Average Salaries + Lifestyle in 30s/40s

[SmallWorldAfterAll]

First time thread poster here. I am always intrigued how people manage their personal finances, especially when it’s people on similar salaries with such variable costs and lifestyles. But as a woman in my early 30s, I’m finding a lot of people on MN are in their 50s and beyond, therefore very progressed in careers and different stage of life so slightly less relatable.

For those in their 30s and perhaps 40s, what is your financial situation looking like? What are your goals? I will of course start.

Salary = £75k, household ~ £105k
Pension = Contribute 15% with an employer match of 10%
Mortgage + essentials = £2,500 per month
1 DC with a plan for another
Currently have what feels like a very comfortable lifestyle but have some ambitious goals for the future
Goals = By 35 achieve a £100k+ salary, be able to save £1,000 per month (amidst childcare costs), 20% pension contributions, continue nice lifestyle (multiple holidays abroad, restaurants, nice family days out, etc.)

As others have said I’m finding this quite hard to read as I feel I’ve tried my best but am nowhere near these figures.

in an attempt to take something positive from this - please could people say what their jobs are?

”Finance” isn’t super helpful, be useful to know if you’re a fund manager or a project manager or a HR manager in finance etc..

Thank you.

My salary £1000000000
partner £9923000000
I feel we get by ok

Wow. I’m stunned by some of these numbers.

45, live in south east. One dc would like one more but fertility treatment was long and painful and expensive.

income- i run a business so varies from 20-60k pa for 3 days a week. Plus investment earnings and husbands income takes us to around 80-100k pa

mortgage £450 but we overpay 10% each year so should be paid off in five years when fix expires.

we have a home abroad that we bought and restored so often holiday there. Ds about to start private school at same cost as his nursery.

very comfortable and happy life. For me, both of us having time with our ds and to ourselves as well as a family is the priority. I couldn’t manage full time job, commute, office politics- it’s just not for me.

gaving been really hard up in 20’s and building up in 30’s I would say it is so hard to get the first bit of money together but once you have money it’s easy to make more.
that’s what causes massive inequality.

I'll balance it out
39, no DC, single

Min wage plus small bonus and brings me to around 24k a year
Outgoings inc mortgage £1500 essentials
Surviving probably describes it but not well off
Goals are just to clear off some debt and afford the new glasses I need!

I'm head of a small (5 person) BD team in an accountancy practice.

This is still a world away from "MN average" 😄

@CurlyWurly1991 but how do you survive off such a meagre salary? I can't function unless I'm bringing home eleventy million dollars a month...

Either this thread is demonstrating how much the mumsnet demographic are not representative of the average population (seemingly unlikely given its reach) or there are some serious cases of liabetes going on...

It’s a different world isn’t it? 😂 We had an appointment with our financial advisor recently who was adamant that we’d need an retirement income of “at least” £70K a year in order to have a comfortable retirement. Our kids are grown up and left home and we’ve got no mortgage. What the hell would we need £70k a year for? He just wouldn’t accept that in our situation we can live comfortably on less than half of that. Reading the replies on here I wonder if there’s something wrong with me 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Menomeno I know there's something wrong with me in that I'm a compulsive overspender 🤣 but can't take it with you... I won't ever have kids and am an only child so nearest younger relatives are my cousin's children - and I've cut some of them off already! I'm just happy bumbling along as I am... and also overjoyed that I live where I do having picked up a 3 bed semi with front and back garden and a driveway in a nice area for £133k 🤷‍♀️

Early 30s, London, no kids

I earn 150k, partner earns 100k, discretionary bonus on top although I treat that completely as windfall and only budget on base salary.

monthly:
Mortgage 3900
council tax: 220
another £250 on top for energy, internet, phones, water, various bits and pieces
student loan £650 (I clear it imminently, if I were still paying PAYE it would be £900 a month)
pension: 0, my employer pays in 9% of my salary with no contributions
dog walker: £160
Travel: approx £140
Car: bought outright for 6k, so cheap to run and insure

lifestyle:
We are currently saving for a wedding so keeping it frugal at the moment. Then want to do a bit of work on our house and redecorate. Then shove money into investments and work out how long I have to work until I can retire.

I work in trading for a bank after having done a PhD in STEM. I don’t want to say more about my specific role as it’s a small world. 3 years ago I was a PhD student earning a stipend of 18k.

I empathise with people who say they’re disappointed after looking at threads like these because by the end of my PhD I was feeling like a complete mug earning 18k (albeit PhD salaries are tax exempt) and seeing other people around me start to buy houses. Honestly it was tough to break in as competition is fierce but I’m glad that the investment and gamble paid off. I didn’t know anyone who worked in banking or trading, let alone who did my specific role. All I can say is I’ve had to have uncomfortable conversations about pay to make sure I’m paid what I’m worth. Any company will pay you the minimum they can get away with without you leaving. I think it’s important people see how much others are paid for transparency and because a rising tide lifts all boats.

