AIBU to think that the majority of people on here are middle class and high earners?

[Kaylasmum49]

Just curious.

On here people define wealth = salary some of which I suspect are made up.
In real life wealth is made up from several different streams - salary, property, shares, savings, assets, investments, pensions, inheritance, winnings, etc.

True, however for a lot of people salary is the only stream, so easy to forget the others when they don't play a part in your life at all.

There’s a vocal minority and a lot of complete fantasists on Mumsnet.
It’s far more normal now than when it was launched

MN is a site where people will argue blind that £85k is not a high income. I take a lot of "we only have £5k a month to live on can we do that?" posts with a large pinch of salt and believe a lot of apparently wealthy posters are fantasists, but there are far more well off people here than on many comparable sites. Which in itself is obviously fine, but when some of then come out with bollocks about not being rich as they are spending their large salary on an expensive house just makes you feel tired.

Have you ever seen the results of the mn census

@Funkypolar

Don’t believe everything you read on Mumsnet.

One in five people earn the minimum wage. One in three children grow up in poverty.

Exactly, no-one is called upon th prove their circumstances, some brag up and some brag down. I am constantly amazed at how everything is taken at face value.

@Zenithbear if you haven’t grown up with wealth it’s hard to change your mindset. Our lifestyle will change for sure but we aren’t rushing into any major changes and are doing boring things like overpaying the mortgage in the meantime (we managed to buy before the change in income). It works for us [shrug]

I thought it was the other way round - more Low to mid earners.

Anytime people post about joint incomes over £35k you get reams of people scoffing about how they could only dream of that much money and how OP must be buying gold plated ponies

I think the thing that skews it is London. I regularly recruit people at a salary of £65K and it's not considered a high salary - more a middling one. Yet I realise that the same salary would afford a good lifestyle in other parts of the UK. I doubt very much that someone on a salary of 100k with a SAHP could afford to send kids to private school as well as have regular holidays abroad if they lived in London for instance.

I think you have a point op, I'm not a high earner by the standards of my area/ social circle. But my first thought was how could a family get by on 24k joint.
Do you live on a very cheap area?

Mumsnet doesn't really seem to be the place to ask investment advice or what to do with spare £100k. I'd go to money saving expert fir that sort of advice. So lots of higher earners probably don't post about it here as not generally relevant to most threads (and being British don't want to boast about own salary)

To clarify, I don’t think that everyone who uses gosh will be saying it to appear posher than they are, but many do on here. I’ve been on MN a good few years with several name changes and at the beginning I found myself doing the exact same sort of thing as I really wanted to fit in. I’ve stopped now as I’m more comfortable with my elder self, but I still need to remind myself sometimes!

For reference I’m a very mediocre earner, working part time as I have an autistic 4 year old. So in effect very poor (but happy all the same)!

I think there's a lot of middle class and high earners on MN, but not necessarily the majority. Confirmation bias can mean that you see what you are looking for; so you skip over the posts which are asking about how to make money stretch further, being on benefits, or in insecure housing.

Personally, I'm not keen on the class threads, because I don't find them particularly interesting.

I do like the high earner threads, because from the position of someone who is one, I like to share how I got to where I am with other women, so those who aspire to do the same can see it's not an impossibility.

I'd love to be able to post all of the details of my life and how I live, however some information would be just too outing. I share what I can and ignore those who claim it to be fiction.

I say gosh all the time, by the way. I'm not posh at all, though with a Home Counties accent others may beg to differ.

The reason I use gosh so much is that I don't swear, so use that as an alternative.

I would be far more interested in knowing peoples disposable income after mortgage, car, school fees and bills are deducted.
I'm betting some of the high high earners have very little at the end of the month.

MN is a site where people will argue blind that £85k is not a high income

instead of throwing figures around, it's more interesting to read what actual disposable income people end up with.

It's very easy to laugh at £85k, but once you remove tax/sometimes commute/bills and yes, a mortgage, do you think an £85k salary is helpful to find social housing/ childcare because you can't work and take care of the kids....

it might not be as much as you think compared with someone who has a lot of help from child benefit to free school meal to social housing low rent...and often TIME and no need for expensive childcare

There are just many threads about people who can barely afford a camping holiday in rainy England than about kids who take their kids on a luxury holiday to Disney...

or posters with neighbours from hell, complaining about horrendously loud neighbours, stuck in semi or terraced...and threads laughing that anyone with a detached and a large garden must be "rich"

or posters stuck in jobs they hate but have next to no hours, no responsibility

to show that there IS a large mix of posters on here!

