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.

Why would you expect someone who works for the county council, even as "the leader" to be earning a lot of money?

The fact that you think that's strange probably explains a lot of why you're so confused about it all.

I remember being called to the careers advisor at school at the beginning of 5th year (in Scotland so the start of A level equivalents) I had just gotten the best grades in the school for Standard Grades and she asked me what I wanted to do “get Highers and go to uni” “well if your struggling we can get you on a YTS scheme” I’ll never forget that’s what was expected of me poor girl from rough council estate. First in my Danilo to stay on past age 16.

I went to uni got a biology degree then didn’t know what to do with it, ended up moving to SE England and working in a lab for 11K a year (was 1997) when I left that line of work to have DD1 I was on 38K aged 29, had 11 years as a SAHM then went back to uni and became a teacher. The ceiling for non promoted posts is now 41K in Scotland which I think is decent.

I didn’t ‘access’ a magic job. I started my own business and worked damn hard, morning noon and night, for many years. Now I’m reaping the (well deserved) rewards.

I don't have a magic job unfortunately, I worked damn hard for it and earn around 60k, my DH nearly double that, we're in the finance sector. Agree that it's majority location based. I could earn more if I was back in London or the SE again.

@PattyPan

I went to Oxbridge and have a masters but I’m still a standard rate taxpayer, clearly I have gone very wrong somewhere if there are all these highly paid jobs out there and no one offered me one

Over 321,000 people in the UK earn over £150,000. Over 20,000 of those earn over £1million.

And that's based on HMRC information, so it's (a) highly reliable and (b) will understate if anything, given the creative tax arrangements of higher earners. The numbers of people on £100k-£150k will be hundreds of thousands more.

Just because you don't know people in this situation, or have an Oxbridge degree like @PattyPan, doesn't mean that others aren't in this group.

Not believing how many people are on these kind of incomes is how groups like the Tories get voted in by people who will be hurt by their policies - because people like my family feel that they are comfortably off, worry about benefit cheats one street over and never realise the massive layer of privilege above that is sailing through life pretty untouched.

Source: www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/17/ineq-a17.html

I agree no one should say work hard and you will do well. I agree. So I suspect there is really at heart no disagreement on the thread at all.

Of course there is disagreement. The suggestion was, very much, people just have to make the right choices, and you know it was.

”well if your struggling we can get you on a YTS scheme” I’ll never forget that’s what was expected of me poor girl from rough council estate.

I wouldn’t necessarily jump to that being about your background. My friend, straight A student, not from a council estate, was told the same thing. As was I. I suspect here was some kind of push for YTS schemes back in the day. Maybe careers advisers were on some kind of kick back.😄

Location is important as to how much you can earn but please don't think London is representative of "the South ". The south west is very different to London. However, our house prices are not low !

Also, my DH retired 5 years ago after 39 years of teaching,

on just £34,000, after working 60 hour weeks for many years, jumping through hoops and coping with ever changing goalposts.

Can only dream that things might have been different, but then we may never have met, having met at Teacher Training College !

All 3 SILs in late 20s, mid 30s and early 40s earn more now than DH retired on but only just, despite one of them being on a nucleur submarine atm.

SIL was an Area Medical Officer for Health in Wales, with over a hundred people under her, earning about 5 times more than my DH ! But I know of no one else earning high salaries.

Careers teacher at grammar school would not give us salary information - said careers should be chosen to enjoy not for money! We weren't advised to do anything specifically - we did a personality questionnaire and that threw out suggestions - pretty much the same approach that my kid's comprehensive take - both schools obsessed with University applications as opposed to actual careers. Sometimes 18 is just too young to chose.

@MintyMabel I suspect your right YTS schemes were the thing back in the day lol

If you learned a good trade a YTS wasn't so bad but apprenticeships vary so much in their quality.

I definitely think there is lack of direction/knowledge of what jobs are out there.

