'My world came crashing down': how 2020 took me from a six-figure salary to universal credit

[Si1]

2 minutes ago, regprentice said:

I too know people like this. 

If they are renting it will be a flash flat in the city centre. New built, steel and glass, concierge, pool etc. My audit manager was complaining during the last heatwave a few Fridays ago - his flat was wall to wall glass 8 stories up and the air con couldn't cope, no other buildings tall enough to block his flat from the sun - the proverbial boiling frog. 

Flash cars. Recently I sat at a bank of 4 desks, the other guys I sat with drove a X5, a BMW435i (wife drives an evoque) and a Range Rover Velar (wife drives a Merc GLC). That's easily £1.5k of lease repayments a month for the couples. 

You can overpay for anything, David Lloyd gyms cost 3 or 4 times a 'council' gym (my old pm paid £110 a month for her and her daughter when I paid £60 for a family of 4), take the train instead of the bus - costs twice as much and delayed once a week, £100+ uber home from a night out, waitrose or tesco? 3 foreign holidays a year for your family and overseas golf trips with your mates most bank holiday weekends. As you life evolves you can subtly change gears barely even realising it. 

Some people get big chunks of cash and it burns a hole in their pocket...constant redecoration, Camper vans, canal boats, weird investments. The guy with the Velar bought a bedsit so his wife didn't have to drive out from his remote farmhouse steading at 1am to pick him up after a night out. 

Incidentally cocaine is rife in some of the tougher pubs where I am. I couldn't get into the toilet last time I visited one local. Mainly working class labourers - doesn't seem to be an expensive or posh drug anymore. 

I used to spend far more when I was single than since I got loved up. Easy to spend £25+ several nights a week in the pub with your mates. Especially if work is stressing you. Plus if you live on your own there are fixed costs such as council tax, standing charges on utilities etc that are not proportionately lower.

I'm not defending it. But I can see how it happens.

[satsuma]

10 minutes ago, regprentice said:

I too know people like this. 

If they are renting it will be a flash flat in the city centre. New built, steel and glass, concierge, pool etc. My audit manager was complaining during the last heatwave a few Fridays ago - his flat was wall to wall glass 8 stories up and the air con couldn't cope, no other buildings tall enough to block his flat from the sun - the proverbial boiling frog. 

Flash cars. Recently I sat at a bank of 4 desks, the other guys I sat with drove a X5, a BMW435i (wife drives an evoque) and a Range Rover Velar (wife drives a Merc GLC). That's easily £1.5k of lease repayments a month for the couples. 

You can overpay for anything, David Lloyd gyms cost 3 or 4 times a 'council' gym (my old pm paid £110 a month for her and her daughter when I paid £60 for a family of 4), take the train instead of the bus - costs twice as much and delayed once a week, £100+ uber home from a night out, waitrose or tesco? 3 foreign holidays a year for your family and overseas golf trips with your mates most bank holiday weekends. As you life evolves you can subtly change gears barely even realising it. 

Some people get big chunks of cash and it burns a hole in their pocket...constant redecoration, Camper vans, canal boats, weird investments. The guy with the Velar bought a bedsit so his wife didn't have to drive out from his remote farmhouse steading at 1am to pick him up after a night out. 

Incidentally cocaine is rife in some of the tougher pubs where I am. I couldn't get into the toilet last time I visited one local. Mainly working class labourers - doesn't seem to be an expensive or posh drug anymore. 

Well if they were fund managers they were frugal, if they were in ordinary jobs then they were living beyond their means 

[shlomo]

8 hours ago, flb said:

If I may ask, what do they do with the money?

I bought a house in 2017, found myself ~212k in debt, I paid it off 2-3 months ago. I've got a family (yes, including children; no, no dog) to support.

What exactly do you spend your money on when you're renting (like that imaginary lady), got no children and you're making 100-200k? How do you end up chased by credit card companies/banks?

What do the people you're talking about do with their money? Cocaine or...?

Top of the range Mercs, holidays the best, presents for friends, charities, Costa, weekend getaways to Europe, latest iPhones, nice thing lots of miscellaneous 

[regprentice]

7 minutes ago, satsuma said:

Well if they were fund managers they were frugal, if they were in ordinary jobs then they were living beyond their means 

Anything between permanent staff on £75kish knowing they have a final salary pension to look forward to, to project contractors on £400-600 a day. 

