Page 23 | High earners - how do you spend your salary?

Citygirly · 2022-05-21T09:03:11+00:00

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.

Jmaho · 22/05/2022 21:30

fridaRose · 22/05/2022 20:53

'my nephews are both privately educated and are rude, obnoxious little shits who have cash thrown at them. It always makes me chuckle'

You sound bitter @Jmaho

(It's 'extravAgant').

If only my parents had tried a bit harder and earnt more so I could have a private education. I'd never have spelt any words wrong eh? By the way, correcting someone's spelling and grammar is utterly pathetic and just makes you look like a fool, money or not

Topgub · 22/05/2022 21:33

@Howmuchwood

Why would PE MPs care about state education?

Would you be willing to pay more tax to fund better education for all?

What about you @RosesAndHellebores

Robinni · 22/05/2022 21:35

Jmaho · 22/05/2022 21:13

I agree with you. I'm actually not anti private education at all. It's just the sweeping statements about state school that got my back up. We are very lucky with both our local primary and secondary schools. The teachers are very strict about manners, attendance, uniform etc. And bad behaviour is not tolerated at all. The Secretary for Education visited my sons secondary school about a month ago and I received a phonecall from one of his team telling me how proud I should be of my son who spent some time talking to him about what they had been learning about. He said he was blown away by his confidence and positivity for learning. You can imagine how proud I felt!
It is a bit of a touchy subject for me as we are constantly being told how amazing my nephews school is, how they are learning French and about Shakespeare (yes mine are too!) how states schools must be rubbish as the teachers are so poorly paid so only the worst teachers must work there! The absolute best part of it all is that they did actually apply to state school initially but didn't get their catchment school and got offered a school a little further away where there is a high percentage of children who do not speak English as their first language. This was a big no no for my brother in law who believe it or not is an Immigration Lawyer!!

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We had a choice of several schools where a higher % of kids don't speak English as a first language - the pass rates for English and Maths were 30-40%. With the language issue it takes away from the teaching; they spend so much time dealing with it the education of the class suffers. Your BiL made a good call.

We looked at private but thankfully found another good school, pass rates over 90%. Now considering private again as the class size is enormous and nephew/niece had some incidents in later years of primary which raised concern for me.

Sorry your BiL feels the need to shove private education down your throat and is dismissive of your children's talents. But that does not excuse you running around insulting people because you perceive they may be like him.

dillydally24 · 22/05/2022 21:35

Citygirly · 22/05/2022 21:23

This is really helpful, thank you. I was under the impression I could only do 5% with my workplace scheme. I'll have to check this.
(This is why it is good to ask! I thought I was doing the maximum I could).

We invest more than we save but I would like more cash savings than DH as having the money readily accessible makes me feel more comfortable. However, I completely appreciate it is better long term to invest so our money is beating inflation. I suppose it's just working out how much we should have access to easily.

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You're welcome. Also, I would consider not overpaying the mortgage but putting the money into savings instead. This is not the right choice for everyone, but our mortgage interest rate is low relative to what we can earn in a diversified portfolio of investments, so it's what we do. If you are young with a high and pretty secure earning capacity, then it makes sense to have as much leverage as possible.

Howmuchwood · 22/05/2022 21:37

@topgub I already pay the top tax rate but yes I would be willing to pay more if it went to schools and healthcare

I'm not overly keen on it going to some of the daft things I see public money being spent on like Rishi Sunak ordering £500k of opinion polls, I mean if that doesn't epitomise what's wrong with our current govt then what does!!

RosesAndHellebores · 22/05/2022 21:40

@Topgub absolutely I would. It is essential. For the time being we just have a trust set up at the dc's former cofe state primary to ensure every child who wishes may learn an instrument. We pay for the tuition and instruments for children whose parents can't. We also pay a substantial sum for extra curricular and trips. DH is a school governor at a school in Westminster where most dc are deprived and many don't have English as a first language.

FWIW I am also on the board of a homeless charity and pre covid cooked for 80 and served three times a year. I have recently been nominated to sit as a non exec for a London hospital.

I also work full-time for an organisation with charitable status in a professional role.

What do you do if I may ask?

BellePeppa · 22/05/2022 21:43

Howmuchwood · 22/05/2022 20:57

@jmaho I agree that some privately educated children can be awful, as they get older they see what their parent's money has bought and they do look down their noses at others. I only have my own experience to go on but when I've met people like this they are usually from very rich families but actually struggling academically and their parent's money is a sort of defence mechanism. Its sad to see.

You clearly care a lot about your DC and I you've obviously done a wonderful job bringing them up. I think all teachers would agree that parents are the biggest influence on younger children. Teaching DC respect and the value of education and serving others is always going to stand them in good stead.

Unfortunately in state schools the polite and well mannered children can get overlooked when the teacher has to spend all their time dealing with the 5 or more disruptors. I moved from state to private for secondary and it was a world of difference. In state school I was mocked for getting top marks, in private I was applauded. In state I was laughed at for putting my hand up to answer the teacher and for trying to help others. I was top of the class in both schools but I had a lot more competition in the private school and a lot more opportunities and was pushed in a healthy way to achieve my best. I would never have had the confidence and self belief to do what I have since without those years of private school. I am very thankful for the opportunity.

This is why my two went to private. I was badly bullied at my state comp because I was a ‘good’ kid and it really clouded my judgement when the only school on offer (small town) for my two was one with a similar reputation (they had friends who went there and they hated it). They were really bright and I didn’t want them to suffer the same fate I did. If the school hadn’t had such a bad reputation I probably wouldn’t have gone private. I don’t regret it though as unlike me they have zero bad memories of school.

