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What salary could you live off?

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Hedgie

Hedgie

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Aug 17, 2007
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Planet Mars
We hear all the time about peoples earnings and how they wish to be millionaires etc, but what would a resonable annual income be for you?

Many people go into business and are quite content to earn a living that is not OTT and are happy to live on a 'basic salary.

What annual salary would you pay yourself for you to be comfortable but not excessive?

For me, £35,000 would be comfortable for me not to struggle and afford the little luxuries.
 
With 2 expensive children and my expensive tastes ideally £100,000 a year but with a hint of reality i'd agree, say £35,000:)
 
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iaynm said:
£8000/year would be plenty.
£6000/year is about the minimum for my current lifestyle.
Click to expand...

Where do you live? In jungle? :D I bought my BMW for nearly 9k :D 2 years ago I could easy live on 35k, now it would be around 40k.
 
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RobCCTV said:
Where do you live? In jungle? :D
Click to expand...

If I did it would be £0 :cool:

I currently live in a pretty nice rented house, and even if I bump the cost up to £300/month then that's only £3600/year.

Then how much more do I need? £5/day should cover my food normally, so let's say £10/day. Another £300/month, then. That totals £7200.

I don't have a car, and don't want one. There are very few material goods I ever want to buy. Most stuff can be had for free or bought for pennies second-hand.
If I go on holiday then it won't cost much. You know I once went to China for a month, and including both flights, plus an internal flight, it cost less for that month that the previous month when I was living in London?
 
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iaynm said:
£8000/year would be plenty.
£6000/year is about the minimum for my current lifestyle.
Click to expand...

i need to live in your world, i like the sound of only £6,000 a year. I think that just covers petrol costs in a year!
 
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iaynm said:
If I did it would be £0 :cool:

I currently live in a pretty nice rented house, and even if I bump the cost up to £300/month then that's only £3600/year.

Then how much more do I need? £5/day should cover my food normally, so let's say £10/day. Another £300/month, then. That totals £7200.

I don't have a car, and don't want one. There are very few material goods I ever want to buy. Most stuff can be had for free or bought for pennies second-hand.
If I go on holiday then it won't cost much. You know I once went to China for a month, and including both flights, plus an internal flight, it cost less for that month that the previous month when I was living in London?
Click to expand...

Oh, I would like to see your lifestyle on 8k a year.... :eek:
 
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Thats just it though, its not what kind of lifestyle we want but what kind of lifestyle would be 'just nice' .

I only posed the question as at the end of October last year I found myself with an income drop from £45k to £9K per annum. It just made me wonder as I managed on £9k and wondered what the heck I spent the other £36k on !!
 
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I could live off any salary. Most people (I presume) will make their life adjust to it.

Usual trend for salaried people is the higher the salary the higher the mortgage.

I think business owners have a less salaried view and more of a 'pay in chunks' (that's the technical term :D) when their business affords it. This could be as little as a few thousand to over £100k depending on profits in business.

I guess it boils down to what your outlook on income. I don't work for a salary I work for the dividends (eventually!!)
 
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iaynm said:
If I did it would be £0 :cool:

I currently live in a pretty nice rented house, and even if I bump the cost up to £300/month then that's only £3600/year.

Then how much more do I need? £5/day should cover my food normally, so let's say £10/day. Another £300/month, then. That totals £7200.

I don't have a car, and don't want one. There are very few material goods I ever want to buy. Most stuff can be had for free or bought for pennies second-hand.
If I go on holiday then it won't cost much. You know I once went to China for a month, and including both flights, plus an internal flight, it cost less for that month that the previous month when I was living in London?
Click to expand...

That's madness, why settle for so little if you don't have too. Wouldn't you like a nice big house, car, gadgets etc. And i wonder what sort of food you eat for £5 a day?
 
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love2hire said:
That's madness, why settle for so little if you don't have too. Wouldn't you like a nice big house, car, gadgets etc. And i wonder what sort of food you eat for £5 a day?
Click to expand...

I think we would all like to live a better lifestyle but the question was more about what you could live off rather than what you want to live off.
 
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Mersey Distribution said:
Thats just it though, its not what kind of lifestyle we want but what kind of lifestyle would be 'just nice' .

I only posed the question as at the end of October last year I found myself with an income drop from £45k to £9K per annum. It just made me wonder as I managed on £9k and wondered what the heck I spent the other £36k on !!
Click to expand...

