..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?

@Isabellabasil not sure about the private school as no kid yet, but:

1. I eat out at least twice a week in a restaurant- I thought this was quite normal for a middle class couple. the restaurants in London are always crowded, they can't all be super high earners or tourists right
2. I have 2 holidays a year (one in Asia to visit family and one in Europe)- but according to my DH's pension advisor, 1 overseas holiday a year is a moderate standard of living so I would have thought that an extra holiday in Europe in addition to that is also moderate and in no way extravagant
3. We go on day trips a lot and if we had a child, would probably be able to bring him/her to zoo or theme park. Isn't that what normal families do? I see a lot of them around. Certainly my parents always took me and I also went with school.
4. Private school is very expensive, but if its the school that suits your child best in your area, the fact that it costs £££ doesn't really make you feel rich. I mean my parents paid international student fees when I went to uni in London, but I did not feel 'richer' than my classmates who paid local fees, we got exactly the same education. I mean yes having the choice is a luxury, but unless you are very very poor, a lot of people in the middle have choices too (flat in city vs house in suburb etc).

Thats why I would say I am far from rich, I am just average and middle income. We don't have a car, we own a 2 bed flat in London, we have some disposable income for restaurants and holidays. Thats the definition of middle income which is the biggest group in this country and it is actually very large depending on individual circumstances. Someone on 21k can be middle income if they have no children and are mortgage free cos that is essentially £1500 for savings and food and bills (so could be better off than someone on a large salary but is a single parent with a long commute and 2 kids in childcare). At the same time, someone on 100k can be middle income esp with a lower earning spouse, big mortgage, childcare fees, and someone at 36 on 100k is very different to a 22 year old on 100k (that is high income imho even if you have to rent in Canary Wharf). I am grateful for being middle income (I have a SIL on a very low income and now my DH and I are discussing how we can help her out and we have bought her a phone and a laptop and paid her council tax in the past) but I am far from having unlimited money. To me, being rich is when you don't need to ask the price of anything or if you derive your money from assets/wealth rather than income.

@CSJobseeker

I earn a lot more than £100k. Only thing to add to what others have already said is that my job, if I make a mistake, can result in significant (hundreds of thousands) personal fines and reputational damage so significant that I could never work again in my industry. Even jail in an extreme scenario if I’m found to be negligent. So for me some of it is danger money, it isn’t something I want to do until I’m too old to enjoy the fruits of it and the majority of my earnings goes into savings to cover pension/worst case scenarios where I suffer a major fine and can’t work again. Several people who do my job suffer mental and physical health issues as a result of stress so great that they cannot continue working. So that’s also a possibility and if I ever find myself starting to feel that way, I will quit (with savings making that possible).

A nurse who makes a mistake can kill someone.

Earnings are not determined by the consequences of your potential mistakes.

How many nurses have been sent to prison for negligence?

If mumsnet was 'dadsnet' the question would be 'how can I earn a huge salary'? Why are women expected to be non aspirational and have to apologise for / justify what they earn?

^this so much

75% of Oxbridge entrants come from state schools

Apparently it’s much more like 36-43% of entrants come from private schools. Tbh even if it were as high as 75% state school entrants, can’t you see that that’s wildly out of whack proportionally given that only 6% or children go to private school??

www.independentschoolparent.com/university/oxbridge/

@InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream

I've read most of the thread, and the thing I'm most shocked by is that out of ALL the posters who admit to earning huge salaries, NOT ONE mentions using any of it to help those less fortunate than themselves. No wonder society is fucked and the rich just keep getting richer

You haven't read it then, because many posters commented about helping friends or family with money, supporting elderly parents with care costs, buying parents their house so they have no mortgage, large charity donations or even anonymous donations to individuals in need.

I'll take your points in turn:

1. No this is not normal for a middle class couple. Twice a month maybe.
2. Two holidays a year... is absolutely loads especially the kind you list. You're being disingenuous counting your Asia holiday as the 'standard' one and the Europe one as the extra. You must know it's the other way round.
3. Of course you see other people at the day trips you go on, but not the same people each time surely?! The difference is you're there every time but other families/people probably only do that rarely as a treat.
4. I'm sure you don't necessarily have tons of money left after private school fees, but don't you see that having the money to pay them is what makes you rich, not what's left afterwards?!

I'm sorry but I don't know how you can say all that and then say 'I'm middle income and average '. Good for you that you can fund all that, but for the love of God, own it!

[quote twoofusburningmatches]@TractorAndHeadphones the median household income in the UK is £30k. And I’d argue the median is a better number to use as it is more reflective of the real state of incomes rather than distorted by some very high earners at the top.

“In financial year ending (FYE) 2020 (April 2019 to March 2020), the period leading up to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, median household income in the UK was £29,900, based on estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Household Finances Survey.”

