To think that SOME high earners don't work that hard?

[Usernamemcname]

I'm a domestic cleaner. The people I clean for are usually quite well off, five bedrooms in a posh suburb of an expensive city. They are often in whilst I clean, sometimes they come back whilst I'm here.
I see a lot and I know they are in quite high paid jobs. Yet they always seem to be 'working from home' also known as fannying about the kitchen a lot and playing X Box. A lot of them either start late (10am so they miss the traffic) and finish early. One dad picks his daughter up from school every day even though his wife is at home!
I was always told that you have to work hard to get what you want in life, so why do I have to work two jobs whilst my partner works 45+ hours and we just scrape by? What have these people done to be so lucky? They're not old, seem around my age, what jobs do they do and why can't I do them, I have a degree.
Life just seems unfair sometimes. Unless it's a doctor, I'm sure I could have a crack at it.

I’m a higher earner, I don’t work particularly hard now, but I had years of very hard exams and intense study. I also head a department, so while my work can’t be considered hard if one of my team screw up I’m ultimately responsible.

now you candiscount all of that and say it is all luck and I will always be poor because life is unfair so let's eat another bun before I go out to my minimum wage job because high pay is not for the likes of us or you can take action to earn m ore

I don't see the point of having this discussion on an individual, anecdotal level. It's meaningless.

The point is more that IN GENERAL, the minimum-wage jobs will always be occupied by the most disadvantaged sections of society, and the highest paid jobs will always comprise those from the most privileged backgrounds.And everything in between will be on a spectrum where wealth is generally correlated with privilege.

Telling people that you came from a broken home on a council estate and grew up to be CEO of a FTSE 100 company and that if you can do it, they can too won't change that.

Ahh, I see. It's not a post about how to earn more or why high earners earn what they do, it's a post about how unfair it is that the job you have isn't better paid.

Which isn't something we can solve for, frankly.

with a lot of luck- he happens to be talented in this area and has had a lot of opportunities come his way.

He had done well because of talent. That’s also why opportunities come his way. Why insist it’s luck?

@gwenneh you can if you vote for the right Party

When your dad is a psychiatrist, you can afford, in more ways than one, to keep doing those applications 'unlike the other students'.

it's a post about how unfair it is that the job you have isn't better paid.

Yes, and all because nobody gave her anything.

The fact is a lot of people earn lots more than they need to be comfortable and they could never ever spend it all even if they tried. That's so wrong!

Maybe it is. And maybe its wrong that you got to go to university. The fact that I had no one to explain how loans worked, just an extended family talking about how terrible being I debt would be, means I didn't go.

But you went and studied something you wanted to. Not for a career but for a choice.

It's unfair that you have been in positions where you can just leave a job after a month. It's unfair that you wre considered academic for at least ybe first half of your school life. While some of us were written off because we came from the council estate and had a mum that everyone knew was a 'bit odd'

Do you see how it works?

A lot is due to choices.

When I went back to work after my second child our (our not mine) childcare bill was more than my take home salary. So working cost us money. But I was just qualified in as second career and if I had given up work it would have stopped and I wouldn't have got it back.

So now age 50 -friends say - but you are so lucky to have a great job, I am so envious etc etc Lucky? I made choices, they could have made the same choices but didn't- their choice- but no not lucky.

Would I do it again? Maybe not.

How are we judging high earners? How much makes you high earner.

I don't see the point of having this discussion on an individual, anecdotal level. It's meaningless.

Because the OP has talked at length about how it isnt fair she hasnt just fallen on her feet.

Shall we talk generally that, actually, people like her should be doing better.

Or is it a case of OP can talk about it on a individual level, but people doing better, cant?

@Hesafriendfromwork I don't think I have ever once said that I wasn't privileged. My point at the start was how are huge wages (50k plus) justified. What do those people do which worth ten times my hourly wage? You guys have answered, and I've read all the replies.
I haven't said that you don't deserve your money. I simply doubt that anyone could do it. The odds are stacked against so many people and those who are more privileged in certain areas will find it easier. If you've made it through despite a difficult upbringing then bloody well done! You deserve a honestly!

But to assume that all those in the top have got their purely through hard work and perseverance is lunacy. If that's the case then we're saying that in 9/10 positions of power white men are the best people for the jobs.

What do we mean by high earners exactly?
Surely if your a very high earner your going to have investments etc which make more money for you than a day job could.

Why has no one mentioned that pp stated that 'work experience for chalet use' swaps do go on and that some parents do write their children's job applications?
Yet it's still all down to hard work....

“Re: language skills. My dad is an illiterate immigrant who can't read and write in his own language. Therefore I can't read or write in his language. Plus there's no money in it as lots of people in the world speak it far better than me (I'm not fully bilingual but I can get by.) There's lots of Spanish speakers in my city, most are working in cafes. Being able to speak Spanish (badly) is not much of a selling point.”

