To ask what your goal salary is?

[SmokeyApo]

Hi all, just being nosey here

I have been thinking a lot about career progression and asking for a raise lately, and that got me thinking about what my goal salary is. As in, the salary that I would like to earn at the peak of my career (let's say between age 40 and 50).

So I will ask: what would your goal salary be?

I won't share mine for now just because I don't want to influence the answers, but I will happily share it later on.

I’m a programme manager in public sector in IT . I manage 2 people x

Lots of people have mentioned a career peak but I have never really thought about when my peak would be.
After studying, volunteering and interning to get paid work in my (competitive) field, I only started working at 25, and on a very low salary. My salary has tripled in the last 13 years and I just had a baby and want another soon so my salary will plateau for a few years now. Is it likely to increase once my kids are in school etc or have I reached my peak?

I had kind of assumed I would just earn incrementally more until the end of my career through a series of internal promotions and moving to different organisations, which is what I have been doing the last 13 years.

What do others think about the peak?

What do others think about the peak?

I assumed the same, I had my children at the start of my career so I've not had any troughs, it's been a steady incline upwards and I plan for it to continue that way unless I decide to go part time before retiring. I can't see me wanting to retire early but would perhaps go part time for a while once mortgage, pension and savings are sorted.

As to what I do I am currently a professional decision maker for a large organisation.

I'm nearly 53 and graduated as an AHP last year. Before I had kids I was on 35k in public sector IT support, relocated & started a job in the NHS as non-clinical Band 6, dropped to PT on about 18k after mat leave, then dropped 3 pay bands, still PT, to start work in a non-registered clinical role.

Now back FT again on nearly 25k but realistically probably won't get past Band 6, top is 37k-ish. Single parent, 4 kids, no child support from ex.
I'd just like to be able to buy a house. No chance at the moment but the rent I'm paying is costing me more than a mortgage would and I'm worse off than when I was a student. Plus after 2 years on the basic pay, I'll have to start repaying my student debt of £60k.

I find it strange when people 'feel like shit' or feel upset in some way with these high earning type threads.
Firstly, mumsnet is generally London and South East centric where people who are qualified for high earning careers tend to migrate to.
Secondly, in many of the cases of people feeling hard done by, they have made a choice to work part time/work in a lower paid role away from a big city/not take too much stress and responsibility. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this but it is a choice that will ultimately make less money.
I'm not ever going to earn 100k because I chose to be a teacher and I dont plan on being a Headteacher ever. I'm okay about this, it was my choice to make and my salary works for our family needs.

@justwant2beamum I’m a marketing strategist.

I’m 22 and my salary is a little above £27.5k. Earning anything above £40k seems like a total lifetime away. I can’t see myself in a senior or managing role so not sure I’ll ever earn much more...

Not sure I get this thread. Aren’t goals totally subjective? Don’t get me wrong, I have mine, but (in the absence of persuasion to the contrary) I feel quite strongly that my own goal (which is very specifically based on my own circumstances, qualifications and experience) really has no bearing on anyone else or theirs...

I could be under-thinking (for a change) though!

@Covidconfuse

Lots of people have mentioned a career peak but I have never really thought about when my peak would be. After studying, volunteering and interning to get paid work in my (competitive) field, I only started working at 25, and on a very low salary. My salary has tripled in the last 13 years and I just had a baby and want another soon so my salary will plateau for a few years now. Is it likely to increase once my kids are in school etc or have I reached my peak?

I had kind of assumed I would just earn incrementally more until the end of my career through a series of internal promotions and moving to different organisations, which is what I have been doing the last 13 years.

What do others think about the peak?

I’m mid 40s and feel like I’ve reached my peak earning...I have had steady career progression since graduating. I had kids late on as I deliberately wanted to achieve a certain grade/salary before having babies because I assumed that having kids would be the death knell to career progression. Turns out I was wrong! Since returning from Mat leave number 2 I got a new higher paid job and promoted twice since then, although I did go back full time and I have a brilliant DH who does by far the bulk of the childcare. I’m now one step away from c-suite role but not sure I really want it...hence I fear I have peaked (and I’m not sure how much longer I want a job with this amount of stress!). I started off on a good grad salary and currently early about 11 times that now, before bonus.