£100k sounds like a lot of money - a normal person would take home £66k from that. But for some people after tax they will take home less than £50k - Student loans, paying own employers NI inside ir35, Scottish or Welsh additional income tax, repaying child benefit. It all adds up. 

Out of £50k, 2 cars on £1.5k is £18k a year, and a £2k flat is £24k a year, that leaves you with £8k.

[longgone]

17 minutes ago, shlomo said:

Top of the range Mercs, holidays the best, presents for friends, charities, Costa, weekend getaways to Europe, latest iPhones, nice thing lots of miscellaneous 

But those things cost beans other than the car if its brand new.

 

[longgone]

17 minutes ago, regprentice said:

Anything between permanent staff on £75kish knowing they have a final salary pension to look forward to, to project contractors on £400-600 a day. 

£100k sounds like a lot of money - a normal person would take home £66k from that. But for some people after tax they will take home less than £50k - Student loans, paying own employers NI inside ir35, Scottish or Welsh additional income tax, repaying child benefit. It all adds up. 

Out of £50k, 2 cars on £1.5k is £18k a year, and a £2k flat is £24k a year, that leaves you with £8k.

So effectively earning 100k is wasted as the car is well a car depreciating every day. And the rent will never be seen again.

Could live with your mum on 8k a year and forgo the rest.😂

[satsuma]

23 minutes ago, regprentice said:

Anything between permanent staff on £75kish knowing they have a final salary pension to look forward to, to project contractors on £400-600 a day. 

£100k sounds like a lot of money - a normal person would take home £66k from that. But for some people after tax they will take home less than £50k - Student loans, paying own employers NI inside ir35, Scottish or Welsh additional income tax, repaying child benefit. It all adds up. 

Out of £50k, 2 cars on £1.5k is £18k a year, and a £2k flat is £24k a year, that leaves you with £8k.

So they’d be on enough to have a bit spare but not enough to save anything worth talking about if they live like that as you say

[Si1]

13 minutes ago, longgone said:

So effectively earning 100k is wasted as the car is well a car depreciating every day. And the rent will never be seen again.

Could live with your mum on 8k a year and forgo the rest.😂

... Or tax credits etc

[Pop321]

1 hour ago, regprentice said:

I too know people like this. 

If they are renting it will be a flash flat in the city centre. New built, steel and glass, concierge, pool etc. My audit manager was complaining during the last heatwave a few Fridays ago - his flat was wall to wall glass 8 stories up and the air con couldn't cope, no other buildings tall enough to block his flat from the sun - the proverbial boiling frog. 

Flash cars. Recently I sat at a bank of 4 desks, the other guys I sat with drove a X5, a BMW435i (wife drives an evoque) and a Range Rover Velar (wife drives a Merc GLC). That's easily £1.5k of lease repayments a month for the couples. 

You can overpay for anything, David Lloyd gyms cost 3 or 4 times a 'council' gym (my old pm paid £110 a month for her and her daughter when I paid £60 for a family of 4), take the train instead of the bus - costs twice as much and delayed once a week, £100+ uber home from a night out, waitrose or tesco? 3 foreign holidays a year for your family and overseas golf trips with your mates most bank holiday weekends. As you life evolves you can subtly change gears barely even realising it. 

Some people get big chunks of cash and it burns a hole in their pocket...constant redecoration, Camper vans, canal boats, weird investments. The guy with the Velar bought a bedsit so his wife didn't have to drive out from his remote farmhouse steading at 1am to pick him up after a night out. 

Incidentally cocaine is rife in some of the tougher pubs where I am. I couldn't get into the toilet last time I visited one local. Mainly working class labourers - doesn't seem to be an expensive or posh drug anymore. 

That’s interesting, helps my insight a little. Some if this rings true, the cars, the need to spend £2500 each for a holiday in Mexico and don’t even see a Mexican. I spend a fraction of that a mingle in the streets in New York, the villages of Cinque Terre or the back streets of Florence. Good old budget flights...not sure how long they will survive though🤷🏻‍♂️
My ‘bonus’ was about £2k and whenever I got one that was Florida. Went about 6 times as the kids grew up. Good old travel city direct. One year we paid £200 for accommodation (for a family of 4) for 14 days in a Howard Johnson...breakfast included. Great holiday and knowing a villa was £2000 made me enjoy the holiday more.  

