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.

Probably a cross post, no problem.

@Papyrophile my response is that it's irrelevant because I'm not talking about you. My post is saying I'm fed up of wealthy people saying how hard they've worked. You just said 'We're not 'rich'. We have enough to get by, but our income doesn't bracket us with wealthy.'

Like if I said oh I find people with brown hair so annoying, and you came along and said well I've got blue hair and I'm not annoying at all! What's your not rich/not wealth got to do with my post about the rich and wealthy?

Well with the £150k + range it’s even more true that they work hard, it’s the sacrifice lots of people earning that much have to make. I have few friends in that position, I honestly wouldn’t want it especially now I have my family. Looong hours, lots of stress, a lot of travel, having their kids with strangers or in school for 10h a day. They get paid this much because they pretty much have no life, it’s a big sacrifice.
I do feel that people in the £50-100k bracket are punished the most by taxes, usually skilled and skilled educated, too rich to get any help but definitely not rich anymore

Not always though.

DH is on close that and we have a much, much better work life balance now he's in his current line of work than when he was a primary school teacher. Definitely definitely less stress and hours are similar.

I should probably say that in the decade before, I worked in financial services, mostly investor relations in NYC, so I was aware that there were opportunities. I am acknowledging that I am financially much more sophisticated than most people. But our SME journey is the same uphill trudge. And IMO the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not have any insight into how difficult it is to get a business started or how to keep it working and paying taxes without hobbling it. And nor do her colleagues. Which is why this Government is such a shit storm.

Exactly. Thank you. I understand though that the disabled or those with severely disabled kids perhaps cannot do this. But if you're healthy, take life by the reigns and work to a better. Yes get support and all, but work to better yourself.

High earning doesn't mean wealthy. We're high earners but month to month can struggle due to high housing costs and a house that needs significant work to be habitable

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TBH, I’m more sick of people earning £70k and claiming UC
www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5451708-aibu-to-claim-uc-with-a-high-income?utm_campaign=mumsnet-daily&utm_edition=202511290530&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&user_id=e0dc2cdbdcb4ff31208f1e88639cc647dc732a9582ac05157263e77fff41e1a0

Frankly, you sound jealous. Why shouldn’t people on high incomes complain? Who made you the authority on deciding who gets to complain?

Work long hours - ie unpaid overtime - the hours required to do your job.

Travel DH is away from home 3 weeks out of 4. That is only possible with me at home to deal with the kids.

The second someone on MN mentions issues with childcare pick ups and drops ofs the first question is 'where is DH'

High earners don't get paid big bucks for having a 10min commute, zero stress and a 9-5.

Except we all haven't have we? That is just not true.

This! 👏👏

Seconded!

How hard you work isn't directly related to your wage though is it? Many people work just as hard or harder for a liw wage. No-one begrudges certain professions their pay. We are all happy if doctors are paid well and most people would support nurses and teachers being paid more. But it is daft to claim an accountant works harder than a labourer.

The main thing is skill

Skill, stress. The years at uni with no pay. The professional exams. The CPD.

If a labourer gets it wrong he's not likely to get sued. His boss will be questioned on why it went wrong.
If an accountant gets it wrong, he can easily be sued.

If a labourer needs to work late hes likely to be paid for it.
If an accountant needs to hang back to get something finished to meet a HMRC deadline - tough shit - do the hours required to do your job.

Thank you. To get a leg up in industry DH paid tens of thousands of pounds for his masters. Had to balance his then job with work. And now in his high position constantly works till the night and on the weekends. He took DD to Prague a few months ago. He'd have to answer calls during that and often just told DD to explore on her own.

People who say this are in lower paid jobs.

Look, I do work bloody hard and I have done so since school. Studying to get good grades, go to uni, work in my chosen field, etc. I will not be shamed or told I am wrong.
I don't doubt that other people work hard but nurses and teachers don't work harder than me. I am grateful they chose to work in those jobs but why work in jobs known to have very long hours, low pay, no pay awards, pay freezes.. and then moan at every opportunity. Maybe if you worked harder your career choices wouldn't be so limiting.

I do work hard and anyone who tells me different just cause they earn less can fuck off.

There's a very big divide in this country now.

Hard workers / good pay = taxed to the high heavens to let lie abouts enjoy free money. I mean how can a lower paid worker end up with more money than a high paid worker. Unreal. I hate paying tax for these lazy people. Go better yourself.

It’s the same aresponse I’ve given a few times now. These are rough choices where work has been put before kids, family, life and its crap. I hear you. But my question was what are the specific sacrifices made by high earners that are different to people on median incomes? What you said here is what we all do, so when high earners say ‘but I’VE made sacrifices to get this salary’ what specifically do they mean? So far I haven't heard anything different to things so many people on median incomes do so I’m still wondering why they use that phrase.

@MurdoMunro I don’t think anyone will be able to give a specific sacrifice that they’ve made that has directly led to a higher paying job. It’s a combination of lots of things : Prioritising work over social life, having less children than you would have liked, taking shorter maternity leaves, working while on holiday, unpaid overtime…..

For some people making those sacrifices will work out well and they’ll get the outcome they hoped for, for others it won’t.

My dh has worked hard to better himself. He lived on a rough council estate, went to a scheme High School and was the only one from his year to go to uni. He worked all the hours he was able to in a supermarket alongside to support himself. He was often overlooked in the early days. When we got married and had children we couldn’t afford for me to stay at home, he was still on entry level salary so my parents were our child carers. Eventually things improved by doing extra courses. By the time my children were both school age (5 year age gap) I could be a stay at home mum, but there were sacrifices along with that - weeks away at a time, working 7-9 (no way he could fit in school runs, plays or sports days). My children often never saw him until the weekend and even then usually Sunday would be working at home. It’s only now that we are nearly 60 that we have benefitted really, I can’t work now due to ill health and he supports me.

So yes it has been hard work, am I better than anyone else for it no. It’s our story and only trotted out on threads like this.

Do people think those in lower paid jobs DON'T have to make those "sacrifices" (which I'd argue are more "choices" when made out of a specific desire and ambition to earn loads)? Long hours - yeah, you tend to have to work more hours when you get paid less for each one, and put your DCs in wraparound care and barely see them. "Zero stress" - are you kidding me? As I've said before on this thread I've had far more stress in lower paid jobs, plus the crushing bleakness of little or no autonomy within those workplaces to do anything meaningful about it.

There isn't some swathe of easy lower paid jobs you can opt into for a stress-free life.

What are the specific sacrifices?

I've just told you working away from home. Gone Monday to Friday. Others on the same project are doing 9 day fortnights only travelling home alternative weekends. People who are able and willing to do that sort of travel should be well paid for it.

Its not that long since a single mum to two young teens (around 13 & 15) was asking on MN was it ok to leave her kids from very early Monday morning to late Wednesday night.
Then went off on a strop because everyone said No! She'd gone of and got a degree in Engineering and been offered a decent graduate job but really the travel meant a huge family sarafice.

Ok so I suppose the question is, if low paid workers are working so much harder than high wage earners, why are they earning less? What do people here think high wage earners have done differently that separates them and why are lower wage earners trapped where they are?