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?!

Agrees with getsorted

Get sorted off the top of my head I would guess the couple will be significantly better off as they will both retain personal allowances and be on a lower tax rate than one person earning 200k, so their take Home will be higher

According to my ex in a recent financial hearing he is very hard up despite earning more than that. He is a miserable bugger so the extra money clearly doesnt make him happy.

You'd be surprised. People tend to spend what they earn so a higher income usually just comes with the same financial pressures, just with higher figures involved. Mortgages, school fees, etc.

drunken True but Im assuming the bonus would be a minimum of 30k in physical cash & that the partner would also be working if that makes sense.

Dh earns over a million a year but has massive expenses including subsidising other family members’ lives. He’s a spender- mad holidays, cars, jewellery and charity. I still watch the pennies myself though- I’ve never had money and it’s hard wired into me.

What i appreciate isn’t the big things- it’s the fact I don’t need to look at the bill after a grocery shop. Having experienced both sides of the coin, I know money doesn’t “bring” me happiness- mine comes from family/relationships. It’s just one less th No to worry about.

*less thing to worry about

he 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

This x100. My parents have never given any of us children a penny and we've all been lucky enough to be successful but there's a great luxury in knowing that if things went wrong you'd never be without a roof over your head, that if you or your children needed medical treatment available abroad etc that you know that would happen without question or hesitation as well as the knowledge that in all likelihood you'll inherit and therefore your children have a chance of getting on the property ladder. You hope never to have to ask for a penny but are reassured that you'll never be destitute

Wow. Here’s me, a disabled single Mum with £3.50 to my name... People actually earn two hundred thousand pounds per YEAR???? Christ. I’ll never have that throughout my entire lifetime.

bunerison
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

I agree with this, I'm far from rolling in it but due to my dads job know that no matter what I will be ok. That's a huge safety net & gave me the chance to start my own business etc as I won't lose my home.

Having said that I think it's a shame that it seems more & more that a child's future depends on what their parents did & whether they were home owners.

DH now earns around that figure, it has only been in the last 18 months or so though. We have no plans to move from our fairly bog standard 4 bed detached “exec” house in a crappily built 1990s private estate. We are having more frequent and better quality holidays and trips but on economy flights with budget airlines if possible. We very rarely stay in top hotels.

Things I love are not thinking about the price of groceries; having a cleaner; being able to eat out on a whim, not facing hardship if things break down etc. DH has his dream car at last, I’m fine with my shit Peugeot. I still buy most of my clothes from New Look, Asda and Primark, but I’m planning to replenish my dwindling wardrobe from John Lewis, Warehouse, Whistles etc. when I reach my goal weight, I’m almost out of clothes because I’ve been intending to lose weight for about 18 months and did fuck all about it until recently. DH is shovelling the maximum he can into his pension to make up for lost time and we will soon be mortgage free in our house and a seaside holiday flat we have.

I know we are lucky but he has worked incredibly hard over a long period for this. He has also created a lot of well-paid jobs with prospects, and something to be proud of. Former apprentices who left school at 16 with unexceptional GCSEs are earning over £30,000 within 5 years of joining (we are in an inexpensive northern city). A number of people earn over £100,000. All jobs are permanent, salaried posts with profit related bonuses.
I’ve experienced scrabbling for money, not being able to afford a car or holidays, commuting by bike in pelting rain. Having money makes life much easier. Of course it does. It gives you choices.

We know people who earn over a million a year without bonuses yet (they are all in banking) they don't work that hard and enjoy their work, they have big houses and have very fancy holidays. DH's uncle and aunty own their own business and earn a few million a year - no kids but they chose not to have any so they could concentrate on making the business do well - it did and they do whatever they want, when they want. Recently where they live, there was a big piece of land that some developers were thinking of buying - well, they bought they land so the developers couldn't build on it. They said they liked walking their dogs there and didn't want to change their routes

DH used to earn that much but has since come out of investment banking and is freelancing. Doesn't earn as much now BUT the upside is he is able to see the children grow up. He does the school runs and he loves it. I work full time and will continue to do so, even though almost all my salary goes on childcare. We are comfortable enough (children in private school), nice holidays etc but also realise how very lucky we are - we are bringing up the kids to know that they are very very lucky to be in the position they are in.

I earn a similar amount.
I don’t worry about money particularly as such, but I work so hard to earn it I worry about burning out. We have children in private education (my husband works too, though earns less, and we both have international travel) so boarding is a necessity and I worry that if I collapse under the strain, which is huge, that will mean massive disruption for them.
I can’t spend willy nilly either. My husband is a spendthrift and is always trying to spend a lot of money on cars and holidays which I think is wasteful. I can’t even go on half the holidays as I don’t have the time off.
That said, I have nice shoes and handbags and coats and expensive haircuts, but I kind of have to for my job as presentation is a big part of it. Face lift probably too, in next 5 years.
I have about 2 more hours of work to do this evening now. And back in the office at 7am. And I don’t see my family all week. Every week. It’s really not easy.

Thank you for this. I get very envious of seeing people with the flash cars and the big houses sometimes - not so much because I want the material things but because it makes me feel like a failure. Reading this has made me feel so appreciative of what I do have. I wouldn’t swap my bank balance if it meant I didn’t see my DH and DC every day.

