To think this is a good salary for a 20 something!

[topofthedrums]

21 and earning 30K a year. I think that's pretty decent, is it not? Outside of London too.

My mum thinks not, and says it's very average.

I think she's somewhat deluded. But she insists.

It would be a good wage inside London too (for most people).

The “coat girls” aren’t PAs/ EAs, they are just the most visible example I could think of to make the point.

And yes it’s the really excellent ones who survive and prosper

For 21, it is very good.

I was a PA for a long time from my late twenties to my late forties. It was a good option in the 90s but my salary fell off a cliff over the last ten years. My last job was £40k at the start of the year for a large company/Board level position in West London but the workload/expectation in crap tasks was ridiculous.

Do it but learn other things while you do (i.e. degree, project management qualifications or company sec qualifications) otherwise you will find that there is pretty much no progression. If you are good, they will keep you stuck in that role forever. I have PA friends who have found nice bosses/companies but have literally been doing the same job for fifteen years.

Barbara the downside is there is a ceiling for most PAs and to be brutal, the prospects aren’t always as good when you’re not young and hot anymore.

^ this with bells on!

Hmm, bit weird that you keep banging on about it on multiple threads though. Don’t you have people to talk to about it in real life? Apart from your mum, of course.

Very much reminds me of a poster that used to shout about being a top earner and v young and with a husband and baby to boot. Oddly familiar.

I’m not jealous, I earn much more than that, but it would be vulgar to brag and name a sum.

I'm sure you have created 2 different threads on exactly the same subject?

Why do people keep saying that £30k at 21 is good ‘outside of London’?

99% of 21 year olds IN London would bite your arm off for that wage. Most Londoners earn nowhere near what many people think.

Also £30k at 21 with no degree as a PA looks good now, however, prospects of ever earning much above that whilst staying in the same role without a degree are slim.

You're doing fantastic and your mothers a bitter fool. Don't waste your time trying to impress her.

My daughter is training to be a solicitor, she is the same age as you, outside London and on slightly less. So You're doing great.

In addition I've a friend who retired from her pa role last year. Her final salary was just over 72k. She was the CEO's pa, in London, but it shows what is available.

Ignore your mother. You're doing great

Also £30k at 21 with no degree as a PA looks good now, however, prospects of ever earning much above that whilst staying in the same role without a degree are slim

Nonsense. Why post if you don't know what you're talking about?

99% of 21 year olds IN London would bite your arm off for that wage. Most Londoners earn nowhere near what many people think.

Agree , know late 20s with degrees in london that are not on 30k, mot on bottom rung anymore either

I think it’s a great salary for a 21 year old and I’m sorry your mum isn’t boosting your confidence for you. And no, it’s not the sort of thing you boast about to friends, which is why you’re doing it anonymously!)

If it were me, I’d consider the point that some PP have made about there being a ceiling salary for a PA and think doing other qualifications. Especially now when you know what you’re interested in for a career. All of the admin staff in my dept have degrees but not all through the usual route. It gives them the flexibility to move roles and progress their career.
Good luck!

Yes it’s a good wage

I’m 31 and on 29k fte (I work part time)

Where we live it would be an amazing salary for any age. The average salary where we are is £18k.

I’m 21 and I would be extatic with that kind of salary! I genuinely didn’t know it was possible at that age. Most graduate jobs start at around 20K outside London. The average U.K. salary is 27k.

@MissConductUS woah! As I sit here, with the wind and rain battering on the windows, New York does sound a better option (especially the pay!). I can’t knock the NHS for annual leave and sick pay though. That takes some beating

It’s a fantastic wage, at any age and inside or outside London!

At 21 I was on £12k. 26 I hit £18k and finally at 29, £33k. I’d have been made up to have been earning what I am now all those years ago!

You’ve done really well, you should be very proud. Don’t know what your mum is talking about!

That's brilliant!

I’m not talking nonsense at all. I’m basing my views on experience. I know several PA’s. DH has a PA, I have a shared admin and have been an EA. Most PAs don’t make it to CEO PA.

One PA I know is a friend without a degree who was out earning me when I graduated. I now out-earn her and my pay will keep climbing whilst hers has stagnated. Her payrises are just about inline with inflation and she gets half decent bonuses.

OPs wage will never escalate if she doesn’t pursue higher/professional qualifications and sticks with managing diaries. Technology will also be a threat. She can be happy on £30k at 21 but will she still be happy on £35k at 40, £40k at 50?

The median salary where I live is £16k just to put your £30k into some perspective. I’m sure you know it’s amazing.

She can be happy on £30k at 21 but will she still be happy on £35k at 40, £40k at 50?

Are you living in fantasy land? Most people get a job or a career without an unlimited ceiling of income. I’ll probably max out at £44k when I’m 35 and be there pretty much for the foreseeable future, I can’t go much further: and I’m bloody happy with that!

3out In here in the NYC region. It's brilliant living here. The hospitals treat nurses really well. The pay isn't bad either. Our previous neighbors included a couple of nurses and they had good work life balance. I can attest to the wages. We had a tenant who was a nurse and her pay was verified by her employer as $105k a year. She was fab and we halved her rent when she went into medical school as a way to help her out.

you're doing well. Make sure you have your eye on promotions, sideways with up possibility moves, training courses, anything to increase your earning potential.

Your mum is a bitch. She purely wanted to put you down. You might want to look at some counselling to help you find ways of dealing with her.

I was earning the same at about your age but that was after completing an apprenticeship in a very niche trade and doing a physically demanding and sometimes dangerous job with shit work life balance so I think you're doing great!