Questions re.standard of living

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PRNole 19 years ago

I initially posted this question in a London forum before finding out about this one, so I am reposting the same question here with apologies to anyone who has seen or answered it elsewhere.

I've travelled to the UK quite a bit and have become curious about the local economy, especially now that the currency exchange with the dollar is highly favorable to you and excruciatingly tough on many American tourists. My question has to do with the purchasing power of the pound in the UK vs. the US$ in America. I have noticed that, provided one disregards currency differences, a British pound in the UK buys basically the same product or good as the US$ does in the USA. That is, something that costs 50.00UK in the UK pretty much costs

50.00US in the States. Of course, the American tourist today ends up paying double for that West End Show or dinner in Britain than were s/ he to purchase a Brodway show ticket or dinner in NYC. The British tourist, though, makes out like a champ in the US under current currency rates.

Now, what salary levels are necessary for someone to lead a reasonably "comfortable" existence in the UK? By "reasonably comfortable" I mean a single wage earner, no second job needed, purchase whatever one wants or chooses, live in a moderately sized flat or home, vacations during the year (domestic or international), does not feel in anyway constrained or burdened by debts, etc.

Perhaps salary comparisons could be made between a white collar worker with and without university training, or professional training, vs.someone with the equivalent of a 12th grade education (no college) and some form of occupation, as opposed to a profession.

I know this may be complicated to answer and might result in more questions that I could possibly anticipate, but if anyone has a clue as to what I'm looking for,I'd appreciate an answer...

Thanks!

Pete in Sunny Florida

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Virgils Ghost 19 years ago

It depends if they're fortunate enough to already own a home, a grotty one bed flat on the wrong side of town now sets you back in excess of $500,000

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Bert 19 years ago

The answer to that question very much depends on where you live as a £100,000 home in some areas of the north will cost you £200,000 or more in some areas of the south.

Also "purchase what ever one wants" is a biggie. Are we talking just good quality food and drink or new cars every year, posh clothes and expensive just-out gadgets?

I live comfortably, with cash over for saving, where as a friend of mine has double my income, never has a penny to spend and borrows heavily on his credit cards. He has a slightly bigger house than me but a smaller mortgage as he bought 15 years back when prices were cheaper, and I only moved two years ago. He does however have a very very very nice car. :-)

What you earn depends as much as your industry, and whether you work in the public or private sector, as it does on your education - at least that is so as you get older in my view.

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Terry Harper 19 years ago

There is a lot of information available on the DNS web site about earnings.

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(5 is one example, which shows median weekly pay to be £447. In some parts of the country you would live like a lord, in London, you would probably not be so lucky. There are other sets of data available if you explore that web site.

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Colin Wilson 19 years ago

Yeah, this could be a real tricky one to answer, depending just how flexible / extravagant you want the spending to be...

I'm on £22.5k a year, and have had a mortgage since I was 19 (i'm now

37) - i've just paid off a chunk of it following the sale of some shares, and I now owe about US$15k. The house itself is at the lower end of the market (3 bed ex-council house, probably worth about £80- £90k at current market values).

I'm driving around in a 9yr old car (which we bought new, but has served me really well in all honesty), and my outgoings are currently about £900 a month (£300 of which is a loan due to be finished in a few months) - but *excludes* food / petrol / clothes / entertainment.

Gas (not gasoline!) and electric currently costs about £110 a month, in case that gives you something to work on, but are included in the £900 a month figure above.

I don't smoke, drink relatively little, and occasionally have a cheap pub meal with my wife maybe 2-3 times a month.

After tax, i'm picking up about £1250 a month (which may go up a little soon, I had a deduction for shares which is due to finish soon)

Sooo, depending on how you want to live, you can probably get by on what i'm on, but only if you drive an old car, don't drink or smoke, live in cheap or rented housing (which can be £600-£900 per month just for rent in a crap area), and don't have a liking for fashion :-}

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Daytona 19 years ago

As others have said, the primary factor in being able to live 'reasonably comfortably' is the shortage of housing which periodically forces prices up to extreme levels - about 7 times annual earnings, last time I looked.

The Economist magazine run a purchasing power comparison -

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There is, I believe, a big difference in average and median earnings - the average is skewed upwards by some big payouts.

Daytona

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