To ask for ‘normal average’ salaries?

[Mamacita191]

After seeing loads of posts recently about what people earn, I feel like it’s a completely different world to what I am living in. I live in the midlands and a good salary is 30-40k which is what most people comfortably sit at. I certain rarely see jobs advertised for £60k or more (even 6 figures which I’ve read is what some people make!). Even the jobs that people advise to go into such as lawyers and accountants in a good firm etc don’t make 3 figures as I’ve read on here.

Is it just me who thinks 30-40k is a normal salary that a lot of people sit comfortably at? Am I missing out on something?

@Xenia

You really do live on another planet.

@Voldr why? I think @Xenia point is valid - young girls should definitely be given the visibility and information required to set their sights higher. How can you dream big if you don’t have all the options and some role models.

I really wish my careers advice at school in the early 2000s had better ideas for girls than hairdresser, teacher, nurse, doctor, accountant, dentist, nursery nurse, care assistant. The world of possibilities and highly paid possibilities at that is huge and the advice was so outdated.

[quote Nanananani]**@Voldr* why? I think @Xenia* point is valid - young girls should definitely be given the visibility and information required to set their sights higher. How can you dream big if you don’t have all the options and some role models.

I really wish my careers advice at school in the early 2000s had better ideas for girls than hairdresser, teacher, nurse, doctor, accountant, dentist, nursery nurse, care assistant. The world of possibilities and highly paid possibilities at that is huge and the advice was so outdated.[/quote]
Exactly!
There are plenty of people in niche roles making lots of money - roles the general public don’t know about. Or even consider.
Of course not everyone can make lots etc but when you grow up believing that making such amount isn’t possible you won’t even bother trying. So many people in their 30’s retraining. Imagine how much time and effort they’d have saved if they were correctly advised!

I earn 40K and my DP 25K. We live very comfortably (in Yorkshire). I can't imagine our salary would go very far in London though, our mortgage is only £300 a month.

@Royalbloo I’m the same as you. My salary has almost tripled in 3 years and at the same time I’ve just stopped paying childcare costs (apart from after school club). I was already on a good salary but renting and paying childcare expenses in London. I lived very frugally for many years. Now we own our own home, the mortgage is much cheaper than rent, the after school club costs are peanuts, and all the extra income is disposable because my day to day living expenses haven’t increased. I find it completely mind-boggling and I can’t talk about it to anyone except my husband and we are both just “how???”. His income has more than doubled during the same period. Obviously it’s really nice but it’s also very strange and I find it hard to get my mind around it all.

My husband is on £18,000 before tax working full time on a little above NMW. I work part time and earn around £12000 before tax.
We get by on it but I won't pretend it's always easy, especially with rising prices.

[quote TractorAndHeadphones]@OnceUponAThread a lot of the couples with one kid are likely to have a lower paid part-time earner? The figures don’t really make sense tho[/quote]
@TractorAndHeadphones yeah it was the couples with no kids that I found alarming. Does coupling up somehow mean you earn less?

@TractorAndHeadphones Yes that was kinda my point. All the non IB analysts earn more than high street solicitors (and high street solicitors would have needed to get a training contract for 2 years in order to qualify). On the other hand, you would be an analyst straight out of university.

[quote onlychildhamster]@TractorAndHeadphones Yes that was kinda my point. All the non IB analysts earn more than high street solicitors (and high street solicitors would have needed to get a training contract for 2 years in order to qualify). On the other hand, you would be an analyst straight out of university.[/quote]
Not exactly a like for like comparison though - as there aren’t many opening for IB specific jobs that aren’t crazy competitive. Traders, equity research or similar grad schemes take only a handful of people every year. Some banks don’t even recruit for all roles every year.
The rest like finance, HR, etc aren’t ‘IB analyst’ jobs. They’re HR or finance jobs just working for an investment bank.
From what I know TC’s for magic circle law firms are as competitive as IB but not the rest.

