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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

High earner - but unsettled

426 replies

Iprobap · 19/08/2020 19:50

Annual pay about £250k, between 16% - 50% discretionary bonus and shares. Overseas based for UK global financial services company.

Personally still earn full salary, but possible no increase, bonuses and shares this year and next few maybe? I foresee retrenchments in future because of COVID-19.

I know we are on different scales on here and this is no brag. Curious to know if others are as unsettled by possibility of losing benefits because of impact of COVID-19 on global economy?

OP posts:
Frazzledme · 19/08/2020 22:24

@girlyracer it'd be great if there was a high earner section but think they'd all argue that they weren't high earners and get themselves in knots.

I think half of it is made up anyway. Take a 0 off!

MadgeMak · 19/08/2020 22:25

I bet if you earned £250k a year you'd still live in a £300k house... as people earn more they often start spending more in line with their lifestyle and salary

OP herself has said she easily lives on less than she earns and drives a 10 year old VW polo, so your logic has just been disproved by your new best friend.

Thisisworsethananticpated · 19/08/2020 22:25

Anyone faced with a possibility of pay cut will be concerned. Pretending otherwise is goady

Not really , on a good year I hit 6 figures
But now with a salary cut and no foreseeable bonus ever again , am nowhere near that

The way I see is is I am lucky to have a job , lucky I can heat my house and lucky I can feed us
I’ve never lived very flashily and have savings

Shit happens , my colleagues that don’t save and have flashy houses and cars are bricking it though

So my thrifty penny pinching ways have (finally !) served me

workhomesleeprepeat · 19/08/2020 22:26

Lol I was just on a thread where everyone said it was v vulgar to take about salaries - maybe if it was less taboo then OP could have talked to her friends and avoid the MN backlash!

OP, it’s fine to be concerned with circumstantial change. I certainly find the changes going on the world unsettling.

However part of me thinks you posted for a pile on so that you could feel better knowing that you are indeed better off than the majority!

As others have said though - don’t ever count your bonuses as anything other than that - a bonus. Don’t plan what you’re going to do with the money until you have it. As we’ve all seen things can change very quickly so best to plan with the funds you already have

larrygrylls · 19/08/2020 22:27

High earners have no interest in a MN ‘high earners’ section, trust me!

Senator Crassus would really enjoy it, though, but, sadly, he is no longer about.

LesLavandes · 19/08/2020 22:30

She should be meeting with her financial advisors. Not Mumsnet haha. It's normal

Imworthit · 19/08/2020 22:32

Look any 'high earner' seeking financial advice on mumsnet is a troll or a junkie.... Stop engaging. If Op wanted emotional support fine. They don't. They have a financial advisor or deserve to lose everything through their idiocy, cheapness or cruelty

dwiz8 · 19/08/2020 22:32

@larrygrylls

High earners have no interest in a MN ‘high earners’ section, trust me!

Senator Crassus would really enjoy it, though, but, sadly, he is no longer about.

They clearly do as more than one has mentioned it on this very thread
dwiz8 · 19/08/2020 22:34

@MadgeMak

I bet if you earned £250k a year you'd still live in a £300k house... as people earn more they often start spending more in line with their lifestyle and salary

OP herself has said she easily lives on less than she earns and drives a 10 year old VW polo, so your logic has just been disproved by your new best friend.

Hardly my new best friend

Although if she is a troll I'm going to be pissed Grin

yellowymellowy · 19/08/2020 22:34

Surely the OP is a troll.

If not he/she is incredibly crass and lacking in empathy, deliberately stating her very large income and then having a moan at a time when millions are set to lose their jobs and may be facing serious difficulties like how to feed their families. It should be obvious to a child that this is a highly inappropriate thing to do. If you have genuine concerns surely you have other people to speak to about them.

Notapheasantplucker · 19/08/2020 22:36

OP please can you lend me a tenner, I'm skint

Not joking Grin

FloydWasACat · 19/08/2020 22:36

I know it is hard to believe given the usual MN poverty olympics.

