Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

To think mumsnet posters must have a lot of £££

218 replies

TwoBabas · 09/10/2023 21:58

General observation from reading posts on here is that there seem to be an awful lot of posters claiming either themselves or their partners are eating salaries of 100k plus.

Now am I being very naive or are people over exaggerating their financial situations. What type of job would put you in that range? Doctor? Headteacher? Lawyer?

Most people I know are skrimping by and don't have a lot to piss in.

But then perhaps I'm living amongst the not so wealthy sector.

Are people telling the truth do you think?

OP posts:
AutumnAuntie · 09/10/2023 22:59

Looking at posts across a wide variety of threads, I'm often surprised at how much debt and how little disposable income many posters have.....so essentially the exact opposite
Same here, I remember a thread about disposable income and the large amount of women who work full time but couldn’t afford to get their hair cut. It really stuck in my mind.

gotomomo · 09/10/2023 23:01

@Millybob

Dp earns around £150k and we like watching tv, is that ok???

We go out to gigs, theatre, restaurants, the pub but not every night! Yes I am fortunate we can afford these things, but even at this salary not everyday - once pensions are maxed, bills paid, money set aside for holidays, Christmas etc there's only so much left

Dilemma8188 · 09/10/2023 23:03

Glad someone brought this up! I always feel so poor browsing this website 😂

Lilacdressinggown · 09/10/2023 23:05

Firstly don’t believe much of what people post on here. I for example, am the Queen of Sheba.
Secondly, MumsNetters are for sure a very skewed demographic and not representative of a random sample of British Mums.

Lilacdressinggown · 09/10/2023 23:08

gotomomo · 09/10/2023 23:01

@Millybob

Dp earns around £150k and we like watching tv, is that ok???

We go out to gigs, theatre, restaurants, the pub but not every night! Yes I am fortunate we can afford these things, but even at this salary not everyday - once pensions are maxed, bills paid, money set aside for holidays, Christmas etc there's only so much left

Quite a lot left I imagine.

indigovapour · 09/10/2023 23:09

pocketpairs · 09/10/2023 22:14

@Farfarfarfarfaraway

Average director salary at Deloitte is £135k, so very unusable for middle manager to earn £100k, unless it's a big corporation.

I'd say a director at Deloitte is middle management. It's the partners that make the money - don't google their average earnings, you'll have a fit!

Happyhappyday · 09/10/2023 23:10

I think we all live in a bubble and don’t realize how much of a bubble it is. Where I live, MEDIAN income for a married couple with kids is $250k. DH and I earn more than that but not loads more. Some of my friends earn a bit less, some probably double. There was a parent on a private jet on a zoom call for my kids school. There are no houses in my neighborhood for less than $1mil. I doubt any of my friends have a household income less than $150k. But DH and I went to Oxford and all of my friends went to similar. We all grew up in similarly expensive areas. I feel normal, or even like we’re a bit hard up compared to my friend who goes on holiday about 8 times a year. However, nationally I know we are earning in the top few % and when you add our assets in, we are even higher, but it doesn’t seem like that where we live.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz12 · 09/10/2023 23:11

What type of job would put you in that range? Doctor? Headteacher? Lawyer?

Well in my industry it would be anyone upper middle management and above. Including Marketing, Finance, Compliance and HR

DeadbeatYoda · 09/10/2023 23:14

I guess people who are scraping by on average wage aren't quite so apt to broadcast it on social media.
I guess it's all relative but. Christ, the smug is strong on this thread.

Tunisbaby · 09/10/2023 23:17

@DeadbeatYoda I can be that person! £18K per year for rent, bills, childcare and everything else. Lone parent. Living the dream!
WineWineWine

bbcfolkie · 09/10/2023 23:18

There are tons of jobs paying those sorts of salaries...accountancy, tech, sales, banking. I think your assumptions are a bit out of date.

AutumnAuntie · 09/10/2023 23:19

What type of job would put you in that range? Doctor? Headteacher? Lawyer?

IT manager in a bank, long working hours due to having team
members in Asia and America. Never really off work unless on holiday. Often online until midnight or even longer and then back in work an hour away by 6.30 am.
This was DH’s job, his siblings who had the same upbringing and education earn between 10 and 50k. We’d get lots of big bonus comments or you going on another holiday etc but any of them could be earning that if their sibling managed it.
I think it wasn’t until my DH retired at 55 that they realised quite how much he was on and must have been paying into his pension (£2400 per month including employer contributions). Now there are even more little digs and comments.

KingsleyBorder · 09/10/2023 23:20

bbcfolkie · 09/10/2023 23:18

There are tons of jobs paying those sorts of salaries...accountancy, tech, sales, banking. I think your assumptions are a bit out of date.

