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!

bonsoir mn is many things, useful, entertaining, supportive etc.

Aesthetically pleasing isn't one of them!

You can earn good money, but he now wishes he hadn't listened to her.

Ha Bonsoir, I did think as I wrote that, I bet a lot of others could say the same .

I need to buck up a bit too.

Ingles yes lots of crafts. But professional creatives. Still quite male at the top.

I have lots of friends in creative jobs (with art school backgrounds) and the one thing they don't ever do is over analyse everything; I am perfectly aware that my own interest in MN derives from the endless analytical possibilities for turning every single one of domestic life's conundrums over with other people!

I don't but my sister does, she's a journalist and pretty high up the chain.

All my friends who earn that much money are freelance creatives in telly (cameramen, editors, directors etc) but that's because that's the field I work in.

I think you can earn that sort of money in lots of fields, but it takes time and effort. Not something you can retrain for in a few months.

Dh's best friend earns £350k and is a partner in a city law firm, a friend of the family earns over £1m a year with a 100% bonus but he's the number 3 at a huuuuuuge law firm. It's taken him 30 years to get there (though I'm sure going to a smart public school and Oxford helped him on his way)

Angel I read your response to me and then several of the others after, then skipped down here.

It's not your thread, don't tell people what they should or shouldn't be posting on it.

As for your comment, "And considering this is called MUMSNET, it IS about females automatically," I had a suspicion that might be your trump card. For what it's worth, I've always found the name of this website and the vice versa site very SEXIST.

Most of my rl friends are creative types and work in film fashion the arts etc. Some earn 100k plus many many don't. There is no difference in the sort of people they are or how happy from what I can see. From personal experience I know that in this field it varies wildly and fluctuates too. I have earned a lot at times then nothing for a few years and know many like me. I am not hugely ambitious though only within my own little world and what i need to live the way we do comfortably.I could have earned £££££ but bad health intervened and put a stop to that and I fell in love with a musician who is not money driven at all and I couldn't be happier! This thread is sad as it seems to be all about who can out do who rather than celebrating that women can and do earn as much as men if they WANT to

Odd that you perceive those posting about DH's salary to be showing off, Angel - maybe they / we just want to participate in a thread and don't earn 100k ourselves, for whatever reason (not necessarily SAHMs)?

I don't agree with you in your speculation that the same thread on a more male-oriented forum would just have men who earn 100k writing in to talk about their jobs while the SAHDs or losers those earning less stayed away. I've been on more male-oriented forums before (housepricecrash.co.uk, anyone?) and threads like this about earning potential would often crop up. Inevitably, whenever some guy posted about working in the City and earning 250k, guys would post in saying 'oh what did I do wrong in life, I only earn 35k and have a PhD' etc. Or - shock, horror - some would even post that their wives earned six figures because they were GPs or City lawyers or whatever.

The world is more diverse than you think.

For someone with a degree in psychology, you have a remarkably entrenched view of male / female discourse.

I'm amazed there aren't more surveyors/property people here as there are a lot of them earning decent money, particularly on the investment or fund management side of things at the big corporates. I was earning close to 6 figures when I left after having my fourth child. I was offered a role earning over £120k when I was on mat leave with number 4 (with 10 yrs experience), but as it would have been a European Director role, I would have been travelling almost all the time, and it wasn't compatible with 4 children under 8 so I declined and am now a SAHM. I miss the money, the stimulation of problem solving and meeting new people/seeing new countries, but not the stress and the travel. DH earns around the OPs target (significantly more in a good bonus year); he works in advertising......

I am involved in loads of things as a SAHM, some property related, so will hope to return to the fray once they are all in school - but obviously at nothing like the same level.

The biggest yacht in the world I think is owned by the female hedge fund manager and good for her.

On this post "So many people's lives paths in their 30's and 40's are dictated by their upbringing. It would be interesting to know how many women here earning 100k plus are from families that drew in similar wages or had an education that placed an emphasis on this." it's hard to compare because of inflation. My father was an NHS consultant. My mother was a teacher. NHS consultants are definitely paid more than they were in the 60s and 70s. I can remember the school careers talk lady with a few standard careers like librarian, social worker. No one told me to get books from the library about careers (no internet in those days) but I did. I think I knew I wanted to work for myself and that there can be a lot more freedom control and money in that route and I'm glad I do.

On the issue of background/upbringing, I come from a working class background - my father was basically illiterate and owned a local taxi firm. My mum was a primary school teacher (from the old days when you went to teacher training college not university) but gave it up when she had me so was a SAHM when I was growing up.

I went to the local grammar school, then to a top university (where I funded myself through and worked 2 jobs in the summer holidays/at Christmas but not during term time). I then funded myself through law school, but got my fees paid back when I started my training contract.

I trained at a regional firm near home, thinking the big City wasn't the place for me, then got up some guts and applied for post-qualified jobs and got into a magic circle firm (much to my shock!) Turned out I was quite good and I got 'promoted' (I'd joined on a newly -qualified's salary as I didn't have prior experience of the practice area I went into, but they reinstated my full post-qualification period for pay purposes after one year) and almost maximum bonus, so I did well (over £100k).

I was just so unhappy, though - I didn't enjoy the work and I have always wanted to work for myself. Doing it now, at last, and it's great - but it will take time to earn anything out of it, which is okay. I expect to do well out of it eventually...

....but everyone I worked with when earning lots of £££ was posh and Oxbridge so I guess I'm the exception and not the rule.

