What is a decent salary?
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I am not ashamed to say that I never wanted to earn as much as any of you here, my goal is £13,000, but I know this is barely enough to sustain me in this country, I was always interested in relocating to a developing country.
Original post by johnsamuels
I know the word "decent" can be subjective. But for a single ADULT male to live comfortably, this means, tv, internet computer, mobile, decent housing, a small car, a night out once in a while, etc.. What would be a decent salary.
I am guessing 21k a year?
I am guessing 21k a year?
Ooo..........ouch no.
To have a car and live well; 28k, I **** you not. A car is seriously expensive, and this is assuming you house/flat share.
If you want your own apartment and car, easy 32k+
Original post by Maths and cheesecake
I am not ashamed to say that I never wanted to earn as much as any of you here, my goal is £13,000, but I know this is barely enough to sustain me in this country, I was always interested in relocating to a developing country.
13k is tough if you don't own a house.
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Original post by Jimbo1234
Ooo..........ouch no.
To have a car and live well; 28k, I **** you not. A car is seriously expensive, and this is assuming you house/flat share.
If you want your own apartment and car, easy 32k+
To have a car and live well; 28k, I **** you not. A car is seriously expensive, and this is assuming you house/flat share.
If you want your own apartment and car, easy 32k+
70p per mile, cheap second hand car? I can probably get by on 22k.
Original post by River85
70p per mile, cheap second hand car? I can probably get by on 22k.
Erm, insurance, tax, MOTO, repairs on said second hand car, etc?
Cars cost a hell of a lot of money, and if you are not using it a lot eg low fuel bill, then you probably can't justify owning one.
Original post by Jimbo1234
Erm, insurance, tax, MOTO, repairs on said second hand car, etc?
Excluding repairs, but other running and standing costs, I think 70p a mile isn't too far off.
The RAC came out with an average cost of under 7k a year a couple of years ago, and this was highlighted as being pessimistic/exaggerated by some commentators.
I can live on 15k quite comfortably (and still have money left over to save, though perhaps I wouldn't if I had to pay transport costs). Cars can be expensive, yes, but please tell me why I need an additional 10k in order to run one?
Original post by River85
Excluding repairs, but other running and standing costs, I think 70p a mile isn't too far off.
The RAC came out with an average cost of under 7k a year a couple of years ago, and this was highlighted as being pessimistic/exaggerated by some commentators.
I can live on 15k quite comfortably (and still have money left over to save, though perhaps I wouldn't if I had to pay transport costs). Cars can be expensive, yes, but please tell me why I need an additional 10k in order to run one?
The RAC came out with an average cost of under 7k a year a couple of years ago, and this was highlighted as being pessimistic/exaggerated by some commentators.
I can live on 15k quite comfortably (and still have money left over to save, though perhaps I wouldn't if I had to pay transport costs). Cars can be expensive, yes, but please tell me why I need an additional 10k in order to run one?
Hm, where are you living as I can not see how you can live off 15k and have a car, I know people on 26k who are hard pushed to do that.
Though I think a lot comes down to rent - how much are you paying for rent, and then hobbies, social life etc?
Say; £500pcm rent,180pcm bills, 150 food, anywhere between 40-200 on social life, 20-100 on hobbies.
After tax, NI, pension, and student loan, 15k leaves you very short on that - let alone the extra few thousand need for a car (say 3.5k).
Original post by Jimbo1234
Hm, where are you living as I can not see how you can live off 15k and have a car, I
I never said I had a car. I don't drive and have little to no transport costs at all (car or public transport).
I have an income of about 16k (I don't work FT, preferring to have substantial free time for leisure, voluntary work and possibly a Masters) and I get by comfortably enough and still able to save.
I don't buy much in the way of luxuries, but I still have the sort of life the OP is describing.
So even if I were to get a car (which I won't as can't drive), and we take the RAC's figure of 6 - 7k, this would mean I'd need to earn about 25k, maybe still 2 or so k less.
Though I think a lot comes down to rent - how much are you paying for rent, and then hobbies, social life etc?
Say; £500pcm rent,180pcm bills, 150 food, anywhere between 40-200 on social life, 20-100 on hobbies.
Say; £500pcm rent,180pcm bills, 150 food, anywhere between 40-200 on social life, 20-100 on hobbies.
