For those on 6 (or almost 6 ) figure salaries - how old are you, what do you do, and how did you get into it?

[savebuckbeak]

Just the above. Curiosity is all!

Financial services Retrained in my mid 30’s, 50 now and will earn nearly 200k this year.
19 professional exams have paid off.

@Mellowyellow222

Relax on the jacks and don’t be so unpleasant.

The OP asked what people who earn six figures do. She just wants info. The PP is not claiming anything, she is giving the OP info. If law internets the Op she might email the PP and ask what kind of law her husband did to earn such a packet. The OP will tell her, and who knows, her husband might be able to offer further advice..

Everyone will be happy

Apart from you, you miserable soul.

I have no problems about people writing about what their husbands earn. In fact there is an argument women have two ways to be well off and most men only have one - women can marry someone who earns a lot and not work or they can ear a lot themselves. There are very few men who earn very little who are able to attract high earning wives to keep them so men in that sense only have the one route to wealth whereas women have two.

A few people above have mentioned they were prepared to take risks. I think that sometimes marks out the higher paid too. I set up on my own. I also moved law jobs when I was younger. More men than women take risks particularly financially so you tend to get more failures and more huge successes of those who take risks whereas non risk takers tend to be safer and in the middle of the extremes.

47, had 20 years off with kids. Data Architect.

Did IT back in the day and then five years ago did a course on data analytics and built from there

27, locum doctor
130K +

Hard work through school and uni then just picking up skills in different areas makes you more versatile.

I’m fifty two hit a hundred about a decade ago, now more, I’m in a global business to business position, managing a large amount of revenue, in a global corporation every one has heard of and likely bought from.

how did I get here’s hard work and riding the crest of a wave, I am good and work hard so they kept promoting me, I’m aiming for one more before I retire.

im also discomforted with folks posting what their husbands or dads earn, the op asked what “you earn” . So speak for yourself only . If your husband or dad wants to come on and post then they can speak for their self.

@Luredbyapomegranate maybe I am a miserable soul.

I just find it depressing that in 2022 when someone asks or those on 6 figure salaries - how old are you, what do you do, and how did you get into it, women still come on and say what their husbands earn.

we all know people in jobs that earn over £100k. I could have jumped on a listed some of my colleagues, my cousin, my sister etc etc. but that wasn’t the question.

Thirty years ago the thread may well have been women tell me what your high earning husbands do for a living. But now there are we ought women earning at that level that we don’t need to ask about husbands and fathers - women can give their own perspectives.

I know pay equality is still a way off. But I want women to champion themselves. Not live vicariously through their dads and husbands.

maybe this thread just caught me in a bad mood. But it just annoys me when women take on these roles.

I have spent the past 30 years working in technology for Investment Banks and would absolutely recommend a career in technology to anyone who has an aptitude for coding and likes problem solving.

My first job after graduating (with a mediocre humanities degree from my local polytechnic) was as a trainee programmer in the public sector.

In my late 20s, I moved to an Investment Bank and, by my mid 30s, was earning over !£100k. I am now in my early 60s and still enjoy my job. I am paid what feels like a lot of money to solve interesting problems and constantly learn new skills.

In the US they're very common.

This!

I earn 6 figures and I worked my arse off for a couple of decades.
I've got male colleagues who had children but a SAHW who have basically done fuck all extra except concentrate on their careers.

If the women coming in here say, 'My DH earns...' also admit to keeping everything else ticking over then fine, but it still isn't representative of the amount of work one has to do if one is a full time mother and worker aiming for a high paid salary. It just isn't. I want to hear about women who have reached that. NOT their husbands FFS

I agree, I did it and as a working mother, with no house husband or part timer supporting me so I could “progress” and I dislike this “ he wouldn’t have been able to do it ( beat working mums to that corner office) “if I’d not stayed at home and cared for the kids so he didn’t have to”. And if that’s what’s posting about their husbands salaries then that’s cringe.

Post what you earn or don’t post, no one asked what your husband earned.

I'm now close to retirement but I hit 100k at about 37. I'd set my goals to earn 30k by 30, 40k by 50 and so on, so far exceeded my expectations. Am on more than 200k now, not including 25+% bonus each of the past few years. However, 12 years ago I took a 30% paycut to regain some work life balance. Had I not done that, I'd likely be at 400k.

I run a law firm. Fell into it by sheer luck at 23, and found I was good at it, loved the work, was ambitious and gave it my all. Many promotions over the years, but reached Chief by about 50. It has meant long long hours, and my family have definitely suffered. Work has always come first, with the exception of death in the family.