The easiest way to high earning without undue effort is to join a Big4 firm as it’s a body count in many specialties, once you qualify you’ll be fighting off offers from recruiters….

To be honest a lot of posters are being a little disingenuous here. Talking about joint incomes of over £150k+ but "feeling poor". That kind of income is obviously not poor and would put them in top 1 or 2% in the UK using the link previously shared.

It is obvious £150k is a great level of income and far from poor! The choices they make regarding outgoings and keeping up with their social group etc should not detract from that.

@TractorAndHeadphones Dh is working in middle office in an investment bank and has a law degree. He is earning more than our friends in london high street firms.

IB and Magic circle law firm would be just as hard to get into. The reality is that the vast majority of law graduates would not get into Magic circle. But they would probably be able to get a regular finance job which would still pay 6 figures/close to 6 figures esp as VP/ED. I can't say the same for all solicitors who work for high street firms.

[quote onlychildhamster]@TractorAndHeadphones Dh is working in middle office in an investment bank and has a law degree. He is earning more than our friends in london high street firms.

IB and Magic circle law firm would be just as hard to get into. The reality is that the vast majority of law graduates would not get into Magic circle. But they would probably be able to get a regular finance job which would still pay 6 figures/close to 6 figures esp as VP/ED. I can't say the same for all solicitors who work for high street firms.[/quote]
The thing is a lot of people from privilege wouldn't see it that way as to them almost everyone they know who studied got into Magic Circle firms. I am not from privilege but the law people I knew from my RG uni almost all got TCs from top firms - Magic Circle or regional but high paying. I don't think anyone had to pay for their own training and some got given lump sums to go off travelling if they deferred (economic crash).

@Newmumatlast we (DH and I) were from RG law too. And one of our friends is from cambridge law but working in a small law firm. Another of our friends was from RG but did law conversion, working for a high street firm. We have friends in Magic circle but most of our classmates were international students

@Newmumatlast The difference of course is DH is not from privilege and neither are those friends. But did get into RG/Cambridge.

[quote onlychildhamster]@TractorAndHeadphones Dh is working in middle office in an investment bank and has a law degree. He is earning more than our friends in london high street firms.

IB and Magic circle law firm would be just as hard to get into. The reality is that the vast majority of law graduates would not get into Magic circle. But they would probably be able to get a regular finance job which would still pay 6 figures/close to 6 figures esp as VP/ED. I can't say the same for all solicitors who work for high street firms.[/quote]
Yeah that makes sense. Especially if Finance grads start in Big4. Even audit (which is easy to get into it’s a body count) , put in 3 years of time and you’re looking at 80K by 25.

I also agree with you in that I don’t know why people go into law hoping to make big money. But then again some people think that 30K is a huge salary in which case It’s probably good enough.

Depends what you think good money is - as you say some people think 30k is huge - and also your prospects of earning that. Run of the mill uni without any contacts or good work experience and without good grades, plus going for an area of law which attracts less pay (i.e. crime) and no, you are highly unlikely to ever earn good money and will have spent a hell of a lot of money getting there. Top uni, top grades, contacts or great work experience and your prospects are a lot better at securing a TC or pupillage in a good firm/chambers and in a more competitive area of law which is higher paying. Then I think good money is on the cards. I think it would be difficult to argue 6 figures isn't good money given where that places you in % of population.

@MerlinsButler

To be honest a lot of posters are being a little disingenuous here. Talking about joint incomes of over £150k+ but "feeling poor". That kind of income is obviously not poor and would put them in top 1 or 2% in the UK using the link previously shared.

It is obvious £150k is a great level of income and far from poor! The choices they make regarding outgoings and keeping up with their social group etc should not detract from that.

I don't think it's being disingenuous - everyone has completely different ongoings. If you have a salary of £150k and 4 kids v 1 kid, or live in London v North of England, or you make the decision to go private with schooling, then of course you might "feel poor".