Even if your household earnt £45k combined - so much higher than most - you’d struggle to pay nursery fees for four days a week and rent in the commuter town we live in. Let alone other bills.[/quote]
The household figures are skewed at both ends, high earners do drag it up, but pensioner households are 24% of households, they will be on a combination of state pensions, private pensions and drawing down on savings. An additional 14% of households have no one in employment or on pensions.

When you look at workers there are 24.5 million people working full time in the UK and 7.8 million part time (20 hours or less). Out of just over 40 million working age adults it works out at the full time equivalent of 26 million people, that means that there is also the equivalent of 14 million working age adults not working, combined with pensioners and children it means that 41% of the population are working (full time equivalent).

That means that the averages cannot really tell a story either way and you would need a lot more granularity in the data to get anything useful, which makes the headline "averages", be they mean or median, largely worthless.

@2bazookas

If you look at % of children who go to top tier universities from private schools compared to state schools, that might explain some of the fascination.

75% of Oxbridge entrants come from state schools.

My children went to high-demand courses in top-tier universities with the (untutored) exam results and social skills gained at their rural state comprehensive.

75% of Oxbridge entrants come from state schools.

DP and I both went to Oxbridge from state comprehensives. I’m considering sending our DC to private school if they don’t get into the local grammar though. Because the school I went to was really really bad (inadequate) and I succeeded despite it. I want my DC to go to a well-resourced, safe, supportive school that will help them achieve whatever it is they want.

Sorry my above post was for @onlychildhamster

@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.

Thanks to covid decimating my business, last year I took home about £5500 during the entire year! It was topped up with UC.

£5500 a month is £66,000 a year net income. Even with a mortgage of, say, £2000 a month, you'd still have £42,000 left.

Let's not pretend people with that sort of money aren't pretty well off when the average salary is £26,266 pa (£1793 pcm net).

Yes, they might have a lot of large financial outgoings, but they can have those outgoings because they're rich.

What i find hard to comprehend are people who get 2 million pound bonuses.

I think that was a reference to my comment about a colleague. We worked in corporate finance and the directors earned an annual bonus based on 10% of any fees they brought in above a threshold of £2 million.

He found a lucrative niche in restructuring when the recession hit and M&A declined, and brought in a lot of business (about £20-25 million fees in that year). I'm sure the concept of what is "earned" is contentious, but in fairness to him, it was directly based on his fee income.

Love these threads. Dh isn't a high earner, neither am I and I chose to work 4 days. But we do ok.
Posters forget what the majority/many of MN'ers are reasonable earners and high earners, because of the demographic of MN, so don't let that skew your view.

@YoungGiftedPlump

High earners don't. The £1mill lifetime cap and the £40,000 cap on contributions had a massive impact on higher earners (this is the kind of statement which makes me realise that many people posting are not the higher earners that they claim to be!)

Yes we do. Most people have no chance of getting close to that cap (and its only a pension fund tax benefit cap, you can have as much as you like in other plans). The cap is 40k per year into a fund whilst getting full tax benefits - that is more than most families have as an income.

Its utterly ridiculous that I've been given far more tax relief per pound on pension contributions than average earners.

I'm bemused that you don't think this is a massive advantage for top earners over jo average on 25k per year who is also less likely to have a good employer run pension scheme.

Yes Op I relate. On universal credit and pip too ill to work. Not had a holiday in 11 years and am worried sick about the cold weather approaching and trying to figure out which hour of the day is best to have the heating on.

I’m intelligent, inquisitive, compassionate and eager to learn. Would love to be a ‘hard worker’. But can’t because of my brain and body that won’t let me. It’s depressing reading this thread.

SleepyMombie I'm not not sure about 'many' posters, although I may have missed some who have mentioned those things.
I have certainly read a lot of posts of very high earners who mentioned living in very large houses, private schools, lots of expensive holidays, lots of eating out, paying a lot of tax, private tutors and lots of clubs.

Has it ever occurred to high earners with two kids that it isn't actually mandatory to live in a massive house just because you earn a shitload? It is POSSIBLE to live in a normal sized house even if you earn lots of money. Then your money doesn't all get eaten up- you could volunteer, give a huge portion of your salary to charity, the possibilities are endless.

The wealth could be distributed more fairly than it is in most cases I feel.

I'm sure you don't necessarily have tons of money left after private school fees, but don't you see that having the money to pay them is what makes you rich, not what's left afterwards?!

This point applies to just about everything mentioned on this thread about what the money pays for.
People seem to be avoiding the fact that they have the money to pay for these things in the first place and focussing on what is left after they've paid for them, and then thinking that they're struggling or that it's not that much really because they have a similar disposable income to someone who earns less and doesn't pay for those things.

