Page 5 | 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.

lancsgirl85 · 21/05/2022 13:19

And yes seems pretty insensitive to me during a widely publicised cost of living crisis.

I have to agree. I'm not living in poverty myself, nor am I high earner - I'm somewhere in the middle. But I still find it a bit "off" given the current economic climate.

NashvilleQueen · 21/05/2022 13:19

I totally agree. When I heard how much Brooklyn Beckham's wedding cost I actually went up two whole social classes! I was languishing as manual unskilled before but now I'm a professional!

rogueone · 21/05/2022 13:20

Mortgage & school fees, thats about it apart from usual household bills etc

Squiff70 · 21/05/2022 13:21

Hadtocomment · 21/05/2022 13:16

Don't see the point of this thread. And yes seems pretty insensitive to me during a widely publicised cost of living crisis. How does it benefit the op exactly to get lists of spending from well off people? The info listed here is not exactly helpful for financial planning or in any way at all is it? Is the op going to go shit! horses! I forgot to buy a couple of those. What about regular donations to causes or charities etc?

If you bother to read the OP, she quite clearly says they donate around 10% of their income to charity. But then, this is Mumsnet, and people often read what they want to read and not what is actually said.

ShanghaiDiva · 21/05/2022 13:21

We lived overseas, went on a lot of holidays, saved a lot to retire at 52.

PaddingtonBearStareAgain · 21/05/2022 13:21

minipie · 21/05/2022 12:51

Getting cross about this thread is a bit like saying there shouldn’t be any threads about activities to do that with the DC, because some are struggling with infertility.

It’s a legitimate question to ask, if it upsets you that some people earn a lot then scroll on.

However saying things like one has that they don't think it should be classed as high earning is just extremely naive or deliberately goady.

justasking111 · 21/05/2022 13:21

TomatoorChips · 21/05/2022 13:15

Why?

My dh is paye and a 45% tax payer
I am self employed and a higher rate tax payer on dividends

Show quote history

I've found self employed friends less interested in pouring money into pensions and more open to investing elsewhere to grow their money off their own backs. Pensions are created by folks following the activities of entrepreneurship and buying in when you think about it

PaddleBoardingMomma · 21/05/2022 13:23

I mean, I understand people are nosey curious. Sometimes I have these questions too, I wonder if I could spending differently / better. Buuuut, there are lots of forums like MSE and financial boards that would surely be a better place to ask.

And at the end of the day, what does it really matter. You could be at the top of your career, living in central London, sending your kids to private school, jetting off for a weekend in Monaco and be as likely to be struck down with incurable cancer as someone who is left with 34p in their account a week before payday.

At the moment, when we are in the midst of a very real cost of living crisis, I can see why a few posters are less that impressed.

Newmumatlast · 21/05/2022 13:24

I pay £750 pm into mortgage which gov tops up. I save different amounts each month (self employed) into isa/savings for us as a family. I save a smaller sum pm for the kids. We overpay our mortgage every month.

Egghead68 · 21/05/2022 13:24

Tax
Maxing out pension
Savings
Expensive Food
Exercise classes
Taxis

Mamai90 · 21/05/2022 13:27

Squiff70 · 21/05/2022 13:18

Can people please stop bitching about the thread topic? If you are likely to be upset or annoyed by the topic (which is a completely valid discussion BTW) then keep scrolling.

DP and I are not high earners. A million miles from that but we're not on the bare bones of our arses either.

High earners, by the vast majority, get to where they are by working extremely hard at their chosen career. That's not to say lower skilled or manual workers (I hate talking about 'social classes') are not exceptionally hard workers - of course most of them are and they are crucial for society to function as well as it does!

If you're in a situation where a loaf of bread is unaffordable then chances are you've had some extremely bad luck in life but only you can change that. Yes it takes time but there are ways to improve your life and finances that don't involve bitching at others who are in a more privileged position than you/I/we are. I hope things improve for everyone struggling to get food on the table or keep a roof over your family's heads - the situation with the rising cost of living in the UK is at crisis point and many are clinging on by their fingernails through no fault of their own. Attacking high earners who've worked hard to EARN (note - not inherit, steal etc) what they do is not going to change things for people in a less privileged position.

Is that you Molly-Mae? 🙄

Ponderingwindow · 21/05/2022 13:27

We hire out a fair amount of labor. Cleaning, mowing, weeding, etc. I have some health problems so this isn’t entirely a luxury and we strategically did this even when our budget was tighter.

activities for dc. Being able to provide her with these opportunities brings me great joy. I didn’t have the same options as a child.

saving for university.

Cheesepleeze · 21/05/2022 13:28

I genuinely don’t mean this as an insult, but why are you all sat around on Mumsnet if you’re loaded?

I come on mumsnet because I’m bored and I guess I don’t have much of a life since having young children. I like to think that if I had plenty of money, I’d be busy living my best life and not sat on a forum where half the users are miserable sods😂

PaddingtonBearStareAgain · 21/05/2022 13:28

So 5 pages in and OP has gone awol.

Any thoughts on what people have said op?

minipie · 21/05/2022 13:28

I agree with that @PaddingtonBearStareAgain ! £140k is a lot by anyone’s reckoning. Even in London. Sure there may be some who find it tight on this, but that’ll be because they’ve chosen to spend 7 figures on a house or send kids private.

