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

Oh, and the child benefit, don’t forget that…bloody benefit scroungers.

Just for you Binners, a George Orwell quote on class in The Road to Wigan Pier

Probably the distinguishing mark of the upper-middle class was that its traditions were not to any extent commercial, but mainly military, official, and professional.

People in this class owned no land, but they felt that they were
landowners in the sight of God and kept up a semi-aristocratic outlook by
going into the professions and the fighting services rather than into
trade.

I still don’t understand why people have such an issue with a couple earning good money. They are not scroungers, they did not inherit it, they work and earn. It is like they are committing a crime.

If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?

😉

The real question – leaving aside stressing about whether their income is sufficient to pass the STW acceptability crfiteria* – is not whether they can find the school fees from their current income but is whether they can sustain it for the whole of their children’s time at school.

Having watched people whose parents hit hard times have to leave the fee paying school they enjoyed and had friends in to land in the nearest state school, I’d say that should be higher up the risk chart when embarking on a private education.

*Audi, wood burner, Orange 5, work in IT earning more than average but wouldn’t like to admit it publicly etc.

dragon – Member
…Annual salary is a poor indicator of total wealth IMO.

Possibly. But only, it seems, when distinguishing people who are different kinds of loaded.

What exactly are the doing to spend that kind of money each month?

Biodynamic pinot grigio isn’t cheap, you know

What exactly are the doing to spend that kind of money each month?

He’ll be boffing the Au-pair and she’ll be boffing her Personal Trainer…..

He’ll be boffing the Au-pair and she’ll be boffing her Personal Trainer…..

🙂

The only way that sentence could be better was if the second boffing was, perhaps, a biffing.

Upper class is nothing to do with wealth – it is birth, breeding and marriage.

nickC And they won’t get child benefit – that went for over £50k years ago.

And they aren’t complaining – they are asking advice.

Seems an odd thing for happy STWrs to get upset about.

And they aren’t complaining – they are asking advice.

“Financially broken” wasn’t emotive at all, I’m sure. And the advice is so exceptionally simple, that anyone with a brain cell could work it out for themselves.

Stoatsbrother – Member

Seems an odd thing for happy STWrs to get upset about.

i’m not upset, i think it’s hilarious. and baffling.

and i’m here for the biscuits.

any garibaldis?

And they aren’t complaining – they are asking advice.

I think they’re actually gloating, it’s all a subterfuge to show off a bit…

“But the pair are worried about becoming “financially broken” as the sheer cost of middle-class life in London means they are stretched to the brink.”

They’ve sought advice, they are worried, they are not saying they earn too little. The BTL tax changes and kids getting older will impact on them. I don’t see them blaming any one or asking for money.

Do I feel sorry for them? No – the answers are pretty simple.

Probably they have a friend who is a hack journalist who needed a victim for his column. Anyone her trust a journalist to accurately report what you say?

nickC And they won’t get child benefit – that went for over £50k years ago.

Over £60K (you can claim, but it’s recovered at a rate of 1% per £100 over £50K gross, so once you pass 60K it’s just admin for no benefit) but your point stands.

Ask me and HMRC how I know this very well now 👿 hopefully it’ll save some other poor sod some bother. Tax liability appears to be something you really do need to teach yourself even if you are PAYE.

I’m glad I earn a fraction of what they do, so I’ve never been in a position to balls up my personal finances.

Odd thing to say. As I’m sure you’re perfectly aware, many people earning the same, and less, than you have ballsed up their personal finances.[/quote]

Sarcasm doesn’t come across well online.

We’ve never earned enough to consider getting a £2.5k mortgage, sending my kids to private school, getting a BTL flat, spending £5k on a holiday, shopping exclusively at Waitrose, running two massive cars, etc.

So, we’re stuck “getting by” on a combined £3k per month take home and, because my wife helps run the local food bank and we’re friends with a varied mix of people, realising that we’re very well off indeed.

Seems an odd thing for happy STWrs to get upset about.

seriously! it presses all the STW hand wringing buttons:

people earning more them them and being perceived to not work as hard.
privileged
London
Legal
middle class but somehow reminding them of their own aspirations and failings
buy to let.
750k property.
the orgiastic ego pandering of shamelessly airing ones laundry in the media
5k holidays.
affording 5k holidays taken in term time.
offspring with posh names, their cosseted lives and the odious people they will become.
big kitchen with shiny coffee machine
Audi
London
Ocado
Boden catalogue on favourites tab
5k full suss ridden once a year at trail centre, cant ride for toffee.

Is it not still valid to ask for opinion and views on how to manage your finances when the numbers become larger?

Yes they have lots of options, but they still need to choose.

I worked for a bloke who lived in a castle once. He used to make financial decisions too.

Don’t see the issue really, they are making good money, good luck to them.

seriously! it presses all the STW hand wringing buttons:

Yep! All the usual logical gymnastics to redefine “wealthy” cos people don’t want to admit that they are.