Jmaho · 22/05/2022 21:46

Robinni · 22/05/2022 21:35

We had a choice of several schools where a higher % of kids don't speak English as a first language - the pass rates for English and Maths were 30-40%. With the language issue it takes away from the teaching; they spend so much time dealing with it the education of the class suffers. Your BiL made a good call.

We looked at private but thankfully found another good school, pass rates over 90%. Now considering private again as the class size is enormous and nephew/niece had some incidents in later years of primary which raised concern for me.

Sorry your BiL feels the need to shove private education down your throat and is dismissive of your children's talents. But that does not excuse you running around insulting people because you perceive they may be like him.

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I've insulted 3 people on this thread. The first was a poster who made sweeping statements about state schools and the children and families who attend them. The second was my brother in law who is an obnoxious, bigoted idiot and the third was a poster who corrected my spelling. There is no need for anyone else to be insulted by my posts. I'm not anti private school, I'm not pro state schools. I'm anti generalisations and snobbery.
I gave anecdotal examples of the only children I know who are privately educated. The poster who I replied to originally gave anecdotal examples of state school children. But I'm the only one who bit it seems. It got my back up, both the tone and content of his/her post.

WrongWayApricot · 22/05/2022 21:51

Solid gold toilet obvs

Topgub · 22/05/2022 21:53

@RosesAndHellebores

Is the faith school deprived? What does charitable status mean?

What do you do if I may ask?

I* *dont vote tory, I dont avoid tax and I dont send my kids to a private school

Pecially · 22/05/2022 21:56

Snobbery and inverted snobbery are both as bad as each other.

Our spend goes on:

boarding school
horses
mortgage
high pension contributions
holidays

Probably the stereotypical toff wankers 🤷🏼‍♀️

LoisLane66 · 22/05/2022 21:56

I have no idea. My ex's accountant deals with my investments, savings and bills. I spend whatever I want on whatever I want.
It's naff to talk about money.
If you need to look at prices then you have no money to speak of.

RosesAndHellebores · 22/05/2022 22:02

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Topgub · 22/05/2022 22:07

@RosesAndHellebores

Oh dear.
I was interested but never mind.

Funny you got to not owing society very quickly from being so concerned about the lack of education opportunities for those less hard working and not as lucky as you.

We're all very grateful for your contributions

123ROLO · 22/05/2022 22:13

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Everything about that post screamed superiority complex

lightswitchmoment · 22/05/2022 22:19

We turn the heating on.

lancsgirl85 · 22/05/2022 22:22

lightswitchmoment · 22/05/2022 22:19

We turn the heating on.

😂

gotthis · 22/05/2022 22:28

OMG12 · 22/05/2022 19:09

Well I’m glad it’s made your evening - but it’s a real concern, after all this time DH is having to face up to the fact he can’t in fact ride a bike - he was at boarding school since conception and he just never found the time between lessons on being posh and the ever popular “how to look down your nose at pauper plebs” class, not forgetting the extra curricular class on how to manage on only £1mill a year.

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😀

eastegg · 22/05/2022 22:35

NohoHank · 21/05/2022 12:15

I wouldn't call that particularly high earning

Bingo!

😂

Haven’t rtft; have we had ‘tone deaf’ yet? (NB, I’m not saying it isn’t tone deaf).

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 22/05/2022 22:37

Woundabout · 21/05/2022 12:02

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.

This thread cracks me up

gotthis · 22/05/2022 22:37

This thread reminded me of that song 'I'm minted' on Horrible Histories.

scooterbe1982 · 22/05/2022 22:39

Is this thread a piss take? Genuinely can’t differentiate from the people posting as satire and the ones posting for real! Seriously, if you have to ask a Mumsnet forum how to spend your high income in a cost of living crisis, you need to give your head a wobble! 😂

SoManyQuestionsHere · 22/05/2022 22:46

Haven't RTFT but, as to the question in the OP:

I basically don't!

Grew up working-class. Make in excess of 200k pa now, a mere decade post graduation (first kid in my family ever to graduate from university).

Truth be told: I wasn't taught how one does "being loaded", so I keep on operating on the "hold back, money might be tight come next month" script that I was brought up to know.

Frankly, I'm swimming in cash. And I have no idea what to do with it, because everything I was brought up to think of as "fun stuff" won't burn through it - and yet, I still haven't quite understood why I should care about flying 1st class. To me, it still reads "money out of the window for a few hours of mostly status signalling - ain't nobody got time for that".

I'm not complaining, by the way, just pointing out how very strange the "grew up poor, ended up rich" experience can be. I consider myself truly blessed despite being as irreligious as they come.

169cliftonroad · 22/05/2022 22:48

For those doubting OP earning 85k at 27, it is common in finance/legal industry and especially in London. My friend's dd at 23 who is only only 1 year into her job, not even qualified yet, is on 120k, recently given a 20k increment.

As for how we spend our disposable income, we have joint income of 170k (but we are old, in our early 40s, and in our industry the income is unlikely to rise very much), kids in state primary , minimal childcare cost, no expensive hobbies, no flashy cars.. we put anything over 50k into sipp, so we live on 2x50k per year. Essential bills + other necessities come to about 2k pm. We invest the rest into isa and when the time right , withdraw it to buy properties. Our very first family home is no.6, we kept that for rental when we moved to a bigger house so it started as incidental landlord. Since then , coindentay , our second btl is no.1. Last year we bought a no.5. We said jokingly that we will retire once we have collected no1 to no.6

SoManyQuestionsHere · 22/05/2022 22:51

@169cliftonroad, can confirm; I was on a similar trajectory at the same age.

Not finances but professional services.