High earners - how do you spend your salary?

I think it’s bloody weird that a silver circle solicitor doing commercial work (because that salary doesn’t come from resi conveyancing) has neither peers to discuss this with or pick up guidance from, nor a mountain of student debt from their humble backgrounds x 2 in order to secure those jobs. Sure firms pay fees and a contribution but that’s after the degree has been paid for and med school for what, 5 years? Yet no reference to student loans.
nor dry cleaning and suits / dreadful shoes.

OP posted in the AIBU? board. The point of this board is for people to tell them whether or not they are unreasonable and call them out on that behaviour.
Why is it then wrong for people to object to what they are saying?
If she had posted on a money/financial board, fair enough, it wouldn’t be right for people to object to the question like this.
But she posted it on a board that’s famous for provoking debate and criticism.
Why did you think she did that?
Either she made a mistake, didn’t understand what the board is, intended to piss people off with a good ol’ brag, or (most likely) wanted the most possible posts and was prepared to get plenty of negative comments in the process.
Also I find your comments about ‘poor teachers and nurses’ quite tasteless since everyone knows how hard working they are and what invaluable professions they are. And while a salary in the £20ks-30s isn’t terrible, it’s not that good either considering how hard they work and what a significant contribution they make to everyone’s lives.

@lancsgirl85 but there's no point to either post on either thread is there? The posts from those struggling on threads like this are clearly plopped in to make the poster and others in the same position feel shit. So I would be open to the possibility that they were being a dick, actually.

@Topgub But those who enter nursing can earn a lot more too. Many in the professions I mentioned above will not progress much either. In every job, there's those who will reach the top or middle and earn well and there is those who don't for many reasons. Why is nursing so different and worthy of special sympathy?

I do think this thread would have been better placed in money, I don't think it is unreasonable to want to learn how to maximise your already fortunate situation and to learn some tips, I'd likely want to do the same. But with there being so much on aibu on the cost of living and struggling to fund the basics, having a thread titled like this is rubbing salt in the wound a bit.

But, that aside I have read the thread with curiosity.

What is the obsession with savings?

We save, but with purpose, to have bills covered in case our work dries up, home renovations, when we have kids will likely save to help them with deposits etc, but there seems to be suggestions on here to just endlessly save, just for the purpose of accumulating wealth.

I've known two people to live like this (though no where near on mumsnet salaries), they worked long hours, lived frugally and saved with the intention of a luxurious retirement, one died 3 years before retirement, the other 1 year into retirement.

If I had excess disposable income, while i would save some and invest, I'd want to travel the world, enjoy fine food and wine, wear quality clothing, fill my weekends with activities, spas, hotel breaks etc. I just can't see the motivation to make mega bucks money unless you will enjoy it.

Spending money also helps others too, creates more jobs, helps businesses thrive. Money just seems meaningless to me if it's just sat there accumulating without any other purpose than just to amass wealth.

@Katypp

Its not MW, no.

But in comparison to the earnings on this thread, it is a low wage.

engineers, accountants and journalists will all end up on much more than nurses. The starting point is fairly irrelevant.

Earning potential is the important factor. Nurses are never going to be higher earners. They should be

Don't know where "coffee" came from! That's a typo.

I am also lucky, i made a great bunch of people from a finance discussion site, so whatever our salaries/positions are, we all have a common mind set of "trying to be good with money" - some were high earners wanting to invest in shares and some were in debt and trying to get out, then once out, trying to then save.

Means we can speak freely about financial choices without feeling "shame" as such. I am pretty open about having paid off mortgage so people are generally happy to approach me with financial questions about debts or pensions. But i am also an accountant so its seems normal to be interested in money.

@Katypp

Also, your specific example isn't comparable at all. A high earner posting on a thread about someone struggling to buy bread and coffee contributing: "I can't help because i have plenty of money, thanks", would be very rightly ripped to pieces because what purpose is there to that other than to smugly run someone's face in it who is less fortunate? It would clearly be motivated by being a total twat. Whereas, someone struggling for money coming onto a thread about high earners and saying "this makes me sad as I can't even afford bread today" - that's very clearly not motivated by being a dick, is it? Not aimed at rubbing anyone's face in it, is it? It's just an expression of sadness about their own situation where they are in poverty and others are clearly very well off.

I know which poster I'd have sympathy for and which one I'd be heavily rolling my eyes at.

To be clear, they are not high earners either - in general, although they can be.

There are plenty of people earning less than the national average - thar's why it's an average.
Look, I'm really not interested in getting into a debate about how much nurses should be paid.
From a very quick Google, engineers, accountants and journalists all start on less than nurses.
As far as I am concerned the point I was making stands - nurses and teachers are NOT low earners and should not be constantly trotted out as such.

