I am a woman earning £500k+ a year

[Alljan]

Divorced, co-parent mum of 2.

in response to other thread, happy to answer any questions

Getting on a flight back from the US if there’s a delay!

jet lag kicking in and need to do pick up but will respond to the other questions later on :-)

Is that after tax? You'll be in the 45% tax bracket. You're making HMRC happy unless you're taxed in US? Hope HMRC can afford to paid someone to answer their phone this summer with all the money they take!

Do you ever feel that your salary is unnecessarily high, or that the gap between the lowest earners and your salary is too large?

Do you think that the role you have is actually "worth" that value, in comparison to other jobs with lower salaries (for the sake of comparison, e.g. a doctor, a teacher).

What is your main motivation in relation to your career?

Finally - do you do anything to support those who are less well off?

(I'm not meaning to be mean here by the way, but I just often wonder about why some roles have such a high salary attached, the repercussions for society and how those on very high incomes feel about such things).

Imagine having so little awareness that you think threads like this are acceptable in a COL crisis! Unbelievable it really is

Maybe you didn't see the other thread where someone asked if any women who were very high earners could do an AMA. The other thread was written by a woman whose husband's business made a lot of money.

I actually think it is good to see threads were women are unapologetic about having done well.

I'm in a poor pay career and have a high earning husband but that doesn't mean I have an issue with women who earn well.

We should be supporting girls so that they understand what choices they have available to them.

Op, I am glad you've posted this. Shamefully place marking.

I may have questions for you!

This thread is completely different from the one where the husband's business was making the real money.

This OP is giving useful career advice to other women/mothers working in IT, which is still very male dominated. I would invite women like the OP to give a school talk on women in IT - the reality, barriers to promotion, entry pathways etc

Thank you OP!

Bloody good for you. More women need to know it is possible to earn a lot of money.

eh? I know many people on this salary. And the OP should be commended for working for it instead of starting threads on MN complaining for not getting an inheritance from her parents, as so many people have recently.

I hope you enjoy it, OP.

I find it baffling when people on MN claim they don’t know anyone who earns more than £40k (I have literally seen comments like this). How is it possible to go through life without ever coming across a teacher, doctor, solicitor, accountant, dentist, MP, pharmacist, headteacher, plumber, electrician, etc.

Ok, not many, sorry. But definitely several people in finance, tech, and law who do earn that. A few who have set up their own businesses. Certainly enough that I don't have to pretend the OP is lying.

I don't earn as much as you op, but I am classed as a high earner. It is so important that women and girls are educated in the options that are open to them career wise. For those being sarky and accusing the op of lying wouldn't you rather educate your daughters as to what is possible?

Good on you OP!

I have a couple of personal questions for you if you don’t mind.

• Do you regret marrying your exH? Would you have preferred marrying a similar/higher earner? If you ever considered a “househusband” set up, would you recommend it?
• Do you regret spending time away from your children? Do you feel like you prioritise work over them (spending time together, taking time off if they are ill, weekends)?
• Your take home income is actually a lot lower than one might expect for 500k pa!

🙏 Thank you!

Not everyone races to the bottom you know?
I’m very interested in knowing what it’s like to be earning that kind of money, what kind of person you need to be to achieve that.
And I do appreciate OP answering the questions.
If reading it offends you…don’t read it ?

I think this is a really enlightening thread OP, thank you. When I was younger, I literally thought the only way to have a well paid career was to be a doctor. I think because that was all I knew. I'm not sure anything in my life would be different now if I had known about tech jobs and the high flying accounting jobs...but it might. Girls need to be told that they can do these things too.

Good for you OP!

I will never reach the 200k realm but I can hit 6 figures with my next one or two steps.

My question is, what do you do for personal development at work? Do you have a coach or mentor? What sort of development has been the most beneficial for your career growth?

This! There’s a bit of a theme on AMA atm… basically “I earn lots of money…” or “my husband earns loads and I’m a SAHM” … tbh there’s not that much to ask…

Yawn

Indeed, how dare a woman talk about her experiences of a high earning job in the hope that it helps other women who might also want to do the same 🙄

Do you shop in Aldi or Tesco?

They probably don't count "knowing" someone as meeting them for ten minutes, your Christmas card list must be massive 😂

Also the vast majority of teachers are on less than 40k.

Thank you for shedding light on the take home pay part too. Am wondering though as our combined take home income is around same as yours but gross amount is under 60%, how come you end up with such a small proportion of gross pay? Do you save your max allowable pension into salary sacrifice? Is the 500k a smaller part salary but inclusive of non-cash benefits and shares?

We need far more of these threads so women can see what is possible and it becomes the norm.

Also, do you invest and if so in what?

Always think these threads are a bit pointless.

What do you do? “Ahhh can’t say”.

Everything else is relative, your mortgage is probably more expensive, you can spend more on clothes, shoes, cars, holidays.
I was quite in to the first poster that did it.

Do you have a Hermes handbag OP? and Does the firm have any vacancies? 😁