Yes, and lots of lawyer jobs that don’t pay anything like as much as that (though, admittedly, many that do).

KingsleyBorder · 09/10/2023 23:22

Happyhappyday · 09/10/2023 23:10

I think we all live in a bubble and don’t realize how much of a bubble it is. Where I live, MEDIAN income for a married couple with kids is $250k. DH and I earn more than that but not loads more. Some of my friends earn a bit less, some probably double. There was a parent on a private jet on a zoom call for my kids school. There are no houses in my neighborhood for less than $1mil. I doubt any of my friends have a household income less than $150k. But DH and I went to Oxford and all of my friends went to similar. We all grew up in similarly expensive areas. I feel normal, or even like we’re a bit hard up compared to my friend who goes on holiday about 8 times a year. However, nationally I know we are earning in the top few % and when you add our assets in, we are even higher, but it doesn’t seem like that where we live.

You might want to specify which country you live in and what sort of dollars we are talking here, otherwise your post is fairly meaningless.

sipsqueak · 09/10/2023 23:22

Millybob · 09/10/2023 22:37

What I can't get over is that there's all these women in £100,000-plus jobs, with husbands earning similar, and yet they can't find anything more interesting to do than Mumsnet?
I'd be out at the theatre - opera - private views ... not wasting time flicking through here because there's nothing on telly.

Er people on higher salaries still have bills to pay, kids to look after - and yes, enjoy scrolling mindlessly on their phones and reading shit online like anyone else. The notion that folks should be out at the theatre or the opera every night is really silly.

lightinthebox · 09/10/2023 23:29

Definitely think people are delusional and outright lying about salaries on MN.

Considering nearly everyone here earns over £100k there’s no way these people hide from doorbells and genuinely ask quite stupid questions.

Woofoof · 09/10/2023 23:33

If you think £100k salary is lot, then you must not be very familiar with the UK tax system. The more you earn, the worse off you are as per the tax system here.

Robinni · 09/10/2023 23:36

Millybob · 09/10/2023 22:37

What I can't get over is that there's all these women in £100,000-plus jobs, with husbands earning similar, and yet they can't find anything more interesting to do than Mumsnet?
I'd be out at the theatre - opera - private views ... not wasting time flicking through here because there's nothing on telly.

@Millybob do you think this means that money can’t buy happiness and they get bored of it?

Or do they buy fancier handbags, homes, cars, private school fees and pensions, thus ending up like the rest of us? Same shit different price bracket?

CherrySocks · 09/10/2023 23:37

Average UK salary is apparently around £32,000 (or £27,000 or £38,000).

Mumsnet probably needs to attract high income posters for advertising reasons.

Getabloominmoveon · 09/10/2023 23:44

I earn a lot more than 100k and most of my overspending is time on this site. IME the more senior (and therefore likely better paid) you are, the more flexibility and autonomy you get. Nobody is checking my timesheets. Plus my kids have left home so no demands there. I just wouldn’t have had time for Mumsnet when they were young and I was building my career.
And BTW DH also earns 100k+ and fritters his time now playing or watching sport.

Stilts · 09/10/2023 23:44

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Middlelanehogger · 09/10/2023 23:48

In my industry you can be on £100k by your mid-20s if you grind, 30 if you're lazy! I think people don't realise how much variation there is between industries - I've lived outside of the UK and find it particularly pronounced here. My colleagues often don't believe me when I say some people live on £30k (which most on MN consider a very respectable salary).

Corporate law, investment banking, management consulting, private equity etc.

BlueSky2023 · 09/10/2023 23:52

@Barnowlsandbluebells

Looking at posts across a wide variety of threads, I'm often surprised at how much debt and how little disposable income many posters have.....so essentially the exact opposite.

I would agree with this, I see a lot more posters describing how little they have to live on, how they can’t afford to put the heating on, how they have nothing left over at the end of the month, its quite worrying the predicament some people are in.
Most of the people I know are fortunately pretty comfortable

GarlicGrace · 09/10/2023 23:54

Woofoof · 09/10/2023 23:33

If you think £100k salary is lot, then you must not be very familiar with the UK tax system. The more you earn, the worse off you are as per the tax system here.

😂 What nonsense! You must not be very familiar with how graduated tax rates work.

Or with logic ... you really think high earners take home less than lower earners??

Wavescrashingonthebeach · 09/10/2023 23:57

Single Mum on universal credit here and works a few hours to top it up. No debt though.
Life is hard but I manage and I'm grateful for everything I've got.
Once DS1 is in school and soon to be born DS2 old enough il get back working full time again.

Swipe left for the next trending thread