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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

796 replies

Newmumatlast · 27/02/2023 20:40

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.

OP posts:
Zorrita · 28/02/2023 12:47

35k in a Business Analyst type role (Not exactly a BA, kind of a combination of 3 different Analyst roles but my title is BA) so the salary is much lower than a full BA might make and also much lower than we should be being paid for the kind of thins we have to do and the accountability we have so people are generally shocked when I say no, i'm not raking it in! Unfortunately private company makes the rules and recently made it clear they weren't even paying out for professional development never mind our actual worth.

I have interviews lined up all week thankfully.

Thesystemonlydreamsintotaldarkness · 28/02/2023 12:52

Zorrita · 28/02/2023 12:47

35k in a Business Analyst type role (Not exactly a BA, kind of a combination of 3 different Analyst roles but my title is BA) so the salary is much lower than a full BA might make and also much lower than we should be being paid for the kind of thins we have to do and the accountability we have so people are generally shocked when I say no, i'm not raking it in! Unfortunately private company makes the rules and recently made it clear they weren't even paying out for professional development never mind our actual worth.

I have interviews lined up all week thankfully.

Yes, you can definitely earn more than that as a BA! It’s really weird the range of salaries out there for BAs at the moment: I’ve seen jobs advertised from between £30k to £100k.

my last employer were paying new staff a lot more than existing BAs so I quickly managed to get a new job that paid more

Zorrita · 28/02/2023 12:57

Oh and my DH finally found a new job as a Junior/Mid level Web dev (he is Mid but took a "junior"/mid role as they involved new coding languages he is learning) paying £45k starting, rising after 6 months after probation then again in a year if he performs (which he will, he is REALLY good at his job).

LeatherSkirt82 · 28/02/2023 13:00

Inhouselaw · 28/02/2023 11:52

I have a job that typically pays well although I expect my family and friends would be surprised just how well I’m paid. None of this is particularly interesting. What is interesting is that despite having a typically well paid job and despite the fact that my DH has an obscure role where most people wouldn’t be able to guess how much he earns, most people we meet still seem to assume he is the high earner 🙄 Eg people are surprised we’re embarking on private school but then seem to assume it’s his income that’s paying for it. He earns a good wage but I earn more than twice his income.

I lol-ed because it is exactly the same for us. Even had a contractor recently tell me: I'll need to talk to the decision-maker in the house. When I asked him what on Earth he means, he replied - With the one paying for this, your husband. I actually did laugh to his face. My DH (bless him) was completely disinterested in that particular change I wanted to make and the entire cost was coming out of my salary in each case.

BigWheels · 28/02/2023 13:00

Im a single mother working part time in an admin job but have a salary 40.000€. People assume I'm getting close to minimum wage. My neighbour at the weekend was introducing me to people at her son's birthday party telling them that I worked in a factory. I have no idea where that rumor started but it explains why everyone thinks im struggling.

PlimplePlop · 28/02/2023 13:01

McHelenz · 27/02/2023 22:12

Just had a look at the agenda for change pay scales and to earn 50k you need to be a band 8a. So to say you're not experienced is a downright lie when you're either exaggerating your wage or you're a modern matron.

I'm a band 7 and earn just over 40.

Exactly this

NCMum79 · 28/02/2023 13:01

I'm an artist (painter) and earned around 27k last year. I do have to work relentlessly though

Zorrita · 28/02/2023 13:02

@Thesystemonlydreamsintotaldarkness Is so weird how the salary ranges so wildly isn't it? I also see a lot of roles labelled BA like mine was that are more Change Analyst, some that are a weird hybrid of those roles like mine is and roles like "Implementation specialist" that are just BA under a totally different title.

I am glad you managed to find something better paying quite quickly. One of the roles I am interviewing for this week is £40k - £45k and that's the absolute lowest and makes more sense in line with a lack of qualifications (although I am about to take the BCS Business Analyst foundation and looking into ITIL which a few in my industry seem to desire). The rest are all anywhere between £45k to £60k!!

toasty1 · 28/02/2023 13:05

Self Employed Financial Adviser WFH £150k net Came into this in my 30's and took the relevant qualifaications whilst working in retail where I had been working since I left school, able to plan my own diary and have all the school holidays off with the children

StuckWhereIAm · 28/02/2023 13:05

Inspired by this thread, I've just worked out our household income.

We are 2 retired pensioners (69 and 76), DH has mobility and health issues and I care for him. We live in a modest home, never go out socially, own one 14 year old car and our idea of a good holiday is a week in a cottage in Norfolk.

We get two state pensions, 2 occupational pensions, a small income from a shared, rented property (co-owned by DH and his sibling) and lower rate attendance allowance for DH. It adds up to a net income of £54K p/a.

toasty1 · 28/02/2023 13:05

Sorry Qualifications

Knitterofcrap · 28/02/2023 13:08

Being deliberately vague here, but I stand outside public buildings like hospitals and universities, handing out promotional literature and engaging with people. I earn just under £50k.

