Trust me: even if you live in London, earning £70,000 a year definitely makes you rich I didn’t arrive into a newsroom buoyed by financial privilege like some of my friends did. When I applied to […]

I didn’t arrive into a newsroom buoyed by financial privilege like some of my friends did.

When I applied to journalism school, I had two institutions to impress: my prospective university and an arts council, whose generous bursary was my one and only ticket in.

A new benchmark

I was shocked to see people online suggesting £70,000 is not actually rich at all.

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It’s a new benchmark we have courtesy of John McDonnell, and one that people can’t seem to agree on.

A lot of those protesting that a £70,000+ income was not an indicator of wealth pointed to the cost of living in the capital compared to the rest of the UK.

What does being ‘rich’ mean to you?

By my interpretation, I am not nor have I ever been anywhere close to being rich.

“To me, rich is owning a home I know I can easily pay the mortgage on.”

I was raised in a single parent family, grew up in a council house, scraped through my A-levels at a local college, went to a local university, amassed some significant student debt, got a scholarship for a Masters, came to London.

That’s my trajectory.

The cost of London

Yes, London is markedly more expensive than most places in the UK.

Savvy Londoners have become more and more creative over the years in the ways they fight to stay in this city, myself included.

I’ve lived in London for five years. As someone who hasn’t reach that bracket, or anywhere close, I can still tell you that a person earning upwards of £70,000 is wealthy.

I can tell you that because on my current earnings, I am not poor by any stretch and I’m not struggling either.

I’m what some earning above £70,000 have claimed to be: I’m comfortable.

Rich is not having to worry

I imagine my definitions of “rich” and “comfortable” differ greatly to those earning above that bracket.

To me, rich is owning a home I know I can easily pay the mortgage on.

Rich is not worrying about having to check my bank account after making non-essential purchases on a whim. It’s being able to save decent amounts without having to make sacrifices.

I feel lucky all the time

I don’t agree that that is “comfort”, because I can do none of those things, and I am comfortable right now.

I don’t own a property but I rent in an area I like. I save by making small sacrifices.

Generally, I can eat out with my friends sometimes, go shopping occasionally, do nice things for birthdays, go on a couple of holidays a year, traipse down to festivals.

I’m lucky and I feel lucky all the time.

Thinking about the future

But I also worry a lot about the future constantly and how I will afford it.

What you picture when you hear ‘rich’ may not be the lifestyle you could live on £70,000. But that does not mean £70,000 isn’t wealthy.

Maybe to understand the meaning of rich you have to have been anything but first.