to be fed up of hearing 'I've worked hard for my money'

[newbluesofa]

Lots of chat on MN recently about taxes on high earners. So heard lots of 'we have this money because we work bloody hard for it' and honestly I'm sick of it and think the people who say it are selfish.

Nurses work incredibly hard, long shifts, difficult job. Carers provide absolutely essential service, again shift work, difficult hours, difficult job. Teachers provide essential work, I know multiple teachers and they all devote evenings, weekends, school holidays to the detriment of their own families. All of these jobs also have huge emotional tolls. So 'I've worked hard for my money' means nothing to me, because a lot of people work a lot harder for a lot less.

They’re saying it because everyone acts like they were lucky and gifted it. I work a physically demanding retail job, db wfh for a computer company and is a high enough earner, I get fed up FOR him with everyone telling him he’s so lucky. He did work hard to get to where he is and still works hard now! I think everyone gets too upset about everything, they’re not saying you don’t/ didn’t work hard, they’re just saying they did too!!

Oh I'm so disappointed! Read your first paragraph and thought 'YES!!!' absolutely this, I'm also sick of high earners whining about having to pay tax and claiming they have earned it as if nobody else works hard. But then your second paragraph... why are teachers and nurses so convinced they're the only people that work hard. You've basically destroyed all the good work in your first paragraph by being just as arrogant as the high earners by claiming you work harder than everyone else.

I agree to a large extent. I earn a very good salary - largely because I have a skill set that the market rewards more than it rewards other skills.

That I have this skill set is partly the luck to have aptitude for it, partly luck that I had parents who channelled me in the right sort of direction to have the foundation to build this skill set, and yes, a lot of hours and hard work to build skills/reputation/judgement.

But crucially I don't think I worked really any harder than a lot of folk who earn half or a third of my salary, just the same as I think I probably work as hard as a lot of people who are on two or three times my salary.

I work hard for my money but I'm much better rewarded for it than others who work just as hard. Salary and wealth aren't a direct metric of effort.

Gosh yes I’m sick of hearing it

and “I’ve been working since 16”

we all have love

It doesn't matter how "hard" you work or otherwise, you don't get tax relief for being a skiver. It's yet another nonsense phrase thrown about by the media to further their "them and us" agenda.

I agree OP. There is little thought as to how much the economy and industry affects salary. I have 2 friends who both work hard, always have, and retrained along the way to maximise their careers. One is on about 70k, the other around 250k. Luck and timing are as much factors as ability and hard work

This again? Just because someone says they've worked hard for their money, and they have more money than a lot of other people... doesn't mean they're saying people with less money than them, don't work hard.

Happy to help.

But I do work hard for my money ???????????

I didn't say anything about myself, I'm not a teacher or a nurse or a carer. You don't know what my job is or how much I earn. I gave 3 examples.

Then why say it? What's the point?

@JassyRadlett I work hard for my money but I'm much better rewarded for it than others who work just as hard. Salary and wealth aren't a direct metric of effort.

This is the thing, people talk as if we live in a meritocracy and we don't.

I think MN this week is a never ending queue of people waiting for a round of applause.

As someone who worked in a senior position in an investment bank (MD) and probably earned (in today’s money) an average of around £500k/annum for many years and then had a second career as a teacher, earning about £50k/annum, I can tell you I worked a lot harder as a teacher, especially at the beginning.

Yes, my first 5 years in IB, I worked incredibly long hours, but not after that. And teaching is way more tiring, performing in front of a not necessarily easy audience for 8 hours a day, plus all the preparation and marking.

So, the idea that money is correlated to hard work is a load of rubbish. Yes, you need to have the ability to work hard and efficiently to earn big money, but so do you in teaching, medicine and, I imagine, a multitude of other less well paid jobs and professions.

(Having said that, taxes are really high now on the middle and upper middle classes. And the points people are making about cliff edges are totally legitimate and discourage hard work. We are governed by consent and Labour won’t be reelected unless they either lower taxes or dramatically improve public services).

Possibly because others act as though they’ve been gifted it. Very few people I know have gotten a high salary down to luck. They’ve often sacrificed an awful lot to be there.

If these higher paying jobs are so easy then why doesn't everyone do them? Win-win surely?

What are these ‘sacrifices’ specifically? What have high earners sacrificed that people on median or just above haven’t? I hear it a lot and would love to know what it means.

I think some people (not all) have to believe that they got where they are through hard work so that they can blame poor people for not working hard enough. If you hold that belief, then being poor becomes a character deficit and poor people can be blamed for their situation. To believe that every has a measure of luck involved in where they are is less comfortable.

I think the reason people say it is because they feel like others think that because they earn lots, save ample amounts that that means they had it all handed to them on a plate…they didn’t. By saying that the are not saying that others who earn less DON’T work hard.

I never said they're easy.

If everyone devoted their lives to earning as much money as possible we wouldn't have any teachers, nurses, carers, nursery workers... not really a win win is it?

Sacrificed what?

Usually it’s time…work/life balance, health.

i agree. Let’s not forget that those in the bottom centipede pay a higher proportion of taxes relative to their income.

And that’s different from people on median wages how?

I think you might be putting the differentiation in the wrong place.

To me the ‘I’ve worked hard for my money’ sentiment is based on a comparison of what some people seem to manage to get despite not working at all, or working substantially less than full time hours.

As you observe, there are some hugely important, hard work roles that don’t result in much more available money than being unemployed does. Except if you don’t work then you don’t have to put in that effort of doing the work.

Yes, the theory is you should never be better off relying solely on benefits vs working - but the gain vs effort if you can’t get a role materially beyond living wage isn’t actually very much.