I guess having a child at 17 (in 1986), married and a house at 18 and genuinely really struggling for 3/4 years ie no home phone, no TV, then a black and white portable TV, cheap food, no car and luckily parents who gave us essentials for Christmas eg coats, shoes etc kind of set our expectations for life. Looking back our parents helped us discretely ie Sunday lunch, fish and chip Thursdays...pay for kids clubs etc. And we do the same now. 

I guess that is a real ‘bag lady’ mentality 

We moved house at 21/22. We were 25 when I bought our first car (old but brill Ford Escort)...by 30 our mortgage was repaid and we have moved into the home we are still in today. The housing market was very very kind to us including a wicked housing crash after we sold and moved to rented in the early 90’s. Very lucky indeed. 

To be fair we are now far away from a position where ‘just make do’ but to date we still have never bought a new or even newish car, nor a new piece of furniture ie dining suite, sofa etc. It’s all second hand, cheap but great quality. Ercol dining table £150 was RRP £2399. To be fair it was 3 years old. Danish made ‘french style’ three piece suite £200, was reupholstered before we bought for £2000 and was ‘worth’ new £4000. Too many example..I guess I like the wheeler dealer of buying nice things at the right price. 

I am definitely not ‘right’ when it comes to money and I don’t judge anyone who fritters theirs if it makes them really happy. All I do is I only spend in things that I really want. Not what other people think I should want. To be fair, I live in Yorkshire so tight scruffy people are mostly met with a admiring grin.😆 

I avoid zombie spending. But I could do a bit better and spend more and am working on that. I really have always wanted a nice portable WiFi BoSE sound thingy so we can listen to music and also let it connect to the tv so I can watch a movie with big noise. Not a big device though...a discrete thing that can go behind the sofa. Probably only £350 but it my lack of knowledge that stops that purchase...there now, you have made me spend some money.🤦🏻‍♂️

Thank you doctor...it’s actually been helpful to share. Same time next week? 

Edited September 3, 2020 by Pop321

[Si1]

34 minutes ago, regprentice said:

. 

Out of £50k, 2 cars on £1.5k is £18k a year, and a £2k flat is £24k a year, that leaves you with £8k.

The cars. Why the effing cars?!?

[longgone]

Just now, Si1 said:

... Or tax credits etc

Funny old world when yout average bennies scroungers lives better than a 100k earner and the necessary obligatory showy trinkets needed to command respect.

[Si1]

2 minutes ago, Pop321 said:

, no car 

Hard to impossible to do with many job locations these days. It's not a choice.

[flb]

I don't know. No amount of waitrose shopping will eat through a nice salary.

I drive a Mercedes. It's 350/month. Not necessarily cheap, but definitely not much of a dent in a 6 figure salary either. Waitrose vs Tesco...that's maybe a 100/month difference. Iphones...yeah, sure, get the new model every year, it's maybe 100/month as well (1200 for one, I guess?)  Holidays...yeah, that's fine, maybe 4000 for a holiday, it won't even eat through your bonus, never mind the salary. It just doesn't add up. Even if you add all of these up, you won't even get to 1000/month - out of 6000+ (we are talking about a 6 figure salary)

The only explanation I can think of is constantly (as in, every bloody day, not once a week) eating at expensive restaurants and wearing really expensive clothes (talking about 200 for a shirt or something like that)...or something shady (cocaine).

I've been on a 6 figure "salary" (contractor, actually) until recently. I ended up saving like 7k/month after everything. I wasn't even trying to save, it was what was left in the bank account. Granted, my wife has a job as well, so eh.

I think that story (the "original" one, in the Guardian) is 100% made up.

[Pop321]

16 minutes ago, Si1 said:

Hard to impossible to do with many job locations these days. It's not a choice.

Once we had a car I literally couldn’t do without one. 

I was promoted and 2 years commuting on train totally fried my brain. I have seen people 20 years later on that same train.

When I was undergoing a 3 year process of financially detaching myself from work I gave up the BMW company car  (I know, I know) took the cash incentive and saved the tax...and bought a Honda Jazz 1.4 petrol from a friend. It was green, dinted and cost £200. 32k on the clock it was superb round town and short commutes eg 20/30 miles one way. Flew through MoTs and a tyre was £30 fitted. My son wrote off his car and his punishment was he now has that car. It’s now 20 years old and he still turns the engine on (whilst sit is already running) at traffic lights because he thinks it’s stalled....it is literally that quiet. Ps....it looks awful, so thief and vandal proof 😆😆

Again wouldn’t  judge anyone who wants a nice drive and understands its true cost. I would challenge anyone who didn’t think this 20 year old Jazz wasn’t practically as good as any other car (for local driving).  

