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.

So I think there are opportunities out there, notably in the UK these tend to be finance, IT. legal or technical. There is no magic to this. It requires lots of hard work, achieving good qualifications (for me a degree, qualification as an accountant then an MBA), working hard in my field and a willingness to move around (roles and geographically including international mobility). This lifestyle is not for everyone, at this level my employer owns a bit of my sole and I can get queries at the weekend, and work late into the evening where it is needed. Good life though, socially, and I love the work, and I would not change it. Family wise, as for many women, it is always difficult to juggle, but my family have always been supportive.

I was on a high earning career path (one of the job types mentioned here) so was already on a high salary in my late 20s when I had my first child. I then switched to a more family friendly job and plateaued for a bit with incremental salary increases and didn’t think I would ever breach the 100k mark. It wasn’t something I was aiming for, just a thought that passed my mind. Got fed up of the incremental (non-market rate) increases and difficulty of progressing/getting promoted in a male-friendly job so went through a gruelling job search, looking for somewhere that would have more respect for me and treat me better. A year into the new job I’d already doubled my salary compared to previous job and honestly am still struggling to understand how this has happened to me. In a couple of years I’ll be pushing £200k. I have a modest lifestyle and I’m not sure what I’ll do with the money, no plans for private school. I like to think I’ll start paying large chunks to charities once my mortgage is paid off. I work hard but I definitely don’t have a hard life. Love my job. My kids are happy and well adjusted. I had a really tough few years managing working and attachment style parenting and not sure how I coped but life is really good now. Hang in there anyone who is struggling now and wondering if it’s worth it!

Changed name because someone in RL knew my previous username

@ANoTail I think you missed the point. The point is that there are high paying jobs out there, and that people get them. In my case I never got them because I was lazy and unmotivated. That was within my power to change, but it took a long time for the penny to drop. In actual fact, one of the reasons I didnt give my employers fair return is that I was working a second job to afford the horse and so was exhausted and distracted half the time. Other people may not get the big jobs because they are unqualified, uninterested, or in a line of work that doesn't offer the same incentives or packages. But the jobs are out there - which is the point of the thread.

It appears that statistically £100k puts you in the top 2% of earners so it would appear those high earners are disproportionately represented on MN.

With a household after tax income of £1872 per week, you have a higher income than around 98% of the population - equivalent to about 64.3 million individuals.

That’s from the IFS calculator and is based on a single income. Two £100k incomes puts you in the top 1%.

www.ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in

The actual leader of my county council doesn't earn more than £100K

I absolute love that ‘councillor’ is being used as the benchmark for highest fathomable income

I also think a lot of people just don't believe in themselves and their ability to earn a good salary. There are skills to earning money (such as setting concrete goals, pursuing things relentlessly, looking for unusual opportunities, committing entirely to things that will pay-off financially, focus, blah blah). I honestly believe that some people think they are not capable or worthy of attaining a high salary when if they had a bit of guidance on how to channel their skills, they could become high earners. I know I could definitely earn more if I wanted to but I try to balance my stress and my life outside of work.

Isn't it lovely how all the high earners on MN never seem to be busy and always have time to flood these threads every time they come up grin

Exactly my point. The one person I know who does actually earn over 100k works in London all day and then essentially most of their evening too every night. Then most weekends as well, even just taking calls. There's barely any time in their day to eat, nevermind reply to numerous posts on mumsnet.

I would never want their job. I like having a work/life balance. I don't want to be working all the time and having no fun, I like having relaxing times. I like not having to be working all hours of the day or being on call all the time. That's what high salaried jobs expect, realistically if you worked out how much they are paid versus how many hours they do, they aren't probably technically paid that much more than me. But they are ruled by their job. No thanks.

I'm always surprised at how many people know their friends salaries! I have no idea what my friends and their partners earn. It's never come up in conversation.

Well part of what I’m saying is that I have a high salary but I’m not killing myself working either. I do have busy periods eg a few weeks ago I was working until past 1 am for about a week straight but then I had a quieter period after that and I can mostly manage my time in a way that works for me. Eg if I’m stupid and procrastinate during the morning (sadly all too frequent) I can make up the time in the evening. The more senior you get the more control you have over your time (and if I was sensible I would use that to my advantage rather than letting work interfere with my evenings).

I don’t but DH and a few of my friends and DH’s friends do. Most are company directors or c suite bods (of actual companies not ‘boss babe’ companies), a few are hospital consultants, one is a corporate lawyer. We don’t live in the SE.

We are all over 40 though!

