To wish i’d known when younger the importance of going into a career with money

[Watermelonlollies]

I don’t remember my parents stressing this to me.

I’m a teacher and used to have an okay lifestyle, got by happily and could have holidays and a few treats here and there.
Life isn’t like that now, as i’m sure it isn’t for many.

I’m not materialistic in any way, but as I’ve got older it’s really dawned on me the importance having money makes and I wish i’d gone down a different path

Does anyone feel the same and do/will any of you be expressing this to your kids?

I worked in the nhs in the 70s -had no clue about money as DPs basically had none. I made sure DCs aimed for well paid jobs and steered them away from NHS.

Yes but the point here is that he could work a compressed career on that sort of salary and bonus, so could plan to retire in his 40s.

I knew this in 1980, at a time when expectations that girls could do nice little jobs and didn't need a career were still a thing. I started working in the City, the choice was that paying £8k or at Sothebys paying £4.5k, as a secretary and got myself onto the syndicate desk and then into Bond sales. I worked from 7.30am until about 8pm for 16 years. When I had my first baby I was burnt out, albeit well set up.

DH was from a working class background, with a brain the size of a planet, and followed the money. In his case it turned into a vocation and he is a workaholic. He earnt a great deal of money. He was out of the house before 7am, rarely home before 9pm. All domestic/life stuff was delegated to me and there were periods he was out of the UK more than in it. It worked because he loved it and had me.

Our children are both in education by choice. DS as an academic, DD as a secondary school teacher. Their choices are facilitated by the fact that they will never be skint by virtue of their father's success.

I don't think it was down to your parents but I do think choice is valuable and not something all have.

DD works hard, but her soul is intact and the money in her late 20s isn't bad and will likely be sustained. If she goes into SLT, it's a respectable income. Similarly if DS progresses to a Professorship and/or leadership role. Vice Chancellors top £200k, DVCs £150k, PVC's/Dean's £100k.

This is my experience almost exactly. 2 cars, house in a sort after area, supporting children through university, plenty of treats and holidays. Life is not a struggle on my salary
in my area.

My parents encouraged us to follow our passions but also gave us a healthy dose of the reality financially of certain professions. As a result all my siblings and I entered relatively high paying professions.

The reality is, when you are earning enough there are many problems you can throw money at (childcare is a big one) that you can’t on lower salaries. I find I am less stressed than my friends on lower salaries, again because lack of money is such a major stressor. Their jobs seem more demanding than mine, and they work longer hours despite being paid far less. I think it was good advice to consider what sort or lifestyle you want and which jobs will more likely provide it, and I’ll be doing the same with my DC.

Even my school wasn't keen on pushing anyone. They wouldn't let me do physics and chemistry in sixth form as they were boys subjects. Unthinkable now.

Things are so different now. I try and strike a happy medium with the dc, they have the facts, they will have to get on with it. Things change so quickly anyway, with jobs around that didn't exist 2 years ago!

I've always been in mental health nursing. My parents may have suggested the pay ain't great, but I've always been someone who isn't interested in money. As long as I have stable, affordable housing, a modest car (well my husband's really as I don't drive) and enough money to survive I'm OK. I live within my means and have never been interested in flash cars, designer clothes and expensive holidays.

It’s not that great. I have 19 years full-time in the TPS and am forecast to get under £15k a year if I take the pension at 60. Hardly riches.

I've focused more on being a sahm, then working part or full time in low paying, but non stressful admin jobs. We've had a nice enough, comfortable & happy life thanks to dh salary. Sometimes I wish I'd strived more for a well paying career, with a bit of travel. We have savings which we would love to use to help dc with a house deposit but we might need it for our retirement.
Now, I'm approaching 60, taking early retirement in a few weeks. It's too late for me now, so if you have a chance then take it

This!

@AmpleHazelLion That doesn't sound all that different to teaching, apart from the far lower salary and there being dinner involved. Are you under the impression teachers generally work less hours?

Super interested to hear what you do as well, if you’re keen on sharing?

This I was at school with a girl who was one of 4. Huge house in West London SAHM Dad was a secondary school headmaster.

Having attained a degree I did several jobs, until becoming a civil servant which I've done for the last 42 years.

