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.

If you're paying 40% tax (which that poster says they are), then 20% tax relief is put directly into the SIPP by HMRC (so a contribution of £100 will be grossed up to £125), and then there is another 20% tax relief to be claimed through your tax code.

If you notify HMRC of the contributions you are making, and they will extend your basic rate band (the 20% tax band) to give you the tax relief. Basically it means you can earn more before you start being charged 40% tax.

The child benefit threshold is affected in the same way.

I find people are shocked that I gave up my private podiatry clinic wage of £100,000 a year to go and work in the NHS to earn £40,000 a year.
The fact is I was bored, unfulfilled and feeling more and more depressed everyday.
Now I'm doing exactly what makes me happy and even though I'm working 10 times harder I'm finally happy which means more to me than the money.

Why do car salesmen still shoot themselves in the foot like this? Just on this thread we’ve seen loads who have turned away buyers because they don’t look “rich enough” or pissed off female buyers who then go elsewhere. You’d think they’d learn. Idiots!

I am a doctor, 10 years post qualifying from med school (6 years at med school on top of that). I earn just over £40k per year, this includes the London weighting. I have to pay for indemnity, GMC, eportfolio, parking, exam fees etc out of this. I work evenings, weekends and nights as well.

I’m an ODP. I work agency and earn differing amounts but the past 5 years average is £80k

I have a friend who has a very good degree from Oxford who left her chosen career to train as a plumber. She thought there was a market for female plumbers who other women can call in when they feel uncomfortable with having a strange man in the house. We thought she was crackers. Turns out not only was she right but plumbers in London earn an incredible amount of money.

Reading some of the replies and I’m wondering Is it now a badge of honour to behave and look as though you’re penniless when in reality you’re earning a very good wage? I don’t understand receiving a big salary to then live a life that doesn’t make use of it. Surely you’d eat well, wear decent clothes and live in a nice home if you could afford it? As they say…you can’t take it with you.

I'm a paralegal and with options and a retention bonus I'll have earned $160k this year.

DH and I are not glitzy or glam and are relatively frugal when it comes to material things so I think our friends and family would be shocked to know out household income is approaching £300k and we are building up a nice pot of investments for a relaxing future (financially). We are early 30s. We are in no way punishing ourselves now though as know that life can be short so very happy to be living well within our means. About to get a whole lot more expensive though as we have recently had our first child 😃

Work in scientific research and earn less than almost all of my friends who didn’t have to spend years in academia!

But another way of looking at it is this approach gives you the freedom to step away from these jobs when you want to. My husband and I are high earners but have built a lifestyle to go with it that means we have to keep doing it.

I just would like to hit 30k! Never hit that and I'm 37
Min wage + commission for a prestige car brand

I'm consistently horrified by NHS doctor's wages. I'm a psychologist in private practice (not UK) and make around quadruple this. I can't prescribe without a psychiatrist signing off, I don't have any medical training - strictly clinical psychology. I would have to do extra first aid courses to base my practice in a hospital. Each time I see it I assume it's an anomaly, but UK doctors are being absolutely shafted 😥

My DH (runs a construction co) just interviewed someone for a snr site manager role today paying well in excess of £100k.

I assume people would find that surprising

Not really.

Long term commitments like the mortgage can lock you into a certain job/career, but eating decent food, or buying quality clothes when you need new clothes doesn't because it doesn't commit you to future spend. And those quality clothes will probably last longer than the Primark stuff anyway.

Bottle service nightlife, £85

@AnathemaPulsifer and @LookingOldTheseDays - thank you both so much!

Excellent news, and we’ll both be contacting HR tomorrow. @AnathemaPulsifer - we’ve just bought the house we intend on being in until they cart us out in a box, so it’s actually bloody good timing.

When a dr is paid so little compared to other jobs it doesn’t bode well for the future, does it? Who is going to do that job when you can earn more doing something with less responsibility

Indeed - I am referring to multiple mortgages…

Wow, can someone point me in the direction of these wfh jobs which pay so well?! As a teaching assistant I earn next to nothing!

Thank you for your contribution to the rest of society.

I subsidise a relative who does similarly worthwhile work - a PhD appears to be viewed as three or four years of self-indulgence.

We both earn around £5k take home each a month (I'm on slightly higher) and the parents and teachers at school treat us like crap because we 'look scruffy ' and they think us poor. And actually we out-earn everyone there.
Funny..

Not taking into account overheads, materials, premises/travel, insurance, possibly accountant fees etc, or any time off.

Are you public sector or private sector?

You referred to going into a higher pension contribution bracket, which makes me think you are likely to be in a defined benefit occupational pension, in the public sector - is this right?

If so, you won't really have much scope to increase contributions through that scheme, although your scheme may let you pay a lump sum to buy additional years.

If you earn less than £50k any money that you pay into a SIPP is grossed up (multiplied by 1.25) and the pension provider claims that extra from the government to add to your pot.

If you’re a higher rate taxpayer the same is true, PLUS you can claim an extra 20% saving on your tax return. So you save 40% tax in total on pension contributions from higher rate tax.

The maximum you can pay into a pension (including the part added by the government) is your full salary or £40k, whichever is lower.