Boden catalogue on favourites tab

You know, until just then I thought Boden and Bodum were the same thing. I’d never really worked out why they were held up as a marker of middleclass-ness

They are asking how they can afford something incredibly expensive ‘without sacrificing their current lifestyle’. If this was someone poor asking how they can afford to get a new giant flatscreen when they only work part time and don’t want to work full time the paper and all the people defending these two would be lining up to slate them.

It’s nothing to do with jealousy, at all. I have no smidgeon of jealousy for these people whatsoever. It’s about them asking ‘how can we have our cake and eat it’. Though I would agree it’s probably more journalistic trolling than the fault of the couple themselves as to how it comes across. As above I really can’t imagine why they agreed to be in it. Maybe they’re all actors.

As above I really can’t imagine why they agreed to be in it.

Because they got free financial advice (given that they do not have any spare money to pay for it)

10 minutes googling would have thrown up as much info as is in that article though wouldn’t it?

Perhaps they should do some voluntary work to get some perspective on both their finances and life.

When my mate starting working at the bottom rung on a paper one of his jobs was dreaming up some of the letters to the paper…

What is the point of having cake if you cannot eat it?

What exactly are the doing to spend that kind of money each month?

Good question.

Perhaps they should do some voluntary work to get some perspective on both their finances and life.

How do you know they don’t?

That’s it though, nobody knows ANYTHING about these people yet the trial has already concluded. If they float…

What exactly are the doing to spend that kind of money each month?

I was wondering that. They must be taking home around £10k a month even with £2500 going on the mortgage there’s quite a bit left. I suppose it shows that you adapt your lifestyle to the money available.

What exactly are the doing to spend that kind of money each month?

Living in London commuter belt, I suspect a massive chunks is going on rail season ticket, say £7-8k pa for the two of them, from say, Sevenoaks. Then there’s childcare at c£30k for 4 days a week at £80 per day per child. There might be an au pair at say £100 pw, total of £5,200. That’s 43,200 net cash going on funding just getting to work and childcare, conscious that if they’re working in London they will need someone to pick the kids up before nursery closes.

That’s the equivalent of £60k+ gross salary. Add in Starbucks every day etc… and you can see where it goes.

EDIT – my mistake – she is on maternity leave, so a lot of those costs won’t be there at the moment….but they will be when she does go back to work.

I wish I lived in London. It sounds great! 😆

I wish I lived in London. It sounds great!

Gutted I moved away for a £3k paycut 😀

just read some of this thread and for a change I found myself pleased that most of you aren’t really having a go at them, the lack of armchair criticism is good to see. If you think that should you earn that much you wont potentially end up in the same position then well done, you’re a rare person in this day and age.

Jealousy

I really don’t think most people actually are. I think most people are simply critical of people who have way more than enough to live on, more than the vast majority of people in this country, yet appear to be moaning about struggling to make ends meet. The truth is, their ‘difficulties’ stem from their sense of entitlement to a particular ‘lifestyle’, as has been pointed out. An affliction many people suffer with, regardless of ‘wealth’. As others have pointed out, this couple could make quite a few choices and be able to afford that private education for their kids. They don’t ‘need’ to own a second home, they don’t ‘need’ expensive shit and holidays, etc. Most of us seem to do ok without all that.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m not remotely jealous of people who probably have to spend the vast majority of their waking hours working for that nice salary, get to spend limited quality time with their families, are beholden to their employers, have to commute for hours a day, and probably don’t have much of a social life. All so they can brag about how ‘wealthy’ they are.

Wealthy for me is not having to work whilst living in a nice house/area.

That’ll be us then. Mortgage and child-free, and able to live quite comfortably from savings/investments. My wife does work ‘part-time’ for a charity she loves, but I’m currently ‘between jobs’. We were wondering just ho much we do actually ‘need’, so we’ve decided to ‘allow’ ourselves a set amount each month, to see how much we can actually save. Because the truth is, we really don’t ‘need’ much more than food and some basic essentials.

So, we’re stuck “getting by” on a combined £3k per month take home and, because my wife helps run the local food bank and we’re friends with a varied mix of people, realising that we’re very well off indeed.

+1. ‘Wealth’ isn’t just about having things.

I wish I lived in London. It sounds great!

It can be. You just have to know how to manage your finances. 😉

How do you know they don’t?

I would wager a large sum of money they don’t! Too busy keeping up with the Jones to give a shit about anyone else.

They are asking how they can afford something incredibly expensive ‘without sacrificing their current lifestyle’. If this was someone poor asking how they can afford to get a new giant flatscreen when they only work part time and don’t want to work full time the paper and all the people defending these two would be lining up to slate them.

Agree. Seems the same as the “it’s not fair I can’t afford a house” stuff. If you can’t afford it, then you can’t afford it. Nobody elses fault.

It’s a first world problem taken to an extreme – how can I keep my BTL and privately educate the kids?

I’m wealthier than them with a lot lower income – I’m a bit older I suppose.

‘We earn £190K a year. Should we sell a child so we can buy another flat?’

Martin Bishop, financial adviser at Donnelly-McPartlin

😆

That is just superb!

*awaits the usual suspects arrival saying that that isn’t funny at all, and its totally wrong, and just the product of envy, to mock decent people for simply working hard, earning a reasonable living, and simply wanting whats best for their kids*