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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you earn £50K+ what do you do?

545 replies

Poppi89 · 30/03/2020 18:51

I have seen a lot of posts on here where people say how much they earn and I am shocked how many people earn over £50K, so I was just wondering what it is that you do?

Also, do you think it is more important to have a high income or a job that you enjoy?

OP posts:
LemonSock · 30/03/2020 22:35

University academic, 0.7 FTE.

converseandjeans · 30/03/2020 22:35

Had no idea so many people earned so much - no wonder I'm always broke 🙄
It's interesting to see how the key workers are considered so important yet some such as shop workers and care workers will be on a quarter of these salaries.
Should someone doing marketing, sales, promotions etc really get such a huge amount more than these people who are keeping our country going?

Falacy · 30/03/2020 22:36

@dkl55

Re smutty books Grin

There's a whole spectrum of earnings from people who make pennies to the ones right at the top who easily make millions a year.

The people I know making bank churn them out. The readers are very hungry so it's not unheard of to release a full length book every 2 weeks.

I got into it when I stumbled on a reddit forum. Taught myself loads about marketing and publishing, email lists, photoshop etc. After I released the first book I could see how scalable it was, and handed my notice in at work a month later. I've written 11 books since then and still learning / scaling / working my ass off 🤣

If you (or anyone) is interested in getting started feel free to reach out... 😊

converseandjeans · 30/03/2020 22:40

poppi PT teacher and get around £1450 take hone pay. I can't imagine getting £750 in one day which one poster mentioned (I know this is pre tax) I guess you just get used to what you earn 🤷‍♀️

LadyofMisrule · 30/03/2020 22:40

Engineer. Contract work, doing quite a niche role within engineering. I love it, though I'm hoping to do fewer hours this year. Last year was a bit busy.

converseandjeans · 30/03/2020 22:44

arghhhh this puts me off giving money to charity! I had no idea that money we were donating was enabling fundraisers to have huge salaries!

doadeer · 30/03/2020 22:45

mochasjoe

A lot of 150k plus salaries in tech industry. To be honest a 50k job would only be about 5 years experience.

When I went freelance I earned over 150k, I charged £650 plus per day to do marketing for big tech companies. I was 28. It's also considerably less tax as a Ltd company than when i paid standard income tax only.

I think these days tech and finance are still where a lot of the big money is.

DH works with software engineers at big tech companies and they are easily on 150k plus stock, plus sign on bonuses. It blows your mind.

And to PP - no I don't think it's fair that I get that and a nurse gets a tiny percentage. I think it's completely backward and absurd.

OhTheRoses · 30/03/2020 22:47

But a consultant on 750 per day probably doesn't average that for 44 x 5 per annum. No paid leave, no sick pay, no pension, pays own indemnity insurance and lufe insurance, etc.

Lynda07 · 30/03/2020 22:49

converseandjeans Mon 30-Mar-20 22:35:31
Had no idea so many people earned so much - no wonder I'm always broke 🙄
It's interesting to see how the key workers are considered so important yet some such as shop workers and care workers will be on a quarter of these salaries.
Should someone doing marketing, sales, promotions etc really get such a huge amount more than these people who are keeping our country going?
.......
People who have responsibility for organising and maintaining stuff - those who carry the can - will always earn more than the foot soldiers. The foot soldiers, however, can often progress if they really want to. There's nothing like someone in management who has shop floor experience.

I don't know about sales, marketing, promotions etc, not familiar with those.

LemonSock · 30/03/2020 22:50

@converseandjeans, a good fundraiser will be worth their weight in gold to a charity. Surely you don’t think major charities are run out of a village hall-type situation by volunteers paid only in biscuits and goodwill?

Shortfeet · 30/03/2020 22:52

Plus size model

Shortfeet · 30/03/2020 22:53

@converseandjeans me too.
I am going to cancel direct debits to several big charities

Lemonyfuckit · 30/03/2020 22:55

And another solicitor, in banking. Also in house so doesn't have the same fee earning pressure of private practice but I do find it stressful quite often. I really enjoy the actual work, but I dislike the way some people behave and the stress.

doadeer · 30/03/2020 22:55

Ohtheroses

I didn't pay any insurance, pension or take sick, and I had 2 weeks off I think all year but yes you're right I didn't work 5 days every single week of the year.

