If you earn 100k plus, what is your occupation?

[CJ2010]

I've posted this here as it is a bit U, but i am curious to know what jobs pay mega bucks.

I've just been looking on a jobs website at admin jobs, most are paying on average 20-25k (in London). With the cost of living as it it, that sort of money will not go far at all.

I've been a SAHM for a while now and have begun looking for work. I'm considering retraining, but only in something that pays well!

So members of the 100k club please spill the beans and let me know your secrets!

Bennifer, I spent my childhood, teen years wanting to be a teacher! After an internship in the city- which I did for extra holiday cash rather than a career step- I opened my eyes to what other jobs my degree could lead to, and decided to try them out. Not to say they are better or more fun than teaching, just that I didn't even realise these jobs even existed!!

And I also wanted to add... no job security, no pension, no sick pay.
Hell will freeze over, before I allow one of my dc to become a freelance creative

I suppose for me at 30, with a PhD, 1st class degree in a scientific field, there's time for me to make the big bucks (maybe not 100k but enough). My area of specialism is risk and natural disasters, so there has to be money in industry there somewhere!

Lots of people are communists at niversity stage and conservatives at 50. it's the natural progression of many. The trouble is they pick careers when they are free of commitments and with no life experience which means they may take decisions they regret financially later. On the other hand huge numbers of people are very happy on low incomes. You certainly don't need £100k to lead a happy life. If you earn £100k gross by the way your net pay is £64,600 in the UK this year which is £1242 a week. Your child care for 3 children under 5 shared with their other parent would be about £14k each probably or £270 a week if you keep it cheap and split it 50.50 with the other parent. so that would leave you about £1k a week for food and housing.

If you bought a house borrwogin 3x your income loan at 4% interest 25 years repayment it would cost you about £1500 a month which you might split with youro ther half so £346 div 2 a week say £200 a week. That would leave you £800 a week for food, clothes, holidays, spending bills electricity council tax ater your tax child care and mortgage.

(By the way I don't agree with the suggestion above that mining and energy isn't morally good. Gosh, what is better than keeping people warm. if we didn't have mining companies we'd all be spending our days in forests finding wood for our fires. The power sector is very very good. I am sure it has a special place in Heaven).

Posie - Bankers don't avoid tax on the whole, they're all on PAYE. A derivs trader at BarCap pays PAYE income tax in exactly the same way that a clerk at Barclays on the High St does. The exception is the IT staff who are usually 40-60% contractors.

IT contractors do go to great lengths to avoid tax - I have several on the books at any time and they all use ltds or offshore companies for invoicing. It's perfectly possibly to bill £800/day, 220 days a year, pay yourself minimum wage and the rest as dividends. In fact if you're not a UK national you can easily set yourself up as a non-dom, pay yourself via an offshore umbrella company (e.g. darwinpay.co.uk) and pay no UK tax or NI at all. None of them are self-employed for tax purposes.

hang on a minute - a company pays corporation tax on its profits then you pay tax on any dividends you take out:

www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/TaxOnSavingsAndInvestments/DG_4016453

i think IT contractors can reduce their tax but not by anywhere near as much as anyone thinks. but then that makes for less righteous indignation!

Does anyone earn significantly more than their DP?

I do. I've already commented on this thread what I earn and for the last 13 months he's earned pretty much Zero.

He's setting up a business so I see supporting him partially as a way of investing my money.

thisisanickname I earn about 3 times my DHs earnings.

thisisanickname my dh has a small military pension now he is a sahd. I bring home 12x more than he does a month.

I am a chief stewardess/purser on a large private yacht.
My Dad is chairman of his own company employing 47 staff.

Most of the guests I have met in the 10 years of working in the yachting industry have been one of the following;

Banker, LOTS of city workers/brokers, tv and movie producers, actors (worth far less than the producers), a few lawyers (not many), real estate but really mostly bankers and city traders or people with their own companies.

I have learnt that fame does not make you wealthy - hard work and a lack of ethics does. =)

For us the differential isn't an issue. When we first met he was out earning me. And he earns a good amount anyway, so no feelings of being emasculated. However, he did have a period out of work when the GFC hit, and that pulled him quite low. So he became a SAHD in every sense of the word, doing everything a SAHM does, including the toddler groups that I shuddered at going to. That massively boosted his self esteem, knowing he was making a valuable contribution to our hh. Lasted for a year, then he decided to retrain. Which was then aborted by us relocating for my job, which actually opened up the option of him returning to his old career.

Actually, that's another reason I earn highly. I've been willing to work overseas away from my extended family. Not many people look at the global job market, just at their local one. It pays to think global in my industry.

Interesting thread - I think it's a shame too that so many are talking about what their husbands earn rather than what they earn.

All the major banks are structured as corporates and therefore all the "bankers" are employees and therefore on paye. Pretty difficult to avoid paying tax. Not only that but all the banks have signed up to the banking code of conduct agreement with hmrc which means a transparent relationship with hmrc. The new remuneration directives which require certain people's pay to be published means that hmrc will be looking at the publications with interest and doing a quick calculation. The notion that all bankers avoid paying tax is both niave and misguided.

Thisisanickname, yes I am the higher earner in our relationship. The last few years, dh's earnings have tended to be between half and two-thirds of mine.

I should also explain that I don't pay tax on what I earn as I am classed as an offshore seaman and the tips that we receive from guests bring my net to just over 100k.

Alphafemale - EXACTLY what I thought!!!

I earn significantly more than my partner, yes, he earns about £60k, I earn £100k

Alphafemale, I always seem to find that everytime a high earning female mentions what they earn, someone pops along shortly afterwards to call them vulgar, show off, disbelieving etc etc. Perhaps on mumsnet women aren't allowed to earn big money or outearn their partners?

I don't think it's a shame women are talking about what their husband's earn. If they've made a choice to take a lower-earning position, they are still providing information to people who can then retrain and work their butts off to get those high-paying jobs. Information is information, how you interpret it is your own thing.

I also think it's rubbish that everyone who earns £100k + works hard.

I think there's often no correlation between how hard someone works and what they're paid. But those earning £100k like to say "oh I work SO hard for it" because otherwise what is it? Luck? Yep, some of the time. Being in the right place at the right time, having a face that fits, being great at politics, being great at moving jobs to keep getting increased pay

All those things can lead to increased pay.

As I've already said, I really don't work hard for my money. I get great results, I do what they want me to do, I am professional and turn up when I say I will. but I do a 40 hour week, no more and don't work weekends or evenings.

So it is possible.

Noviceoftheday, yes, I agree.

There is a culture (not just on mumsnet) of keeping women in their place. And accusing women who earn decent money of being bad mothers, of being grasping, supercilious etc.

My job is not at all grindingly dull. It just has little work life balance and 2 children of 3 and under have changed my priorities somewhat!

There are of course aspects to it that can be dull (including a requirement to wear court shoes!) but it is in no way monotonous (at my level anyway).

True, novice and their lower earning position is (as others have said) the thing that facilitates their DPs ability to earn so well. (As I'm hoping mine will become once DPs business takes off)

AndiMac I think it would just be refreshing for women to leave men out of this for once. Come on women - this is about US, not them!!!

Alphafemale Very true. A lot of luck comes into play with high earners too, you are absolutely correct.

And whoever thought that high earning jobs would be boring really hasn't given that statement much thought.

AngelAtTheTopOfTheTree Who says it's only about women? The OP asked what jobs pay megabucks. You are the one saying it's about women.