If you earn £80k or more, what do you do?

[wheresmymojo]

Following on from another thread.

Partly because I'm nosey and partly because I'd love a career change but I'm the breadwinner so would still need to earn £££ to keep our current lifestyle.

I think we may decide in time to dial the lifestyle down so I don't have to work in a job I hate but for now debt means that's impossible.

So what do those on here who are high earners (£80k+) do?

Corporate/private flight attendant

@ceeveebee totally agree with what you said, couldn’t have said it better

Personally I find it pretty depressing that so many women feel the need to prove they can be the big 'I am' earner, pop out two kids and then farm them out to the expensive nanny*

Or they're looked after by their father. Remember them? The other parent?!

Or they're looked after by their father. Remember them? The other parent

No they aren’t. In the vast majority of cases nurseries are used.

Well my DH will be a SAHD to our DC and I know other high earning women where it's the same.

LazyLizzy

I'm in the South East so mainly work in London but we live in Hampshire in the countryside. It does mean a 1.5 hour commute each way but I usually end up working from home anywhere between 1 and 3 days a week.

@wheresmymojo saw you wrote upthread about considering trading.. I’m not sure how easy it will be tbh. This is my job and has been for 13 years, most people get into it as fresh graduates although some companies do run experienced hire programmes ( ex military, athletes, and I heard of one women specific programme too) but these are quite rare. The hours are good but the pay can fluctuate a lot , my pay variation has gone from below 80 k to more than 12 times that depending on the year and my performance. I’ve also been made redundant once, and the streets are awash with ex traders... there’s little job security and not much real career progression.

Foster carer for 4 special needs children. It sounds a lot of money and it is but believe you me I earn every penny. ( and spend a lot of it putting right damage which regularly occurs so that they still have a nice home to live in).

My DH is a manager in the oil industry. Works 9-5 with the occasional issue to deal with outwith this time. He considers his job to be stressful but I work in the civil service on £19k pa (albeit partime) and know our managers have 10 times the stress for £35k pa. The oil industry is a strange one though.

Communications, earning £110k, don’t often have to stay at work late but do deal with phone calls and emails outside of work.

DP earns quite a bit less but starts early and finishes early so kids in minimal nursery hours.

I think realistically you can't really transfer across from one highly paid role to another. Which I suppose I already knew but every so often I get restless and wish I did something else!

In reality my dream job would be a combination of fostering a child, running a small doggy day care from my own home and counselling.

Or maybe running a small petting farm!

@Grandadwasthatyou Just wanted to express a massive thank you for being a foster carer. You're simply amazing.

Content arbitrage, self employed, £90k. Currently expanding business in numerous directions, aiming for £240k next year.

I'm guessing it's not your reading comprehension skills that are earning you big bucks Vodsel, I've given my profession upthread. HR being an exception in terms of gender balance does not invalidate my wider point. Unless you're claiming that the higher ranks of banking and the legal profession etc. are all heavily feminised too?

Pharmaceutical drug development, £150k pa, outside London. FT normal office hours with some work travel to US and Europe.

No nanny or au pair (and DH's and my parents/extended family are not in the UK so we don't get childcare help that way).

Before dc, I was on 72 + bonus. Marketing in banking

The really depressing thing about this thread is how many socially harmful bullshit jobs are so ridiculously overpaid. 

I feel that way about the marketing industry . If I'm honest, it's overpaid for basically fooling people into buying things they don't need

These salaries are amazing, well done all of you earning those. For those that scorn them, money gives you freedom and choices and not all high earning jobs are a slog.
I'm a middle management teacher on 40k and my DH earns a bit more in middle management in a different field. We've a long way to go before we earn 80k each, I probably never will unless I reach the unlikely heights of deputy or headteacher, which I'm not sure I want. I am reading this with interest though as I will be encouraging my own dc into high earning professions If I can.

I earn £90k + 40% bonus for 4 days a week working in finance in-house for an insurance company in London. I started as a graduate 16 years ago on £20k at a big 4 accountancy firm, put in a lot of work and long hours to get to senior manager level, and now have the perfect balance of a well paid job and part-time working. DH also earns around £100k p.a. as a programme manager in HR.

My husband and I both earn more than this. I find it sad how judgemental some of these comments are. Rest assured that whether you stay at home or work full time, sacrifices are made and its not easy. In my family being a sahm was a luxury we couldn't afford long term, and it would have been too detrimental to my career to take a few years off. I really wanted to stay home, but it didn't make sense for us, so I didn't. I am 100% dedicated to my children and hope I am setting a good example of what hard work in school and life can help you accomplish. And I spend as much time with them as possible. I minimise work travel and juggle it with my husband to make sure they always have one of us home at night. They are very happy at nursery and there aren't enough words to express how much I adore them and the pride I feel watching them emerge as funny little individuals with a better social life than me! We intend to invest our earnings in them, by giving them the best education and opportunities in life that we can afford. All any parent can do is so their best.

Thanks @Kisskiss

A friend of mine is a fund manager, in her mid-30s and earns about £200k per annum. She works very reasonable hours (8-5), loves the job and doesn’t find it particularly stressful. If you’re looking to earn big bucks OP then fund managing seems a good way to go!

I think a total change of role is hard when you get past a certain point in experience and age, but a pivot /side step isn’t impossible? I know a doctor who became a management consultant specialising in healthcare then joined a PE firm focussed on healthcare and an IT ( think he was a BA) who joined an electronic trading desk and is now doing really well. Maybe look at keeping your technical role but moving industry, or keeping your industry and shifting sideways? Depends on which aspect of your current job you like, if any. Or start your own business, although this comes with financial risk at the beginning

LazyLizzy

These salaries sound amazing, are the majority in London though with higher cost of living?

Not necessarily. I’m in the Midlands so low cost of living. My role is low stress too with an average 37.5 hour week and I can work from home regularly too. This wasnt always the case though. When I was building up the business in my thirties, I was working 60-80 hours a week and the stress was incredible. I dont have children though so was able to dedicate all my time and energy to it.

Operations Manager. Engineering/Manufacturing. Lots of hours and stressed.