[Politics] Does earning £50k a year make you 'rich'

[Chinman3000]

After the budget yesterday there is lots of noise about the tax rate changes 'making the rich richer'

This is pretty much a duplication of a poll by Martin Lewis on twitter but does NSC think that earning £50k per year makes you 'rich'?

Poll to follow

EDIT - There's an error on the poll - last option should state 'I earn >£50k and No it doesn't'

 

[Munkfish]

After the budget yesterday there is lots of noise about the tax rate changes 'making the rich richer'

This is pretty much a duplication of a poll by Martin Lewis on twitter but does NSC think that earning £50k per year makes you 'rich'?

Poll to follow

No not as a single male in Brighton anyway. Maybe in lots of places around the rest of the country, you could have a comfortable lifestyle.

 

[Gwylan]

After the budget yesterday there is lots of noise about the tax rate changes 'making the rich richer'

This is pretty much a duplication of a poll by Martin Lewis on twitter but does NSC think that earning £50k per year makes you 'rich'?

Poll to follow

It's pretty meaningless without knowing the circumstances.

If you're living in London with a spouse who doesn't work and with four kids, you may well be struggling. If you're single or living with a working spouse with no kids oop North; you're quids in

 

[happypig]

My and Mrs H combined are in excess of that and we don't feel rich. Comfortable, yes but we still have a mortgage for now. We do have 2/3 (modest) holidays a year and share a 3 year old car.

I consider myself very fortunate in that I've had the opportunity to work hard and a couple of breaks where I took a chance on my job and they worked out ok.

 

[wellquickwoody]

£50k, rich? Absolutely not.

 

[Titanic]

Earning £50k a year puts you in the top 11% of taxpayers in the UK (based on 2015-16 figures which were the latest I could find).

The top 2% earn over £100k.

https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...1-to-99-for-total-income-before-and-after-tax

 

[studio150]

No £50k a year does not make you rich, given that you will pay £13k in tax and NI, which means a net £37k.

Yes some will see £3k a month as making you rich but it doesn't compared to higher earners. If the £50k job is in London you need to then factor in higher commuting costs or higher housing and living costs, which will reduce your disposable income even further.

 

[Denis]

No it doesn’t make you rich. One son is an aircraft engineer on over 50k, gets no child benefit, has large mortgage, only lives in Shoreham, three bed house. Other son and daughter-in-law both teachers, combined pay over 50k, also big mortgage, but get child benefit for their two children. No one living in Sussex trying to buy a house is rich!

 

[highflyer]

Yes. Very rich. But I think globally.

 

[pb21]

Looks to me that if you earn ~£50,000 you are in the top ~10% of earners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_in_the_United_Kingdom#/media/File:UK_income_percentiles.svg

I think, for the purposes of answering your poll, on this basis that yes it does. Obviously that can be caveated, but generally yes.

 

[Live by the sea]

Not even remotely. If you have a nice house in Brighton and Hove, a holiday apartment in Spain, 3 kids at private school , 2 mercs, like a few holidays a year , eat out twice a week at decent places, go to occasional concerts and theatre etc , even £150 k a year just about pays for everything !! I need £250 k plus a year to consider myself rich..

 

[Commander]

I was wondering this earlier. I guess it depends on where you live in the country. I certainly don't feel rich, but maybe I would if I lived in Hull or somewhere. I can't really understand how a family of 4 can live a good standard of life with a household income of much less than £50K in the South East. And that sort of lifestyle is definitely not what I would consider 'rich ' people to live.

 

[bhanutz]

I wouldn't get out of bed for less than 50k per year....And I am poor!

 

[Gwylan]

No not as a single male in Brighton anyway. Maybe in lots of places around the rest of the country, you could have a comfortable lifestyle.

I don't know about that. If were single I'd consider myself well-off on 40k let alone 50k. I'd probably trade by house for a flat and give myself about two grand spending money every month.

 

[Bakero]

Not even remotely. If you have a nice house in Brighton and Hove, a holiday apartment in Spain, 3 kids at private school , 2 mercs, like a few holidays a year , eat out twice a week at decent places, go to occasional concerts and theatre etc , even £150 k a year just about pays for everything !! I need £250 k plus a year to consider myself rich..

If you have a nice house in Brighton, I'd say you're rich. If you have the other stuff as well then you're very rich.

 

[Springal]

Depends what 'rich' is. I'd say even £75k+ down here you can be comfortable but certainly not 'rich'

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I guess it depends on how you define "rich", I've a mate who earns £30k a year working PT and has four full days a week with his kids, he defines himself as rich to be able to do this.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

There's an older lady in Arundel (well many in this position actually) that live on their own in a £1m+ house but struggle because the upkeep, utilities etc, but don't wish to sell the family home. They could sell it and buy a nice riverside apartment for £280-£340k and have a stack of cash but wouldn't consider themselves as rich as they are today.

 

[RandyWanger]

No it doesn't. Not in London anyway when you factor in tax, ni, travel and living costs.

 

[darkwolf666]

Personally think the question is flawed as someone could be paid £50k+ and have loads of debt, so may not consider themselves "rich".

They are however, well paid!