High earners of Mumsnet

[LongPauseNoAnswer]

I have seen quite a few threads where high earners are ripped to shreds and run out of town with torches and pitchforks. I thought that starting a thread for high earners would be a good idea so we have a space to talk money - savings, investments, tax etc.

My background is working class, I was a single parent working 3 jobs. I started my own business which has been amazingly successful so I’m definitely nouveau riche

Anyone else want to join me?

Thank you @southparkroses

how do people manage to come up with business ideas? I obviously do not think that way .

Boo,
You can definitely be a bit autistic. Autism is a spectrum and I am on the spectrum but only for some things.
Autism is not a black and white diagnosis. I should know ffs. I have the diagnosis.
The psychologists have diagnosed it and I have a letter that I have used because I got extra time during exams.
So, yes, I am officially a bit autistic.

Where exactly did I say that not liking handbags and liking numbers were linked to autism. Of course they're not.
They are characteristics of mine that are totally unrelated to my autism.

@TheLastStarfighter

Fantastic idea! I was a bit worried by the first few responses that it was just going to get shot down as an idea.

I think I am a high earner (£200kpa+). I don't have a financial adviser, or a clue how to get one. I am bizarrely tight with money yet genuinely never seem to have any (in comparison to income).

Would normally be far too scared to post any of that either here or on MSN for fear of being shot down Even thought I am in the UK, I have never really understood the UK inverse-snobbery around money.

This! The assumption that everyone has a financial advisor if they earn a certain amount. I did have ones years ago and he tried to get me to invest in some tax avoiding film scheme so I ditched him.

I would just as readily take advice from people on here although I know the type of chippy posters that would be drawn to it like flies to a festering corpse.

It’s like the private school threads that they sniff out too; no experience of the schools that are being asked about but they would just like to input that it’s full of druggy chinless bullies. Or something.

Fantasy posts about Chanel bags don’t count.

I wanted opinions between two high end bags and got literally torn to shreds by some posters! Won’t be making that mistake again

There is no diversity on MN. Only conformity.

I earn £45k and are deemed rich by the local villagers in a sleepy village in SW Scotland. Our combined income before DH went self employed was 80k....that looks very scary written down.... Remind me why I agreed to let him do his own thing 😂

It also doesn't help that we bought one of the villages biggest houses..... At auction!!! So we paid 80-100k less than its actual worth....we were honestly just lucky that I spotted it and decided to bid, I hadn't even seen the house before we won. But I love it!!

For savings though, we have 30k in a fortress bond acct, I can't access it for 2yrs but it made 4k over 4yrs. I'm too scared to invest in stocks and shares even though I consider myself to be money savvy.

And I don't consider myself to be a high earner by the way..... But I am very aware that I earn double what many people in my area earn and I only work 5 days a week.

I can see why people may take offence. Most of the time high earners are boasting.

There’s many well to do (penny pinching) hardly spend anything and you would not know they are quite well off because they live humbly and don’t discuss money too much.

I am a high earner and have recently inherited a large amount.
I generally find it unhelpful to say anything about it as it’s distancing and comes across badly for obvious reasons if you give a moments though to the majority who may be struggling or just getting by.
Mumsnet did actually help me massively recently by reminding me of something to do with money which I had forgotten about. I don’t yet have a financial advisor and frankly haven’t been impressed with advice I’ve had from my bank etc so I’m reluctant to rely on otherwise unknown advisors. I’m at the bar and just not used to relying on anyone else’s expertise particularly when it is so often shown to be suspect.
Not thinking a higher earner thread necessarily a good idea but am mixed about this.

I don't really see the point of a thread for high earners to hang out. If what you want to do is have a thread asking for advice on pensions or investments that's fine - have one. If you want a thread that explains that you are a high earner and how you got there - to encourage others to have a go (which is exactly the sort of thing Xenia posts and is very much appreciated by a lot of MN and is what makes her a "legend") then go for it. However your OP sounded like a request for a thread where we can all hang around and revel in being rich which is, frankly, vulgar.

