To ask if you have a wage/income that would shock people?

[Newmumatlast]

Inspired by the tipping hairdresser thread, and a post on there about people having no idea what some people earn with an anecdote about a London cabbie earning twice what his nurse wife did.

I just wondered if anyone does a job where people would actually be shocked to know their true earnings based on stereotype- either way. For example cleaner earning loads or lawyer earning very little.

I work in mental health for the NHS.

As a CBT therapist with six years experience I'm on £47k. That's the same salary as my team manager.

I find the perception is that NHS staff are uniformly paid terribly, but the pay scale is freely available online under 'Agenda for Change' so you can easily see what people get paid at each rung of the ladder.

I've certainly never felt underpaid, I feel well rewarded for the work I do. On paper it took a two year Masters then a one year postgrad diploma, though the vast majority of us already have a core profession or psychology degree and have worked in mental healthcare or the voluntary sector for years before qualifying.

People always say 'go private, you'll earn loads more!' because a CBT therapist charges £60-100 per hour in most areas, but for various reasons I don't believe I'd do better privately (nor would I want to, I'm committed to working for the NHS).

There's so much surprise on here that nurses can earn good salaries. And so they should. But the unions have done an excellent job in conning people into believing that all nurses work long hours in terrible conditions for a pittance.

Well, the salient word there is 'suggested'! I work/have worked for publishers from tiny ones to the big boys like Random Penguin, and yes, they think I'm good, but they don't budge on rates ,and believe me I've tried. They might concede a pound an hour or so, but not more.
May I ask, what publishers do you work for? And are you editorial, and in general commercial publishing? I often think that if I had a specialism like a science qualification I'd work for scientific/academic presses and perhaps earn more.

@Widowtoaworkaholic are you outside of London? What area of law do you practise?

Also work for big publishers. I will DM you.

It’s train drivers that get me - over 50k to drive round country - just be nice. Their unions are phenomenal- compared to bus drivers who do a similar job but earn half as much (crap unions)

One of my siblings is in nursing , I am a dentist (mostly private for the last few years , also involved in training and other dental related work).

I have never , apart from a couple of years in the early 90s , earned more than my sibling. They started nursing at 18 at which time they were paid a small salary , then switched specialities then went onto management track.

I took extra qualifications , which I had to pay for, became involved in training and other non clinical work alongside my clinical practice. I have never paid higher rate tax except for two years over covid when I took on a covid related job on top of my other work and was working 7 days a week up to 10 hours a day.

My sibling gets all the poor nurse sympathy despite having done nothing clinical for decades and earning very well with a great pension . I get the snide "my treatment is paying for your Porsche" comments from people who earn more than me and have ignored my 10 year old estate car in the car park.

One of my friends , a practice owner, took home £17,000 a year until he sold up , destroyed by working in NHS practice .

From my experience I found that you can earn a lot more contracting (of course has its risks no paid holidays, uncertainty compared to permanent jobs) Especially in areas like project management, IT, banking you can easily get £300+ minimum daily rates I have seen some jobs with £800+ (management) a day it is crazy what you can get contracting

@Babycakes39 With experience of being a TA, you could definitely get a job as a nanny paying way more!

oh my days, these threads, im sure the tabloids start them!

Stirring the pot, and stirring the blood pressure...
I don't read them but like to pop in to grumble, lol.
Nothing to gain sharing or viewing other people's incomes. It's a private affair.

I do wonder why they're so popular, our country is writhing with insecurity and fear. Possibly best to move along, make some nice buttered toast or do some gentle morning yoga

I was a band 7 senior sister in critical care -I retired in 2020 -I was on 32k with over 30 years experience. I didn’t have a pay rise for over 10 years and was earning the same in 2008. Due to my experience and managerial responsibilities I worked days with no weekends or nights. Nurses on band 5 working nights earned more than me.
I retired at 55 with a pension of 20K. Widowed with one DD 10. I now work on the NHS bank 2 days a week to supplement my pension.

