[Closed] We earn £190k a year. Do we need to sell our flat to afford private school fees?

Managing a budget at work and managing your own budget are different things.

Being able to and actually doing it aren't the same.

If you always spend less than you earn there is no need to budget

Indeed. That sort of career path means you can go from a starter/grad position where you're barely getting by (at London prices), to one where you're running at a decent surplus within a few years. You stop checking your balance every few days to make sure your rent or bills will go out, because you always have enough left at the end of the month to cover it. You don't so much "budget" for things like holidays, just pick somewhere and there's probably enough to cover it without needing to specifically save for it.

You might sweep some money aside for things like a house deposit but I imagine these guys were from a time when 95+% mortgages were the norm and you just find somewhere you like, the mortgage is no more than rent was and you move in.

Then you have kids, suddenly lose an income and gain a load of extra expense and need to actually sit down and work out where all that money goes. Although I guess the couple in the article have probably been able to sleepwalk through that stage too, hence the advice essentially boiling down to "write a budget".

binners, is english your second language? 🙂
I can't see where you're reading any of that..

At a combined income of 190k in those professions in London I'd say that neither of them were that senior. Both are probably fairly junior in fact.

Sorry, no. They're very much in the upper bracket of incomes, even for London.

I still don't get the ire - they have sought advice on how to maintain their current lifestyle and then fit in school fees. The answer is addressed in the article: earn more or spend less or create money by liquidating assets.

Earn more or spend less? You're suggesting that this was a conclusion they couldn't reach for themselves?

I don't get the ire bneing expressed other than people seeing a bigger income than their own and feeling overcome by a strong emotional response. Do you also run your keys down the side of expensive cars?

Be upset at social and financial inequality in general, yes, but don't come across as envious at an otherwise slightly naive family.

the sooner we tax buy to let out of existence the better, would we allow any other necessity of life to be speculated upon by "investors"

In that eventuality, where will renters find a place to live?

Then you have kids, suddenly lose an income and gain a load of extra expense and need to actually sit down and work out where all that money goes.

Yes, that happened to us. Our solution was to spend less. Apart from bikes, obvs.

but speculating on property isn't a special case in itself.

apart from the supply side of the market being f***ed up & choices for opting out being fairly limited that is

Why would I be envious?

In which case why are you so angry at them?

Clickbait

In that eventuality, where will renters find a place to live?

BTL investors are not dong it for the good of the masses believe me, less buying demand would reduce costs allowing some people priced out of the market to buy & reduce rents for others

In which case why are you so angry at them?

I'm not angry. I just think they're pathetic.

They only have a few hundred pounds in cash savings

Give it 15 -20 years and they'll be burnt out with a massive mortgage to pay off and no pension.

They take home around £9300 per month, I'm struggling to see what they spend it all on after the expenses in the articale are accounted for.
I have friends in the same situation and I've not seen a bunch of more stressed out people in my life, they look broken and never really see their kids.
Having decided to step back from promotion at work and prioritise my family a few years ago I've never been happier. But anyhoo, if it all matters to them that much , I wish them luck (I bet they own s##t bikes).

£24k a year on school fees and properties over £1m.

Sell up and put your kids in state school... then get in the sea.

25k on school fees? i bet half of that is currently spent on various gym memberships, full sky tv subscriptions, lunchtime food and take-aways, wine club subscriptions, organic fruit/veg box that gets mostly binned and various other direct debits and outgoings.
anyone with half a brain could look at and see where to prune to make those savings without really having a huge impact on the quality of life.

For info, I was interested in terms of what they did.. In terms of their jobs, one is a "associate director" at a mid tier management consultancy and another is a "senior associate" at a Top 100 City law firm.

A comparable job to me and with a much smaller mortgage and my wife working part time, I wouldn't consider myself as anywhere near to affording to send my kids to private school.

I bet they own s##t bikes)

i bet they are betterer and nicerer than your s##t pleb bikes

I bet they own s##t bikes)

i bet they are betterer and nicerer than your s##t pleb bikes

I feel so small right now.

anyone with half a brain could look at and see where to prune to make those savings without really having a huge impact on the quality of life.

You're suggesting they can cope without organic humous hand delivered from the local vegan commune? I think that's taking it a bit far.

They just need to give up Sky, Beer and fags and make the Giro last a bit longer....

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Can you imagine the reply for the daily telegraph if some working class oik asked for advice on reigning their spending in as they were racking up debts on credit cards, spending more than they earned?

[i]The issue isn't the content of the article but the fact that the lower classes are reading a broadsheet newspaper [/i]

🙂

tbh In a past life we were earning that kinda of money AND affording private schooling for our son plus the usual 'costs' and had cash to spare - but we had neither a huge mortgage or a BTL. They just need to do a bit of budgeting, and I'd sell the BTL.

The bit that jumps out at me is earning 190k a year and spend just 5k of it on holidays! Admittedly me as a Singleton is in a different situation to a family of four, but I spend about as much on holidays/travelling as they do and earn approximately 10% of their joint income! ....living in Stoke helps with managing my budget though 🙂

They strike me as the type of people that know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

It doesn't say that they spend £5k on holidays.

