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?

£120k
I’m a headhunter, I started my own business last year. Very lucky to be able to work from home and work as and when I like.

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 (only spending time with them at weekends spending vast amounts of money on them to make up for never seeing them)

No, I do all school drop offs and 2 pick ups a week. I have someone who picks them up from school at 4pm and I’m home by 6. Hardly farming out. My children are older. They have zero interest in my company at 4pm, they want my time at 9/10pm and I’m totally there for them: I’ve never missed a school event, nothing. Such a lot of nonsense

Wow, a lot of nastiness towards high earners on this thread.

£100k+ in a senior role in the Pharma industry. I echo pp in saying it's a great industry for women and for work life balance.

I'm a single parent, and my DS is loved, cared for and knows he is my #1 priority. Yes he is in FT childcare but I drop him off and pick him up every day, I cook his dinner, read him stories and tuck him in every night, spend all my weekend time with him...I work a lot of hours per week but most of them are after my child is asleep. He gets the benefit of the fact that I am financially secure, and I believe I'm setting an excellent example to him.

So, some women think it’s depressing that women rely on their husbands to earn the big bucks.

Other women think it’s shocking that some women are high earners and don’t see enough of their dc!

Jesus, women just can’t win, can we???

On a parenting site, how about suspending judgement?? Just accept that families are different. What works for you may not work for other families.

Communications.

I work flexibly part time for a big brand. Do most of the drops offs and 3 pick ups (DH and GPs do the others).

DH at a similar level in a different sector. We see ourselves as a team not one making sacrifices for the other...

I’m a nurse in the NHS earning 37k, we are so short staffed I’m doing the work of at least 3 people, so technically should earn over 80k

IT consultant on £110k for 4 days a week. I start early and can therefore pick up DC from school and do all afterschool care (5yo twins).
DH earns around £130, IT developper in finance.

JQBased that's strange. I know plenty of very happy high earners. Work hard but have lovely hols with the family. Happily married.

I'm a very low earner and if I could have earned a big salary and had to use childcare I'd have done it in a heartbeat. Who wouldn't want to worry about where the next penny is coming from for years on end?

Hithere12 you seriously think poorly paid jobs are less stressful than highly paid jobs? Try asking NHS or care workers. I'd rather have a highly paid job that removed some of the stresses of having no way to pay the bills.

I'm a dental nurse on 20K DH is a specialist dentist - not sure what he's earning atm think it's about 80/90K- should be a lot higher tho he's just qualified in his field.

@poopypants sorry but wtf is your username?

Everyone I know in high paid jobs is unhappy/stressed. The only ones who are happy are nepotism kids who’ve inherited a business so barely do any work. I get that some people who are paid v well like their job for most jobs don’t pay that well without expecting big sacrifices/long hours. I work in a charity which is very

When I was able to work, Internet stuff, published, consultancy. £250k.

I also don't think the skills needed to be a really good HR person or headhunter are much rarer than those needed to be a really good teacher or nurse. They are differently valued socially, though, which is reflected in rates of pay not unconnected with the gender balance in those fields of work

That’s a pretty poor argument. The gender balance in HR is probably very similar to that of teaching or nursing- it’s a female-dominated industry.

What do you do for a living, @BlamesFartsOnTheNeighbour? I’m guessing you’re a teacher?

Why is it depressing... not me but DH ?

How many people in one marriage or partnership need to earn 80 grand plus?

As we know the tide is changing, more women are earning much more!

Vet

Not me but my DH (in my defence he’s many years older and I took time out to have kids etc so only just starting the climb but sort of always took it for granted that I’d be on six figures eventually-will be quite disappointed if I don’t make it in the end). He’s a solicitor.

Oh and he loves his job. It’s stressful be he’s really into it, he loves his clients, he works for himself so 100% flexible etc.

Of course people in shit jobs can be unhappy. .

A bright person let down by shit shit shit comprehensive.

Never reached their potential doing a boring job being paid penauts is not a barrel of laughs.

Well DH is in IT and doesn't earn half of that.

Half of that gets you a very comfortable life up here, anyhow.

@poopypants a lot of highly paid jobs are hard to keep. You don’t find yourself in that kind of salary band/earning that much through your own business without working really hard and you don’t get to stay there without keeping it up (civil servants excluded obviously). These jobs are often completely dependant o your ability to bill/attract clients/performance reviews etc so there aren’t exactly stable in the way that’s lot of low paid work still is.

Finance contractor, sought-after skill set.

@ANiceSliceOfCake

When I was able to work, Internet stuff, published, consultancy. £250k.

Well DH is in IT and doesn't earn half of that.

I was an industry leader at the time, my peak earnings were around £400k a year, was working 100+ hours a week and my project list was never ending, with a constant 20+ books to tech edit/review.

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

In my field the highest grade would be nowhere near 80k.