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At what salary in Ireland can you be considered to have a decent life?

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    #32
    steddyeddy
    Registered Users Posts: 27,564 ✭✭✭✭steddyeddy


    Pat Mustard wrote: »
    Higher ranking, well paid public servants of the 'old contract' variety. A job for life, 9 to 5 at the office, with a pension that you couldn't beat with a stick and a six figure lump sum on retirement.

    I wouldn't do it if you paid me (which they would). I'd prefer to have meaning in life.


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    #33
    Rumpy Pumpy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,048 ✭✭✭Rumpy Pumpy


    Our extremely progressive taxation policies mean that you aren't hugely better off on, say 80k, than you are on 50k. All you tend to get is a job with way more ballache.

    It's good if you can get a job with a generous milage allowance or can claim a daily allowance for working away from the office. You can pad things out nicely with that.


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    #34
    steddyeddy
    Registered Users Posts: 27,564 ✭✭✭✭steddyeddy


    osarusan wrote: »
    What's 'a decent life'?

    Depends what you class as a decent life. Mine involves lots of travel. Three kids at most and I want to put money into a biotech business idea I'm developing. VHI for my family. I'd want to be making around 150K after tax for that to be doable. That's about 2.5 times what I'm on so I'd want to get my skates on.


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    #35
    billyhead
    Registered Users Posts: 9,672 ✭✭✭billyhead


    Rumpy Pumpy wrote: »
    Our extremely progressive taxation policies mean that you aren't hugely better off on, say 80k, than you are on 50k. All you tend to get is a job with way more ballache.

    It's good if you can get a job with a generous milage allowance or can claim a daily allowance for working away from the office. You can pad things out nicely with that.

    How do you figure this out? i.e what are your calculations for the difference in net pay?


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    #36
    steddyeddy
    Registered Users Posts: 27,564 ✭✭✭✭steddyeddy


    Mr.S wrote: »
    Single, anything over 30k and you can live comfortably.

    Yea true.


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    #37
    Rumpy Pumpy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,048 ✭✭✭Rumpy Pumpy


    billyhead wrote: »
    How do you figure this out? i.e what are your calculations for the difference in net pay?

    On a salary of 80k you will take home approx 48k after deducting 4k on pension deductions.

    On a salary of 55k you'll take home around 38k.

    On a salary of 40k you'll take home around 31k.

    That's assuming single, no allowances and not paying local property tax.

    PWC have a tax calculator somewhere on their website


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    #38
    steddyeddy
    Registered Users Posts: 27,564 ✭✭✭✭steddyeddy


    Rumpy Pumpy wrote: »
    On a salary of 80k you will take home approx 48k after deducting 4k on pension deductions.

    On a salary of 55k you'll take home around 38k.

    On a salary of 40k you'll take home around 31k.

    That's assuming single, no allowances and not paying local property tax.

    PWC have a tax calculator somewhere on their website

    The tax in Ireland seems mental TBH.


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    #39
    ThisRegard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,834 ✭✭✭✭ThisRegard


    AnthonyCny wrote: »
    Living in Donegal, I can survive easily live with my girlfriend on approx. €30k per year. Includes rent and at least 2 foreign holidays a year.

    No children. I hear they are expensive.

    I believe you don't need to pay motor tax or inshurdance up there, that's your 2 forden holidays alone.


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    #40
    eurasian
    Registered Users Posts: 115 ✭✭eurasian


    4 grands coming every month will be great for a family of 2 to have a good life style and being able to save as well.

    Minimum wage will be just enought to survive, I wouldn't call it living.


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    #41
    KERSPLAT!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,152 ✭✭✭✭KERSPLAT!


    steddyeddy wrote: »
    The tax in Ireland seems mental TBH.

    How so?


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    #42
    sdanseo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,233 ✭✭✭sdanseo


    Grayson wrote: »
    Depends on where you live. If you're a single person in their 30's it'd be nice to rent your own place. Just a small one bed flat. That would cost a fortune anywhere in Dublin and would be out of reach of a lot of people. Even sharing a flat with someone is too expensive now. I've heard of rooms in apts going for a grand a month in Dublin. Outside Dublin the price drops dramatically. The single biggest expense for most people is the mortgage/rent.

    At 28, I'm still at home. It doesn't really bother me, I've never been a mad lover of the sesh and I just can't justify spending 1/3 of my salary just to rent a room let alone a whole apartment which would be well over half my disposable income each month.

