I earn a 6 figure salary...

[herehearher]

Just reading another thread and pretty much every post is going on about "6 figure salary" - as if this is some sort of meaningful marker.

But obviously there's a massive difference between someone on £100k and someone on £900k. So by "6 figure salary" are they just essentially saying they earn around £100k? If they earned £250k, how is it acceptable to describe that?

Surely you must know that nothing in this world is worse than rich accusations?!? 😂

Be nice to tradespeople? It's not tradespeople who are the low earners! It's time that myth was busted. We need more tradespeople and they need to know after they are finished training they will be well paid.

Give over. It’s not jealousy, it’s realism. I am an additional rate tax payer, I work in the City with lots of other high earners. I paid for private school (prep & senior) for my DC etc. etc.

DH is an immigrant from North Africa and a fair number of his friends are driving buses, doing Uber or working in hospitality. There is no comparison between the financial security and spending options we have and they have.

What I have seen over my years in the City is lifestyle creep. Things that most people would regard as luxuries become necessities. Gradually, the big salary doesn’t feel so big because the bigger house has a bigger mortgage and higher bills. Even if you don’t pay school fees, you may be in a school where parents are expected to chip in, where birthday parties cost that bit more. Your DC may do more expensive after school activities.

Spending a large income on stuff that feels important may make it seem like a smaller income but objectively it isn’t.

Yup. My partner is trade. Last year he earned £80k despite living in a cheaper area where work costs a lot less than SE. He turns work down.
If you want your bathroom tiled, or your side return kitchen extension you'd be daft not to be nice to the limited number of people capable of it.

- tell that to Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.

Some seriously jealous people on this post. Who care what people earn, no-one else needs to know.

Also in terms of trades, my middle son has ASD so I can’t see him working in a office or doing well at school as he can’t stand all the people and shuts down to everything. He likes to be alone. He loves building and has a maths mind. I’ll be encouraging him to train as a builder/plumber etc. The builder doing my extension has just bought his third house, he’s 38. I think he’s earning six figures, has been in the uk 18 years so no family connections or family money. Just hard work. We need to be open to all the ways to make sure we are financially stable.

I agree with you.
I work with new graduates and see first hand their struggles to find the type of job they've been led to believe ( by universities selling courses) their degree will lead to.
On the other hand, I know a number of people in their 20s who went down the apprenticeship route into trades, and are doing very well with clear career paths, in areas that are unlikely to be too impacted by trends.
Its interesting to me that on these threads the Holy trinity of success always consists of hard work, taking opportunities and the obligatory University education, when degrees these days are so commonplace only graduates who are exceptional really stand out.

In my experience, most people who brag about money, have money! They don't of course mention their six-figure salaries but they will casually talk about what their big salaries have purchased - their second homes, their skiing holidays, etc. And why wouldn't they buy and enjoy nice stuff - why not spend it, otherwise, what's the point? - you can't take it with you!
My Bil would like to conform to your stereotype, always counting his pennies for fear he'd be parted from them - quite literally, owns four houses with my dsis worth £5mill and is a total misery - he'd walk an extra 20 mins in the rain to save 40p on a coffee. I don't know how she puts up with him!

I agree some people make money in trades but the bottom line is that on the whole if you do well in a high paid profession that is probably a better start.

I don't think people "struggling" in the SE on relatively high incomes are ever going to go down too well as they are clearly better off than those on benefits and/or the minimum wage, but they certainly are free to post whatever they like. You also do get used to having more which when youa re worse off you don't have eg I remember when we didn't have hair conditioner or orange juice as too expensive (not that I have even been really badly off ever). Now I wouldn't think twice about buying hair conditioner although I would never go to the hair dresser these days even on my income.

My twins and their friends are relatively recent graduates so it is always interesting to see what work people are doing and why and how they came to those positions.

Absolutely agree - kids are sold a dream of a golden career in the professions if they graduate from university - it's a bit of a shock when it doesn't happen. The most recent group to graduate seem particularly pleased with themselves for getting through university whilst dealing with Covid, they sound like they think they deserve a gold star sticker - it certainly didn't help them grow up.

Why do you disbelieve that 6 figure earners exist? Is it really so hard to fathom?

I don't think it is a case of disbelieving that such earners exist, more the fact that nationally only 5% of the population earn over £80k a year yet in Mumsnetland there is a perception that every other poster (or their husband) is on six figures thus bucking the national average.

This is clearly untrue, as on the how much do you earn threads rhe answers are predominantly low to middle with hundreds and hundreds of responses.

there about twelve million people on here. And it’s clearly way less than five percent or even one percent who say they are.