I did not graduate from my excellent high school, was too busy partying. I am very lucky to have a good mind and love to learn. I often wonder how different life could be if I'd gone to university.

Well now you’ve unpacked it you are being sexist as well as miserable.

I assume that PP doesn’t earn over 100k, so she is sharing what info she can.

The OP is asking for general jobs and salaries info, she isn’t asking how you make it as a mum of kids.

Suggesting a woman should be silenced just because she doesn’t earn big money but still feels she has useful info to share is incredibly sexist.

No one is championing anyone, it’s just information sharing, which is what the OP wanted.

You are entitled to your opinions but not to jump down the throat of someone trying to be helpful.

@2018SoFarSoGreat that sounds amazing.

can I ask if you are based in America? It would be really hard to manage a law firm in the UK (i think) without qualifications.

This! It’s depressing and embarrassing

I don’t think either of us will change our stance - so probably just best to agree to differ.

all the best.

This is a bit harsh, @Mellowyellow222 was just answering the OP which was a “what do you earn” not “what does your husband earn”

it’s not sexist to answer the question directly and I agree with her, much better to hear from women who succeeded in this themselves than of men. After all, women have their own challenges in earning these salaries especially if they’re mothers too

It's a mixture of good fortune (literally - inheritance helped me to buy my first property); good judgement (having an eye to what will make a profit, if you're doing up houses and selling them on); being willing to get your hands dirty (I taught myself basic plumbing from a DIY manual); a willingness to live in complete chaos without worrying about it, including with small children milling around; and some very, very hard manual work. You also need to be obsessed with houses and everything about them, because you've got to love it to make it worthwhile. Once you've got to a settled position of not selling anything or doing anything up, though apart from your own house, which never gets finished it's good. It enabled me to divorce my abusive husband without too much financial hardship, and enabled me to pay school fees for 18 years. It's also my pension fund, as I haven't got a pension (was a SAHM for most of that time).

Yes I am in America.

Education. It became irrelevant after the first 10 years. I was fortunate to be trained in a niche area by a renowned expert, who retired and I took the reins. I have a gift for systems and systemizing, and for a while was on the speaker trail across the country. Hired to do what I do in bigger and bigger firms, until I said enough. Now in a small but lovely firm where i can have a life while keeping them profitable and successful.

Note i got my start from a woman. A mentor. I've passed that along every step of the way. We must lift each other up.

@2018SoFarSoGreat thats a brilliant story.

in the UK there is an obsession about qualifications - certainly in my sector. I started out in a role that required a masters degree - but then moved into a slightly different role where I do t use any of my specialism at all. I still need to be qualified to this level - but I don’t use any of it at all! Seems such a waste.

you were so lucky to find a good mentor. But clearly you had a talent for the work!

Worked as a commodity trader, but now SAHM. At peak was just under 450k. Couldn’t face the idea of going back now - it was pretty intense at times, and I now just do voluntary work. Originally got into it through having strong maths background but also being a native of the country my old company is HQd in, where language was a big advantage. DH works in insurance, which is super boring but he still earns more in a good year than I did. He got into it by being slightly dull but diligent.

Another lawyer here. I started on £14k fte as a contract paralegal at 22/23 before I had completed my training. Got really lucky and landed my first qualified lawyer job with a US firm for 60k, which was an enormous amount of money to me at 26. I wanted to hit 6 figures by the time I was 30 and managed it by about 2 weeks. Now lots of newly qualified lawyers in London earn that from day 1.

43, marketing director, and I got into it because I was in a project manager job at an advertising agency and realised we paid our freelance writers multiples of what I was earning. My undergrad degree is in English so I took on a few assignments from the job I was in, built a portfolio, went freelance for a decade or so and built my skill set out until I'd worked with most major marketing channels, went back to full time employment, earned my MBA, and started working on getting better and better roles.

Desperately looking for someone to say - OnlyFans 😂
Surely there is someone?

@Pyri No - Mellow Yellow was telling a PP who posted what her husband earned she had no business on the thread. I was no more harsh to MY than she was to the PP. And if she can hand It out, I’m sure she can take it.

The OP wants info about jobs and money, more than a specifically female perspective (and she came on after MY post to confirm that).

It’s fine to think whatever you think, and to post that view, but not, IMO, to quote a PP trying to be helpful in order to tear her down.