The secret to economic stability is probably based on what you need and not what you want.

I would like a new jaguar xj ,but in reality a comfortable armchair is probably more use to me as I already have a comfortable car.:)

Get you priorities right and all else falls into place.IMHO

Earl
 
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Mersey Distribution said:
I think we would all like to live a better lifestyle but the question was more about what you could live off rather than what you want to live off.
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In all seriousness I'd like to live off of and income of £0.

Stick me on a fair sized semi-tropical island with my kit and I'd manage just fine. Only concern would be any medical problems but apart from that I'd be very content.
 
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love2hire said:
That's madness, why settle for so little if you don't have too.
Click to expand...

Why work more when I don't have to?

love2hire said:
Wouldn't you like a nice big house, car, gadgets etc.
Click to expand...

I like houses, but not cars, and with gadgets/technology I'm easily satisfied. I have a laptop which is about 5 years old now (£60/year) and that's about it. I do need a mobile phone, for work, but I got that for free.

love2hire said:
And i wonder what sort of food you eat for £5 a day?
Click to expand...

Much better food than most people eat.
 
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To be able to
-pay mortgage
-pay bills
-pay for my car (petrol insurance, mot, tax etc)
-Luxeries such as going out, mobile, holidays
-Ea
-Save

I could live on 21K.

I only have a boyfriend to look after so no kids yet but I can imagine that would go up when I do!
 
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I've had years where I've earnt barely £10k, and I've had years where it's more like £100k. Seemingly regardless of how much I earn, it never seems enough.

Currently about £35k would cover it.
 
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The simple answer would be the salary that I'm on now.

£9000/year is simple enough for me to live off.

This basically allows the following, per month:

~500 miles of travelling in the car (£50).
~£200 on beer and nights out.
~£100-£150 on food.
~£70 on other car costs (repairs/running, MOT, Tax, Insurance
~£260 rent (all bills are included here)
~£15 spending (see below).

I don't "buy" anything else. My other spending adds up to less than £200/year, or around £15/month, usually much less.

This comes to a grand total of £745/month, based on the higher estimates. This is £8940 per year. I live very comfortable and go out on a regular basis. The £200 covers roughly 20 beers per week, which is two nights out, roughly, although I do a fair bit of drinking at home, get pissed before I go out. Sometimes I'll even spend £100 a go in a strip club. Easy.

If I don't go out as often, I can cut that beer fund down to under £100, quite easily, spending is usually £0, so I can easily save anywhere from £600-£1000 doing this, which is enough for a couple of holidays.

---

If I didn't own a car, then my total would be around £7500/year. Cut back on the beers, and I'm under £7000/year. Easily done.

I don't own anything on finance, and have zero debt. Don't spend what you can't afford. Every once in a while I'll make a fairly big spend. Recently that was £800 on a car, although that was technically free as my last car was written off at £1600. The only other spend I've made over £100 in the past few years (apart from on a night out) is probably when I bought a laptop, which cost me £400, roughly. This allows me to watch movies, TV shows, and everything else. I have no need for a 32" HDTV.

Owning stuff doesn't just cost you a lot it's a pain in the ass. Own as little as possible and you'll find your life becomes less complicated.

---

Of course, this all changes on what kind of situation you're in (married, kids etc...) but some basic rules can be applied. Get a house you can barely afford, if something **** happens you miss a few mortgage repayments before you know it the house is being repossesed. People are simply obsessed with spending money that they don't have. Luckily I grew up thinking in the opposite manner.
 
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Its amazing how peoples wants and needs can vary , and i dont like the way some of the posts in this thread almost laughed at the guy who said he could live off of £6-£8k ....unemployment benefit is about £3k a year ...someone on minimum wage ..which is a huge amount of people and working 40 hours a week earns not much over £10k after tax ....

I finding life more fulfilling now i receycle a lot , picking up stuff for free and giving it away or selling cheap ...constant consumption was enjoyable at the time but im kind of rebelling against 20 years of consuming more than i needed to ! So my lifestyle is becoming cheaper to sustain ...however £30k covers me like most people running a house and car and wanting a few luxuraries


PAUL
 
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For people that need 20-30k or more to live off could you give a good breakdown of what you're spending money on? If you have two incomes (wife, partner etc...).
 
