How much do you need to earn to live in London?

How much do you need to earn to live in London?

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Discussion

BrabusMog

20,083 posts

185 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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If you're single and living alone I'd say you need to earn £40-£45k. If you're part of a couple or living in a flat share, then £30k each would give you a half decent lifestyle. As someone else said, my local is cheaper here than a pub I drink in out of town at quite a bit - and I live in middle class infested Clapham.

scrubchub

1,844 posts

139 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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MajorProblem said:
Exactly it's FA. A meal and drinks is gonna be minimum £100 for two unless you go to maccy d's.
In my experience, one of the best things about London is the amount of fantastic little restaurants where you can have great food for small amounts.

Christ, most of the Michelin star places do a set lunch menu around the £30-£40 mark.

AyBee

10,522 posts

201 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
waveywink

BrabusMog

20,083 posts

185 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
I migrated over from East London much to the horror of my family years and years ago, I needed to have easy access to Waterloo/Farnborough line - I thought I'd found my true calling in Blackheath but Clapham is just too fabulous wink But I'm bouncing out of the capital altogether for a move to Reading next year which is going to free up a lot of fun money smile

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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trickywoo said:
Crossflow Kid said:
Careful planning/budgeting and you could like like a king on £120k
£6k a month net won't see you living like a king if you have a £500,000 mortgage to worry about.
OK, don't get a £500k mortgage then. DUUUHHHHHHH! (It comes under that "careful planning/budgeting" bit)

Jonathan27

688 posts

163 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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MajorProblem said:
Exactly it's FA. A meal and drinks is gonna be minimum £100 for two unless you go to maccy d's.
True, but you don’t need to go out for dinner ten times a month.

MajorProblem

Original Poster:

4,700 posts

163 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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Jonathan27 said:
True, but you don’t need to go out for dinner ten times a month.
You'd probably go out Friday night then do something at the weekend also, doesn't have to be eating. Easily spend the money.

wolves_wanderer

12,356 posts

236 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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Standard PH. Insert some completely arbitrary costs and declare that nobody could possibly live on less.

Personally I'd want £200k because I don't really like London so would need loads of expensive holidays.

ferrariF50lover

1,834 posts

225 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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Just so we're all clear:

MAJORPROBLEM IS CONSIDERABLY RICHER THAN YOU. I SAY AGAIN, MAJORPROBLEM IS CONSIDERABLY RICHER THAN YOU!

McDonald's or £100/meal. You do know that genuinely rich people are extremely tight? Evidently not. This pretending that things cost more than they do doesn't show you up as some filthy rich bugger, it shows you up as a wally on the internet, desperate to show strangers how big your penis is.

I'm sure you do jolly well, but you're not the only one. The worst people are the middle income types who think they're special, so rub it in the noses of the less well off. You're giving the rest of us a bad name, please stop it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have servants to thrash and the man from Bentley is here with my (very expensive) new car.

Simon.

trickywoo

11,706 posts

229 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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Crossflow Kid said:
OK, don't get a £500k mortgage then. DUUUHHHHHHH! (It comes under that "careful planning/budgeting" bit)
Show me a king that does careful budgeting then. DUUUUHHHHHHH!

Unless you've got big savings stashed away £500k on a mortgage will just about get you something 'nice' to live in in London.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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trickywoo said:
Crossflow Kid said:
OK, don't get a £500k mortgage then. DUUUHHHHHHH! (It comes under that "careful planning/budgeting" bit)
Show me a king that does careful budgeting then. DUUUUHHHHHHH!

Unless you've got big savings stashed away £500k on a mortgage will just about get you something 'nice' to live in in London.
Never said you had to BE a king to budget careafully, merely that by doing so you can live LIKE one wink
More property than bandwidth for much less than £500k within an hour of London. Depends on one's definition/expectation of "nice".

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 19th August 11:51

TEKNOPUG

18,844 posts

204 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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Give me some more details about your current location, car, lifestyle etc and I'll tell you exactly how much it would cost in London for similar.

BJG1

5,966 posts

211 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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MajorProblem said:
In the OP it says a reasonable life so I would not class that as renting a room, walking everywhere and raiding through bins for my lunch.
It might be different if you're an old fart but I rent a lovely flat in Battersea with an old school friend. He earns £35k a year and lives a great life.

Shaoxter

4,048 posts

123 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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trickywoo said:
£6k a month net won't see you living like a king if you have a £500,000 mortgage to worry about.
A £500k mortgage is what, £2.5k a month? £3.5k/month net after mortgage costs can get you a pretty decent lifestyle.

I'd say to live comfortably you'd need gross household income of £60k, any less and it's just getting by rather than living (IMO obviously).

MajorProblem

Original Poster:

4,700 posts

163 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
ferrariF50lover said:
Just so we're all clear:

MAJORPROBLEM IS CONSIDERABLY RICHER THAN YOU. I SAY AGAIN, MAJORPROBLEM IS CONSIDERABLY RICHER THAN YOU!
I love a very average life in the north thanks, oh and my Bentley seems to be a £500 honda civic pushing 180k miles.

I just find it fascinating the amount of you need to live down there.

Re the £100 meal, your going to need a taxi / tube there and back plus drinks plus meal gotta be £100 easy.

BJG1

5,966 posts

211 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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MajorProblem said:
Surely if you were interested in cars then you'd want a car, perhaps not to drive in town but maybe trips out, trackdays etc. £400 might be a bit rich though, probably nearly half that and still have fun.
Live near Clapham Junction, store it with garaged.com for £100 a month - job jobbed. That's what I do.

Du1point8

21,604 posts

191 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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BrabusMog said:
If you're single and living alone I'd say you need to earn £40-£45k. If you're part of a couple or living in a flat share, then £30k each would give you a half decent lifestyle. As someone else said, my local is cheaper here than a pub I drink in out of town at quite a bit - and I live in middle class infested Clapham.
I will bite... where in Clapham is cheap to drink as Im there and its annoying that its getting to £5 a pint, as everywhere has decided that the posh beers are the only ones they should have on tap.

Even the bitters (supposedly the cheaper drink) are now north of £4 a pint.

You abusing a weatherspoons?

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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MajorProblem said:
my Bentley seems to be a £500 honda civic pushing 180k miles.
You are allowed to live in London with an old car, in fact, some say that's the preferred option given the traffic.

MajorProblem said:
Re the £100 meal, your going to need a taxi / tube there and back
Is the Civic off the road then? confused
Why "must" a night out include a taxi and/or Tube?

MajorProblem

Original Poster:

4,700 posts

163 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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Didn't think of that.

Drink driving

Parking

Congestion charge?


BrabusMog

20,083 posts

185 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
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Walk?