£215 a month in rent for a shared house in a relatively affuent area of Newcastle, albeit a basic house. I realise this is cheap. Not as cheap as my first house in Durham though (£171 a month
)No idea about bills as I still haven't needed to pay in any this new house, but going on by previous two houses £80 a month was sufficient (less if sharing).
£200 food and toiletries (perhaps more)
£100 clothes
£100 to £200 on social life and hobbies (I could easily spend more, but many things I do cost little if any money, and I'm trying to save as much money as I can for travelling and other things).
£100 for emergencies.
Even this leaves me with some left over cash. So why do I need to earn 10k more in order to run a car?
After tax, NI, pension, and student loan, 15k leaves you very short on that - let alone the extra few thousand need for a car (say 3.5k).
Effectively no tax or NI on my income (as my earnings aren't actually 16k). Even if my earnings were 16k, tax and NI this would eat up my "spare" money but little to nothing more. No student loan repayments as it's below the threshold.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by River85
I never said I had a car. I don't drive and have little to no transport costs at all (car or public transport).
I have an income of about 16k (I don't work FT, preferring to have substantial free time for leisure, voluntary work and possibly a Masters) and I get by comfortably enough and still able to save.
I don't buy much in the way of luxuries, but I still have the sort of life the OP is describing.
So even if I were to get a car (which I won't as can't drive), and we take the RAC's figure of 6 - 7k, this would mean I'd need to earn about 25k, maybe still 2 or so k less.
£215 a month in rent for a shared house in a relatively affuent area of Newcastle, albeit a basic house. I realise this is cheap. Not as cheap as my first house in Durham though (£171 a month )
No idea about bills as I still haven't needed to pay in any this new house, but going on by previous two houses £80 a month was sufficient (less if sharing).
£200 food and toiletries (perhaps more)
£100 clothes
£100 to £200 on social life and hobbies (I could easily spend more, but many things I do cost little if any money, and I'm trying to save as much money as I can for travelling and other things).
£100 for emergencies.
Even this leaves me with some left over cash. So why do I need to earn 10k more in order to run a car?
Effectively no tax or NI on my income (as my earnings aren't actually 16k). Even if my earnings were 16k, tax and NI this would eat up my "spare" money but little to nothing more. No student loan repayments as it's below the threshold.
I have an income of about 16k (I don't work FT, preferring to have substantial free time for leisure, voluntary work and possibly a Masters) and I get by comfortably enough and still able to save.
I don't buy much in the way of luxuries, but I still have the sort of life the OP is describing.
So even if I were to get a car (which I won't as can't drive), and we take the RAC's figure of 6 - 7k, this would mean I'd need to earn about 25k, maybe still 2 or so k less.
£215 a month in rent for a shared house in a relatively affuent area of Newcastle, albeit a basic house. I realise this is cheap. Not as cheap as my first house in Durham though (£171 a month
)No idea about bills as I still haven't needed to pay in any this new house, but going on by previous two houses £80 a month was sufficient (less if sharing).
£200 food and toiletries (perhaps more)
£100 clothes
£100 to £200 on social life and hobbies (I could easily spend more, but many things I do cost little if any money, and I'm trying to save as much money as I can for travelling and other things).
£100 for emergencies.
Even this leaves me with some left over cash. So why do I need to earn 10k more in order to run a car?
Effectively no tax or NI on my income (as my earnings aren't actually 16k). Even if my earnings were 16k, tax and NI this would eat up my "spare" money but little to nothing more. No student loan repayments as it's below the threshold.
The issue here is your rent (or lack of issue for you
)The average is £500. £215 and no bills is insanely cheap and frees up enough for a car etc. As I said, deduct a further 400pcm to make up for normal rent, and as you are PT I'm guessing you don't pay into a pension scheme (100pcm) or pay back your student loan (another 100pcm)
So it is a combination of super cheap rent, and earn more = taxed more etc as 10k more only equates in real terms to about 500 more a month at most after tax....which is then what goes into the car.
Original post by Unsworth
Decent salary in my opinion (talking London) would be £75k+
No, that would be a very good salary by almost any person's reckoning. It would place you toward the highest earners in society, and is over three times the average salary.
I do think people need to read the OP's question. Decent means allowing a person to meet basic living costs, run a car, and go out a couple of times a week. This can be done on 30k, even in London. less than half what you suggest.
Original post by Jimbo1234
Erm, insurance, tax, MOTO, repairs on said second hand car, etc?