I'm a solicitor. I'm 46. I work for myself having previously worked at a top international law firm. I work from home and spend way too much time on MN. What I earn varies according to what comes through the door that year but over £200k. If I worked harder I'd earn more but I have taken my foot off the pedal a bit recently.

I'm state educated and the first to go to university in my family. No family assistance.

And so many of friends work just as hard as I do...but don't get financially rewarded for it. They don't have life balance either.

@CakeRequired I would say most weeks I do around 35 hours works. Sometimes more, sometimes less. What is really helpful to my employer is that I’m quite flexible about my time, so when longer hours are required, I’m happy to do it. I think it’s really important for people (especially young girls but also young boys) to know that there are jobs where you can be well paid and still have a work life balance. Where you can prioritise your family when you need to. A colleague’s toddler got sick and she took off for a week, no issues no questions asked. I know I can do the same if I have any personal or family needs. It doesn’t have to be work or family.

I’m a private sector lawyer. I earn about £70 plus bonus full time but I’m part time. Mid forties.

There is a guy older than me and full time and on about the same

Good salaries yes, but it’s a myth that lawyers are well paid and it’s a stressful and frustrating job

Btw forgot to say - I’m mid-30s

@Lobelia123
The jobs are there, sure. But I'd have thought that, as the average wage tends to float around 30k, most people aren't in them. But the people who are in them seem to be massively overrepresented on MN. Now, I know that people are more likely to post about their 100k salary instead of their 25k salary but the OP is entirely justified in asking how exactly such a high percentage of MNers have these jobs. Everyone has their own "normal", of course but I'd have thought it was fairly well known that the norm in the UK was not six figure salaries.

I think if you live outside of London and the SE it is different. I know a fair few people in the SE in IMO overpaid sectors who earn double what I do for middle management type jobs.

Outside of London, the high earners are know are doctors (you don't need to do private work to earn 6 figures), school senior leaders, and people with their own business. My plumber has grown his own business which is now a large firm. He rakes it in, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer chap.

I'd say that part of this is due to the probability that people are likely to mention their salary if it's remarkable in some way - either because they don't have enough to live on or because they are on a high income. Someone on £35k who is mostly doing ok is probably not going to have any cause to mention their income. So, selection bias!

I think a lot of people like to believe that they wouldn't like to be high earners because there is no work/life balance. Not always the case.

As said, my DH earns 95k as a software developer in FinTech and usually gets about 40k in bonus on top of that. At the moment, he works entirely from home and his workplace have already said that, post covid, he only has to go into the office 1-2 days a week, if that.

He works 9-5.30, he takes his lunch, he drops DS off at school. His boss has no issue if he needs to pick DS up from school either. He has a great work/life balance. Rarely works in the evenings, only if there's an emergency.

I'd say my work/life balance is a lot worse than his - I work part-time for a charity in an HR role and I'm frequently working evenings and weekends. Yet I don't even earn a third of what he earns.

I work very hard for about £60k

I think I am underpaid now for my experience and am actively looking for better pay. And yes, that is one of my main criteria now. It didn't used to be - wanted to make a difference - but I'm old enough now to realise that that noble aim doesn't really line the pockets and I've only so much time left to earn some serious cash.

Ironically I earned more in my 20's than I do in my 40s - I think that is known as the penalty of motherhood, lined up alongside divorce!

Good salaries yes, but it’s a myth that lawyers are well paid and it’s a stressful and frustrating job

I think what you mean is it’s a myth all lawyers are well paid. Many are not, but many are.

@skippy67

I'm always surprised at how many people know their friends salaries! I have no idea what my friends and their partners earn. It's never come up in conversation.

It needs to. I am a great advocate of publishing everyones income it shows others what the market rate is and if you are being underpaid allows you to legitimately negotiate a pay rise. Employers want to pay you the bare minimum they know what all your colleagues earn so when you enter a pay negotiation they hold an advantage over you. In silicon valley (where i have many colleagues) pay is openly discussed on the forums and people use it to openly negotiate good pay package. I wish we had the same here in the UK.

@Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow

I’m a private sector lawyer. I earn about £70 plus bonus full time but I’m part time. Mid forties.

There is a guy older than me and full time and on about the same

Good salaries yes, but it’s a myth that lawyers are well paid and it’s a stressful and frustrating job

I think you meant to say that it’s a myth that ALL lawyers are well paid - obviously loads aren’t, but I work for an international firm in the city and our trainees start on about £50k and everyone is on £100k plus after a few years. It’s completely standard in London, but nothing like that outside of London.