..to struggle to comprehend huge salaries?

[missbunnyrabbit]

I was reading the thread about how much people earn having been to grammar/private schools and I just cannot get my head around how much lots of people earn. My head just cannot imagine such huge salaries. People earning over 100k, what on earth do they even do with that money? Do they buy everything gold-plated? That's a joke BUT I have no idea what anyone does with that sort of money or what it could be needed for. This isn't a bashing thread or anything like that. I'm just a bit stunned.

Does anyone else's brain struggle to imagine such huge amounts of money?

@Idessa I didn’t say it was old, I said it was eight years old

DH and I each earn much more than what's mentioned in the OP (DH is actually in the 7 figures zone) but I bet you would never guess if you were meeting us. Very plain clothes (quite a few from M&S!), only one car, no fancy holidays... Essentially we have loads of savings (DH is a worrier) and investments/properties (where the taps are not gold plated). And we do spend a lot on DCs' education.
We could have a much more expensive lifestyle but we don't do it as we don't feel the need to, we don't want to lose our friends and we don't want our DCs to get used to it.

Trust me, it's not much after tax.

The money literally is about having freedom from worry and slightly nicer surroundings. This sums it up for me.

I am about to step into a job which will increase my salary by about 40%. With bonus this will take our household income over the £100k line. This is coming relatively late in my career. My plan is to save for the next 10 years so that I can retire at 65 with enough money to bridge the gap to state pension age and a decent pension pot to give us a comfortable retirement.

The biggest thing I am hoping for is freedom from worry. Our DCs are young adults. We wont be able to help them out with house deposits but I am hoping that we will be able to help them out if they are in difficulty.

@Libertaire

You do realise that the government takes 40% of everything you earn over £50k in income tax, and that a gross salary of £100k equates to take-home pay of around £5500 per month, don’t you?

That’s a decent salary, particularly if your other half also works and you don’t live in London, but it’s by no means rich.

It might not seem much to you but to people who live day to day it's huge and shows how out of touch with people in different circumstances others who have it better are. 'Rich' is rich when it is considerably more than average.

I am fortunate but realise that many people struggle to just eat and heat their homes and work very hard in low paid jobs. Home care workers for example work extremely hard and low wages.

@CSJobseeker

We have a high household income, but I can't relate to many of the comments on here. That sort of money doesn't just "soon go" unless you up your lifestyle accordingly.

2 cars at £80k - £100k each? Why? We do actually have 3 vehicles, but all cost less than £20k, and 2 of them are +10 years old. One is a campervan which we use for camping holidays (we don't really do 5* hotels).

We live in a nice house (4 bed detached, but on the small end for that sort of house), nice garden, and we don't need to budget in order to treat ourselves to things like meals out or trips to the theatre etc. But our lifestyle isn't flashy or expensive. The main benefit compared to when I was poor (properly poor) is that we don't have to worry about money.

We don't have kids, so our spare income each month goes into a combination of pension, investments and mortgage overpayments, and we're also renovating our house gradually. We're working towards being in a position where we can both comfortably go part time and then retire as early as we can. After that, I'd love to volunteer on conservation projects etc.

So don't assume that everyone one +£100k thinks they have to buy a £80k car and buy a pony, because that is a long way from the truth.

Yes exactly this.

There is something spectacularly tone deaf about a long line of posters bleating about having to pay tax and school fees when most people earn far less gross than their tax bill. Not to mention the higher likelihood of high earners having decent pensions schemes and proper work contracts.

Like you I know the difference between being poor and being a high earner and whilst we have no money worries, we have never developed the flashy lifestyle. I know how fortunate I am, or at least enough not to make crass comments about how tough it is to be paying 50% tax.

I don't know what I'd do with that kind of money either. I'm not materialistic at all and have no desire to live in a big house. You can only be in one room at a time, and its just more upkeep. People always say that you can retire earlier, have more time to do what you want...but I already do what I want, because I love my work! I'm a university researcher, lecturer and professional writer in my subject. I don't want to progress and make more money because then I'd be spending all my time managing people and competing for funding instead of researching and writing. I know what I'd do with a bit more money but once it goes past a certain threshold I literally don't see the point.

