If you are minted....

[FeralBeryl]

*What is your/ partner's career or job?
*
Not a TAAT more a TIBAT (inspired by a thread)

Someone has a monthly take home pay of £11k
Not going to lie, I fully intend to suddenly obtain the necessary qualifications overnight for whatever it is. sure there'll be an online course....

I know there will have been a great deal of sacrifice, no work home balance etc. I'm not wanting to judge at all-I'm enthralled

Please.

whilst paying over £7k a month mortgage

Over £7000 a month just to pay the mortgage-wow.

This is one of the most fascinating threads I've ever read on Mumsnet.

DH is management civil service and will never earn mega bucks but has worked his way up from 13k pa which he earned when we first met. His rational, steady approach has left him hugely respected and he's very good at his job. I am work in banking and instantly went part time when I returned after mat leave. I don't deal with stress as resiliently as DH so we have agreed I will continue with these hours even when DD goes to school.

I earn a decent wage and am working towards a promotion which will actually mean even on three days a week including cash benefits I will earn more than DH does full time. I get an annual bonus that he doesn't so this is useful as our outgoings are pretty high so we don't save much.

If I had made a couple of slightly different decisions and been more "fuckit" as a PP mentioned, I could be earning six figures but get panicky very quickly when the pressure is on and despite not earning brilliant amounts between us I feel our quality of life is good. Every time I am part of a lottery dreaming conversation I struggle to work out what I would spend it on that I don't have now. Apart from holidays - we rarely go away. But I am usually homesick after a few days and hate to leave my animals.

I don't envy those of you on this thread who have had to take these big risks or work these long hours or raised children alone while DH is out working. It must be great to be comfortable and have the trappings but it wouldn't have been right for us.

So it makes me wonder, what do you think earning that level of money is giving you that you wouldnt get if you were earning, let's say £6k a month instead of £11k a month?

Personally earning more that we can spend gives me a feeling of security.

We have had a couple of good years on the trot now and have about £2m cash in the bank that to be perfectly blunt, if it evaporated tomorrow we wouldn't notice any change in our lives. Over the next few years we would (hopefully) be able to replace it.

What it does do is let me sleep at night. The current worry is what if business is hit badly due to brexit. It's a real possibility for us but that amount of money buys us several years to straighten things out before we have to panic.

I couldn't have a live-in housekeeper, as I value my privacy and "family time" way too much. I do have a very part-time nanny, who is here one whole day, and one half day, to allow me to run errands, or take one child out solo. I grew up working-class, and still cling on to the idea that I should just graft and do it all myself (no family nearby to pitch in) whereas my husband thinks I'm mad and should get more help. Either way, it goes without saying that it's a bad idea to view "help" as potential thieves. I saw way too many uber wealthy people in NY treat their foreign housekeepers like pieces of shit.

,

DH earns £150k as a Dentist (Not NHS) he works 40 hours a week but is on call some weekends.

I'd love to have £2m in the bank. we have a six figure income but don't feel rich. But we have school fees to pay, a big house with associated big bills and expensive tastes. We could live on less but don't want to.

I think money buys us less stress in our lives as if something breaks we can just replace it. Or if we don't want to do something we can pay someone else to do it for example collecting someone from the station, I'll send a cab if I don't want to go.

Like most people who earn a fair bit I have had ups and downs which is actually pretty good for you as it helps you remember what it is like to be worried that the car might break down.

I am trying to have no money and the children to have it all actually deliberately as I don't need much in savings and we had a letter from the bank this week that the instant saver rate is going down to 0.01%... laughing as I type. I am sure you can get better rates but it just shows having cash is not always the best way to keep your money.

Yes my mortgage was 90k a year interest only at one stage on I think £1.3m brrowed at then 6% (interest rates are right down now). Thatr was in fact because I divorced a lower earner so ended up with a lot of debt and no savings as I wanted to keep the children in this house.

I always think it is interesting having threads like that. I also like those about people who have just about no money too - the good thing about the internet is you can hear the experiences of all kinds of people and communicate with them and understand them in a way you might not always be able to do in real life.

(I don't have £2m in the bank by the way although I suppose I could as I've sopend £1m on school fees and will have given the children about £1.5m in total for property deposits etc by the time I've finished, God willing).

Me2017
I think I recognise you from another thread several years ago (another name). It was in Freelancers- the OP asked about how to earn 1K per month.

You were completely inspirational, urging people to look higher- to aim for 1K per week and then 1K per day.

I had recently started a small business at the time, aiming to keep myself and DC afloat while dealing with divorce and child with additional needs.
I've achieved 1K per month and am on my way to 1K per week (I did it once this year).

