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

[TwoBabas]

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?

We are in this category, DH has overtaken me in terms of salary - works in the private sector in management (no qualifications but lots of experience), I am at the same level with loads of experience but also have the qualifications (Masters) to coincide, I work the public sector and my salary is pretty much half of his. I love coming MN, its my SM fix.

Well if that stat is correct that 3% of households have earnings over £100k then that makes 846,000 households in Great Britain so that's a lot. And I agree that Mumsnet started out London based and middle class. Afterall Justine Roberts, one of the founders of MN, went to Oxford as did her husband and Carolyn Longton, the other founder, was a TV producer who she met at ante-natal classes.

I earn £190k in a specialist trade body. Luckily I don't have to rely on a DH for it but on the downside I'm 5ft 6, late 50s and overweight.

Yes but you never have to worry about paying the bills plus that wage allows you to put some aside for savings plus extras. If you don't have much spare I would wonder if you have stretched yourselves to much?

People on the other side of the scale probably don't want to post because they will be called scroungers for claiming benefit top ups.

Yes it does seem that way, I would average earnings among my circle range from 10-150k, most people I know probably in the 40-60k range

I think threads tend to attract like minded views if they don’t start off diverse. I’ve seen threads where the same question has been answered very differently, depending on how the first few answers go ( the ones I’m thinking of were about what age it’s ok to leave kids alone for a few hours). So I think if an earnings thread starts with 4/5 people claiming big salaries then other people tend not to post. It can give a skewed impression.

Let’s not forget the “MN” election where MN was apparently representative of the whole country and it was going to be a huge Lib Dem coup. What actually happened was the Lib Dem’s got electorally wiped out.

There seem to be a lot on £100k only just managing too.....pretty scary how they think others survive.

I was on a thread earlier about child benefit where a whole load of posters were saying how they needed it as couldn’t buy nappies without. So no op. It’s not just the wealthy on here.

I'm not sure these people are really struggling.....moaning certainly but with a weekly take home more than many earn a month after tax it's not going to raise much sympathy

Many of MN'ers original posters 20+ years ago were middle class. I know loads of people who earn well. In fact many many people we meet, Ds1's football team families, ds2's football team mums, many of the school mums I know, many people I know earn well. In fact we are lower because I choose to work part time. Mn also has a wide Spectrum, huge variance of high earners, and people who struggle hugely. Why the assumption that everyone is lying always strikes me as odd. Bet many aren't!

The loss of personal allowance over 100k is crazy and very unfair

I think the Labour government will be taxing the six figure earners even more harshly come next year's election.

It's an easy voter winner and as this thread shows there won't be any sympathy for any 'rich' person earning a decent salary.

Most of the population aren't even aware that you get effectively get taxed at 60% on the proportion over £100k where you burn through your personal allowance or that the 45% tax rate threshold was reduced by about 25k last year.

People don't realise that commuting into London costs £40 a day and to live in a decent area in the south east the house prices are completely skewed. All you get are stupid passive aggressive comments like 'why have you overstretched yourself?'

But remember you must not moan as you are lucky.

I don't think anyone really objects to people earning a decent salary.

I think what people do object to are arguments like 'oh £100+k a year might sound lots, but what you poor folk don't understand is that by the time we've paid our huge mortgage on an expensive city centre property/4 bed house in London commuter belt, then paid our transport to work and paid school fees/for the nanny, that's a huge chunk of your income already swallowed up'.

FWIW I don't the personal allowance should be removed at £100k, think the threshold for 45% tax should be higher and think we should be taxing wealth more than earnings. I still think that it's fairly obvious that people bemoaning that their salary doesn't go very far because they've chosen a lifestyle that is more expensive than isn't going to go down well.

DH and I have a good combined income, more than most. I made the mistake of scouring private school boards interested in what people tend to earn for that to be an option. Apparently people would be mad to go down that route with income less than £250k. I felt poor after a few posts. I take a lot of what I read on here with a pinch of salt and also what people consider an acceptable income but DH and I despite earning well, live quite a simple life and plough lots into pensions and savings. We know people on a similar income who consider two Range Rovers in the driveway as a necessity.

But you do also have to appreciate how lucky you are for a start you can live in a decent area many can't afford their rough area. Most don't do a daily commute nowadays with working from home unless they are in the jobs like shops, care, schools, etc where pay is shit but commuting is no cheaper. Many don't earn in a month what higher earners bring home in a few days they are making a choice between food or rent/mortgage not cutting back on gym and nails.
Personal allowances being reduced when you earn so much isn't about surviving it's giving up one holiday, and not a week in a seaside caravan.
People saying we'll increase your pension and you can get 30 hours is a bit of a slap to people who can't afford food.

If 5% of earners make over 100k and MN is broadly representative of the UK then you'd expect 1 in 20 MNers to have a 100k+ earner in their household.

Since those 100k+ earners are skewed mostly male and MN favours London and middle class demographics, it's probably more than 5% who are married to a high earner on MN.

We tend to socialise with people of a similar class and income level, it's what the British class system is. So we tend to think of our own level as "normal" and anybody earning much more or much less as a tiny minority. But 5% isn't a tiny minority at all, it's 1 in every 20 people. It's just that it doesn't seem that way because we don't come across the full range in our daily lives, as a rule.

Plus it doesn't need to be just one high earner. Many families have 2 earners with good jobs. Many people have good jobs earning £40-£60k. Many mn households could easily be combined income of £80k+.

I agree!

I find it so depressing to see the number of posts on here which start with “DH earns” or “DH says” or “DH thinks”.

I think if you own your own business it's a different thing. We take minimum salary and then take chunks of dividend. If there's funds we pay into pensions. We have health care life insurance. If you add it up its well over £100k. We're not rolling in it, a lot is invested. Our lives are precarious, could fold any time. Eggs in one basket.
Look around.
Lots of businesses out there....

And in addition no one in our circle would know!

You’re not “worse off” by earning more in the UK. You’re in the very privileged position of being able to put more into society to improve life for everyone and give more back.

Don’t get me wrong, I work bloody hard and my brain is often frazzled with all the quick decisions and critical analysis my job requires but am I harder working than the hospital cleaner or builder working 7am to 6pm? Probably not, different kind of hard working.

I think people with similar salaries/values socialise together so you’re more likely to know people earning 100000k plus if you are in that bracket. Although my friendship group is lower earning because I hated the keeping up with the Jones’ attitude from those who earn similar to me. Maybe I was unlucky but I didn’t want a competition with Sarah and her 4 toilets she had to mention in every bloody conversation (just in case you didn’t know she had a big house).

I'm a Solicitor working for a Silver Circle law firm in the City

Without doubt there are some fantasist who lie about how much they or their dh earn.
However, the truth is that there are people earning 100k they just don’t tell you in real life.
I know a number of people, headteachers, builders, those in finance, accountants, NHS managers who are earning 100k. It is more common than one would think.
Many of them are self employed.