Am I being unrealistic? How old are you, and how much do you earn?

[adhdneedsajob]

Doing my tax return and depressed at how little my self employment brings in.
I have a degree in the arts from a RG university and over 20 years experience in the workplace I am 45 ffs and barely scraping £1200 a month
But am barely making any money

What do you do and how have you got there and how can I charge more for what I do?

I'll balance it out too - £28k FTE in a govt ALB. 2:1 arts degree from a RG uni many moons ago then two career changes since into relatively low-paid sectors. I'm also not hugely ambitious and currently having my confidence eroded by menopause. I worked in editorial in London when I first graduated in my 20s but when I look at equivalent salaries now they're not paying much more than I was on then, literally another £5k.

I have never wanted to be a line manager which has probably limited my earning potential. These threads make me feel low to be honest, I don't know why I read them! I am in deepest west Cornwall though, which further limits my options.

35 and take home £2500 for 3 days a week work. Work in consultancy. DH similar age and takes home £3k.

Location is definitely key. Where I used to live £20-£30k was high earning and there wasn't a lot of progression. My new area £40+k is low earning.
Im 40, no degree and £54k. I should feel rich and yet I don't!

Age is irrelevant. All that matters is the choices. Some 23 yr old bankers earn £200k, a 60 yr old teaching assistant can be on £14k.

Most people with degrees either go down a path of loving their job but earning little (art / acting / music / writing etc) or not loving their job but earning well (law, accountancy, management consulting etc). Some people who were badly advised as teens neither love their job nor earn well.

If you’re bright, industrious, have a good degree and want money look into a path that take a you to a high earning job, but it will not be writing. Maybe a law conversion course or management consultancy.

No me as I am retired, my DS has just turned 23, he earns 34k working for an asset management company. He started working there after university and will complete a two year programme in a few months and then apply to the department he wants to work in and will start earning a non training salary.

I'm.always amazed at what people earn. Also when people recommend clothes etc,my first thought is usually 'waaaaat?'who.can afford that.

I’m 38. I earn £83,000 as senior management in an independent school.

Forgot to add, I’m in London and it's a well-known school (I’ve name-changed). DH is also in education and earns around £75,000.

28 and bring in £2,100 a month as a junior. You're underpaid.

Those of us who earn more. I'm always gobsmacked at people accepting a pittance for full time work. You're worth more.

I have an RG BA and a second BA and professional qualification I gained through work.
I work in the public sector in a field related to my degree, in a relatively senior management role. I'm not 40 yet.
I earn 55-60k , fluctuates a bit due to on call allowances etc, I'm due a 5k payrise in October.

DH similar but changed industries and requalified at 26/27 he earns 45k as he's at senior practitioner level rather than management in a slightly different field to me. Also late thirties.
Both very working class backgrounds first to go to uni etc.
Having said that DB earns similarly to me without a degree.

@Chatsworth364847 please can I ask what job you do 1 day a week term time?

and @Cakequeen1988 may I ask what your zero hours £28/h job is?

thanks :)

Joined the civil serccice as an AO (role related to my degree)

I have since progressed to HEO. I also am based in London in one thr large (well funded) departments so that bumps the salary up

@AHalfWarmedFish my zero hours role is as a work based assessor at a college. I assess candidates via Team so not only are the hours flexible I can do it from home

Accounts Manager £38k. I could earn more in the city but I like my company, lots of perks. Wfh, flexible working, company car (Tesla), private healthcare and health cash plan, company phone. Xmas bonus of £1k. The time saved commuting is a huge personal bonus. The money saved on running a car/ a mobile phone contract/ health costs could easily push my salary up to £50k+

Oh 42yrs, forgot that one.

@TTheWayoftheLeaf unfortunately for lower paid work there's always someone who will do it for the price offered, so asking for and getting a wage increase is very unlikely.
Before I stayed home with my children I worked in day nurseries, there's only so much they will pay staff before it would increase the fees, which they aren't going to do.
I've also looked at a band 2 children's carer job while job searching, which is looking after children when in respite care. A job I would love to do because it's worth it to make a difference to the lives of families. But the pay, not so much, if I didn't have my husband being the main breadwinner I wouldn't even be able to consider it.

I'm always gobsmacked at people accepting a pittance for full time work. You're worth more.

😂😂

While a RG arts degree is of course a great achievement, far more relevant are the choices you’ve made after that. There’ll be people from your course who went into law, banking etc. earning ten times what you do. And people with no degree working in in-demand trades doing similar. Your degree isn’t a passport to high earnings.

I am a private psychologist. I earn about 75k a year for a 3.5 day a week, term time only. I worked in the public sector on 55k full time ( but sick leave, pensions etc.). Once the kids were born and I had childcare to pay, a larger mortgage, needed flexibility, I made a different choice and do not regret it at all.

35 £70k, public sector. I had set myself an arbitrary goal of £50k by 35, would like to be on £100k by 40 but that's pretty ambitious in my field in the public sector tbh, entirely possible private sector. In my 20s my goal was to earn more than my age lol. They're just arbitrary goals in my head, ultimately it is career progression and development of my role that I actively work on, in my 20s I was in a poorer paying field and whilst I enjoyed the work I decided I wanted to earn more from working full time so took a side step into a better paying industry. Raising my kids now to reflect on not only what they want to do, but what they want it to afford them so they can make some better informed decisions at the start of their career than I did.

I earn 30k as an NHS Administrator age 43. Not got a clue what else I could do to earn higher. Living in Scottish city. Would a careers advisor be able to help me?

My salary is on about page 4, (about 10:30 last night) you would probably consider that I earn a pittance. Money isn’t the be all and end all. I do a job that I love and I am valued as a member of staff, very happy with my lot.

DS left school at 16 but with good GCSEs & will soon (age 24) be making £39k gross/yr. I'm only a little jell !!

And if he still lives at home and you ask him to pay board money, MN will still tell you that you're a big meany exploiting your child lljkk

I know I'm worth more but the employers don't seem to have grasped that yet 😅

In all seriousness I have no malice towards anyone who is a high earner, fair play to you I say. If I could I would!