Edited September 3, 2020 by Pop321

[regprentice]

53 minutes ago, Pop321 said:

🤦🏻‍♂️thank you doctor...it’s actually been helpful to share. Same time next week? 

 

38 minutes ago, flb said:

I've been on a 6 figure "salary" (contractor, actually) until recently. I ended up saving like 7k/month after everything. I wasn't even trying to save, it was what was left in the bank account. Granted, my wife has a job as well, so eh.

To take home £7k a month paye you'd need to be on £140k minimum. So even if your living costs were modest your probably taking home substantially more than the '6 figure' salaries most people like those in the article would be boasting about. To earn that (or more) you need to be doing fairly heavy stuff, I think the discussion is more about fluffy non jobs that happen to be being paid 80-100k and the self delusion/grandeur that appears to come from earning a penny more than £99999.99. Apparently a middle class badge of honour to go with the new build and the white audi 

52 minutes ago, Si1 said:

The cars. Why the effing cars?!?

Same with people on low salaries. I live on a council estate, of my 5 immediate neighbours 3 are council tenants. For every 15 year old daewoo matiz in the street there is also a new leased audi Q3. One neighbour has a Tiguan on motability. For a lot of people it's about looking important, it looks odd (to me at least) to see an new audi parked sandwiched between a scaffolding van and a minibus outside a council flat, but when he rolls into work perhaps that audi creates the impression he drives home to a nice new build to be greeted by his stay at home wife and his 2.4 kids? 

Edited September 3, 2020 by regprentice

[Riedquat]

1 hour ago, Si1 said:

I used to spend far more when I was single than since I got loved up. Easy to spend £25+ several nights a week in the pub with your mates. Especially if work is stressing you. Plus if you live on your own there are fixed costs such as council tax, standing charges on utilities etc that are not proportionately lower.

I'm not defending it. But I can see how it happens.

Council tax has a single person discount.

[definitelynotanagent]

39 minutes ago, flb said:

I don't know. No amount of waitrose shopping will eat through a nice salary.

I drive a Mercedes. It's 350/month. Not necessarily cheap, but definitely not much of a dent in a 6 figure salary either. Waitrose vs Tesco...that's maybe a 100/month difference. Iphones...yeah, sure, get the new model every year, it's maybe 100/month as well (1200 for one, I guess?)  Holidays...yeah, that's fine, maybe 4000 for a holiday, it won't even eat through your bonus, never mind the salary. It just doesn't add up. Even if you add all of these up, you won't even get to 1000/month - out of 6000+ (we are talking about a 6 figure salary)

The only explanation I can think of is constantly (as in, every bloody day, not once a week) eating at expensive restaurants and wearing really expensive clothes (talking about 200 for a shirt or something like that)...or something shady (cocaine).

I've been on a 6 figure "salary" (contractor, actually) until recently. I ended up saving like 7k/month after everything. I wasn't even trying to save, it was what was left in the bank account. Granted, my wife has a job as well, so eh.

I think that story (the "original" one, in the Guardian) is 100% made up.

It's easy - 100k after some pension contributions etc will get you less than 5k a month.

Take away mortgage/rent of say 1700-2000, food+grocery shopping for a family of 4 at about 600-700 per month, council tax + other household bills ~400, and that's close to 3000 already. Add a couple of hundred for car insurance, tax, servicing, mot, petrol.

Then add kids clubs, gym memberships, breakfast clubs + after school care (~600 pcm per child), and maybe some school fees 1k+ pcm per child. This doesn't even include a car.

Now you're under water every month, without even going on holiday

Granted the school fees and gym memberships are optional, but a lot of the other costs aren't _really_ optional - you almost have to have a car, the kids maybe don't need to go to clubs (but I'd wager this was not considered optional for a lot of parents / kids - some clubs make life much better / enjoyable)

[Si1]

4 minutes ago, Riedquat said:

Council tax has a single person discount.