    Instead, I've settled down and made a tenuous plan. I'm here for at least another 3-5 years. The mother is happy to have me, I contribute, I'm putting away a bit every month and will increase that as my income goes up. I don't see it as any kind of a failure - if I wanted desperately to move out I would make it happen but I'm content.

    Just spent a little over half the cost of a decent house-share upgrading to a new car, which will fill any gap in independence I need. Saving the rest, living frugally and allowing for a couple of short breaks a year should mean I'll have a deposit for an apartment or house in the time I'm hoping.

    Of course anyone can meet someone in the morning who changes all those plans; but you can't plan for that!


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    #43
    Rumpy Pumpy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,048 ✭✭✭Rumpy Pumpy


    KERSPLAT! wrote: »
    How so?

    I can only give my own personal circumstances. Living in Dublin and in the upper quartile of a five figure salary. Great employer and Dublin is a wonderful place to live. That said, you don't need a degree in mathematics to work out that I'd be better off heading back west, taking a 20k pay cut, buying a significantly cheaper gaff and taking a job in some firm in Galway where I'd have zero stress and an opportunity to get my golf handicap into low single figures.

    The squeezed middle is a hoary old phrase, but there's a tipping point when you have to get the pencil and copy book out and do the figures.


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    #44
    Sleeper12
    Registered Users Posts: 16,958 ✭✭✭✭Sleeper12


    AnthonyCny wrote:
    No children. I hear they are expensive.


    Yes they are. But worth it


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    #45
    billyhead
    Registered Users Posts: 9,672 ✭✭✭billyhead


    Rumpy Pumpy wrote: »
    On a salary of 80k you will take home approx 48k after deducting 4k on pension deductions.

    On a salary of 55k you'll take home around 38k.

    On a salary of 40k you'll take home around 31k.

    That's assuming single, no allowances and not paying local property tax.

    PWC have a tax calculator somewhere on their website

    Is this 4k pension deduction recouped at retirement i.e future income?


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    #46
    KERSPLAT!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,152 ✭✭✭✭KERSPLAT!


    Rumpy Pumpy wrote: »
    I can only give my own personal circumstances. Living in Dublin and in the upper quartile of a five figure salary. Great employer and Dublin is a wonderful place to live. That said, you don't need a degree in mathematics to work out that I'd be better off heading back west, taking a 20k pay cut, buying a significantly cheaper gaff and taking a job in some firm in Galway where I'd have zero stress and an opportunity to get my golf handicap into low single figures.

    The squeezed middle is a hoary old phrase, but there's a tipping point when you have to get the pencil and copy book out and do the figures.

    But that's your decision, working and living in Dublin.

    I agree regarding the squeezed middle.


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    #47
    steddyeddy
    Registered Users Posts: 27,564 ✭✭✭✭steddyeddy


    KERSPLAT! wrote: »
    How so?

    Because I think it leads to a sqeezed middle.


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    #48
    Yourself isit
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,257 ✭✭✭Yourself isit


    KERSPLAT! wrote: »
    How so?

    It's very high?


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    #49
    mariaalice
    Registered Users Posts: 12,403 ✭✭✭✭mariaalice


    Just talking to someone about this last night and they were telling me about a relative of theirs who along with his wife purchased a house in one of the most expensive areas in south county Dublin even though both of them are pharmaceutical scientist and work near the midlands in a large pharmaceutical plant.

    That is the crux of the matter if someone is determined to live in an expensive part of Dublin they will have less disposable income and a smaller house.

    It appears to be a very Irish thing the determination to live in an area that puts a couple under considerable financial strain.


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    #50
    Geuze
    Registered Users Posts: 13,160 ✭✭✭✭Geuze


    Yourself isit wrote: »
    Income tells you nothing. Pensioners on 40k with no dependents can live the life of Riley. Parents on 80k can be squeezed.

    Very true.


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    #51
    happywithlife
    Registered Users Posts: 1,324 ✭✭✭happywithlife


    You can't answer title question without quantifying circumstances- we just did our annual budget and 2 adults 3 kids we need minimum 53k per year just to meet basic bills - our combined net income is just about in line with that but we've feck all savings. We are very typical "squeezed middle income" " working poor" whatever label you want to put on it


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    #52
    Earthhorse
    Registered Users Posts: 14,714 ✭✭✭✭Earthhorse


    Rumpy Pumpy wrote: »
    I can only give my own personal circumstances. Living in Dublin and in the upper quartile of a five figure salary. Great employer and Dublin is a wonderful place to live. That said, you don't need a degree in mathematics to work out that I'd be better off heading back west, taking a 20k pay cut, buying a significantly cheaper gaff and taking a job in some firm in Galway where I'd have zero stress and an opportunity to get my golf handicap into low single figures.

