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

[Kaylasmum49]

Just curious.

There are whole sectors in which starting salaries are close to that [100k]

Which sectors have starting salaries close to that?

I always feel poor and working class on MN
I don’t pretend to be anything that I’m not but am well aware that others may
However, I am an amazing human being, and immensely proud of my life and achievements
I rock!!!!

@m0therofdragons NQ solicitors at a magic circle law firm will start on that

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.legalcheek.com/2020/06/top-paying-magic-circle-firm-keeps-nq-pay-at-100k/amp/

@JaceLancs

I always feel poor and working class on MN I don’t pretend to be anything that I’m not but am well aware that others may However, I am an amazing human being, and immensely proud of my life and achievements I rock!!!!

I'm sure you do.

There are loads of poor people on here, they talk about it too. There are also plenty who used to be poor but found their finances improved as they got older. Many from working class backgrounds.

We all have similar problems though, when it comes to life experiences, relationships, children, illness and bereavement, etc. Nobody is without difficulties in life.

It's nice to hear that you are making the most of your life.

Lol at a household income of 250k who uses it to put the heating on whenever, buys a bit of extra food and overpay the mortgage.
However back in the real world I was doing all of that on a household income of around 60k and investing in property, paying towards a pension and saving a fair amount every month as well as a couple of holidays abroad, possibly a cruise too and several UK breaks each year.
On £250k my financial plans including treats/holidays would be scaled up considerably.

I earn £8.75 an hour and I have the heating on whenever I want. I'm not being bloody cold in my own home. £250k is more than double what my house cost, I could pay my mortgage off in a year if I earned that.

I don't even feel poor either. I don't earn a lot but the high earners on here all seem to have enormous mortgages and bills, private school fees and childcare costs, commuter costs (maybe not now due to Covid).

I earn minimum wage - topped up with working tax credit as I'm a single parent. My mortgage is £300pm, council tax band A, minimal childcare costs, no car, and no commuting costs as my work is a 10 minute walk from my house. Small outgoings mean I live comfortably (in non Covid times). I probably have more spare cash than some people earning more than me.

I live in Surrey and there are loads of people earning a tonne of money.

You only need to look at the house prices in the Home Countie and the number of people whose children go to private school to work that out.

How you feel about wealth totally depends on your peer group. I have had clients tell me with a straight face that they have a very modest estate - £1m house and only £250k of savings! But they move in wealthy circles so in their world yes they are bottom of the heap.

Then I have other clients who literally have nothing say a curio flat and £5k savings. Weirdly seems to be little difference in the happiness levels of the two groups. Those with modest estates mix with others in a similar boat so it’s normal for them.

@zenith in the SE you wouldn't be able to buy a second home on 60k a year. You'd be lucky to buy one

@Zenithbear

However back in the real world I was doing all of that on a household income of around 60k and investing in property, paying towards a pension and saving a fair amount every month as well as a couple of holidays abroad, possibly a cruise too and several UK breaks each year

And I think this is where circumstances, particularly the london issue, come in to play.

15 years ago when I earned £70k (can’t recall what take home was) but I paid £2200 pcm for childcare for two DC which I’m pretty sure was more than half my take home. Before anything else was paid. Living in London money was very very tight. I’m not complaining I was incredibly fortunate in many ways but there were definitely no savings or cruises

I enjoyed MN back in its MC heydays.

You only need to look at the house prices in the Home Countie and the number of people whose children go to private school to work that out.

That's the issue though, I work with lots of people in their 50s who earn less than me for example but are all in 1m plus houses with tiny mortgages cause they built up so much equity as they got on the ladder in the 90s.

However back in the real world I was doing all of that on a household income of around 60k and investing in property, paying towards a pension and saving a fair amount every month as well as a couple of holidays abroad, possibly a cruise too and several UK breaks each year

That would be incredible hard to achieve these days & remember wages have not increased over the last few yrs. Jobs that payed 70k ten yrs ago still tend to pay that.

