Do you begrudge high earners?

In my experience ((business/finance/consulting/law) it’s your ability to generate revenue.

People earning these big salaries will be paid this much only when they have the ability to bring in lots of work. Stop doing that, they’ll be out.

I also think for most their salary won’t be this much - they might get a £120k salary and £180k in bonus. So it’s very dependent on performance year-to-year.

fair points, those as well

I don’t begrudge high earners except for those business owners who …
a) squished the ‘little people’ on their way up. Ie minimum wage and poor conditions whilst they drive Porsches or have a helicopter. I personally find the model of ‘I started a business, I took the risk, therefore I pay my staff minimum wage, whilst I take home 300k a year, which I take as dividends so pay x % less tax’ , I don’t begrudge the higher director pay, it is the difference in pay.
b) took advantage of the country during covid - and there are lots and lots of them. From my next door neighbour who took advantage of the low rate business loans to refinance his extension and new car. To those who said their staff were furloughed whilst forcing them to work etc. I was involved in a male brag how much money (as a company director) did you personally make out of covid conversation where one guy I know well claimed he made 250k and was now having a big home extension thanks to it. No conscience at all. Through my work I knew so many companies who took advantage and I hadnt really seen that level of greed and self interest before. I worked for an accountancy firm, so the scale of it really came to light a year later. There were those who absolutely needed the government money and help and there were those who fleeced the country and went part way to causing the col crisis we are in now. For us, my husband and his colleagues weren’t furloughed but were told if they wanted to keep their jobs theywould have to work for 50% of their salary, then 40%. The next year all the directors got a big bonus because they made profit during covid.
…..I think so much of this greed was caused by tax credits taking away from the business owner the responsibility of the welfare of the worker, and for the last 20 years the gap has got wider and wider, despite minimum wage.
Meanwhile - Thank goodness for the great businesses out there who still follow an ethical model. My heart goes out to those business owners keeping their businesses running for the sake of their staff and not even taking minimum wage or taking a low wage themselves. They are unsung heroes.

No.

I do slightly begrudge the people I know who have inherited lots of money and have life choices WITHOUT the all-consuming career though.

eg I have a couple of friends asking me about private education, they’ve got their kids down for prep schools etc.

I vastly outearn them and have to work a lot harder (long hours, travel, never switch off etc) - but to commit to £300k+ in education cost is just beyond my comprehension.

I also would say… and happy to be flamed here… I’ve been surprised by what a ‘high income’ actually delivers in terms of lifestyle. £300k a year income would get you a mortgage on an ordinary terrace house where I live. Insane though that is, it has been food for thought!

I meant more opportunity thanks to encouraging home environment, well-connected parents etc.

Employers pay people a lot because they're difficult to replace, not just because they work hard.

It comes down to skill-set and how uncommon/in demand yours is.

fair points

ill agree sometimes its correct timing, situation, moment etc

A good percentage of people do try to train for these roles. That it is why it is so very competitive and why people who haven’t been to Oxbridge, who don’t have connections in the field for career advice and work experience, or who haven’t the family wealth to support them as they take on expensive postgraduate qualifications and unpaid internships, miss out.
Ability followed by opportunity are the deciding factors here.
(although looking at some of our recent prime ministers, and at presidential candidates over the pond, opportunity seems to have far more to do with it than ability, in politics at least.)

I don't begrude high earners at all. I do begrudge them if they think they're where they are purely on hard work and talent - a lot of succes is thanks to circumstance.

I also begrudge those who try to avoid tax or live irresponsibly high carbon lives just because they can afford to. PJs etc.

but then a good percentage of people could train in some of those high profile roles etc, yes not everyone can and some cannot that i understand

I don't begrudge them at all. I am a single parent earning 32k (40k fte) with 2 children in state school. I am not a net contributor to the system, I know that. I claim a small UC top up which pays for my childcare and that's partly due to high earners paying a lot of tax. So I'm grateful.

However I do resent the notion that it's only high earners who have worked hard, because it just isn't true. And many of them are in that position due to various privileges as well as hard work.

