..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?

Buy a second property (buy to let or vacation), more expensive holidays, clothes, hobbies and tastes. Spend more on kids' education and better childcare. If I won the lottery, I'd have no problem spending it

So a 100k a year job means you take home £66,700 after tax. That’s not half, or almost half, that’s a whole yearly salary for one person above half.

I earned 9.5k a year as a single parent and paid a mortgage out of it.

That’s why people say it’s a different world, it’s the responses here. Nothing against high or low earners in any way, it’s just the ‘it soon goes’ mentality, like the bit about cars. One person is saying - at this level you will definitely need two cars at 80-100k each - and it took me until I was 30 to save up enough for a provisional license and lessons and just about managed to run a single car at cost £800 new to me.

I can't imagine spending a lot even if I did earn a lot. I'd rather have a low stress life than money.
I would have liked to send my kids to private school but they have all done ok in state.
Things like cars I can't get excited over, as long as they do the job.
I'd probably spend it on more dogs and a personal full time dog walker to walk them !

I previously had a huge salary, in a very stressful job. Your outgoings simply scale up, for example my house is larger, so we had a bigger mortgage, our cars were more expensive so they cost more in fuel, insurance, breakdown etc. Then there's the children's school fees, which I still pay (despite more than a 50% pay cut!) so expenditure is a lot higher.
I decided there's more to life than money, and quit my job, it felt a huge weight off my shoulders, and I'm much happier now.

Private schooling and the ability to be able to have savings and investments has been our biggest benefit from high salaries.
We live in the US now so I'm eternally grateful that we've been able to save enough for my DS to go through the university of his choice without debt and my DH will be able to retire at the same time and I can buy my house in the sun!

I did not go to private or grammar school, but earn low six figures. I am also a lone parent to small children.

My childcare plus mortgage plus essential bills is £5,500 per month. Then we need to buy food. We do not live an extravagant lifestyle: 10 year old car and my children have only been abroad twice in their lives. They do not go to private schools.

I am well aware that, given our situation, I and they are lucky that I worked full time while studying to get my degree and then worked 80-100 hour weeks in my 20s so now earn more than average.

On the other hand, I am constantly worried about money and get zero help despite paying a lot of tax and also being disabled. I work incredibly hard to provide for them and I would not be able to earn what I do if we lived somewhere that it was possible to reduce mortgage and childcare costs significantly.

When I was younger I was so poor that I often had no food or heating. Thankfully that was before I had children. Back then, I would have thought earning what I do now would have made me rich, so I do understand why you think that. But it doesn't. The Government now wanting to squeeze even more tax out of us will make things very hard.

Everyone's situation is different.

See the more I’ve earned the more I realized that all the shit I “should” buy was exactly that… “shit”. I don’t need the “best of everything”, I don’t give a shiney shite what the most recent “must haves” are. None of that matters, not when you strip it all back.
Can I afford education for my kids (no public schools for expats here), can I afford to run my home comfortably, can I afford groceries, can I afford to pay my helper a living salary so she can look after her daughter, can I afford to visit my family whenever Covid allows, can I afford healthcare should we need it?

The only important questions for us. Sure when the salaries first rise it’s very easy to get caught up in the spending with the new found cash, but long term, none of it was worth it for us.

I miss when I come back back to UK and can wonder around malls and high streets and we don’t have those here, so I understand how eat it would be to just pick up stuff here and there. I’m pretty sure if I lived in UK id do the same thing as well so I’m grateful we live where it’s very difficult to shop!!

*wande

I am one of those on 6 figures. I'm a disabled single mum, get £50-150 child support when it comes (3/4 times a year). Nursery and nanny fees take up half my income. Live within walking distance of my London office so rent is pretty price, then activities, medical insurance and physical therapy (waiting for almost 3 years on NHS so resorted to private), bills, council tax (stupidly high band), saving for a deposit to buy a bungalow and adapt it to my needs.

I'm just about comfortable.
Would be very comfortable if I had a partner to help with childcare, didn't have complex needs myself which necessitates having to live so close to work to avoid fatigue.

My friend works for a very posh cabinet maker. They're currently working on a A$600,000 job (about GBP 300,000?), including a kitchen with a 10-metre Calacatta marble island. That's just a single residence. My friend says their clients regularly spend upwards of A$300,000 just on the cabinetry when renovating a house.

People are making stupid money here in Australia, too. I suspect a lot of them own multiple properties for which they can claim tax breaks -- including renovations.

We're on 93k a year. Our mortgage is £1000 a month but we're over paying by 300 and putting £500 a month into premium bonds. Our kids go to a normal school and they do two activities each. I count myself extremely lucky given I was brought up on benefits.

@Christmasisnear

We're on 93k a year. Our mortgage is £1000 a month but we're over paying by 300 and putting £500 a month into premium bonds. Our kids go to a normal school and they do two activities each. I count myself extremely lucky given I was brought up on benefits.

There is also a good point here when comparing your post to mine and @dratsnotyouagain 's post. The take home pay for a couple both earning £50k is much higher than that of a lone parent earning £100k, due to the tax system and also the way child benefit is calculated, and eligiblility for tax free childcare etc. So the women trying to do the jobs of two parents - provide all of the care and finances - are penalised by higher childcare costs and higher tax to boot.

I've raised this before on here but nobody seems to care about how unfair it is on the children with single parents.

My salary went up several times in the last 5 years. 10 years ago I was on minimum wage. Now we have a nicer home with more costs, a child who is probably our biggest expense, holidays, pension, and luckily we don't have to worry about spending on things we want. A larger salary is largely spent on comfort and dozens of little luxuries, so we don't save as much as we could.

Well it surely depends on your lifestyle.
Someone who lives in a smaller home and their dc are in grammar school instead of private will have a very different amount of disposable cash to someone who has a huge house and send their dc to private.

