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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:
McHelenz · 27/02/2023 22:28

Beseen22 · 27/02/2023 22:21

@McHelenz could be band 6/7 in acute role doing a lot of OOH? I'd imagine hospital at night ANPs must be pushing 50k? They are obviously very experienced though. Alternatively agency ...in theory I could earn 67k doing 3 nights each weekend for 48 weeks a year.

I think a 6 would be doing a shit ton of overtime to get to that amount,a top of a 7 possibly!

ANPs are usually 8s too.

reddwarfgeek · 27/02/2023 22:28

My partner has his own IT company. It seems he has a few phones calls a week, the occasional external meeting and sorts out spreadsheets for a few hours a day. He spends a lot of time watching TV and napping. He earns around 70k which is high for the area (north).

QueenMabs · 27/02/2023 22:28

@LookingOldTheseDays yes you are right but it is still good income I imagine oven if half is overheads?

LHReturns · 27/02/2023 22:29

what kind of shocking are we looking for?

AnathemaPulsifer · 27/02/2023 22:29

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.

Don’t drop your salary, just pay the excess into a pension to get below the child benefit threshold.

Minky719 · 27/02/2023 22:30

alwaysraining123 · 27/02/2023 22:24

Pharmaceutical market research. Pays well and great benefits. Highly recommend.

Thanks! Ironically I actually am working in healthcare market research and ultimate aim is to work in-house at a Pharma company I think. That’s a great salary you’re on and no doubt the result of a lot of hard work. Am inspired!

McHelenz · 27/02/2023 22:30

addictedtotheflats · 27/02/2023 22:26

@McHelenz
Not necessarily 8a. I am also a band 7 on £40k pro rata (36 hours) and have earnt just shy of 50K this year as I shift work and do unsocial hours.

I know agency nurses earning £6k+ a month. Crazy

I guess because I've gone into community I dont really think what I'd get if I was a 7 back on shifts.

I have basically matched my pay from working shifts at the bottom of a 6 to community at a 7.

KatKoot · 27/02/2023 22:30

On full benefits; 2 carers & 3 disabled people in household including disabled carer. Total income £50,000 a year

FatAgainItsLettuceTime · 27/02/2023 22:32

@HurdyGurdy19 I've had that, the idiot salesman was trying to sell a car to my husband who doesn't even have a driving licence. DH listened to him for a while then said 'sounds nice but why are you telling me, I can't drive and have no intention of buying a car. You should be talking to my wife'. I just said No thanks and walked off

Madoz · 27/02/2023 22:32

Justanotherlurker · 27/02/2023 21:00

I think a recent one, especially on MN is that wages in tech is automatically high and all you need to do is take a few free/paid online courses and you will be snapped up, given a high wage whilst working in offices like the Alphabet headquarters.

It has become much like law, it has a perceived automatic wealth, but unlike law at a lower/entry level your job can and will be automated away at some point so you better keep moving upward.

I think you are very wrong about law not being automated away - it’s a very likely target.

SeaSunandSand · 27/02/2023 22:33

I suppose I’m in a different catergory as we live overseas.

DH gets housing, schooling, flights, salary and bonuses which total around £220k a year. His actual salary is roughly £150k. He works in the IT industry but is specialist in communications and IOT.

I work in retail and earn £12 per hour. It’s flexible hours - no guarantee of work but I don’t work during school holidays. That’s tax free (we don’t pay tax here) so cash in my pocket, paid daily out of the till.

Our outgoings are higher due to the place we live. We save a lot. Overall, we have an average lifestyle and not the flashy one people expect we live.

DIYandEatCake · 27/02/2023 22:34

Peripatetic music teacher, working part time (about 20 hours teaching a week spread over 6 days in term time), £16k. Planning and admin is unpaid - I do about another 10 hours a week on top of my actual teaching hours - and travelling takes up so much extra time too and again is unpaid. I’m lucky it’s flexible and term-time (I have kids) but I think most people would assume I earn far more.

StopitSarah · 27/02/2023 22:34

I earn a pittance. But have dc at independent schools. I actually earn a low enough salary for them to qualify for free school meals if they were at state schools. No-one would guess my salary (but I don’t lie and close friends know I’m not rich!)

alwaysraining123 · 27/02/2023 22:35

@Minky719 so glad I could provide encouragement. I had about six years agency experience before I made the switch to ‘client side’. Never dreamed of potential earnings when I started out. Just under two decades of experience in total including some time out for a post grad qualification (not MBA). I also love my job so it’s a win win. Good luck to you!! I

overworkedovertaxed · 27/02/2023 22:37

FatAgainItsLettuceTime · 27/02/2023 22:32

@HurdyGurdy19 I've had that, the idiot salesman was trying to sell a car to my husband who doesn't even have a driving licence. DH listened to him for a while then said 'sounds nice but why are you telling me, I can't drive and have no intention of buying a car. You should be talking to my wife'. I just said No thanks and walked off

The richest folks I know with many liquid millions went out with £150k to spend on two cars. The first three dealerships wouldn't give them so much as a test-drive. The next salesman did very nicely.

todaystoday · 27/02/2023 22:37

I don’t really want to say my job title.
But I look very young, single mum, work 3 days a week and have young children.

My very small business (I’m the only employee) turned over £280k last year and I made about £150k profit.

alwaysraining123 · 27/02/2023 22:38

@Minky719 also not a senior role at all. Much greater potential in the future.

arethereanyleftatall · 27/02/2023 22:39

I know a dog walker on £80k a year

timeforachang3 · 27/02/2023 22:39

@todaystoday now I’m dying to know what you do! Sounds like you’re smashing it :)

WhatPostDoc · 27/02/2023 22:39

Higher education, post doctoral jobs (i.e. have done a bachelors, masters and a PhD) start at £34K, have a ceiling of around £42K as they're on a set scale, spine points 29 to 36. Vast majority can't make the jump up to the next band. The pension scheme is USS which has a minimum contribution of 9.8% currently. Add tax, student loans etc and you take home around £2K a month, £1900 if you're on the lowest spine points.

www.ucu.org.uk/he_singlepayspine

LaughingCat · 27/02/2023 22:39

AnathemaPulsifer · 27/02/2023 22:29

Don’t drop your salary, just pay the excess into a pension to get below the child benefit threshold.

Show quote history

Would that be into a private pension or increase my occupational pension contributions? That would be a game changer!

In one post, MN has been more helpful tonight than the last few months talking to my dad, a chartered accountant and financial planner with over 50 years experience. 😂

MangoPineapple11 · 27/02/2023 22:39

Only because I moved to aus and my wage really is double what I'd do at home at this level.

DP isn't double though and just slightly more.

OatMilkLattes · 27/02/2023 22:40

Worked in luxury fashion - worked with huge, high end brands. Everyone thinks it’s so glamorous.

24k, in London and couldn’t afford to survive if I wasn’t lucky enough to get some help from my partner and family.

itbemay · 27/02/2023 22:40

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.

You do realise not all NHS nursing roles are on AFC?

Notwavingbutsignalling · 27/02/2023 22:40

Would those on high salaries offer their ideas on where the rest of us are going wrong? I’m staggered by these salaries. I would say some key things are

  1. choose a wealthy industry like pharma

thats as far as I could get🤣

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