I saved mine, paid off my mortgage and then went part time which covers my second degree and masters.

If i do any overtime now, extra days, it automarically goes into my pension, saving NI and tax.

But i live a fairly frugal life.

@Katypp

1. I haven't personally "attacked" anyone and the post I responded to that saddened me about not being able to afford bread - that poster didn't attack anyone either, afaik.

2. what's the point in any post, from anyone? We are all entitled to post on whichever threads we like and express our views and feelings about the topic.

@Katypp

What professions with degrees and training start on less than 25k?

The vast majority of nurses won't earn much more than 35k a year even at the end of their careers

To earn what the op is earning you would no longer be a nurse. The only 'nurses' i know of on a similar wage would be chief nursing officers which is more of a political role than a nursing one.

Certainly not achievable for most and certainly not by 27.

Your band 5 nurse should be earning what the op does. Theyre worth that in terms of skill and job role.

Instead they earn less than the national average and folk grudge them a blue light discount.

But it's apparently OK to attack high earners for some reason.

@lancsgirl85 i didn't mean you specifically, no. But what's the relevance of posting about people with no money on a thread about high earners? If a high earner posted on a thread about someone struggling saying they had no advice because they had plenty of money they would be torn apart.

Nobody in any country, developed or not, should have to go without a loaf of bread. However DH and I both grew up in a developing country with no social security, no benefits, no food banks, no housing, no safety net, no nothing. We have no family money. DH was so poor in his childhood that he went without all the time. Poverty in the UK is nothing like poverty back home. Many of our friends come from similar backgrounds.

It has made us realise how important money is and choose high earning professions- collecting multiple degrees- to avoid being in that situation. DS working similarly hard to do the same.

I find that like water, life adapts to fill the amount of money you earn...

I think this is the problem for some people. They spend whatever they have, so once tougher times come they're in trouble.

I know quite a few people who live like that. I can't imagine doing it myself.

@Katypp well said.

I am sick of every thread being hijacked by well-meaning virtue signallers talking about those who can't afford to buy a loaf of bread. The OP can - so what?

If you're referring to me as a "well meaning virtue signaller" then you are extremely rude and also wrong. I genuinely felt saddened by that poster's situation. I know it might be hard for some to believe that a person can feel and express genuine as opposed to virtue signalling empathy, but - it really is. ^^ And I hardly "hijacked" the thread to express this, ffs.

If that wasn't aimed at me, as you were.

This kind of thread always goes the same way. Despite the fact most of MN seems to be high earners, most of MN seems to hate high earners.
I am sick of every thread being hijacked by well-meaning virtue signallers talking about those who can't afford to buy a loaf of bread. The OP can - so what?
I am not a high earner, but I don't hate those who are and I don't think being a high earner means posters have a free pass to be as unpleasant and snarky and spiteful as they want to them.
And one last thing - LOL at the reference upthread implying teachers and nurses are low earners. The unions have done a great job to brainwash people into thinking this. For info, a newly-qualified teacher starts on nearly £26k and a newly-qualified nurse starts on just under £25k. Both can rise to a lot more. There are plenty of professions which need a degree and training - mine included - that start on less than that, so spare your sympathy for those people not the 'poor' teachers and nurses so often trotted out.

I’ve been very poor and very rich. Now comfortable due to joint savings that helped me/us during two patches of ill health.

I find that like water, life adapts to fill the amount of money you earn, so even when ‘rich’ we didn’t notice it due to the money being taken up by HMRC, better cars, bigger charity donations, cleaners, gardeners, private school fees and other things. I think that unless you’re a billionaire, there will always be someone with more than you and aspiration is unending if you’re someone who suffers with comparison.

OP at your age I would concentrate on getting on the property ladder asap and then overpaying the mortgage to build up some breathing space.

You might find that your jobs aren’t compatible with young children. Unfortunately you probably have more flex than your DP to move to a less intense firm/go in house, but that will mean a pay cut.

'Finance, budgeting, learning about pensions etc should be provided by the children’s parents……'

Well, maybe, but for the many children whose parents don't teach that? It's exactlly the same argument as for sex ed/relationships ed.

Not at all. School teaches RSHP (relationships, sex, health and parenthood). It's a fairly large and well established part of the curriculum. Also home ec. etc. This has been the case for quite some time now.

did anybody ever sit down and explain to you that when you look at the overall picture you would be financially better off and have a higher quality of life by taking the local job that you could walk to that pays 1/3 a less ? Of course they didn’t

And parents can’t do that because?