London Liveable Wage
Discussion
Hi all just after some advice,
I'm currently residing overseas and been offered a position in London with an annual salary of £60,00 per annum plus a car or car allowance of £5,270.
My question is would I be able to have a good standard of living on this wage living in London e.g. live centrally, go out for a meal once or twice a week and have a big night out once a week, and take a nice holiday or two a year while saving a little in the process.
I'm single so with no dependants.
Thank you.
I'm currently residing overseas and been offered a position in London with an annual salary of £60,00 per annum plus a car or car allowance of £5,270.
My question is would I be able to have a good standard of living on this wage living in London e.g. live centrally, go out for a meal once or twice a week and have a big night out once a week, and take a nice holiday or two a year while saving a little in the process.
I'm single so with no dependants.
Thank you.
Assuming you're looking to house-share and aren't going to be to stupid on where you're willing to live that's more than enough. If you're looking to rent a place on your own and want to live in one of the more fasionable areas then less-so.
A solo-rent flat in Chelsea (for example) is going to set you back £2k plus per-month wheras a room in a flatshare would be getting on for half that. On the other hand in Vauxhall (again just for example) for the same price as a room in a Chelsea flatshare you could solo-rent a flat, or flatshare for under £1k.
£60k should give you a take-home of something like £3.5-£4k per month I think.
For flatshares I've always had good luck finding nice flatmates via spareroom.co.uk.
A solo-rent flat in Chelsea (for example) is going to set you back £2k plus per-month wheras a room in a flatshare would be getting on for half that. On the other hand in Vauxhall (again just for example) for the same price as a room in a Chelsea flatshare you could solo-rent a flat, or flatshare for under £1k.
£60k should give you a take-home of something like £3.5-£4k per month I think.
For flatshares I've always had good luck finding nice flatmates via spareroom.co.uk.
That seems like a very healthy salary, assuming you meant £60,000 and not £60.00 each year! 
You could live in an up-and-coming area for considerably less than a location in 'central', so, perhaps somewhere in Shoreditch (lots of lovely restored warehouse flats) or even further out but still within a 30 min commute if you can tolerate the misery of the tube travel (eg. Tooting, Clapham.)
If you're willing to shell out on rent in return for the lifestyle then the TLDR answer is... Yes, 60k is plenty.
If I were you i'd live on a houseboat flatshare, work my ass off and save it all, then buy some rare automobilia... :,D
T
You could live in an up-and-coming area for considerably less than a location in 'central', so, perhaps somewhere in Shoreditch (lots of lovely restored warehouse flats) or even further out but still within a 30 min commute if you can tolerate the misery of the tube travel (eg. Tooting, Clapham.)
If you're willing to shell out on rent in return for the lifestyle then the TLDR answer is... Yes, 60k is plenty.
If I were you i'd live on a houseboat flatshare, work my ass off and save it all, then buy some rare automobilia... :,D
T
That's a pretty good wage and it is a sad state of affairs that earning £20k more than the average London wage still doesn't allow you to live a reasonable life style in and nice but not exclusive part the capital without living like a student.
I don't know where you currently are in the world but sometimes I feel anywhere is better in terms of standard of life vs London, even if the cash payout is less. But London does offer some great work opportunities if you are into that sort of thing so maybe the rewards are worth the hassle.
My brother earns more than that and all he could manage was a shared ownership flat when he was looking to move out of a run down area (where he made £100k "profit" converting a 1 to a 2 bed flat) to a nicer area since he'd made good grounds on his career. Shared ownership/Government funding for people earning £80k a year, what a shambles it's becoming! If you go by national statistics 60k/80k/100k is a pretty decent wage that only a handful of the population earns (relative to the entire population that is).
Sadly I am not that career minded and prefer family life, I'm earning £10k less that your offer and I have to commute on the overland and I wouldn't say I have much left over to pay of meals out weekly etc (although I do have nursery fees to pay and a wife that works part time but on a similar wage if she were full time).
I don't know where you currently are in the world but sometimes I feel anywhere is better in terms of standard of life vs London, even if the cash payout is less. But London does offer some great work opportunities if you are into that sort of thing so maybe the rewards are worth the hassle.
