"The perils of earning a £100k salary"
Discussion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11382591
Just read this and it struck me as quite interesting due to my situation and that of my family and friends, as it struck a bit of a chord.
My question is: are the people on PH who could/do afford to own say a stable of exotica worth £100ks if not £Ms, more happy than those who don't? I love, nay adore, my car, but could I say hand on heart that my life is genuinely better with it? No is the short answer, my third year of uni was as good as I feel life is now, but I had relatively diddly squat money.
For background: personally, I'm self employed so what I earn as salary isn't really indicative of what I (could) take home as income due to owning my company - I take what I need/want according to the rules but leave the rest in my company (why pay tax on cash just to have it in your personal bank account?). If I chose to, I could probably get close to "withdrawing" the equivalent of a £100k gross salary after taxes but I simply don't need it for my lifestyle. Excluding running any sort of silly car, I've worked out that I could do everything I want for the equivalent of a <£30k gross salary. And all this is with me working an incredibly normal 40ish hour week but based in expensive London.
Conversely, one of my family (in his late 30s) makes probably £500k per year on average (bonus depending etc) but works 60+ hr weeks. He and his wife (who also made £100k+ until stopping work for kids) live in a mahussive house worth millions yet he envies me and others as between his job and the kids he has next to no time for himself and interests he may have. The saving grace is that he seems to get massive satisfaction for providing financially as best as he can for the kids. While in principle I admire and envy him for being very successful at his work, I cannot bring myself to buy into his lifestyle...I think I'm fundamentally too lazy!
Conversely to that(!) one of my best mates lives with his gf in Exeter on peanuts as a mature student and is one of the happiest people I know - he works a bit, studies some of the time, and windsurfs the rest. On many levels I envy him immensely!
I consider myself incredibly lucky (although I firmly believe you make your own luck to a large extent): I have time and money to do what I want to do and don't feel the need to take the piss/keep up with the Joneses etc with my lifestyle....this excludes to a certain extent my passion for cars: I'll spend ages trying to save a tenner on say a mobile phone contract but quite happy to spank loads on frankly unnecessary automotive stuff.
It's funny, when I think of happiness relative to money, a Vmax clip I saw a few months ago springs into my head: bloke in a Ford GT goes round a corner before a straight doing say 120mph, rock solid, no drama, followed by a guy in an old MX-5 for say 1/10th of the cost doing say only 80mph but with the rear hanging out and armfuls of oppo on....it's pretty clear who was having the most fun!
Well, apologies for rambling, what are people's thought's on the whole money thing? What do you think is the optimum (disposable) income?
Just read this and it struck me as quite interesting due to my situation and that of my family and friends, as it struck a bit of a chord.
My question is: are the people on PH who could/do afford to own say a stable of exotica worth £100ks if not £Ms, more happy than those who don't? I love, nay adore, my car, but could I say hand on heart that my life is genuinely better with it? No is the short answer, my third year of uni was as good as I feel life is now, but I had relatively diddly squat money.
For background: personally, I'm self employed so what I earn as salary isn't really indicative of what I (could) take home as income due to owning my company - I take what I need/want according to the rules but leave the rest in my company (why pay tax on cash just to have it in your personal bank account?). If I chose to, I could probably get close to "withdrawing" the equivalent of a £100k gross salary after taxes but I simply don't need it for my lifestyle. Excluding running any sort of silly car, I've worked out that I could do everything I want for the equivalent of a <£30k gross salary. And all this is with me working an incredibly normal 40ish hour week but based in expensive London.
Conversely, one of my family (in his late 30s) makes probably £500k per year on average (bonus depending etc) but works 60+ hr weeks. He and his wife (who also made £100k+ until stopping work for kids) live in a mahussive house worth millions yet he envies me and others as between his job and the kids he has next to no time for himself and interests he may have. The saving grace is that he seems to get massive satisfaction for providing financially as best as he can for the kids. While in principle I admire and envy him for being very successful at his work, I cannot bring myself to buy into his lifestyle...I think I'm fundamentally too lazy!
Conversely to that(!) one of my best mates lives with his gf in Exeter on peanuts as a mature student and is one of the happiest people I know - he works a bit, studies some of the time, and windsurfs the rest. On many levels I envy him immensely!
I consider myself incredibly lucky (although I firmly believe you make your own luck to a large extent): I have time and money to do what I want to do and don't feel the need to take the piss/keep up with the Joneses etc with my lifestyle....this excludes to a certain extent my passion for cars: I'll spend ages trying to save a tenner on say a mobile phone contract but quite happy to spank loads on frankly unnecessary automotive stuff.
It's funny, when I think of happiness relative to money, a Vmax clip I saw a few months ago springs into my head: bloke in a Ford GT goes round a corner before a straight doing say 120mph, rock solid, no drama, followed by a guy in an old MX-5 for say 1/10th of the cost doing say only 80mph but with the rear hanging out and armfuls of oppo on....it's pretty clear who was having the most fun!
Well, apologies for rambling, what are people's thought's on the whole money thing? What do you think is the optimum (disposable) income?
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