Minimum salary needed to live in London, UK

[@gavlatennis2824]

Most realistic video about London rent anywhere on KZbin.

[@AnaViolinViola]

These numbers look quite realistic :). And the best way to save money is to live "bare minimum" life on a "good" or "very good" income until you take off financially

[@improveyourfinances]

Indeed. The problem is that most people want to live like kings and queens from day 1, without going through the "hardship phase". Unless people have rich parents, on your way to riches and wealth, you have to go through some hardship, save hard and build up. In 2020, I bought 2 properties. In 2021, I bought 1 property. In a few months I will complete the purchase of another 2 properties. In 2023, another 2 properties will follow. I am achieving this by being frugal now, so that later down the line, I'll have a huge income stream. What prepared me for the above, was learning how to live within my means, which made me mentally strong enough to live in hardship. People need to learn to live in hardship early on if they want to become wealthy. And wealth is attained by buying income producing assets.

[@aaronsavvy2908]

Great video! It'd be so cool if you made another one with the current inflation rates in 2022 and how it affects each of the three "lifestyle" groups

[@improveyourfinances]

I can certainly do that. My next video will be a physical training video, but after that I may do an update to this video. It'll be soon, though.

[@TheShadez01]

Incredibly useful insight, just needed to include if someone wanted to save say 10% of their salary pcm but thats an easy enough calculation!

[@improveyourfinances]

Thanks man. The issue is that many people believe that to live in London you have to be earning £60kpa or you will be homeless and hungry. I'm not joking when I say this - I got involved in a long debate with a bunch of people on Quora who claimed that £60kpa was the absolute minimum required. Most people in London earn far less than that.

[@prar_shah]

Thabkyou so so much for your video, just wanna let you know, ur videos are extremely helpful

[@improveyourfinances]

You're very welcome!

[@vinda2051]

Wonderful explanations guy. Thanks

[@improveyourfinances]

Glad you liked it!

[@blackcurrantpop]

Salaries are too low in London. Used to live there for over a decade. Unless you work in finance, law, medicine you will be just scraping past. Moved to the US and it’s a lot better. The UK is a beautiful country with charm compared to the US. But yeah, agree £40k is the minimum for a decent living. Below £25k you will be in severe debt easily.

[@improveyourfinances]

Hi, thanks for commenting on this. I do agree that if you earn less than £25k, things can be financially difficult, but it is possible to live off of that in London, as I showed in the video. Life will be tough though on that salary - no question about it. But if you check out my househacking video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/bV6rgX2gqKaKpM0), it is possible to have low housing costs (close to £0/month). The caveat is that you will be living with 1 or 2 lodgers in your house AND you need a good salary in the first place, to get a 95% mortgage on the property.

[@blackcurrantpop]

@@improveyourfinances Very good astute financial advice and channel. I will be watching more.

[@theoneandonly34]

I have liked and subscribed!

[@pregnancytipstelugu]

Very informative

[@ywiggan]

My friend rents an room in an house 1200 per month there is no way you could survive on £11,000 in London

[@Dearheartbeauty]

Really great video!

[@improveyourfinances]

Glad you liked it!

[@marinatejerogarcia6579]

I live in Whitechapel... I wish there were 3 bed flats for 1400pcm.... 🤦🏻‍♀️

[@traciesmobile683]

Where do you get the idea £60 won't get you much in way of groceries? I budget £45 a week and don't always spend it.

[@improveyourfinances]

I wanted to allocate a grocery allowance which most people could manage on, which is why I chose that number. You'll find that most people (including me) aren't as good as you when it comes to dealing with grocery budgets. But you are right, if you are intelligent with what you buy, you can absolutely come under that amount.

[@heliotropezzz333]

@@improveyourfinances And if you don't waste food. Cook raw ingredients and use any leftovers for a second meal.

[@mashelkardisha7741]

Amazing information 👍👍

[@improveyourfinances]

Thanks - I thought that something like this would be useful for those thinking about moving to London, but who have never lived in London.

[@maryanne_kimani]

informative!

[@improveyourfinances]

Thank you ma'am!

[@youdontknowme3935]

£950 pm zone 2? Unless you are living in a house share or a box studio flat... That does not seem realistic

[@youdontknowme3935]

oh nevermind you show examples. Pretty insane you have to earn double the minimum wage just to get that.

[@improveyourfinances]

Hahaha. Yep. London is expensive and most Londoners are actually used to living in very small properties. I now live in a big garden flat (for 1), but when I was saving up a deposit for my current residence, I was in a studio flat which consisted of a big room and en-suite bathroom and built-in kitchenette (in Queens Park, London NW6). I got all that for £515pcm, back in 2005. When I first moved in my salary was about £18kpa. What you pay for is the location - not for the amenities that the property provides.

