High Earners on MN?

[BitOfFun]

How? The actual leader of my county council doesn't earn more than £100K- where and what are all these super-maxed out occupations? I genuinely don't understand how mumsnetters (often relatively young) access these magic jobs I've never heard of.

YABU- they are there for the taking, you just made poor choices

YANBU- people here are very creative and there's an outside chance they may be lying exaggerating.

Many people go into careers they think they’ll enjoy rather than prioritizing jobs with paths that pay well. Also nobody is just handed six figure income on a plate. It often follows years of horribly boring training/ a decade of failed business ideas/ years of below minimum wage living as your business grows / a decade on a crap salary as a basic employee etc

I would also encourage women to look at jobs where there are a shortage of women as companies are eager to tick boxes.

IT and technology - desperate for women to make their diversity stats look better - not for everyone i know but I would advise young girls to look at it. And very few are and some areas have no women at all so if you're in anyway competent you can walk into a job.

40, legal sector (which I came into late!), and a high earner.

Previous background in Finance.

No magic trick, I just kept trying to ensure that I was progressing one way or another, even after 3 children. My drivers weren't a nice house or nice car, although these help. My driver was my own growth. Nothing was going to stop me, not even a divorce.

And throughout lockdown, most people I know have been relaxing, painting the house, doing some classes, going to the gym etc whereas the people I am referring to - those with well paid professional jobs, have been relentlessly working ...

Have you might want to think about the minimum wage supermarket staff and low paid NHS workers that bore the brunt of lockdown before you post. I doubt many of them got time to relax or paint their house during the last six months.

I dony earn as much as some people on this thread or others but DH and I are both high rate tax payers and I think we should be more open with what we earn.

I openly told my friends what I earned and they were shocked. But the jobs are there and particularly in sectors such as finance

I am 30 in the north west and earn around 55k in a finance sector management role. Again 55k isnt 100k+ but its not to be sniffed at

@StarUtopia

Not being goady, but I think I’d struggle to name many people in my high school year who are on under £80k, and that was in a fairly standard rural non-fee paying school.

What a load of bullshit!!

Oh and no, not being goady, just being a dickhead!

OP. Ignore. Most people I know earn between £30-£40k. All with degrees.

So somebody comes on to say that most people they know in a certain setting earn Y and you’re saying that’s bullshit because everyone you know earns under X?

What makes your experience the definitive answer on this?

Personally, I find that to be very dickheaded behaviour.

Funny how when these threads pop up, it's all women on high salaries, easy jobs that are 9-5 and they can look after their kids easily. It's almost like it's not real..

But the point of us posting is to show women that you can find these jobs - we're all real women and we've managed to do so, they can too. It's not just men that can have these things. I'll happily answer any questions if you'd like to PM me.

OP, you’ve made the mistake of using a private sector job as a benchmark. Hopefully this new thread has explained a bit about the difference between private and public sector pay scales. To be blunt, you will get paid well if you work for a successful business and many businesses (especially ones that sell expertise like law, accountancy or consulting) need to pay good people the going rate in order to be successful. The key is understanding what these lucrative fields are and how to get the right education to do the jobs. Too many people lack access to good, honest role models who can explain how they got where they did.
I went to state school, did not come from a massively wealthy background but I did have the advantage of fairly middle class parents who knew how to advise me. I went to a good university, got a professional qualification, worked hard, got a few good breaks with various employers and was earning over 100k by my early thirties. There were some very intense times early and mid-career but nothing unsustainable. My husband has a very similar background to me and is a high earner but has exceptional work/life balance, never works weekends and is here for bath time very day. In his case he committed early to one particular employer and has never moved- he has been rewarded for his loyalty and the very deep and broad experience he now has of how his employer works.

It’s a bit of an elephant in the room but most people doing these jobs will be pretty bright- very few who ever got less than a B in an A level.

No I don't need to think before I post as I am perfectly aware of them, thank you, my brother is a delivery driver and my mother is a nurse.

We aren't discussing people that should be paid more than they are, the topic of this thread is about people on MN with high paying jobs and how real, or not they are. And as I said, most people I know, apart from my family, were furloughed, or don't work (have high earning partner), and have spent most of their time this year relaxing. I'm not debating the rights and wrongs of that, I am stating my experience, as the OP requested.

And that is, broadly speaking, people with well paid/highly qualified jobs working non stop nothing has changed, in fact got busier (as can remote work)
People with customer-facing jobs - low-paid and well-paid (GPs) - as above, without the remote working - exactly the same, relentless work

Everyone else relaxing in their gardens all summer.