Forget Spanish - go to a big city in China like a Beijing or Shanghai and there are plenty of private English schools who would consider someone offering a native English speaker with a degree such as yourself 25-30k a year to teach English, especially if you could get a couple of months teaching experience (eg, volutereeing or whatever) prior to applying. And you could save a decent chunk of that if you budgeted. In their spare time, private tutors can earn an additional 20-30 quid an hour. Of course such an option might be of no interest to you whatsoever, but the point is don’t play down your skills - you already have great earning potential, but have you considered stepping right out of the box in order to achieve it?

But to assume that all those in the top have got their purely through hard work and perseverance is lunacy. If that's the case then we're saying that in 9/10 positions of power white men are the best people for the jobs.

I havent denied that priviledge doesnt exist.

I have given ways I am lucky and privileged. I even reffered to the fact that I appear white (my grandfather was not), which gives me priviledge, but a woman which is not.

My point is that you have had more priviledge than a lot of people. So its nor just down to that. For some people it ism for lots it's not.

Your job is worthwhile. The reason it isnt well paid is that there isnt years of training to be done and many people can and do, come into it with no experience. My dad, retired and does a very similar role. We arent close as I disnt know him until late teens. Bit I do know it's a difficult job.

You could definitely do my job. But to get to my level I have been working in similar industries for 20 years and working towards this role for 13. Aiming for this level. Not swopping careers when I had another idea.

Some people are privileged and it paves the way. Some people are priviledged but make decisions that make no use of it. Some people have little bits of priviledge, not much at all and do well.

That's all I am saying.

50K isn't really a high earner that's more middle management level.

Those figures are usually tax free by the way, as the schools pay on behalf of foreign teachers (or at least that was how it used to work anyway).

Why has no one mentioned that pp stated that 'work experience for chalet use' swaps do go on and that some parents do write their children's job applications?
Yet it's still all down to hard work

People have talked about their experiences or those of relatives, the fact that no one has mentioned either of the things you talk about above suggests that the majority of the high earners on here have indeed worked hard and got lucky

Not due to nepotism

In my line of work, the higher you go the less hours you seem to put in. However, you are responsible for some massive decisions, and you could literally go for a coffee with a client that could make or break a deal worth thousands. To the naked eye, that might just look like a quick 30 minute coffee, and quite an easy life, but it's extremely stressful (obviously not physically or in terms of hours)

I totally agree that it does seem unfair that those who work physically harder/longer hours are usually paid far less than someone who on the surface just sits in an office all day attends meetings (and I count myself in that camp!)

However, there are things that the ‘high earners’ do that are hard in a different way, as others have said:

• years of post graduate study
• taking work home, both mentally and physically
• responsibility for other people’s work
• mistakes have a much larger impact/larger risk

Probably still sounds like ‘so what!’ but just because someone’s job doesn’t seem difficult doesn’t mean there aren’t unseen things.

I do appreciate though that all of that is easier to swallow if you’re paid more.

Why has no one mentioned that pp stated that 'work experience for chalet use' swaps do go on and that some parents do write their children's job applications?

I cant talk about that because I don't know anyone who falls into the category. My fellow directors have all just worked in the industry for years. Most if them started the business together after working together for years. But didnt have the skills to run it as a huge business. They can perform the service we provide, organise engineers and take care of healthy and safety on site. They employed a FD and HR director. But they couldnt make the different areas blend together, as one company. Which is where me and 2 other female directors have been brought in. All working to ensure all divisions a new areas that we open operate as one business

50K isn't really a high earner that's more middle management level.

Has £50k been suggested as a high earner? I wouldn't say that it was- that is a pretty average graduate professional salary?

I was thinking those who pay the highest rate tax? So over £150,000 as the entry point to say you are a high earner?

150k plus puts you in the top 1% or 2% of individuals in the U.K.
I would think most people are usually referring to say the top 5-10% by the term high earner, which would be more like 80k +

“go for a coffee with a client that could make or break a deal worth thousands.”
Well as London mayor, Johnson spaffed not thousands, but millions of public money up the wall on pointless vanity projects like his failed bridge. Doesn’t look particularly stressed about it to me... you’re missing a key ingredient to a stress free life - privilege.

I've gotten where I am solely through hard work.

I grew up in poverty. My mother used to choose which bills to pay and what she could risk being cut off.

I earned a scholarship to go to an incredible school. To get there I had to schlep across the city on 2 buses, and it took me an hour there and back.

I had a personal trauma at college and had to leave. Went into hospitality, and through hard work and drive, soared very quickly up the ranks.

Then I went back into education alongside it. I researched careers with ample opportunity for progression and earning power, chose a subject directly related and then looked for a job vaguely in that field so that I gained practical knowledge and experience alongside my studies.

I'm incredibly good at what I do. I have very in depth, intricate knowledge of my subject area which has seen my work be in demand here and overseas. I've made all the sacrifices in terms of never being home, working long hours, working under immense stress etc.

I work for myself now in a consultancy capacity. My books are as full as I want them to be. On the face of it, I don't work that much. My cleaner may well think I'm lazy. But I'm not paid to be a bum on a seat, I'm paid to design systems, prevent catastrophic disasters and provide expertise to those who need it and want to pay for it.