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 want to read that when your earn that amount your splashing the cash, city breaking every month, shopping in fortnums as opposed to Tesco, etc. Not living frugally in flats or small houses with no gardens.
You can tell I'd be the type to burn through it & have nothing left.

chestylarue52
I completely agree. I know that I am not poor but it doesn't mean I don't feel like I am sometimes or lie awake at night worrying about money. That was my point really, £200k sounds like a huge amount money to most people, and it is, but not everyone who earns that much money feels rich all the time either.
I grant you, life could be a whole lot worse though.

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

You sound ridiculous.

Higher mortgage (live to your means), high travel costs, high childcare - I get it. Feeling 'broke' after having to shell out for your 'expensive holidays' - not so much.

If you really are shelling out for expensive holidays yet worry about money daily you're even more foolish than you sound.

"It won't change my health and allow me to live long enough to see my DC grow up."

Iv had to fight for a year to get PIP, the £55 a week has made a big difference to my quality of life. Whilst it doesn't take away my disability, it lessens the impact.

When my DH was dying, we lost our house. My children's world was turned upside down, partly because of a lack of money.

Maybe they want to keep their money in the bank?
My dh ex boss has a huge house in Ireland, a house in France, a flat in NY and had a huge house in Joburg, he and his family fly in private planes to visit these houses, and they support many charities as they like to be able to pay it forward.

I don't get all the "We earn loads but don't live extravagantly" comments on threads like these.
We earn just over a third of that amount and I think we manage to live extravagantly enough. We still have mortgage, bills, heating on whenever, have a big four bed detached house in nice area, holiday cottage, I work part time, we are retiring early on good pensions, have savings and enough disposable income, out several times a week, luxury holidays, buy what we want etc etc.
We've never had cleaners, nannies, private school, decorators etc maybe that's the difference a lot of money goes on outsourcing everything.
Our jobs aren't really too bad stress wise compared to those on the rungs above us.
I think we have a very nice life for a bargain 70k ish a year. Which I thought was tons until I joined MN

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?!

Meh. Much the same as usual. Trying not to spend more than you earn. It's all much of a muchness.

As Dickens' Mr Micawber said:-

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

Love the way everyone is assuming that people on high salaries have never lived on low salaries. And don’t understand how the stresses change,
I had several years of earning ~7-20k, not that long ago. Like 10 years ago. I had proper money worries, ie if boiler breaks it’s a disaster stress. But it’s very different to the stress I face now. One is not easier than the other. For a few years I had a very happy medium, earning about £130k a year, nice money and the job was doable.

Now every day I am asked to the deliver the impossible and in constant fear of screwing up.

If you earn £200k plus a year, it is 100% possible to live below your means. For lower incomes also. Money can be saved and wealth created.

Real capital and wealth exists where income is received without having to work.

My DH earns around that. He is highly qualified, and an expert in his field.

It's great to not have day to day money worries. DH grew up in poverty so is very careful with money and we save £5k a month for our DS/retirement. We bought a 4 bed semi detached house for £500k earlier this year, we could have got a bigger property with a bigger mortgage but it didn't seem worth it. I'm a SAHM and we have a cleaner once a week. One car (five year old fiesta). We don't spend to match the salary as we don't feel we need to.

Downside is he travels a lot which is hard as our DS is a baby. It's a stressful job and the people he works with can be very challenging. We've also spent holidays with him holed up in a hotel room working.

Funny thing is that his boss (CEO) earns over £1 million plus bonus and we wonder what they spend their money on!

Just for another perspective as I don't believe there's any right or wrong.

I wouldn't want to earn that much money or want my dh to, neither would he.
I don't envy anyone tbh, particularly those with heaps more money than us, we are quite poor.
We have never bought a lottery ticket, but that's not to say we won't one day.
I mix with people who earn this and much more and I do believe those who say their life is no different to those with less money.
I have friends with a few million and some worse off than us.

Personally, I wouldn't be prepared to give the pounds of flesh that earning that much would require.
The stress must be unbelievable and the hours you'd be expected to be on call.
Give me poordom any day.

£200k is an incredible salary but it's nowhere near a private jet, house in the carribean, weekly shop at Fortnums lifestyle. If you're not already on the property ladder it gets you a £600k mortgage once you've saved a 10% deposit. In most parts London a £700k house is unlikely to be much more than a 3 bed semi, hardly flashy!

But @Airbiscuits as others have said many people on much lower salaries are also facing those stresses. I am also asked to do the impossible every day, for a tenth of the salary. Your experience of a lower salary has been as an earlier part of your working life, not something you expect to be living with until retirement in your 70s.

DH until recently earnt more than twice that. We are late 50s now. Everything was paid for years ago. We have never had champagne tastes. DH has taken a vast pay cut to do something he wanted. Probably a £500k cut.

I still work full time because I love working, as does DH who is was and always will be a workaholic. He has missed parent's evenings, flown to London or NY from family holidays, most seriously he missed the early birth of ds2 but got there to meet him before he died. It's a different level of commitment and required support.