I'm not minted, the theme of this thread, BUT you (in particular) were supportive of women aiming to earn higher. That was not a view I had heard when I was starting out, and it opened up ideas for me. Thank you.

I've lurked all the way through this fascinating thread. It's the best of MN, women urging other women on. No hating, no bitching. Hope it continues on in another thread Minted2.

Can someone please started Minted2

it makes me wonder, what do you think earning that level of money is giving you that you wouldn't get if you were earning, let's say £6k a month instead of £11k a month?

Good question and a discussion I've been having recently with my DH. His answers: (1) he may not be able to earn at this level forever (jobs are not that secure in his industry) so he sees this period as building up a cushion for potential leaner years in the future. (2) it gives security against unexpected events - for example DC1 was recently diagnosed with a lifelong medical condition, the extra money means we can pay for any help and treatment without worrying. (3) it gives us other options eg me being a SAHM for a period if the family needs it, building work or house move if we wanted more space, etc. (4) it will give us a very comfortable retirement. We could easily live till our 90s and don't want to work past our 60s so that's a long period to fund especially if we want to live comfortably. Today's 60 somethings (some of them) are able to live long comfortable retirements but that's due largely to final salary pensions and the insane recent house price rises which I don't expect to happen again in my lifetime.

Or to sum up: we're not spending the extra - we're saving it for future needs. And I think we will be very grateful for that when we're in our 50s plus.

Yes, money gives women options. Men often piss it up the wall (not the husbands of women on this thread of course) and women invest in their children and their education and save it. It is why charities prefer to give small loans to women in Africa for businesses rather than hand outs to men who spend it on wine, women and song. That might sounds sexist but in cultures where men often abandon families and children and wives money given to women tends to be the better place for it. In fact some cultures men earn and women are given all the pay packet - that was common in UK working class culture and is in Japana - man given back his weekly spending money, sensible woman then manages the rest of it so the children can eat.

I have been able to help the older children with a bit more property deposit than I might have. I wanted all the children go graduate debt free too. Everyone has different priorities and plenty of people spend the extra money was they get it. Even the sensible ones of us on this thread are very likely to have spent more eg at 35 I'd paid off our mortgage on a reasonable house. I decided to buy a bigger one instead so the money went on a large mortgage. I could have stayed in the smaller one and used the spare money to give to more charities or buy a few other homes to let out (complicated, hassle ugh...) or a flat in a ski resort or something.

(MsHave, that's good to know. I think it's helpful for women to know what other women earn and how they got there. It is not easy for everyone and I don't suggest it is but it can encourage people. Others hate it - they are just jealous of women and men who earn a fair bit which is human nature I suppose. The threads on whether high earnings are luck or hard work always bring out the worst in everyone and of course it's a mixture of luck and hard work anyway so we never resolve that issue).

own business, 15k a month and 2 x 80k dividends annually. Don't feel minted as huge outgoings.

it makes me wonder, what do you think earning that level of money is giving you that you wouldn't get if you were earning, let's say £6k a month instead of £11k a month?

For us it gives us the ability to educate our children privately, pay for any additional medical costs for our children without stress, give to charity, and save. I did not consider myself "minted" until I had considerable savings tbh. It is only now that we have reasonably substantial savings that I feel wealthy.

Before this thread becomes completely full, may I thank all of you who took the time to answer.
I remember very clearly some years ago a poster (it might have been Xenia at the time) telling women that we should all aim for a job earning £100per hour.
I also remember thinking it was just a dream.
But when I looked to retrain, I did look at how much I could potential earn. It wasn't (and isn't) £100 per hour but not far.
That means that, nowdays, as I am now ill and unable to do as many hours and/or have to take things much more slowly, I can still earn a decent wage on a very very part time basis.

This thread has inspired me the same way than that thread years ago did.
So THANK YOU.

Hummus what do you do now?

Hummus, that would have been me (forced name change - sorry).

It is important women value themselves and their time and skills.

However I do appreciate that people who do not have much money and struggle are very unlikely to want to read about women talking bout luxuries like housekeepers or paying school or university fees.

On the other hand it's only by being exposed to people of all kinds we learn from them. It is the same issue with children from very disadvantaged homes who don't know a single women who earns a a lot or anyone other than their GP who is in professional work.

They are always fascinating issues - what should someone's time be worth? If I save them £1bn of fines (possible in my area of law) what is that hour of my time worth? 10% of £1bn, the living wage, £360 an hour? Should we pay everyone the same for the same work? I obviously don't agree with that but I can see the argument for it from both sides.

I thought it was but didnt want to out you :)