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.

@Katypp

What professions with degrees and training start on less than 25k?

The vast majority of nurses won't earn much more than 35k a year even at the end of their careers

To earn what the op is earning you would no longer be a nurse. The only 'nurses' i know of on a similar wage would be chief nursing officers which is more of a political role than a nursing one.

Certainly not achievable for most and certainly not by 27.

Your band 5 nurse should be earning what the op does. Theyre worth that in terms of skill and job role.

Instead they earn less than the national average and folk grudge them a blue light discount.

@Katypp

1. I haven't personally "attacked" anyone and the post I responded to that saddened me about not being able to afford bread - that poster didn't attack anyone either, afaik.

2. what's the point in any post, from anyone? We are all entitled to post on whichever threads we like and express our views and feelings about the topic.

I saved mine, paid off my mortgage and then went part time which covers my second degree and masters.

If i do any overtime now, extra days, it automarically goes into my pension, saving NI and tax.

But i live a fairly frugal life.

There are plenty of people earning less than the national average - thar's why it's an average.
Look, I'm really not interested in getting into a debate about how much nurses should be paid.
From a very quick Google, engineers, accountants and journalists all start on less than nurses.
As far as I am concerned the point I was making stands - nurses and teachers are NOT low earners and should not be constantly trotted out as such.

To be clear, they are not high earners either - in general, although they can be.

@Katypp

Also, your specific example isn't comparable at all. A high earner posting on a thread about someone struggling to buy bread and coffee contributing: "I can't help because i have plenty of money, thanks", would be very rightly ripped to pieces because what purpose is there to that other than to smugly run someone's face in it who is less fortunate? It would clearly be motivated by being a total twat. Whereas, someone struggling for money coming onto a thread about high earners and saying "this makes me sad as I can't even afford bread today" - that's very clearly not motivated by being a dick, is it? Not aimed at rubbing anyone's face in it, is it? It's just an expression of sadness about their own situation where they are in poverty and others are clearly very well off.

I know which poster I'd have sympathy for and which one I'd be heavily rolling my eyes at.

I am also lucky, i made a great bunch of people from a finance discussion site, so whatever our salaries/positions are, we all have a common mind set of "trying to be good with money" - some were high earners wanting to invest in shares and some were in debt and trying to get out, then once out, trying to then save.

Means we can speak freely about financial choices without feeling "shame" as such. I am pretty open about having paid off mortgage so people are generally happy to approach me with financial questions about debts or pensions. But i am also an accountant so its seems normal to be interested in money.

Don't know where "coffee" came from! That's a typo.

@Katypp

Its not MW, no.

But in comparison to the earnings on this thread, it is a low wage.

engineers, accountants and journalists will all end up on much more than nurses. The starting point is fairly irrelevant.

Earning potential is the important factor. Nurses are never going to be higher earners. They should be

I do think this thread would have been better placed in money, I don't think it is unreasonable to want to learn how to maximise your already fortunate situation and to learn some tips, I'd likely want to do the same. But with there being so much on aibu on the cost of living and struggling to fund the basics, having a thread titled like this is rubbing salt in the wound a bit.

But, that aside I have read the thread with curiosity.

What is the obsession with savings?

We save, but with purpose, to have bills covered in case our work dries up, home renovations, when we have kids will likely save to help them with deposits etc, but there seems to be suggestions on here to just endlessly save, just for the purpose of accumulating wealth.

I've known two people to live like this (though no where near on mumsnet salaries), they worked long hours, lived frugally and saved with the intention of a luxurious retirement, one died 3 years before retirement, the other 1 year into retirement.

If I had excess disposable income, while i would save some and invest, I'd want to travel the world, enjoy fine food and wine, wear quality clothing, fill my weekends with activities, spas, hotel breaks etc. I just can't see the motivation to make mega bucks money unless you will enjoy it.

Spending money also helps others too, creates more jobs, helps businesses thrive. Money just seems meaningless to me if it's just sat there accumulating without any other purpose than just to amass wealth.