I'm not really sure if the pedantics of whether you would earn £140k or £160k really matter. Yes that figure was pre tax but if I haven't gotten pregnant I would have raised my prices by £50/£100 a day on a regular basis. The general discussion is about the type of jobs which have high salaries. I'm just commenting that jobs in the tech sector pay very highly.

Thedogscollar · 30/03/2020 22:57

Midwife top of band 6 with 25 years experience 30yrs plus in NHS now work part time 12.5 hr shifts on nights 30hrs per week. Top band 6 £37267p.a. next month pay rise to £37890 per annum

My pension hopefully will be over £80,000 lump sum and hopefully pension of £1200 per month. Wish I'd tried harder at school or be clever enough to earn the big money but the people I have cared for have made my career I have been so lucky to look after elderly patients at the end of life and rejoicing in new life with excited parents.

I cannot justify my pay for the responsibilities I have but I love my job and on reflection wouldn't really change a thing. My colleagues are also some of my closest friends who have enriched my life more than any amount of money could ever do.

Original poster
Poppi89 · 30/03/2020 22:59

It definitely seems like the tech and finance jobs are better paid - if only I was better at maths haha.

I am surprised at the different jobs available and the variation in earnings.
I wonder if for jobs like nurses, TAs, teachers, carers etc they are not as well paid as they should be to encourage only those who actually want to do that job to apply and not people just wanting the money - I can't think why else they wouldn't increase the pay especially as they are always saying there are shortages.

OP posts:
converseandjeans · 30/03/2020 23:03

lemonsock yes I know what you're saying - but when we ask kids in school from low income families to donate and buy stuff at cake sales & so on - money they can't necessarily afford - it just grates a bit.
It's just morally wrong imo to ask ordinary people on modest salaries to fundraise then cream a nice executive salary from the proceeds. I think people should be made aware that this happens.

EveryDayIsADuvetDay · 30/03/2020 23:04

Accountant - I always used to earn way above that, but recently moved to three days a week and a more junior role when I realised I didn't need the money, stress or soul destroying boredom.

Yellowcar2 · 30/03/2020 23:05

Assistant principal of a primary school in London.

theschoolonthehill · 30/03/2020 23:07

but I love my job and on reflection wouldn't really change a thing. My colleagues are also some of my closest friends who have enriched my life more than any amount of money could ever do.

This is what I strive for. Having had a job where I had to steel myself to walk through the door every morning and watched the clock until I walked out is soul destroying and really affected my mental health at the time. I spent years and years working with people, making (what I thought of as) good friends at the time, yet as soon as either party moved positions, we'd never do more than drop an odd email which would fizzle out sooner rather than later.

The current corona situation has really driven home that happiness and satisfaction is worth so much although of course having more than enough money relieves financial stress too.

goldpendant · 30/03/2020 23:09

Civil Servant, not a field I love as much anymore, but I'm too niche now and the benefits are too good to walk away from. Pension etc.

DH Director at architecture firm. Not what he went into architecture for but it gives us a comfortable life.

theschoolonthehill · 30/03/2020 23:10

I think people should be made aware that this happens.

To be fair, I think you are in the minority if you thought fund raisers didn't earn high salaries. There have been news stories about scandals in fundraising for years.

You are being naive to think that somebody raising tens of thousands for a charity is doing so out of goodwill.

And surely the majority of school bake sales are held to raise funds for the school rather than big charities?

MysticMeghan · 30/03/2020 23:12

It definitely seems like the tech and finance jobs are better paid - if only I was better at maths haha

You don't have to be good at maths. I wasn't. Grade C at O'Level. But I did stats at Uni and also did stats and economics when I did my Bank exams.

Anyway, you're right about the second part. I'm Bank IT.

Bouledeneige · 30/03/2020 23:21

CEO of a not-for-profit earning £130K. I have no partner. Started on a very low salary for many years. Its not long hours but it is a lot of strategic responsibility for big budgets, lots of staff, lots of risk and many very vulnerable clients. Love it. Its challenging right now but I do it for moral purposes not for the money.

mochajoes · 30/03/2020 23:22

@doadeer I should have explained myself better, I meant for women as I presume it's mostly women posting. Its relatively easy to earn 50k in most fields in London for women but I think the 150k plus jobs are much rarer & dominated by men.