.but then the mangement can only do so much, it also requires every individuual to be the best in their roles to then improve society as a whole,

you can have the best teacher, ceo, president etc but without each individual also doing their part too then it goes pickles.

No I don't. They have proper jobs that I probably wouldn't be capable of.

Yes, we'd need brain and body scans before and after each shift.

I don’t begrudge them, but I get angry when people insinuate that they are paid well because they work hard.

Generally speaking there is little to no correlation between how hard you work and how well you are paid.

How well you are paid is related to how able you are to perform a role which is in demand, and which will make people (your employers most usually) money.

Many low-paid workers work three or four jobs and work 70 hour weeks just to make ends meet. But because there is no shortage of carers and cleaners, and because nobody else stands to make a profit from the fruits of their labour, they earn peanuts.

Lawyers, IT specialists and bankers now, they earn a lot more, and while they may work hard, that’s not the reason for their high salary. They have skills that are in demand.

I used to be a high earner. I now am not (didn’t return after children). The stress and responsibility of high earners is not comparable.

I feel resentment about my own missed opportunities to have a good career due to circumstances I had no control over. But this is not something I can fix anymore.

But no, I don’t begrudge people who work hard and earn a lot. People who have been born into wealth and show a disdain for work, and people who wormed their way into positions they aren’t qualified for and force the people beneath them to cover up for their own incompetence annoy me.

But not those who are good at what they do, happen to have skills/ideas that are in demand and enjoy the fruit of their own hard work. That’s actually great and I wish them all the best.

@cupofteaandasliceofcarrotcake
Here's the thing about your perception of business travel. And yes I am in the bracket we are talking about. You don't get to enjoy anything about these hotels, most of them are in the arse end of a business district. You are often on a 6am flight somewhere, go straight to meetings, dump your bag in the hotel, leave straight away for a dinner that is more work, crash and sleep in the room and head back off early the next morning.

It's not what you think it is. I have never used the gym, pool or had time to relax. It's not living the high life in the slightest. I'm 52 this has been the norm most of my career.

It doesn't suggest that at all.
High earners are allowed weekends too!

Since we're all posting/reading threads on Mumsnet right now shall we just agree that actually none of us are hard working, irrespective of what we do or do not earn...

This thread gets more and more ludicrous. Bonkers.

@ArchaeoSpy not sure the high earners have guided the ship very well over the past twenty years! Our country is in a shit state... surely if they were doing such a great job we'd have a thriving economy that would trickle down and we'd all have a good standard of living! Instead the rich get richer and lower and middle classes are squeezed to the last penny! Maybe the question should be 'do high earners have a god complex?' 😂😂

thats the thing the work is still there, shareholders , other managers etc all need tending to etc, then theres keeping up with whats what from various departments etc

I’m a high earner, especially relative to my in laws family and they despise me. I really don’t care what anyone does or doesn’t have/make etc but it’s very ‘here she comes in the Porsche’ yeah I worked bloody hard to get it. I’m a partner in a large financial services firm by the way.

@MissionaryMumtoOne I can't imagine all that pressure. This is what I mean, for me that job should be on £300k not £30k (yes I'm aware it's public sector) but you can't compare a hedge fund manager's work with all the trimmings to a child protection officers job! The hard work and burnout, with no real financial benefit is insane - these are the people in society that I respect

I think some people mix up hard work with being strategic or risk taking too. For example my dad, I don't work harder than him physically, he has a much more demanding job he has to put a lot more effort into each day, but he's done the same job for 40 years whereas I have put a lot of mental energy and discomfort into being strategic, looking for new roles, training, networking, always thinking ahead and mapping my path, changing jobs frequently entering the "unknown" leaving comfortable jobs to chase the next step up, putting myself out there for difficult interviews that don't always pay off. That's the kind of "hard work" I do that my dad doesn't, it's different, but I think a lot of higher earners mean those kinds of strategic risky steps when they say they've worked hard to be somewhere, not that they're saying they physically work harder each day.

I'm not a "higher earner" at £300k though.... yet