@LongPauseNoAnswer

It’s interesting that you are talking about your business in terms of high profitability, I always assumed that with digital products it was about scale.

@Londonmummy66 if you search any of my previous posts you'll see that I talk about my business and how well I've done out of it with the specific purpose of telling other women that they can do it too. If you think that talking about money is vulgar, that's your feelings about money not mine. Money buys choice and freedom and I want that for as many women as possible. I haven't had a hand out, or hand up, I didn't go to Uni ... if I can make money, anyone can.

@Bigpaintinglittlepainting that's a big mistake a lot of people make. I do scale but not in the traditional way. I purposefully built my business to be lean and low maintenance.

I have no employees and I never plan on having any. I don't have a traditional premises nor will I ever have one.

My business is super lean, just me and my contractors when I need them, and my product is digital so practically zero overhead beyond the hosting platform. I spend about €50,000 per year on business systems and support (hosting platform, email service provider, web maintenance, CRM system). Everything else is my salary, taxes and profit.

Let me just clarify that now I spend 50k but when I started the business I had €100 to pay for a simple website, that's it. You don't start by paying 50k in opex!

@LongPauseNoAnswer

Thank you for explaining, I have a gardening business that operates like that

I am exploring an idea I have for an app though and website to make money from a hobby.

I would like to see more people and women especially talk about and understand money. I agree with prior comments that money is freedom and choice. I am not at all entrepreneurial but come from a poor background and am fortunate enough to be a high earner. My focus is on making sure I use my earnings to create longer term assets for myself (so savings in pension, ISA, paying down mortgage). I live well and have nice things but try not to waste money.

In my industry (financial services) several people I know have semi retired fairly young and are focusing on blogs and services to help parents teach their kids good money habits. I think that's a really good effort as I know plenty of people that earn lots but still live pretty close to the wire financially.

@familychallenge that's exactly the scope.

I read The Millionaire Next Door a few years ago and it really changed how I manage my money. I thought I had to "keep up with the Joneses" when it came to looking the part. It helped me see that the value in money was making it work for me so focusing on savings, investments and pensions etc. I never learned that as a child. I really believe that we need to learn proper money management in school. I didn't have a clue!

More openness about high earning women would be so advantageous for young women and anyone thinking about a career change. Let’s discuss salaries and how to make our money work.

The 1950s attitude to discussions about money being ‘vulgar’ needs to disappear.

Not sure if we are allowed to post links but if you look up blue tree blog there are some good articles about managing money and helping kids get into good money habits.

I prefer to pay an accountant for tax advice rather than a wealth manager because they charge an hourly rate rather than wanting a percentage of your assets!

For savings I try and have a couple of years expenses in cash just in case (meaning essentials rather than maintaining current lifestyle). I save the max I can info my pension, using the default option for my age. This is often one of the cheapest options and is risk appropriate- people and especially women can be too conservative when they are young, this money will be there for decades and you can afford some volatility to get better long term returns. I put money into ISAs, again using cheap global equity ETFs typically, and don't really look at it very often. For the rest I usually have a goal- right now am trying to blitz my mortgage down.

Not saying this is right for everyone- I am quite risk averse and like to know I would cope if I lost my job or wanted to do something else that paid less- but it makes me feel secure knowing I have the back end covered and some put away for the future!

OP, you are proving your own point here. People are aggressive, sensitive, sneery. Not sure why. I'm not a high earner but I completely agree that we should talk much more openly about money, demystify it, and certainly not demonise it. It's just a token to exchange for time or stuff or peace of mind.

Not helped by the fact she didn't acknowledge a "low earner" aka me.... I gave her an option for savings but my advice is obviously worthless because I'm not a big bucks FA. (that's how it's made me feel anyway)

@combatbarbie there are loads of posts I didn’t respond to on this thread. No need to feel personally victimised - Should I respond to every single post?