I come from a very "local town for local people" type place. I went to a girls' school. I remember asking my maths teacher what jobs you could get with a maths degree and her GENUINE only answer was "mathematician"

Of my school contemporaries, the few I keep up with, 45 years since leaving, one has a PR company and a holiday home in a sought after Cornish village as well as a home in a nice part of London. Another does something similar to me, for good causes, and also lives in London with a lot of travel and volunteering, several emigrated; one inherited her father's job and is eminent in her field. One is a fairly senior civil servant. Another also went into PR and ended up as quite the power player in local business, though not via a degree. Lots went nursing and to teach or became physios, and the most decorative ones married well and now run property/holiday/farming businesses. From the people I've lost touch with, some will be doctors and scientists too; the school taught well across the board. It remains a very good school.

ToryAldi, IMVHO, I think it's a cop out when career advisors don't talk salary expectations. I loved my job/work and there were very few days I didn't look forward to working. However, the reality is that in many occupations, the enjoyment arises from the company and collegiality of all being in this together, and liking your colleagues. I had some terminally dull brain-numbing temp jobs that were redeemed by the other inmates.

JanewaysBun, I think you summed up education in the UK in that. Ask a teacher what opportunities exist in the field and most who went to uni and now teach their subject have no idea beyond teaching the subject or more advanced study. Personal view here, but I think teaching would be vastly improved as a profession if NO ONE was allowed to go from a degree straight to a PGCE. A B.Ed, yes, but to go from school, to uni, to a PGCE and back to the classroom to teach your favourite subject creates a blinkered view. Everyone who teaches at secondary level should know more about the world and what's out there than school.

I had a reading age of 14 when I was 7, and always excelled in humanities subjects. I got three AAB at A-level, but was given zero guidance about the importance of attending a good university (I opted for a local poly) but eventually landed on my feet by securing a series of prestigious arts jobs. I topped out at around 40k, though suspect my career trajectory would have been quite different had I been raised under different socio-economic conditions.

My husband grew up in the US, in an upscale suburb of NYC, and from a very young age knew he would be a doctor/lawyer/engineer. He earns well into the millions as a successful law partner.

I sincerely hope that the career/university guidance in UK schools, particularly in deprived areas, has improved leaps and bounds since the mid-nineties.

Regrettably stopgap, the careers advisory service in most areas has been largely dismantled. I did volunteer to help my local school sixth form, for free, with their students' university applications procedures and tutoring, and did not even receive a response... not even, no thanks. I know teachers are busy, but that seemed... I actually struggle for an adjective to describe it.

I think the assumption that higher earning jobs don't exist for women, is itself limiting and doesn't inspire other women, or importantly young girls/women to understand the art of the possible.

I have one of these so called "magic" jobs. I was clever at school though not a genius by any standards but had a huge work ethic instilled in me from an early age which meant i was able to amplify what I naturally had into a stellar set of GCSEs. I chose very academic A levels and degree. After university, I went into the City on a graduate scheme, where starting salaries these days are usually around 30k. The average salary for someone with my qualifications is £100k. Again high work ethic (90 hour weeks were the norm at some points in my career), ability to make the right connections at the right time, being good at my job and making the right career choices at the right time (always carefully considered) were important in propelling me in my career beyond the average. Before I get lampooned, when I say high work ethic etc, I am not comparing to a cleaner or key worker, I am just comparing to those who did the same graduate scheme or had the same academic results.

I do think it's important for young women to understand there is a broad range of things they can do and that "magic" high earning jobs aren't the sole preserve of men.

This may be irrelevant to the discourse of the thread but it’s almost 11pm and I started working at 4am today. This isn’t every week but it happens and it’s a reminder that I’m worth every penny.

I’m getting increasingly worried by the mega salaries paid to senior staff in some Academy school chains. Very little oversight- ripe for corruption and lining families pockets.

If any switched on journalists cared to look it’d probably be the next big scandal.

@VestaTilley

I’m getting increasingly worried by the mega salaries paid to senior staff in some Academy school chains. Very little oversight- ripe for corruption and lining families pockets.

If any switched on journalists cared to look it’d probably be the next big scandal.

I think if you look at historical editions of the National press you’ll see MAT senior staff have been pilloried aplenty.

One of the best ways to get rich is by not squandering your efforts for somebody else's gain. Start your own business and exploit others for your own profit.

Twist very true

I love all the people commenting about how bloody hard they’ve worked as if poor people don’t also work incredibly hard Obviously I just need to pull myself up by my bootstraps, I mustn’t be making enough of an effort! Wow!

@XingMing, that hurts my heart to hear there’s been little progress.