To ask how you would spend a salary of £300k?

[iwishiwasafish]

In a similar vein to “what would you do if you won the lottery” … how would you spend an ongoing salary of £300k per year?

That’s £25k per month before tax.
£14,180 per month after tax.

@NotMyCat

Horses. Horses. More horses That's the money taken care of

I would have a cleaner and someone to make me delicious health meals, a personal trainer...

Yes yes. More horses. Big fancy new horsebox for said horses. Ditto stable block. Oh and an indoor arena and FT groom.

Plus FT housekeeper who also cooks. Swimming pool. Private education for both DC. Home improvements, flat in London and some very nice holidays with first/business seats for all. Ahhhh sounds nice 😊

Probably not change much, I think DH would go part time though. We both like our jobs.

My BIL earns that much, but other than buy a flat in Central London and a house in Surrey in cash, DSis and him live a very modest lifestyle. They do donate a lot to charity.

Remember if you plan to employ full time staff you also pay employers NI...

Yes, a good 50% in tax is about right in our case. It helps that neither of us give a f* about "designer" clothes etc. I buy second hand if I can, or a few M&S bits. Buy most of DS's clothes off eBay. Drink exclusively €9 bottles of wine. Would hate a housekeeper! You pick what is important to you!

Save it and retire in 4 years

Mortgage, bills, food, the usual stuff.

@Italianways

I am not quite at 300k but not far off.

Firstly masses goes on tax and NI. You do not have any personal allowance at this level, and you have virtually no pensions allowance so you are paying tax on your pension contributions too.

If you have young kids, you spend a lot on childcare just like anyone else (except you don’t get tax free childcare). If you are earning 300k you are probably working all hours God sends, so you will be paying for some kind of wrap around care. Probably a live in nanny, because who else is going to cover for you if you have to pull an all-nighter or go to Frankfurt on a business trip at short notice. And if you have a live in nanny and kids you need somewhere big enough to put them in. And if your job is in London, which many 300k jobs are, then that home is going to cost you a fortune in rent or mortgage payments.

Older children - probably if you are on 300k, unless you are ideaologically VERY motivated, that means private school fees, so anywhere between 20k and 40k per child depending on age and school, from after tax income. Many of my friends have three kids, so that’s maybe 100k a year, more than half your take home pay, on school fees alone.

Finally there is the big expense people don’t often talk about which is alimony/maintenance. It’s not uncommon for people who work long hours and earn a lot to be on second or even third marriages, and (while things are changing now) there used to be a presumption that as well as child support, ex-wives should be kept in the style to which they’ve become accustomed without needing to get a job. That can get very expensive, especially if you’ve started a second family with a new partner.

Once you’ve done tax, pension contributions, a bit to savings, childcare/school fees, mortgage/rent and maybe child maintenance and alimony, there’s no room for “staff and assistants”, or some of the other very expensive ideas mentioned on this thread.

In my experience people earning at this level tend to be time poor, so you often see them spending their spare cash on nice holidays to exotic places - a kind of compensation for not seeing their families very much.

This is a very well made comment. As many of my colleagues earning these amounts are on second families as not.

A £300k job would be a pretty horrible job - lot of stress and responsibility. I’d do it for 5-6 years, save as much as I could, retire with no mortgage and live off the interest.

Dunno. Can't imagine it, don't want to imagine it. I suspect some of my neighbours earn this. Who cares?

Just to say, my job is not horrible. It's not easy and can be stressful but I love it

Yes this is an ill divided world. I know that sum is nothing compared to some high fliers but really what jobs can deserve that amount of money.

Thanks all!

Lots of food for thought.

I asked because I have an offer - basically my job at another company for nearly twice as much money i.e. £300k+

DH is a SAHD and we manage very well on my current £160k as a household income, including paying £40k of it into pensions, overpaying the mortgage, supporting some charities, and generally being quite comfortable.

I said to DH I didn’t think it was worth moving, because even though it’s basically the same job, it’s still a new team, new company, and there is always a risk in moving jobs (if I got long term sick during the probationary period, for example). Also might be more travel and I won’t really know until in the job.

DH wanted me to research what we might want to spend the extra on, so thank you for contributing to the research

I like the idea of a housekeeper, although DH doesn’t even like the idea of a cleaner.

Kids are teenagers, so no childcare costs, and both are very settled and getting top grades at the local high school, so we are lucky there.

A slightly larger house would be nice.

Most of all I like the idea of retiring early. I’m nearly 50, and can’t see me still doing this in 20 years. I have genuinely no idea how much of an investment portfolio would be needed for that though. I always assume we are going to be eating cold beans straight from the tin in retirement.

Still not sure it would be worth the risk of the move though.

Same as I spend it on now, just on a bigger scale

I know people who earn this. Kids go to private school, nannies for the holidays, big house in the south, new cars, takeaways.

@iwishiwasafish glad you have come back with that info.

