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!

quattro when you have them as often as I do, they go past essentials into treat territory. One of the things Bangkok is blessed with is a gazillion spas. And I make good use of them!

Re mortgage, we are very lucky to have been able to pay down most of it already, on a nice house in a nice part of the UK, easily commutable into c London but also on the edge of proper countryside.

Yes to time poverty though, but not as bad here as in the UK. I only have a 20 to 30 minute commute and get to drop DD at school every day, which I would have struggled to do in the UK.

Also, do you genuinely feel that your work deserves such a great reward?

I do, personally.

Especially when you consider what some of my non-IT peers in the finance sector earn vs. what they have done/must do to earn it. I won't insult you by pretending I deserve to earn 10x what a nurse does, but in terms of my employer and the sector, I don't think I'm particularly well rewarded.

I think this is one of the things women suffer from most ("I don't deserve this" / imposter syndrome), and it's one of the things that feeds into their unwillingness to negotiate salaries or demand extra reward for extra value that they bring. It needs to change.

To get where I am (in a highly specialised, technical field which is very male dominated) there are relatively high barriers. Perhaps IT doesn't have the same specific barriers that law, accountancy, medical careers (etc) have, but in my career I have undertaken two degrees, work horrific hours near project deadlines, deal with an immense amount of stress, and have managed projects going into millions of pounds worth of investment.

It's also high risk (technically), because it's for a financial services company, and there's the boredom factor - I've seen graduates literally nod off in meetings as most people either can't overcome how dry the environment's subject matter is, or can't fake it enough to look like they've overcome it.

Hence the burnout rate before the 5 year mark. Those that stick with it beyond that are worth their weight in gold - what you pay a more junior employee, and the value they bring, is much more trivial... senior employees, being paid 10x more than those just starting out in their careers, often save the projects I work on many, many man hours of junior time, and should be rewarded to recognise that. IMHO.

You also have to factor in the massive rate of change in the IT industry, technically speaking, and the amount of business knowledge that I have to keep up with. Lower level programmers can perhaps get away with learning new modelling techniques or a new platform every year - I can't. As a senior level manager, my knowledge extends beyond the nitty gritty details of what junior level employees need to keep on top of. As owner of a specific expertise (in technology and business terms), heading up a team, I need to be ahead of where our training is by several steps, and lead the team strategically. So - yes - when I see a senior level HR manager (for example) earning £120k on the floor below me, comparing the value I add to my organisation in comparison, you can be damn sure I feel like my salary is justified. As I said earlier, undervaluation of one's skills and value is a key factor holding women back.

We need to instill the same level of confidence (and awareness) of this in our DDs to allow this cycle to break at a faster pace than it is currently doing. It's one of the reasons I'm actively involved in several women in SET (science, engineering and technology) groups - if the current generation of senior management role models aren't visible and actively participating in fixing this, there's no hope, really.

P.S. At the moment, I am the only female senior manager who is in a technical position, and I believe also the first in the history of the company (at least that's what I was told when I was handed this job via an internal promotion). The only other senior manager who happens to be female is our HR Manager (clearly, HR isn't so male dominated as IT), hence why I used her as an example in my post above.

Spas? - treat, definitely. Manicures? - I have no nails, I have horses! Dentistry? Essential, but not related to size of salary, you can have treatment with my dentist on the NHS if you are prepared to wait to get on his list. Hairdressers? I have a hat for every occasion, especially at work! Besides, I have fabulous ginger hair!

My money goes on the house, nanny and horses. My house is not especially huge or glamorous, but we have land and it is in a good location, and to be able to keep my horses at home is a luxury. Having a good flexible nanny is essential when something like a snowstorm, air traffic strike or even a volcano can mean you don't get home, possibly for days.

As for adrenaline, really you prefer not to have the situations that get your heart racing in this job! I don't need the thrill of a tricky situation to keep me happy, my work-life balance is the most important thing to me.

Ok,I can understand that, you expand to fit your income.
Quattro you say you run an overdraft, so do you actually sometimes worry about money, and if you can manage?

My salary is 0.0015% of the money I made for my company last year.

So in those terms, i feel no guilt regarding my salary.

Also I am lucky to live in a country where all folks are pretty fairly rewarded.

I am not extravagant, i put my son through private school, but only to eable him to have a recognisabe & continuous International education.

We travel a lot, but I have no debts.

Quattro - sending your PA on errands is a bit 80s but getting her to run an erranfoot buy Jo Malone for you against the backdrop of a permanent overdraft is a special sort of bonkers.

The image part of success in the work place is only important to the extent that you are well-groomed. That isn't the same thing as spending lots of money. Clean,shiny well-cut hair, well cared-for, appropriate, clothing, and clean unbitten fingernails. I've never had a manicure in my life. Of course great teeth, good looks and pert breasts are nice to have but if you don't have them it doesnt mean you can't be successful in your job.