There's a world of difference between having £100 left a month after paying for things that improve your life, adding to your savings and pensions and paying for the essentials, than having £100 a month left after just paying for the essentials without any of the things that add quality to life.

@InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream

I've read most of the thread, and the thing I'm most shocked by is that out of ALL the posters who admit to earning huge salaries, NOT ONE mentions using any of it to help those less fortunate than themselves. No wonder society is fucked and the rich just keep getting richer

I too can POST things in lots of RANDOM caps, to make it sound like I have a POINT with ZERO substance.

I suggest you read the thread again and not get yourself into a twist about things you’ve complete made up in your own head.

Has it ever occurred to high earners with two kids that it isn't actually mandatory to live in a massive house just because you earn a shitload? It is POSSIBLE to live in a normal sized house even if you earn lots of money

Sure but the point of working your arse off is to be comfortable. I don’t know about you but I think a big house is more comfortable as is a fancy car etc. You sound v bitter.

Ps it doesn’t mean people aren’t also giving to charity. And also the tax is high and paying for lots of things

OrangeMiBody Touched a nerve? Are you a high earner who doesn't give anything to charity?

@CSJobseeker

75% of Oxbridge entrants come from state schools.

But 93% of children in the UK attend state schools.

So your odds of getting into Oxbridge are higher if you go to private school.

60% of Oxbridge students come from either private schools or grammar schools.

So if it's 25% private, then another 35% are grammar, that leaves 40% to come from the rest of the state system, which includes some very good sixth forms and schools.

I don't know the stats but I'd guess intake from ordinary state schools doesn't make up a huge amount of the overall intake.

Look at the top 100 intake establishments for the kind of state schools and sixth forms sending the most pupils, mostly very good schools:

www.locrating.com/Blog/oxfordandcambridgeoffers.aspx

Is it really more comfortable to live in a big house or is that a social response ?
Do you really believe you are happier because of the big house ?
Data suggests that rich people are not actually any happier than those who live above poverty levels.

@Curlywurlykitten

If mumsnet was 'dadsnet' the question would be 'how can I earn a huge salary'? Why are women expected to be non aspirational and have to apologise for / justify what they earn?

^this so much

Mumsnet is clearly anti aspirational. Men don't feel guilty for earning more and indeed will be in competition to increase earnings and in order to decrease the gender pay gap so should women. Don't apologize for your income celebrate it.

@nevergoesaway

Yes Op I relate. On universal credit and pip too ill to work. Not had a holiday in 11 years and am worried sick about the cold weather approaching and trying to figure out which hour of the day is best to have the heating on.

I’m intelligent, inquisitive, compassionate and eager to learn. Would love to be a ‘hard worker’. But can’t because of my brain and body that won’t let me. It’s depressing reading this thread.

I'm all for people earning as much as they can, good on them, my efforts have had a setback because of recent times, but what I find galling is that some people who earn a huge amount of money say they're "just average" or that they don't have much "left over".

The least they can do is own the fact that they're way above average and are well off!

I don't think most of us are saying over £100k is badly off. Of course it is high earnings and we all know the amounts a couple working full time on the minimum wage or with universal credit get.

However I have no problems with some people having more money than others as I believe in our capitalist system which is the best system on the planet and the only one that really works.

I work half the year to pay direct income tax/NI and part of the rest of the year to pay VAT and all the other taxes and that money goes to all kinds of good causes as I choose to live here. I could equally once the children leave home work anywhere and choose a tax haven if I wanted as I work from home. However no one says - wow well done high earner women pat on the back think of all that tax you pay. No as we are women our place is in the wrong. If were male as someone said above other men would be saying - wow - tell me the ways to earn all that money, you have done so very well.

Yet women must remain uninterested in money, pure, in a life of service, of cleaning of caring, as ever.

My DH earns 190k, I get Carer’s Allowance.
This is my life
Tiny mortgage on a large house. I get it decorated whenever I want and don’t ever worry about things needing to be replaced such as the washing machine.
Lease car which will be swapped in January to a brand new electric Audi which we’ve bought outright.
Eat out twice a weekend, at least one takeaway a week, a lunch or two out each week, as many takeaway drinks as I like. Regularly have £150 to £250 meals/night out.
Fancy gym memberships.
Cineworld membership
20k plus a year on holidays
DC young adults now but no problem affording £500 each per month for the three/four years they were at uni.
They went to state school and attended every club/activity they wanted to.
I can buy any clothes I want but struggle to buy expensive clothes. Next is about my limit.
I often treat my friends to lunches and coffees etc, they are on more average incomes but we don’t really discuss money. Always but the Big issue, sponsor people for marathons etc and give money monthly to 5 different charities.
Money for facials, monthly hair appointments etc.
Multiple subscriptions to sky, Amazon etc, etc and watching paying movies at home once or twice a week.
Shop at wide variety of supermarkets and hardly ever look at the price.