To wonder what it's like to earn £200k per year?!

[ABCD1000]

Friend's husband earns just over £200k per year, with an annual £150k bonus for the last few years! No jealousy (much!) just wonder what life would be like?!

I earn a lot ... but my employer expects a lot in return. So for example I have taken my computer on holiday and I am always effectively on call

While I would agree that some high earners certainly do earn their money be it in loads of overtime, stress of missing out on family time etc. it's certainly not true that because someone is on 300k they are good at what they do. Plus when they do fuck up they generally get a nice remuneration package to leave quietly.

If you had £200k pa you would spend it differently to others (£9k per month). Have you seen rich house/poor house? The people with the lower income go berserk with the money but if they did that every month and then need a new £30k kitchen then they won’t be getting the new kitchen.

Eg - if you live in a large house there’s the upkeep of the house. Replacing flooring/carpets is much higher as bigger rooms. Painting the outside every so many years with lots of windows can be a few grand (assuming you don’t have time to do this yourself if you’re working long hours). Larger gas/electric bill. Wirkmen charge more as they know you can afford more.

This is just an example.

No need for the verbal aggression with Newts. This isn’t a competition as to who has the shittest life or stresses. They’re different stresses and worries. There are obvious benefits to earning a large income and like Newt I was born on a crappy and scary council estate.

Well, you can say that YOU found it more stressful. There will be others who have been much poorer and much richer than you; they might have a different opinion. And that would be fine too. These things are all relative!

I just don't think it's helpful to compare. There's enormous stress and/or at both ends of the spectrum; it's blinkered to refuse to believe that people on high salaries can't be stressed or don't understand stress as some posters seem to be saying earlier in the thread.

Life is easier with money. That doesn't mean you can't be under a mind bending amount of stress to earn that money. I'm on my third post midnight finish on the trot, will be back at my desk by 7am, working on something that's worth over £700,000,000, and haven't really seen my DC since Saturday. She wants her daddy the whole time and pushes me away when I do see her at the moment because she's mad with me. My partner tells me he thinks our relationship is suffering because he hardly see me either. I had to cancel a birthday dinner with my oldest friends on Monday with no chance of rescheduling now before the new year. And I'm far and away from being the most overworked! Anyone who denies that this is stressful is simply wrong.

Our household income is roughly 40k and I feel lucky! We rent because we can't save for a deposit, our car is 9 years old and on finance, we buy our clothes from supermarkets..... But we always have food in the cupboards, we can afford for the children to have swimming lessons and music lessons, we all went to the cinema last weekend. And apart from the car and a small amount on a credit card we're not in debt. There are many families who can't afford to do these things! Yes, I would love to have more money. I'd love to take the children abroad. I'd love to earn more than crappy minimum wage for a job that actually holds a fair amount of responsibility- not in the same way that some people have described on this thread but still responsibility. I'd also love for my partner to have better working hours so that he can spend more time with us- it's not only those high earners that work long and unsociable hours.

My OH and I earn bit more than that between us and as someone up thread mentioned, it just comes with a different set of pressures and priorities. Not least because we give half of it away to the tax man.
We still feel broke most of the time (I know it's all relative), once the huge mortgage, the two cars, the childcare, the bills etc, the expensive holidays etc are paid for.

Really? Still feel broke?? Well you are doing something very wrong then. We earn a bit less than you and I never feel even close to being broke and haven't done for a very, very long time. Not since I was a student. And even then it was a fairly safe, comfortable kind of broke as I knew my parents could help if need be.

Rebeccaslicker if it is as bad as you say, why don't you stop and do something else? I'm sure there must be other less well paid but less stressful options? You could live on half your salary. Most people do.

Rebeccaslicker No one has said having money isnt stressful however that stress is different when you have money. You can spin it any way you like. It just is.

You can say I can only speak for me, well you can only speak for you too.

it's not only those high earners that work long and unsociable hours.

This is also often forgotten.

Well if I had all that money I think I'd probably just up my lifestyle to match it.

We currently have a combined income of around 70k a year. We are comfortable in a way that we don't have to worry about if we can afford x and y really. We have two nice holidays every year, one to my house in Ireland which was left to me by my great nanny, the other normally to the south of France (eurocamp). We have two cars, not too of the range, more Vauxhall/ford range.

Our luck, is that my grandparents look after our sons meaning we hdont pay any childcare. We are also in the process of buying a house, next 3 months. My parents have given us a large amount towards our deposit.

Clothes we buy from next/topshop/Zara etc.

