Loss of childcare.. another blow

  • Thread starter Thread starter vkurup
  • Start date Start date
PhilTheFragger said:
I unsure why some people think that anyone earning £60k is some kind of super rich person with a millionaire lifestyle

After tax and NI, that £60k has reduced to £40K or £3333 a month,Still substantial but then lets look at all the outgoings for a typical family of 4

Mortgage/Rent £1000, Food £700, Council Tax £200, Utilities £300, Insurance Life & Buildings) £200, Car costs,( Tax, Insurance Petrol Service) £250, Just that is £2700 and thats without including any golf, Holidays, school trips, entertainment, if you have a student at uni its even worse,

So lets get away from the idea that taking away child benefit is easily absorbed by a high earning family,

In our case its a double wammy, Our eldest has just gone to Uni, so Child benefit has stopped for her, but im having to payout £600 per term for her Student Hall ( the rest is on a student loan) and also £75 a week for her food.

Might have to go and sell my body

Fragger
Click to expand...

Fragger , I like you and your posts generally make me smile. BUT...you're in cloud cuckoo land with this post. If you think its hard to get by when you clear £3333 per month you need a big reality check. Devils advocate or not some of those figures are unbelievable in my eyes. This might be why people are finding it hard to get by. If I brought that amount in i'd save about £25K a year and be laughing for retirement.

I would think with the costs of living folk would be finding ways to adjust downwards their expectations. £700 per month on food !! Try shopping for savers/own brand products that are just as good and a quarter of the price. £1000 per month for mortgage , try finding a house thats a home and not the biggest one you can possibly 'afford' (council tax would then be lower too ). £300 on utilities , never ever in a million years should it cost this much. Then you add in holidays and entertainment etc , if you cant afford a holiday then dont go. I suppose these people have to have the latest Iphone and the biggest TV possible too. And maybe those little darlings need their own phone and TV and top of the range computer/XBOX Nike trainers etc etc

I have zero sympathy for anyone who cant budget when earning those sorts of sums , try doing it with half that amount and you'll learn the art of budgeting within your means.

Jammy the disgruntled
 
Last edited:
MegaSteve said:
£1000 a month just about gets you a 'basic' family home in this neck of the woods and I am sure it'll be more elsewhere...
Click to expand...

Amen, Taken from the BBC the average UK house price is £238,638. IF you are lucky enough to have saved well and can get a decent deposit of 25%, thats £59,659 leaving £178,979 to be mortgaged. Average is 2% discounted for 2 years, then 4-5% ish above base rate of interest (if you are lucky) so you would pay £800ish for 2 years, then that would increase to £1019 per month. That is for an AVERAGE house with a pretty hefty £60k deposit!!

Now £238 in some parts of the country may get you a pretty nice house!! some other parts however, not so much..

Just putting things in perspective..
 
murphthemog said:
I thought that middle classes were defined by aspirations of home ownership. Hence if you own a home you bought, you're middle class, what ever you might like to think you might be.
Click to expand...


I bought a home.. though technically it is still owned by the bank for the next 25 years while I slave away to pay it off..




jammydodger said:
£1000 per month for mortgage , try finding a house thats a home and not the biggest one you can possibly 'afford' (council tax would then be lower too ).
Click to expand...

The day I hit 1K in mortgage payment, i will take the day off and play golf. Try finding a 'suitable' home at the price in Surrey. In order to get a 60K+ pay, you need to work in London. Which means you have a lot of cost involved in getting that pay. Just looking at avg house prices for a 4 bed terraced/semi in our area, cant find a desirable one under 450K. If I dont get a garden, where will I practice my swing?

EDIT - stop picking on my Jag.. I have consigned that to a wet dream.
 
PhilTheFragger said:
No Andy its not tripe, im playing devils advocate to a certain extent, but making a point that any family, regardless of income, who has had child benefit coming in for any length of time , will have got used to it being there, and its removal will have an effect on the family budget.

Im just making the point that Higher earners are not exempt from financial pressure, The only part of my post that related to my circumstances is the last part about having a kid at Uni (and 2 more in the next 4 years) and making the point that I have lost her child Benefit, and having to find £500 a month to keep her.

Im not getting out my begging bowl or asking for violins, im just making a point that no matter how much you earn, it all goes

Fragger
Click to expand...

Don't become reliant then and live on what you can afford without benefits.

But don't say 60k is hard to live on when folk are sleeping on a pavement with a sheet of cardboard as a house!

Wake up and smell the coffee Phil
 
Andy said:
Don't become reliant then and live on what you can afford without benefits.

But don't say 60k is hard to live on when folk are sleeping on a pavement with a sheet of cardboard as a house!

Wake up and smell the coffee Phil
Click to expand...

Am with the Fragger.. higher earner dont 'depend' on it, but the loss is not immaterial.
The sad reality is that irrespective of your income level, you will be broke as rise in income almost always equates to rise in expenditure.
 
vkurup said:
In order to get a 60K+ pay, you need to work in London. Which means you have a lot of cost involved in getting that pay. Just looking at avg house prices for a 4 bed terraced/semi in our area, cant find a desirable one under 450K. If I dont get a garden, where will I practice my swing?

EDIT - stop picking on my Jag.. I have consigned that to a wet dream.
Click to expand...

You don't have work in London to earn £60k...

vkurup said:
Am with the Fragger.. higher earner dont 'depend' on it, but the loss is not immaterial.
The sad reality is that irrespective of your income level, you will be broke as rise in income almost always equates to rise in expenditure.
Click to expand...