Ah right, saw mention of 5k on holidays in the OP. My bad.

The £190K is likely to be total income - based on where they work my reckoning is that their salaries are probably around the £150K mark combined with the rest being bonuses that may or may not happen.

Looking at the size of their combined mortgages the couple are massively over leveraged so it's not surprising they are panicking - their options are:

- drop their private school aspirations
- downsize
- train the kids to be stars on x-factor and then retire early
- sell the children to a dubious Fagin like character and live the good life.
- take out life insurance and both do a Lord Lucan so that the kids can go to boarding school until they are 18
- move the family home to the midlands and both spend 4 hours a day on a train scuttling to and from London
- buy and read a copy of "personal finance" for dummies and make some common sense decisions that most people irrespective of income can take i.e. reduce regular outgoings to no more than 90% of net income.

It doesn't say that they spend £5k on holidays.

And if any of their friends found out they spent that little, they'd be ostracised instantly.

For info, I was interested in terms of what they did.. In terms of their jobs, one is a "associate director" at a mid tier management consultancy and another is a "senior associate" at a Top 100 City law firm.

I'm surprised a Lawyer has allowed their name and story to be published like this. They are very public facing, and no doubt people will be googling their name to check who is handling their case and going to be quite surprised when this article pops up explaining their bad financial decisions.

Looking at the size of their combined mortgages the couple are massively over leveraged so it's not surprising they are panicking

Not sure about that - the rent on the flat will be covering one mortgage I'd like to think. Possibly they've had the flat empty for a few months hence the panic.

The £8k on credit cards could be interest free cash advance to put in the savings account like everyone on STW thinks is a good idea (though looks like it never reached it and went on a new handbag possibly).

Some of those calculations for kids education look a bit flaky to me - including the £9k for university fees.

Clikcbait, much like those reports that raising children 'costs' £500k over their school days. Thats if you assume you'd have to move house, buy a big new car, etc. etc.

Basically like everyone says, do a budget, decide what is important to you. They have a lot more going for them than people on the breadline.

At a combined income of 190k in those professions in London I'd say that neither of them were that senior. Both are probably fairly junior in fact.

+1

One (or both) of them is on a relatively low wage for a "senior associate" or "associate director" position. Although the fact he has to mention that it is a "Top 100" firm would suggest that he was clutching at straws?

Neither here nor there though. Still surprised someone would actually be happy to have their photo in the Telegraph next to an article like that.

Still surprised someone would actually be happy to have their photo in the Telegraph next to an article like that.

They've put their pride to one side to help highlight a difficult problem that is often hidden yet affects a large number of middle class people - a total lack of common sense. Without their noble sacrifice we would be ignorant of their plight and that of many others. Please donate now to 'I haven't got a clue how the other half live, but need more cash now' PO Box .....

am i the only one who, when trying to imagine what our 2 wealthy subjects are spending all their money on, keeps coming back to visions of this handsome fellow?

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"this year alone ... an astonishing 59,000 pounds on socks!"

anyway, £5k on holidays? - that'll barely cover one week in Tuscany.

Bit late to this but is the article a Jambanomics allegory for the country's economics?

Bit late to this but is the article a Jambanomics allegory for the country's economics?

I did think the bloke in the article must be an STWer.....

I did think the bloke in the article must be an STWer.....

I seriously just don't know where the money goes. its as if it just evaporates.

*unloads XTR kitted carbon Santa Cruz out the back of the pimped out T5*

when trying to imagine what our 2 wealthy subjects are spending all their money on,

They aren't really wealthy though, they don't have that much in the way of real hard cash or assets. Assuming they actually got the asking price on their flat then they'd have £137k in cash and another £215k tied up in their house.

Still with their wages and a bit of being sensible they could sort the problem quickly, which is a luxury most don't have.

They aren't really wealthy though

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah.

Please donate now to 'I haven't got a clue how the other half live, but need more cash now' PO Box .....

Dickyboy - Member

the sooner we tax buy to let out of existence the better, would we allow any other necessity of life to be speculated upon by "investors"

Err, yes. Just about any commodity you can think of.

They aren't really wealthy though

I think I saw that very ad in Private Eye.

I always wonder if people donate to them....

I don't think they're wealthy - potentially wealthy of course if they don't mess things up.

I don't think they're wealthy

Assuming they actually got the asking price on their flat then they'd have £137k

Or as someone working full time, on minimum wage would refer to that figure.... 12 years wages

They could move to a large 3 bed house in Wythenshawe and live mortgage free 😀

Just because a minimum wage person is poor doesn't make these people wealthy - but we all have our own definitions. Wealthy for me is not having to work whilst living in a nice house/area.

Fair play. Being in the top 1% of earners in the UK, with a household income of 200k a year, doesn't make you wealthy at all.

My apologies

Meanwhile.... back on planet earth......

Not quite top 1%, but very hard to argue they're not wealthy:

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http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/may/21/british-household-1m-assets

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