High earners - how do you spend your salary?

[Citygirly]

DH and I earn just under £140k combined.

We do maximum pension payments (his is 9% as NHS) and we also give about 10% a month to charity.

Other than that, we plan to start overpaying the mortgage. We invest £1k a month (so £500 each) and save £1k for holidays. We of course do general/specific savings but then have a good chunk left over for disposable income.

AIBU to ask other high earning households how they tend to allocate their money? Just want to see if we could be using it better or this is about right for comparables.

Childcare, horses, cleaner, holidays, eating out, gym.

Really irrelevant though, what I spend mine on may be of no interest to you

We save it. Always tried to live off one salary and save the other. Only time that didn’t work was when we had three small DC and employed a full time nanny.

Savings either went on paying off the mortgage (should be fully paid off this summer) and into pensions/ISAs.

I salary sacrifice a lot into my pension and then save a chunk. Occasionally overpay the mortgage. Once it’s gone, it’s gone so we are not extravagant and would like to have options in the future. If we save enough, private school for DC may be an option.

Children’s activities, holidays, clothes, always nice food, bit of overpaying the mortgage sometimes, small savings, pay 10% into pension

Pension (13%), savings, paid off mortgage, some lovely holidays and meals out prior to baby coming along.

Now it’s stuff for the baby and saving for his future. Once I’m back at work a chunk of it will be childcare.

I love not worrying about money - it’s a luxury neither of our parents had. But equally we’re not particularly materialistic so money has always largely been spent on securing the future.

Perfect Mumsnet thread. We should get a bingo card going.

Save for retirement.
Expensive gym membership
Nice toiletries & makeup
Meals out
Nice holidays 3x year
Nails done every two weeks

We were young when we earned £140k

Mortgages
Children
Holidays

Now older and earn more
Holidays
The Pub
Children

Spend £100k on 2 cars every 10 years and keep them

My dog eats Lilys- that quite expensive

We save the entirety of DHs salary mostly - £1500 each into ISAs, then split the rest between ‘holiday’ and ‘house’ savings pots

in terms of other spending our food budget & eating out/socialising budget is pretty high. Couple of memberships, cleaner, I do Pilates sessions, he has music tuition, kids clubs. All adds up pretty quickly

Please dont do that at the expense of living for today

A 55 DH is on his 3rd cancer- not good- we spent like mad and I dont regret a second/

'We bought an island while being unable to afford a car that starts reliably '
'I have a bedroom that looks exactly like a room in a particular posh hotel when you do a Google image search'
'Warm spiced nuts'

Um... sure there will be others

I wouldn’t call that particularly high earning but I guess depends where you live. In London it wouldn’t go far - I’m single but earn quite a bit more than half of that and don’t feel high earning so money goes on usual things - holidays, house, mortgage, going out.

We’re not, thankfully I’m the higher earners of the 2 of us so this doesn’t leave us short - just hoping to pay the mortgage off and be able to slow down/retire early if poss

That was to @TomatoorChips , sorry I pressed reply but it didn’t seem to work.

I've maxed out my pension (£40k/year).

The remainder goes on:

• savings (maxed out ISAs for the 4 of us)
• holidays;
• taste the difference quality food (but not local butcher, organic range etc),
• take away once a week and
• lots of clothes for the 4 of us (albeit it from the charity shop as my local has designer wear on a regular basis0

HMRC takes most of it!
The rest goes on home improvement, mortgage, business loan, school fees and holidays

9% is not the maximum that’s incredibly low. We pay 40% which admittedly is high but you should be aiming for a minimum of 20-25%.

I wouldn't call that particularly high earning

Bingo!

I have siblings who are high earners:

• 1 has no kids, and doesn't seem interested in buying a property, so spends a lot on traveling.
• 1 is married with 3 teens, so the couple put a lot away in their 400k and various insurances, and into college funds for the children. Wife started as an accountant so I think that, while moneyed, they are very sensible with their lifestyle.

A friend who is married and both are high earners has saved enough to achieve a sort of low-key FIRE situation before the age of 35. They've both packed in their full time jobs in finance & tech, and have just moved to their tropical island house to pursue their dreams of running a boho retreat. They do consultation (from previous industry) on occasion.

Art.

@NohoHank i understand compared to a lot of people it is, but if living in London with a house and mortgage it doesn’t leave you with masses of cash

Cocaine. Lots of it. ( joking of course. Am I though?)

We buy poor people and once a month we release them into a field and hunt them for thrills.

By and large we didn't/don't.

This enabled me to go part time when I had a mental health crisis, and will continue to be part time when we have kids - focusing on high earning skilled hours and flexibility rather than maximising earnings.

That said, I did spend a lot on fripparies when I was a high earner. Regularly spending £25-100 quid on random trinkets to try and make myself happy. But it was the 50% going to savings and ultimately giving me choices and security that ultimately made me happy.

@Woundabout London is one city in a vast country where £140k is hell of a lot of money. It's stupid to suggest it isn't. I have lived in London and there are plenty of boroughs where it would also be considered a high salary, or do they not count because they're not 'posh'?