I imagine if I earnt that much, I'd be buying a top of the range car, a bigger house, clothes from more expensive stores. Probably childcare as I'd definitely need a job with more salary and time dedication than teaching

Single income of £200k nets £9k pcm equates to a £160k dual income household. Would a couple earning £80k each, netting £9k pcm be more palatable than a single £200k headlining “fat cat” household?

Similar to the child benefit eligibility controversy. The numbers affected are so small, they are politically expedient and you cannot avoid paying income tax via PAYE.

If I was to work long hours at a stressful job sacrificing family time with it, you can be sure that I would rather be paid far in excess of NMW for that! I don’t feel the moral outrage myself. In reality, most of us need to pay the bills and liking your job is a major plus, if not a luxury. The irony is that only those who feel rich enough (totally relative term) can afford to be martyrs and work because they want to rather than because they need to. For most, it’s a financial balance of priorities - you make do with what you’ve got!

It annoys me no end when people try to argue/justify that they are not rich when they are living in a £1 million pound + property, London or not. It’s a lifestyle choice to live in an expensive area because that’s where the wealth/jobs are. Stop whinging about it! No-one is going to empathise if you can afford a £2k pcm mortgage in the first place regardless of the fact that it’s a poxy studio flat in London. You can just sell up and live somewhere hugely cheaper and rid yourselves of the stress of working altogether (excluding family ties / serious health issues). Move to the country - you’ll get more bang for your buck!

I just knew this thread would descend into a barney against high income households. Isn’t it obvious that life on £9k net would cushion against life’s troughs if you weren’t stupid enough to increase your outgoings to match it.

Different is exactly what I said . I said, some people want to deny that high earners have stress. Which is utter bollocks.

Irregular - i didn't say it was "bad". I said it was stressful. I really like my job, most of the time. It just gives me heartburn and sleepless nights! When DC is older and DP is back at work we will have a rethink.

I've also been in the position of paying the rent in small cheques so they were covered by a cheque guarantee card and wouldn't bounce and making meals out of a loaf of bread with salt and herbs on it to make it taste of something. It was a very different feeling - for me I would say more worry/panic whereas work can be heart racing wired sleepless stress.

I also had the bank turn up at my job with a bailiff to collect said cheque book and guarantee card - the two feelings did collide somewhat then!

DH earns in that ballpark. I wouldn’t say he is massively stressed though. He mostly works 9-5 but will fix things when they go wrong at whatever time that happens. Don’t imagine that’s different to many less well paid jobs. Salary mainly reflects his skill set rather than huge amounts of responsibility.

We don’t spend to match our income because

a. Aware most of our friends earn less, we have no reason to advertise our money. We don’t mix with people with champagne lifestyles.
b. Not interested in cars or fancy gadgets. Can’t see the point, not Into to fashion or anything either.
c. Both from low income backgrounds so no experience of things like private school, would have no idea where to start with stuff that.

I’m hugely grateful for the financial security this position brings and that we can shop at Waitrose weekly without looking at the bill. It’s also nice to have ‘fuck it’ money to resolve a problem or just have a blow out fancy meal once in a while.

It also played a big part in our decision to have a third child. We have a nanny and can make sure the kids get enough attention and money each for uni etc.

I’m totally aware that we are incredibly fortunate and I’m thankful.

Our television is a basic one in a spare bedroom, as we don’t really watch TV and it’s just for guests. Mostly we fly economy, though always stay in five-star hotels as my husband is fussy that way. Our kids go to the local school (more commonplace a choice than private in the suburbs of NYC) and weekends are spent much like everyone else’s with young children: walking the dog, going to the playground, the library etc, and maybe a trampoline park as a special treat. Family is a big focus for us, and though we socialize without fail every Saturday night, neither of us pursues hobbies at the weekend that take us away from the kids.

We do have nice cars and a home that’s big with a swimming pool. We also pay for personal trainers, private home swimming lessons for the children, and have had a chef at one point. Conversely I don’t shower my kids with lavish gifts at Christmas or for their birthdays, and expect them to have weekend jobs when they turn 16.

I am acutely aware of my privilege, and donate a lot to charity, and support a number of extended family members in difficult situations.

rebecca Very few people have experienced the stress that you are going through. I have and know exactly what you are talking about. Unfortunately until you have lived it, or been close to someone going through it, it's hard to understand just how much pressure is placed on you.

I hope one day that my family will be on this sort of money - but realistically we are just starting out and both DH and I are very much at the beginning of our careers.

If we never make that sort of money i’ll be fine. I would like to clear the bits of debt we have and us to be able to buy a house. We have plans for both of these things even though we aren’t on megabucks (20k ish each). Our dreams are still accomplishable, they’re just not doable in one swoop.