25% though

[flb]

12 minutes ago, definitelynotanagent said:

Take away mortgage/rent of say 1700-2000, food+grocery shopping for a family of 4 at about 600-700 per month,

But she doesn't own a house, she's renting; in the countryside as well, where you don't pay 1700-2000. She was probably paying 800 tops (don't you just love these made-up shed-a-tear articles that conveniently forget to give you any data - rent, location, age, area etc) She doesn't have a husband or children, so no family of 4 either.

13 minutes ago, definitelynotanagent said:

Then add kids clubs, gym memberships, breakfast clubs + after school care (~600 pcm per child), and maybe some school fees 1k+ pcm per child. This doesn't even include a car.

But she doesn't have children. She has a dog. No kids clubs, no after school care, no breakfast clubs. Just a bowl of dog food. It's not that expensive.

So basically you're talking about a single woman, with probably 800 in rent and let's say 200/month for a car. On a 6 figure salary - and she nuked her credit card, supposedly, because a 6 figure job just wasn't enough under the circumstances.

[definitelynotanagent]

1 minute ago, flb said:

But she doesn't own a house, she's renting; in the countryside as well, where you don't pay 1700-2000. She was probably paying 800 tops (don't you just love these made-up shed-a-tear articles that conveniently forget to give you any data - rent, location, age, area etc) She doesn't have a husband or children, so no family of 4 either.

But she doesn't have children. She has a dog. No kids clubs, no after school care, no breakfast clubs. Just a bowl of dog food. It's not that expensive.

So basically you're talking about a single woman, with probably 800 in rent and let's say 200/month for a car. On a 6 figure salary - and she nuked her credit card, supposedly, because a 6 figure job just wasn't enough under the circumstances.

Fair point about her, that's a lot of money to be spunking all on yourself.

 

[flb]

9 minutes ago, definitelynotanagent said:

that's a lot of money to be spunking all on yourself.

 

No, there isn't. Because it's all lies - typed by some lousy intern carefully executing his instructions given by his communist masters to promote their agenda.

I've been a contractor for the past few years, making those infamous 6 figures and there are precisely two ways of running out of money. You either have a serious coke/heroin habit OR you're into REALLY expensive stuff (like I said, wearing shirts that cost hundreds a piece). In either case I'd find it very, very difficult to conjure a tear to shed for such a person.

The issue with these lies is that basically anyone who makes 6 figures had to get there first - and had to learn a lot along the way. You don't just graduate and find yourself in that kind of job (unless daddy's someone important, in which case who cares about the money). You learn how to get ahead, how to deal with money etc.

That article is 140% bullsh!t.

[winkie]

1 hour ago, longgone said:

Funny old world when yout average bennies scroungers lives better than a 100k earner and the necessary obligatory showy trinkets needed to command respect.

Could it be people live up to the sum they are used to having......having said that, how often do you come across those that live a life well above their means, and there are also those that live well below their means.....is it to do with some are more optimistic about covering everything now and into the future, if not so what...make the most of it whilst can....and others more pessimistic.... with a plan to have something when might no longer have something......or some prefer a simpler life, making the most of other kinds of riches money cannot buy?

Takes all sorts to make the world go round.

[shlomo]

2 hours ago, longgone said:

But those things cost beans other than the car if its brand new.

 

The cost is dependent on how much money you think you have, so you upsell yourself 

2 years ago I went on holiday to turkey, the Turkish Cypriot women I work with told me to disregard the stars and pay more, she said the more you pay the more you get 

we all think that if something is cheap it is rubbish, and I have found this to be true 

 

[winkie]

9 minutes ago, shlomo said:

The cost is dependent on how much money you think you have, so you upsell yourself 

2 years ago I went on holiday to turkey, the Turkish Cypriot women I work with told me to disregard the stars and pay more, she said the more you pay the more you get 

we all think that if something is cheap it is rubbish, and I have found this to be true 

 

Varies widely....the most expensive is not always the best, depends what you want....why pay extra for extras will not want and will never use?

[longgone]

23 minutes ago, shlomo said:

The cost is dependent on how much money you think you have, so you upsell yourself 

2 years ago I went on holiday to turkey, the Turkish Cypriot women I work with told me to disregard the stars and pay more, she said the more you pay the more you get 

we all think that if something is cheap it is rubbish, and I have found this to be true 

 

what is a better a 5 star hotel near the airport or a 3 star walking distance to the beach and town.