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.

😂😂😂

@AngeloMysterioso actually nothing gives me greater pleasure than adding it all up on a little spreadsheet.

1. Absolutely beneficial from Primary level. The level of attention, low class sizes, extra curricular activities, manners etc start from the beginning. Kids who enter the private system later will have a period of adjustment - it is quite different for them.
2. Re pricing - the price is for tuition. Everything else is on top - lunch, music lessons, before and after school care, school trips, uniform (which is expensive - budget £500 to £800 to buy everything in first year).
3. Prep fees for our school (outside London) are £11k per year. They go up as the kids get more senior.
4. We haven't done a ski trip yet but I’ve heard anything from £700 to £2000.
5. Average class size anywhere from 16 to 24.
6. Hate to break it to you but nursery is as expensive, so make sure you can cover that cost and then the jump to prep school isn’t that bad!

OP - DH handles most of the invoices so I’m not very clear on the details. Roughly £18k for tuition. Holidays are longer than state so lots of extra holiday childcare costs. Music lessons around £5000 a year I think but that’s entirely voluntary as my DCs are musical. Not done school ski trips but when we go as a family of four during school holiday it’s £15-20k a week all inclusive. Your holiday budget goes up tons if you want family suites or interconnecting rooms (ie actually be able to relax with kids) at peak times.
I myself only did private high school and I can see the difference is enormous. I think the emphasis is on “selective” private school where every child’s family values education and has gone through a rigorous process to be admitted. As such very little disruptions of teaching, great home support and the kids are freed up to do much more sports, art and other activities. The range they offer for after school clubs is also amazing

@Citygirly

• Yes absolutely beneficial from primary level - get them into a prep and they have a head start and make social connections early, I went to a grammar post prep which was fine but getting into it was linked to the prep.
• There will be music and language lessons from early on maybe about age 8/9 which happen within school time, there will also be many after school clubs, generally about the standard rate of about £10-£15 an hour. Same as if you had kids going to swimming or something outside of school, but it's more convenient.
• Prep can vary for prep lowest I've seen is 4.5k pa, up to about 10k on average, in London it's about 20k I think.

https://www.best-schools.co.uk/school-fees-advice

• Ski trip about £1000 for a week including ski pass, food etc but excluding gear etc child would need and spending money.
• Average class size about 19-23 generally. State is 26-30.

The main thing I would advise for you is a) see a financial advisor so you can start investing/saving spare cash sensibly b) have discussions about schools, where you see your jobs being based at the point of having kids and expedite your moving plans if possible so you are settled in main family home beforehand. This is from a practical standpoint - if you both have busy careers then dealing with young kids and a move will be trickier... you can throw money at it of course - get movers to pack everything and people to do all jobs in house but depends if you want the hassle of organising all that and dealing with nappies, tantrums, sleep deprivation, work at the same time... Once you know the schools you are aiming for you can look up their fee schedules and plan accordingly.

Childcare per child is circa £13,000 at a minimum for a full time place (£50 per day, 5 days per week), and as your earnings are over 100k you won't be eligible for 30hrs free childcare www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare
Some actually see the move to prep as a relief as it's cheaper than daycare and many have a preschool dept and will accept the child for an extra year aged 4.

In short prep fees aren't a major concern if you can handle the daycare, and by the time they are at secondary level if you want private, your salaries may have increased enough to cover this.

I’m so rich I buy rich people and hunt them.

I wouldn’t bother with prep. My two went to private senior school and they found a lot of prep kids who’d gone into seniors quite annoying and not any cleverer. My son was the cleverest in his year and he’d gone to state primary. As long as they can read, write and do ‘sums’ they don’t need much more from primary years.

And this thread, dear reader, is why we're in the mess we're in.

Why wealth inequality is worse than its ever been

Crypto
Business class flights
Investment property (just one so far)

In that order

Crypto

you're brave!

@Topgub

It's ludicrous to suggest it doesn't happen in private schools.

Didn't say it didn't happen, said less common and dealt with quicker.

Especially when we all know how PE adults turn out....

Successful and economically secure?