I am sure people pity me and think I’m on minimum wage.

Badromancer · 28/02/2023 13:14

Friends are Builders, Tilers, Plumbers, Electricians & similar trade. Won’t work for less than £300 per day. And booked up for the next 2 years.

Yes I know they have insurance, tools and vehicles to pay out for but a lot of work is paid cash & they put expenses through to end up with 0 tax to pay.

Friends earned over £200k net as a builder last year and I was surprised.

Other Friend is a Nurse on £60k - again I was surprised. She earns double doing a ‘bank shift’ via agency.

ThreeLittleDots · 28/02/2023 13:18

It's apparently shocking that I earn £10.90 per hour as a graduate in my 5th decade. I don't however need or want to earn more.

OriginalUsername2 · 28/02/2023 13:19

LaughingCat · 27/02/2023 21:50

Other half and I have a combined household income of around £110k (databasing and comms), but that just means we now have a lot of managerial responsibility (line manage large-ish teams with high levels of delivery and strategy development responsibilities) but don’t make as much as we did in our non-managerial £45k apiece roles, thanks to being shunted into a higher pension contribution bracket, higher tax bracket and no child benefit.

If anyone would have told me this before we pushed ourselves, I probably wouldn’t have to be honest. We now face the choice of either pushing for higher and higher earning roles which take up even more of our family time until we break free of this band and start earning more again, or drop back down to below the threshold and hope that subsequent wage increases don’t tip us over the frozen threshold again before 2026.

It’s not a moan (eight years ago I was earning £15k a year in a call centre so very happy with the trajectory)…just the reality we’re currently facing.

What would you say is the sweet point in earnings? (If you don’t mind answering - I’m not savvy in this area).

HerLadySheep · 28/02/2023 13:23

I was a qualified lawyer working under ridiculous amounts of pressure, earning £30k and crying on the drive into work.
I am now an Office Manager with a small company, I have an interesting and very varied role, earning £40K working part-time and I am actually valued.

Vinvertebrate · 28/02/2023 13:28

I was a qualified lawyer working under ridiculous amounts of pressure, earning £30k and crying on the drive into work.

Snap! Glad you have escaped - I am in house now and love it.

As a lawyer married to a doctor I get pretty sick of everyone thinking I am the main breadwinner when I actually earn half of what DH does. Consultants' salaries are directly proportionate to the length of time they spend whining about how shit their pay is, it baffles me. DH excluded because I've he's been telt!

hiyaqwerty · 28/02/2023 13:32

@Orangetapemeasure what is he butchering...humans? Grin just joking but on a serious note I imagine he has his own business, selling meat on a high scale?

Yarboosucks · 28/02/2023 13:35

I have a lot of friends posting on FB that the higher rates of tax should be increased. They don't know that I pay £80k in tax per annum. It makes me shudder a bit, but I don't mind paying according to the rules. I do find the posts that are worded as if I should be punished for my earnings perplexing

arethereanyleftatall · 28/02/2023 13:36

Is there going to be a shit tonne of people qualified as tradesmen in the next decade and no doctors following these thoughts?

arethereanyleftatall · 28/02/2023 13:38

Yarboosucks · 28/02/2023 13:35

I have a lot of friends posting on FB that the higher rates of tax should be increased. They don't know that I pay £80k in tax per annum. It makes me shudder a bit, but I don't mind paying according to the rules. I do find the posts that are worded as if I should be punished for my earnings perplexing

The problem is the disparity in wages. It should never be possible that 1 person could earn £10 for an hours work and another £10,000. Rather than grimacing that you pay £80 k in tax reframe it that actually you get paid far too much.

Vinvertebrate · 28/02/2023 13:38

@arethereanyleftatall we’re hoping DS gets into plumbing!

arethereanyleftatall · 28/02/2023 13:39

Vinvertebrate · 28/02/2023 13:38

@arethereanyleftatall we’re hoping DS gets into plumbing!

As long as 1000000 other parents aren't thinking the same thing...

TokyoSushi · 28/02/2023 13:42

We appear fairly well off, nice house, clothes, holidays, skiing etc etc. I get the impression that people think that DH has a 'good job' and funds all of this. I also get the impression that I can come across as a little ditzy and people understand that I have an 'admin role' I'm very outgoing/chatty, the Mum everybody knows at school etc etc.

The reality is that DH earns £32K. I'm an Operations Director of a small niche company and earn almost £50K and that's largely why we have 'the nice stuff.'

chomp · 28/02/2023 13:51

I'm a band 6 midwife, and last year earned £52k, this includes outer London weighting (15%) and nights/weekend/bank holiday shift allowance. I also earned approx £8k for working bank (overtime) on top of this.