Do YOU earn over 40K? What do you do?

[MoneyBunny]

Obviously only for those of you comfortable with disclosing what you earn.

In another thread I could see a lot of posters saying it's no biggie earning over 40K, however this is just under me and my husband's JOINT income so it does feel like a very distant wage for us.

So, if you earn 40K, what do you o for a living? How many year's experience have you got and what is your education level?

And I do mean to pry.

dh earns £40k bob on. He's got a Software Developer, maths degree from Cambridge and 20 years experience.

Comfortably over
Work within Consultancy
Degrees - I did philosophy then psychology so unrealted
been in my line of work for under 7 years

I earn £52k. First degree, MA plus professional qualification and 12 years experience in this field. I work as a Company Secretary. It?s really, really dull and I will hopefully leave in the next two years if the plan comes together and we leave the south east, buy somewhere cheaper up north (where I?m from) and I can finally do a hands-on job. I always wanted to be a post(wo)man.

Just under. I'm an employed (in-house) barrister in London. Qualifed in 2010 after deciding to change careers in my early 30s. I did a 2 year part-time law conversion course, 1 year of Bar school and 1 year pupillage (during which I earned considerably less).

I also have a degree (from an old style poly), masters and PhD (from a reasonably good uni but not Oxbridge and not in law) and I only mention them because they were probably instrumental in helping me get a pupillage!

Pre-children, yes - comfortably over

Post-children and post-redundancy, no - picking up whatever I can get

Undergrad degree, two post-grad qualifications, 15 years' experience.

Sonographer in the NHS. Qualified through a School of Radiography (2 years study after A levels) and a Diploma in Medical Ultrasound (2 further years study). Have been in the job for 30 years now and £40k is top of scale.

Wibblybibble: You can't be serious. Is that really how you see others who haven't done an 'Oxbridge' degree but who have gone on to achieve some measure of success?? Of course, though, some will have done exactly these things ... :) The lesson I would learn from it is that a degree in the humanities from a top institution may not be as immediately financially rewarding as a technical degree from a less prestigious one. However, I think it would be a lot more interesting and satisfying over the long-term if that is where your true interests were.

I earn over £40k (just)

I'm a Technical Manager in Telecoms. Only educated to GCSE level, been in this job about 4 years.

Have worked since I was 13 though, climbed up the ladder and still climbing

I run a business with my dh. I've only got A-levels - I deferred university for what was meant to be a year but ended up being permanently!

Mrskbpw you need to get into trades. I was 4 days as an editor on a trade and on about £36k.

Now on a bit more in PR/marketing. Have degree and postgrad diploma plus 18 years' experience (the first 15 in magazine production/journalism).

Started on £11k in 1993 after 15 months on the dole (well, some of it doing diploma, but only once it became abundantly clear that having a degree from a Russell Group university alone was not going to get me a job).

All you lawyers saying 'yes, loads more...'
Go on, what are we talking, and is that regional or magic circle firm?

I earn a little bit over, I have a degree, a professional qualification and 11 years experience. I'm an optician. But, my salary is unlikely to rise significantly now, unless I get my own business.

PA in large multinational in the city, 14 years experience 7 at board level, left school at 18 after a-levels and manage 6 other staff. Long hours, lots of travel and a lot of stress.

twofalls £25 per hour at home, £36 per hour in schools. I worked out of two schools, one which let me teach there for free and one which charged me £10 per term for the room to teach from! And then drove about teaching in homes 2 evenings a week and had people come to me the other evenings. It was fairly intense, but I liked it. I teach piano, saxophone, voice, flute and music theory. Best business came from teenagers who were desperate to get their grade 5 theory so they could carry on practically with their exams with another teacher. I could take 2 at once no problem and do that for £40 per hour between them. Some A'Level tutoring as well, where the schools referred students to me to take privately during their school day.

If I took some studio session work on the weekend, I could earn around £300 for an hour's work because I can work very fast by ear and sight read very well. For session work, my best bet was always to quote for the job, not an hourly rate because I can produce work very efficiently.

Also, accompanying exams is lucrative for a pianist.

I'm a head of department in an independent school in the south-west and earn between 40 -50k.
I have a non-Oxbridge degree and a PGCE and 12 years experience.

I am sahm, Dh earns considerably over £40k. He started on a sort of internship, proved himself and was offered a trainee program 8 years ago, he is now a Director in that same company. Its been a hard slog!

I am a SAHM but I used to meet the criteria.

I was global marketing manager for a shipping company. Degree, Chartered Status and industry quals, 5 yrs marketing experience at that point but only 2 yrs post uni.

Dh also earns this, he is an aerospace engineer, designing systems and parts for military and commercial aircraft. Degree, post grad quals.

Yes, before leaving the civil service last year. Started at the very bottom of the pay scale (think it was about £16k), and finished on £65k. Took 9 years of quite focused career moves. I have a (crap) Oxbridge degree.

All you people with postgraduate degrees, how did you fund them?

I would have loved to have studied on after my first degree but my parents didnt believe in financially supporting me any further and fees+ living expenses at commercial debt rates wasnt something I considered viable.

Sometimes now though, reading these threads maybe that's what I should have done...

Yes. Another solicitor. Degree, post-graduate conversion course, bar vocational course, pupillage, qualified lawyer transfer test to qualify as a solicitor.

I qualified as a barrister 10 years ago, converted to a solicitor 6 years ago.

DH earns that much too and is also a solicitor but with 9 years experience.

Maybe it is your charm that is serving you so well Wibbly.

I am a language teacher and co-ordinate my department. I work 0.75 a week (3 and a half days) and earn about £19,000, maybe a bit less. Shite considering i have a degree, am a subject specialist and have been teaching for 15 years(though not in the same place). FE though where salaries are rubbish.

I will never earn £40,000 and it seems like a fortune to me. Full time i think i can earn £29,000 at the most. .

But like someone else said on here, I didn't go into it for the money and i really do love my job.

Charlotte - my post-grad law qualifications were funded by my future employer - bigger firms tend to recruit 2 years in advance and fund studies (pay fees and give you money to live on). I can't comment on how people fund other post-grad degrees, though.

Business Analyst with large retail bank (not city) earn around 50k. Bsc degree in unrelated subject. Worked for the bank for 4yrs and had related job in same industry for 4yrs before that so 8yrs in total (straight from uni)