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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

305 replies

soups1 · 08/01/2017 09:35

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

OP posts:
Needabreakfrommybrain · 09/01/2017 18:24

What's to say she won't go on to own her own company in the long run doing what she wants to do by just starting at the bottom and working her way up. Being happy in your job is so important - think about how long you spend at work! As others have said, she will always have work and you never know what path life will take when she is just starting off. She could end up advising on big Hollywood blockbusters with the experience she gets!

Miserylovescompany2 · 09/01/2017 18:27

What an interesting career choice. I'd imagine you would be able to earn more than 27 thousand though, especially if you did the likes of reconstruction etc...

Be proud that your daughter knows what she wants to do. Support her choices. At the end of the day, you need to be in a job you are happy in.

StillGotTheTreeUp · 09/01/2017 18:28

Well i think its a smart move. She'll literally never be out of work..

I'm in a similar position although a fair few years on. My parents I'm sure had concerns about my career choice, however they never voiced it and for that I'm glad. I love my job and the day to day satisfaction overules all, and luckily I can just about still pay my mortgage Wink

CaptainHammer · 09/01/2017 18:29

DH & I are in Essex and combined earn £23,000, we are a bit careful but live comfortably.
I wouldn't worry, I'd be happy for my DD to have that career (I'd be happy for myself to have that career!)

SnatchedPencil · 09/01/2017 18:33

"£27,000 is a lot of graduates' starting money."

Depends what you mean by "a lot". Yes, numerically there are plenty of people with specialised degrees who will start out on that, plus the rich sods who will fall into a good job because their parents know the right people.

But seriously, the majority of graduates will not start on that amount. An average student who gets a lower-second from a bog-standard (ie, not Oxbridge) university in a bog-standard subject (where there isn't high demand for highly-qualified people) will almost certainly not start on £27k. One, they'll be lucky to get a job that pays much above the minimum wage if they have no experience, and two, there is so much competition between graduates who have degrees that are largely unrelated to the specific job they end up in.

Graduates earn more than non-graduates on average - but not a lot more, especially not at the start. The figures are skewed by a minority of highly-skilled people with specialist degrees, and the people who just fall into a good job because they have the connections.

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 09/01/2017 18:35

Yeah there will never be a shortage of
Work
For her ! Let her be and things change in time Brew

Wickedstepmum67 · 09/01/2017 18:40

Well, I have an MA from a good university and I do academically-related work, and I earn nothing close to 27K. I appreciate it depends where you live as to whether your DD's earning potential is reasonable or not, but if she can manage on that and finds her work rewarding I'd see that as a gift nowadays. She is very young too, and may move on to all kinds of different work throughout her life, finding a job that interests her, fulfils an important social function and doesn't mean she will end up with about 30k's worth of debt from a degree sounds like a sensible start to me.

SirChenjin · 09/01/2017 18:42

Don't worry about the salary- more to life than money. If she's happy at her job then that's worth more than anything and if she's smart she'll start her own business- plenty of scope for 'alternative' funerals for example that will bring in more than £27k if that's what she wants.

Good luck to her - she'll do great, I'm sure Smile

EmeraldScorn · 09/01/2017 18:43

Lots of people live happy and fulfilled lives on a lot less than £27,000. Success shouldn't be measured by income and as long as your daughter is content in her life choices you should be happy for her.

Pollymagoo · 09/01/2017 18:48

She can also train as a civil celebrant which would make her mor marketable and bring in more money

1DAD2KIDS · 09/01/2017 18:48

Tones of bright graduates stuck behind the supermarket checkout. How many graduate get a graduate job starting a t 27k? Loads of degrees floating about these days not so many good graduate jobs. All part of the university fraud. A proper stable and reasonable paid trade is gold these days. Sounds like she know what she wants and has her head screwed on

1DAD2KIDS · 09/01/2017 18:51

If she is bright and hungry she'll go on to bigger things in the future. And have a better head start as a result of a good paid trade rather than uni

Daisyfrumps · 09/01/2017 18:52

I would much rather my children have a trade than a non-applied degree. Definitely.

DagenhamRoundhouse · 09/01/2017 18:53

Remember the max. wage will go up proportionately over time, it won't stay at £27K.

ILoveDolly · 09/01/2017 18:54

I think that as a career choice it's achievable and practical. Plus I imagine there will always be jobs in the field.
As others have said, she will have opportunities later in life either to switch career or step up her earnings by running her own business.