    The squeezed middle is a hoary old phrase, but there's a tipping point when you have to get the pencil and copy book out and do the figures.

    Are the tax rates different in Dublin and Galway? What you've said may well be true but it has nothing to do with tax.


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    #53
    Technocentral
    Registered Users Posts: 6,101 ✭✭✭Technocentral


    steddyeddy wrote:
    Obviously this is highly subjective and dependent on your dependents but let's say talk about single life and married/partnered with two kids. A lot of people say the harder you work in this country the more screwed over you get and in some ways I agree. So what would you have to do to have the sort of life you want?


    In Dublin in your 40s and living alone in a regular one bed apartment, at least 35k after tax, one foreign holiday, 1 or 2 restaurant trips a month with girlfriend, no car, pub at weekends and cinema regularly etc.


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    #54
    Stealthfins
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,141 ✭✭✭Stealthfins


    If you were single and had around 500 a week after deductions a ringfenced gubberment job and no rent or mortgage you'd probably be living a good life.

    I know people on nearly twice that and with the 4 bed detached mortgage and an unsecure job and it ain't easy I tell ya.


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    #55
    Owryan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,024 ✭✭✭Owryan


    AnthonyCny wrote: »
    Living in Donegal, I can survive easily live with my girlfriend on approx. €30k per year. Includes rent and at least 2 foreign holidays a year.

    No children. I hear they are expensive.


    Aye, but going by the garda twitter thread in motors it would appear that people in Donegal dont have to pay for car insurance, NCT or motor Tax. So naturally things would be cheaper :D:D:D


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    #56
    XavierBoThang
    Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭XavierBoThang


    After outgoings, give me 2K a month & I could live like a queen in Dublin.


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    #57
    Pkiernan
    Registered Users Posts: 4,315 ✭✭✭Pkiernan


    happywithlife wrote: »
    You can't answer title question without quantifying circumstances- we just did our annual budget and 2 adults 3 kids we need minimum 53k per year just to meet basic bills - our combined net income is just about in line with that but we've feck all savings. We are very typical "squeezed middle income" " working poor" whatever label you want to put on it

    Remember that Sinn Fein considers you to be rich.


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    #58
    good work aint dear
    Registered Users Posts: 23 ✭good work aint dear


    Pat Mustard wrote: »
    Higher ranking, well paid public servants of the 'old contract' variety. A job for life, 9 to 5 at the office, with a pension that you couldn't beat with a stick and a six figure lump sum on retirement.

    And that my friend is the very reason why the rest of the country is screwed . Far too many overpaid, lazy , waste of space civil servants and politicians on the gravy train in this little country of ours ..


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    #59
    The Rape of Lucretia
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭The Rape of Lucretia


    There is no squeezed middle.

    The problem today is that people's expectations are way out of whack with their earnings. People buy first, or take on mortgages, loans, insurances, fee schools, etc, and then complain afterwords that they dont have the money to pay for it all. And that they are squeezed and its a struggle. Everybody in Ireland thinks they are in the middle - whether they have the money for it or not. Those who dont have the money or describe themselves as squeezed, are. in fact, not in the middle at all.


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    #60
    myshirt
    Registered Users Posts: 5,245 ✭✭✭myshirt


    Taking home just under €5,500 a month and feeling put to the pin of my collar in Dublin.

    Loosely aware of some small people running about the house which may go some way to explaining.


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    #61
    Yourself isit
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,257 ✭✭✭Yourself isit


    The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »
    There is no squeezed middle.

    The problem today is that people's expectations are way out of whack with their earnings. People buy first, or take on mortgages, loans, insurances, fee schools, etc, and then complain afterwords that they dont have the money to pay for it all. And that they are squeezed and its a struggle. Everybody in Ireland thinks they are in the middle - whether they have the money for it or not. Those who dont have the money or describe themselves as squeezed, are. in fact, not in the middle at all.

    They are in the middle in terms of their gross pay, but not their discretionary spending.

    And most private sector workers will be even poorer after retirement.


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