We are lucky... we don’t stress about the food shop each week, we don’t worry about Fuel prices. But there’s also not a lot left at the end of the month. My husband had a terrible financial upbringing as a child but was later adopted as a teenager by a family with more money. I grew up comfortable and able to have everything I wanted - but we didn’t have particularly flash holidays or designer clothes or anything. My parents aren’t together now and both have nice homes in nice areas and interests they spend money on, go on a few holidays a year. I know now even at 23 that if we ever needed help my mum and dad would be able to help us financially if we asked. I’d probably stress a lot more about money if I didn’t have the ultimate fall back of my parents (even though I would never ask them for money unless it was an emergency).

I’ll be on maternity leave soon and then money will be tighter - but it’s all temporary really. If we’re skint we’ll live cheaper, if we’re flush we won’t. We could always ditch a car or rent a smaller/cheaper house. As long as we can afford food and heating, the rest is just gravy to me.

Maybe once you get out of the unable-to-afford-food territory, a lot of it is how you think about money and not what you actually earn?

Single income of £200k nets £9k pcm equates to a £160k dual income household. Would a couple earning £80k each, netting £9k pcm be more palatable than a single £200k headlining “fat cat” household?

Well I don't find a single £200k household unpalatable in itself. But a household where both partners have to work to earn that much is a different situation. Not so much financially (though they may be shelling out large amounts in childcare, travel etc to work) but in the spare time they have available as a household. That must make a massive difference to lifestyle. Having said that, personally I prefer the more balanced scenario of a dual income household, neither working outrageous hours, both taking an equal role in the house and family and understanding each other's worlds. Don't fancy being the SAHP to a high-flying husband who is never at home one bit!

And I don't think there is much outrage against people earning high salaries. Only against those who still claim they are not really that well off because of their high expenses.

I know a family who are quite wealthy,the man is a retired doctor and his wife an accountant. They live in £400+ house and have a cottage in the country which they inherited. I help them out around the house ,a bit of cleaning and a few odd jobs. They have never been extravagant with their money.They have an several old working refrigerators, an old cooker. An old tv.All their furniture is old .Some antique ,some not .The settee is from the 1970's which was given to them from the woman's late father. She told me she don't believe in getting rid of things if they're still working.It just shows that not all people with money are extravagant.

£400,000.

I don't have a bonus like that but do have a similar income. I feel blessed.

I am a single parent and have high costs too due to school fees.

I also use the extra money to have unusual experiences with the kids. We have backpacked and camped our way around the world.

We could have done it by staying in more expensive hotels and hiring cars but decided to travel more
Simply.

I have put a portion into pensions so can retire comfortably in my mid 50s.

We have lived in the same house for a long time but have renovated it recently. It is large with a good amount of land and in a beautiful location.

I do not give my kids a great deal of money. They are expected to get summer jobs and help at home. I want them to learn a strong work ethic and appreciate money.

I also save some money for rainy days and make donations to charity.

25 years ago I started out on a monthly salary of 1000 net. Hard work, a good education and good luck have led me to being very comfortable. I appreciate all I have.

It's over-rated. Earned 250k-300k for a few years travelling backwards and forwards to the states. Missed the first walk, first word, first day at school etc

You can earn the big bucks if you want to sell you soul and the money doesn't make up for missing shit.

Airbiscuits - I’m intrigued as to whether you think it’s all worth it? Seems such a strain on you - what’s the driving force behind it? Genuinely an honest question, not being bitchy.

My Oh is not on that much but earns more than 3 times as much as me. He does have long hours sometimes and often has to go away for a few days. He did miss a few things such as first word too which made us both very sad but it was a good job opportunity and we love our new house that I would never have been able to buy on my salary. Does money buy happiness? No, not the important things like time together, health etc but damn if it doesn't make life easier sometimes. We have ancient cars, we don't go on holidays but we do loads of activities and go to places/experiences on a regular basis.

Only thing I would say is to second the comment made above: it's not only those high earners that work long and unsociable hours
I work in the public sector, I get paid disk frankly. I have been verbally abused and threatened many times, I have missed bedtime stories because I've had to deal with some crisis, I have had to cry in my car before coming home because I was so stressed or I dealt with something particularly upsetting. My partner thinks my job is far more stressful than his and doesn't understand why I do it for such little financial gain.
There's plenty of us in very high stress low paid jobs with long hours. It doesn't take away from the pressure and stress of those in well paid jobs but damn, it would be nice to have that paycheck

Devondream- not many people mention good luck being part of their success as you did. Thank you.

I would like to know what jobs people do to earn that sort of money-I'm clearly on the wrong job!