Omg you guys aren’t public sector workers then.......lol!
Lordy I definitely chose the wrong job...... oh ...hang on a minute...... nope I didn’t as I LOVE my job never one day the same as another and I’m really helping people - well kids - I’m a teacher in a PRU I truely truely love it. I earn enough with my partner we’re on about 90/95,000.... I’m 50 my wage won’t go up Without taking on my responsibility.... my hubby’s still may....we do live in London tho
We both love what we do and I sounds naff but that’s really important

Can people who earn £50k plus please share with the rest of us what they do 😂😂

I run a law firm. Hire, fire, strategic planning, financial planning, attorney and staff development. It all falls under me. Love the work but it is never ending and very stressful. I planned to retire two years ago but agreed to stay on until next year to steer the ship through shifts in the company. I am tired and ready to go, but the extra savings in the pension pot will be worth it. I hope.

Can people who earn £50k plus please share with the rest of us what they do

I work from home making and selling craft items.

I earn very average wages and dont have huge potential to earn a lot more in that industry. I am starting an online course to gain additional skills, but still unlikely to earn a fortune. I'm ok with that, and I actually had no idea of the salary range when I started - I chose it because I thought I would enjoy it.
However I dont neccessarily thing higher wages always means working harder or having more responsibilities or mental load. (And sometimes, although not always, privilege, opportunity, luck , contacts, and being in the right place at the right time help people on the way to lucrative careers) Many lower paid jobs also have a huge amount of responsibility and mental load, but are not valued as such.

I worked in medicine. It involved a ton of studying and a specialist niche.

Drunken, asking about friends/relatives' legal profession pay - sometimes you can work it out. In bigger firms the initial salaries are published. There are also articles about profits per partner in bigger firms and smaller ones are often registered LLPs (and some normal limited companies) and you can see for no charge the accounts at Companies House which gives useful information. Some earn very very little at all and less than teachers so it is a very mixed bag with law. I wanted to be a partner and like most people even the top of the top who get into the big firms I failed although set up on my own and happily working I hope until I die and as I said above been on six figures since the 1990s.

On the issue of reaching a peak earnings it depends on the career - footballers and actresses tends to be younger than lawyers. Some law firms ease people out in their 50s. I hope to work until I am 80 as I am the firm. Some jobs you do get better as you get older. I study law every day, not a single day of the year goes by when I do not look at a court judgment or new piece of legislation. I don't think at 59 I am below a peak in terms of brain anyway so far. However I am content with what I earn so no plans to want or buy a second home (I sold the island in Panama) or a flash car or gold. I am just happy to fund the twins at university and take people on holiday, pay for daughter's wedding tomorrow etc.

I’m 28 and take home 30k and my partner is 31 and takes home 60k

I feel incredibly lucky to be on 30k, considering I really didn’t do well at school, and I lack serious self esteem and ambition. Went to college and not uni.

I was on 22k until 3 years ago where my current work place promoted me to what I do now. And I’m extremely grateful.
I’m probably at the top of the pay scale for this line of what that I do, however I’m satisfied with my salary and jointly with other half I think we’re going to be fine.

We live in London but in the future when children are in our lives we’ll definitely be priced out. However, I’m not complaining.

Omg you guys aren’t public sector workers then.......lol!

Lots of people here have said they're public sector and earning over £50k, that's only above grade 7 in civil service of which there will be tens of thousands.

DH and I are both 40 and earn about £40k each, we live comfortably. I can see his salary going up in the future but I don't think I'll get above £45k even with a promotion. I don't have a salary goal as such but just want to progress and see my pay go up as the complexity of my work does.

I work in the charity sector so I will never earn huge amounts despite what some people think about charity salaries. I'm a middle manager at a medium sized international charity and earn 38k. Unless you're very senior at a very large charity there isn't much chance of earning more than 50-60k and I would feel happy with that. DH in contrast is a middle manager in financial services and on 55k. We're both mid 30s and feel comfortably off as a family.

This thread has made me very depressed 😢😢😢

Since being on mumsnet my ideas on what a good salary has been skewed. I'm 28, 2 years ago if you asked me I thought 45 k was when I've really made it! And in my line of work (allied healthcare professional) that is not far from the peak. I came on here and started to question with me still being young whether 45k should be my goal or if I should aim higher when I started to see the dizzy heights of the salaries mentioned here.

