Those of you earning six figures, what advice would you give to a 33-year old woman earning around £43k?

[YourFancyBeaker]

I’m genuinely curious about what made the biggest difference in increasing your income/career trajectory. Was it changing industries, moving jobs more often, specialising, negotiation, networking, management/leadership, taking bigger risks, location, confidence or something else entirely?

I know £43k is already a decent salary in many ways and I’m grateful for that. But I’m also very aware there’s a huge difference between earning a solid middle-income salary and building serious long-term wealth/security.

Would love to hear honest insights from people who’ve actually made the jump

You’ll never earn that much in the charity sector - move out.

The only way you can make decent money working for charities is if you are a CEO or director for a big national or international charity.

If you want a higher salary you will have to move to a different sector and/or retrain

I moved to London

Dont take breaks outside of maternity leave. Keep progressing. Don't stay at one place longer than 5 years. Every time I changed company there has been a small bump.

You’ve had lots of great advice on moving the needle on your role and salary. But earning well, being successful and making those earnings work as hard as they can for you are not the same thing. Something I wish I’d done much sooner, when I was earning less but younger and had more time, was to invest in stocks and shares, at the very least using my annual ISA allowance.

Earning money and being successful is great, but as someone else picked up on, you may not want to live that level of intensity until state retirement age. Being smart with the money you earn and making it work for you will help you no end.

I made the commitment to work in the City of London. Long commute but worth it for the opportunities and salary growth.

I work in the charity sector. Two things made a massive difference to my career trajectory and earning.

1. Moved into charity leadership (by volunteering for lots of cross-organisational projects and embracing governance etc)
2. Carried on seeking promotion (rather than temporarily reducing hours or standing still) after maternity leave

Now I do have a six figure salary. Unbelievably it’s almost half what it would be in another sector and I do work long hours with massive responsibility, but it’s still a huge amount.

Be extremely helpful and pleasant to your boss. Flattery will get you a long way. Move jobs/companies every few years. Don't be afraid to apply for jobs several steps above the one you're currently at. Consider getting a careers coach, or at least put in some serious practice before any interviews you get. There are lots of videos online with advice about how to succeed at interviews.

Unfortunately a six figure salary is very much less than that after tax, in a way that a 43k salary is not. Losing the entire tax free allowance at 100k is bizarre, given that it should be about 230k if the rule has kept up with inflation. Anyway, what I did was an awful lot of highly paid contracts which taught me a lot and enables me to answer pretty much any interview question because I would have come across the problem the employer or client wanted me to solve. I work in IT consulting. I am now 48, and permanent in a solution design role. My life is now built around my income and I actually wish I had instead stayed in easier roles. Then I might know my kids.

Don’t stay in any role/ company for more than 3 years, start looking as you get close to the 2 year mark. Any longer and next employer will expect you to have had a promotion. At 2/3/4 years it’s not expected so easier to jump and make more money by going after a slightly higher role.

also, 30s are better than 40s to work hard/smart due to menopause and ageist recruitment.

1. Project/programme coordination at 43k isn't bad - think of the steps you'll need to take to become a Programme Director probably including a move to outside of the charity sector.
2. Fcuking believe that you can do it, 100% self confidence.

I went from 40kish to 60k at that age but it was an internal promotion I'd gone for for the second time. If there's nothing internally to at makes that leap then you need to think about looking elsewhere.

Changing jobs and/ or company is when most people will achieve the biggest leaps in salary. When I was 34 I went from earning £55k to £77k. I stayed at that company for ten years, with a final salary of £120k. I then achieved another 50% jump in salary by moving to a new company with a salary of £180k, plus 30% bonus.

In both cases, when I applied for and got the job I felt like I was at the very limit of what I could handle, and maybe even slightly blagging it for some of the responsibilities! But they both worked out and a bit of pressure seems to help me perform best.

As PPs have said, civil and charity sectors are obviously not ideal for high salaries, but have many other benefit to weigh up.

Pick high paying industry.
Be brave, be bold (ie ambitious) and lean in, like Cheryl Sandberg says.

don't be afraid to move companies every 2 years or so, this is the single biggest chance to increase your earnings (which then can increase at every further step). Moves should be strategic - ideally career /scope /money step up every time or at least taking you in that direction

network very well! It’s the best way to find new roles when people know you and can recommend you so that your CV is noticed in the sea of applicants

also Learn how to interview well.

good luck xxx

Always keep an eye out for promotion. Sometimes you will be asked to go for it, but most of the time you will need to be pushy.

I haven’t jumped around very much (to new firms) but I wish I had. Always keep your eye open for new opportunities in a new place.

Look for training/qualifications that are demanding (ie not everyone passes), in career paths where the work is academically difficult but commercially necessary to run a big business. Things where you need years of expertise and experience to be good & can't very quickly train up replacements.

