to believe the Mumsnet High Earners?

[LigPatin]

Every time there's a thread about earnings, there's always multiple posters who claim that most people on the thread must be inflating or plain lying about their salaries.

Whilst I recognise that people lie, especially on anonymous forums, I find it quite sad that people prefer to dismiss these posts as lies rather than take inspiration/education from them (or just not care).

I come from a poor background - we never had enough money to the point that food and electricity use was rationed. We weren't on the streets, but that was a looming possibility. We lived (mostly) within the midlands.

I fell into nannying as a career (having dreamed of being a primary school teacher) and my first job was in Kensington. The housekeeper had been gossiping about the rent on the house we worked in - it was £3k a WEEK. This was 2012-ish. I remember wondering how on Earth anyone could afford paying £200k+ a year on rent alone, when - in my mind - earning just £50k was amazingly rich.

I remember walking through Kensington and Knightsbridge and Chelsea and seeing thousands and thousands and thousands of these houses, all huge and grand and all presumably commanding similar rent or sale value than the one I worked in. They were all clearly lived in and used.

Perhaps it was arrogance, or naivety, but I figured that if there were enough people who could afford to pay £1k, £2k, £5k+ a week on rent (or buy million pound houses), then there must be a lot of money out there to be earned, and I couldn't see any reason as to why I couldn't find a way to get a share of that money.

That's sort of how I feel about these earning threads - hundreds of people are posting about their high salaries and instead of scoffing that they must be sad-sacks who hang out on Mumsnet to lie about their lifestyles - I think it's inspiring and encouraging to see so many women out there making amazing money and securing their futures.

FWIW - I was 21 back in Kensington, amazed at the £3k a week rent. I'm coming up to 30 now and my average yearly income is about £120k. I remind myself every day of how lucky I am, and how 21 year old me would have been incredulous. Though I'm, of course, absolutely nowhere near being able to rent a £3k a week house

I think most are telling the truth though I do think there are also some fantasist who post too.

Theres a guy I know who I see pop up on Facebook comments relating to business / entrepreneur articles and always makes reference to the fact he makes a 'multiple six figure sum'. We were suspicious how true this was as he lives at home, his mum got drunk at a party and spoke about her frustration with him and how he cant pay board or contribute to house hold bills, so obviously his comments were lies.

Theres the obvious mlm lies on FB too where they post these really dodgy looking payslips saying they've made 20k in one month. I know that's mainly for sales purposes but I think theres a level of 'positive affirmations' in that, that they have been told if they say and act like it happened, then it will happen. Maybe theres an element of that on the lying posts on here.

Saying that as I said before I do think the vast majority on here are telling the truth. It's the overly obnoxious ones that I sometimes doubt, such as the;

"Me and Hubby both bring in about 300k, but unfortunately it doesn't go very far when your two DC need you to rent land so they can exercise their ponies, when we travel too I get claustrophobic in economy class so it's pretty essential for us to go business, and as our home is so large we require a full time house keeper and hubby also has a very expensive outing hobby, so money can be a bit tight at times "

Those make me a tad suspicious!

Also, me and my partner bring in joint about 100k living in the north east, In terms of standard of living, house size and spending money we have we would probably have to be on over double that to get the same standard of living in London.

Really interested know from those who disbelieve that women have high salaries, do you live under a rock? Even if you don’t live in central London, are there no hospitals or doctors surgeries in your town with female medical professionals? No schools with senior female teachers? No large retailers with female managers? No small/medium businesses at all with female owners? No lawyers? Or do you just have a very limited imagination?

sst1234
No one is disbelieving that women make these high salaries. But what a lot of people are saying anyone can type any old number on their computer plus with the amount of trolls on here is it a wonder who to believe?

@Mreggsworth
You are very right !!!
I earn around double what your income in but live in London. We have a very modest house ( selling and moving to a slightly bigger one but actually cheaper one soon )
Nothing fancy. I don’t drive fancy cars. We are very lucky to be mortgage free and to have savings but we don’t live the high life.

Fair play to all the women who are top of their careers, I’m not doubting their are lots of high earners on mn. But with the amount of trolls on this site I take everything with a pinch of salt
Same here.
I don't doubt there's high earners, but think some people lie or exaggerate on here and typically think that's likely if they're showing a very limited understanding of the rest of society.

I can't take people seriously who simultaneously claim to be a highly successful high earners, but are so silly to suggest that anyone could be there if they worked hard enough/claim to be so financially stretched they don't know how they'll manage on an income several multiples of the national average.

Really interested know from those who disbelieve that women have high salaries, do you live under a rock?

I don't disbelieve that women have high salaries. I dispute that so many have them. An awful lot more people are on £20k than £120k

I think , looking at gov statistics for 2020, less than 3% of people earn 100k +. On the last MN thread over 12% claimed to earn that much. The average wage is about 30k, I calculated from a recent MN thread, and it was 58k (and lots of people had effectively demoted themselves or had potential to earn more but chose not to. ) I cant decide if MN is skewed towards people with high earning jobs or whether people get to page 2 where every other poster is earning 80k, at the age of 25, and decides not to post about earning very average wages.

