..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?

Honestly I cannot get on board with these ridiculous threads on here full of people saying they earn 100k+ a year and proclaim they are skint. It's disgusting.

And don't even get me started on the constant 'we work SO hard and such LONG hours for our money.' Fuck off.

@Waxonwaxoff0 so you ignored all of the things mentioned in my post and went for activities - proving what exactly?

Are people on 100K fortunate? Yes.
Can they burn £5 notes because they have so much spare and wouldn’t notice? No.

Obviously people who earn more have more. That’s not debated.

But it’s worth noting that people who earn 10x the average wage do not have a lifestyle that’s 10x better than the average lifestyle. It’s probably 2-3x better (if these things can be quantified) but not 10x.

Much of it goes on tax. It’s not just 40% but national insurance too. Over 100K you lose your personal allowance. So your pay gets cut in half essentially.

You’re also more motivated to save into your pension because you know you’re not going to get anything from the state in your old age.

You lose out on lots of things which are means-tested. No tax-free childcare, no child benefit. My workplace even tries to charge me 3x more for parking compared to staff on a lower salary band (so I cycle instead, lol).

To put things into perspective, we have one car, which I bought from Facebook for £5000. Our last holiday was 2018 and cost £2000, and our next one will be summer 2022 and cost about the same. No hair/nail appointments, no designer clothes, no fancy restaurants (except we go to Bill’s for birthdays). We have a nice life but it’s there’s no gold plated food!

@SlurpleThePurple

Honestly I cannot get on board with these ridiculous threads on here full of people saying they earn 100k+ a year and proclaim they are skint. It's disgusting.

And don't even get me started on the constant 'we work SO hard and such LONG hours for our money.' Fuck off.

Yes earning 100K involves luck. It’s fortunate to earn 100K definitely not skint lmao

Love these people saying they’re not rich! Of course they’re rich! They’re in the top 1% of global income. How can you not be rich when 99% of the world’s population is poorer than you? What you mean is your friends earn the same and you want a certain lifestyle-but please don’t pretend you don’t have wealth. Our household income isn’t anywhere near that but I still feel well off.

If I was a much higher earner then I’d give a lot more money to charities (animal ones specifically!) I don’t have a lot of disposable income left over at the end of the month but if I do, I give what is left to the charity of my choice, normally it’s about £10-£20.

I’m not materialistic in the slightest, so I would rather my money went somewhere that made a difference.

How out of touch do you have to be to think that a 100k salary isn't a lot of money? That literally puts you in the top 2% of earners in the world.

Yes, a large chunk goes on tax but it scales with income. Additionally any money that you pump into your pension via salary sacrifice isn't taxed so that alone is a huge advantage, and there are many such schemes for tax-free childcare etc.

Nobody forces anyone to live in expensive areas, have horses, pay school fees or have large savings pots but the extra money gives you that choice. By any stretch on the imagination 100k is well-off and people sometimes need to step out of their cosy little bubbles and remember that.

Well doesn't this thread make everyone feel better I can't even comprehend the amounts of money on this thread. Me and dh earn about 2.5k a month between us, so slightly less then the majority on this thread 😂 p.s 30k a month is bloody rich! Jeez

slurplethepurple - so you think that working 50 hours whilst living away from your home is easy? And commuting hundreds of miles away to do it? And you think a company that is paying you as a contractor 2x the permanent person's salary isnt going to expect any more for their money?

@5329871e

Obviously people who earn more have more. That’s not debated.

But it’s worth noting that people who earn 10x the average wage do not have a lifestyle that’s 10x better than the average lifestyle. It’s probably 2-3x better (if these things can be quantified) but not 10x.

Much of it goes on tax. It’s not just 40% but national insurance too. Over 100K you lose your personal allowance. So your pay gets cut in half essentially.

You’re also more motivated to save into your pension because you know you’re not going to get anything from the state in your old age.

You lose out on lots of things which are means-tested. No tax-free childcare, no child benefit. My workplace even tries to charge me 3x more for parking compared to staff on a lower salary band (so I cycle instead, lol).

To put things into perspective, we have one car, which I bought from Facebook for £5000. Our last holiday was 2018 and cost £2000, and our next one will be summer 2022 and cost about the same. No hair/nail appointments, no designer clothes, no fancy restaurants (except we go to Bill’s for birthdays). We have a nice life but it’s there’s no gold plated food!

Exactly. IMO when you’re earning 20K you think 100K means you can splash out but that’s not the case. You spend more on buying things that ensure a worry free life. No money worries is good and is a privilege. But it doesn’t equal to buying everything you want! Or going on luxury flights.

@Peaseblossum22

The major difference is not about how much you can spend its about how much you can save. The higher income allows us to save for our future and our dc future and that is the biggest luxury as far as I can see. I know we are immensely privileged to have anything left at the end of the month to allow us to do this.

Agree with this 100% We spend sensibly and save as much as we can.

I am a nanny to bosses on 100k+ I have worked for one family for 15 years and I guess that’s how they’ve kept me on despite not “needing” as much childcare as such. I really respect them, they work hard! I work hard too and of course I’m jealous in a way but those salaries come with a price I guess. They do seem to always be looking at what to spend their money on next. I am mostly jealous of their pensions!

The best part is not having to worry about an unexpected bill/car repair/needing new glasses/can we afford a school trip. at the moment we need a new mains supply pipe (unexpected) and that will cost £5-10k

Yes I'd agree with this. The great benefit in my head has always been that bit of security that comes with money in the bank, knowing that if something unexpected arises we are still ok and we can help our children.