My advice (for what it is worth) is take the job. Then save as much as you can so you can enjoy retirement. Plus enjoy your life now

My exH earns this but in another country so is taxed at 8%... He doesn't pay maintenance and I raise the 3 DCs on a part time teacher salary, so god alone knows what he spends it on. Someone who used to be his friend did say, he must talk to his money because he's got no one else left...

@iwishiwasafish
I hadn’t realised this was a genuine question, I wrongly thought it was either a complete hypothetical or perhaps a slightly goady, let’s have a go a people earning a lot type post. Sorry.

They say that the marginal utility of extra earnings once you get past about 40k diminishes rapidly. It doesn’t sound you have big debts to clear or major outgoings or any massive itches to scratch with the extra money so I would probably stay where you are, if you are happy. In my experience a doubling of salary usually comes with strings - usually there are some big problems at the company they want you to sort out (for women, the famous glass cliff), and/or big problems that have put off people from going or staying there.

In terms of retirement, work out how much annually you would need to maintain the lifestyle you want. Then work backwards from there.

With only a few years to retirement I’d take it @iwishiwasafish spend some time with a financial advisor review your pension and investments to work out how long you ‘need’ to do it for. Would your existing company make a counter offer to keep you?

@iwishiwasafish

Thanks all!

Lots of food for thought.

I asked because I have an offer - basically my job at another company for nearly twice as much money i.e. £300k+

DH is a SAHD and we manage very well on my current £160k as a household income, including paying £40k of it into pensions, overpaying the mortgage, supporting some charities, and generally being quite comfortable.

I said to DH I didn’t think it was worth moving, because even though it’s basically the same job, it’s still a new team, new company, and there is always a risk in moving jobs (if I got long term sick during the probationary period, for example). Also might be more travel and I won’t really know until in the job.

DH wanted me to research what we might want to spend the extra on, so thank you for contributing to the research

I like the idea of a housekeeper, although DH doesn’t even like the idea of a cleaner.

Kids are teenagers, so no childcare costs, and both are very settled and getting top grades at the local high school, so we are lucky there.

A slightly larger house would be nice.

Most of all I like the idea of retiring early. I’m nearly 50, and can’t see me still doing this in 20 years. I have genuinely no idea how much of an investment portfolio would be needed for that though. I always assume we are going to be eating cold beans straight from the tin in retirement.

Still not sure it would be worth the risk of the move though.

I would do it. I’ve never regretted a job move yet, and if the pay is higher it likely comes with more seniority, more respect, people valuing you and your input more etc. plus possibly more flexibility. And the extra money can do a lot to make up for being time poor. Do it!

@iwishiwasafish

Thanks all!

Lots of food for thought.

I asked because I have an offer - basically my job at another company for nearly twice as much money i.e. £300k+

DH is a SAHD and we manage very well on my current £160k as a household income, including paying £40k of it into pensions, overpaying the mortgage, supporting some charities, and generally being quite comfortable.

I said to DH I didn’t think it was worth moving, because even though it’s basically the same job, it’s still a new team, new company, and there is always a risk in moving jobs (if I got long term sick during the probationary period, for example). Also might be more travel and I won’t really know until in the job.

DH wanted me to research what we might want to spend the extra on, so thank you for contributing to the research

I like the idea of a housekeeper, although DH doesn’t even like the idea of a cleaner.

Kids are teenagers, so no childcare costs, and both are very settled and getting top grades at the local high school, so we are lucky there.

A slightly larger house would be nice.

Most of all I like the idea of retiring early. I’m nearly 50, and can’t see me still doing this in 20 years. I have genuinely no idea how much of an investment portfolio would be needed for that though. I always assume we are going to be eating cold beans straight from the tin in retirement.

Still not sure it would be worth the risk of the move though.

You earn 160k and think you will be eating cold beans from a tin in retirement?

I would have a massive house with 'help'
Garden, house keeper, chef, PA

Private school for kids

Holiday home or two

Financial advisor

Wouldnt go far actually.

work part time

HHSchultz sounds like a great offer if the job is exciting, but 160 is a decent income. However, meant in the kindest possible way, you are a little naive about what ( not daft) people earning that sort of money do with it.

You and DH really do need to take a little time to learn the whys and wherefores of investing. On that salary you simply aren’t going to be spending it. That’s not what sensible people do with that money. Invest it well and for good. Learn about tax efficient investing and compound interest. You have an opportunity others will never have to invest for your own and your children’s future, to invest ethically, to make money to give to good causes. Of course you will be able to retire early. Easily.

Beyond a baseline level of nice to have luxuries ( cleaner, money pit second home in France, school fees, lovely food, holidays), we invest and have done for years. It will hopefully be enough to retire at 55 (we started early which helps a great deal, more so than investing hundreds of thousands later on), give the kids a good start in adult life and set up a charitable trust to support the education of looked-after children. All that is a huge privilege and is worth much more than flash cars and designer handbags.

@ThinWomansBrain in my experience these types of jobs aren’t available part time