Merryclaire · 21/05/2022 13:29

PaddleBoardingMomma · 21/05/2022 13:23

I mean, I understand people are nosey curious. Sometimes I have these questions too, I wonder if I could spending differently / better. Buuuut, there are lots of forums like MSE and financial boards that would surely be a better place to ask.

And at the end of the day, what does it really matter. You could be at the top of your career, living in central London, sending your kids to private school, jetting off for a weekend in Monaco and be as likely to be struck down with incurable cancer as someone who is left with 34p in their account a week before payday.

At the moment, when we are in the midst of a very real cost of living crisis, I can see why a few posters are less that impressed.

Yes - this! She posted on the AIBU board rather than a dedicated money/finance board. Of course a portion of the posters are going to decide that, yes, she is unreasonable to ask that question!
More money = more problems, so they say. (I’ll have to take their word for it!😂)

Newmumatlast · 21/05/2022 13:30

Isonthecase · 21/05/2022 12:54

Why are people so bothered by this? Knowing how other people spend their money is massively important for social mobility, otherwise you end up in a situation where the rich stay rich for generations and the poor may get rich for one then it's gone.

Personally we spend about 2/3 of our money on childcare, mortgage, savings into s+s isas, overpaying the mortgage (this varies based on childcare, we couldn't do this with 2 in full time). The other £2k ish goes on not worrying about food, eating out, and savings for the less regular costs like council tax and car insurance as well as some towards a rental mortgage.

We try to make sure we save as much as possible because we've both grown up in families with relatively recent experience of poverty. I'm aware we could make more by risking more but, for me, it's not worth it.

Same. Very modest background for me and husband poor. Both working class. We therefore save more than we spend as we don't know when it might stop and we also are worried about risks. We also spend alot being generous with friends, family and strangers.

Newmumatlast · 21/05/2022 13:33

Cheesepleeze · 21/05/2022 13:28

I genuinely don’t mean this as an insult, but why are you all sat around on Mumsnet if you’re loaded?

I come on mumsnet because I’m bored and I guess I don’t have much of a life since having young children. I like to think that if I had plenty of money, I’d be busy living my best life and not sat on a forum where half the users are miserable sods😂

Lol money is still valuable and I dont want to waste it when I had a long time without it. I live modestly. My daughter and I have just been swimming though. But I have cleaning to do and probably will go to the park. Won't be on mumsnet all day. Still like scrolling when eating lunch or have a moment where I need to chill and not think about work. I spend an awful lot of my time working and am exhausted alot.

CaliforniaDrumming · 21/05/2022 13:33

Mostly DC's education. We are expatriates in the UK and DC are international students at UK unis so will pay double. And flights to see scattered family. And savings ahead of DH's early retirement or lay off whichever comes first.

To do this we don't run a car and live in a flat. Not that I am complaining about either.

Xenia · 21/05/2022 13:34

It has varied over the years but for a lot of it was full time childcare and the mortgage. Then school fees for 5 children and this year post grad fees and other costs for the twins - fees alone £16k per twin -so coting about £50k a year as it also cost me in their 3 undergraduate years (no student loans) and also in the last few years helping each of the 5 children buy a first property.

However every family well off enought o save any money has their own priorities. Mine is keeping the twins and also trying to pay off my mortgage.

MintyMoocow · 21/05/2022 13:37

Amazon Prime mainly…😳

Passanotherjaffacake · 21/05/2022 13:37

Earn a little less then this combined and live in an expensive city (not London). Huge mortgage and childcare costs take at least half after tax, ni and pensions. House is big and our main luxury, good school catchments etc.

food, groceries and eating out is a big outgoing - I don’t buy organic but do look for good quality fruit and veg which tastes of something and I am anal about eco friendly cleaning stuff. we are reducing our budget here though but we do value going out for an early dinner with our LO at the weekend.

Rest of it is normal stuff like things for the house, little day trips, car expenses, insurance etc. having a dog is expensive. Spend almost nothing on clothes for us. My make up and face stuff is mid range but lasts ages. We won’t be able to afford a holiday for a few years.

so nothing unusual and no huge savings or investment plans until we childcare years are done. Definitely not a wage/lifestyle which stretches to expensive hobbies, holidays, school fees etc.

dumdumduuuummmmm · 21/05/2022 13:37

NohoHank · 21/05/2022 12:15

I wouldn't call that particularly high earning

Bingo!

It depends what is thought to be high earning. If for example you have 2 or 3 dc who you want to educate privately, £140k will not allow for that. Some people would argue that if you can't afford private education then you aren't a high earner but a moderate earner.

lioncitygirl · 21/05/2022 13:37

Private school, holidays, investments (husband works in banking so he does this for us)

EmpressoftheMundane · 21/05/2022 13:39

Our expenses in descending order:
-taxes
-school fees
-mortgage
-food/utilities
-pension savings
-routine home maintenance
-holidays/eating out/ theatre
-charities

Next year our car will need replacing. So that will be high in the list.

Once the school fees drop away and the mortgage gets paid off we can pivot to sorting out major home repairs, making sure our pension contributions are enough and being more generous to our wider community.

(I find holidays a chore and I am not interested in clothes or jewellery. I do want my house to be nice though. I wish I could spend on that.)