High earners - how do you spend your salary?

You said parental support was more likely to exist if the parents had money…

not sure how else you would read that.

Save as much as you can. You don't know what tomorrow will bring!

@Robinni

No one said that though

Money enables a lot of opportunities.

I went to university. My parents didn't earn loads, but they had enough money that they could drive me to Unis across the country for interviews. And they earned enough that if I was to get into financial bother while at uni, they could subsidise it.

They were also able to fund extra activities for us as kids, such as kumom, rainbows etc, tennis and athletic clubs, which are all part in parcel of opening the world up to opportunities that go beyond school, the park and the home which is sadly the breadth of experiences many in poverty have access to.

I remember being 12 and inviting a friend to a beach in Wales with me and my family for a day trip, that friend couldn't comprehended leaving the town for a day out. If your world is that small, it is very hard to break out if it. And I think it can be romanticised that you just have to 'dream big' to change your life, when in the real world its just not that easy.

It is not just support from parents though, a lot of success has to be enabled.

I am a health care professional. I have managed to start my own business which pays me significantly more than if I was to stay in the NHS, yes I worked hard. But I also had a partner that earned well enough to subsidise me for 2 years while I developed my business and wasn't earning much, and with no dependents and living in a cheap part of the Uk, it was fairly easy done. I am under no delusions that it was just hard work that got me where I am.

Being enabled isn't just financial though, I know many people despite how hard they work and what hours they put in they will never be wealthy as there are just too many factors stacked against them. And I think for those where everything has just fallen into place, they can't comprehend this isn't the same for everyone

so people who don’t have money….

are incapable of being decent parents loving and supporting their children…

pull the other one, it’s got bells on.

@Robinni

It is the parenting and support

which is much much more likely to exist if you have money

So you now have 2 advantages

@Realitysucks

That's why I said:

Of course, there will be outliers - those who had a crappy family home with little to no encouragement and support and have gone on to achieve amazingly well. But in general, we cannot escape the fact that our start in life determines so much of who we become and why.

I don't agree. I didn't have family to support me and I still managed to leave home from a rough council estate at 16 with no qualifications. Neither of my parents went to university. I had a child at 24 and then as a single mum started my study at 28 and then qualified as a lawyer at 38.

My motivation was myself as I knew I had no chance of ever buying a house unless i had a career and a good salary.

I worked hard and eventually bought my own place at 41.

This illustrates exactly my point. It is the parenting and support that is the key advantage determining success. And individual personality traits. Not money.

But having a family behind you who support your goals and betterment is an advantage over those who don't have this.

Like I've said, I had a father who pushed and pushed me academically - he constantly reinforced the importance of hard work at school and how this would set me up for life and mean I could achieve good things. I was constantly receiving this message from primary school age. The thing I received most praise for was academic achievement of any type. Positive parents evening? "Excellent, well done, I am so proud of you. Keep working hard, it's important". Etc etc. The importance of university was introduced by my early teens. Etc etc.

Sometimes when I tell people I have 3 degrees and I completed the 2nd two (an MSc & PhD) as a single mum, they sort of open their eyes widely in disbelief. Why did I do that? Why was I so motivated in that particular direction? I always say "my Dad pushed me from being little to do well at school and the message just never left me". Invariably they will reply "that's really good, I wish I'd had that. My parents didn't care if I did well or not".

My Dad might have been into his sports or music, and encouraged and pushed me that way, for example to pursue a sport to a high level or to be musical. He didn't - he shaped my young mind with "academia and doing well at school at crucial". I soaked the message in from being small.

I therefore had an advantage because of my upbringing and my father's cheerleading and encouragement, over which I had no control.

The messages we are exposed to as children in our home environments are so critical in shaping who we become, including intelligence level, motivation, ambition, and achievement. Of course, there will be outliers - those who had a crappy family home with little to no encouragement and support and have gone on to achieve amazingly well. But in general, we cannot escape the fact that our start in life determines so much of who we become and why. And not one person has any control over that start in life as a child.

@Nothappyatwork well quite, wanting children to suffer to teach a mother a lesson is despicable. However, you have to ask yourself what sort of a mother risks that scenario?

If the situation is as you describe, she had secured accommodation. What she wanted was more free available surplus income and the range of other benefits you get from a ch. And she was prepared to be dishonest to get it and had no respect for the position it would put her landlord in. 🤷‍♀️

The point is this women may not have been poverty stricken, but feigning it, which is equally as ghastly as the mob jumping on in the thread.

