Does everyone on here have a high salary?! (And if so what do you do?!)

[Sweatshirtaddict]

Since joining MN it seems like everyone posts about having high earnings etc but at my work high paid jobs of like 100k are for directors with 30+ years of management experience with masters and doctorates (and as most orgs its like a pyramid hierarchy so only 2 top jobs and loads of staff at the bottom).

Where is everyone else working to earn these amazing salaries?! I thought earning 24k for an admin job was not bad considering some admin jobs in my area are around 18k - 20k but it seems like I must be doing something wrong not to be earning mega bucks!

Anyone else?

DP and I earn just over £80,000 a year between us (27 and 28). We have a relatively small mortgage and negligible childcare costs so feel VERY fortunate, we have over £3500 a month spare after paying for bills and food but still wouldn’t be considered “high earners” by mumsnet standards

Being stressed beyond belief isn’t necessarily a requirement of having a high salary. The stress is different, you often have more autonomy (which feels less stressful), but more responsibility for other people.

That isn’t necessarily more stressful than starting out and feeling like you don’t know anything, or that you’re constantly answering to what feels like a massive hierarchy that all sit above you.

I have a lot more control over what my day looks like than I did when I first started, and if I need time off, a late start, an early finish, I don’t get questioned on it (but conversely I may be more conscious of what my diary looks like, and and how much I’m inconveniencing other people by asking them to reschedule meetings I was supposed to attend).

@Nesbo

DH pretty much decides what he’ll do and when he’ll do it, bar a brief meeting at 830 (WFH.)

I am bitterly jealous.

@Nesbo

Being stressed beyond belief isn’t necessarily a requirement of having a high salary. The stress is different, you often have more autonomy (which feels less stressful), but more responsibility for other people.

That isn’t necessarily more stressful than starting out and feeling like you don’t know anything, or that you’re constantly answering to what feels like a massive hierarchy that all sit above you.

I have a lot more control over what my day looks like than I did when I first started, and if I need time off, a late start, an early finish, I don’t get questioned on it (but conversely I may be more conscious of what my diary looks like, and and how much I’m inconveniencing other people by asking them to reschedule meetings I was supposed to attend).

This. I work in IT and while not quite on the fabled MN 6 figures plus, I'm not far away.

As you say, @Nesbo, my overall stress levels are lower and I have more autonomy now that I am senior (head of department), but I had to put in some serious hours to get here.

I switched path to a more niche area when I was 30, self-funded the training I required, and job-hopped to get to where I needed to be, including a lot of contracting, so went through quite a few years without a lot of security.

It's not just about where people work, it's also

1. the field people work in (fintech pays well for example),
2. about the qualifications they got on the way (Bachelor of Science, MSc, MBA, maybe PhD)
3. often involve international experience
4. often starting in highly technical jobs and working up.
5. the amount of graft put in. DH and I got almost the same degree - we have been the same number of years in the workplace, one of us is paid almost double the other.

£40k social worker here.

DH is in software on £80k.

We are on the low side of average in our friendship group but appreciate we're in quite a bubble.

We aren't horrendously stressed though.

My DH earns £120k a year as a commercial director. It’s a very stressful job so he deserves every penny! I earn £30k. Our mortgage is massive though.

Im 45, on 165k a year full time work from home and work 7 hours am day, salary includes sales commissions. I’m in IT. DH will be earning more than me, he is also in sales. But some years we earn less, never less than £80k though. Actually we don’t think just in wages, part of our compensation is in shares which can be just as valuable as our salary. I am encouraging my kids to get I tech and IT world. Plenty of jobs, good salary, flexible working.

In-house lawyer, about 160K. It's one of those jobs that certainly gets easier the more senior you are - I worked significantly harder 20 years ago for fraction of the money.

I feel completely squished lol. I thought dh and I were doing well at earning 60k between us!!!

Own business, high earners but it has taken 12 years of slowly building it up. In the early years the uncertainty of the business was very stressful, but we are now very established in our field. But you never loose the fear that it could go at any minute so will often work weekends or when we are on 'holiday' .

@pannikin

I don't even work at the moment due to ill health, but I love these threads because loads of women will pile in to tell you how much their husband earns as if it's their own job...

You were spot on

OP, I think a lot of people bullshit on mumsnet to be perfectly honest!

I’m a HoD in a specialised field and just about clear six figures, but there are very few at my (sizeable) workplace that make this amount.

I'm in childcare and I earn about 47,000 after tax. My husband doesn't work so we basically live on my wages. We have a very low mortgage and no childcare costs. I consider us very lucky

I am currently quite averagely paid as I gave up working a high pressure job when I had children. A few years who I was earning £60,000 as a PA for ultra high net worth individuals. Can earn £100+ if you stick at it, I was 25 and got my lifestyle well because I could be on call all the time, not so much having a one year old!

This may well prove a controversial post, but it is factual. I do know someone on 130k, but they don’t take home nearly as much as you might imagine. The higher you earn, the higher % of tax you pay. If you have a high position your pay package usually comes with benefits, and whether you use them or not, you are highly taxed on those too.
Never imagine someone on twice as much pay, has twice as much to spend, (but obviously you don’t need to feel sorry for them either…)

Worked my ass off to qualify as an accountant. Reached £79k pa. Did mental hours. Fast paced industry where everyone lived in the office, ass kissed and was trying to impress.

Had an epiphany moment. Thought fuck being chained to a desk for the rest of my life. Quit. Took a leap back into the world of modelling where I had scraped a living before I did the accountancy.

Got a lucky break. Did £100k+ for many years.

Got pregnant. Too old and getting wrinkly to be considered for any campaigns that will pay anything worthwhile now.

SAHM now, selling the kids and my old clothes on eBay as a side hobby. Can make hundreds a month. Absurd what second hand stuff goes for.

I think a lot of it is down to demographic - MN is fairly middle class and also skews towards 30+ rather than young adults.

In my early 20s I earned 14k a year in my first paralegal job. I'm now in my 40s and a law firm partner and earn the mythical MN six figures. But I wouldn't have joined MN when I was in my early 20s and had zero interest in motherhood (I know MN is about more than that but I doubt it would have come onto my radar).

I don't know any women who earn a six figure salary. I think it's probably actually quite rare, especially if they have children. I only earn 19k.

We’re both Local Authority managers.
DH £50k and at the moment I’m on £80k (only during the pandemic, otherwise £40k) but we don’t have much left on the mortgage and I hate my job so I’m going to look for something else.

Apparently if you join an MLM/NM you can quickly become a millionaire, especially if it's FM related.