How much were you earning at 25?

[LeedleLee]

Hi all. Just that really! I'm 25, graduated uni last year and have been working since. I have had jobs prior to this but they were all MW retail/waitressing type jobs. My current job is my first one in my desired/degree field.

I currently earn 21k. DP is 27 and earns 22k. We live in East Anglia. This is more than enough to support us and DD and we live comfortably, but a recent thread has left me feeling a little deflated, as people not much older than DP and I seem to be earning considerably more.

We both love our jobs and I know we have many years to develop our careers and salaries, but still, it is a little disheartening!

How much were you earning at 25, and how much are you earning now?

Thank you 😊

Around 40k and my sister over 100k. Thing is - why do you care? You say you are comfortable, doesn't matter what anyone else is doing.

Comparison is the thief of joy.

At 25 I was on 24k, now I'm 28 on 40k.

It definitely wasn't a straight upward trend, I spent some time on 20kish (furlough). My advice (depends on industry though) is to know when your progress is stalling and when to switch.

Some companies take the piss out of loyalty. I was with one company for 6 years and started on 18k, left on 28k. I've worked for my current company for 1 year, started on 30k now I'm on 40 and I've learnt more in 12 months than I did in 6 at my old job.

What this thread demonstrates is that people's careers often stall because of breaks (mostly women and mostly having children) and also that women generally don't push for payrises in the same way as men.
It's depressing and we all need to do better. For ourselves and supporting other women in the workplace.

One other thread has shown how a woman on poor pay and part time work expects this and isn't concentrating on a career and yet fundamentally if you want money, a decent pension, house etc, the only people who can push us is ourselves.

I should add that like a poster on that other thread, I've had the kids and been on the floor weeping when my childcare has fallen through, because as a single mum in a city with no other family I had no back up. It's shit. It's lousy. Women need to be there for each other. The first helpful step is decent money and self-development.

£21000
That was my first teaching salary plus an extra pay point. Before I trained I was on £17000 in an office job.

I'm now 44 and earn £42000 (if I was full
Time) but I'm a teacher and at the top of the pay scale so no increase now unless I take on responsibility (which I don't want)

£25k at 25, I'm now 32 and on £31k FTE (but currently part time). I feel like I've lost momentum - I'm in the same role and should have left after 3 or so years really.

I was on 34k at 25, but my job was hell and I couldn't cope with it - so I worked part time on 27k.

I've since left that job and very much agree that mid twenties is a time of significant salary increase - I am now on double my gross salary (54k) compared to 3 years ago, and reckon I should be able to up that maybe another 12k by the time I'm thirty.

If you want to have a dig round into what is earned in different areas ans at different ages, have a look at the ASHE tables published by ONS. You have to use a laptop rather than a phone but it's a much more useful comparison. I also live in East Anglia and the average salary varies massively from South Essex where people are commuting into London to Cambridge to Lowestoft. Average salaries also vary enormously by age.

I think the key thing is at least a vague plan of what you're thinking of doing and how that will change your salary. I am lucky enough to be very comfortable so I don't have to push myself out of my work comfort zone any more as I will hang on and go for a promotion I really want, rather than one I'm not sure about - but prior to now I have really pushed myself and that has involved being pretty mega stressed at times: and that is a compromise I made (along with picking a career many people would view as dull and uninteresting) to facilitate my earning well from a young age.

I totally recognise that I was very privileged to even be in a position to make choices like that, and if that ability to make those choices doesn't apply then obviously give it a good ignoring!

At 25 - 24k
Now (43) - £120k

How? Took some career risks early on e.g. offered to take on jobs which no-one wanted in the team, even with little experience, so had potential to fall on my arse but grew my skill set massively which paid off, applied for stretching roles in other companies (and got them) and eventually moved my career into a very lucrative industry.

Really it was a mixture of savvy career decisions, long stressful weeks during my 20s/early 30s, living out of suitcases thanks to travel requirements and a big dose of luck!

My work/life balance is far more healthy now I have achieved a certain level of seniority, but still not what I would like

Oh and to add that my big salary leaps happened in the last 10 years, I was around £50k at 33. And that is only because I took inspiration from my male colleagues and negotiated when I changed jobs, and asked for pay increases. You have to believe in your own worth, something which many women don't feel comfortable with (me included!)

£100k plus at 25 (20 years ago, in investment banking). My income nosedived when I had kids though (through my choice, but still).

@feb21 did you got to university? What did you start on as a grad if you don’t mind me asking🙂

£11,700

24 years later and more than 10 x that

I was Band 1 NHS.. about £4 an hour

It was about 32k I think. 52k now (35), industry is marketing.

I was on 22k at 25 and lived/worked in London.

£14K

On MN everyone is working class but earning shed loads

19k but it was 3 decades ago and looking at a historical money calculator it’s equivalent today would be 37k, I worked in higher education until I retired early through ill health.

My rent was only £50 PW for a 2 bed Victorian terrace back then.

I was 25 in 2006 and was earning around £23k

@LadyGagagagaga123

Don't believe everything you read on here OP!

Quite

£17 maybe £18 at 25? I’m on £42 now at nearly 40. I was over 30 before I was earning £20k. I remember being so thrilled I finally broke that barrier!

[quote MmeSosostris]@feb21 did you got to university? What did you start on as a grad if you don’t mind me asking🙂[/quote]
I don't mind. Yes, I'm a grad and qualified as an ACA in audit at one of the big accountancy firms. Then went into corporate finance advising clients on mergers and acquisitions.

It was very lucrative; one of my colleagues earned a £2 million bonus (directors' bonuses were 10% of any fees they brought in over £1 million, and he'd billed a lot of fees). It was a really interesting job, I loved the content but the hours were silly and it was very pressurised. Of the 100 fee earners in our department, 98 were men (just me and a director on the female side).

Just realised you meant what salary. I think it was around £20k, £30k with overtime (which they paid at the time).

I think to provide useful information the year in which you were 25 and without using specific information that could be outing you general are of work. I was 25 in 1995 with an undergrad and a masters in statistics and engineering and my first job was at age 24 and my base salary (not including performance bonus) was 44,000 and I received an annual pay rise in the same company and was then at 47,500.

I didn't go to uni, by the time I was 25 I had been working 7 years and was a qualified chartered accountant. It's not really a fair comparison to someone who has just graduated - statistically you're likely to outearn me overall but at that point in time it's unlikely.