Even the middle classes are beginning to feel the pinch

Even the middle classes are beginning to feel the pinch

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Discussion

Strocky

Original Poster:

2,642 posts

113 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance...

I'm off to start up a Justgiving page for the poor souls

KingNothing

3,168 posts

153 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Those poor souls, I don't know how they cope. Get Geldof and Bono on the phone, these are the people who need the real help.

S10GTA

12,677 posts

167 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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FFS

xjay1337

15,966 posts

118 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Do people really need private school?

Do students come out

a) smarter?
b) more well rounded individuals?

A is much of a muchness, I think if a kid does well at private school they would do well at a comprehensive school.
B, well, nothing giving your child an early sense of entitlement.

hornetrider

63,161 posts

205 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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8k credit card debt earning 200k a year.

I blame the fugging Tories for withdrawing their child benefit.

BoRED S2upid

19,691 posts

240 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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I read that yesterday it put a smile on my face to know even with £190k a year income they have less disposable income than me.

And no there is no need in private schooling I had 2 mates go to Cambridge both came from council estates and through the same school as everyone else. If your clever enough you will make it without anything extra.

DaveCWK

1,989 posts

174 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Clickbait worthy of the Daily Mail.

Esseesse

8,969 posts

208 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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In the comments...

alastairsnare said:
I feel for this couple. My partner and I earn similar between us, and we live in London. Some non-London residents might think that's a lot of money to be earning, but when you consider the huge amount of tax that gets taken off us it really isn't enough if you want to bring up a family in the capital, especially if you don't want to leave your kids in the hands of the failed state school system or the NHS.

Our solution: don't have kids!! It's great. We holiday when we want, dine out pretty often, have trips to the theatre, etc without having to worry about babysitters... Money we've saved over the years has allowed us to buy a weekend home in the countryside as well. Kids are overrated and the taxes we pay seem to be mainly used to pay for other people to have kids on our behalf... It's win/win!!

Also, there's a huge amount of immigration into the UK, so it's not as if we've got a shortage of people in the UK.

Gecko1978

9,702 posts

157 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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190k sounds a lot and it is if you live in Market Drayton (Small market Town in Shropshire where my mother lives). But if you live in London then maybe not so much. I pay around 30k post tax a year for my two children to go to nursery. So would have to earn what 50K just to do that a nothing else like eat, pay a mortgage etc.

however the issue they have seems to be lifestyle choices 2 expensive homes, one rented of course. An then large monthly spending hence 8k credit card bill.

If they want private school I suggest they give up something else...smaller house / car, less meals out etc. If you want something badly you will find away. They want there Cake (school fees) and eat (out often) it.

No sympathy at all.

emicen

8,578 posts

218 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Gecko1978 said:
If they want private school I suggest they give up something else...smaller house / car, less meals out etc. If you want something badly you will find away. They want there Cake (school fees) and eat (out often) it.

No sympathy at all.
Yup, thats the the rub, "Their dilemma is how to fund the cost of the girls’ education without sacrificing their lifestyle."


Derek Smith

45,646 posts

248 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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I have a certain sympathy. It is very hard to drop your standard of living. There seems to me to be little point in earning you money not to enjoy it.

If, as seems likely, they've had no need to micro-managed their spending, the realisation they might need to comes as a bit of a shock.

I have no sympathy with them parading their inefficiencies in the tabloid press, but then we all do things differently.

They have assumed that they are above the financial crisis because they are in important jobs: management consultant and personal injury lawyer, although she does some telephone sanitising on the side.

The situation they are in is common in parts of the USA. Out there, people feel forced to live up to their joint income and the chances of a financial crisis is doubled because both work. There, though, there choice is tougher as to what they give up.

The income isn't all that much though, but the solution is quite simple: they need to prioritise. If they are unable to keep us with the Joneses then I will feel for them, obviously, but it is a sacrifice they might be forced to make.


richardxjr

7,561 posts

210 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Lost for words.


loose cannon

6,030 posts

241 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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And back in the real world.......

crofty1984

15,854 posts

204 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Do they want to cut down on beer or the kids' new gear?
It's a big decision.











-In a town called Maliiiiiiiiiiice!

Rovinghawk

13,300 posts

158 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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They seem to already spend all they have, much of it on stuff they don't actually need. They want to incur a major new set of entirely voluntary costs without cutting anything else or earning more.
Tough titty.

They want all the benefits of the rental house without any of the downsides.
Tough titty.

She wants a full-time income for less than full-time hours.
Tough titty.

Conclusion:
Tough titty.

Hoofy

76,350 posts

282 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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KingNothing said:
Those poor souls, I don't know how they cope. Get Geldof and Bono on the phone, these are the people who need the real help.
<click> <click> <click>

Every time I click my fingers, 1 child is taken out of private school.

richardxjr

7,561 posts

210 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Derek Smith said:
personal injury lawyer

Ah.


jonby

5,357 posts

157 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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The comments on here are priceless

The article is in the financial planning section of a paper and does not in any way appear to be a sob story, a moan or a family looking for sympathy. They are looking at different potential changes to their lifestyle/spending and discussing their options. Like most people, their outgoings have gone up by more than their income and they are maturely looking at the best way to deal with that.

Having taken the decision to send their kids to private school, it obviously is difficult for all kinds of reasons to consider pulling them out - that doesn't mean you 'need' private education to do well which is actually a different issue

They presumably pay very approximately somewhere between £60,000 and £85,000 per year in tax and presumably take no benefits of any description

They are about as far away from the types of people that get on my nerves as I can possibly imagine


Gecko1978

9,702 posts

157 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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What gets on peoples nerves is not that they are taking the pee out of the system more that they need to ask how can we afford X when we have Y income, an the implication they were forced to rack up 8k of credit card debt.

As I said nursery fees of 30K a year. I drive a Zafira, a red 1.8 Zafira, I bought it for cash new from vaxhall (11.5K). I hate my Zafira its rubbish as a drivers car. Its quite good at hauling 2 under 4's and there gubbins plus a dog about though... Perhaps I should right to the telegraph an say why can't I have a 911 if it wasn't for the 30K a year nursery fees I could have a new one in red....

The article is pointless, yes they earn alot but they spend it too. If they could not see that then really there is something wrong.

Move to Market Drayton there are private schools near by an houses are cheaper, might be a bit less organic, seasonal fa
fair trade bistros for you to eat out at though

emicen

8,578 posts

218 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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jonby said:
The comments on here are priceless

The article is in the financial planning section of a paper and does not in any way appear to be a sob story, a moan or a family looking for sympathy. They are looking at different potential changes to their lifestyle/spending and discussing their options. [b] Like most people, their outgoings have gone up by more than their income and they are maturely looking at the best way to deal with that.

Having taken the decision to send their kids to private school, it obviously is difficult for all kinds of reasons to consider pulling them out - that doesn't mean you 'need' private education to do well which is actually a different issue [/b]

They presumably pay very approximately somewhere between £60,000 and £85,000 per year in tax and presumably take no benefits of any description

They are about as far away from the types of people that get on my nerves as I can possibly imagine
The comments section on there, and on here, pretty much contradicts your "like most people" notion. Most people, it seems, don't have an issue with cutting their cloth.

From the article itself, "They have two daughters, Emme, who is two and a half, and Belle, who is just nine months old." Decisions which have been made but not put in to action are difficult to reverse?