I think aspiration is a huge thing when it comes to salary - I have only ever thought of 30k as a "starting salary". If a young person chooses a career etc with the mindset that it's a "huge" salary they will (1) continue to be paid less than their peers even if their role could be paid more; and (2) they won't be as selective about which careers they go into. I've mentored juniors before who took a job without even negotiating the salary because they were earning more than their parents earned, when that's not really relevant.

Consistently frustrated that women especially are pushed towards more of the low paying careers despite their academics or potential. Fair enough if that's what they genuinely desire to do, but many go into professions because their school careers advisor suggested it aged 15.

That was the point I was trying to make. Women often limit their aspirations because their family thinks £30k is a high salary etc. One job in Wales got no women when the pay was £50k as they thought they were not good enough but at £35k suddenly women started applying for it.

If a young person chooses a career etc with the mindset that it's a "huge" salary they will (1) continue to be paid less than their peers even if their role could be paid more; and (2) they won't be as selective about which careers they go into. I've mentored juniors before who took a job without even negotiating the salary because they were earning more than their parents earned, when that's not really relevant.

I can see your point but on the other hand, if you consider yourself well-paid on £30K, you might actually be happier than someone who's always chasing a higher salary.

My friend who earns 140K would be devastated to find herself on my 40K, but for me it feels generous, because I didn't grow up with an expectation of a very high salary. I still feel excited about being able to buy what I like in the supermarket, for example. So I kind of feel in an odd way it's an advantage not to grow up expecting a lot - for your happiness if not for your actual wealth.

It's all relative. I am on a well over six figure salary, DH is retired and has pensions of about £40K a year. We have no debt, two homes and investment portfolios. I come from a very deprived background so I realise how lucky we are, but in my work circles and among our group of friends we are the poorest by a big margin.
A small but influential minority are extraordinarily well-heeled and do not realise this is not the norm.

I'm in SE. On joint income of just over 100k. 3 bed ageing house in decent area. 2k a month rent. We're comfortable but by no means rolling in it. Have moderate second hand cars, holiday in UK mostly (no hol since pre covid) and look for deals. I realise that I don't have to worry about needing new school shoes or shopping £, which we used to have to do and that is a privilege.

We are on 75k combined. One FT, one PT worker. Quite well but have low mortgage.

It would depend what job you do and what region you live.
But I know for a lot of semi skilled jobs around 2013 salaries were ok, then they got rubbish and now 8 years later have only just got back around the 2013 wage again!
I see lots of admin jobs advertised and they too haven't moved up much.

Friends I know who are PAs wages have gone down on the open market.

But those in professional jobs have been getting pay increases.

Lots of people across the country are only on minimum wage. Only around 18k a year yet lots of top professionals are on near 100k.

But most semi skilled London jobs are around 22-27k whilst skilled professional jobs around 35-60k. Management top jobs higher.
Head of year teachers I know on around 70k-80k.

Wages surely differ across the country because the cost of living does too? Higher wages where we are (near London) come with higher rent. DH and I lived up north where our rent was a quarter of his wage. Now he pays more than half of his wage on rent alone. Wages may sound great but the cost of living is way higher. It’s costs me £28 a day to get to work!

@Thecathouse

Judging by my parents, my siblings, my partner (postie) and my previous salary most people on here claim an average salary to be ridiculously high

Minimum wage for 40 hours a week is £1395 a month before tax

That's £16,742 a year before tax.

Most people are on minimum wage

My dad is slightly higher at 20,000 a year after tax, my partner is very lucky and earns around the same

Everyone else close to me earns minimum wage and manages just fine on it

You are likely under selling yourself. Something like the bottom 7% of earners nationally earn minimum wage.

If you are experienced and reliable, even without a lot of qualifications, it’s likely you can get a significantly higher paid roles.

Threads like this are important so people can assess their own value better. Start looking for your next step!