DH earns £200k a year, I earn £35k. His job (in the tech sector) is more demanding than mine, but he has a lot of flexibility and doesn't suffer from stress (he is just a laid back type of person). He doesn't have tight deadlines or have to entertain clients outside of work. He works 9am-6.30pm and has a 30 minute commute. He travels for work about 2-3 times a year, and does additional work after getting home a few times a month. At weekends he is focused on the family and doesn't work and he never does any work on family holidays. We live in London and have one DS in state school (we considered private but this particular school was the best option for his needs). We never worry about finances but we aren't too frivolous with money and we've put spare money into investments and mortgage overpayments rather than increased expenditure - we've almost cleared the mortgage on our flat within 6 years. We shop at the local Co-op, Sainsburys and Lidl, although sometimes I treat myself to nice tea and coffee at Fortnums. DH and I cut our own hair and the only beauty treatment I have is Botox - no manicures or waxing. We enjoy nice holidays abroad but not luxury destinations, just lots of sightseeing, we'll fly on budget airlines if the route suits us. We don't own a car as there's no need to in London.

Our flat is a medium-sized 2 bed with no garden or balcony, but it's in a very central location (zone 1 tube). Probably worth about £800k now. We don't have a cleaner as it's small enough for us to manage (and to be honest I don't like the thought of someone being in the flat when I'm not there). Our utility bills are fairly low as it's a modern flat with excellent insulation. We chose not to have a big house because it would still be a stretch to afford one in this location, and although we could get a big mortgage, we like the thought of being mortgage-free earlier. We'd rather be in a flat in the centre of town than a 5 bed house in zone 4.

It's nice not worrying about money. We had a boiler replaced recently and the company was talking about loans available to pay it off - we didn't need one as we have a decent savings buffer and we can shrug off costs like that. We go to the theatre and other events a lot, sometimes tickets can cost a fair bit, although we don't just pay for the top tier without thinking about it.

I would really love to know the truth behind the posts on some mn topics.

According to my brief and fairly sloppy googling, I understand that there are 'only' a couple of hundred thousand people in the U.K. that earn more than £200k...out of, what, 60 odd million. Apparently a lot of them end up on MN though .

Although obviously many/some (?) will be genuine, I find the tone of a handful of posts declaring massive earnings slightly...off? And tbh I suspect exaggeration/downright lies in some cases which just makes me want to analyse people to find out why!

Btw...there is one poster that I KNOW is telling porkies as they've clearly forgotten what they've posted in the past and not name changed and have suddenly gone from a fairly average family income a few weeks back to mega bucks on this thread . I only noticed because the username struck a particularly chord with me...I'm not mean enough to out anyone but it's properly amused me! If you must tell fibs, change names first!

Open I know of several friends who did the shared ownership thing for properties between 600-700k & their income was 80k.

It's fantastic. It gives us so many options and takes away so many day to day worries. I grew up in a family where we had enough money but no spare money and remember how stressful it was when I lost the lid of a lunchbox or, much worse, grew out of shoes and needed things replacing. I am now in the luxurious position to have spare lunch boxes in the cupboard in case the DC lose a lid and, if their feet grow, just order a range of sizes off the Startrite website, fit them and return the other ones when I get around to it, it not having been an issue that I have had £200 or so missing from my account until I return them.
My DC are so privileged as they live in a house without the underlying anxiety that money worries bring, without listening to DH and I arguing about it and are constantly warm, well fed etc. I think that this is of more benefit to them than the holidays we go on & the extra-curricular activities they do. They are both at primary school and spend 16 hours a week at the childminder and I do worry that, when they are older, they will say that they would rather have had more time with me and parent guilt does gnaw at me sometimes but the childminder is much more patient than I am and they adore her so I think we're OK. DH has none of these concerns!
Whilst I am constantly grateful for our good fortune, neither DH nor I take it for granted. We know that this lifestyle is dependent on us both working and that we are just one job loss or accident or health issue from this all changing. We both have quite stressful jobs with long hours but, unlike many, also know that one or the other could resign and we'd still be financially comfortable as we've tried not to let our lifestyle follow our income. Some creep is inevitable as why wouldn't you buy a Waitrose ready meal sometimes if you can afford it or go to a 5** star hotel rather than a 3 star one or have a cleaner but we haven't moved or sent the DC to private school so our fixed costs aren't that high.

Having read Somethings post, I should clarify that neither DH nor I earns £200k but we do between us. Sadly no bonus. I do envy friends with massive bonuses.

Open I think so, 1 was defo a good buy not sure re the others. Are you considering?

Actually just thinking back to mortgages I think if you earn 200k you would be able to borrow at least 700k although I know the banks are stricter these days.

one thing I think should be taken into consideration is how long one has worked to get to this salary level. In my 20's and 30's I never dreamed it would be possible. Now, after 35 years in the industry, it makes more sense.

TBH no I don't think £200k is private islands and jets - that is not what people are saying when they say things like "I don't know how you could spend that much money!"

It is rich to me. In fact so is a lot lower. Rich in my mind isn't about fancy things and expensive purchases, it's more about having choice. When your income is low you don't have much choice about how you spend your money - you buy what you need and then normally you have nothing left. It's constantly draining. We are just out of that state now but still have very little wiggle room for anything and can't save because as soon as we get anything saved up some unexpected large expense comes along. That is actually quite frightening and insecure especially when you get a few in a row and don't have any savings.

I think I will do a budget overhaul in the new year but from when I've looked at it before the conclusion is simply that we need to earn more money.