Resentment at 100k

[Arseholeneighbours]

Theres a lot of vitriol spilt towards people being “high earners” at 100k and over. As net contributors, and most likely having made sacrifices, stresses and difficult life decisions, there’s many judgements about life choices , expectations and living within one’s means. What is the motivation to push forward in a career and to try and be as successful as one can if there’s no personal gain? It’s all well and good saying those with the broadest shoulders should take on the most - but to what end?

There are plenty of posts about the woman who is getting topped up to £6150 odd in benefits. That’s the equivalent of a salary of £135k after tax, ni,and student loan. She is struggling and deserving. She is struggling with high childcare and rent don’t ya know.

High earner taking home less because you’re paying for yourself AND everyone else? It’s a budgeting issue, your diamond shoes are too tight and you need to pay more for everyone else’s top ups.

It’s a very British thing to resent people doing well.

I can see why you are resentful. You are being held back. Penalised for being good at your job - and prevented from succeeding further.

In the same breath we hear the panicked headlines that the birth rate is dropping through the floor and what does that mean for the country and pensions 🧐

For some though the choice is necessary as there’s no in between in some situations. We both had to give up working (not at the same time it was over 3 years) as we couldn’t survive .
Initially we both worked and due to illness in one dc I had to quit. Then about 18 months later things got worse and our other dc was diagnosed severe SEN (ASD and adhd) so dh had to go PT. He then tried self employment which was better as more flexible so we did that for a few months. Till we had to claim UC and his earnings due to SE just didn’t count at all and they were trying to force me to appts to work. We hadn’t got dla at that point so it was a battle explaining to them that I couldn’t work. I then had a breakdown.

If there had been some support (eg help with wraparound for our eldest) plus SE being counted toward the AET not totally disregarded and the nhs being fit for purpose (both children with illness/SEN had delays in treatment which were detrimental and I wasn’t able to access support or MH care) amongst other things we would not have had to make the decision once dla was awarded to have a few years with both of us not working. It’s not the claimants at fault.

People with wealth are looked at all the time. They are a very mobile bunch though. Many of them are not from the UK and won’t stay. If the government taxes them much more than other equivalent countries, they will leave and take their large tax contribution elsewhere.

It’s the billionaires we need to tax. Everyone else is already paying more than enough in tax. The billionaires are not.

I mean I don’t think earning 100k as an employee is the epitome of being the best or the most value to society. You’re still making money for the bigwigs and probably keeping the plebs on low salaries underneath you to keep profits high. Surely self employed people in small to medium business structures, who make the same income and revenue, who have genuinely added that value are the ones who are the most valuable to society because they are actually creating growth, quite literally.

I also think mumsnet is a bizarre vacuum of nonsense about salaries where everyone earns 100k and is struggling, or 28k and managing absolutely fine

I agree. People starts saying though ‘oh but tax the billionaires and they’ll leave the country’ well so what ? If they aren’t contributing good riddance and charge them a huge exit tax when they leave !

Ignore them OP- I am apparently "evil" because I inherited a bungalow from my elderly nan and then had the gall to rent it out because the idea of selling it broke my heart. I lost my parents young and then finally lost the only family left in my life but yes, am completely and utterly evil for being a landlord even though I never set out to be one!

You really cant give a toss what people on here think, most of them are hypocrites anyway. Think about it- if someone offered them a 100k job do you think they'd turn it down due to unfairness? LMAO the fck they would.

Are you sure about that? Can I ask what job you do? Whatever it is, you think you have a job with more responsibilities than a carer or a nurse, for example?

For someone who is 'not resentful', your opening post sounds very resentful.

I wouldn't swap with someone who relies on benefits. Don't worry Reform might get in and they'll make sure they can't eat or heat in a year or two. Personally I don't begrudge children who were born into poverty.

I’m looking at 4K a month in childcare when I go back to work

That is bonkers. I had my kids in Europe and paid 600 euros a month top whack full fees for a council nursery. Other users on lower incomes paid nothing. You get what you vote for.

Yep! That more or less sums up where my husband and I are. We're just shy of 100k and actually it did wrinkle the lack of child support when I was on mat pay and he was around the 60k mark while I was on mat pay, even then we recognised we were in a very good position compared to those on low incomes. Possibly as we both grew up very poor. I do think the loss of free nursery hours at 100k doesn't sit well with me simply because for most that's a very short term bit of help that makes such a huge difference day to day. My husband and I discussed that and he feels differently, that actually the impact of we get to over 100k would be short lived enough that long term being over 100k would obviously work out so much better.

