What is considered rich these days??

I think youre missing the point. What Im saying is that it is likely to just be part of the £250k that is getting paid out in a lump sum since the monthly amount paid out is less than 1/12th of the £250k. I.e. the DH is being paid £250k in total not £250k plus "bonus"

It isn't really relevant though. Point is they are not "rich" but they are certainly very comfortable.

Yes, for me it was reduced monthly draw. I'll have to ask DH what their setup is - I'm pretty sure it's also continual paying in of a percentage of earnings, because when your level goes up, so does your stake and so do your contributions. Someone we know who recently retired from DH's firm several years shy of the official age mentioned being very pleasantly surprised by the size of the payout.

Not sure we've answered the OP question, but it's been interesting learning about the varied financial setups.

The fees are 7.5k a term, so 45k after tax. She didn’t state it was the only thing the bonus covered, just that the payment fully covered the cost. It would be pretty unlikely that it only covered the fees exactly.

It doesn’t really matter if it’s called a bonus in reality or not. The end is the same, monthly equivalent of a 250k salary and an additional payment of at least £45k after tax.

Presumably this is because in those firms you had to pay your capital contribution yourself either up front or from reduced drawings/ retained distributions. This isn't generally the case nowadays IME (since most people don't have half a million quid hanging around). It's mainly done through bank loans.

Yes this. Was just a bit odd that OP wanted to give quite specific details of income so we could all tell her whether she's rich or not, but then they ended up varying by about 100k pa, and her DHs job also went from one thing to quite another. When someone is so unclear/inconsistent about the actual thing they're asking it makes you wonder what the real point of the question was.

Having said that, I obviously don't actually care what OP does or doesn't think her husband's job is (as I'm sure none of us do) but have learned something reasonably interesting from other posters about this world of equity partners!

To be fair, the self-employment point had literally nothing to do with the question of, what is considered rich these days? So it was a totally unnecessary embellishment, which is what makes it weird. If you just say 'partner in a law firm' it tells most people enough to get on with, unless they're your accountant.

I did, and the partners retiring from DH's firm are. But these are large US firms (UK offices) and may have different structures - I don't know much about the operations of UK firms.

To be fair to the OP we are a two lawyer family and I struggle to understand the equity/payment structure at DH's firm sometimes.

OP said that it was a ‘bonus’ because most people don’t under the pay structure but it’s not a bonus it’s the end of year drawings so yes it’s similar as in a large lump sum of money but it’s not additional as such.

Why do you keep referring to OP saying Barrister? Why do you feel the need to keep honing in on a mistake she made in which she apologised? She admittedly made a judgement error but she explained why as many people wouldn’t know EP are ‘self employed’
She hasn’t said she is a solicitor or barrister, she would only know what she does from conversations with her DH so she wouldn’t be upto scratch. Why do you keep poking her and putting her down? Does it make you feel better about yourself?

@answersonly interesting, thanks! Yes agree she's confused. No-one with an understanding of the sector would use the word barrister as short-hand for that set-up. I would bet a year's worth of her DH's drawings that he doesn't call himself a barrister, even to "lay people". Not least because that could be a criminal offence lol

Same.

I suspect the OP is talking about a normal distribution though which is likely to be part of the £250k rather than on top of. Otherwise I suspect shed have said her DH earns £350k

My experience is that in most firms you don't get your capital contribution back because you never put it in in the first place really. Rather the firm takes out a bank loan on your behalf which then gets paid back when a partner leaves.

In a nutshell, with firms EPs are technically self employed as they own a stake in the firm. In this instance, the firm gets paid the hourly rate, pools it and distributes it according to partnership levels, with all the various and sundry other things mentioned. The OP was confusing and possibly clueless?

@Ciri DH's firm does sometimes give bonuses with the Jan distribution if you've had a stellar year, particularly if you're already at a level where progression to the next is going to be very difficult. They tend to be relatively small compared to overall income - nothing like bankers' bonuses.

You would absolutely not consider them as certain income in planning ahead, and you would be quite foolish to rely on them for school fees.

She said the fees were ~£40k a year, so a bonus of ~ £65-70k.

