High earners - how do you spend your salary?

I left my career after dc1 as I wanted a better life/work balance, as a result I now earn 100% more.

What a strange thread.

OP, what possible difference does it make to you how other people spend their money?

Its all relative. Where I live in this part of London, you would not be considered a "high income family" at all. You would be average - low.

But anyway - since when did "high income families" come on MN for financial advice?

So someone tells you, "Well I spend £x on the mortgage and £y on this and £z on that...." Well, what are you going to do with that info exactly? What is the relevance of it to you?

What an odd thread 😬

£150k is a huge salary/household income!

However, if you live in the S/SE, pay for full time childcare, pay for private schools, go on lots of holidays, cleaner, gardener etc it may not feel like it goes far...

But to say youre not a high earner? Give your head a wobble!

I left my career after dc1 as I wanted a better life/work balance, as a result I now earn 50% less.

i would suggest thinking ahead to what the knock on of kids might be on income and planning for that.

You might have noticed that there isn’t an abundance of female partners with significant caring responsibilities- depending on what area you practice in it tends to be hard to combine kids and full time work and it can be tough to do part time.

options are striking gold with a brilliant employer (rare), outsourcing lots of it or husband doing quite a bit.

all of these have financial consequences and the more you plan ahead the better.

I earn £80k and am single - so that is the household income. Not a high earner by the standards of this thread.

about a quarter goes on mortgage and other housing costs, and a quarter in savings. The rest goes on eating out, household bills, home improvements, cleaner, gardener and clothes.

Some years I do it better than others for the annual thing but I do look at costs of power, council tax, all kinds of things. Even so every year the expenses end up much lower than they must be so the more interesting figure is really what sum is left over after the spending to be used for savings or mortgage repayment as that is the true money spare in my view.

Ha, my DH keeps exactly the same log of income and expenditure @Xenia.

I have done a January note every year since 1989 of outgoings, income and capital (and my other records go back to 1979 t university accounts where I accounted for every penny including on chocolate bars). In general if you have more coming in than you need to spend on housing, childcare, food etc you feel okay. If not you don't.

Most of us would say no matter what you earn it is never hard to find things on which to spend the money even if just school fees for those who can afford it and helping children with university and house purchase costs.

We both always worked full time even with tiny babies (and still do) so had full time childcare to pay which has always been very expensive the younger the child is. LIke the poster quoted above we chose a big house. At 35 I had paid off our mortgage on a 4 bed detached and thought what else do I really want in life- a much bigger house and more children so we moved house took on a big mortgage equivalent of over £1m today and used every penny of savings for it and then conceived (naturally) twins - children 4 and 5 - best things I ever did -buy this house and have that last child/children (along with the first 3 children too and my legal career)

@citygirly we both work full time. Its hard going keeping all the plates constantly spinning at work and at home. Sometimes I wonder about trading off an easier job for some income.

@topgub feeling wealthy is relative. As the old Dickens quote said.

@Howmuchwood you also said feeling wealthy was relative

Only on MN do you see people declaring that £150k a year isn't a high earning income.

@Topgub I agree. Its why I said we chose a big house and expensive childcare. We could have a much smaller house and more money for other things. Either way I know we're well off and very fortunate.

OP asked how people spend their money, I was giving some examples of where a high income might be spent, for OP to consider in future if she has DC and moves to a bigger property.

Oh for god sake! Poor you having so little money. However do you cope?!

2/10 for effort.

Pootle40 · Today 13:38
We earn £150k between us but don't considers ourselves high earners by any means to be honest.

well your wrong. I feel embarrassed for you with that comment.

@Howmuchwood

Chosing more expensive outgoings doesn't mean you're not well off/ a higher earner.

It just means you've chosen more expensive outgoings

Whether you feel wealthy or not is all relative isn't it. We earn in the top 5% nationally but we spend a lot too:
Childcare £2500 per month
Mortgage £1200 per month
Council tax and utilities £750 per month
Kids activities £200 per month
Food £800 per month

And thats before kids clothes, shoes, saving for holidays etc. We chose a big house and full time expensive childcare to maintain our careers while our DC are still young. Hoping it'll pay off in the next 5 years once they are all at school, although if we choose private schools we'll probably be spending even more than current childcare costs!

Wouldn't anyone think of the squeezed top tier earners? 😥

Then you are wrong! As I stated earlier in the thread you earn more than 60 million other people in the country and are in the top 2% of high earners. Check your privilege.

@RosesAndHellebores

Huh?

Either the nhs is wonderful in terms of pay and benefits or its toxic and dysfunctional

We earn £150k between us but don't considers ourselves high earners by any means to be honest.

Indeed @Topgub but if you quantified in monetary terms the difference between pension contributions, sick pay, protected employment and lengthy capability procedures notwithstanding the fact that if a solicitor works 12 extra hours a week they won't get paid for it (they may not even be able to bill it), there is far less difference than meets the eye in relation to the package.

The shortages in French healthcare are not as bad as here because overall it's a better system which is less toxic and dysfunctional and that is saying something for the French who sit at the top of the tree when it comes to absurd bureaucracy.

@RosesAndHellebores

Those poor solicitors are welcome to join the nhs. Its crying out for staff.

In discussing NHS salaries one also has to look at the benefit package overall.

Employer contributions into a still excellent pension;
Good annual leave;
A unionised and protected working environment;
Excellent sickness benefits;
Availability of additional shifts with overtime, often at double time;
Generous on call allowances which often don't require attendance and the Dr/Consultant is able to garden or play with their DC if they live x distance from the hospital.

Compare and contrast to the average quantity surveyor working for a construction firm or even a solicitor in the provinces on £55k possibly having qualified at a big London firm and who found themselves unable to cope with the punishing schedule.

I can't think another profession/vocation where a dismissal wouldn't arise if the employee constantly complained about their employer or wore their politics on their sleeve and continuously lambasted a government their client may have democratically voted for.