We'd love to fly business but the cost just seems prohibitively expensive!

Crikey. I’m wondering what kind of person starts a thread like this. It’s a total (not even stealth) brag and maybe even worse, how can anyone think that MumsNet is going to provide better advice than a financial expert?!

Jars of dirt ☠

I'd read through all the nonsense about £140hk not being a high salary plus the usual ridiculousness about it not going far when you have a big mortgage and childcare to pay. But now we're onto how state schools are utterly shit full of feral vile children and I can't bite my tongue. Some of you are so out of touch with the real world its laughable. Because you earn lots of money you look down your noses at the rest of us like we're dort at the bottom of your shoe.
My children attend state schools and are well mannered, extremely bright and going to do really well in life. Above all else they're well adjusted and in touch with the world around them. Oh and most important of all they're happy! As we are talking anecdotally, my nephews are both privately educated and are rude, obnoxious little shits who have cash thrown at them. It always makes me chuckle as when we attend their extravegant birthday parties it is my children whose hands are up answering questions and getting involved when the private school children sit there sullen faced and looking bored
On a recent visit my nephews both sat in their rooms playing computer refusing to either say hello or goodbye to us whilst my feral poor state educated children were downstairs either helping out with the food or talking politics with my brother in law
Whilst we don't have the money or inclination for private school we make up for this with time. Without high flying careers and salaries we are able to attend every school event, help with homework and all eat dinner together around the table at night. So you can all piss off with your assumptions that your children are more intelligent and better people because of the education that you pay for

@topgub our spending is keeping plenty of small local businesses going. My DH employs 6 people in his company, all on decent wages and well above industry average. I lead a team in my company and buy them birthday presents and pay for a meal out once a month because that way noone has to skip the lunch or feel bad about it. In my experience people who earn well, including many that earn more than me, are generous and like to treat others.

@citygirly as PP have said if you can afford full time childcare from age 0-5 then school fees won't be an issue. Save up for your maternity leave and for the first 3 years where there's no funded childcare. If you earn over £100k by then you'll get no taxfree childcare account and no child benefit so save as much as you can now. A live out nanny is currently around £15-£18ph gross in my area plus payroll and pension costs so its a big chunk of take home pay.

School fees in my area are around £15k per year for a day school with a lot of extra costs like music lessons, sports clubs on top of that.

@Robinni

How do you know how things are dealt with in state schools? What is your experience of them?

Mmmmm. I'm successful and economically secure. My children will be too.

Id rather everyone was than a select few who are only successful because of daddy's money rather than their own hard work or talent

Given that a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet I’m not sure we need a thread populated by rich people discussing what they do with their mountains of cash.

Do you post on every thread discussing DC that as many people struggle with infertility, we don't really need threads about having DC3?

@Howmuchwood

Thats nice, I guess.

Tax efficient though eh?

Yes, people might as well say they only earn a million pounds a year because they live in Beverly Hills and gosh, the houses are so expensive there.🙄

👏🏻

Me & DH aren't high earners but we have low bills so a decent disposable income each month. We make sure we live debt free & save each month. Aside from that, meals out, activities with DS, one family holiday a year.

@Jmaho very defensive.... we have a balance of friends from private and state schools, some educated in state have extremely high flying careers. The fact is the majority of kids in state schools are fine, but you do get some who have problem families and they cause disruption for the class, as was my DH experience and as we're seeing now for certain family. State schools are more tied by bureaucracy so it is harder to get the difficult ones shifted on. DS is in an excellent state school but we are looking at moving now due to the large class size and because being in a prep, as for me, would give a higher chance at grammar.

Nobody is looking down on anybody, we are answering specific questions put to us. There is no need to make broad sweeping statements about privately educated children based on your limited experience with spoilt nephews. Just as it would be unfair of me or anyone else to conjecture that all state school kids are problematic - they aren't.

Without high flying careers and salaries we are able to attend every school event, help with homework and all eat dinner together around the table at night

And as we all know, once you hit 6 figures, the law is that your children will be raised by an army of butlers and nannies and the only parental involvement is limited to once yearly inspection.