Not that this makes a great deal of difference.

Complete tangent but this is very intriguing personally, because OP suggested calling her a DH a "barrister" made more sense because EPs are self employed just like [most] barristers.

But this EP payment set up, which I had no idea worked this way, is a million miles away from how we (barristers) get paid! It sounds really complicated and variable.

Barristers get paid by the hour for the work we do, and/or we get paid a lump sum for a hearing/case. If you do more hours, or more cases, or higher value cases, you get more. If you work less, you get less. What others in chambers do has almost no effect on what we get. V simple!

At the firm I was at and at DH's firm, part of what you do as an equity partner is essentially buy into the firm by contributing capital, which is the definition of equity partner - if you are salaried or of counsel, you're an employee and not required to pay in. It tends to be around 30% of your income, but isn't considered taxable. When you leave or retire that contribution is returned. Assuming you've been there a while and it's a healthy firm, it's quite a nice chunk.

Additionally, our firms have had a private pension fund that partners can invest in that pays out a very nice retirement income. Again, that relies on the firm doing well or continuing to do well, so it's always wise to choose your firm carefully.

Our experience is US firms, so needless to say, I don't know how the OP's husband's firm is structured.

Equity partners in law firms don't generally get "bonuses". Yes they get extra distributions a few times a year but that is generally part of the amount they were supposed to receive in the first place.

They get assessed each year for how they and their team have performed and then they are told what level they are at for the year. This will then come with a potential level of drawings for the year. However they don't get all of that paid out on a 1/12th basis. They get part of it paid out in anticipation of profits and part of it is retained. If the firm does well they then get the bit that was held back and sometimes they can also get a bit extra. If the firm (or the individual) doesn't do as well then that amount might be lower than expected.

I suspect the OP is confused since if a partner was actually getting £21k gross per month plus another £100k throughout the year then they would say they are on £350 not £250.

The amount held back is generally higher than just income tax and NI since partnership profits are difficult to calculate. By way of example my DH who is a partner in law firm is in theory on about £275k this year. Coming into the bank account each month is about £9k (he pays into a pension from his income and also family private healthcare). He will then get a quarterly distribution which varies but is often around £10k ish net.

All firms operate slightly differently with different structures, different levels of investment into the firm etc (we are liable for about £400k if the firm went bust).

To me this is a modest but comfortable lifestyle as 20 years ago that lifestyle would have been doable on less than half that income.

Everyone measures wealth by income, but that’s not the full picture.

How well set up are you for the future, ie savings and investments, pensions? Does husband’s salary pay into a private pension for you?

Sil is just jealous, ignore. As others have said, it’s all relative but you’re at the higher end of the income scale in the UK. We have a lot more income than you - both working exec jobs, mortgage paid off - but live in one of the UK’s most expensive towns where there are a lot of people with more than us, however I never forget that I’m in an extremely fortunate position and am conscious to play things down when we’re around friends and family who are less well off.

OP some would say you’re rich if they are relatively poor and others would say you’re comfortable if they are on a fairly equal playing field to you. Few others wouldn’t think you’re not wealthy at all if they’re uber wealthy (I’m talking multi millionaires +)

Its all relative.

regardless of all of that, your sil has no right to make snide comments about your finances. They’re your finances and you don’t have to answer to anyone about your current situation.

For those delightful posters that feel it necessary to comment on whether you work or not just ignore them. There are plenty of bitter women on here that feel the need to tear others down. Most are jealous as most would also choose to not work if they were able to. I guarantee that the majority of lottery winners do not continue working after a big win just because they enjoy working.

Lastly. When in a relationship that is healthy and loving, It’s very common to share all monies and be equal partners regardless of who actually goes off to work. Yes spouses could have affairs and leave etc but you can’t live your life for all the what ifs, you’d never truly enjoy anything. Live your happy family life in the now and to hell with the bitches hating on here. They’ve got nothing better to do than come on someone else’s thread and rip them apart, call them names, call them liars etc. It’s plain old trolling dressed up as something else

The salary is 250k but the private schooling is covered by an annual bonus which puts the bonus at least 100k pre tax.