UK Child Tax Credit

Loving all the information here! Thanks guys!

Guru: Great last paragraph, that's some great advice and I will definitely take it.

As for the money, I still can't understand it when looking at all the costs I have researched for London. Perhaps that is why? The cost of living in the UK outside of London is substantially lower? But I don't think people that live in London pay to different tax rules. I guess I just don't see how people get by in London if those salary ranges are the median ranges. When researching 2 bedroom apartment/flat rent rates in London within Zone 1/2 and some within Zone 3 they are like 1200-2000 pounds a month. Average I found for a 2 bedroom apartment within zone 2 was about 1500 pounds. So per year that would be 18,000 pounds. So I are only the people in the top 5 percentile living within zone 1 and 2 of London?

I have never lived there, so I have been very conservative on all my estimates, so hopefully I will see things the way they are being painted here, and that will make things a lot more comforting as I thought I was going to have to make a substantial change in quality of life from my current home to there.

Thanks all!

I'm not in London, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, most people that work in London don't live in zones 1 and 2.  This may be part of what is throwing off your calculations.  Yes, you lose the convenience of a closer commute, but I believe more people live from zones 3 and outward as it's more reasonable than what you would pay for the closer areas.  It is still expensive.  London is not a cheap place to live, but I think that's part of how others make it work.

People who live in zones 1 and 2 are mostly either earning well over the average income, have 2 incomes that add up to more than the averages, or do flatshares.

Okay, that's what I was thinking. Thanks for the responses everyone! Have a great new year!!