To think if you earn a huge salary then long hours are expected?

[dignifiedlazyness]

I have a cousin who work 60-70 hours minimum a week. Yes this is a heck of a lot, and I’d hate that. But, he is on £400k a year. All he does is complain how many hours he’s putting in, but seems to forget that with fewer hours there would be no business class 5* weekend breaks to New York etc.
I feel like telling him to shut up, or make do with less!

I thought they meant it's not that many hours

Sadly support staff in such places are dragged along for the ride and paid a hell of a lot less (but still expected to jump on conference calls at stupid o’clock when the partners are heroically joining a meeting from holiday in their beach house in Bali or chalet in Switzerland). And they get air miles.

Only a proper arsehole writes a comment like £400,000 is "not that much". True, there are people earning more. But they are in a miniscule percentage of the population (as are the people earning £400k, £200k etc).

I think that any individual earning above the regional average from a PAYE job should acknowledge their good fortune tbh.

If you were curing cancer then I’d say £400k was well worth it. But making money for shareholders? Nah not really.

I would work for 2 years then retire.

£400k is lottery winning money. 'Not that much' 'adequate' just make you sound like a colossal spoilt arsehole with no fucking clue how much the majority of people living in London earn (hint, it ain't £400k you fool).

@LprdProfFekkoThePenguin you do realise that having a good lawyer can mean saving hundreds of jobs right? Not to mention a lot of those ‘shareholders’ are pension funds or private investors. Having bright minds in the legal sector is integral to upholding the rule of law and facilitating peace and prosperity. Although as an aside oncologists are really not paid enough in this country. Can you imagine curing cancer on five figures for years and years. Not only is it crushing/souls destroy but also you don’t actually earn enough to fully support a family without a medium to high earning spouse. Awful. No surprise so many medics are trying to leave.

Mmmm nah. I earn 4 times that and work less that a quarter of those hours*

*this is bollocks.

Yes I do know because I’ve worked for/with lawyers, bankers and fund managers. Nice bunch of people on the whole - but not saving lives. Just making money. I also worked with floor traders. No comment!

I bet he doesn't lift a finger at home. He's working less hours than any mother with young children who is basically on call 24/7 for a lot less money, recognition or reward

This!

No way is he on 400k as an associate. I've spent most of my career at US firms and that sort of amount is unheard outside the partnership.

But on the hours 60-70 a week is fairly normal, if pretty soul destroying.

My brother often works 90 hours. He never ever complains about the hours but complains how much of his earnings are taken away by national insurance and tax.

I'm not so sure id want to work those hours to have his money.

Average hours are around 40 per week if he halves his hours salary will drop to £200,000.
He’d most likely starve...

I suppose it depends. I have a friend who earns millions a year, works a normal 8-5.30 job but travels a lot.

My husband works for himself and can charge alot per day - but can Choose the hours he works and when to start.

I Have another friend who worked all hours of the day god gave him - he’s retired now (about 60-odd years old) but is almost a billionaire (just sold his company for a lot of money) he will tell you it was worth it, not sure his wife will say the same..... he was never home.

It is entirely feasible that a senior associate can be earning £400k in the city. One firm has announced this week its NQ salary is being increased to £120k.

The BIL could move to a regional firm, be paid less but sti find his workload is similar. PEP (profit per equity partner) varies so much between firms depending on overheads , the number of equity partners, capital introduced. Once you earn over a certain amount there is a limit to what you can pay into a pension so he may have to make alternative provision for retirement etc.

The grass isn't always greener. It is a huge amount but really isn't that unusal in his field. But I agree best not to moan about it as he is fortunate to be able to be in that position.

I suppose it depends on your priorities. I could easily earn over 100k in my profession but I would have to work ridiculous hours, which I did do before kids.
Now I earn 45k but I work 10-5 4 days a week term time only with no working outside of those hours necessary (no paperwork, deadlines, nothing to do at home except relax and forget about work)
I have a much better work home balance now and I am content with what I earn. We don’t live beyond our means and we are happy with our lifestyle. I have 3 days off a week, work minimal hours and get all of the kids holidays off to spend time with the kids.
I don’t see the point in earning that kind of money if you’re not going to enjoy it and your kids will certainly not thank you for it

@GregoryPeckingDuck
I’m sorry but £400,000 is an awful lot of money.
My DH earns around 120,000 we live in London and although we are not rich we’re comfortable so and he earns over double that.

Was the cost of cocaine actually given as a justification for believing that 400k per year is not that much? That’s awesome. I require lots of wine to get me through the working week where I often work maybe 50/60 hours for slightly over a 10th of this amount. I am cool with it but if I can argue more then go for it!

Actually the key bit is the bonus - so he may have a salary of £100k and have managed a bonus of £300k - total equals 400k. But means he can’t step off the treadmill as to move somewhere else would mean cut in salary & less bonus percentage/ opportunity.

I work that and earn less
He is probably losing sight of what’s normal to be honest

I wouldn’t want the life style. Precarious and anxiety inducing. But that wasn’t the question was it? If he wants the massive salary then the hoursbhave to be part of it. There are people I am totally comfortable with earning large sums. Just because I don’t doesn’t mean I feel others shouldn’t. But they do need to expect to work a fair whack of the week

I’ve always thought that any job paying £70k pa plus “owns you” and you can expect to be a slave to it, based on experiences of people I know earning that kind of money (up North), Head Teachers, Doctors, Lawyers etc. My own parents have a job that never ends but have earned a decent amount of money and changed peoples lives for the better in the process.

On the subject of the salary, I met someone recently who worked in Compliance for big finance and insurance firms down South and he was paid £1000 a day. He was actually embarrassed and said no one should be paid that kind of money unless they are saving lives but he just lived on what he needed and used the rest for his kid’s education and future. He was working 18 hour days, 6 days per week.

I'm a teacher. I do those hrs. I dont get that salary!
But I think our work/life balance in this country is seriously fucked. Even when I was a student and working in retail there was bollocls about having to do x amount of work outside your shift hrs.