My aunt & uncle earned about 70k at their peak, they bought their London home for 50k in the early 90s & a holiday home for 20k. Properties now worth 2m combined & they have very good local gov pension.

@PegasusReturns precisely. Back when our household income was under the 100k mark we were paying around that much per month for childcare (£2.2k), rent plus council tax was another £1.5k, commuting another £600 for two of us and we were saving up to buy our first home in Greater London. So we were careful with money, few luxuries, basic holidays. Things are different now but nothing is guaranteed, especially in this precarious covid-world, and I’d rather secure my future by being mortgage free as quickly as possible than go on lots of lavish holidays. And I couldn’t be less interested in purchasing a buy to let property.

[quote finkking]www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.legalcheek.com/2020/06/top-paying-magic-circle-firm-keeps-nq-pay-at-100k/amp/[/quote]
That's not the starting salary though- they have to do a professional qualification and couple of years as a trainee first.

Not that it's a bad salary for someone three or so years out of uni

That's not the starting salary though- they have to do a professional qualification and couple of years as a trainee first

It’s the starting salary for a newly qualified lawyer though. You have to train for most professional jobs in some manner.

Yeah but they join the company first on a training contract and do a couple of years of rotations to different departments before qualifying.

In the same way that an accountant/ engineer junior doctor etc will have to did similar until they qualify.

Although the training salaries are usually very good as well I don't think it's super helpful to people who don't understand the training paths in the professions to describe it as a starting salary as you can't achieve it without qualifying and you can't qualify without working as a trainee on a lower salary.

Its obviously still a very lucrative career path and a couple of years on 40-50k as a trainee is no real hardship, but they aren't handing out 100k a year to anyone with a law degree.

but they aren't handing out 100k a year to anyone with a law degree

But no one stated they did

Most people understand that to be a lawyer you need to be qualified and you can start your career is a “qualified solicitor” at £100k.

You would describe the starting salary for a qualified electrician as that which they were paid during their apprenticeship.

OP, ultimately, this is the internet and, just as very wealthy people do exist in real life, some of them will inevitably be posting in MN. I’m not sure why anyone would be shocked about this.

I will NC after this thread, but I’m on MN (obviously) and so are quite a few other people I know. This is London, house prices in this immediate area are at least £4-5 million. Hundreds of thousands live in areas like this. No idea how many use MN but there’s nothing stopping them.

Most women I know are SAHMs with very high earner DHs or, increasingly commonly, DHs that are retired / semi-retired in their 40s / 50s because they no longer need to work having become ‘self made.’ Independent schools are the norm. This will be called a stealth boast probably, but it’s irrelevant as nobody knows who I am. However, I have no reason to make anything up. The only reason I am saying this is to confirm that, of course, people who are considered very wealthy in terms of national averages will be on MN, as will anyone else. We all have children. Why wouldn’t they be? I don’t understand this kind of reasoning - “Well I don’t know people like that so they don’t exist and must be making it up...” Have a look in the education boards and you’ll see loads of threads on independent schools, the entrance exams etc etc etc - that’s how I found MN years ago and I certainly won’t be the only one.

It’s the starting salary for a newly qualified lawyer though. You have to train for most professional jobs in some manner.

Yes, I assumed that was already implied. As you are a trainee & not officially started if that makes sense.

Its obviously still a very lucrative career path and a couple of years on 40-50k as a trainee is no real hardship, but they aren't handing out 100k a year to anyone with a law degree.

Did anyone say that? Plus plenty of qualified lawyers won't earn that in case I need to state that as well.

This is London, house prices in this immediate area are at least £4-5 million. Hundreds of thousands live in areas like this.

Are there really hundreds of thousands of 4m homes in London? I'm surprised by that.

fink - I would think so, though obviously I haven’t counted! There are streets upon streets of such houses, not to mention apartments. Where I live, a small one bed flat over a shop is at least £500K and this is not even one of the super-expensive areas.

1-2m absolutely but 4m plus Im not sure.