biggest killer of all. A full time nursery costs in the region of £750 per month PER CHILD. Unless you have a granny who is prepared to mind your kids for free them you are up the creek without a paddle.

You bet.!

£ 537.33 for 4 days for my child. Pro rate is £671.66 a month = £8,059.95 a year.

To earn £8,059.95 a year AFTER TAX I need to earn £8.900 a year.

£171 a week

on 38 hrs per week = £4.50 an hour I need to ear so someone else can mind my kid!

I get £243 in childcare vouchers - ie I get that amount taken out before tax - so a small savings there.

You need to be earning a decent wage before you can afford childcare.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17
HOLA4418

You bet.!

£ 537.33 for 4 days for my child. Pro rate is £671.66 a month = £8,059.95 a year.

To earn £8,059.95 a year AFTER TAX I need to earn £8.900 a year.

£171 a week

on 38 hrs per week = £4.50 an hour I need to ear so someone else can mind my kid!

I get £243 in childcare vouchers - ie I get that amount taken out before tax - so a small savings there.

You need to be earning a decent wage before you can afford childcare.

Some NI posters think that to buy an average house we should have two incomes and not have any kids.

The average family shouldn't be able to afford the average house.

But it's not affordability that's the problem. Oh no. It's deposits.

A flaw in the logic I think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18
HOLA4419
19
HOLA4420

Some NI posters think that to buy an average house we should have two incomes and not have any kids.

The average family shouldn't be able to afford the average house.

But it's not affordability that's the problem. Oh no. It's deposits.

A flaw in the logic I think.

Ironic isnt it ... the average family cant afford to buy an average house.

Average family doesn't earn what the supposed NI average salary is either ... check out the jobfinder this weekend and see just how many jobs are paying £25k per year. Not too many!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20
HOLA4421

Theres a massive amount of scamming, fraud and black economy in NI. I see it everywhere, from housewives driving X5s on business leases, to doing cash jobs, to misapproriating grants, to not declaring rental income. And thats just my neighbours. That scews things quite a bit IMO. Theres lots of people on big money. I heard just the other day of a woman that had spent 4grand on curtains for a room.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21
HOLA4422

Theres a massive amount of scamming, fraud and black economy in NI. I see it everywhere, from housewives driving X5s on business leases, to doing cash jobs, to misapproriating grants, to not declaring rental income. And thats just my neighbours. That scews things quite a bit IMO. Theres lots of people on big money. I heard just the other day of a woman that had spent 4grand on curtains for a room.

That maybe the case but what we're talking about is the average. The majority of people work in the public sector so limited scope there to fiddle with the tax. I know self employed people do "mess" with the figures and have the ability to hid real earnings but the vast majority of people operate within the bounds of PAYE.

The fact is the average couple can't expect to live in the average house with average interest rates and start a family if they pay for childcare and other average outgoings. Even with the lowest mortgage rates for 23 year (something BVI refutes) the average Joe can't afford it.

On the BTL rental income I know several people who are "forgetful" about filling in the annual tax return. They are using this extra income available as a result of lower interest rates to fund the lifestyle.

Also the people I know driving the x5s are usually the ones that have never had it so good with their 0.18 above base rate trackers. That maybe the case but what we're talking about is the average. The majority of people work in the public sector so limited scope there to fiddle with the tax. I know self employed people do "mess" with the figures and have the ability to hid real earnings but the vast majority of people operate within the bounds of PAYE.

The fact is the average couple can't expect to live in the average house with average interest rates and start a family if they pay for childcare and other average outgoings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22
HOLA4423

That maybe the case but what we're talking about is the average. The majority of people work in the public sector so limited scope there to fiddle with the tax. I know self employed people do "mess" with the figures and have the ability to hid real earnings but the vast majority of people operate within the bounds of PAYE.

The fact is the average couple can't expect to live in the average house with average interest rates and start a family if they pay for childcare and other average outgoings. Even with the lowest mortgage rates for 23 year (something BVI refutes) the average Joe can't afford it.

On the BTL rental income I know several people who are "forgetful" about filling in the annual tax return. They are using this extra income available as a result of lower interest rates to fund the lifestyle.

Also the people I know driving the x5s are usually the ones that have never had it so good with their 0.18 above base rate trackers. That maybe the case but what we're talking about is the average. The majority of people work in the public sector so limited scope there to fiddle with the tax. I know self employed people do "mess" with the figures and have the ability to hid real earnings but the vast majority of people operate within the bounds of PAYE.

The fact is the average couple can't expect to live in the average house with average interest rates and start a family if they pay for childcare and other average outgoings.

So either the 'average' wage goes up or the 'average' house price comes down (or both) until things synchronise and make sense, which brings us neatly to Lolacarascall's scenario planning thread with wage inflation and house deflation.

Most would probably agree the current position is unsustainable. Again, my view is that even if wages do start to rise (and that looks to be a long way off), it will take people a long time to 'catch up' and pay off any debt or replenish savings raided to 'get by'. Also for public sector, pension contribution increases will offset any pay rise, whilst RPI to CPI will deflate the final value. There's still another 1yr at least of a pay freeze and in a wider context, any pay rise needs to be 5% or above just to keep pace with inflation - the longer this goes on, the bigger the pay rise required - if still employed. And over this timescale (of future pay rises) interest rates will rise.

Those depending on savings (eg pensioners on fixed incomes) have also seen their 'wealth' or at least standard of living deteriorate ie less interest on savings and very high personal inflation.

There will always be scammers from benefit fraud to corporate tax evasion. My little scenario is simply for a 'regular' couple trying to get by, or indeed aspire to improve their lot. We should all recognise at least some of it. We all know times are hard. We just need to face up to it - especially those trying to flog 'average' houses at £150,000 and above.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23
HOLA4424
24
HOLA4425

The average income figure is, as it says an average income of the nation.

The split of tenancy of the nation is roughly 70% home ownership (small o) and 30% rental. This may well move towards the 60/40 position in the future.

The 70%, or so that make up the home ownership generally come from the 70% of higher earners. Therefore the average income of households that own their own home is generally, if not always higher than the average income of the nation. That is sad, but no doubt true. The same can also be said for car ownership.

There is not a big difference between the monthly mortgage payments and the rental costs. Of course there are extra running costs etc. However that is the choice people have to make.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information