I wouldn’t say I have an easy job. It’s stressful at times and I’ve already said I work long hours at times. But I still have a good work life balance overall and I enjoy my work and my life. My children are happy and well-adjusted. This is a big deal because there’s so much fear around children suffering because their mum is working ‘too much’ (part-time works seems to be just about acceptable but in my experience full-time is often seen as shocking and frowned upon).

@Lily193

Funny how when these threads pop up, it's all women on high salaries, easy jobs that are 9-5 and they can look after their kids easily. It's almost like it's not real..

But the point of us posting is to show women that you can find these jobs - we're all real women and we've managed to do so, they can too. It's not just men that can have these things. I'll happily answer any questions if you'd like to PM me.

Indeed. I think some people will lie, but about half these posts are from high earners and I can’t believe that literally everyone would be lying.

I really dislike this notion that women somehow cannot be high earners / must be married to a rich man / must be lying / no possible way they can earn well and have time during the day to dick about on MN

The other thing I’ve found is that the true corporate environment, you’re really not held to account in terms of time keeping like you are in lower paid sectors. I can pretty much work the hours I want, deadlines are key and I can’t miss those but no one cares if I come in at 10 / leave early to go to a nativity performance / take a long lunch / go awol on a WFH day for a few hours etc etc. I’m not sure that those people who work in a culture of clock watching / presenteeism (sp?) appreciate that actually, with money and seniority comes trust and a lot more flexibility for your time.

I'm a SAHM but even 15 years ago I was earning £70k for a pretty dull 9-5ish accountancy job in the city so £100k would seem fairly achievable now.
Like a poster above, I'd say at least 50% of my social earn over £100k- many a lot more. Lawyer, bankers, accountants, consultants. Male and female.
Not just a London thing- friends in Manchester, Leeds etc also earn £200k plus - again, lawyers, accountants etc. Long hours to begin with but all have a great work/life balance now.
Doctor friends can also earn a lot but that usually means lots of private work on top of their NHS jobs.

And that is, broadly speaking, people with well paid/highly qualified jobs working non stop nothing has changed, in fact got busier (as can remote work)

Some high earners can pick and choose what work they take on so if they choose to spend the summer relaxing or have a month off at Christmas etc, they can.

@Upherefordancing I’ve PM’d you.

We are high earners, we own a specialist scaffolding company. i.e. we don't put scaffolding on peoples houses generally but in the specialist area of food production factories and clean environment spaces.

That's very true of course - quite a few lawyers and IT people I know regularly take the summer off any way, even before covid. That's about being self-employed/company directors of course, but your're rght, that does give more flexibility.

@ShirleyPhallus Yes, all so true and if we share our personal experiences, we can change these ridiculous perceptions.

Know a few welsh government earning women on over 100k, but the friend that tops all this has a chippy in a seasonal welsh area. Only open a few months of the year. I deem her the winner from September to easter she is a lady of leisure.

Most of them are likely to be in London.

@StarUtopia

Not being goady, but I think I’d struggle to name many people in my high school year who are on under £80k, and that was in a fairly standard rural non-fee paying school.

What a load of bullshit!!

Oh and no, not being goady, just being a dickhead!

OP. Ignore. Most people I know earn between £30-£40k. All with degrees.

Seriously not worth doing a degree for a 30k job unless it is your first one and expecting pay rises. Seriously if you studied a mickey mouse degree at the former polytechnic of nowhere then your investment in your education isnt going to add up to much. From a decent university with an engineering degree start at 40k.

For the job I do, if i lived in London i could be earning double what i do now.

Know a few welsh government earning women on over 100k, but the friend that tops all this has a chippy in a seasonal welsh area. Only open a few months of the year. I deem her the winner from September to easter she is a lady of leisure.

Love this!!

I hope to be a high earner, I work in finance but not in a finance role. I need to be strategic about the roles I pick as there's certain areas of my profession that are going to attract higher salaries.

I'm on 55k and work pretty reasonable hours and have control over my day. Rarely ever do any work at the weekends. A friend of mine earns 5k more than me and has no life at all apart from work. I think you can get lucky with the environment you work in, or you can choose the one that works for you.

I do wish we spoke about salaries more though, she's the only one I know the number of and we're in our 30s.

One thing I will say that gets on my nerves is the near-universal claim of high earners that they work bloody hard for it. While I'm sure this is true, hard work does not necessarily correspond with high incomes. I am currently being cared for in a hospice by some incredibly hardworking staff, many of whom 'take work home', are involved in complex planning processes, often have several professional qualifications etc etc.

None of them will be earning anything like £100k+, but I can assure you that they too work bloody hard.