What is going on today? - Megathread

Itā€™s not so much your salary as your outgoings every month. Someone on Ā£50k could be far richer than someone on Ā£100k depending on their outgoingsā€¦

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If you are self employed and earn Ā£30,000 and keep great records of receipts & expenses and currently live at home or pay very low rent and manage to keep Ā£22,000 of that by the end of the year by cycling and bulk meal prep, then you are ahead of the person who earns Ā£60,000 but only has Ā£12,000 left at the end of the year after paying for 2 car payments, 2 car insurances, nice suits, 2 pricey vacations, Waitrose & Wholefoods shoppingā€¦ etc etc

How much you keep of your own money is the sole wealth building tool.

Sooooooooooooooooo much of online anything is small business or individuals spending Ā£100k in marketing to sell Ā£200k of product. If you have to spend Ā£100k to gross Ā£200k and included in that profit come all the other expenditures thatā€™ll be taken out, they may only see Ā£40,000 profit by the end of it.

Which makes your Ā£30,000 salary look pretty decent if you are in a season of your life where you can keep the majority of it.

Very very few individuals earn Ā£115,000 and keep Ā£45k of that for investments. Typically theyā€™ll overstretch themselves on an inflated property, drive a ridiculously pointless expensive car, purchase clothing at Ā£300 a pop, go on Ā£6,000 safari or Bahamas vacations and eat out at pricey restaurants twice per week and once at the weekend.

Earning a lot and settling for less than what you make for as long as it takes to achieve real comfort is how many are truly winning.

Lifestyle creep is almost expected of you though when you start earning a lot, typically the reason you are getting that money is because you are willing to uphold a certain public image of yourself (exceptions apply to surgeons and emergency services heroā€™s).

No salary is enough if you spend more than you earn. Many social media (muppets) run campaigns where Ā£1million is spent over 3 years though they fall Ā£150,000 into debt because it didnā€™t work out or catch on.

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Yeah agreed that 2020 must be an anomaly, a 30% gap isnā€™t observed in the general data

That really doesnā€™t play out in the statistics, are you comparing like-for-like? Typically we end up thinking of what a very demanding job looks like here to compare to a US job of similar earnings. If I think of a typical Product Manager position here thatā€™s ~Ā£80k which would translate to ~$160k there would probably only be marginally more hours worked - mostly from the lost holiday.

I think this is also a very important caveat to consider:

I certainly feel this playing out for me, where I work less than my US colleagues Iā€™m aware I spend a huge amount of time on DIY so probably end up with less leisure time, because in a higher-tax environment DIY is much more efficient (despite still being labour-inefficient).

Overall I think we are just generally unaware of how much poorer we really are than people in the US, despite culturally becoming much closer. When looking into this in more detail I feel like Boris Yeltsin entering that supermarket and thinking that if more people were aware of the true disparity ā€œthere would be a revolution.ā€

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@101 This is probably the best life/investment advice someone could give/receive.
Savings = income - EGO(lose your ego and you will have enough to have a wealthy life)
Not as easy for everyone.

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It depends how much you can delay gratification

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Splunking all my money

But then some people live in the here and now and donā€™t see a good future for their retirements.

So I agree with you about lifestyles for example myself I have an expensive sport bike hobby that I donā€™t see myself riding like that in retirement so I spend on the here and now.

Isnā€™t the rule of thumb to save at least 10 or 20% of your wage in savings I forget :smiley:

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We rotate shifts and one of our shifts is a 4 day week but thatā€™s because it changes from 8 hours to 10 to get the 39 hour weeks.

People say eco but those fancy cars are just that fancy more features should be better for the price etc especially if someone wants a sports car for thrills.

If I had that money I would definitely 100% by the best superbike and get it done up to the max dyno tuned to the max, with the best of gear for protection etc.

Also I would definitely love a house with a decent size garage to tinker on said bikes etc even not the best of best bikes etc I just mean in general but those houses are out of reach for the likes of me now a days.