I hate the 'yes but' replies on any MN money thread.

Money gives you options. That's what it does. It frees you from the default.

You don't have to take those options just because you can.

But the options are there.

Money frees you from any necessary choice.

That's what money does.

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

Fucks sake have some humility. This is an embarrassment.

@TheEvilPea

I did not go to private or grammar school, but earn low six figures. I am also a lone parent to small children.

My childcare plus mortgage plus essential bills is £5,500 per month. Then we need to buy food. We do not live an extravagant lifestyle: 10 year old car and my children have only been abroad twice in their lives. They do not go to private schools.

I am well aware that, given our situation, I and they are lucky that I worked full time while studying to get my degree and then worked 80-100 hour weeks in my 20s so now earn more than average.

On the other hand, I am constantly worried about money and get zero help despite paying a lot of tax and also being disabled. I work incredibly hard to provide for them and I would not be able to earn what I do if we lived somewhere that it was possible to reduce mortgage and childcare costs significantly.

When I was younger I was so poor that I often had no food or heating. Thankfully that was before I had children. Back then, I would have thought earning what I do now would have made me rich, so I do understand why you think that. But it doesn't. The Government now wanting to squeeze even more tax out of us will make things very hard.

Everyone's situation is different.

Our household takes in that amount monthly and I am constantly worried about money. That money supports four of us. No private school here and two old cars which I worry about whenever I need a trip to the garage. My kids have been abroad twice in their lives. We don't live in a good area and can't afford to move house. We have no savings. Just as we seem to get on top of things, something happens and we end up stressing and worrying about things again. We have two children, in hindsight we can only afford one. They have activities which are expensive but not pony club expensive. We budget yet have few savings. We live outside an expensive city but work from home so are saving commuting costs but everything is so so expensive.
My children's friends go abroad every midterm and holiday. I don't know what I am doing wrong.

User13489089768 I think that you have an unrealistic view. That would be based on a salary of over a million

The figures the OP is talking about and up to £500k don't support anything like that lifestyle.

Most people fly around the world on Avios and book hotels using bespoke agents on 3 for 2 offers with guaranteed suite upgrades.

I don't know anyone who has a housekeeper. We don't have a cleaner.

@PiesNotGuys

So a 100k a year job means you take home £66,700 after tax. That’s not half, or almost half, that’s a whole yearly salary for one person above half.

I earned 9.5k a year as a single parent and paid a mortgage out of it.

That’s why people say it’s a different world, it’s the responses here. Nothing against high or low earners in any way, it’s just the ‘it soon goes’ mentality, like the bit about cars. One person is saying - at this level you will definitely need two cars at 80-100k each - and it took me until I was 30 to save up enough for a provisional license and lessons and just about managed to run a single car at cost £800 new to me.

The tax increases at over £100k- so and £120k you take home £74,292.76 assuming no pension. So £20k more pay but under £8k more take home

Look, if your income is 5.5k monthly and you're worrying about cash, you've over-mortgaged yourself.

5.5 is a decent income, you should be able to manage it.

@ShrikeAttack

Look, if your income is 5.5k monthly and you're worrying about cash, you've over-mortgaged yourself.

5.5 is a decent income, you should be able to manage it.

People can only earn that usually by having a demanding job and usually by living somewhere commutable to that job, which is expensive. It does not mean they are living in mansions. You must be aware that property prices differ across the country? And that childcare is much more expensive in some places than others? And that people can't work without paying childcare costs and living within a commutable distance of their jobs?

What do you suggest, buying a house a long commute from work and leaving my children there for days on end with nobody to look after them? I would only be able to travel once per week because of my disability, so would barely see them and I guess they could just fend for themselves Mon-Fri? Great idea.

The tax increases at over £100k- so and £120k you take home £74,292.76 assuming no pension. So £20k more pay but under £8k more take home

Yep. And you lose eligiblity for 30 free hours childcare, tax free childcare so the effective tax rate for those with children on £100-120k is 67%! More if you have a student loan still, then it is 76%.

Reasonable? Especially if that person is a single parent? When a couple earning the same amount - who can also juggle childcare between them - get taxed far less and can still get this help with childcare costs. Or can choose to have a SAHP and have no childcare costs at all and save thousands of pounds per month.

I don't think there's anything so depressing as this Mumsnet idea that "You're outgoings rise to meet your income"
Like you have no bloody choice over what you spend your own money on.
All these people on far more money than me, apparently living lives just as boring and mundane because they "had" to buy a really plush house, or a pony, or an expensive education for their DC.
Fucks sake, If it's not making you happy do something different. You have options many people do not.

@dashoflime

I don't think there's anything so depressing as this Mumsnet idea that "You're outgoings rise to meet your income" Like you have no bloody choice over what you spend your own money on. All these people on far more money than me, apparently living lives just as boring and mundane because they "had" to buy a really plush house, or a pony, or an expensive education for their DC. Fucks sake, If it's not making you happy do something different. You have options many people do not.

I haven't bought a huge house or a pony or a private education. It's still a struggle because housing and childcare are expensive here and if we don't live here I can't earn the money so.... stop being so judgemental.

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.

Really? How can you not? It's ridiculous to say you have no idea. Every single person I know plays the 'what will I do when I win the lottery' game, or sees something beautiful in a shop costing thousands but settles for the one that looks the same but is cheaper. Just tonight I was looking at a beautiful celeb in an amazing dress, I looked it up and it was 2400 quid, I googled it and found a similar one 'in the style of' for just under 200. I could only dream of affording the expensive version but if I had that much in my bank account right now I would have bought it. And so would most other people.

I get that it seems a lot when you don't have much but to say that you are 'stunned' and 'have no idea' just makes you sound childish and uneducated.