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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

522 replies

ABCD1000 · 13/11/2017 19:43

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?!

OP posts:
lalliella · 13/11/2017 20:20

Nobody “earns” that much money. They may get paid it, but they don’t “earn” it. Are they worth 10 times a nurse or a teacher? I think not.

NewtsSuitcase · 13/11/2017 20:23

45% tax. Its still a lot of money. But you do typically spend what you have coming in.

I agree with Dunzo though, it means that you can just do lots of things without necessarily thinking about it too much.

DH and I earn about that (varies) but most of it goes into pensions.

VertiginousOust · 13/11/2017 20:23

My DH earns around that. We have a very normal life. No fancy cars, no massive TVs, no expensive holidays. To be fair we do have a very big house but it’s also old, in need of renovation and a total money pit so it’s not exactly a swanky lifestyle!
We never have to worry about money, which is lovely, but neither of us are or ever have been spendthrift.

Rebeccaslicker · 13/11/2017 20:24

Lalliella - but you're not paying them so it's not up to you what they earn or what they are worth. It's up to the employer and what it wants to pay for those skills.

Completely agree that nurses and teachers should be paid a lot more, however.

Nquartz · 13/11/2017 20:25

Personally I'm happy with our combined annual salaries of £60k because we never work overtime, never spend evenings or weekends working, never check emails on holiday etc. basically all the things expected of high earners. Plus there isn't a great deal of stress in either of our jobs.

GardenGeek · 13/11/2017 20:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RemainOptimistic · 13/11/2017 20:25

YABU to wonder Grin

These threads always blow my mind. What the bloody hell are these jobs and why the fuck haven't I got one..

missbattenburg · 13/11/2017 20:26

I just gave up a £150k+ py job to spend a few months not working and recovering from taking myself to the bring of breakdown with the stress of it.

The money is not worth it. I much prefer life without a 4 hour a day commute, 10 hours in the office and many, many hours lying awake at night wondering what I am going to do to fix x,y,z at work. I was averaging 4 hours sleep a night and having to get up just before 5am to drive 2 hours down a motorway always wondering if that would be the day my luck would run out and my chronic lack of sleep and high stress would make me a danger behind the wheel.

Of course, I'll have to go back to work sooner or later but will be looking for something one or two levels back down and about 1/3 of the salary...

The buddhist phrase that goes something like 'do not envy the man with the large house; he alone knows the nightmares that keep him awake' is so true.

BunnyFluffy · 13/11/2017 20:27

Is the bonus in addition to the £200k
? So £350k total per year?

Nquartz · 13/11/2017 20:27

Also, as previously mentioned we haven't really increased our expenses as we've earned more. Instead we save more and over pay on the mortgage

prh47bridge · 13/11/2017 20:27

What is the tax at this level? 40%? More?

45% income tax plus 2% NI, so 47% in total. Also, anyone earning this much has no personal allowance. Given total income of £350k they would take home a little over £195k assuming no student loan repayments and ignoring pension contributions and other deductions.

NewtsSuitcase · 13/11/2017 20:29

DH and I work crazy hours. I'm having a short MN break but will be working until about midnight tonight. Started at 7am. DH is downstairs working and will do about the same hours. This is the norm for us. I have slightly more flexibility since I don't answer to anyone else and so will occasionally have periods where I can take my foot off the pedal.

Both lawyers. Earnings vary with profits.

GherkinSnatch · 13/11/2017 20:29

That's still over £10k a month though. I can't imagine what sort of job you'd have to do to earn that.

G5000 · 13/11/2017 20:30

Sounds more than it is. You're probably imagining private jets and your own tropical island, but it's not that kind of money.

Some years ago I could not have imagined how to even spend that much money. Now I work in an industry where customers regularly bring a 300-million pound assets to us to have some work done on, for another 150M or so...gives a different perspective to a measly 6-figure income Grin

hotbutteredcrumpetsandtea · 13/11/2017 20:30

you have to work hard for that money but after tax you would have so little left that you would hardly feel rich

so little left after tax? almost 10k a month?

Hmm
redmarkone · 13/11/2017 20:30

holy shit, that's a bucket load of cash even at a net figure, at a guess 15k per month?? i'd imagine taking company car allowance for a proper range rover, having a huge pension, 3-5 sq ft house with amazing bathrooms/kitchen and an acre, skiing, long haul st kitts, barbuda/antigua and private school.

what does your dh's friend do for a living?

NameChanger22 · 13/11/2017 20:30

Badly paid jobs are also often very stressful.

JoJoSM2 · 13/11/2017 20:30

Probably cleaner, gardener, a decent house, regular holidays etc but it's not much beyond that if they live in an expensive area (high mortgage), pay school fees or employ a nanny.

GherkinSnatch · 13/11/2017 20:32

so little left that you would hardly feel rich

Speak for yourself Grin

CautionTape · 13/11/2017 20:32

I earn that OP.
And DH earns quite a bit more.

It's great. We never have to worry about money. If we want to travel, buy something etc we just do it. We pay for lots of domestic help too so don't spend time doing boring chores.

We don't find our lives particularly stressful though many might, I suspect.

MargeryFenworthy · 13/11/2017 20:34

DH and I earn multiples of that figure each. But we work hard for it. I'm away at the moment and had to leave my family yesterday. I like to treat myself but also save a lot, have investments/pensions for the DC and also have my own charitable project.

MargeryFenworthy · 13/11/2017 20:34

Posted too soon. There's not a day go by that I don't feel grateful for what we have.

ImogenTubbs · 13/11/2017 20:35

Nice house, no worries about paying bills, eating out or going on holiday. But, usually outgoings and commitments will be much higher - higher mortgage, bills, car repayments, etc, maybe school fees. You can't just buy whatever you want at that level, and there is more pressure to keep it up and keep earning.

My DH was once on a mini-break with a friend and another guy on the trip earned £250k. He was massively stressed and could see no way out of a working like that he hated because he had to pay for his and his family's lifestyle. DH earned £35k at that point and this guy couldn't fathom how he could possibly live on it!

JoJoSM2 · 13/11/2017 20:35

Just by the way, was on that income there's no personal allowance for tax, tax free pension contributions are capped at 10k a year so no fat pension either. No nursery hours etc.

BarbaraofSevillle · 13/11/2017 20:37

If I did earn that much money I would save 90% of it and retire after 3 years; then travel the world for the rest of my life. I can live on less than 6k a year here and abroad

I would do something similar NameChanger. Put up with it for a few years in order to make enough to live on for the rest of my life.