My brother earns more than that and all he could manage was a shared ownership flat when he was looking to move out of a run down area (where he made £100k "profit" converting a 1 to a 2 bed flat) to a nicer area since he'd made good grounds on his career. Shared ownership/Government funding for people earning £80k a year, what a shambles it's becoming! If you go by national statistics 60k/80k/100k is a pretty decent wage that only a handful of the population earns (relative to the entire population that is).
Sadly I am not that career minded and prefer family life, I'm earning £10k less that your offer and I have to commute on the overland and I wouldn't say I have much left over to pay of meals out weekly etc (although I do have nursery fees to pay and a wife that works part time but on a similar wage if she were full time).
£60,000 will give you a take home of £3,510 a month. That's a decent amount plus say £450 car allowance so your total is around £3,960.
The biggest chunk of this is going to be on housing. Without a doubt your best bet is to find a partner to live with otherwise somewhere close to 50% will be gone on rent, council tax, utilities, insurance etc all the usual stuff.
If you want to live somewhere central, and I'm not talking Knightsbridge then £1500 a month for a flat plus your bills is the norm, now divide that in two and things look brighter.
If you stick to the single life then you've say £2000 a month to live on, in itself that sounds fine but eating out, a big night out and a couple of holidays a year plus clothes, Christmas and whilst things aren't bleak you'll have to budget more than you think.
There are of course much cheaper ways to live and much pricier but I think the above isn't far from the norm.
The biggest chunk of this is going to be on housing. Without a doubt your best bet is to find a partner to live with otherwise somewhere close to 50% will be gone on rent, council tax, utilities, insurance etc all the usual stuff.
If you want to live somewhere central, and I'm not talking Knightsbridge then £1500 a month for a flat plus your bills is the norm, now divide that in two and things look brighter.
If you stick to the single life then you've say £2000 a month to live on, in itself that sounds fine but eating out, a big night out and a couple of holidays a year plus clothes, Christmas and whilst things aren't bleak you'll have to budget more than you think.
There are of course much cheaper ways to live and much pricier but I think the above isn't far from the norm.
pfnsht said:
That's a pretty good wage and it is a sad state of affairs that earning £20k more than the average London wage still doesn't allow you to live a reasonable life style in and nice but not exclusive part the capital without living like a student.
I don't know where you currently are in the world but sometimes I feel anywhere is better in terms of standard of life vs London, even if the cash payout is less. But London does offer some great work opportunities if you are into that sort of thing so maybe the rewards are worth the hassle.
My brother earns more than that and all he could manage was a shared ownership flat when he was looking to move out of a run down area (where he made £100k "profit" converting a 1 to a 2 bed flat) to a nicer area since he'd made good grounds on his career. Shared ownership/Government funding for people earning £80k a year, what a shambles it's becoming! If you go by national statistics 60k/80k/100k is a pretty decent wage that only a handful of the population earns (relative to the entire population that is).
Sadly I am not that career minded and prefer family life, I'm earning £10k less that your offer and I have to commute on the overland and I wouldn't say I have much left over to pay of meals out weekly etc (although I do have nursery fees to pay and a wife that works part time but on a similar wage if she were full time).
Indeed, wage inflation has been forgotten about in this 'recovery'. The current idea of a recovery is house price inflation and debt. People are asking £1m for bog standard semis in the London suburbs, which might be ok if the average wage had gone up to £100k as well. Instead, most jobs still pay what they paid 10 years ago!I don't know where you currently are in the world but sometimes I feel anywhere is better in terms of standard of life vs London, even if the cash payout is less. But London does offer some great work opportunities if you are into that sort of thing so maybe the rewards are worth the hassle.
My brother earns more than that and all he could manage was a shared ownership flat when he was looking to move out of a run down area (where he made £100k "profit" converting a 1 to a 2 bed flat) to a nicer area since he'd made good grounds on his career. Shared ownership/Government funding for people earning £80k a year, what a shambles it's becoming! If you go by national statistics 60k/80k/100k is a pretty decent wage that only a handful of the population earns (relative to the entire population that is).
