Where do these massive salaries exist?

[AliceinRealityLand]

I've been reading the "Are you Rich?" thread on here and some people seem to have very high salaries indeed. Apprentice candidates each year on the programme are already on salaries of 100k plus before being on the show. Plenty of people seem well off and have houses and cars that mean they are obviously not earning the minimum wage.

I do not know anyone locally (east anglia) that earns more than about £20,000 per year. There are no jobs around here that pay anymore than that. And the ones that I know earning 20k or so are teachers and nurses. Nothing is ever advertised in my area with a higher salary than that.

Where are all these 100k+ jobs?

I think you'll find that the partners in law firms, accountants, architect practices in Ipswich, Norwich etc are on comfortably more than £100k (certainly in the regional offices of national firms).

Senior execs are often on six figure salaries all over the country. Downside is that you need to be career mobile to take advantage of opportunities that arise so it may mean moving around every few years which isn't everyone's cup of tea.

Bear in mind that some of the cars will have been got with finance deals/long term hire purchase, rather than being paid outright.
And some of the big houses/flats may be rented or on a leasehold rather than a freehold mortgage.

And a lot of people look rich but are in debt up to their eyeballs to pay for it all.

doctors, lawyers, accountants, IT consultants, company directors/chief execs. These are not the kinds of jobs that are advertised in the job centre/the local press.

and £100k is not stinking rich.

Also, salaries are more in London because the cost of living is higher.

Crazy you are right.

I work in Swindon now, my recruiter said that because is on M4 salaries are far, far higher here than in Gloucester etc.

100K in London will not get you a mortgage for anything more than a rabbit hutch. And this may still be in an area that is horrible/dangerous.

terrible teens , what is 180/200K after tax.

Where are you Alice? I'm in East Anglia and while nowhere near £100k, I would say most people in my particular company earn >20. The most senior management will be on that much though, but perhaps that's just the nature of the work. Although plenty of businesses around here have executives/senior managers/professionallly qualified people on a good salary

I agree that those types of jobs don't tend to be advertised with a salary specified, it would be negotiable, nor are they advertised with non-specialist recruiters so you wouldn?t always see them in the local paper etc.

DH earns £200k+ which is enormous.

Our house is nice but pretty scruffy, in an area lots of people outside London are very sneery about.

3DCs are at private school.

Not impressive car, but don't have to worry about filling it up with petrol.

Still check prices of everything I buy.

Because of the DCs schools (ie their peer group) and living in London, I don't feel rich, which is ridiculous.

I am still rather perplexed about how the magic MBA guarantees a huge wage.

Well £100k is bloody well rich to me. Live in Cornwall and dp and me bought home a grand total of £27,500 last year! And I don't mean each.

Alice I have never had a high salary. Most of us have not.

BBC top brass get 400 grand. Bankers (I know what your thinking)

some Head teachers are on very high salaries.

Council Chief execs too. The Queen is not on income support.

If you have a household income of £100k + you are some of the richest people who have ever lived. People who are surrounded by other people in this tiny tiny minority have a skewed vision of what is and isn't rich.

When I was on £26k I felt rich because I could afford everything I wanted. Everyone around me was on the same or less so I didn't have to spend more than I had coming in to 'keep up'.

All areas have 'some' rich people. There are doctors, lawyers and entrepreuners everywhere.

Read the appointments page of the Sunday Times or the Guardian if you want to see who's paying what.

People I know (some loosely):

GPs- well over 100k (big city practice)
surgeon- over 200k (big city trust)
Director of Nursing- £65k (rural trust)
Head of Service (70 staff)in Local Govt- £55k (big city authority)
Head Teacher of Primary School - £48k (large city primary)
Head Teacher of Secondary School- £80k (V large city school)
IT consultant - £70-120k (self-employed)
Psychologist for recruitment consultants- £45k
Software engineer- one at £40k, one at £70k
Head of Childrens Services- £120k (large metropolitan authority)
Project Manager- £35k (public service)
loads more that are v comfortable, but I don't know their income... traders, accountants, university staff, lettings agents etc

even a high grade nurse can be on £38k...

We love in East Anglia, my dh earns a lot more than £20k.

live not love

Wayne Rooney earns £250,000 a week.

well it's all relative.
100k in London really doesn't go that far.
As a single person in London, zone 3, I used to have a nice lifestyle on £40k, ate out a lot, and drank lots.
But that's a 1 bed flat, not a 3/4 bed house.
£100k with 2/3 kids, you wouldn't be struggling, but it's not flash cars and 5*holidays

I am currently working alongside a project manager who is a contractor and bills £1000 a day.

Company Director . Not in London.

I know several and I agree that 100K is not stinking rich

Mediocre jobs...100k not rich. Just goes to show what massively different experiences we have in Britain regardless of education or background. I remember my best friend saying she would happily take a pay cut of 30k to get the kind of job she wanted. I had just secured my first teaching job at 20k and nodded along - stunned. Wish my parents hadn't emphasised doing what made me happy so much and said 'go for something mediocre around 100k'.

An acquaintance of mine earns around 650k as a lawyer, they have 4 kids (private school) in the home counties, live in a huge house with an enormous mortgage. They can't do all they want to do and are not as cash rich as a huge swathe of their peers & friends at the school. Just unbelievable to my mind, as someone said it's all relative