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?

Good taking advantage of opportunity there. I'm doing the same and working on tech experience while working part-time being a mother and wife. I want to do freelance stuff in tech and have time to look around. They pay very well! I had an interview with a tech company last year offering a brilliant salary for not much work but I never want to run by someone else's schedule again and am going for freelance instead.

Instead of worrying and being upset, we all need to take opportunities now. It's a precarious time and it's really survival of the fittest; the mentally resilient and opportunists.

I know a lot of people on hefty money.

I don't, and posters don't believe me when I say that. I'm talking abouts friends and acquaintances here, not professionals I come across like hospital consultants.

Most of our friends are retired, and weren't on hefty salaries before retiring and, as I posted earlier, there are very few six figure salaries round here.

Everyone knows they exist, but given only 1% have them and the percentage for women is even lower, it does stretch credulity that such a disproportionate number seem to want to post on MN about it.
I take it in much the same vein as the other MN clichés 'DD15 is tall blonde and beautiful' 'DS is 6' 2" Oxbridge and athletic' and 'I'm 60 but everyone thinks I'm 28'.
Some truth, some lies and some poetic licence.

Social mobility is actually really hard in U.K. - we have one of the lowest rates of social mobility compared to other developed countries.

'People on shit wages often work a dam sight harder and longer than those on six figure salary's it's just they never had that break or opportunity.'

Total, total rubbish.

£100k is quite an average income “salary & discretionary bonus” in my industry (across all functions and specialities once someone is a mid-level manager). It shouldn’t be unbelievable and I don’t know why anyone would lie on an anonymous forum 🤷🏼‍♀️

I once read on here that people who earned such a high wage wouldn’t be posting on MN, which doesn’t hold true either... I’m on endless calls that need only part of my concentration (because I’ve been doing this job for decades and there are always messages/emails/people popping up) and then on days I’m in the office, there’s a 2.5 hour round trip commute to fill with mindless internet scrolling!!

It’s expensive to to keep plates spinning though. I employ 3 people via my own payroll at home just to keep life running smoothly. I’m planning to go part time if the next government raise income taxes, as I can cut my income and thus tax bill (and expenses) significantly.

Took me a very long time to reach my six-figure salary.
Always worked hard, it's very dependent on luck - I wish someone had pointed out that "if you're irreplaceable, you're unpromoteable" twenty years before they did. Anyone who has ever worked for an organisation has seen hardworking introverts fail to receive fair reward for their contribution. That's where some see luck and others well-deserved opportunity.

If you earn minimum-wage, are a good example to your children and are a useful member of society, you deserve respect. If you make £20,000 each week and make no contribution to society you don't. I pay four-figures each week in tax and NI, but Lord Sugar paid the equivalent of £3m each week in tax last year and Denise Coates, probably well North of that. Financially, the others are worth thousands of times as much as me, but as a human being ...?

can't believe its so few, most of my social group are on 6 figures. even more couples I know are on 6 figures as a couple.
none live particularly lavish lifestyles as they live in London and have huge mortgages.
Dh is in top .5%, we have very little savings, spend what we earn.

Another one agreeing with you both. I really think the ones who put it down to luck and knowing people are the ones who won't get there so the next best is to be bitter about it.

I think they want to make sure we all know that they earn 250k and a paltry 100k salary should not be classed in the same bracket as theirs.

I couldn't give a shit. I had to go to a food bank last week. 🙄

I know someone who earns 6 figures. He worked hard when he was young but now gets to WFH everyday and it's laid back enough for him to make social plans and pick his kid up from school as well as go on a lot of weekend breaks and holidays.He is very lucky indeed and I admit I do feel envious at times.

Yes to this it can get easier ime

early days long hours and many opinions above you

Definitely take advice; between 100 and 110k you are paying a huge rate of tax, so it can be the right time to put money into your pension tax-free.

I really think the ones who put it down to luck and knowing people are the ones who won't get there

I got there by luck and reputation, ie knowing influential people in my industry. No bitterness here obviously but I worked no harder than anyone else.

You earn a 6 figure salary but it probably comes with a lot of stress, long hours and sleepless nights.