I know some just do it for the status and the eco and social media but I would just be buying stuff like thst to make my life easier or funnier.

Those are things that you would like, not that you need. There is room for those in life, but you need to understand their differences. I would like to have a second car, but I manage to live with one and share it with my wife and work around schedules. I need one car, but I would like to have two.
The difference is that I would have to pay, tax, insurance, fuel and maintenance on a depreciating asset for something I donā€™t need.
Once you get around it, early retirement seems more attainable. There are thousands of other examples.

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Yeah itā€™s things I would like and need for one to keep costs down by doing more work on my bikes sheltered, it has ither benifits as well like improved mental health for me, cheaper insurance duento a stone based locked compound and cheaper repair bills, not left out in the rain not having to try fix bikes in the weather outside, thatā€™s my example of a good garage I would love and many of my friends also for the exact same reasons I stated.

I have lived life already on scraps and with zero money to my name beforeā€¦ I will never go back to that life but if I need to I no I can cope.

But we only live once and we only have certain health to a certain age and that stops us doing stuff we would like or enjoy.

But well as everyone stated above it comes down to lifestyles and what you want in life. I really donā€™t have an opinion on anyoneā€™s lifes to be honest, what seems stupid to some seems great to others.

I am not a financial advisor, and personal finance is exactly that. PERSONAL
I am just talking generally, and I have heard many times ā€œI need that new iPhone!ā€, " I need to have this new smart watch". Most of the timesā€¦You donā€™t!
And that argument that that thing itā€™s for your mental health, I hear it all the time, but most of the times, the Dopamine of getting that thing quickly disappears, until finding another thing, which doesnā€™t contribute that much for your overall happiness. Most of the time, we are just comparing ourselves with others showing their egos and living paycheck to paycheck. Hobbies are useful for your well-being, not saying they arenā€™t. again, each person and situation is singular.
Studies suggest that ā€œthingsā€ donā€™t provide happiness. People and experiences do.
I find that living a simpler life and lower your expectations is the key to live happier.

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My daughter drools over expensive handbags in shop windows.

She mocks my catchphrase ā€œIā€™d rather put that much cash in my ISAā€.

I pray that she will see the light eventually (although I never drooled over handbags or other stuff. House, pension, high interest bonds were more my things ā€¦)

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This is precisely the reason I donā€™t ride motorbikes anymore!

The buzz was great though - but still not worth the risks on todayā€™s roads. Seen some horrible things happen to motorcyclists.

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I have been expecting a bit of turbulence in the markets due to energy demands and I have wondered why costs have not risen as much as I had expected.

Looking at the article below, it makes sense - commercial energy is purchased in advance and we have just entered a new tax year.

These poor residents are seeing massive price increases due to being on communal heating systems and the high prices are now feeding trough to them. Some have seen almost 1000% increases!

Do you expect more inflation caused by higher energy costs this financial year or are you more optimistic than this old misery guts? :laughing:

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Have people still got their heating on? Mineā€™s been off since the clocks went forward and wonā€™t be coming on til the clocks go back. Still paying same direct debit so building up a credit balance ready for the winter bills.

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I just heat the house when neededā€¦ irrespective of British Summer Time :rofl:

But no, it hasnā€™t been on much lately.

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We now have heating on for just an hour in the morning.

Despite a February bill of Ā£750, weā€™ve managed to end the ā€˜yearā€™ Ā£45 in credit, phew, but will pay DD at the same rate to build credit for next winter.

Vests ā€˜nā€™ jumpers ā€˜rā€™ us. No wonder birth rate is falling ā€¦

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Ā£750!

Is that for a year?

I pay on average Ā£30-40 a month for heat and hot water with gas. (N. Ireland)

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Alas, that was just for the month of February :exploding_head:

Itā€™s one of the disadvantages of an old house - limited options for insulation and lots of draughty places.