to worry that DD's chosen career can only earn a maximum of £27,000??

[soups1]

dd is clever. she has 3 a-levels in maths, psychology and law. She has a lot of potential for many areas. They are not amazing a-level grades, so uni is possible but maybe having to do 4 years or just a local uni, but there are lots of jobs she could do with those a-levels and go on to earn well.

She has decided she wants to do embalming/funeral work. I don't have an issue with the chosen career (although i don't get it!) but it doesn't pay well. A maximum of 27,000 and that is a lot of graduates starter money! she is hoping to go on an embalmer 2 year course soon and a lot of the time they can get jobs through there, as people contact that school and ask for people who are finishing. i am just worried about her choice.

aibu? 27000 forever isnt that much

Well said 5moreminutes - excellent post

Jaxing, do we get to define what our children are going to mean by "lifestyle" or "freedom", though? They are different individuals, they may well understand something totally different by that.

For my db, "lifestyle" means being able to own a nice house and take his partner out to nice restaurants and the occasional cruise. For me, it means being able to do the work I am passionate about. I have no interest in cruises at all, and the things that matter a lot to me require very little money.

Again, "freedom" for me means not being stuck in a second-best job for decades like my mother was, lamenting the lost chances I might have had. She had complete financial security, but I am glad I did not make her choices, particularly as the things that have served as compensation to her aren't really things that would do it for me.

I'm still waiting to earn 27 K, but I didn't go to Uni, but I do enjoy my job and I'm never out of work

I aspire to my children having jobs they somewhat enjoy, that pay well to give them whatever sort of lifestyle they want while at the same time equally aspire to them not working too many hours to get that. That is my starting point for what I want from them. There will possibly be compromise from that but it's up to them to decide what they compromise on (money, time and/or satisfaction). But all I'm talking about is what I want for them and yes, since we are talking simply about ideals, I hope they earn well above 27k. There's no shame in wishing for more and equally there is no shame in earning less than that. We are talking about hopes here. Not demands.

A job they 'somewhat' enjoy? No high aspirations there then

I'd love to earn that much. I am in a poorly paid job but I enjoy it and it suits my lifestyle. There is so much more to life than money. I learnt that at a young age when I had a job which was well paid (in my opinion anyway) but I was miserable as sin so I went back to what I knew and took a pay cut.

bigpigsmum you don't need uni to earn a good wage. I have no degree but earn over twice that a year for a 35hr week. If I have had dicked around in uni and wasted my time I probably wouldn't be what I am on now or have the quality of life I have. For me it would have set me back years and left me in debt. Instead I got a trade, paid to train and feed well I learnt my trade. My skills and experience opened up oppertunities in a who new industry. Wages generally reflect the rarity of your skills and your ability to be replaced. Now it's seems every young person has a degree. When a young person is competing in a job market full of other young people with degrees and is saturated with experience people who are not retiring till later in life that degree does not hold the value people think it does. There are many ways to skin a cat. I know uni would have been a complete waste of time and money to me.

Totally agree Jaxing

To add, having a higher paid job does not mean you will have to sacrifice your family life or that the job won't genuinely make you happy!

Obviously everyone's hopes and lifestyle choices are different and entirely valid. A parent will always want their child to be equally happy and stable. Cost of living is high ( or at least is rising ), £27k is a good salary, it is also an average one. My opinion is that there is potential for that salary alone to not leave you financially comfortable, especially as you grow into new and more expensive responsibilities in life.

I think somewhat enjoying a job is a rare enough thing and by nature a job is a job. Even dream jobs usually have some element of toil in them. That why I said a measured 'somewhat enjoy'.

There's a vast difference between largely happy (which is what I think you're describing) and "somewhat enjoy" though. I'd much rather the former for my children - and whilst her salary might be £27K it equally might be higher, given her ability to start her own business in a field which has no shortage of customers, and that will in turn leave her more comfortable if that becomes more important to her as she gets older.

Well personally I would be very happy to earn 27k!

I am a modern languages grad, have been graduated for 14 years and earn £21k.

My DP earns slightly less.

To be honest, we don't really struggle for money and I always feel very well off. I have friends on far higher wages who are always complaining they are skint and I cannot understand it.

we live within our means and still manage to have gym membership, run a car and go on holiday.

OP, putting this as nicely as I can. You live in Essex. There is no requirement on your DD to do so. I currently live 100 miles away from my dad and 250 from my mum. This sort of job would allow her to move elsewhere and live in a cheaper area where there are vacancies and her money goes further. I'd let her see where she can take it.

Alternatively she'd be doing something like biomedical science at university - my sister's degree and she went on to manage the mortuary at a hospital.

Wow this thread is illuminating re people's thoughts on what constitutes a 'good enough' salary!

I'm 29 and earn less than 27K but have a reasonably steady job. Went to a fairly good uni, got a 2:1, then got a Post-Grad qualification in my field etc. I always thought I was doing OK but I guess it's what you're used to.

FWIW though I don't know hardly anyone my age earning more than that (different circles?) though I guess some will eventually earn more. My parents didn't earn much more than that either and they were both public sector professionals. They did OK.

Everone I know on that much or less can afford holidays, travel, has some savings and can pay bills etc. though, so I don't really see what the problem is. Oh, and I know people who live in London on that and it IS possible, they just houseshare etc. to afford it (I guess if they eventually get fed up of this, they can always choose to move somewhere else). Though if you're an embalmer you can work anywhere so no need to live in London.

My main concern with jobs has always been how stable is it and can it be outsourced/automated easily. I'd say in the case of embalming this sounds unlikely so it sounds quite a sensible career choice TBH. Plus, I doubt many people are qualified in that or would even think of it as a career so your daughter would have the advantage of a scarce (and much needed) skill.

That's an interesting point about automation bearhunt. I think there are certain things that, even if they could be automated, people would want a human touch on. If my loved one was being embalmed I think I would want a person to be doing that and to be honest would be prepared to pay more for it.

I was thinking a similar thing about hairdressers the other day. I can't see a point where we wouldn't have human hairdressers as the social, personal aspect of going to the hairdresser is part of the event.

I believe a large amount of my existing job will be done by computers within the next 15-20 years if not sooner. I am retraining to something that pays a lot less, but will never be able to be done by a machine (well, not until we invent true AI and even then I am dubious). Worth the loss of income for the job security, plus the added satisfaction I think I will get from it.

Agree with the automation angle. With the advancement of AI now, it will be comforting to be in a field which is probably one of the last to be automated.

going It depends where you live in the county though, if your in london 27K would be a massive struggle as housing is so expensive. Im in devon and consider that a pretty decent salary!

I'm actually in awe that she knows what she wants and that this is it. It's not a career that's usually considered a passing fancy. If she wants to do this, she must really want to do this.

Agree very much with barbaraofseville's post. Well, not the bits about having a First in chemistry and an investing hobby. Neither of those apply to me! Just the other stuff.

It's on the wright stuff now!

Hi matthew

On the Wright stuff - ffs

FFS. Can they not even just take the initial point and make their own content around it rather than invading and stalking our conversation.

Waves to Screechy! Waves to Storm! Hi everyone on Ch 5!

They don't even credit mumsnet as the source.

Watching now. Wonder if any mnetters will phone in?

I'm glad they don't name mumsnet as the source. Keeps us from having to namechange yet again