When I joined the CS I was happy to accept the restrictions on many of my civil rights - civil servants have to resign if they want to stand for political office, MP, County Councillor etc, we have to get permission from the Foreign Office if we want to travel to China, Iran & some other countries which changes according to what's happening in the World. But I was happy to do this as, at the time I got a generous final salary pension, decent pay, sick pay. good maternity leave, flexi-time, family friendly policies etc. This helped enormously when BF as I was given a private area to express milk (talking late 1980's 1990's) though one day when my expressed milk in a baby bottle in communal fridge was depleted when I came to collect it. Yes, someone had obviously used it for their tea/coffee. 😱I put a note on all other expressed milk bottles saying 'I don't mind if you use my expressed breast milk for your coffee, but please leave enough for my baby's tea' 😂

Over time these benefits have been eroded. Our final salary pension was closed in favour of a 'career average' pension, our pay, in real terms has depleted as public services bore the brunt of 'austerity measures' taken by the previous Govt. Sickness rules have changed so that you are called in for a discussion with your manager if you go over 8 days in a rolling year.

The best advice I ever had was when I gave birth to my first child & reduced to working part time. My father recommended that I pay additional contributions into my pension. As he said at the time, it may reduce my pay by about £100 a month, but when I came to collect my pension I would feel it worthwhile. SO TRUE! I was able to collect my final salary pension 2 years ago when I reached my 60th birthday. I found that I had over 37 years paid in - nearly a full pension (it is £12kpa) plus a generous lump sum & now I'm working par-time until I can claim my state retirement pension in 5 years time & still building up a small additional career average pension which should work out at about £3Kpa. Not only that, but if I die before my DH he will get a pension of around £8kpa.

I said YANBU because money is super important for security and happiness.

However, I think things were much, much easier for lower earners in their generation - so it may not have seemed like such a big deal to them. They won't have known how hard things would become for ordinary people.

@OnlyMabelInTheBuilding I didn't realise at the time that you had to start so early with the Careers Service. When I eventually rocked up there in my final year it was a bit of an "Oh sh#t!" moment as I found out I was supposed to have spent all the summers doing internships in London. As it happens, knowing this in advance wouldn't have done me any good as my parents made me work locally in all the long and short breaks (petrol stations and the like) and I wouldn't have had the funds or the contacts to work for free in central London. Plus all the literature seemed to be about the milk round firms who were each offering a tiny number of placements, or leaflets offering stupid fantasy advice on "How to choose between the many excellent offers of employment that you're bound to have by now" -err, if that were my problem I wouldn't have a problem! So no wonder people end up falling into teaching or entry level roles in local government. One poor guy ended up repossessing cars. It's a far cry from what we were promised, is all I'll say!

I guess a lot of this is cost of living
I think if the internet was around when I was younger it we had grown up with it
a lot of us would be going something else, just imagine all that access to information

we really had so little info

My parents were poor and uneducated. I knew that no matter what I would pursue a professional career and make money because I knew what it was like to not have much at all, miss out on things, be embarrassed about my house as a kid. My (former) best friend was always a bit disparaging tbh but her parents loaned/gave her the money for a house so she was able to chose low paid work and not to work at times. A safety net I could only have dreamed of. I do also enjoy my job but it comes with a level of stress that I might not choose if I wasn’t focused on financial health and ensuring financial security for my children too.

The sad thing is that many of my friends who were solidly middle class and comfortably off had teacher parents and as is pointed out on this thread - two teachers couldn’t easily afford say, a four bed house in East Dulwich and yet that was the pretty normal in the 90s. Social work, teaching etc. needs to be much higher pay.

Teachers don't work 60 hours week in, week out and have rather more than statutory holiday entitlement.

DD is out of the house at 7am, back at 4.30pm, two or three times a week does 2/3 hours at home and fits in private tutoring which takes her annual income up to about £50k.

Having 2 OK salaries obviously makes a difference too.
I can get by on my salary but there isn't spare money for fixing the roof or for holidays. But if I lived with someone else then that extra money would provide all the things I can't afford right now.

I wish I’d had more help and support and earlier diagnosis (ASD, ADHD and other conditions) as my education was ruined by no support . I could barely function let alone think about the future and I feel I was so let down. I’m pretty much useless to society now.

I have and will talk about compensation as one of the factors when evaluating career options. Obviously it is not the only thing but we live in a capitalist world and choices have consequences.

That's unusual. Many teachers take their work home and do it in evenings and weekends. They also don't get paid for all the holidays, the pay is just split evenly over 12 months.

It does but then I lived alone while teaching and was better off then than I am now disposable income wise despite my salary at that point being lower!

My DHs income doesn’t fully account for a larger mortgage on a bigger house, a child, and the fact that everything (holidays, food, etc) is now x3! So while two salaries equals more money it also equals more expenses.

@Notmycircusnotmyotter tell us what you do for a job or we won't believe you