One of my DC is borderline VI and needed two pairs of extremely expensive glasses at all times. The NHS contribution to glasses was a voucher for the princely sum of £40 which didn't even cover one very cheap pair of frames (which on a 5 year old would have been broken in weeks). Two pairs of decent frames and the specialist lenses needed came to nearly £800 at that time.

Being able to buy them without money worries is the definition of well off to me.

DH has a relative who was a PA for about 20 years to the absolute super rich, she took us round one of their 25 million quid yachts for a tour once, was pretty amazing.

We have friends who are in the well over 100k a year bracket. We have an income of 75k but I’m retired and if I hadn’t got ill we would have been in the 100k bracket.

We love hill walking and flasks of tea sat in peace, not massive spenders apart from on holidays. We were good at investing and started young as teenagers, we didn’t know each other then. Paid our mortgage off mid thirties and are in early fifties now, so no housing costs for a long time. So though we didn’t quite make the 100k having no housing costs for such a long time means we have ended up very comfortable.

I had a teacher who in general studies taught us about the evils of the stock market and capitalism. This was the time of militant labour and he was a member. He inspired me to start investing, I do wonder what he would think and how his anti capitalism rants inspired me. He got us to choose companies and track them. I chose London Brick which did very well.

Yep we spend sensibly and save. We are putting a whole load of money into a house renovation at the moment. Put no debts apart from the mortgage, we have savings, basically we don't need to worry and that's just such a privilege. If the boiler went it would be a pain but we wouldn't be borrowing to pay for it or not able to get it replaced.

Same if one of us got ill and couldn't work - we'd be OK. Massive privilege.

I've actually just tripled my salary to well over £100,000 after changing jobs and am wondering how to spend it. I'm very eco-conscious and don't want to consume for the sake of it or buy a bigger house than we need. Will look at charity donations when life calms down a bit.

"To put things into perspective, we have one car, which I bought from Facebook for £5000. Our last holiday was 2018 and cost £2000"

To that pp, your car costs twice mine, as does your holiday.

OP what do you do for work? What are your ambitions? I started off on an apprenticeship, earning £30 a week, first salary was £8k I’m now on over 100k

For us it buys:

Time (neither of us work full time)

Help (cleaner, dog Walker, occasional car valet etc)

Health (osteopath, private dentist, gym, quality food etc)

Extra curricular activities & savings for children

Peace of mind (no worries about unexpected bills, birthdays, Xmas etc)

Having grown up poor I realise all of the above are luxuries my parents could only have dreamt of. We don't live a flashy lifestyle - no private school or massive house - but the peace of mind of being able to afford the above is priceless.

@Notdoingthis

"To put things into perspective, we have one car, which I bought from Facebook for £5000. Our last holiday was 2018 and cost £2000"

To that pp, your car costs twice mine, as does your holiday.

That’s my point exactly. Twice as much, not 10 times.

I cannot get on board with these ridiculous threads on here full of people saying they earn 100k+ a year and proclaim they are skint. It's disgusting.

I don't think anyone has said they are skint, have they? What people are trying to explain is how a higher salary will go in tax and that in some parts of the country, costs on "essentials" like housing and childcare can be very high, meaning that the actual disposable income left, while comfortable, often doesn't stretch to the luxuries you might expect - no gold plated toilet seats, range rovers, private school fees or holidays in the Maldives.

I think people are trying to say that these incomes give you financial security (a wonderful thing, of course) rather than obscene luxury.

you just buy better of everything. But that feels so materialistic, so unnecessary, when you can easily live off much much less

But why the hell would you count pennies and eat value brand food and drive shitty cars when you don't need to?

If you had enough money to live in a lovely big house and drive a lovely new car and eat lovely food and do wonderful things in your spare time, you absolutely would.

@KeflavikAirport

I've actually just tripled my salary to well over £100,000 after changing jobs and am wondering how to spend it. I'm very eco-conscious and don't want to consume for the sake of it or buy a bigger house than we need. Will look at charity donations when life calms down a bit.

give this guy a medal!!!

@KeflavikAirport may I make a recommendation to look into effective altruism? Without wanting to come across preachy, I took the Giving What We Can pledge a few years ago and it’s amazing to look at the amount I’ve donated and think that that translates to x people who didn’t get malaria and y children who were able to go to school because they received deworming treatment I donate through payroll giving which is worth looking into if your employer offers it, as the charity gets the whole amount of tax you would have paid upfront rather than claiming back a smaller amount through gift aid.

I earn a gnat over 100k. My take home after tax, NI, Pension and share save schemes is 5k a month. It's just me and DD so no husband anymore. I pay 700 a month in debts that I took from our marriage when we got divorced. I pay 600 a month in mortgage (we have a 3 bed semi detatched cottage). I pay a cleaner, window cleaner, dog walker & gardener. That's close to 500 a month. I have 2 vehicles (neither is a Tesla!! A relatively new Honda and a knackered old van). I pay bills like everyone else.

What I do have now that I didn't have when I supported the family on 40k a year is disposable money. I do things now that I'd never have done before. I spend money without looking at my bank balance first and I always have money leftover at the end of the month that I put into savings.

I don't own expensive cars or handbags or shoes or jewelry. I buy my clothes in normal high street shops. I do have some expensive hiking boots that cost me 100 pounds (and I had to swallow hard to spend that much money on a single pair of shoes!) We holiday in the UK - normally in our touring caravan or glamping. I recently found out I have enough money to buy myself an Elemis face cream (that stuff is bloody expensive|!! But I use it so so sparingly so as not to waste).

I did buy a car for my sister and one for a good friend who was having major issues - not expensive cars but still. I spend too much on Xmas and stuff / days out with my DD. I spend a lot on food.

Basically my life is pretty normal. The big difference is that I don't worry about money anymore and if I fancy a weekend away in a fancy hotel then I book one.