A few years ago it was significantly less, under 100k which when living and renting in greater London and paying childcare costs doesn’t feel like mega riches

This type of post perfectly illustrates the op's point imo.

It doesn't matter where you live or what outgoings you choose to have. Anywhere near a £100k income IS 'mega riches' compared to the VAST majority of people in the UK.

The failure to realise this and the number of posters who are seemingly so well used to having a six figure salary that they are unable to comprehend how many people can and do survive on a quarter of that (or less) is what gives MN the 'tone' it does IMO.

@Watermama

I would be far more interested in knowing peoples disposable income after mortgage, car, school fees and bills are deducted. I'm betting some of the high high earners have very little at the end of the month.

But that's the point, they could always choose NOT to pay school fees and a fancy car surely

I find this post very strange. I am a very high earner and I have come on here to ask advice because I know their are trained lawyers, accountants etc who are Mumnetters. Money saving expert is more about saving money in your gas bill. I don't think people make it up - it's a useful tool for all people from all walks of life. Maybe there is the odd fantasist but ordinary people do earn six and seven figure salaries, have holiday homes and live in country houses with pools and labradors. It's a fact.

It's very easy to laugh at £85k, but once you remove tax/sometimes commute/bills and yes, a mortgage, do you think an £85k salary is helpful to find social housing/ childcare because you can't work and take care of the kids....it might not be as much as you think compared with someone who has a lot of help from child benefit to free school meal to social housing low rent...and often TIME and no need for expensive childcare

😂😂Oh please... did you just compare an £85k salary with someone on low income with help from CB/free school meals and social housing and imply they're in the same position?😂

£85k is £4800 a month.

Someone on £12k with, say, 3 dc, will have £1k net plus £200 CB, £300 school meals and approx...what...£800 UC and £500 of rent covered?

That brings the two incomes to £4800 a month vs £2800 a month.

I find it fairly amusing to see how far people will go to prove that those with high incomes are really no better off!

@SimplySusanna but the ones who are working probably pay commuting charges or need a car, childcare costs etc. You can't just compare net salaries there are also outgoings.

I know plenty of friends whose household incomes exceed £100k. They are in their 40’s/50’s though and 2 professional middle management salaries could easily total six figures for a household. I don’t think it’s unusual to reach a career peak/salary peak in this age group. The older you get, the more of your contemporaries will become senior management, board directors, equity partners, sell off successful businesses, etc. Obviously, not the majority but the numbers increase.

We never discuss our salaries generally in RL - which is why it’s great that MN threads about jobs/salaries are open (regardless of those who want to post fantasy figures - why bother since it’s an anonymous forum where you can change your un!)

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

MN is a site where people will argue blind that £85k is not a high income

instead of throwing figures around, it's more interesting to read what actual disposable income people end up with.

It's very easy to laugh at £85k, but once you remove tax/sometimes commute/bills and yes, a mortgage, do you think an £85k salary is helpful to find social housing/ childcare because you can't work and take care of the kids....

it might not be as much as you think compared with someone who has a lot of help from child benefit to free school meal to social housing low rent...and often TIME and no need for expensive childcare

I really don't know where to start with the last paragraph of this quote.

And I speak as someone who has, in their orbit, a family with a 14 year old DC who is given £1000pcm spending money, another family who have to wear coats, hats and gloves indoors because they can't afford heating, and families/people in all sorts of situations in between.

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

MN is a site where people will argue blind that £85k is not a high income

instead of throwing figures around, it's more interesting to read what actual disposable income people end up with.

It's very easy to laugh at £85k, but once you remove tax/sometimes commute/bills and yes, a mortgage, do you think an £85k salary is helpful to find social housing/ childcare because you can't work and take care of the kids....

it might not be as much as you think compared with someone who has a lot of help from child benefit to free school meal to social housing low rent...and often TIME and no need for expensive childcare

I agree with the above. Depending on where they live, a combined salary of £85 does not go far especially if a couple has children. It's manageable but not a high income.

I wonder if men on dadsnet would take the same approach to high earners as this thread shows. So many high earning posters have shared their income but been mostly ridiculed, scoffed and disbelieved by others. Maybe not personally but in spirit. Surely, the logical thing to say would be, congratulations, how did you get there, what do you do, any hints or tips?
That’s an upfront question too by the way in case some of the posters want to share their experiences.