How do middle-class people attain those lifestyles?

[YourPoisedFinch]

Young professionals on 30k a year, multiple holidays a year, parties, concerts, outings etc. ... how do they afford it?

yeah i passed first round of fast stream civil service

Depends where you work and how well you do. I know some on significantly more, and of course lots of people will go into different areas and earn more. What is it you actually want to do, what salary are you hoping for?

2023 grad, got told to leave after failing and now looking for a new career after undertaking a masters

Are you the OP that posted a lot last year about failing your exams but were going into teaching and were accepted onto a PGCE, @YourPoisedFinch ?

But starting at the bottom and working your way up each year as you gain further experience is the norm. Whilst some very talented young people do walk straight out of university and into highly paid or niche positions, most have to give their pound of flesh and put the effort and work in to achieve success and high salaries.

I don't know any young professionals on £30k. DS and Dd are 30 and 26. DS earns about £43k as an early career researcher and dd about £42k as a secondary school teacher of English. Their partners are respectively on £60k and £95k at 30 and 28.

They live nice lives, have nice holidays and run cars. My DC and DD's BF are not dependent on earnt income for their lifestyle. Having said that all 4 are hard workers and they are all pretty cautious with money.

I think it's important to note too that qualifications might get you in somewhere-but won't necessarily help you progress- that's down to reliability, attitude, ability and often communication style too . Being neuro diverse won't be an issue in terms of 'getting on' in some industry's/ roles but the reality is it will be in others depending how it presents- my 26 year old son for instance has adult diagnosed ADHD which he takes medication for - he's fantastic with tech and really good with clients- very sociable - would be pretty useless at anything requiring working on your own for days on end with no outside communication or anything involving spreadsheets/endless figures etc

Nope not me

It sounds like you are looking for a career which you can walk into, with no experience, and immediately earn a massive salary. Unless your Dad happens to be a CEO of a large company and hands you a job, this isn't going to happen.

Anyone who is now on a salary of £100k started off on less and worked their way up. £50k is a very good salary for someone in their early career and way above the average salary.

If you could just do a Masters and immediately walk into a high paid job, we'd all be doing high paid jobs.

🤔 I am going on 3 holidays this year... Italy, Scotland & Spain... the thing is, mone costs more than £350.- pp plus spending money.

So it's feasible on 30-40k pa without DC and a relatively frugal lifestyle otherwise.

But once you qualify, you then have a whole host of options open to you. Some decide to stay where they are and live a relatively comfortable life, others decide to go into IB or one of the consultancy firms, others go into industry. Out of my big 4 graduate cohort, everyone who wanted to progress their careers quickly were all earning six figures by their late 20’s.

This more or less nails it.
The greatest single indicator of your wealth and lifestyle is your father's wealth and lifestyle. Generational wealth is leading to greater inequality so even if you have a decent professional job, work hard etc you will see your living standards eroded.
I know that the lucky few like to think it is their unique talents and hard work but that's rubbish. For the vast majority it makes no difference how hard you hustle.

You’re a few years out of date. MC are currently paying £150k base for NQs in London

Magic Circle starting salaries are in excess of 100-150k, not 45k.

My grads start on £35k at the moment and that isnt seen as a competitive salary for the area I hire in (Pharma). I also lose a lot of them after two years to higher paying roles elsewhere as they are looking to be promoted quickly after Uni.

They mainly all rent, have no kids and prioritise holidays/festivals/going out on their weekends. From speaking to a few of them recently (and I know £35k is a lot of money) they arent aiming to buy property for while due to the slary multiplier and the need for big deposits so they enjoying the freedom a good salary brings.

yeah, well it's a bit too late for that.. i was asked to leave after falling ill

I had that kind of life as a young professional and still do now.

• a lot of the exhibitions, gigs and fesitvals we go to are free or very discounted as we have contacts in those industries

• We holiday cheaply - ie apartments or basic hotels and in less popular areas. Not having school age children helps as well.

• If you are in the know it is possible to eat out fairly economically in London

One of mine takes home the equivalent of that. Rent, bills, Oyster card - total £1200 a month. Food/clothes £200 a month (Lidl, Vinted). That leaves £600 a month for fun - she gets 4 or 5 cheap hols/long weekend a year for that (Ryanair, air bnb), cinema and theatre gets cheap tickets (eg National Theatre youth tickets), probably spend £400 each summer on a festival, museums and galleries mostly free, parties cost a tenner for a bottle of wine and shared Uber home, meals out usually at chain restaurants and often come with some sort of deal.

Obviously saving for a house deposit very much on the back burner 🤣 But that lifestyle is very doable if you're resourceful.

Depends on the skills/experience, level of management and where they work.

A "bog standard" average accountant out in the regions working in a small practice, then probably not far out.

But a qualified/experienced manager, especially with niche experience, in a Top 4 firm could be easily on £100k or more 3 years after qualifying if they've been meeting targets and getting internal promotions. You have to remember that they will take 3 years or so to qualify (doing professional exams), so that's 5-6 years of working experience and building up through the ranks to senior level or junior manager.

Establishing a career that has a capacity for higher earning through gaining qualifications in that field. Basically, lots of studying and/or hard work.

I wonder that too. Went to a bar/restaurant the other week, high end, cocktails were £19 each and my daughter and her mates in their mid twenties were drinking Champagne. They had had a meal there but I didn't want to spend £70+ on this so went for drinks later on. It was packed full of twenty somethings doing the same. I earn a decent salary and can afford to go to these places but not every week. I must add that it didn't seem that they were enjoying themselves particularly, just taking endless pouty photos (sorry i'm sounding old) and going to the loo every 20 mins. Their nails, hair, tans and jewelry cost lots to maintain. My daughter lives away at Uni and it was for her birthday which she saved up for, I cant imagine they were all bank of mum & dad?

the fast stream gets u from heo to g7 in 3.5 years, g7s are on over 65k in london

You don't need an MSc in Economics though for fast stream, or any role is CS, unless you're specifically targeting GES. And you only get to G7 if you pass all the assessments - and they can be very tough. Plus you're thrown in at the deep end from day 1.

Agree you need to focus on MH as a priority though, then maybe seek careers advice from your uni.

And the subsequent rounds? Have you had an assessment centre?

Nope not me

Ah right, fair enough-you sounded very similar. They had a lot of posts last year about leaving a similar role due to failing and were looking at other jobs. Might be worth doing some searches on leaving the big 4 to see what advice they got.

But that the issue isn’t it. Yes, there are lots of ambitious and enthusiastic early careers professionals in good jobs earning a lot higher than £30k. No, not everyone will be suited to these roles and be willing to put the time and effort in that’s needed to progress quickly and get the higher salaries. If you’re not one of those people then that’s absolutely fine, find something you do want to do and are suited to and work hard at it. Not everyone can earn those salaries and of course not everyone will, but people prioritize what they want to do with the money they have.

They have no children / don't prioritise them? Don't know, don't care.