OK, OH earns 125k, his secretary probably earns 35ish, how much should he spend on her Christmas present?

[DontWantToLookTight]

Just that really.
Hev namechanged cos don't want you to all think I'm minted!

Am still bothered by the suggestion, about 100 posts down the thread, that people in the city 'create wealth' and pay taxes out of the goodness of their hearts to support us poor inept people who don't work there.

Bollocks. It's the rest of us who actually do stuff that companies make profits from. And us plebs pay 90 per cent of the taxes in this country - wealthy city types have good accountants to 'minimise' their tax bills. I suppose moving money around is necessary in a capitalist society but it is NOT the most important field of work and the rest of us are under no obligation to feel terribly grateful. Especially when city workers are so richly rewarded!

My experience of the work of the city is that they've screwed my endowment, screwed my pension and screwed several companies I've worked for. Just to make money for themselves by breaking companies up or making take-over bids.

Agree with edam. The wealth creation argument is hugely overplayed.

Hedge funds for example are a zero sum game - no new money is created, unlike, for example, new technology. They arguably add liquidity to the system but this is not the same as creating wealth.

what on earth has what your dh earns got to do with anything?
sounds like a bit of a moneys boy to me getting his wife to do his shopping, do you have to blow his nose for him too lol

oh dear frueidulent slip i ment to say mummys boy pmsl

I don't think it matters really

Just tell him to get what he thinks she would like

I made dh's secretary some cranberry sauce (well ok I had just made it and called him, he was out and I was chatting to her and said had made it and she said OOOH THAT SOUNDS GOOD so I offered her a jar ) I should think he will get her chocolates and champagne as usual too and maybe some molton brown

southeastastra

it ok, really it is Dont feel bad now. I was feeling more fragile than usual anyway last night. I'm finding it really hard being with out Dh so much. I'd love for us all to be together, any where in the country. Living in our own home too...

I was also having a really bad day in terms of missing my job so much. when my back pain gets really bad, it not only feels bloody awful merely because of the pain, but it reminds me constantly of the fact i'm not able to do the job i love at the moment.

I'm hopeful one day, maybe not to far in the future, I WILL get back to it for even just a few hours a week.

I dont want you to feel bad by my response, so please, forget it. bad timing, by all think

lionbeast - I imagine it was included by OP to give an idea of affordability for her dh...

(it's freudian)

£50 OK.
£100 generous - if she is outstanding.
spa day? way ott!

thing is, they 'make' money by shuffling it around and betting. THe people who actually make or do real tangible stuff are the ones who actually create. If companies didn't have workers actually working there wouldn't be any sodding profit for people in the city to play with!

Edam I think I love you.

he he
knew this thread would kick off

I earn a lot (not quite as much as the OP), it is all swallowed up because I dont have a wife to stay at home and look after my 4 children.

Headline salary isn't everything. We dont own our own house.

oh, and I do tangible stuff, ie produce things

Dh makes a shed load more than £125K giving investment / inheritance / pension advice etc

Do we feel guilty? Do we fuckery!

He doesn't 'create' as such

So what!

Oh dear Really - that aint going to be a popular post!

However I just don't get why people hate the likes of hedgeys and City types so much. Well apart from jealousy.

It's not their fault that there are these inequalities as individuals. Hate the system not the individuals please.

but Edam, city boy stock brokers earn a LOT more than what my husband earns. He's a lawyer. Not saying it's any more worthy than stock broking(?)though, it ain't.

Exactly Starlight! I don't resent people in the city earning shedloads if that floats their boat. But I do resent it when they try to pretend they are hard done by, or actually worth 50 nurses or firefighters.

I don't mind your dh either, Really, unless he's one of the f*ckers who screwed people over endowments...

don't mind lawyers - I know one or two - but if I ruled the world those shuffling money around in the city wouldn't be quite so much more well rewarded than those doing criminal work, for instance. The latter is kind of important for the functioning of society, after all (shuffling money, too, in capitalism, just that the balance is hugely skewed).

He he he! This was always going to kick off in the end.

I don't really understand the OP at all. I don't understand why it was at all necessary to state the income of both the employer and the employee. You may have changed your name, but you're still bragging, no?

I also don't understand how a man who earns £125K a year isn't intelligent enough to work it out for himself ...

I agree. Don't complain about the money though. In a better world, legal aid work would be well rewarded as well.

late to this, but I would say a bottle of decent chapagne or some nice bath stuff is plenty - it's an Xmas gift (ie: a gesture) not a bonus! that's certainly the benchmark where I work and the guys there earn more than your DP

I agree with edam that is.

desi, I can't be arsed to explain, but if I really wanted to show off, I would not have name changed. None of my friends know how much dh earns, I have never told anyone, ever. This is anonymous, and I just wanted to know what sort of present was appropriate. not bothered what you think about me or dhs wage. He's too busy to sort it and I have taken it on as a responsibility like the rest of the christmas presents and cards