@lancsgirl85 but there's no point to either post on either thread is there? The posts from those struggling on threads like this are clearly plopped in to make the poster and others in the same position feel shit. So I would be open to the possibility that they were being a dick, actually.

@Topgub But those who enter nursing can earn a lot more too. Many in the professions I mentioned above will not progress much either. In every job, there's those who will reach the top or middle and earn well and there is those who don't for many reasons. Why is nursing so different and worthy of special sympathy?

OP posted in the AIBU? board. The point of this board is for people to tell them whether or not they are unreasonable and call them out on that behaviour.
Why is it then wrong for people to object to what they are saying?
If she had posted on a money/financial board, fair enough, it wouldn’t be right for people to object to the question like this.
But she posted it on a board that’s famous for provoking debate and criticism.
Why did you think she did that?
Either she made a mistake, didn’t understand what the board is, intended to piss people off with a good ol’ brag, or (most likely) wanted the most possible posts and was prepared to get plenty of negative comments in the process.
Also I find your comments about ‘poor teachers and nurses’ quite tasteless since everyone knows how hard working they are and what invaluable professions they are. And while a salary in the £20ks-30s isn’t terrible, it’s not that good either considering how hard they work and what a significant contribution they make to everyone’s lives.

I think it’s bloody weird that a silver circle solicitor doing commercial work (because that salary doesn’t come from resi conveyancing) has neither peers to discuss this with or pick up guidance from, nor a mountain of student debt from their humble backgrounds x 2 in order to secure those jobs. Sure firms pay fees and a contribution but that’s after the degree has been paid for and med school for what, 5 years? Yet no reference to student loans.
nor dry cleaning and suits / dreadful shoes.

It's only on MNs that I read about higher earners who are you but are mortgage free or have a tiny one. The higher earners I know are mortgaged to the hilt &/or paying shit loads of childcare.

@Merryclaire sorry I forgot that teachers and nurses have a monopoly on hard work - silly me.
I agree this post would be better in money though, although I expect there would still be a pile-on there

@Katypp

Who said nursing was worthy of sympathy?

I said it was under paid.

You shouldn't have to progress to the very very top to be a higher earner as a nurse.

A band 5 nurse should be a higher earner. A carer in a nursing home should be a higher earner.

If an 'average' lawyer can earn 85 k then so should an 'average' nurse.

@Topgub And your logic for this statement is?

I don't work at a silver circle firm.

Are you offering advice re student loans? We both will have paid them off by the time we are 40 with our regular contributions that are taken out.

The dry cleaning doesn't break the bank.

@Katypp

My logic for what statement?

I was think the point of these threads and what’s so good about them is that they do educate people financially.
I was so lucky I went into a sales role when I was straight out of university, worked with other people who were middle to upper class and basically I just did what they were doing so instead of buying shit at Karen Millen which is what some of my colleagues did who didn’t observe management.
I went and bought a house and literally three years later that house doubled in price .
Unfortunately I then sold it but the proceeds of it allowed me to spend four years at home with my children that I would never of had without it.

Dont they say that you are the average of the five people you spend most time with ?
if you spend all your time on Mumsnet it could go either way for you.

What is the obsession with savings?

We save in a few pots. short term for holidays, renovations & then long term for retirement & rainy day.

We don't have 300k in savings though, I don't see the point of that.

as its anonymous. I didn't generally shout out to non-close that my mortgage was tiny etc (which was because i bought one flat and never moved)

Trouble with Mumsnet is whilst there are "boards" - most people, like me, probably just look at the active forums. And post on whatever thread appeals to us (avoiding obvious ones like black mumsnetters).

Other boards have specific forums so DEBT FREE WANABE is not also showing posts against "i have £1m to invest, what shall i do??"

I was think the point of these threads and what’s so good about them is that they do educate people financially.

Do they? I mean the vast majority of people I know who earn well came from solid backgrounds & we were all helped onto the ladder (including me) by family. I know loads of people who moved during the pandemic all given sums like 200k up the ladder.

or a 2nd joke

home! 😆