To wonder where some people get their money from

[todaysname18]

NC in case she's on MN

Dh and I are 36, decent education level and good jobs, but we don't earn a fortune. Live in se so quite expensive area and own a little 2 bed house. I thought we were fairly average. But we have some friends, they're only 30 so a few years younger than us and I just don't understand how they have so much money. When I ask her what her dh does she just says he "works in IT" which doesn't sound particularly highly-paid but

• She's not going back to work after mat leave (genuinely no idea how anyone can afford to be a sahm nowadays)
• They live in this absolutely massive 6 bedroom house, not rented
• She drives a Mercedes, not brand new but only a few years old
• They go out to dinner at least twice a week and are always doing day trips at weekends which involve expensive meals and entry to various places, the sort of costs that quickly add up
• I don't know where her clothes are from but they certainly look expensive
• Her ds, 6 months, has SO many clothes it's unreal, I see them 3-4 times a week and I rarely see him in the same outfit twice and lots are fairly expensive brands, I've definitely seen him in a Ralph Lauren polo!
• She just bought a designer handbag...whilst on maternity pay! Who has that sort of money?

I know people will say it sounds like I'm jealous, I absolutely am! But I also just don't understand how they have this sort of money?! Do 30 year old couples regularly own million pound homes?!

IT professionals can be very highly paid. £100k-£200k is not unusual.
My husband is an IT professional and I would just say he works in IT if asked.

Agree. My DP used to work in IT for investment funds in the City (London). If anyone asked I'd just say he was 'in IT' because let's face it, who cares about any details finer than that.

As for the house, my DP and I have had a huge mortgage in the past but currently it's much lower. Maybe they're the same?

My brother always says he 'works in IT'. By that, he means that he runs large scale IT projects for investment management companies - his job is to direct the task of merging two global companies' IT systems when one company takes over another.

He is paid well over £200,000 a year to do this.

'Works in IT' is a very broad category.

He could be a contractor with a 5-700 day rate and so taking home 8-11k a month.

The way she says it is so dismissive "oh, he just works in IT, nothing exciting" makes it sounds like he's IT support or something but maybe she's just downplaying it. She is really "normal" and doesn't come across as rich

And youve answered it yourself, IT can be as boring as fuck, especilly if your not interested, so no to her it probably isnt anything specisl or interesting to them, they probably dont want to bore people that they appricate dont know, arent interested, don't care about the intricacys of their boring job.
Not all rich people are snobby! I dont really kniw what coming over as rich is.

To be jonest to work in it you need to be fairly well educated

IT covers a million areas. Whenever someone says they are in IT they could be in tech support....or network security.
Its never worth going into what field or position to someone who also isnt in IT.
I know an IT contractor on £550 a day
I know another one on around £370 a day

Thats how.

I know a couple of IT project managers who contract. Their daily rate is massive.

He's probably very well paid. There may be an inheritance in there too. They may not save much, but spend what they earn.

You do seem a bit over invested. I'd never notice a baby's clothes beyond thinking vaguely 'that's cute'.

My friends husband works in “IT” he makes 200k+, works a 4 day week and is self employed so bigger all tax. Add some inherited money in as a deposit and there you go.

In general though I know what you are saying. I see loads of people and think where is your money coming from!??
While I’m a high earner myself I am still sometimes surprised by the disposable income a lot of the people I work with seem to have.

Op, I work in IT too. I like what I do but explaining it to anyone else makes most people lose the will to live. So “I work in IT” is the easiest thing to say. It gets it out of the way.

Compare and despair. Just get on with your own life

IT isn’t interesting to most people. DP works in IT or more specifically software. We rarely go into more detail than that if asked unless someone was genuinely interested.

you can get crazy money for contracting in IT

you can inherit money if you are unfortunate enough to be bereaved

some people are attractive and well put together and make George at Asda look like Giorgio Armani

I dunno lol

I don't get why people start threads about the ins and outs of other people's private business. I would be so creeped out if I were her.