It is 35% minimum after 3-5yrs
www.gov.uk/right-to-buy-buying-your-council-home/discounts

And of course repairs are not done promptly. They only have a certain budget to put in all the kitchens, bathrooms, roof repairs etc per year. If you want it free it isn’t going to happen at the flick of a switch.

@Topgub I’m reckoning you have a dartboard in your house with bojo’s face in the middle. One of the main issues I had with Rtb was solved by Cameron - he linked earnings to rent paid.

Going to leave it there on the OT issues.

Max out pension.
Savings ready to pay off mortgage if rates rise.
Travel.

@Robinni

If people don't agree with RTB (I dont) they really shouldn't vote tory.

@Robinni to be honest I don’t care whether it’s a used tactic or not, it was the despicable away they were quite literally excited at the prospect of two children being placed into council foster care at a cost of £28,000 per child per year and those are based on 2013 figures so Lord knows what it is now. To teach her a lesson.

For What ? wanting secure accommodation ? for wanting affordable accommodation ? and actually it’s nowhere near 50% discount by the way. More like a 10% and according to our local Facebook page the repairs are not done promptly.

It was just quite disconcerting how many people were banging like the mob to punish somebody to being poor.

@Nothappyatwork

apparently she’s not paid her rent on purpose so that she can get a council house, a tactic I find very hard to believe

This is quite typical, as is sofa surfing around random friends houses with the pretence of homelessness when they could live easily back with parents. When you have a 50-75% discount on market rent and a discount on property price equivalent to an inheritance it incentivises getting into a council house for reasons other than poverty.

As for the attitudes of a landlord coming to this conclusion definitively and others piling on, that is poor form as many have genuinely had financial difficulties, particularly over the last few years, leading to rent arrears.

I’ve just read on money-saving expert a landlord practically wanking off at the prospect of the fact that his tenants are about to be evicted, apparently she’s not paid her rent on purpose so that she can get a council house, a tactic I find very hard to believe, now they’re all piling in with the lies about how she will lose her children because she’s been in court For rent arrears therefore made a self intentionally homeless and apparently the council will apply for an order to take her children.
they are literally trothing at the mouth with excitement about how this is all entirely her own fault. Men and women.

This is the society we are living in.

@Kellykukoo

That is a privilege

No one has 'agency' over how intelligent or driven they are.

Lots of intelligent and driven people aren't well off either.

Making lots of money doesn't make you better than anyone else. It just means youre making lots of money because you had an advantage others didn't.

I understand why wealthy people are so reluctant to acknowledge their privilege. Its hard to admit you're not special just lucky.

And obviously a few people do make it out of poverty but they are not the norm.

Wealth inequality is getting worse, not better

There's a reason its only 1% ofvthe population making that amount of money and its not because they deserve it

@CityGirly

I won't bore you with how I spend or invest just now..with hindsight, I would have prioritised saving for the biggest property I could stretch to that was closest to an good grammer school, with a sibling policy. Having the option of a solid state secondary school gives so much flexibility to choose whether or not to invest around 200k per child in private school fees and whether or not to ease off work for a few years when the children are little.

@Topgub

This generalisation is so false. You must acknowledge that some people are naturally more intelligent than others, that some people are more willing to push themselves farther than others. It isn't always about privilege. Although, I can understand that it is easier to say that it is and so remove any degree of agency a person might have over how things turn out.

@Topgub

I can agree with you on the point that some of those who have wealth got the wealth not just because of their own doing but because of advantages they had others didn’t.

However, I also know many people who were not privileged remotely, who have become extremely successful. What led to this was determination, less spoilt, and a very strong family behind them supporting their goals and betterment.

@Robinni

I didnt mention estates. I said those in poverty.

I also never said it was all doom and gloom.

I just said that those who have the wealth got the wealth not just because of their own doing but because of advantages they had others didnt

It doesn't make them harder workers or better people. Doesn't even make them more intelligent

Just privileged

You asked what’s humble.

My personal opinion would be that the most humble would be those on very low income privately renting as they will need to try and work longer hrs and are pretty trapped in terms of trying to get out of it.

Whereas there is at least the offer of a hand up if in a council house (the people who are perceived to be most humble).

To put this bluntly friend made £110k profit on their council house. Were in it 5 yrs when bought and sold 5 years after that. Put them on level pegging financially as those who had just qualified with Doctorates in terms of moving to next property.

So, I 100% agree with you that by and large a child on an estate does not have remotely near the same prospects as those born into wealthy families, however it is not all doom and gloom either.