So I guess it's that, the little bits you 'miss out on' are short lived compared to the overall positive of being a high earner in itself. That's why you strive.

For me and I think also my husband it's more than that though, it's self esteem and personal growth etc also not just financial gain, it's moving further into jobs that interest us. It's having fairly reliable careers, jobs and incomes. That's the motivation. Maybe that's less motivating if you didn't growup in poverty in the first place though, you maybe don't know what your income is soaring you from which is more important what it gets you.

Our earnings means our bills are reliable on direct debit, we never have to worry about services being cut off, we can always afford food, we never have to have our kids hungry and unable to provide food. We can always afford season appropriate clothes, maybe I can't unthinkingly buy the £300 rain sisters coat I've been covering but if I lost my raincoat tomorrow I could replace it easily with something functional. My child growing out of shoes ridiculously fast is annoying not bankrupting. Etc etc.

Having seen a world without those perks we appreciate them all the time, to the point we discuss it. So us going without child benefit while someone on the breadline with 5 kids gets it for all 5? Grand. The impact pound for pound is greater for their kids than mine.

Childcare and rent are what push up UC claims so you see all this outrage at high value awards yet that’s not all going to the claimant !

I listened to the budget - It was very much for the voting power - a pay for votes budget.

Yet again the workers in the middle get nothing.

Young working families should be able to afford childcare from their salaries, helping with childcare is quite a recent thing brought in about 20 years ago - and what happened? Childcare providers upped their fees.

I used to pay £20 daily - £80 a week - £240 a month.

Now it’s £4K a month?

That begs the question of how the governments original policy has blown the childcare out of proportion.

It should that an average salaried family can’t afford to work.

The very benefit designed to allow parents to work is have a detrimental effect.

the people with real money aren’t paye. That’s just a group that’s viable to the rest of us . Those with big money have other ways they are paid and money is moved and managed . The obsession with 100k as the pinnacle is just to keep us all squabbling over rations whilst the rich get richer and we don’t see it.

How do you know what their tax liability is?

Even HMRC doesn't know - uk.news.yahoo.com/mps-baffled-hmrc-unsure-many-230300107.html

In any case there are apparently only 55 of them in UK.

How many billionaires do you think we have? 150. Not many is it. The country has lost 15% of its millionaires in the last year. You cannot keep thinking ‘somebody not me’ will fund taxes in this country. We ALL have to pay more tax. The basic rate of tax needs to move towards that we see in the EU. And the soaring disability benefits needs to be addressed. My frustration with this government isn’t the tax I pay, it’s the way they are prepared to totally and utterly fritter the money away.

The issue is so many people who are technically high earners (they may not feel it, granted), have this belief that they have worked hard to get where they are, sacrificed, slaved away to get to this point of privilege. They fail to realise that those below them will also have the same issues working long hours in a hard job, but with pay that doesn’t reflect that. We as society need people in these roles that are low paid as without them we won’t function (think carers, cleaners, retail staff etc). So we can’t all have £100k jobs. Just be grateful for what you do have and a lot of the financial pressures are short term. Nursery fees won’t be forever, mortgages will be paid and even before that the rates will drop.

There are many jobs that are important that are high paying. Drs, dentists, engineers, cyber security engineers. All jobs in high demand globally. Remember the global meltdown when no-one could access money, travel, use dental records, medical systems, food delivery etc due to the cyber breakdown? Your view is overly simplistic. The 100k cliff edge is also, partly why, we have a shortage of dentist and Dr hours.

Addressing disability benefits means a long term plan and spending a lot on the nhs

plus they could each give 1 million in tax. Thats 150 million then instantly

This is just silly. Carers do a wonderful job but you can learn to give personal care or be a carer/healthcare assistant with a short period of training.

Would you feel comfortable being operated on by a consultant who only had 2 weeks training and no other qualifications?

There are loads of jobs with more responsibilities than a nurse or a carer.

I earn a pittance compared to most, but I'd rather have my lifestyle (rich in free time) than a high flyer, under pressure and working long hours. I would have burnt out years ago in that situation... I've never been career orientated

Good for you but you should not expect others to feel happy about this.

The point is that £100k is a huge amount compared to what the average person earns and people claiming that its not have lost perspective.