My fiance and I earn considerable salaries, and being honest (rather than modest), we're both due to come in for the inheritances of:

• my rich aunt - split five ways, but she is very rich, and childless - always gives her nieces and nephews a few hundred pounds a year to disperse her income
• my uncle - owner of the family farm, the income of which is split between four of his five siblings (one severely disabled, so in care) - one of whom is said childless aunt
• my fiance's childless aunt - not wealthy day to day, but owns own home in the SE. Fiance is her only inheritor.
• my parents - own two homes outright, plus savings - approx 800k, split 3 ways.
• his grandparents - only two children and four grandchildren.
• his parents - one medium priced home.

Now we are banking on precisely NONE of this money. I would far rather the people concerned enjoyed it themselves or paid for decent end of life care. But realistically, I think that individually I will come in for around £200k, even excluding events such as care home fees, people leaving money to donkeys etc. At the other extreme of all coming to us, we could be in receipt of nearer £600-800k from inheritances.

£200k would clear my mortgage. I would still have my income though, and could rapidly save huge amounts of money without a mortgage (about £2k a month). Or I could move to a bigger place with a huge deposit. Not paying the fixed cost of mortgage would make a huge difference to our lives.

I'm not boasting. I think that it's better to acknowledge and explain these things so that the unspokenness of financial inequality in society (in a way that would be rude in person).

Salaries for IT can be very high indeed, depending on the field and level. Also, perhaps he worked for a small start-up that went stratospheric and ended up very rich as a result? Not unheard of, I assure you.

I get why you’re jealous, truly, but some people lead apparently charmed lives with all sorts churning underneath. If they’re good friends, just appreciate their company.

I work in IT sector (sadly nothing to do with IT itself, LOL), tech crowd's salaries start at £90k.

Most IT jobs are not very interesting but in c. London he'd easily get 80k + for a CTO/senior/team lead job. Contracting in IT you can get £600 per day. So that's for starters, without inheritance, buying a house very early and all the other theories..
Also, a really fancy car is a few hundred quid a month and he may have an allowance from work so that's not exactly an achievement.

We earn it
IT Consultancy with a very good day rate

My boyfriend left uni and went 'into IT' and his first job paid £36k... he's now on a lot more only a few years later. You have definitely underestimated his salary!

I work in IT (web developer)... if you specify either people ask you to make them a website, fix their phone/computer, if you made an app or game they use... bit tedious or it's too complicated or out of their realm of knowledge to understand.

A colleague/manager reckons I could get up to £85k+ in 5 years (I'd be 27, no degree) if I work hard in one specific area, not had to imagine that if that's true I could earn a whole lot more with more time or contract work.

Must stop MNing and googling baby stuff and get back to coding now, I needs me a nice car, big house and fancy clothes

In "IT" could mean anything from a helpdesk bod to a multimillion business. Starting up something like Facebook, Apple, Microsoft all come under "jobs in IT"

They could also have won the lottery... it does happen. If I won the lottery I'd keep it secret and cover it up with a similar story.

Working in IT can cover a huge range of roles and salaries. I assume he earns more than you think.
If anyone asks what DH does I say ‘he works in finance, nothing exciting’. It’s not exciting, but he’s pretty specialised and senior and earns a fair amount of money. Which leads to this..

(genuinely no idea how anyone can afford to be a sahm nowadays)

I can afford to be a SAHM because DH earns plenty to support us all. Like most SAHM’s I imagine.

You can buy Ralph Lauren (as well as many designer bags) in TK Maxx.

Also agree those vague “works in IT” type jobs can be extremely well paid.

'Works in IT' is a euphemism for 'sells drugs on the Darknet'
surely everyone knows that🙄

Agree with mingebags. Maybe they won money. People do.

Also, some people are SAHP because they have children that won't cope in childcare or don't earn enough to cover childcare