I work in tax & it feels like there's almost always some degree of shortage at one level or another. Its not unusual in London to be earning £60k at age 28, £100k at 32. I am early 40s and most of my friends/peers earn between 120 &200k, not including bonuses and share awards.

The downsides? The qualifications/training are hard, you need to be strong academically - fast at processing, good under pressure, great memory, technical. The work can be unglamorous, some would consider parts of it boring, particularly the bits you need to do a lot of as a junior.

In general the best paid jobs are the ones with a clear link to money, its that simple. Direct link to large sums of money generated/saved. The charitable sector is not where big money is so you don't tend to be highly paid there. Same for education & public sector although there are other benefits.

I left school after A levels, spent 6 years in hospitality (AKA waitressing!) before taking a massive leap of faith to move to London to train as an independent mortgage broker/ financial advisor. I was earning over 100k within 12 months. Gave it all up 8 years later, moved to Dublin and did it all over again.

Find an industry that rewards results rather than longevity, one that balances ambition AND integrity and always believe in yourself.

Before you chase 100k I would strongly advise you consider why you want the mega bucks and what it brings to your quality of life/long term goals and happiness. My FTE salary would be 80k at 37, I could easily move to London for a 100k plus job.... but I only work 4 days and so get 64k ish. I was on about 38k at 28. I have always prioritised maximum money BUT for minimum time. I am efficient, effective and decisive, as others have said play the game and be visible to be big bosses, keep your own boss happy (without being weird with it!). I find in my company/industry I get more respect for having boundaries, making clear decisions and taking no messing than the people who bend over and work silly hours at the slightest request from senior management.

I live in a modest house in Manchester with a cheap mortgage and have a bloody wonderful life. This year I've been skiing for a week, I've got a long holiday to Chile planned, I've got a horse and horsebox, eat/drink out at least twice a week. For me more money and more hours would make my life worse. Dig deep into what makes you happy; lifestyle, making a difference, status, material things, experiences etc and then plan your life round that!

In my 30s I went from 40k to 100k in 8 years. I moved into tech into a company that was growing quickly and made myself as useful
as possible to the founders and my role got more senior as the company grew. It was definitely a right place right time kind of thing. Since then (6 years ago) I’ve moved companies twice and now am only on 12k more (112k) but I have had kids in that period too. Pre kids 100k felt like an absolute fortune, now it doesn’t so much 😭 (bigger house, childcare etc)

Move companies. Always be working towards promotion in case that does not pay off.

Pay lots into your pension and ISA to offset your tax. Especially if you live in Scotland, the jump from £40k to £100k in Scotland is massively eroded by tax.

Do not go part time, ever. Aim for full time or over work 4/4.5 days. Even this can label you part time by senior male colleagues. Return after maternity leave, no extended breaks. I’ve seen so many women go backwards after this.

Sexism is still alive and well.

Do things with your job that also interests you. STEM volunteering, Graduate Mentoring, Women in Leadership committees for example. Nobody wants to do more than their job but it’s always good to highlight something else and network.

Network - this is where your next role will likely come from. Between LinkedIn and Indeed, the whole thing is one big AI soup of 100+ applicants for every advert. I’m not convinced the jobs on LinkedIn even exist.

My salary has been mental over the years! £12k - £90k in 3 years then back to £12k for 6 years now £120k. Erratic!

This is what I've heard, which is what makes job-searching myself so frustrating at the moment. Anything on a higher salary wants management/team leader experience, which I don't have. Anything with transferrable skills (last role was quite niche) is about a £15k paycut, and that's if they're not asking for 3-5 years experience doing that exact same thing.

For me, qualifying as a solicitor shifted my income bracket massively and is something I can probably lean on until retirement.

But tech/AI is changing things and so the industry isn’t as stable as it used to be

• move sector first (you know this)
• aggressively chase down the right opportunities / projects
• present yourself as a really serious player in attitude, attire, outputs - go the extra mile around what matters but don't be a doormat and left holding the pen. I routinely worked 12-14 hr days in my 20s and early 30s
• look at successful people around you, what they do, how they spend their time
• make it your mission to be forward thinking and the person people can go to to get things down. Cultivate a reputation for knocking stuff out of the park

Pick the right sector. I chose law because if you’re at the right firm doing the right sort of work, salaries are very high. If you can get to partnership in one of those firms, you’re in the big leagues earnings wise.

I don’t have a passion for the law. I don’t find it particularly interesting outside of what I need to know to do my job. That said, I enjoy some of the work, I have good colleagues, and I’m good at it.

My advice to anyone looking for a career is find something you can do to a good standard, that pays well, and that you don’t hate.