Some of my frumpiest friends are FTSE 100/250 directors, and some of my most polished friends have failed to make any headway in their careers, in spite of similar academic assets. I think success is mostly about personality and capability.

I think it's quite wrong to place any extra burden on women in the work place. We should all stop all this competing with other women stuff.

I would never want any one to feel guilt about a justly earned income.
I'm happy for any one to do well.
I was remembering Dickens " income = expenditure = happiness, overspend = misery " or something like that.
I'm happy with my meagre income when my accounts balance,I've paid all the bills, got fuel for winter, and crucially, a spare £50 for emergencies.
I know there was a survey done about the ratio of happiness to income petering out once you reached a certain level,i.e you couldn't increase your happiness by increasing your money onto infinite levels of happiness, once you had enough for your needs, you couldn't really get much happier.
So, if you are a high earner, would you actually feel unhappy if you had to take a big pay cut, even if you were still very wealthy? and conversely, would your happiness rise if you got a lot more cash?

There are quite a few of us horsey mums on here! I dont lead a lavish lifestyle either, drive an old car and I went all of last yr without buying any clothes for me except for a couple of suits for client facing work.

But I do keep a horse and dogs and have 2 children in private school. As a LP our living expenses take up most if not all of my income. Child support from my ex doesnt even go anywhere near covering our childcare expenses.

I would be really unhappy if I had to take my children out of school or get rid of our dogs, although I did consider selling the horse when my ex first left us and money was really tight

boticelli some of my frugality comes from what happened to my parents, but also from the fact that DH has been made redundant twice in his career. The first time wasn't too bad, but the second time, I was on maternity leave, and really really didn't want to go back to work a day before I had to. So we suddenly dropped in the space of the year to 2 incomes over 100k, down to just my DHs whilst i was on ML (my company paid a couple of weeks over the statuatory min but that was it) and then down to nothing. So we've had periods of earning very little, even nothing Yes we had savings to fall back on, but the key thing was to try and eke those out for as long as possible. So we learned, or rather relearned, to live very economically regarding the basics, ie food, fuel etc.

Yes, I spend on luxury items, but the thing is, it's easy to cut those out. Going without luxury holidays is easy. Doing your own nails is easy. Dying your own hair is easy. It's cutting your weekly shop from 100 a week to 30 a week that's hard if youre not used to cooking economically and making your household budget stretch.

So we've just never allowed our " basics" budget to go up again. I still stretch dishes with lentils and pulses. Grow my own herbs in a window box. Make soup using a chicken carcass. It means that if hard times come again, we are prepared. I appreciate our hard times were easier than for others who had no savings cushion, but we have lived without the money before, and I think we will probably have to do it at some point again.

And if anyone thinks it can't happen to them because they are great at their job, they're kidding themselves. None of us are getting younger, and there's always going to be someone brighter, younger and crucially, cheaper than us waiting to step into our shoes when the next crunch comes.

Pessimistic or realistic? A bit of both. Hence the save save save attitude. We have great times, go to fab places and buy good stuff, but we save the majority of our earnings.

Disclaimer - I am in no way claiming to know what it's like to really have no money. Just in case anyone accuses me of living in la la land.

Oh, and those months of frugal living with both of us at home with DD? The happiest of my whole life. I doubt I will ever be that happy again. Precious moments with my wonderful husband and longed for baby whilst she was still small enough to fall asleep on my chest, totally magical.

Spend it mainly on the house, nice house in a great spot. Kids not in private school although we might want to at some point in the future. Far too many pairs of shoes and handbags, but being overweight its the only thing I buy with confidence. Nice holidays too.

An I worth it? Yes. When I save a company multiple millions absolutely.

It's interesting put in terms of lifestyle though. I'm quite sure we are relatively comfortable because we don't actually spend huge amounts and never have:

Large Edwardian Terrace - fairly well maintained - mortgage paid
One family car and one City car - both modest
Two DC - school fees is the biggest hit at £34k net
No mortgage
Perhaps two holidays - usually one in France and one in England and DH and DS have at least a long w/e ski-ing every winter
DC had 250 between them on Xmas presents
I spend about £175 pcm on myself incl hair and make-up
DH probably spends about £200 on himself
I have never ever had a manicure or makeover
We have not had to think about whether we have the money for something for years
Might eat out as a family half a dozen times a year
Might see a show a couple of times a year
Still feel it's a treat to be able to pop into a coffee shop and have what we want when we want
Spend £50 pw on help with cleaning and ironing
Have never ever paid £90 for a children's Tshirt, £80 for school shoes, £135 for a wallet, been to a spa, or all of the expensive things that so many people on Mnet seem to aspire to.

We both work full time and we live in London, zone 2. We have at least half our net income left every year and I can see no reason to spend more than we do.

Spend it mostly on the mortgage (we live in London so it's bloody massive), the house, holidays, eating out and too much booze. No beauty treatments, few haircuts, dcs in state school, drive a crappy car, I like clothes, shoes etc but don't buy many - probably only clothes shop 4 times a year.