Bit of a knob aren't you OP.

Mangofandangoo · 19/08/2020 22:37

@Iprobap

coco actually I could live with about 50% less of guaranteed pay. We own our house outright. I drive an 8 year-old VW Polo. I am unsettled by losing what I am used to getting, especially given workplace expectations are higher than before.

I had plans, which will be slowed down by this.

HA - come off it Op. this thread is very bad taste.
Redbirds · 19/08/2020 22:37

I don’t begrudge anyone earning a large salary as they often have very stressful jobs and work hard. I’ve lived that life, judging your self worth by your success, the sleepless nights, self doubt but unable to stop. However I also realised it was my choice and I could always get by with a pay cut/ redundancy therefore I was luckier than most people. I’m truly appalled by some of the comments on this thread.

Flatpackback · 19/08/2020 22:41

Jesus, if OP can't afford to buy an additional house outright on that salary then she she is financially incompetent despite whatever post she may hold.

Diceroll · 19/08/2020 22:45

I don’t really have a clue about wealth management and would welcome these conversations instead of paying $$$ to a wealth management company.

So you'd rather listen to random anonymous people online, where you have no idea if they're honest about who they are, rather than invest a comparatively small amount of money investing in some professional advice? Self made millionaire my arse with that logic.

nancybotwinbloom · 19/08/2020 22:46

Evening you are worried, time to look for a new role is after winter. If we get a second spike you need to judge How any employer is treating their employees during this pandemic.

You want to work for a decent company with the right ethic.

ArabellaScott · 19/08/2020 22:50

'poverty olympics'?

I really don't know what to say to that, OP.

AriettyHomily · 19/08/2020 22:52

Not the right place to ask op.

JingsMahBucket · 19/08/2020 22:53

@ChazsBrilliantAttitude

There is already a money section if the OP had wanted a discussion about money from a HNWI perspective.
Nah. The posters on there get snippy and jealous too.
JingsMahBucket · 19/08/2020 22:56

@Diceroll

I don’t really have a clue about wealth management and would welcome these conversations instead of paying $$$ to a wealth management company.

So you'd rather listen to random anonymous people online, where you have no idea if they're honest about who they are, rather than invest a comparatively small amount of money investing in some professional advice? Self made millionaire my arse with that logic.

@Diceroll you’ve never heard of financial forums or something? What do you think MSE or The Motley Fool are? A lot of excellent high level financial and invest advice is given out there.
NiceGerbil · 19/08/2020 23:00

Agree with those who have said that op could have asked her question without naming the figure which adds zero to the conversation apart from sounding crass and possibly goady.

NiceGerbil · 19/08/2020 23:03

The idea that high earners work hard and are somehow more deserving than those who earn less is an appealing idea as it is easier than looking into wealth inequality.

We've seen in this pandemic that loads of not well paid hard working people are vital.

I know plenty of high earners who aren't very good and/ or don't work very hard.

fishywaters · 19/08/2020 23:03

Ok I will bite.
Everyone is worried about “losing” out on bonuses. However, unless you have a huge mortgage Eg 5xbase salary and job security is dwindling then perhaps you should not be concerned. On the grapevine I have heard that higher earners are increasingly more worried about big raises in taxes and inflation. So those who have saved and have a pot and have worked really long hours to retire early etc.. are worried their cash won’t be as valuable. So yes, this bracket of “rich” (because let’s face it, in London you are not properly rich on 250k plus bonus especially if you are relatively young and have to pay 1.5 million plus for a house and 20k per child school fees) is also a bit worried.

wildcherries · 19/08/2020 23:04

@happygogoat

Oh wow.

Clearly you're paid for something that doesn't involve having any level of tact or emotional intelligence?

Get a grip and some damn realism. There are people using food banks and yes they're scared.

Will you have to sacrifice one of a few holidays? A second or third car? Second home even? MAYBE even downsize your house?!

You still wouldn't be nowhere near as hard up as most people.

Awful post.

All of this and what everyone else is saying. Incredibly ill-timed post. Jesus.