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.

Because you can’t bring yourself to type not believing in something that is so widely understood and studied? Because you know how stupid you’d look.

I mean if you think I'm here because I'm bored and have nothing better to do then shall I assume the same is true of you?

I don't think she's directly answered a question the entire thread, because bigots have no actual reasonable logic behind their opinions

The Deserving Poor, you mean

I think the issue is the able / working / high earners etc are getting fleeced SO much and supporting everyone when it’s time we looked at the super wealthy instead!!!

If I got paid the same mucking out stables, I’d be there in a heartbeat. The lack of stress would be bliss.

I get the impression you have no idea what office life is like.

Fully agree!

I raised all our beautiful DC and nurtured them. Our marriage is a partnership. He wasn't a high earner when we met.

@PeonyPatch I don't disagree with that, and do understand the resentment of some people who are pretty high earners. A friend of mine is a SAHM, partly because her DH had to move around a lot to get his role as an NHS consultant. So they have one pretty big salary to support their family. After tax, it gives them a really nice life, but not a huge amount more than me and my DH joint income. And her DH definitely does work hard, and is really clever and all that - and he doesn't resent paying a lot in tax, probably because he sees where it's needed every day in his workplace - but I can see that his salary, in isolation, doesn't actually give a fair reflection of their finances, and that his earnings vs say, mine, really aren't where the big inequalities in Britain actually are at all.

Wait wait wait... so after all this pontificating, you're not even a "high earner" (how I have come to loathe that phrase)?

You talk as though you are doomed if you come from a poor background. whilst most people would argue there are more obstacles, no one is doomed. I’m surrounded by people from all walks of life in my role.

additionally - your OP started from the position of nurses and teachers which all went to university and therefore I suggest could have gotten those higher paid jobs if they’d wanted to.

Your argument seems to have strayed from 1. people don’t deserve higher pay and haven’t worked harder than everyone else to 2. personal attacks to anyone at all thats has bettered themselves (including nurses and teachers because they are privileged to get an education).

Frankly your posts read as though you’d like everyone else to get on their knees and apologise for their privilege (achievement).

What did you want from this post?!

A social contract has been well and truly broken. It now doesn’t feel worth going to work when our disposable income has been eroded so much, and the resources / services available to us are so poor.

I work full-time… getting an NHS doctor’s appointment is a nightmare. I get sent a text message after submitting an e-consult and it’s booked for 3 weeks time bang smack in the middle of a work day. I am on a waiting list for specialist treatment and apparently it’s a 15-25 week wait for an appointment.

Most of my DH and I wages go on housing, bills - council tax, inflated food and energy prices. We purposely try not to turn our heating on so we can save money. Trains to work are expensive, late, cancelled. Parking everywhere is costly too. We now only run one car. We have a couple of subscriptions for entertainment and a gym membership. I am constantly selling stuff on Vinted to try and make a bit more.

Meanwhile, others get a lot for free and do not have the same worries as us and likely more sense of security as well.

We both have to pay for life / health insurance in case one of us gets ill or dies. Just many things to think and worry about. You wonder why are we being so sensible? Our cost of living increased and disposable income has been eroded - it’s demoralising.

I have no idea how you've managed to come to either of those conclusions so don't really know where to start with this

@PrawnsForDinner sounds like you worked brutally hard. Big sacrifices. You made such a good choice to better yourself by marrying him. Amazing foresight, too, since he wasn't even a high earner then. But he could have gotten a brain injury a week after your wedding, and then all that bringing up and nurturing of your children would have gotten you a much lower rate of pay.

That is something I notice a lot on these types of threads. The more vocal women are the ones that are not actually the high earners. Their money comes from their DH.
I recall one poster who was particularly vitriolic about any low earners and people on benefits. She was on £22k, but her DH earnt loads.

What is your point here though?

Also, can I ask your ages?

I’ve been reading a lot about how the recent budget has hit millennials harder and I do wonder if more resentment comes from this generation… and if so, I’d say it’s warranted to be honest. That’s my opinion.

I'm an ethnic minority. I'm not a victim. If you actually look at educational outcomes (GCSEs), incomes and wealth Asian Indians come out on top.

It’s very unusual for there to be 2 high earners in a couple with children though. For the very reason that the high earner works so bloody much, they have no capacity at home so the (usually) woman has to pick up the slack.
I completely understand where these women come from.

@PeonyPatch my point is just to agree with you! With a (pretty waffly - sorry) example of someone who's a 'high earner' but who isn't actually a beneficiary of the inequality in UK atm. It is the super wealthy we need to look at. I just totally agree with you. Me & my friend are both millennials, yes. No idea how I'm personally affected by the budget tbh!

Sure, but maybe they shouldn't go on about how you can make your own opportunities, work hard to get a better job if you want more money, etc., if they haven't had to actually do any of that stuff themselves.

@Blueyrocks and that’s the rub isn’t it that an awful lot of high earners end up with a partner not working or only doing a bit of part time if they have kids due to the demands and often unpredictability of the high earning jobs- it’s not always the case but is so in lots of cases - odd hours, ‘on call’ , work trips overseas , meetings on phone with overseas clients at strange times. In many ways the 2 full time moderate income families doing 9 to 5 can be at least as well off .

unfortunately the same can be true though for certain mid and lower income jobs, shifts, ‘on call’ early starts, late finishes can make it very difficult to have 2 full time incomes coming in.

I know that from experience myself in my 1st marriage , I was nursing, married to a miner doing shifts. I ended up giving up and going back to 9 to 5 office or bank roles, but I was lucky I had the experience to do so , 2 of us with shifts made it very difficult with 2 under 7s at the time.

that’s why I do get annoyed if people say just go and get a full time job ( although in theory I agree) because reality is unless you have family that help and are reliable it’s not always that simple to coordinate where you are depending on childcare available - I actually found it harder when my son was at primary school than when he was at nursery - that’s when I started working with husband on our business.

Not super wealthy, and now a pensioner without DGC (yet), but i don't begrudge anyone earning well, of any ethnicity, in the UK. I did earn well, and saved and invested fairly well too, but what I have now has to see me out, and as my dad is currently 92, that means what I have has to last at least another 22 years. Which is a long time.

@Crikeyalmighty totally agree with this too. I have to work PT for lots of reasons, but among them is exactly that - no family support, DH works long and odd hours fairly often - so we're completely dependent on whatever paid childcare is available.

All just me trying to say - it's not just a matter of 'work hard and you'll get lots of money', and also to say that that doesn't mean high earners don't work hard, or don't pay enough tax.

Ah ok, no problem @Blueyrocks
Well, the further tax band freeze will likely impact you / us. There are many other reasons why millennials are disproportionately affected in the UK, but I shan’t go into it too much on this thread.
I do think that some cuts need to be made in gov spending and that the top 1-5% of wealth in the UK needs hitting - they won’t feel it much where as middle to high earners will. Hence why many are fleeing to other countries for better quality of life.

Totally agree. Simply we can't both travel for work and chase the big salary.

I know 3 really high earners who have based themselves overseas only back in the UK 90 days per year to dodge the UKs punitive tax rules.
You look at the emigration figures how many of them are people - mainly men - doing the same thing?