Budgeting; just because someone earns enough to get a xx bedroom house in a leafy suburb doesn't mean they have to. We could have afforded to stretch to a 5 bed, 3 bathroom blah blah blah but knew we had children who would be going to uni.

And rather than include child benefit in the day to day budgeting, i.e. use it towards funding a bigger home/holidays/iphone, we put it away and gave it to the kids to fund their start up at uni.

Willy waving; our 3 bed, 3 bathroom detached with conservatory in a nice area cost £148k last year. And there's room on the drive for the A6.... just about stretch to it on £64k...
 
Hobbit said:
Willy waving; our 3 bed, 3 bathroom detached with conservatory in a nice area cost £148k last year....
Click to expand...

My lad will be pleased on hearing this... He can get a transfer up north with his current employers... Once his good lady wife completes her mid-wifery training... Its northwards they intend to head... 148K gets you a one bed apartment at best on our doorstep...
 
EDIT - stop picking on my Jag.. I have consigned that to a wet dream.[/QUOTE]

NO :ears:
Seriously though, have you considered lease hire?
I've seen deals around for the XF for around £340/mth. I now this means you don't own the car but i won't tell if you don't. :thup:
 
walshawwhippet said:
Seriously though, have you considered lease hire?
I've seen deals around for the XF for around £340/mth. I now this means you don't own the car but i won't tell if you don't. :thup:
Click to expand...


All our cars have been on PCP contracts. Currently more worried about the residual value of the XF at the end of 3 years. Also, trying to swing another deal.. update on car coming soon..
 
higher earner dont 'depend' on it,
Click to expand...

Well dont take it then.
The amount of cash available for benefit is not a bottomless pit.
If you are taking out some of the pie that you dont need, there's less pie left to go round for those who do.

You worry about the depreciation of the Jag while pensioners worry about keeping warm this winter.

The sad reality is that irrespective of your income level, you will be broke as rise in income almost always equates to rise in expenditure.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but that's some of the biggest drivel I've heard on here for a long time.
 
bobmac said:
I'm sorry, but that's some of the biggest drivel I've heard on here for a long time.
Click to expand...

I disagree to an extent Bob. I will explain why...

I believe a lot of the problem is based on society, personal image and perception. Its the "keep up with the jones' mentality. Society as a whole put a lot of pressure on "getting on the housing ladder" etc. Do Germany have the better idea, where almost 85% of people live in rented accommodation, and it is pretty rare to own your own house there.

Today's society is all pushed down your throat garbage of flash cars, big watches, my grass is greener than yours. Its very very easy to fall into the subtle traps, and before you know it you are buying a new car every 3 years to maintain your image, even if your old car is perfectly good and its probably 80% paid off!

I know its down to the individual to not get into these "games" and from an outsider perspective it may look stupid (it actually is!) but once you have set yourself up with a big mortgage, big car payments etc, i am pretty sure its probably very hard to down grade..
 
I believe a lot of the problem is based on society
Click to expand...

Nothing new there

but once you have set yourself up with a big mortgage, big car payments etc, i am pretty sure its probably very hard to down grade..
Click to expand...

Hes not talking about downgrading, he said that as you get paid more you spend more so you're always broke.

update on car coming soon..
Click to expand...

Keep it to yourself, I'm not really interested I'm afraid.
 
vkurup said:
The sad reality is that irrespective of your income level, you will be broke as rise in income almost always equates to rise in expenditure.
Click to expand...

Every time I've ever got a pay rise I havnt just suddenly decided that i'll change my lifestyle and start spending more. I have used that increase to help pay more off my mortgage and lived the same , ie bought the same food and shopped the same etc. If you want to use your payrises to fund an extravagant lifestyle to keep up with the Jones' and have a 'look at me' image with flashy cars and a big house in a sort after neighbourhood then fine. BUT dont start crying when you lose a comparably tiny amount in benefits that you really shouldn't need and frankly dont deserve.
 
vkurup said:
The sad reality is that irrespective of your income level, you will be broke as rise in income almost always equates to rise in expenditure.
Click to expand...

That is a conscious choice though, not a mandatory step.
 
vkurup said:
The sad reality is that irrespective of your income level, you will be broke as rise in income almost always equates to rise in expenditure.
Click to expand...

More fool you.
 
MegaSteve said:
Well done Rooter... Those we vote in need to be reminded that they are there to represent us NOT the party leaders!
Click to expand...

Well I got a reply! Basically it said tough luck, some in, some lose. And how now those on the breadline re not subsidising the "rich". Then a load of guff about how it's labours fault...

A written reply though through post, and I didn't even give my address in my email to them! The government know everything!
 
Rooter said:
Well I got a reply! Basically it said tough luck, some in, some lose. And how now those on the breadline re not subsidising the "rich". Then a load of guff about how it's labours fault...

A written reply though through post, and I didn't even give my address in my email to them! The government know everything!
Click to expand...


Well at least you took the time and trouble to contact your MP's office and someone has written a reply however meaningless... Getting a bit fed up though on the standard excuse that all the problems are from the previous administration... But then again thats always been the case... Do believe in reminding our members of parliament and local councillors that we are there and perhaps a bit more thought on our opinions is in order... I know of at least two occasions of involving our MP/councillor that has seen local bureacratic decisions reversed... On other occasions we didn't do so well...
 
Rooter said:
A written reply though through post, and I didn't even give my address in my email to them! The government know everything!
Click to expand...

I wud love to know how they figured the address out? (or is the GM forum under surveillance?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top