Cars cost a hell of a lot of money, and if you are not using it a lot eg low fuel bill, then you probably can't justify owning one.
Cars cost a hell of a lot of money, and if you are not using it a lot eg low fuel bill, then you probably can't justify owning one.
Ok so I will go to bed after this post (self constraint etc.. ) but I have a 3.7K car (at the time) and I earn 12.5K
before my "earnings " were around half that due to student loans though I had this little thing called "savings"
Original post by River85
No, that would be a very good salary by almost any person's reckoning. It would place you toward the highest earners in society, and is over three times the average salary.
I do think people need to read the OP's question. Decent means allowing a person to meet basic living costs, run a car, and go out a couple of times a week. This can be done on 30k, even in London. less than half what you suggest.
I do think people need to read the OP's question. Decent means allowing a person to meet basic living costs, run a car, and go out a couple of times a week. This can be done on 30k, even in London. less than half what you suggest.
Bear in mind, the average housing costs are over 300k to buy in London so a 75k salary is only just sufficient for this. Might not be what the OP described but most people would consider being able to buy their own house 'decent'.
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Imho, 25k+ is ideal
Before going into more detail, let's just increase my rent to something that's broadly in line with the national average. But first I'd just like to stress again that I do not have a car: -
I have an income of 16k a year. I don't earn 16k a year. This is important in terms of tax and NI, as much of my income is not taxable. But even assume I do earn all my 16k a year, then: -
£400 pm rent
£100 Bills
£200 food
£100 clothes
£200 social/hobbies
£100 emergencies
That's just over 13k. Haven't included council tax but I do have an an emergency fund and have perhaps overestimated one or two other things.
Then add £2 - 3k in NI and tax.
This takes up my 16k "salary".
So my point remains, I think a 22k - 25k salary is sufficient in order to run a car.
More like £400.
I know my rent is cheap. Which is one reason why I can save money. I have never hid this.
I can still chose to get my own place, or share a two bedroom property, for £400 a month on my current income. So I don't need to earn more. My earnings will still cover the additional rent and council tax.
My second house in Durham, which I rented myself, was £380 a month (and really not worth that, it was a dump). But I was still able to rent this, and cover bills, comfortably enough as a student, with an income half of my current income.
Officially I am supposed to be paying bills, it's just my housemate who is in charge of the bills has never wanted for the money. We're well in credit with the companies and he's hoping to sell a lot of stuff to put in a "bills fund", then will look to see what everyone owes if anything.
So with bills included, going by previous experience, it'd be at £100 or so a month.
I've still been putting "bill money" to one side since living here.
No. Even a full time worker on 16k won't pay off student loans as it's under the threshold. I said this in my last post. Whether someone is FT or PT is irrelevant. What is relevant is their income.
I'm 20 hours a week, plus a second job which is a zero hours graduate job. I can pay into a pension if I want to. It's just pointless as I'll be leaving to travel, then study, in two years. I haven't bothered including a pension in calculations though as I (perhaps wrongly) assumed the OP was referring to just living a carefree couple of years as as a young person with no dependents. No mention was made on pension or savings in his post.
I don't have a car.
You really think I'm suggesting that it's possibly to have a decent living, and own a car, on 15 or 16k a year? I'm not.
I have an income of 16k a year. I don't earn 16k a year. This is important in terms of tax and NI, as much of my income is not taxable. But even assume I do earn all my 16k a year, then: -
£400 pm rent
£100 Bills
£200 food
£100 clothes
£200 social/hobbies
£100 emergencies
That's just over 13k. Haven't included council tax but I do have an an emergency fund and have perhaps overestimated one or two other things.
Then add £2 - 3k in NI and tax.
This takes up my 16k "salary".
So my point remains, I think a 22k - 25k salary is sufficient in order to run a car.
Original post by Jimbo1234
The issue here is your rent (or lack of issue for you )
The average is £500.
)The average is £500.
More like £400.
I know my rent is cheap. Which is one reason why I can save money. I have never hid this.
I can still chose to get my own place, or share a two bedroom property, for £400 a month on my current income. So I don't need to earn more. My earnings will still cover the additional rent and council tax.
My second house in Durham, which I rented myself, was £380 a month (and really not worth that, it was a dump). But I was still able to rent this, and cover bills, comfortably enough as a student, with an income half of my current income.
