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?

DippyAvocado I can’t think of many academy chain CEOs who felt they weren’t following their vocation to improve the life chances of children from all backgpassion for their vocation that led most to becoming CEOs - to have a wider impact.

😂😂 Do you know many personally? If the interests of the students are foremost, they've got a funny way of putting it into practice.

I am going to disagree with some posters and say that some jobs are more worthwhile than others. I went into teaching because I spent some time after graduation doing admin work in a corporate law firm. There were people there on mega salaries but I frankly found the whole experience of being part of a chain that only benefited wealthy people depressing and it made me feel I wanted to do something that made a difference, even if it was less well-paid. It doesn't make me a better person, but I still think my job is more valuable to society than a marketing executive or hedge-fund manager.

We need people to make different career choices. We can't all be teachers or nurses or carers just the same as we can't all be accountants or lawyers. The job of a teacher is to educate people so they can hopefully be in a position to make choices about the type of career they want. It's good that people choose different things. I wouldn't get paid if it wasn't for higher earners paying their taxes. But nobody would choose jobs like teaching or nursing if they didn't get a sense of satisfaction from the worthiness of the job, as the financial rewards are better elsewhere.

I've been earning over £80k since I was about 27. I was a city lawyer and then a lawyer for many years. Now not a lawyer but still relatively high earning. I took a step back (salary wise) after the city law bit because I didn't want to work those hours, and I didn't enjoy it particularly. Moved into another sector which I enjoy much more. I earn much less now, (still a good amount!) but I'm much more fulfilled. Can work from home, drop off at school, go to plays and sports days , and am home for dinner and breakfast. So it works for me.
Not priveliged, not lucky really. Clever, academic and hard working. I suspect I filled my first employer's diversity requirements.

Yes have an au pair. But

DippyAvocado As happens, yes I know many academy CEOs personally. They are a mixed bag (as in any walk of life) but many, most in fact, are teachers first and foremost but believe the way to improve the life chances of children is through high academic achievement.
The Executive Head runs a school that serves a very poor community but which holds its own against major public schools in accessing Oxbridge. He has a salary of over £200k but certainly retains his vocation.

Sorry,The Executive Head at Brampton.

On the age question I am over 35 by a long way. I was earning over £80k by the time I was 35 as I set up my own law firm at age 32 years. (I qualified when I was 23 which is quite young as I graduated in law aged 20 and had no gap years (nor any maternity leaves despite the 3 babies by age 26)). (And my daughters are similar - under 35, and earn over that -lawyers).

Whether there is something morally wrong about some people being paid more than others is always difficult to answer. As communism clearly doesn't work and about half the pay of higher earners is removed from them in direct tax it ends up being pretty fair at the end of the day yet reflecting scare skills.

IT sales.

Thank you to the posters on this thread for inspiring me to look for a new job! I am on £40k and thought I was doing well...

All I can say is wow!
You all have put the work in and deserve your success.

I do , Ops Director for an outsourcing firm. DH does , in Telecoms.

I'm 35 and my job in the US earns more than that (equivalent) and my title would, on average, earn a bit over 80k in London.

I work in technology, in a non-technical role that involves a lot of translation of technical jargon into non-technical terms. My work is remote, so I can work from anywhere, and I feel it's a sight easier than a lot of jobs I worked when I was younger and lacked a university degree and made poverty wages.

I work hard today, but I worked hard then, too, and had nothing to show for it. I'm still flabbergasted that what I do now is so much more valuable, apparently, than the jobs I did when I was younger. Certainly I do not feel as useful, but I do feel more secure and content to be my family's breadwinner.

I've really enjoyed reading this thread. It's great to read about women from different backgrounds who have succeeded at different things, and who love what they do.

My well-paid job now is no less a vocation ( and much less pressured) than when I was a newly qualified teacher. It is well paid because I have skills in short supply and am willing to work for myself ( as opposed to a public sector role, which has some, but fewer each year, advantages). I have a great work life balance, and enjoy the balance of a 'portfolio career', including some interesting pro bono projects.

What do you do Google?

It does seem sometimes that the v hughbpaid jobs get the flexibility (school drop offs/work from home/school plays) that so called easier jobs dont. The inflexibility of low paid jobs is really hard as a parent!

Boogle not Google!!

I'm an educational psychologist. I run a small independent practice, working directly with families and schools. I also do pro bono work for Homestart and for a prisoner literacy programme. Work 3 days a week, term time.

Both me and my DH work in IT sales, I earned +£160k last year and he earned +£220k. We've been doing it for about 10 years (currently early 30s), but it was probably only about 4 years ago that we started earning £80k plus.
So I would say IT sales is good, but you'd need to work your way up for about 3/4 years before earning the money you are looking for (unless you're a mega sales person which of course you could be!).
Good luck!

Earn over £80k, I'm a PA, university drop out and faffed about throughout my 20s. Got to 30 and finally decided that working in admin was something I actually enjoyed.

Researched the types of PAs that were available, decided on the private sector, and spent 6 years, getting experience in events management, house management, excel, power point, and general IT. Spent a year abroad in a one year contract setting up the new office of a private bank. Came back to the UK, and registered with agencies who specialise in Private PAs, took advice on my CV, and interview technique.

Have been with my boss for 6 years, and having watched him negotiate , I now negotiate my salary increase, package and bonus with the same seriousness as he negotiates big money deals,. Now I get to work from home 4 days a week, take my holidays when he does which are linked to the school holidays. Private health care, working from home allowance, and up to 25% bonus - usually around the 15% mark.

The downside is, I am on call 24/7 but he's a nice bloke and I love my job, and get real satisfaction knowing his life runs like clockwork. Its not for everyone but works for me. I also don't have kids or a DH - not sure how feasible the job would be with a family.

Thanks Boogle.

Funnily enough I'd really hoped to move from teaching to ed psych... but location wise it hasn't worked out!

(I've run some parenting groups though a d instead get paid £50 here and there 🤣) . Other end of the scale- I haven't managed to end up making money!!

I’m from another country with a different school system, so no A levels or equivalent to sixth form or a gap year where I was from.

I graduated in the top third of my class with a PhD in a science field in my country’s top university. No particular extracurricular achievements.

What I did do was switch ‘habitats’ within my industry.

In my thirties, I worked in a couple of agencies that worked for clients in pharmaceutical companies in the UK, steadily going up a couple of notches in seniority. I went from 33k pa to a max salary of ~40k.

At 40, I applied for a role where I would be the client in a pharma company to agencies that I had been working in. This involved moving abroad to Switzerland, and was worth it in terms of gaining experience and also doubling my salary to the equivalent of ~80k pa.

After 5 years and getting to directorship level, I moved back to the UK and applied for a pharma job in a completely different track to the one I had been in. I was qualified for it with my PhD. More responsibility, closer to science and development, more work but it got me to my present salary of £150k pa.

I’ve always worked full time apart from maternity leave. Used a nursery full time but no nanny/au pair/childminder and maybe had a babysitter over a handful of times. I have flexibility to work from home and can attend sports day, assemblies, school concerts, etc. Weekends are free (apart from three or four times a year for work travel) and we have a long haul holiday once or twice a year (Japan, Thailand, USA) and a couple of short breaks in the UK or Europe as well.