In thinking that this salary really isn’t anything to brag about

[WinterAx]

A good friend’s 23yo DD has just accepted a new job where she’ll be earning 31k. Since that time, I haven’t heard the last of it with regards to what a ‘high earner’ she will be now and how much more she’ll be earning than any of her peers. I’m being told she’ll no doubt be jetting off on lots of exotic holidays and buying a Range Rover and such like. Now don’t get me wrong, this is a good friend of mine and of course she’s a proud mother but... 31k... really? Is this really considered ‘high earner’ status these days?!

Admittedly we don’t live in a city so living costs aren’t high and I know she owns property already with her boyfriend who also earns a similar amount... but I’m just genuinely interested what sort of salary outside of the city is considered to be good these days? If you can genuinely be comfortable on that sort of wage I’m thinking of semi retiring!!!

I'm 27 and earn £23k. I also earn more than any of my friends who are in the 25 - 30 bracket.

£31k is absolutely not to be sniffed at.

I think it's a generational thing. My Dad retired on £33k but owned a house, raised 5 kids and holidays etc (my Mum is on circa £20k now but a lot less before). I earn that now at 30 and even with DH's salary our combined income is £70k+ and we can't afford our own house yet (London) or holidays with one DD.

DS is on a paid internship for a year and is earning similar. He goes back to university next year to finish his degree.
I think it's a staggering amount of money to be earning at 21.

That is a very good salary at 23! I am 40, in London and only earn a bit more than that! I only work 4 days a week, but still....

That's a fab salary, even more so when you consider her age. She's doing well. Maybe look up the average income in different places around the uk? Googling 'average salary newcastle' for example should take you to a useful guardian page showing the average wage in each area. Only a tiny minority of places have anything over £30k as their average, some places like my hometown are on about £16k. And that's average. So she's doing well.

Her mum, did she have a life of poverty or did she struggle to make ends meet? I've noticed in parents who've had a hard life financially they're prone to bragging about their children's achievements, simply because they're so impressed and grateful their kid won't have to struggle like they did. My mum died before I found any career success but if she were alive now, having lived on minimum wage her entire life, I have no doubt she'd be doing a fair bit of 'look how well my daughter has done!' bragging, annoying when it's constant but comes from a place of love.

£31k is good for a starting salary. I am only on a few k more myself and I am qualified in one of the professions, in my mid 40s with many years of experience in my area. I’d love to know where the massive salaries are as they don’t seem to be coming my way!

It's a good salary for someone of that age. However, it's extremely tacky to boast about money and your bank does not define you as a person. Hopefully the daughter has more class than her mother.

She's my age and she earns twice what I do so to me personally yes that is a lot! My DP is considered a high earner in our area and he earns around £28k...

At 23 yes that is a good salary. I'm only on that at 34 and that includes my company car. Dh earns more and we're comfortable, we don't worry about money but we live in South Yorkshire so living costs are low, we bought our new build 3 bed for 150k to.out it in perspective.

That's a fantastic salary - I always used to think as a child that if I ever earned £30k I'd be rich but then my parents didn't earn that between them.

As she's starting out the best thing she could do is pay a good whack into her pension (I'd personally aim for 10%) and then put 20% of her take home in savings. She'll feel rich no matter how much free spends she has now because it's all so new, but doing this instead of spending it on Range Rovers and holidays means she'll start to live properly within her means rather than paycheck to paycheck.

It's an excellent salary for a 23 year old, particularly outside of a city.

That's only the starting point, presumably there's good potential for it to go up.

And I'd cut the proud mum some slack. Maybe she herself didn't have much. It's understandable to be excited and proud.

It isn’t very much these days
I work very hard for much more
I deserve more for the responsibility
Forgive me I’m paraphrasing. My iPad does not like this app.

As a very hard working nurse who makes life changing/saving decisions and assessments, who spent Xmas day at work, works long hours, and will likely never see a 3 at the start of my salary, I find this all rather nauseating.

Your friend’s daughter has done well by securing employment, and in perspective of that family’s financial situation they are proud. Why question it?

Bluntness I didn't mean on this thread otherwise I would have quoted them

There's always a lot of posts about being such high earners on here earning 100k + which half the time is bullshit but there does appear to be a lot on high earners on MN

I think that's a great salary for a 23 yr old, particularly one on the property ladder. As another poster said I always thought I should be earning more than my age, no idea what I based this on!

Average UK Salary in 2014 was £26K

Four in five new jobs are in sectors averaged under £16,640 for a 40-hour week. Working full-time on the £6.31 hourly minimum wage would gross just £13,124 in a year.

So yes, it is a good salary.

I would say not in london - thats average i would say, especially in what she's doing. Outside of london though, I'm sure its pretty good. My husband earned that 20 years ago in london at about the same age. The bragging can get annoying if i continues non-stop, but i would just put the initial talk about it down as being a proud mum.

Do they live far outside of london? My husbands parents live rurally and they still brag (about my husband - cringe!) about how london-city people earn SO much money. Its not that much, but where they are, its considered very high and almost unheard of. Reckon they might have a heart attack if DH told them how much his boss earns!

I think it's a fantastic wage! Good on her!
And you know what, it might get bigger as she progresses. Starting out at 31k is fantastic and if I was her mum I'd be proud as punch as well.
The only reason I can think of as to why you're being so negative about it is jealousy.

Oh & remember the UK has had very low wage growth for the last 8 years.

There's always a lot of posts about being such high earners on here earning 100k + which half the time is bullshit but there does appear to be a lot on high earners on MN

And a lot of low earners, as this thread shows. Honestly, not this old chestnut again. And why’s it bullshit, it’s probably true. There is a fair spread across the wealth brackets and I’d say it was tipped more in favour of thr low, as this thread again shows.

It's a good salary. Well done her, she's going to bloody need it. I hope she does get chance to enjoy it before reality and bills hit home!

I'm 42 and earn approx £22k

DH a fireman with over 20 years experience earns £33k.

The average salary for my town is £19,928.
So 31k is good going depending on the area and potential career progression.

Again I wasn't talking about this thread.

The average Salary in inner London is 34k so surely 31k is still good? Especially if you don't live in a city!

Bluntness I agree that it's not BS. But it does make me laugh that on these threads you always get at least one of the "it's not a high wage", "I was earning treble at 15", "I managed to quadruple my wage because I work really hard & my skills are very rare" comments. 😉

At 23 I was on a 14k (tax free) PhD stipend, and felt absolutely minted!
It's all relative though isn't it!