£215 and no bills
Officially I am supposed to be paying bills, it's just my housemate who is in charge of the bills has never wanted for the money. We're well in credit with the companies and he's hoping to sell a lot of stuff to put in a "bills fund", then will look to see what everyone owes if anything.
So with bills included, going by previous experience, it'd be at £100 or so a month.
I've still been putting "bill money" to one side since living here.
As I said, deduct a further 400pcm to make up for normal rent, and as you are PT I'm guessing you don't pay into a pension scheme (100pcm) or pay back your student loan (another 100pcm)
No. Even a full time worker on 16k won't pay off student loans as it's under the threshold. I said this in my last post. Whether someone is FT or PT is irrelevant. What is relevant is their income.
I'm 20 hours a week, plus a second job which is a zero hours graduate job. I can pay into a pension if I want to. It's just pointless as I'll be leaving to travel, then study, in two years. I haven't bothered including a pension in calculations though as I (perhaps wrongly) assumed the OP was referring to just living a carefree couple of years as as a young person with no dependents. No mention was made on pension or savings in his post.
So it is a combination of super cheap rent, and earn more = taxed more etc as 10k more only equates in real terms to about 500 more a month at most after tax....which is then what goes into the car.
I don't have a car.
You really think I'm suggesting that it's possibly to have a decent living, and own a car, on 15 or 16k a year? I'm not.
Original post by will2348
Bear in mind, the average housing costs are over 300k to buy in London so a 75k salary is only just sufficient for this. Might not be what the OP described but most people would consider being able to buy their own house 'decent'.
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No, he doesn't. I'm largely taking this as a young person in their 20s with no dependents and is happy renting for 2 - 3 years, before perhaps settling down and will therefore look to earn more. Maybe happy renting all their life, which is more common on the continent.
Besides, most first time buyers will be looking at cheaper properties, or the special schemes that allow you to get a mortgage for part of the property, and rent the rest out to pay off the remaining part of the mortgage.
For example, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, my brother had a salary of 25k when he first came to London in 2008, around 50k now, and has been able to get onto the property ladder easily enough. A young professionals/first time buyers apartment in Shadwell.
Original post by River85
I have an income of 16k a year. I don't earn 16k a year. This is important in terms of tax and NI, as much of my income is not taxable. But even assume I do earn all my 16k a year, then: -
£400 pm rent
£100 Bills
£200 food
£100 clothes
£200 social/hobbies
£100 emergencies
That's just over 13k. Haven't included council tax but I do have an an emergency fund and have perhaps overestimated one or two other things.
Then add £2 - 3k in NI and tax.
This takes up my 16k "salary".
So my point remains, I think a 22k - 25k salary is sufficient in order to run a car
I have an income of 16k a year. I don't earn 16k a year. This is important in terms of tax and NI, as much of my income is not taxable. But even assume I do earn all my 16k a year, then: -
£400 pm rent
£100 Bills
£200 food
£100 clothes
£200 social/hobbies
£100 emergencies
That's just over 13k. Haven't included council tax but I do have an an emergency fund and have perhaps overestimated one or two other things.
Then add £2 - 3k in NI and tax.
This takes up my 16k "salary".
So my point remains, I think a 22k - 25k salary is sufficient in order to run a car
I suppose it's all about choices. I earn £25k and wouldn't say I'd run a car unless I had to. I probably could, but other things would have to go.
I currently clear about £1500 a month after tax/NI/pension.
Rent - £310
Bills - c£120
Food - c£100
Transport - £60
Credit card bill - £120
Student overdraft- £50
Social - £300
... Leaves me something around £450-500 each month depending on exact figures to put into savings.
I think I have a decent wage for my stage in life and would take issue with anyone claiming otherwise.
It's a different story as soon as you start adding in dependants, though, which is why I have the £35-40k figure I did in my first post.
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Original post by de_monies
Ok so I will go to bed after this post (self constraint etc.. ) but I have a 3.7K car (at the time) and I earn 12.5K
before my "earnings " were around half that due to student loans though I had this little thing called "savings"
before my "earnings " were around half that due to student loans though I had this little thing called "savings"
And what is the cost of your rent/cost of living, and who gave you these savings etc?
Plus savings are a finite supply thus such an idea is unsustainable in the long run.
NB. if you only earn 12.5k, then you won't pay back your student loan...
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