To wish i’d known when younger the importance of going into a career with money

I have often been snarked at on here for saying that in my twenties, it wasn't the avocado toast that made a difference - that was a small, discretionary spend.

It was choosing a cheap banger of a car, a SIM only refurbished smartphone, and using Freeview rather than Sky.

All my city friends had lease cars to the tune of £300/month, £50/M iPhones and £100/month Sky.

It is the big, fixed monthly costs that get you every time - save and invest that instead, and yes, occasionally you'd need to fix the car, but you could do that with the... Savings! My car averaged £50/month all in over its lifetime, including the odd taxi or train if it was in the garage.

I absolutely feel like this. I am nearing retirement and desperately wish I could go earlier. I work in local government and the salary was fine at the start of my career - but not now! I told all my nieces and nephews (and my daughter) to go into remunerative jobs and they have done! It's sad as I've enjoyed my work and feel I've made a difference, but if I had my time again I'd go for something that pays much better. An unwanted divorce and years of being a single parent have brought home to me as Jane Austen said ((paraphrased!) that sound teeth and a decent bank balance are worth far more than love!

i knew you’d be a teacher! Let me spell it out OP: you get unbelievable time off that no one else outside of retirement can dream of. Your weekly working hours, when you do work, are less than the UK average working week. You have a gold plated final salary pension that in no way could you accumulate in the private sector and which other tax payers subsidise. You have incredible job security which is a factor keeping most others awake at night. Count your blessings.

Yanbu. I was encouraged to ‘follow my heart’ so I did an arts degree then trained as a teacher. I left teaching a few years ago and with a lot of effort I am now in a higher paid career, but not at the 6 figure mark. My DC are lucky to be quite able academically and would have the options to follow pathways towards lucrative careers - I will be encouraging this - I want them not to have a lifetime of worrying about money or not being able to do anything nice.

I grew up in a small town nowhere near a city, and everyone’s parents that I knew had very similar jobs to my parents, eg there were lots of teachers in the mix, and that sort of level of career. I knew of no-one who had a high salary, and it did not really feature on my radar as a thing. My parents would also not have known or seen anyone who was a very high earner. So I certainly wasn’t aware of potential massive wage disparities / super high salaries, so it didn’t really feature as part of my decision-making process at age 18. I can’t ‘blame’ anyone for that.. and I am old enough that there was no internet, and the only type of careers research you could do was a ‘cascade’ form, or looking in leaflets on careers in the careers library at sixth form. And there was certainly no information on salaries in all of the information that I saw..

I agree with this.

I'm frankly amazed at the amount of people in this thread saying that you're an idiot I'd you didn't know what would make you rich in mid-life by the time you are 15-16.

Like PPs say, it is a ridiculous way of doing things expecting children to map our their lives at 13-14 if you count GCSE choices.

Plus, jobs and the labour market change, often unpredictably. And then there's luck, which countless lucky people don't acknowledge.

I’m a journalist (sure you may have guessed from the title) I will likely never earn more than £50k but my GOD I still love my job after 25 years. I’d hate to do anything else…so swings and roundabouts!?

I don't think it is clear to everyone. You're speaking for everyone?

And even if it were clear to everyone (it isn't), then not everyone believes they can achieve it or even know how to access such a career.

My parents never advised me, or pushed me to work hard at school. I did this and pursued a well paid career knowing I wanted to earn decent money and have a certain lifestyle. I don’t think this is your parents’ fault. It’s clear to everyone what careers generate a high income and the difference having a high income makes.

Dh and I are constantly saying this

Money doesn't buy happiness.

But it gives you choice

Following!

Exactly this

I'd probably push my kids towards training for a job that pays well...

if I thought they'd take a blind bit of notice of anything I say, on that or any other subject.

I've gone into what I guess is a 'solid' job, I'd never be fired unless I did something bad (as long as the NHS doesn't privatise I guess). However I now feel stuck in the job, if I was to leave it would be unlikely I could just walk into something with similar pay. Love the job itself but it's so difficult to do shift work when you've really young children, there's barely any jobs within that do child friendly hours or Christmas off

This is true if you don’t have high earning potential yourself. A lot of people on the thread have mentioned that money gives you freedom, and one of the freedoms for me has been the ability to chose a partner I actually like instead of one who’s going to fund my lifestyle. I’m self-sufficient, I don’t need to marry some rich guy to do the things I want to do in life. I would never make myself financially dependent on a man - it’s literally unthinkable.

When I was growing up, the sector I'm in now was pretty well paid. Pay has decreased by about 25% in real terms since then. I'm not sure that my parents could have predicted that. I definitely went into it for love but my expectations around salary helped to cement that choice. I think I'll still say to my kids they definitely should look at jobs they will enjoy but should factor likely income into it too and that there are certain jobs which aren't valued as much as they should be by society.

i understand that there are complex calculations around the salaries but the salaries published are generally annual salaries aren’t they which come with a certain amount of holidays (school holidays less time during holiday for prep/marking etc) so not different to other jobs

I’m exactly the same. I read a chick-lit book when I was 13/14 in which a character lived in London and worked in the City. The lifestyle described sounded amazing. I had no idea what working ‘in the City’ actually entailed day to day, but I knew then that I would be moving to London and pursuing a career in Finance, which is what I did at 22.

Some people are influenced by their parents or careers advisors, for me it was trashy chick-lit books of the early 2000s. 😁

So many jobs that used to guarantee a good lifestyle now leave people on the poverty line. My dad was a polytechnic lecturer on a low salary grade due to having no further degree. My mum was a housewife. He was able to buy a big house and raise us all on that one salary, retire very early (mid fifties) and live very comfortably on a good pension and savings. Most people I know who teach at unis now are on casual or part time contracts and earn less than 30k pa.

But as a PP said, most people I know who earn big salaries are real company slaves - working very long hours, and expected to be available to socialise with clients at weekends and in the evenings. They rarely see their families and spend very little time in their beautiful homes. I do know a few who really enjoyed it, but most seem to spend the vast majority of their lives doing something they don't really enjoy, just for the money.

The ideal, imo, is a job you really love, which earns enough that you don't need to worry and can do some of the things you really want to do, because you have the time and headspace for life outside work, too.

I went into the profession I’m in entirely because of the salary and the career path. I don’t mind the work, it’s challenging and I’m good at it, but I have no real interest in it or passion for it. I chose it solely to provide a lifestyle I want, and it does that in spades.

I agree. And wasn't it Einstein who said compound interest is one of the wonders of the world?

I also think that the adage of living within your means should be more publicised (possibly rebranded?) because as I get older I've very much noticed, and as evidenced by many posts on this thread, there's a strong connection between earning enough (and not getting into debt) to afford the life you want with a positive well-being.

Thing is a job that looks good when you finish school/uni will almost certainly change a lot in your working lifetime. Mine has - pension is still good but no longer excellent, working pattern & responsibility (in a niche subspeciality area) has changed hugely. So what looks good now might be a loss leader in 10 years, and the job that'll make you loads of money might not exist yet

When I grew up being a teacher was aspirational

Would loved to have been academic - struggled at school - I wanted to get a good career and earn a good salary sadly could not go to university as no ‘o’levels so became a typist! Sadly admin work pay scales are rubbish - hence why I will be working until I am 70!