GimmeeMoore · 09/01/2017 19:03

I get where you're coming from,it's okay to want financial security for own child
I'd talk to her about the practicalities of that wage range e.g. Buying a house,car etc
Compare the £27k to a higher wage.compare what likely spending/lifestyle both can have
But overall it's up to her,to chose with all available options and information

Daisies123 · 09/01/2017 19:15

Honestly? She'd be better off with that salary doing the job she wants. You can't really compare with City jobs, because not everyone gets one-and those that do tend to have good A levels and a degree from a good uni. She'd do better as an undertaker than getting a mediocre degree and lots of debt.

I work for a university and recently wrote a reference for one of last year's students- for a job as a care assistant in a nursing home. Nothing wrong with being a care assistant but I bet it's not the career she'd been planning.

MeandT · 09/01/2017 19:16

Gimmmeemore wears her heart on her sleeve! It's definitely not all about more or money.

If she's got an interest in that field she will set the world on fire compared to coming out saddled with debt and waiting years to even start paying the student loans down in an average graduate job (think £18-21k not £27k)! 'Clever' is a judgement call from you but 'interested' is like gold dust in a new employee.....and why shouldn't she be a clever embalmer? Give her your blessing and try to keep the spark alive, it could lead her a very interesting path indeed!

windygallows · 09/01/2017 19:19

OP I had a colleague that moved into this profession and really liked it for all the reasons suggested by other posters. She was glad she made the move and it sounds like your daughter may find it right for her.

Now I'm going to sound a bit cynical here but the thing that's going to determine her standard of living is not so much her salary but whether she has a partner/marries and if she marries well. Yes, this sounds very retrograde but I'm in my late 40s and when I look around at the people who have a comfortable life the MAJORITY got there because they were part of a dual income household, or, more than often, married well and no longer work. I wish my career counsellor at school had told me that beyond getting a good job, marrying well would be the real making of my quality of life.

This is a bit of a tangent but I think everyone is saying 27k - that'll do - because they assume she'll have someone else to combine her income with/be economically joined with. Max 27k is pretty tough to live on and buy a home on if you're single.

Ticketybootoo · 09/01/2017 19:21

I wouldn't worry her maximum may not be that amount if she either sets up her own business or becomes senior in a funeral company.

I started off in a low paid caring profession and switched career to a well paid field so anything can happen !

Meow75 · 09/01/2017 19:26

It's more than I currently earn.

Sara107 · 09/01/2017 19:28

Agree with others who think £27k is a bit optimistic for a starter salary even for graduates. I have a higher degree (biological sciences) and work for a blue chip company. After 20 years I 've just about reached those dizzy heights! Just because she starts out in a particular career doesn't mean she has to stay doing the same thing forever. And having experienced both my parents ends in the recent past, I have a lot of respect for people who work in funeral homes - although you only encounter them briefly it is one of the major experiences of your life, so the staff really have an impact on you.

Notmuchtosay1 · 09/01/2017 19:31

Yes I definitely think you should let her do what she wants. I don't know many people that love their jobs. If she does it and enjoys it then that's great. My oldest is in year 11 and has no idea what he wants to do job wise. He's obviously younger and has time yet, but it's really good that she's picked a profession to try her hand at.

MeadowHay · 09/01/2017 19:36

Yes YANBU. Support her and make her know you're pride. Money isn't everything and with hard work and dedication she can make a good living out of her chosen profession.

And £27000 seems loads to me right now, as a full-time student with absolutely mountains of debt and a part-time admin job. I graduate in summer and the graduate programme I've set my heart in pays £17000 for the year I think. DH is a graduate with a 2:1 in a science subject, was signing on for about 3-4 months and now has a job in a hospital that pays about £16000. Most graduates do not jump straight into jobs that pay £27k. My little sister earns more than my DH, she works in a bank and has just finished her apprenticeship that she did after failing most of her AS-Levels! The world of work is really changing.

clumsyduck · 09/01/2017 19:38

I will echo those sayin it's better to be in a job you love than earning more in one you don't . Of course if you c oils have both that would be good!!

I have been there ended a high earning career because the stress and out of hours work and responsibility was dominating my life .

I'm now on a lot less ( although still decent for area ) income in a job I love it is very rare that I feel that "back to work " blues feeling people seem to endlessly post on Facebook . I enjoy being there and I really don't know many people that say that