[Closed] What is considered a 'good' salary?

I think that what you do with your salary is far more important that the amount you earn in the first place

I'm guessing someone works under their own ltd company now rather than be a permanent employee.
Doesn't really matter.
That's still not how tax bands work

If you pay more out on dividends and spend out more on items that could reduce your profit there's less corporation tax to pay. Brackets remain the same but you could pay less on tax.

I've just jacked in a not very well paid but fantastic job with an amazing lifestyle for an extra 1 at the begining of my salary. Weather this vast figure makes up for leaving behind what I love will determine if its a good salary I guess. I don't think you can put a number on it.

In my employment, I will never be rich, but never be poor. Can't put a value on that IMO.

(plus I have an enor[b][Moderated][/b] so I don't need an Audi 😀 *)

*I really want an Audi.

My aim in life as far as ££ goes is to always earn my age in 000's.

Good salary? About 10k more than you earn right now. Simples.

If you pay more out on dividends and spend out more on items that could reduce your profit there's less corporation tax to pay. Brackets remain the same but you could pay less on tax.

Well, that's true obviously. But isn't really what was said earlier.

He said that breaching the higher rate threshold reduces your take home pay.

And obviously, anyone earning that amount would know that it doesn't

Someone who doesn't understand tax bands, might think that it does though.

an amount that means spending a third or less on your living costs whatever they are.
a decent buffer to live on for a year or 2 if things go tits up.

40k is comfortable, 70k is very comfortable, from experience. though I do have a small mortgage no credit card debts or children to pay for! And the missus pays her share too, we also drive old bangers but have nice holidays and ace bikes.

Rather important to look at how many hours a week you put in to earn the money too. As well as adding in travel time..

£80'000 a year is pretty good, but not if you work 60 hour weeks and spend two hours a day travelling there and back.

We had a guy at work that complained that the new owners didn't buy the staff biscuits for their tea break anymore, despite paying him about 2£/hr more so he could buy himself a pkt of biccy's and a new car! It's all relative.

@bearnessecities . . . Was the moderated bit

'mouse c*ck'

Ah bless 😆

I earn over 30k and feel poor - suspect a lot of that is due to having so many mouths to feed and astronomical childcare bills . . . Counting the days until they are big enough to not need so much.

A figure for an income where you don't have to check how much you have in the current account at the end of the month.

I pay my cleaners, driver and cook minimum wage which is plenty for that type of person,surely they would be dangerous with any more!For me though,i wouldn't be happy earning less than £150k.
😉

As many others have said, it's completely relative the where you live, your housing situation, whether you have kids, whether your wife/partner works, how many holidays/cars you feel entitled to, etc.

neilco - Member
Good salary? About 10k more than you earn right now. Simples.

This is the only completely correct answer on here!

When you have one household income, a family to support and the kind of mortgage required to buy a fairly meagre house in the South East to shelter them, £50k is a minimum I'd say. And you still have no foreign holidays and drive a 10 year old car.

Earning £50k in your 20s, with your partner earning the same, would, however, make you feel pretty well off!

Harsh AW, harsh 😀

If you pay more out on dividends and spend out more on items that could reduce your profit there's less corporation tax to pay. Brackets remain the same but you could pay less on tax.
Well, that's true obviously. But isn't really what was said earlier.
He said that breaching the higher rate threshold reduces your take home pay.
And obviously, anyone earning that amount would know that it doesn't
Someone who doesn't understand tax bands, might think that it does though.

Understand-sorry off topic. I focussed on the accountant part. You wouldn't necessarily pay more out earning more on a paye basis but there are definitely advantages by going ltd and an accountant is involved. A good accountant that is. 🙂 cheers.

if at the end of the year you ve done evrything you wanted, piad all your bills and you have £1 more in the bank than you had at the start of the year then that is a good salary..

i ve achieved that for the last 6 years since i gave up my top paying 24/7 role and became self employed and worked for who i want when i want.

money buys relatively little .. time/ family cant be bought at any price

time/ family cant be bought at any price

Plus 1

if at the end of the year you ve done evrything you wanted, piad all your bills and you have £1 more in the bank than you had at the start of the year then that is a good salary..

Not for me it isn't. Want some money in the bank for a rainy day/retirement/emergencies after all expenses.

if at the end of the year you ve done evrything you wanted, piad all your bills and you have £1 more in the bank than you had at the start of the year then that is a good salary..

Don't you want to save up for something? Car, wedding, bigger home, special holiday, 2nd home, yacht....

just a bit more than you spend

[img] [/img]

Bottom line is that if you worry about this stuff you'll never be happy

[quote=ronswanson ]Thanks for some of the feedback.
I think deep down I know the offset of a better work life ratio is the only real option but greed keeps rearing its ugly head.
Having got to a salary that is in excess of my age it feels like taking a drop and lower responsibility would be tantamount to 'failing'.
The new salary is by no means poor based on the averages mentioned earlier in the thread but it would be around a 25% reduction which would be going back 5 years..... :-/ . That said I don't get enjoy the role anymore.
If STW had been around 25 years ago, it could have been me writing that. I took a 20% drop by coming off shifts, worked my way through the ranks a bit and then took a sideways move out of management. I don't regret any of it. Both of those major changes resulted in a better quality-of-life that more than made up for any financial loss. The thing NOT to do is take the cut and fail to adjust/take advantage of it.

So long as Income - Essential Expenditure leaves enough for fun things then it's good. If the income isn't enough then you need to change the expenditure.

Having taken out joint income down to about 2/3rds of what it was in 2012 we live in a nicer house, have nicer bikes and a better quality of life.

Most folks have no grip on this at all though do they?
All wrapped up in cosy first world
I mean if you can eat and stay warm it's all good is it not.