Dh owns a scaffolding company. I run it with him. You can easily become rich in this industry if you have the right business head, which I do. Combined with his 27 years of industry knowledge and we are on to a winner. Dh doesn't have ANY qualifications apart from his scaffolder ones

my extented family are v v v working class but my parents placed a high emphasis on education & doing your best.

we were fairly poor when i was v young. e.g. i remember having the worst/least xmas presents at school - but i dont think it did me any harm. it did make me tough & determined.

i did v well academically, went to work in the City. sued them for sex discrimination when i was 25, won, & now i run my own co.

Looking back, my during my schooling there was a lot of reverse snobbery about wanting to do well.

If you excelled in a subject, the rest of the pupils often mocked/bordered on bully you. The teachers witnessed this and did nothing.

My father lived aboard and my mother was very controlling - she would have never encouraged me because of the potential consequence that I would not end up living in the same village with a couple of kids by the time I was 18.

Thing is though, I pursued a career that allowed me to leave home at 17, which I did, anyway.

Its so easy with hindsight to understand how people often fall into situations.

Wow, Tilly!! You sued your employer for sexual discrimination in your mid-twenties? I'm very impressed!

I would never have dared to do that, since the cases tend to be fairly well-publicised, and who would employ you after you'd sued your last employer? But I'm clearly a coward

You say you now run your own company, and that's clearly worked out well for you. Did you start that directly after you sued? Do you think that burning your employment bridges pushed you into it (when you might not have until later in life, for example)? Sorry if these are overly personal questions - I'm just really intrigued!

I earn just on £100k for a 4 day week (although about to go on mat leave) as (another!) city solicitor. I did the usual route to qualification which is posted further up the thread, I qualified at 23 but it took me until I was 30 to clear the debts I accumilated as a student and trainee. I first hit £100k for a FT salary at 6 years qualified (I'm not magic circle, just top 20 firm).

Quality of life is awful, worse since I had DD. Within 8 months of returning to work after having DD I had a breakdown and was signed off with stress for 3 months. I'm always required to be on call for clients and do what they want when they want it. I've cancelled plans and holidays in the past and have done such silly hours (virtually never leaving the office and surviving on 2-3hours sleep every other night - the other nights we worked straight through) can't wait to get out of it and devote more time to my family and home - life's too short.

On background, I'm from a working class background, my father repeatedly lost his job when manufacturing collapsed in the 80s, mum was SAHM then worked part time as a factory receptionist. Seeing their dire financial situation drove me to study and work as hard as I have. I've been able to financially support them (total is in the 10s of 1000s so far), now feel I deserve a rest as DH just got a huge promotion.

DH is a senior exec for a FTSE 100 company and also earns over £100k. His background is in management consultancy, he got a good degree from a redbrick. He leaves house at 7am and rarely back before 8.30pm every night he's from a middle class background (mum= teacher dad=owned own business, both Uni educated).

In my area of business (corporate M&A/private equity) the ones who make the most money for the least risk/effort are the corporate financiers (essentially deal brokers for companies - like estate agents for houses). Although investors (PE etc) stand to make more, the stakes are higher and there's no guaranteed return. You'd need a good degree (2:1 or better, redbrick or better) and ideally an accounting qualification/previous job as chartered accountant for corporate finance. Unwritten qualifications include being male, white and upper middle class.

I have mentioned my DH's job on this thread because I was answering the OP - what jobs earn over £100k.

Ok, I know it is not me with that job, but it still answers the OPs query.

I haven't mentioned my job as it is irrelevant to this thread as it does not pay over 100K sadly.

It's not bragging. It is responding to a question.

As for feeling lucky - well, yes I suppose I do feel lucky to have been so fortunate for our household to be in the financial position it is in. But I don't have to justify why DH earns what he does, nor how we chose to spend it.

I am more than happy to hear what anyone does to earn over 100k.

I don't care if it's them, their DH, their DC or their bloomin' neighbour.
Information is power.
End of.

The more poor people, be they men or women, who have this information the better...

And yes, I earn over 100k myself, but it's probably more useful to tell others how DH does it. What I do is pretty specific and not many could do it, and of those that can, most earn fuck all.

Bigus
That is what I am finding odd about this thread. Hardly anyone in manufacturing/blue collar management.

This is one of the other ways to make good money in Germany - plumbers, electricians, builders.

Here in Geneva an electrician charges at least CHF 150 / hour - about £100. I keep telling DH that I am going to retrain as an electrician and set up business here.

Mme - the people I know who work in industries like that and are earning really good money are all much older and approaching retirement, so perhaps not the MN demographic? Also, those are quite male dominated industries IME.

I find it quite condescending Xenia that you think women that it is necessary for women learn what other women can earn. Why presume that people who do not earn £100k a year were not aware that high paying careers are out there? We all know that some jobs offer those salaries. However not every career has £100k as a possible salary, even if you are at the very top of the pile. I for one did not choose my career based on what my potential earnings were. Not earning £100k (or in my case working in a field where I will not have the opportunity to earn a salary in that bracket) does not make me unhappy in my work/ life nor do I find my job unstimulating. Also, many women (and men) are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve £100k salaries. Different strokes for different folks.

I think many people are mentioning OH's salary as the OP asked about careers which offered this salary. She didn't ask only for women who hold these posts to reply.

On background - dh is middle class, went to a crap Comprehensive, got a degree from an Oxbridge University. Most of his colleagues, if not all are Oxbridge.