I come from a working class family and married a high earner. AMA

[randomlife1980]

For privacy reasons I will not explain exactly how much my husband earns, but I will say he earns over 150k a year due to taking over his family buisness. I also will not mention what his buisness is due to that being identifying information obviously.

Me and my husband have 2 children.

This post is more for people to ask about lifestyle, work-life balance, etc

That might be the case but as OP is not working it significantly impacts their household income. It’s like a couple earning 60k each. It doesn’t really warrant an AMA as trust me her lifestyle won’t be anything that different. Unless there’s a drip feed and her DH has inherited a country pile with 200 acres.

I’m in the exact scenario as OP and just see myself as a comfortably off SAHM, not loaded by any stretch but fortunate enough to not worry too much about the boiler breaking. Yes I sometimes shop in Waitrose with wanton abandon but I tend to buy bog rolls from Aldi and use Tesco club card points for days out. The kids had fish fingers for tea. I can’t imagine WTF anyone would want to ask her.

Most working class people will never be in a situation where both partners earn 60k though. Not saying it never happens but it must be unusual. Social mobility in the UK is still not great. It's a cinderella story for many people, even if it isn't for many in the middle and wealthier classes.

My husband and myself earn around 60k between us. Trust me, to some people that's a high income!

AMA and then answers 3 questions. So basically was just a ‘oh look at me and how much money we have’.

I think the point is that although 150k is a high salary, it’s not really radically life changing enough for people to want to ask the OP anything about it! Especially for a single earner household.

It does depend a lot on general living expenses, mortgage etc as to how much disposable income they have, but it’s not exactly private jet territory

What did you do before dc? Will you go back to it?

I don't think
the op was bragging and wonder if this was more about social expectations, meeting them and living outside of comfort zones. Saying that as someone who married a WaC lad who made good. I am not WC and sometimes the snide comments from some members of his family are very tedious. The issues aren't about money.

Are you confusing earnings with class, OP?

£150k is really not a huge annual income these days, surely £500k is getting into a different league of higher earners. DD40 is on £150k plus a lot of perks, but feels pretty hard up against her self-employed friend turning over more than £1 million. Ten years ago she felt £250k would be a decent step up, she’s not there yet.

What’s that £150k paying for? Mortgage, holidays, cars and school fees for two kids, and it wouldn’t be nearly enough. Pensions, saving? And when the boiler needs replacing unexpectedly?

Class, though, is not the same at all. Good breeding can’t be bought.

Class, though, is not the same at all. Good breeding can’t be bought.

@YourWinter

I so agree !
and only a couple of other posters have mentioned ' class ' .

It's very possible that you can take the working class girl out of the working class situation / home / family but she may always be working class.
Class isn't money.

Are you sad because you thought you’d climbed out of the ‘working class hole’ , yet instead you found yourself with a man who only makes £150k and wondering where your life went wrong? … 🤨🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Not sure this is AMA worthy?

We are from wc backgrounds. In fact, I’d consider we’re still wc as I think class markers are arbitrary. Between us, we have a very good household income (probably much more than OPs). But our next door neighbours on both sides are millionaires and resolutely blue collar workers with their own businesses.

I guess it's new money. People who are used to it don't need to declare it. The mention of working class makes out that working class people can't earn that much. What an insult.

Why OP thinks it out of the ordinary I don't know.

Yes, the richest guy I know started off aged 15, left school with no qualifications, second son of a small farmer — when someone paid him to knock a wall and he realised he could sell the stone on to someone else. Now he has a construction empire, multiple homes, a yacht, his own racing stud etc.

I guess AMA means you can ask but not get a reply as OP has disappeared

Perhaps it would have made for a more interesting thread if the ama was around the difference in a genuinely working class background and that the OP now has, DW was from a very working class background, hid under the kitchen table when the rent man called and things like that, fairly sure when she was at school, they would have laughed at her if she said one day she’d have the kind of life she now lives in comparison and we are not big earners, but £100k + between us and hard work, it’s certainly a different lifestyle to the one she had but she never forgets her roots

Same here 😂🤪

I’ll probably be accused of being out of touch, but circa £150k+ is not an awful lot of money and I can’t imagine your lifestyle is so thrilling or interesting that it warrants an AMA. Sorry.

Exactly. Completely unremarkable.

I’m glad you did this, what kind of working class family did you come from?
Mine were working class but intelligent and hard working and I earned over £150K at my peak. I never imagined I’d earn more than about £25K.

How much do you spend on travel each year? Do you have a mortgage or do you own outright?

Where’s my husbands AMA?? ( as this is his situation lol)

It’s far more than the vast majority of people earn and clearly a lot compared to what OP’s family earned when she was growing up.

I don't think it's that unusual for someone from a working class background to marry a high earner?
I suppose my question would be what in particular do you think people would find interesting about your situation?

I have a large network of friends / people I know and literally about 1/250 earns more than £150k .

Id actually agree with this. £150k as the sole income a family isnt so high these days that id consider it mega wealthy, especially as earning this sum as a single salary is much less tax efficient than a family with two salaries of £75k.

My family income is between 170 and 180k and we are certainly not in the realms of the super wealthy, kids are not at private schools, we are not taking fabulous luxury hols every year etc.