If I earned millions I would defo spend more on clothes & holidays.

20+ years ago we were a struggling family literally on the breadline we are now high earners. We started a business and we were Lucky enough for it to quickly become profitable and now we earn a lot.

We have a big mortgage now. We have many lovely holidays. We eat out several times a week, go away for weekends In Nice hotels

We buy things that we don't give much thought to. We look after our children

This sounds like a gloaty post. It isn't. We genuinely appreciate our lifestyle and it was good I think to have really struggled previously

@LondonQQ

I earn that much. Out of the (approx) £5k a month take home, £3k of it goes into my mortgage and service charge. That leaves me with £2k. Some into savings, kid clubs, bills, travel, insurance etc, it soon disappears into nothing.

I buy nice organic food from expensive stores like Planet Organic, but I don’t buy new clothes often. I live in london and it’s an expensive city! For instance, I spent £40 after school yesterday on some noodles and a new book for DS and I. That’s how quickly it can all go.

I didn’t go to private or grammar school, I am from somewhere relatively working class. I came to london for jobs, got very lucky (property was cheaper when I bought and I couldn’t afford it here now), worked hard.

You bought when property was cheaper, but still pay £3k a month mortgage? Why?

Unless you mean you bought when property was slightly cheaper, like 2 years ago.

@balonsz

Good point about when you earn it. Also someone earning a 100k with family wealth behind them eg help with house deposit, etc will have a different lifestyle.

This is often the difference. Inherited family wealth that passes down can mean school fees paid, holidays, better cars, bigger homes, deposits for younger generation to buy their own rather than rent, the luxury to not have to worry about how to pay bills.

It is a privilege that often those that are in this position forget.

@XelaM

I'm one of those people on over 100K, but I'm a single mum with no support from ex-husband and my daughter is at private school and we own a pony. So I'm doing my shopping at Aldi and always worry about how I'm going to pay the next school and livery yard fees

Missing the point completely!! A single parent you say? Yet it sounds like you are boasting wih a humble brag!! Doesn't sound like you NEED support?

Similar to @RufustheBadgeringReindeer
I have always thought that you have spare income at the wrong time. When we were younger with 3 kids we didn't have any spare money.

Now the kids have gone, and we earn >8k per month after tax. No mortgage, company car, so we have a few decent holidays and weekends away. We eat out two or three times per week. Apart from that we don't spend much different than when we were young. The real difference between the younger me and the old me, is that now if I want something I can generally buy it without issue.

The big thing is we are saving to retire at 60 and buy a second home abroad.

As a single parent, to work full time when my dc were small used to cost me 800 a month in childcare alone, 1000 on mortgage, 500 bills, then you add food, petrol, parking, holidays, clothes etc etc. it all gets gobbled up. When I sat down with a friend who was a single, sahp we worked out that with what she was entitled to, and child maint. for her dc, she had more disposable cash than me. This was when I earnt 40k a year

Don’t you have children OP? Or are you a SAHM/grandparents care in a tiny village?

Childcare costs a bomb. So do kids’ activities like sports or an instrument.

Plenty of people also have things to save for like kids uni and deposits, their own retirement. Even that’s fortunate because many never will retire.

I have also been poor (had to work max hours while I was at uni) and don’t want for much but this wide eyed pretend innocence is idiotic. You can’t afford to buy gold plated everything if you earn 100K and have children!

Huge amount of tax , easily more than 50%. in our case school fees and supporting two sets of parents who have made poor financial choices over the years. We are determined that this will not happen to our dc so we save a lot into our pensions and save for the dc so that they will have some of the backup that we haven't had.

For the record I have never owned a new car, we have nice cars and run them until they die but always at least 3 years old when we buy, we do have a car for the dc to learn to drive on. Pre covid we would have a villa in the med for a week sometimes a fortnight, private pool but otherwise not luxury , think villaplus level, and a couple of citybreaks a year.We don't have a flash house. Biggest luxury I am contemplating at the moment is buying a carpet cleaner.

We earn a lot.