I think it’s very rare that anyone on here is inspired by anything to be honest. 🤣 I think it’s brilliant that you realised your potential and what a fantastic story. Lots of posters on here are jealous and short sighted and I think if you have the belief you can achieve anything then you can. Most people prefer to say it’s not possible and not try rather than be seen trying in case they fail 😊

@UrAWizHarry

From experience, earning that amount of money is a blend of hard work, picking the right industry at the right time and a very large slice of luck.

There are people who sit on their arses, do fuck all and command massive salaries.

There are people out there with 3 degrees who work their arses off and earn a relative pittence.

Don't make the slightly dickheaded assumption that there is a corrolation between hardwork and pay.

Exactly! Well said.

@fizbosshoes

I think , looking at gov statistics for 2020, less than 3% of people earn 100k +. On the last MN thread over 12% claimed to earn that much. The average wage is about 30k, I calculated from a recent MN thread, and it was 58k (and lots of people had effectively demoted themselves or had potential to earn more but chose not to. ) I cant decide if MN is skewed towards people with high earning jobs or whether people get to page 2 where every other poster is earning 80k, at the age of 25, and decides not to post about earning very average wages.

MN skews high (I’ve seen it in their press kit so it must be true...) but these threads are so self selecting it’s not surprising that the average is inflated. Consider that we all have the privileges of internet access, a functional device, time to browse, then free time to post and it all adds up in little ways. It’s not surprising to me that the percentages don’t match the general population because we aren’t the general population, we are one subset of one corner of an Internet forum and there’s a lot behind that.

Well done on your success.

It takes hard work, dedication, sometimes luck to find your niche.

I think the incredulity comes from the very thought that someone could be a high earner but have time to comment on MN, which is just nonsense. Just because someone earns a high salary doesn't mean you can't do anything else with your day.

Why do people want to post about their salaries online? What do they want to achieve by doing so?

Good for you OP and well done!

What a long post for a not so stealth brag

@UrAWizHarry
Agree. There is a lot on MN threads on earnings that are quite black and white about working hard, finding opportunities, making sacrifices etc = higher pay. Or that hard work, responsibility and mental load = high salary. Neither are that simple. If they were footballers, and tv presenters would be the hardest working, with the most responsibility...which I'm not convinced is true.

Ignoring that often nuances like family background, schooling , networking or connections, privilege, natural talent or skills, luck, being in the right place at the right time can be contributary factors. Sometimes people get defensive about those, and somehow think it diminishes their hard work....but they are not mutually exclusive. It's completely possible that a lot of people are very ambitious and hard working and have one or more of the above advantages which gives them better potential for a higher salary.

I've only had 3 jobs in my life (although all low to average pay) 2 of which I got from word of mouth rather than a formal interview process.

YABU to post such a long post without a proper point, just to boast about your salary. I am a high earner and I don’t doubt the salaries shared on mumsnet are real. I used to earn £5 an hour, now I charge £75 an hour. After studying, training, building up skills, experience and contacts. Do I think everyone can do it? No. And it certainly won’t manifest by looking at rich people’s houses. I had the privilege of great grades, the chance to go to university and moved to London where pay is higher. It’s no secret, but it’s also not as simple as just aiming high.

Can I remind the op that your earnings will dip after 40/50. I earned a huge salary in - 1998-2003. We call it the Harry Enfield years! Save it now because age is a cruel master. I am lucky if earn 20% of my previous salary at 55.

Well done you .You are paid what people think you are worth .I worked as a maternity nurse and I got paid a good salary .You save it and have a good life .I started out a a nanny got good qualifications then did Midwifery so I feel I am paid what I am worth with my experience as well .You do not need to be good at your job always to get a good salary sometimes it’s old boys network n

Good for you! You are an inspiration but there is so much resentment towards people who do well. It is like people who do well needs to be apologetic about it.

@LipstickLou really? Most women I know in their 40’s / 50’s are getting more leadership roles/ board positions/ NED’s. More are setting up their own businesses also.
They’re actually viewed as quite covetable for two reasons.

1. The push for more gender parity in senior positions is increasing (not going away).
2. at these ages, a lot of women are viewed (sorry but true) as past child bearing age. So they do not have the grind of babies/ toddlers.

In my industry the amount of senior women in these brackets is increasing and with that. So are salaries (and the all important dial turning equity/ stock).

[quote sassbott]@LipstickLou really? Most women I know in their 40’s / 50’s are getting more leadership roles/ board positions/ NED’s. More are setting up their own businesses also.
They’re actually viewed as quite covetable for two reasons.

1. The push for more gender parity in senior positions is increasing (not going away).
2. at these ages, a lot of women are viewed (sorry but true) as past child bearing age. So they do not have the grind of babies/ toddlers.

In my industry the amount of senior women in these brackets is increasing and with that. So are salaries (and the all important dial turning equity/ stock).[/quote]
In my industry the cut off point appears to be 48 (see my thread). I have decided to look outside my industry. I had my own consultancy and have closed it. It made me a good income pre covid.

Can you inspire me by telling me what you did in 9 years to earn so much?

@LipstickLou that’s such a shame! It’s a given that actually at that age, most people have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience which is super valuable.
Any transferable skill sets into other industries?

I think more knowledge is always useful, so I agree with OP that knowing what’s practicably attainable and what people did to get there will help others get there too.
And yes I believe those salaries because I know people in their 30s-40s earning >1million a year ( in jobs, not through owning their own businesses) and these people come from normal families , ie they did not get their jobs via family connections