I think you’re letting your upset skew it.

I'm not convinced. I mainly come across law graduates and a year on, with one or two exceptions, they are working in shops and service industries, applying for job after job, and sometimes getting 'lucky' and securing what is essentially a sales job for a firm of ambulance chasers. Those with degrees in non vocational subjects are in an even worse position.
The technical graduates often apply for graduate apprenticeships with large companies, car manufacturers, house builders, and find themselves in a similar position to those who started with the company as a school leaver.
I'm not anti degree, but I do think the move over the last couple of decades to see it as the default option is not really helpful to young people, particularly those who lack the connections to ease their path into their career of choice.

I think you’re letting your upset skew it.

Not upset at all! I find it amusing.

You must be aware that there is an ongoing trope on here about the sheer number of posters claiming to be middleclass high earners. There is a thread every few months with people taking the piss out how many posters are all uni educated professionals earning X.

I keep in touch with our alumni (I teach physical sciences) and out of the Class of 2021, two-thirds are in grad level jobs or went on to a MSc or PhD. (2/3 of the whole year, 85% of the ones that stayed in contact with me). A further 10% are in tech-level roles like technician, teaching assistant, and a handful are doing other things whilst searching. One is a tree surgeon but looking more purposefully now, he says.

Oh yes, I forgot that sending your kids to private schools, eating only at Michelin-starred restaurants, flying first class and staying in 5 star hotels is compulsory when you earn more than £99,999 pa.

two-thirds are in grad level jobs or went on to a MSc or PhD Ahh yes more promises! Do you know what the split is between jobs and more qualifications? More qualifications don't necessarily make grads more employable.

I'm intrigued about luxuries becoming necessities. What are these?.

@Alliumpoppyrose

I really don’t agree with your statement
There are six figure/millionaire earners who have grafted like maniacs and lost out on a lot to do their jobs and not so they could gloat to being a six figure earner, my husband has worked for weeks straight 14-17 hour days with no day off and physical hard graft !

my family member is a CEO of a pharmaceutical company which pioneers drugs for brain and heart conditions, from such long hours and hard work he himself ended up having a heart attack at a young age (survived thank goodness)
he built this company from the ground up and still works now

I don’t think it’s fair to Chuck all six figure earners into a shit bucket and label them as privileged poncy arseholes who just sit there and money just rains down on them while the rest of the lower earners kill themselves

It's also fairly arbitrary between different contexts. I am an academic working in a top uni in the UK. My salary is just over 60k. In the US, I was earning a 6 figure salary - the job is exactly the same. We came back here for family reasons. Often it's just a question of what society values. Clearly in the UK, being an academic is not valued, while in the US it is. I do not work less hard or have worse skills today than I did yesterday.

Some people think that smartphones are luxuries, even though most phones are classed as smartphones these days. I’m not sure the PP meant this though as someone on £100k+ could easily afford the top of the range ones. The “latest smartphone” line is usually only trotted out to bash people on benefits or a low salary.

I think perhaps they meant luxury cars like BMW, Mercedes etc. and large and/or expensive homes.

Private school is an obvious one. Every single person who had children in the team I was on sent their children to a fee paying school. You must have seen the knots people tie themselves into to justify why they didn’t choose state.
(I chose private because I could and I thought it would give my DC a better education - I didn’t have to).

Do you need a 4 bed house if you have two DC.

How many people sitting on a trading floor would chose to wear clothes from Primark or Matalan?

No it's not. But nor is it fair when the self proclaimed six figure earners go around perpetuating the myth that the only thing that stands between people and high earnings is their own lack of motivation and hard work, and in doing so elevate themselves to some sort of superiority in terms of their work ethic and drive.
Some people achieve high salaries on the back of their privilege. Some achieve high salaries against the odds. Some work very hard for high salaries. Some are lucky enough not to have to.
The fact remains, this sort of earning level is, and will remain, something that 99% of people will be unable to achieve.
If a person is in the 1%, excellent. Their success is their own reward. They shouldn't need a round of applause for their diligence and all round brilliance from equally hard working lower paid people as well.
And yes, I'm sure some are coming from a good place when they use their stories to inspire others, but to be genuinely useful most wiuld need to be a lot more specific. I took this qualification, I applied here, I have this job title, rather than all this vague pontificating and bragging about RG unis, working 3 jobs and doing 17 hour days.

Oh look another look at me post to add to all the others. If you read what @Alliumpoppyrose wrote I think you chose to ignore two specific words "Usually" and "Often" within their statement, which tells me your more obsessed with trying to brag than actually taking the time to read other peoples points of view.