I don't think most people lie on MN. Some of us are just from groups of people who earn a fair bit. My parents were a doctor and teacher. We went to private schools from age 4. I am a lawyer as are 4 of my children (2 will qualify in 2024 s not quite lawyers yet) as am I - all of us in London and all doing business type law so reasonably well paid. I have a sibling who is a doctor. I live on a private estate where everyone has to be fairly well off to afford the houses so it is not a lie that a lot of people that I know do earn quite a bit although I certainly know people who don't earn much either. Nor would it take much of a google search to check what London commercial lawyers and NHS consultants earn to verify it is unlikely I am lying.

I am very very lucky but the main reason I feel lucky is I have needed a doctor for about 7 minutes in 15 years and am just about never ill and always happy. Cannot put a price on that. Now whether the reason I don't get sick is because I don't live in a damp house or on the streets, get enough sleep (these days - no small babies - just student children to wake me at night) and don't look at food prices - well yes that will be one reason - money - that I don't tend to be ill. However that is likely to change over time as I get older and no one in my family lives as long as age 80 so I probably won't have a very long old age. My parents died in their 70s.

Oh bollocks to that. I live in London! On 36K. Don't tell me 100K isn't a huge amount of money.

If you choose a lifestyle with a big house, multiple kids, cars, etc., that's on you. It doesn't mean 100K isn't a lot of money.

@itsasecret I completely agree with what you are saying. Many people on that sort of salary do work very hard and of course not everyone has had a lucky break or their dad knew someone in the field.
Perhaps, people would rather think that way to make themselves feel better?

I think some are paid for what they know and their contacts when they reach a certain point in their careers as well.
As I said, this guy I know certainly isn't rushed off his feet and gets to WFH and plan social events/Go to sports days and gets a lot of breaks.
I think it's all about the career path you choose. Carers work a hell of a lot harder than this man but earn peanuts. Tech pays very well on the other hand....

Not me. If I know someone earns 6 figures it would make me feel much better to know they had to work very hard indeed for it.
I'd be very put out to think they got all that from coasting along in some easy little number, while people do hard graft for much less.

Some jobs may be like that but others are relatively stress free and strictly 9-5 hours.

@Mizzo - I am not sure your neighbour is typical - but what do I know.

I am with you @herehearher it's tiresome isn't? Also, in the vast majority of cases, it's not true. Less than 4% of people in the UK earn a yearly 'six figure salary' and yet the majority of them seem to be on mumsnet - a LOT. Makes me wonder what jobs they do to get this salary, that involves very little work. (That must be the case as they are on here so much!!!)

They're usually the same ones who cook from scratch, don't have a TV, and who have 'travelled extensively' and of course, they have the obligatory 2 university degrees (in addition to a 'masters,') from red brick universities. Tedious and predictable. And yeah, they DO act like they're superior ...

@5128gap

Everyone knows they exist, but given only 1% have them and the percentage for women is even lower, it does stretch credulity that such a disproportionate number seem to want to post on MN about it.

I take it in much the same vein as the other MN clichés 'DD15 is tall blonde and beautiful' 'DS is 6' 2" Oxbridge and athletic' and 'I'm 60 but everyone thinks I'm 28'.

LOL this!!! ^ Pretty much what I was saying. It's always the same types. And as you say, whilst I know some people in real life do earn £100K +, the vast majority of mumsnetters claiming they do, absolutely do NOT. In fact, they probably don't even have a job. The 'my husband is an extremely high earner, he pays £9,000 a month tax, and I earn less but still pay £7,000 a month tax' type comments are hilarious. Surely these posters must know (on some level) that people don't believe them! 😂

And to the 'haha lol you sound jealous' posters, most people (myself included) are not jealous of people fantasy lives (and fantasy salaries) ta.

It shouldn’t always have to be hard on a day to day basis. It can be about skills and expertise which are valued and have probably taken hard graft and time to get to rather than having to bash your head out for 18 hours a day. The tasks and responsibility levels can be immensely complex but the hob design such that its manageable with some level of balance.

That’s what we should really be aiming for with all jobs, not effectively wanting to punish people for earning more.

@Somanymistakes i don't earn 6 figures and never have but I'm fortunate enough not to have to go to a food bank. I hope you're OK.