Most folks have no grip on this at all though do they?
All wrapped up in cosy first world
I mean if you can eat and stay warm it's all good is it not.

Nope - that's called surviving.

We do actually live in a first world country, some luxuries are allowed - if your nouveau hippie values will stretch to that of course 😉

Threads like this make me remember "knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing".

Surely a good salary is one in which you get to do a job that doesn't make you feel like a miserable robot every day.

Surely a good salary is one in which you get to do a job that doesn't make you feel like a miserable robot every day.

This.

I'm lucky, I get paid a good salary to do I job I love. It is hard graft at times though.

Surely a good salary is one in which you get to do a job that doesn't make you feel like a miserable robot every day.

Sounds like your referring to dull stuff like working on production lines these days - mostly unskilled.

Every thing's a compromise, 'Are the costs worth the benefits?' is the decision everyone has to make. My jobs mostly OK except the travelling but if I work out how much that time earns me - so comparing with my options for more a local job - maybe I think that's not so bad. I would love a more local job but hard to find in my area - kinda niche.

I saw this thread before anyone responded yesterday.
My first thought was I bet there will be a lot of dick waving - not everyone obviously but there'll be a few.
I haven't read all of it but I was proved right within the first 10 or so posts.
People who are happy with their salary don't shout about it - the dickheads who say 'yeah, I consider my 75k plus as comfortable' are the ones who can't wait to tell everyone else about it.

So are you not paid that much then?! I'm on somewhat less than £75k anyway but who cares?

Anyway, I don't see anyone saying what they are on so think maybe you're wrong. The thing is the OP asked the question so people answered, can't really blame them.

I would find it interesting to see what salaries are needed to give a certain lifestyle in different parts of the country but not really going to get the answer to that here.

v. subjective depends the lifestyle one aspires to and decisions I think...

Some people fill their car up at a motorway service station... definitely a cost vs convenience thing .. like a lot of things ...

Money's like oxygen. Only important when you don't have any.

I could be earning more. But I work 15 minutes from home, and have a lot of freedom. Having suffered miserable commutes of an hour plus in the past, being stuck at work for two hours after everyone else has left and then getting a kicking the next day for being two minutes late, I've come to the conclusion that money isn't the major consideration once you're getting by.

OP surely you just need to work out how much you need to pay the bills and have enough left over to do what you need/want then thats the figure. This topic is about as subjective as it gets, so anyone else's idea of a good salary will just be misleading.

I find that once you go through the upper tax band at £150k it decreases your take home so much it's just not worth it any more

I think you are all being too charitable about this post, its obviously a blatant lie, if he was earning over 150k he would know how ridiculous this concept sounds. You do not earn less when you move into a higher tax bracket.

General rule of thumb is 30%, so 30% rent/mortgage, 30% bills (inc food) and 30% savings, 10% to spunk.
If your salary fits in with that be happy, enjoy life and remember the man (or women) who dies in debt, did their sums right.

I think you are all being too charitable about this post, its obviously a blatant lie

Yeah but it was a tangent to the point of the thread anyway.

Maybe a more useful question is what do you consider to be a comfortable lifestyle and how much does it take to fund it? So for many a 3 bed semi, 2 yr old Focus and the odd holiday in a nearby European country would be a fairly acceptable existence I think - need to bring into account family size for costs of course.

dies in debt, did his sums right

Hopefully he lived to a fair age - and his family don't inherit the debt!

A£*%holes like the reply above do nothing to answer the question being posted!

Just for the record, I think earning your age is a [very] good salary. I don't have an accountant and I do understand how tax bands work.

Toys19
I think you are all being too charitable about this post, its obviously a blatant lie, if he was earning over 150k he would know how ridiculous this concept sounds. You do not earn less when you move into a higher tax bracket.

Agreed

Edinburgh Defence !

Well played.

Didn't see that coming at all 😐

I'd say it's whatever enables you to live a lifestyle where you're happy. I spent most of my 20s and 30s earning a lot of money in the city where the average salary for my team was around half a million a year, some years our bonuses would double that. This kind of work took its toll though, 14 hour days, I was very lonely, had drug and drink issues, couldn't sleep, high blood pressure the lot. The money was great and the toys I bought were fantastic but I was a shell of a person.

Had a meltdown; moved to Wales and now work from a small office in my house a few days a week. I haven't got much money compared to the old days but I do have lots of time and almost zero stress, I love it!

randomjeremy - you spent nearly 20 years earning a million a year and you now don't have much money? WOW!

That wasn't meant to be arrogant by the way - just amazed

I don't have much income now but I do have a number of investments that I don't intend on touching; they're for my nieces and nephews and something for me when I retire 🙂 I spent a ridiculous amount of money on drugs, cars and gambling though - something about the culture of where I worked meant that most of us would spend spend spend because next month there was always more money coming in. It's stupid I know but even if I was taking home £25k a month I could usually spend most of it on being a horrible self indulgent jerkoff!

And there endeth the lesson.

having spent some years working in the retail bike industry in London, I'd say a "good salary" is actually a living wage! You know, one you can live on.

most of the people I work with are on 'poverty wages' which means zero-hour contracts, paid minimum wage and no paid holiday. many end up leaving and going off to work for Tesco, etc.

in some cases I know of personally, the full time staff get minimum wage and a minute hourly supplement of "rolled up holiday pay" (actually illegal for full time staff) rather than any paid holiday

but because they have no money, they cannot engage any legal assistance to fight the company for this blatant law breaking, its been going for several years..one guy has no paid holiday in 2 years despite working 40+ hour weeks

management staff typically paid £16K for assistant manager or workshop manager, and store manager £22-23K, these are for stores in London with multi million turnover!