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RVGray said:
To be able to
-pay mortgage
-pay bills
-pay for my car (petrol insurance, mot, tax etc)
-Luxeries such as going out, mobile, holidays
-Ea
-Save

I could live on 21K.

I only have a boyfriend to look after so no kids yet but I can imagine that would go up when I do!
Click to expand...
1. Get pregnant.
2. Claim benefits.
3. ???
4. PROFIT!!!
 
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Faith28 said:
Ayinger - which car do you have...at £50 per 500 miles ...that is great value for money!!
Click to expand...
That's £0.10/mile, which would be roughly 49mpg, at todays prices (£1.09/litre) (£50 = 45.87 litres of fuel = 10.09 Gallons.)

At 45mpg, the cost would be £55.

I guess it ranges somewhere in between them two figures. I drive an old Toyota, mostly motorway driving. I keep my tyres inflated correctly etc... to ensure I get good mileage.
 
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I have seen people live off 'expenses' rather than a wage.

The theory seems fine, but not convinced how it all actually works, nor how the tax man sees it - but some of these own big companies!

The theory being, the company pays your 'expenses' (living costs etc, and at the end of each month - that fee is then claimed as 'wages'. So in effect, it fluctuates. It may be that one month, you bills and shopping etc may only come to say £1000 - so that would be your wage that month. Another, it may be £1500, and so on.

The ethic behind it is - if you paid yourself a wage, and did not spend that full amount, then it is 'wasted' - and would be better off in the business account. Seems fairly sensible for small businesses on tight cash flow, but as I say - I have seen multi millionaire business owners doing just that!

As for what you could survive on......i would advise that the 35k be trimmed down! The gov are on about heavy taxes for higher earners......in many cases effecting 'normal' employees of 'normal' jobs. Suddenly, half the nation can survive on 20K!! lol!
 
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Rainbow Chasers' said:
I have seen people live off 'expenses' rather than a wage.

The theory seems fine, but not convinced how it all actually works, nor how the tax man sees it - but some of these own big companies!

The theory being, the company pays your 'expenses' (living costs etc, and at the end of each month - that fee is then claimed as 'wages'. So in effect, it fluctuates. It may be that one month, you bills and shopping etc may only come to say £1000 - so that would be your wage that month. Another, it may be £1500, and so on.

The ethic behind it is - if you paid yourself a wage, and did not spend that full amount, then it is 'wasted' - and would be better off in the business account. Seems fairly sensible for small businesses on tight cash flow, but as I say - I have seen multi millionaire business owners doing just that!

As for what you could survive on......i would advise that the 35k be trimmed down! The gov are on about heavy taxes for higher earners......in many cases effecting 'normal' employees of 'normal' jobs. Suddenly, half the nation can survive on 20K!! lol!
Click to expand...

That's sounds like how the MPs viewed their expenses.
 
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Rainbow Chasers' said:
As for what you could survive on......i would advise that the 35k be trimmed down! The gov are on about heavy taxes for higher earners......in many cases effecting 'normal' employees of 'normal' jobs. Suddenly, half the nation can survive on 20K!! lol!
Click to expand...

To an extent thats probably true but it will depend on your family size and other income etc. We have six kids and my wife is not working at present so my income and the tax credits just about covers our outgoings. However as the business develops and brings in a steady income then that will change.
 
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RVGray said:
To be able to
-pay mortgage
-pay bills
-pay for my car (petrol insurance, mot, tax etc)
-Luxeries such as going out, mobile, holidays
-Ea
-Save

I could live on 21K.

I only have a boyfriend to look after so no kids yet but I can imagine that would go up when I do!
Click to expand...

Sorry ?? :eek:
 
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Well I have one brat at Uni to pay for with another heading there hopefully in Sept of this year and another sat home keeping me company - so my 'needs' are actually those of three others as well!

Feed, clothe, transport and generally have bottomless pcokets - the cost? Too much!!

I can remember back in the dark ages when I was first married (shudders!) and we lived in Bucks but both worked in high paid jobs in London, we spent it all, and to this day I can't tell you what it was spent on, but when I fell pregnant and suddenly we thought about a savings account and it was easy and we didnt even miss the amounts we were saving. So yes, needs and wants are different.

I have basic bills to pay and know that I need approx £3k a month to cover them all, but I also know that I do have one extravagance that could cut that back by some £400 per month but I have decided that paying it is my one luxury.
 
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