Sort of. I'm an unpaid carer for a family member. I receive carers allowance of 69.7 a week and work 24/7 because I can't leave her alone to get another job to help and the one other person who should help just doesn't. Admittedly there's no housing costs on top as I live with them but yes, carers allowance wise I am worth 42p an hour to the government despite saving them hundreds of pounds a day by looking after said relative.

I get paid via a sugar daddy which shocks people when I confess this. I can afford to laze around in my mansion with six-figures pouring in weekly so I’m content.

SIL is an accountant in the city for one of the big 4 companies. 4 years ago, when he was 30 some friends of his family were pushing him to tell them how much he earned. At one point they said 'come on, tell us - it must be close to £50,000?' He agreed that it was. In fact he had been earning well in excess of that for over 3 years.

I know a teacher that works very hard - even on Saturdays, when she helps to supervise Saturday sports. She is very dedicated.

@LadyLapsang But the house will still belong to the church, and it's also part of the vicar's workplace, so there's a massive privacy trade off too. Then there's the issue of where does the vicar live once they retire, and no longer have the home that was tied to the job, nor have any income to pay off a mortgage. Some vicars are also in "house for duty" positions - they get the home, but no stipend, so no way to build up savings to live off in retirement.

I graduated in accounting and finance, I don't have ACCA/CIMA (and don't intend to have one), my husband can earn more in one weekend than I do in a month (he's self employed on the side). Shit money if you don't go for professional qualification.

Scientific research (not academia). I have a PhD and multiple years of experience. I work on climate change mitigation. £36k, no signficant benefits. Recently found out our software engineers get paid 3-4 times that. Kind of made me want to quit.

I work technically as a sales assistant but I have a lot of responsibility and stress in my job. I do 42 hours a week (52 inc commute) and I get paid 21.5k. It's hard going.

I have a civil service role. My husband is similar. Between us we make over 100,000 a year. Not too surprising but our outgoings are so big with childcare etc that our neighbours probably think we earn less. Our house is nice but quite outdated but we can only afford to do things a little at a time. We drive very ordinary second hand cars and can't afford many holidays or days out. Hopefully, once the kids are grown, we'll have a bit more to play with!

I have masters and PhD degrees, had worked in one of the world's top labs and published research in the two of the most prestigious journals in my field. I applied for a job in the met office to do satellite data analysis and mathematical modelling, and was offered ... 21k.

Combination of wages and investments. Probably more than my friends would guess. We live an averagely frugal life, but want to retire early.

I get this too. I work as an analyst in the financial sector and the salary for my role is around 36k-40k for a permanent staff. However contractors get paid between £350 to £600 a day doing the same role as me but people always think I earn some big money but I don’t as I’m a permanent staff. I don’t want to contract as it’s uncertain.
We get some car companies come to our work to try and get us to buy electric cars on finance through salary sacrifice but the monthly price of those cars is about half of my take home pay after tax 😂!, they don’t get it when we say we don’t all earn the big bucks.

I work from home as an editor and writer. I work around the kids, getting up early when I have a deadline and often working late at night, and every hour they're at school. I've published more than 20 books, have won an award for one, and am always busy with something. I earn a decent wage.

The ridiculous thing is that my husband's family still seem to assume the writing is just a fun hobby and that I spend most of my time walking the dog and having coffee mornings with friends. And that I'm a 'kept woman'.

I was chatting to my mum in law's partner and he was telling me how his daughter worked really hard from home during covid and had to balance that with childcare. I said something like 'know the feeling' and he replied, 'No, I mean she has a proper, full-time job'. There have been numerous other comments like that. I don't think they even know about my books beyond the first one, and they certainly don't understand that I'm an editor too, working for numerous clients. Drives me nuts!

@Voerendaal 32k full time as a band 7 ? Not sure that's right.
Fwiw I've got 22 years ICU experience (30 years total) and I'll get an 11k pension...
Not being funny but working nights as a band 5 on ICU is pretty crap. In fact being a band 5 is crap.