[@raymondsmith7693]

Why there is wardrobe in the room were is the walking closet very tiny room for that money he'll no

[@improveyourfinances]

Properties that are near London or in London tend to be expensive to buy and rent. So, if you are on a low salary, you don't have much choice, I'm afraid. There are properties in Central London which are very expensive (prime real estate) and the rooms are tiny....again, that's because it's London. For this reason many people prefer to live outside London, buy a bigger property and commute in to work. For foreigners who are used to bigger rooms, living in London may come as a shock, when it comes to room sizes.

[@tayokarate]

So to live a normal life u need to any 83k a year , that's ridiculous,well I will not live in london

[@improveyourfinances]

Not quite. If you want to live a lavish lifestyle, spending whatever you want without ever keeping a check on your spending levels AND you want to live in Central(ish) London and you have a small family, then yes you will need upwards of £80k. However, I want to highlight that the vast majority of people who live in London do not earn anywhere near that amount - I don't. Even though I earn significantly less than that from my day job, I am still able to save up and buy rental properties. Do bear in mind though, that my rental property income does supplement my main income. Also consider that in my case, I have paid most of the mortgage off, for my home, which means my own household expenses are much much lower, compared to someone renting a property in Central(ish) London. It takes me 25 minutes by train, to get into Central London. I'd say that if you earn £30k, are single and are willing to live on the outskirts of London, you'll do just fine.

[@improveyourfinances]

@Calisthenic Day Trader Your standards are very high. To put this in context the median salary in London is: £39716 www.statista.com/statistics/416139/full-time-annual-salary-in-the-uk-by-region/ This means that the vast majority of people who work (and most likely live) in London are earning in the region of £39k. £100k salary would probably place you in the top 10% of earners in London (and the top 3% of earners in the whole of England).

[@improveyourfinances]

@Calisthenic Day Trader Fair enough. Everybody has to make that decision for themselves and if £100k is your number....then so be it. For the vast majority (approx 90% of people living in London), the reality is that they will never earn £100kpa (within London or anywhere in England). I can give you my example. I don't currently earn £100kpa (or equivalent, from business). Last year I invested £60k into property. This year I have invested around £25k. And next year I'll be investing about £30k. This gives you an indication that somebody living in London (me, single person), who doesn't earn anywhere near £100kpa, has a lot of disposable income. For the record, I could easily live off of £1500pcm (take home income), which equates to £21,200, while living where I currently live, in North West London.

[@improveyourfinances]

@Calisthenic Day Trader You've made several points, so I'll address them one by one. 1, I do not earn £21.2kpa. If I did - you are right - I would not be able to buy properties at the rate I have been buying. I stand by the statement though: my monthly running costs for my household (single man) can be as low as £1500pcm (which equate to £21.2kpa). On that, however, I won't be able to make huge savings, but I certainly would not be limited to watching TV (ha ha). 2, Within 2 years, I will comfortably breach the equivalent of £100kpa income and one of the purposes of my YT videos is so people can watch and be inspired by what I am doing in real-time. Hopefully, the viewers will believe that they too, can escalate their income, wealth and finances, by duplicating what I am doing. I even have a playlist - kzbin.info/aero/PLooYntYgF2Lz5FI1Hs06UN2JsZfnzdBDZ - which shows how I went about choosing, financing, buying, refurbing and letting out my last property purchase. I plan to buy my next rental property within the next 3 months. 3, Previously, I have lived off of a very meagre wage (for a while), which is why I am in a qualified position to say what it's like to live on low amounts of money and also what it's like to live on an above average income in the UK/London. 4, Do not confuse money with happiness. Money and high income does give you security and one less thing to worry about....but it isn't everything. 5, Living on a lowish income is nothing to be embarrassed about - we all have to start somewhere. Students for example, have low income, high debt and they have the time of their lives! 6, If you check my motivational video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZbcmoV8rqZjjM0 - you'll see that I focus on 3 things in my life: Body (an aesthetic, fit body to reduce the chance of disease) Finance (job/business, etc) Mind (learning knowledge and skills) I find that these things give me the best return on time invested. 7, I'll re-iterate: only the top 10% of those who work in London, earn £100kpa+. And I assure you, most people who I meet in London, earn well below this and appear reasonably content with their lives. £83kpa (according to my calculations) is a very nice sweet spot, though. 8, In future, inflation will indeed take salaries higher, but that'll be a discussion for another day. To protect yourself against inflation, the best thing anybody can do is buy assets - real estate is my choice but others might choose precious metals, stock market or even crypto currency! I hope these answers help you and others reading it. Merry Christmas.