We don't have gold plated things. I buy clothes in Asda. My hand bag is from M&S. My shoes are from Tescos. We have a nice large house but it's in Scotland so our mortgage is very modest in comparison to many. We used to have a cleaner but since we've been wfh we don't.

We live comfortably, don't have to worry about money and save a lot. Pensions for us and savings to hopefully to the kids through universities.

We both went to state schools and so do our kids.

It's true about cutting cloth. I don't have anywhere near 5500 a month, that's a huge amount to me but realistically if I did, I'd have a bigger house with a bigger garden. I'd have a newer car that was reliable and I'd have a cleaner and maybe a part time nanny to cover my awkward childcare gaps. Add in some savings and I doubt we'd be any better off at the end of the month but our lives would be much more comfortable.

I think people lose sight of what rich is. 5.5k a month when people have billions does not make you rich because some have less.

But would you feel rich if you earned 4 x as much? (Probably?)
....so thats how people on NMW feel.
It is rich compared to a lot of people.

Huge amount of tax , easily more than 50%.

What country do you live in? Obviously not the UK.

@TheBullfinch It is ridiculous to say it is not much after tax. It is a great salary and gives you so many choices and a lot less worry. After tax and 10% pension you are taking home about 5k. That is a lot. We have a slightly higher combined income and live a lovely privileged life.

@missbunnyrabbit You have to think of uk as separate countries as sadly it is that unequal.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_of_the_United_Kingdom_by_GRP_per_capita

Inner West London has the same GRP (gross regional product -value of all goods and services produced) has the same level of wealth as Monaco. It is not surprising that they do have similar property prices to monaco- 2 bedroom flats at £1 million. Where I live (north London), we have the same level wealth as Austria. But at the very bottom, Lincolnshire and West Wales has the same GRP as Slovenia. Of course people do commute but given how expensive rail commuting is in this country, rail commuters on the whole tend to be earning a higher salary or they would not be able to afford to commute. So if you just look at each region, large parts of the country are on the same level as the likes of Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Brunei, Slovenia. If I told you that people in Monaco or New York earn more (and also have higher expenses) than people in Spain or Slovenia, you would probably not be shocked so why should we be shocked that people in London can earn more and have more expenses than someone in Yorkshire. Of course there are many jobs that are paid badly in London too but I am sure that in Monaco, there are jobs that are paid badly (they only have a zero poverty rate because the service sector workers who serve the rich have to live elsewhere but in London at least, there is the outer suburbs where the poor can afford to rent a room and there is also council housing.. this may change in the future though).

But the truth is we need to start thinking of the UK this way- while every Tesco might sell food at similar prices and Amazon costs the same for everyone (except the people living in the highlands), we might as well be in different countries. People living in County Durham and Tees Valley have a lower income than places in Romania, Bulgaria and Poland www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/11194608.areas-north-east-worse-off-parts-romania-bulgaria-poland/

On the other hand, Kensington & Chelsea is the “richest” local authority area in the UK with residents earning three times the national average, according to a new analysis of government data.

Income in the borough — home to Sir Elton John and the Beckhams — is £64,868 per head of population compared with £19,514 nationally.

It is followed by the City of London where residents earn £57,259 on average, Hammersmith & Fulham (£56,492) and Westminster (£53,101), according to government data.

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/kensington-and-chelsea-richest-area-in-uk-with-residents-earning-three-times-the-national-average-a4198796.html

so thats how people on NMW feel.
It is rich compared to a lot of people

I don't think it's about feelings tbh. Everyone on this thread is "richer" than the poorest in other parts of the world but that doesn't mean they are rich.

CSJobseeker

Well said. People talking about pony's, high end cars, school fees, gardner's and £8k+ holidays as if they are essentials. It's quite laughable really. I am on a decent salary myself but the idea of spending (or expensive hire purchase) an 80 grand car or spending huge sums on holidays makes me wince.

DH earns a good salary (and it would be a lot higher if we lived in London/SE)) but well under £100k (just over half of it).

I'm a nurse at the top of band 5 and my salary is 31k - currently studying for a specialist practice qualification which would mean going up to band 7 and the dizzy heights of 40k pa. I wish I had chosen either a career that paid better or something less stressful for the same salary but there we go.