Sadly I am not that career minded and prefer family life, I'm earning £10k less that your offer and I have to commute on the overland and I wouldn't say I have much left over to pay of meals out weekly etc (although I do have nursery fees to pay and a wife that works part time but on a similar wage if she were full time).
Thanks everyone for your replies so far.
You reaffirmed what I expected that £60k sounds like a pretty decent salary on paper but the extortionate rental market that is London would take a big chunk out of that.
I'm currently residing in Sydney which is a great place to live in terms of weather and lifestyle but it doesn't have the same buzz as London does.
I'm finding it a hard decision to make because I do like living here but I'd be closer to my family if I moved to London, plus a proper boozer and being able to go and watch my team (Everton) play when they play in London. Plus I think that their would be more career opportunities available in London and I'd be working on an interesting project. It would be hard to go back to the English weather though and commuting on the tube.
Has anyone else done the move from Sydney to London and regretted it/felt it was the right decision?
You reaffirmed what I expected that £60k sounds like a pretty decent salary on paper but the extortionate rental market that is London would take a big chunk out of that.
I'm currently residing in Sydney which is a great place to live in terms of weather and lifestyle but it doesn't have the same buzz as London does.
I'm finding it a hard decision to make because I do like living here but I'd be closer to my family if I moved to London, plus a proper boozer and being able to go and watch my team (Everton) play when they play in London. Plus I think that their would be more career opportunities available in London and I'd be working on an interesting project. It would be hard to go back to the English weather though and commuting on the tube.
Has anyone else done the move from Sydney to London and regretted it/felt it was the right decision?
NSNO said:
Has anyone else done the move from Sydney to London and regretted it/felt it was the right decision?
My daughter has gone in the opposite direction and she loves Sydney. Compared with England she reckons everything in Aus is horrendously expensive, except petrol, so if you are used to Sydney living costs then London will be a doddle for you on the salary you state.Just for information.
London has less than half the annual average rainfall of Sydney and it rains on 50% more days a year in Sydney than London.
Also if you want to see a footy game in London (Premiere league) it's not easy. The games are all ticket and very sought after, that's not to say you can't but you can't just pitch up and go in.
London has less than half the annual average rainfall of Sydney and it rains on 50% more days a year in Sydney than London.
Also if you want to see a footy game in London (Premiere league) it's not easy. The games are all ticket and very sought after, that's not to say you can't but you can't just pitch up and go in.
Perfectly dooable, depending on how old you are and what you're expecting out of accommodation. It's pretty common to be in house shares in London these days.
The best bet would be a 3-4bed house share, depending on where you want to live you could be paying anywhere from 500-1000 for a room. The most expensive option is renting a studio/1bed and will cost you over 1000 for the privilege. If you can tolerate a shared house (i lived in a house with 3 other guys, it was great fun, in SW6) youll get to meet people and chances are live more centrally too.
London is awesome, i know plenty of Sydney locals who've moved this way (and vice versa). You'll have no problem with a decent lifestyle on 60k, unless you're surrounded by people on 200k expecting to do more. Typically London salaries are percentages of previous salaries too, so moving from 25-35k is not that different to moving from 60-80, etc. If you're a true car nut, make sure you're near a road to escape the city for whatever inevitable car purchase you're going to make.
The best bet would be a 3-4bed house share, depending on where you want to live you could be paying anywhere from 500-1000 for a room. The most expensive option is renting a studio/1bed and will cost you over 1000 for the privilege. If you can tolerate a shared house (i lived in a house with 3 other guys, it was great fun, in SW6) youll get to meet people and chances are live more centrally too.
London is awesome, i know plenty of Sydney locals who've moved this way (and vice versa). You'll have no problem with a decent lifestyle on 60k, unless you're surrounded by people on 200k expecting to do more. Typically London salaries are percentages of previous salaries too, so moving from 25-35k is not that different to moving from 60-80, etc. If you're a true car nut, make sure you're near a road to escape the city for whatever inevitable car purchase you're going to make.
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