31-07-2025
I'm a HENRY – I earn £101k but 5-star lifestyle leaves me with £225 a month & I have to ask my dad to help with bills
YOUNG professional Yvette Turner earns more than £100k a year but says she's 'broke' - because she's part of a growing group of HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet) who say they're on the breadline.
Despite making £4.5k a month through her full-time IT job and various side hustles, the 38-year-old has just £225 spare after paying her bills.
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There could be as many as three million HENRYs - typically professionals in their thirties or forties - in the UK, according to research from YouGov.
They have solid, six-figure salaries - but still feel skint due to the UK tax system and the high cost of funding their lifestyles.
'I'm rich on paper, broke in reality'
Yvette, who lives in a rented one-bed flat in London, earns a base salary of £85,000 plus a £6,000 bonus from her job as an IT manager.
She has also set up a lucrative side hustle, earning £10,000 from building wedding websites and planning weddings.
That brings her total annual income to £101,000 - but says that while she is rich on paper, she feels 'broke in reality'.
She even occasionally asks her dad for money to help pay her bills.
'I am a HENRY and not afraid to admit it,' Yvonne, 38, from London, said. 'I know people on an average wage will think I'm moaning, I'm not. It is so unfair. The more you earn, the less you can save.
'My dad had to help me pay council tax twice due to my outgoings."
In 2008, Yvette graduated inBusiness and Computer Science at Edinburgh University and the University of Milano.
'When I started earning a base salary of £85k I was thrilled,' she says. 'I felt confident it was the key to me finally being able to save for a deposit for a house.
'Then I saw my payslip and cried.'
Her base salary of £85,000 works out at £7,083.33 a month - but that's not what she gets in reality.
She pays £1,786 in income tax, £309 in National Insurance, and £433 for her student loan, which leaves her with £4,555 a month.
She paid £6,600 in tax alone on the additional income she made from her bonus and side hustles, and £21,432 in tax on earnings from her main job in the 2024/25 tax year.
'I worked hard for that bonus and to build a second income stream, but the tax system punishes me,' she says.
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'I have five-star tastes but need to start living a one-star lifestyle'
After bills, she is left with just £225.
Rent for a pokey one-bed flat in Shepherd's Bush costs her £2,400 a month, and council tax is £180.
Her energy and water bills combined are £250, while the cost of commuting is £150.
She admits she spends a lot on her food bills and subscriptions like Netflix, wedding magazines and Disney Plus, which costs £400, and she budgets £500 on going out and clothes. She also puts £350 into her pension.
'Saving for a flat or house deposit is impossible. I work late, grab yellow label bargains at the supermarket and have to upcycle my old work outfits with charity shop bargains because buying a designer is now out of the question," she says.
'If I have one unexpected cost like a dental bill, a hen do or have to use my credit card, it wrecks my whole month.
'The government wants us to hustle, to earn big but as soon as we do, we are hit hard. It's demoralising.'
Yvette has decided to start fighting back, and this year did a 'financial reality check' so she could properly start budgeting and work out ways to save money and cut costs.
She is now looking for a cheaper flat to rent and has stopped spending so much on expensive dinners and new clothes.
With these savings, she aims to put away around £400 a month into an ISA and an emergency fund.
She still goes out and still books holidays - but only if she is flying with the cheapest airlines and she can get the cheapest holiday deals.
'I have realised I have five-star tastes but need to start living a one-star lifestyle,' she says.
'People think I moan about being poor for attention'
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Predictably, Yvette has has had pushback from friends who earn substantially less than her and can't understand why she's struggling.
'Some tell me to stop complaining because they earn £30 or £40k," she says.
'They reckon I moan to get attention. I'm not doing that. They would do the same thing if they were grafting like me and never having proper time off.
"I know people will troll me, but please don't. We're all under attack from the high cost of living.
'My dad was an electrician, and mum was a part-time teaching assistant. They didn't earn big salaries and wanted me to make the most of my university degree and career.
'They're as shocked as I am.'
Now, Yvette is looking for a THIRD side-hustle, despite the fact it will push her into a higher tax bracket.
Under current tax rules, most people get a personal allowance - which is the amount you can earn tax-free - of £12,570.
After that, you start paying income tax. You pay 20% on income between £12,571 to £50,270, and 40% of the chunk between £50,271 to £125,140. Anything earned above £125,140 is taxed at 45%.
On top of that, higher earners start to lose their personal allowance once they earn over £100k.
This personal allowance drops by £1 for every £2 earned between £100,000 and £125,140.
That means your personal allowance is completely lost when your income hits £125,140, so you're effectively paying a 60% tax rate on the chunk of your income above this threshold.
Yvette loses £500 of her personal allowance because she earns above £100k.
'I know I'll pay 60% tax from my third side-hustle, but that money will go into my house fund," she says.
"Sometimes I feel like giving it all up to become a digital nomad, living in a van and blogging about how earning six figures forced me to quit.
"I am a HENRY, and I want to stop feeling broke."
Be a Henry and earn more than £100k
WANT to be a HENRY and earn over £100k? Here's five easy ways to boost your income.
Wealthy people rarely have just one source of income, so start up a side hustle like Yvette did.
You could start small, for example by pet-sitting, then save up the money to start your own business.
Make sure you declare your earnings to the taxman to avoid a nasty tax bill sting.
Wealthy people value their time as they know they can use it to earn money.
Every time you want to say yes to something, stop and think about whether it is a good use of your spare time and if you can afford it.
Wealthy people invest in the stock market to make their money work harder.
The longer you invest for, the more time your money has to grow due to a concept called compound interest.
This means that you make money from the interest you earn on your savings.
Lots of wealthy people send their children to private school for free - did you know you can too?
If you can't afford the fees, you can apply for a means-tested bursary, which could cover the full cost of the school fees.
Or if your child is particularly smart or good at music, sport or art, then you may be able to apply for a scholarship, which can save you some money on the fees.
You can find a list of schools offering scholarships and grants by visiting
Shield your money from the taxman by saving it in an Individual Savings Account (Isa).
You can save up to £20,000 into these accounts every year without needing to pay tax.
This means that any money you earn from your investments or interest you earn on your savings is tax-free.
Wealthy people will hire financial advisors to help them manage their money in the most tax-efficient way.
But you don't have to pay big fees for this advice - follow our tips for free instead.
A great way of keeping yourself below a higher tax bracket is to pile more money into your pension.
That's because the £100,000 threshold is based on something called your 'adjusted net income', which is your income after your pension contributions are taken off.
That means you can essentially reduce your salary, and your tax bill, by funnelling your money into your pension instead.
Wealthy people who are married will often look into tax allowances to save on their tax nill, such as the marriage tax allowance.
This tax relief allows you to boost your personal allowance by applying for marriage tax allowance.
This allows your spouse or civil partner (as long as they earn less than £12,570) to hand over £1,260 of their own allowance to their other half, which could save you up to £252 in tax per year.
Use government childcare help schemes to save even more.
Families can claim up to £2,000 a year from the government through the tax-free childcare system.
You can put up to £500 per quarter (every three months) into a tax-free childcare account, and for every £8 you pay in, the government will add £2.
The cash can be used to pay your nursery or childminder.