I would strongly advise any young women who are bright and mathematically inclined to do what I do because the Venn diagram of money-work life balance-interesting work is as good as it gets, and contrary to popular belief my banker colleagues are mostly lovely. If I ever feel bad about my supposed lack of contribution to society I just look at my tax contributions 🤣

@Eigen enjoyed reading your post. I feel how I was raised was a disservice to me, very much had it driven into me to "do what interests me" which of course is good advice, but not in isolation. I am raising my kids to find what interests them, and consider how they can maximise earnings from that. Work is one (big) facet of your life, but if you want to enjoy your life outside of work to the fullest you need financial stability
and reward. I went into a traditionally female area, a subject that interested me, but pretty much maxed my earning potential by 30 at £30k (despite having kids). I took a step back and thought about how my qualifications and skillset could be utilised differently in an area valued more. Took a side step into a more masculine field (tech based without needing to be techy myself) and within 5 years I have more than doubled my salary (3 times higher if you include pension). My compromise as a parent and still wanting a good work life balance is to be in the public sector (for now) I could earn a lot more in other sectors, but I think it's really important people take a step back and look at the whole picture; what you enjoy, what you're good at, and where that is valued. I'm talking on a micro level, I appreciate this advice doesn't work for society at large!

All I can say is I’ve had to have uncomfortable conversations about pay to make sure I’m paid what I’m worth. Any company will pay you the minimum they can get away with without you leaving.

Me too. And it can be a good idea to move from company to company every few years (in my industry at least). And prove yourself in your role for a period of time, then tell your manager that you've been approached by headhunters.
I've secured a 38% pay rise in the last 12 months by doing this.

This is amazing - you’re setting such a great example to your kids as well. You should feel very pleased 🙂

Hi @5thCommandment can I ask re: the pension savings? I get why you'd put a lot in to avoid the crazy taxation rate that happens around £100k, but are you worried about going over the pension tax free cap on the other side? I can never work out exactly how that works and you seem like you've got your financial shit together so maybe you know!
I think it's around £1m pension value max tax free then you'll be taxed. If you're adding £60k a year with compound interest over 30 more years, won't you hit it quite early? Or do you plan to retire early?

It is definitely true that requesting higher salaries and then moving on if they are not forthcoming is the way forward. If people value you they will pay more. If they don’t then what’s the point of hanging around there any longer?

I’ve worked many jobs from serving in a burger bar on minimum wage, through long hours developing a professional career to now being able to demand high salary for sensible hours due to extensive legal experience in a fairly niche sector.

I finally feel I am being well rewarded for my previous efforts but know that had I not regularly demanded pay increases I’d likely be on a much lower salary.

I network fairly extensively with others working for competitors in my sector and we all share salary details and use each others packages as bargaining chips with our respective employers. It has served us all pretty well so far.

Name changed.

Me and H are early to mid 40s. 2 kids. My FTE is 30k but I work pt due to having a child with ASD. None of us would cope mentally if I worked ft so I come out with around 20k. H also has a lot of health problems so hasn't reached his full earning potential at all. He's on around 40k but his job offers a lot of WFH and flexibility which is very helpful. We both pay into pensions from our salaries. One civil service pension.

However, we are in the North East of England so 60k joint income is plenty here. Our essential outgoings Inc food, mortgage, fuel, insurance etc come to £1500pm. We could save £2500 if we wanted to but we don't. We invest for both children. We have no childcare costs as childcare is not an option with our son so we do it between us and grandparents.
We have around 100k left on our mortgage and the house which is a decent sized 3 bed semi with wrap around garden and double drive, is worth around 180k.

We holiday abroad at least twice a year and have 3 to 4 UK breaks a year. I love working part time and being able to be there for the kids and keep the house organised and tidy.

We have savings but currently this is all going on a new kitchen as the costs are enormously increased from the last kitchen we installed.

My parents are wealthy and we do get a lot of money from them too. They don't see why we should wait to benefit from it when they're gone which we very much appreciate.

What work are you all in ladies?

First poster wasn't wrong, their amount is average salary, yours is the average full time salary.
Although for either, the point that the majority of posters on this thread are well over the average is fair enough, but that's probably self-selecting - as soon as the OP posted a high salary people were going to be less likely to reply if they earned less.

The lifetime allowance is being abolished.

@easylikeasundaymorn well obviously people will earn less if they work part time hours. 🤣 You can't compare salaries in any meaningful way unless you do so on an FTE basis.

Just surprised me as I'm overseas because the salary was so much better but appears some people are earning big bucks in the UK.

I'm 33 DH 38
My salary is 140 but work 4 days so about 110
Household is 180
No mortgage as we've just paid it off. House is worth 835
2 kids under 5
Very lucky to feel financially secure
Biggest expense is nursery for 2 kids for 4 days

Hi what do you do that allows you to earn £140k at a youngish age? Thanks

I'm a regulation manager, in that I advise on adherence to certain regulatory obligations within my company which operates in a sector with quite complex and over-extending regulation (yawn... I do sadly find it quite interesting though, on occasion).

OH is operations director for the UK at an international engineering company.

dh & I both 27

Salary = £25k 3 days a week, household £100k ish (dh in commission based role)
Pension = 10% employer matches
Mortgage + essentials = £3k ish
1 dc 1 y old. Discussing when/if to have another.
Currently have what feels like a comfortable lifestyle but lots of money goes on our fixer upper house, childcare etc
Goals = by 30 look to buy a BTL and finish renovations on the house. Possible career move for me - I’m in the public sector with very limited earning potential. Always interesting and inspiring to have a nose at what all the high flying women do on these threads :)

Until Labour get in, they did say they'd bring it back...