I had two motivations. One being my partners family act like I'm stupid and have questioned my work ethic due to me leaving two jobs in a relatively short time (both good reasons, one was too big and expensive commute, the other I got physically assaulted multiple times). The other is to be honest just having a severe case of the green eyed monster reading posts on here.

I decided to go self employed as that was the only way I'll make big(ish) bucks. I'm currently at a stable 45k a year. In next year I think with me securing some more contracts I may get close to 60k

Though in the next few years I'm planning to start a a business. Obviously I cant predict my income but my goal would be 100k.

My partners salary is 50k and we live in a very cheap area in north when most salaries around us are between minimum wage and 21k so we already feel well off.

Sounds weird but I honestly wish I wasnt bothered about salary goals. Wish i could just be content with what i have but always feel I've got something to prove.

I'm on 35k and DH on 45k so 80k all in. We don't have a lot of debt so have a comfortable lifestyle with our youngest going to school this year which will free up nursery fees.

DH is deputy head of IT and I have a niche role where I could earn 80-100k if I take more qualifications. I'm on the bottom rung of that ladder as I only got into the job recently. Would like to be on 50k within 5 years at least with DH likely to go up to 50k within 2.

We live in Suffolk.

@Mreggsworth

Since being on mumsnet my ideas on what a good salary has been skewed. I'm 28, 2 years ago if you asked me I thought 45 k was when I've really made it! And in my line of work (allied healthcare professional) that is not far from the peak. I came on here and started to question with me still being young whether 45k should be my goal or if I should aim higher when I started to see the dizzy heights of the salaries mentioned here.

I had two motivations. One being my partners family act like I'm stupid and have questioned my work ethic due to me leaving two jobs in a relatively short time (both good reasons, one was too big and expensive commute, the other I got physically assaulted multiple times). The other is to be honest just having a severe case of the green eyed monster reading posts on here.

I decided to go self employed as that was the only way I'll make big(ish) bucks. I'm currently at a stable 45k a year. In next year I think with me securing some more contracts I may get close to 60k

Though in the next few years I'm planning to start a a business. Obviously I cant predict my income but my goal would be 100k.

My partners salary is 50k and we live in a very cheap area in north when most salaries around us are between minimum wage and 21k so we already feel well off.

Sounds weird but I honestly wish I wasnt bothered about salary goals. Wish i could just be content with what i have but always feel I've got something to prove.

My salary goal isn't their to prove it to other people. I was on £36k single person that salary didn't leave me much at the end of the month, so if I wanted a holiday or do something for the house I'd have to save up least 3 to 4 months and I hated that.

So I wanted to get to about £55k, im on £50k now so not too far off but that means I'm more comfortable, have £1400 spare after mortgage and bills so I can save for future, still go on a weekend break and be a little more frivolous with my spending as in u don't have to be watching what I spend as much as before.

I'd like to get to 75k because it means I can save quicker because utilamtrly I want to retire early and not work up to 67. And you for a comfortable retirement life you need money. But I know going up next level will mean more hours and I dont know if I want to do that as I like my current worklife balance.

So you should set your lifestyle goals and see what money is needed to achieve that. Much healthier way to look at it and there is less pressure on yourself.

@StayingHere it isn't hard to see why people find these threads depressing. There will be a lot of people struggling to make ends meet, living pay check to pay check with no real hope of earning more. Whether that is down to poor education or poor choices or bad luck, it doesn't change the fact that it is a hard way to live and these threads full of people earning 100k and more just highlights their situation.

I personally made bad choices. I do earn well compared to some but I work in a job that I don't enjoy and find stressful and that doesn't suit my skill set. I have chosen to study in the evenings to learn something I enjoy and potentially change career but it won't be a high paid profession.
The option to study law or medicine for example is long gone. The hours needed to start from the bottom aren't compatible with family life now and I would need to leave my job to do it which we can't afford. A lot of high flyers work hard in their twenties and can reap the rewards when they have kids. Financially we can't afford for me to quit my job so evening studying is the only way but it does mean that in the course of the day I only have half an hour to myself and it's a slog.
At 21 I had great A levels, a great degree and the world was my oyster but I made bad career choices, I prioritised the wrong things. That's why I find these threads depressing. Probably won't read one again.