Our main home was paid for many years ago, as was our second home and the dc's school fees. DC are trustafarians in waiting and the very unwanty and cautious with money.

We aren't flash, but I have help in the house, and we have lived v comfortably. The DC have never had iPhones or designer clothes and nor have I. I have an eye for a bargain. DD has a gap year job and catches two buses home because with the half hour rule for touching in and out and getting another it only costs £1.50. And yes I am making both give me a very small amount for housekeeping.

The joys are that we haven't had to worry about stretching funds for very many years. To be fair, we can't spend it because there's nothing we want that we don't have. I enjoy the little things: not worrying about the weekly shop, being able to have supper put with dd if DH is away (think Wagamama or Byron rather than Michelin starred).

Yes there are some lovely privileged things for which I'm very grateful but for us there's a limit and certainly no gratuitous spending.

We have some charitable interests: a trust for less well off children where we used to live and a homeless charity I help.

We are far from mega rich and if we wanted that I imagine we'd live a glitzier lifestyle but we don't. DH has had them as clients and their lives are a zillion light years from ours but I appreciate ours must seem light years from those on minimum wage.

Hard work is one thing, hard work and potentially being accountable for personal, professional errors is something else though - something one can be sued for. But comparisons of all kinds are odious. Whether anyone agrees I think we have made singular and joint sacrifices to get where we are though.

Sorry that was probably a ramble in the end.

where are all these wonderful jobs

I earn this amount, but my bonus is nothing like. I gave up my previous job to reduce the stress and travel (was gone Monday to Friday for several years) which cut my salary by $60,000. I was and still am very happy with that.

I'm constantly amazed that the above is true. I grew up without, literally the bailiff's at the door on more than one occasion, and a family sized tin of soup and half loaf for dinner for 6. I know what it means to not have to stop and look at price tags in the grocery store, and am absolutely appreciative every single time.

I work a 12 hour day, and am always on, 24/7. It is expected that I shall respond to all calls and emails whatever else is happening. I work hard, but no harder than most people. I am extremely fortunate to have found a niche that I am good at, and that pays well.

We have given up DH's earning power to enable me to do what I do. If we both worked like this there would be no marriage, and our home would suffer terribly. I don't know how it is possible when both partners work high-pressure jobs. If he did work full time, I'm sure we would have a much higher standard of living, but right now we are very happy with what we have and more, importantly, with each other.

I can book a nice holiday at the last minute, or pay for a family member or two to come visit. Not checking the bank balance for fairly large spends is amazing and I never fail to be grateful to whatever fates allowed me to be in this situation. It still seems rather unreal when I consider how lucky I am.

bunerison

My response was to posters who said they live frugally yet earned more than the OPs friend.

I earn about half that and my partner less, so around £150K pa together.

We aren't at all extravagant in terms of lifestyle and we live in London so housing and nursery costs are expensive and we're just about to move which will mean a much bigger mortgage.

I have to say I always feel immensely fortunate. The biggest thing is I don't worry about money. I look for bargains but can treat myself and others to nice things and meals out if I want. If something needs fixing I can get it fixed. I can give £100+ a month to charity and make pension contributions.

My job can be long hours and stressful sometimes but probably not more than lots of others, and its interesting.

The other thing I really appreciate is the safety net that comes with having parents on both sides who are comfortably off, have reasonable size houses in London and would help us out if, say, we both lost our jobs or were ill. And we would do the same for them. That potential support being there makes a big difference I think to peace of mind.

Real capital and wealth exists where income is received without having to work.
^^
This

I stopped working for good in my 30s (a decade ago.). Downshifted to another country. My income varies between 15k-30k pa. I have my own house, travel loads. But I do not waste money on crap, like expensive haircuts & shoes, fancy cars, private school fees.

we save £5k a month

Most of us don't earn even half of that.

Also I think there is a big difference between 2 people on a joint income of 150k (as in I can see how that doesn't go that far) to 1 person earning 200k plus bonus.

Can I be cheeky and ask what kind of jobs are paying such huge salaries?

Why yes, I am a nosy bitch

Janet From my experience normally lawyers, bankers & entrepreneurs particularly in the tech sector.

Janet From my experience normally lawyers, bankers & entrepreneurs particularly in the tech sector.

My biological father nets just over £10k a month which pays off his divorce and child maintenance after yet another affair with yet another secretary.

He lives in a rented one bed cottage in the Peak District whilst his latest soon to be ex wife is living in their owned home, the bills for which he is still paying. The remainder of his money I suspect goes on his financed high end car and his bar bills which I imagine are astronomical. he is fucking miserable and has pushed his friends and family away by being a materialistic, social climbing wanker.

My DH and I have the life he could only dream of, we're farmers and sometimes things are a little tight at the end of the month due to volatility in the commodity markets, but our hearts are full and we have a happy and loving family at home every evening and at the end of that day that's the shit that matters in life.