What do you class as a high earner?

[hellomary]

Since lockdown and lack of job security me and dp have had a difference of opinion as to earnings. He seems to think we are very badly off and I do not. He isn’t sleeping saying we are going to live a miserable life when he loses his job (he’s probably about to) and I dared to say last night...in effort to comfort him and snap him out of this pity, that I was a high earner and we would be ok while he looked for another job.

Well he went crazy at me. From shock that he thought I could possibly believe I was a high earner to worry that I had no ambition to do better and that I was ‘clearly deluded’ if I thought my pay was in a high earner bracket. I feel upset about the whole thing, we earn similar amounts so it wasn’t said to patronise him or make him feel he’s not enough, I was simply trying to get him to appreciate we are in a lucky position compared with others.

He’s gone out on the longest walk I’ve even known today and I’ve been worrying myself about money. Was I a dick for saying this?

Blimey I always thought £45k was a good salary.

Clearly I am deluded!! And rather shocked.

How do I go about earning £100k then? in the south west

I think 40-45k makes you a "high earner" but where I am that puts you in the top 10% of earners so it's hard to assess compared to other places where that would be a lot closer to an average salary.

I guess by government standards you don't get Child Benefit over £50k-60k so i guess that would be classed as high earner.

Personally for me, depends on factors such as location and industry. Based on where I am (Greater London), I would say £100k+

@Purglewurgle IT contractor / investment banker / Fraud Anaylst / solicitor / construction project management in London.

@Fantabulous1 oh right. Location is key then. I’m in software and cyber security but £100k down here is a huge stretch.

What a shame!

This is about his pride, not high earners.

Has he come home OP?

I’d say £100k plus in the South East/London and £70k everywhere else in the UK.

Last year, the average man earned £33k (including women reduces this figure greatly), as far as I recall, so unless you earn a great deal more than that, then you’re not a high earner.

@PerfidiousAlbion but I think that is the mean, and therefore very skewed by extremely high earners?

Earnings don’t shoot up beyond £33k easily, and the fact that being a higher rate taxpayer once you are in the £40ks shows that it doesn’t take that much more to be a high earner.

Whether you perceive yourself as such very much depends on your circumstances though. What peers are doing, outgoings and accom/ housing costs.

Combined me and dh have a tax home pay of 160k a year. We live in the north west so it’s a very high salary for this area. I would say 60k plus was a high earner when not in London

@Ditheringdooley

I’m sure that’s the median and not the mean. I’m in London and even DH’s PA is on 55k.

I’ve got friends who earn 70-80k between them, but when they tried to move North, they could only get the minimum wage for the same roles. Perhaps you’re in a cheaper part of the coutry?

I know absolutely nobody who earns 62k so by that standard you are a high earner. I’d say over 50k.

At least £80,000 per individual, not household income.

High earner = Person paying higher rate of tax.

Though, if you've been used to having 2 x that salary coming in, then presumably your outgoings are high also. SO then it is a worry about how you will manage.

For me personally I would class £50k a year as a high earner. I could live very comfortably on that.

am in the North and id say 60k is a high earner. I'm a housewife with two kids and my dh earns 38k and we manage fine and own a 4 bed home. We'd be living the dream on 60k lol. So i think your partner is overreactimg. Its understandable he is stressed if he's about to lose his job. He shouldn't be taking it out on you tho. And if you arent trying to survive in Central London then 60k is more than enough for two people to live on for a while whilst he finds another job. He is being silly here... tho I do have compassion he must be under a lot of stress.

@JoJoSM2 I’m not sure to be honest on mean/ median. My point is more that the bulk of people are sitting pretty close to that average.

I’m in London and earn more than 99% of people apparently according to this www.ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in
i know lots who earn similar or more- but that’s because people move in small circles. I don’t think that is reflective of most people though but it’s easy to have your perception skewed by what is around you. I definitely don’t feel like I’m in the 1%.

My PA doesn’t make 55k but she is a higher rate tax payer. But lots of the other people in our office building will be on nothing like that- even in the City.

London- high earner, for someone with 2 kids, is 350k+. A lot of people in their 40s making 500k+.Outside of London, probably 100-150k.

A tiny number of people (even in London) are making £350k+ or £500k.

It’s not every family with 2 children in London that sends them to private school.

80k +

To add - per salary

Household 150k +

A tiny number of people are high earners!
In London, 2 private schools cost between 35 and 45k pa, after tax. That's double that, at the high tax break, in gross terms.
So 70-90k for school only.
Decent house for 2 kids- 1 million the absolute bare minimum. A mortgage of 3-3500/month.
Add holidays, 2 cars, restaurants, nice clothes, a cleaner, an after school nanny, some tutoring, tennis, piano and ballet for the kids, maybe an au pair...
Sorry, but this is what high earner means. So you can add it all up and see that you need in excess of 3000k gross for that.

It depends whether you are talking about the top 20%, top 10%, top 1%.

The people you are talking about @Cricri80 are in the top 0.1% (private school, tennis lessons and multimillion pound homes). That’s so irrelevant to the rest of the population that you can’t determine what is a high earner based on them.

I would suggest that top 5-10% is more appropriate. It captures most of the professionals that people would consider high earners- doctors, accountants, solicitors, well paid City workers. That puts you back in the £50-70k plus territory.

I would say anyone outside of London who is in the higher tax bracket.

But the important thing here is if your 62k alone can pay for all of your essential monthly outgoings plus food/ travel costs. If yes - then he should be relieved and a bit more gracious imo. I've got colleagues who've been made redundant and they were the ONLY earner.

£40-60k is a high earner imo.

Earning more than that won't make you feel rich if you have debts, big mortgage, large house, kids, childcare fees, big commute costs etc.

You can also have none of the above (kids grown up, no mortgage etc) and feel pretty wealthy on much less.