I recall dh accepting a pay cut from £150k to £105k a few years back, because the lower paid job was more interesting - we really had to tighten our belts - sounds ridiculous but that year we didn't holiday or eat out, we just could afford it. [shocked]

married your lifestyle sounds wonderful.
I'm not an envious person, but the 2 things in your list I would crave are --
"Never having to think whether we have the money for something"
and
"Half our net income left every year"
That is so far beyond my wildest dreams of attainment that I could get v.unhappy if I let myself dwell.
The other things on this thread that have worried me is thinking I've let my children down by being a low achiever in worldly terms.
I have no useful contacts for them.
No money at all to help them out, even with train fares to uni etc.
An upbringing in poverty, cold house,no nice things etc, with no experiences of travel, extra sports, music etc.
No experience or advice for them in how to forge a well paid career because its totally out of my world.
So I do envy that -- the advantages wealth can give your children.

We live in London so things do cost a lot. Low-ish mortgage, school fees, no childcare costs atm, two lovely holidays a year (but I look around for good deals), good hair and clothes. I have honed our expenditure to things I really love for us and the children. I like not having waste.

Dh is doing quite well, I will do more work soon. But we do have friends who are in a different circle and everything just gets bumped up some more. More dinners, more holidays, skiing, house purchases.

But they don't feel that wealthy as there are many more around them with inherited wealth etc.

You asked:

"So, if you are a high earner, would you actually feel unhappy if you had to take a big pay cut, even if you were still very wealthy? and conversely, would your happiness rise if you got a lot more cash?"

Would my happiness rise if I got a lot more cash? Nope. Not at all. I'm pretty confident in saying that.

Would I feel unhappy if I had to take a big pay cut? I wouldn't feel pleased if the DCs had to be taken out of their schools, for instance, but there's probably enough in their savings for that not to have to happen now. So what would change? Smaller house (fine, would quite like that in any event) smaller cars (that'd be okay, not a car person). Retirement later would be a bit of a drag, but I guess we're all probably going to have to do that anyway. I think the biggest thing I would miss is the responsibility, and the adrenaline kick. I'm used to it and I thrive on it and it gives me a buzz every day. What would make me get up?

Yes, didn't mention horses earlier ... one sure fire way to eat up your cash!

Boticelli I wasn't trying to be boastful, I was simply trying to make the point that after between 25 and 30 years of hard, combined work, we are in the position we are in because we have never been silly with money. We know people on similar incomes to us who are "skint" because the house had to be upgraded, they had to have a pool, they eat at very expensive restaurants very regularly and feel they have to go to places like South Africa and the Maldives. They certainly wouldn't be happy in M&S and John Lewis or driving a Ford or a Citroen.

I know you weren't boasting married
You've worked hard and been sensible -- In fact you've lived within your means as they say.
I admire that. It's also a good example for your family.

We live on about 20% of our net income. In the past few years the remainder has gone towards paying off our mortgage and over the next few years, we will build up a deposit for our next home. As a result of my background I have an intense dislike of debt. We definitely work to live rather than live to work, so we enjoy the fruits of our labours but not a ridiculous way. On the one hand, you can take the girl out of the homeless shelter but not the homeless shelter out of the girl, so I still budget, batch cook, go to poundland and hunt for bargains. Having said that we have a big house, drive fancy cars and go on two luxury hols each year.

If I took a 50% pay cut all it would mean is that we wouldn't move to the next house but if you had told me 20 years ago (when my family became homeless) that I would be living where I am now, I would have laughed at you. In terms of

Faranadaway's point about a lot of girls being pathetic about knowing their own worth and not asking for anything like enough pay. We really all need to work on that and with our daughters. It's a big big way women are held back.

On if my income reduced would I be less happy? If I had to take the children out of their schools I would not be happy about that. In a sense we have had harder times as I suddenly had to find abotu £1m to give their father on the divorce so we went from virtually no loan to £1.3m at one point and over drawn without any savings. Bit scarey but I have total faith in my ability to do well so I just rode it out.

I am a bit like marriedin in that we probably eat out a handful of time a year, don't really spend much on clothes, never had a manicure. I don't even go to the hairdressers. However people can spend their money how they like.

Am I worth what people are prepared to pay me? Yes, I work for myself it's a very free market. There are very few people in the UK who can do what I do in some areas and I think I'm one of the best. I could and will charge more. Most of us could scrub a toilet. Most of us could not to open heart surgery. In a non communist state we tend to reward those things which fewer people can do just as the prettiest women tend to get the richest men.

noviceoftheday - do you suffer from tramp dread? Larkin was wonderful at analysing our motivations and insecurities for work

from Toads Revisited

Being one of the men
You meet of an afternoon:
Palsied old step-takers,
Hare-eyed clerks with the jitters,
Waxed-fleshed out-patients
Still vague from accidents,
And characters in long coats
Deep in the litter-baskets ?
All dodging the toad work
By being stupid or weak.

And from Self's the Man

Oh, no one can deny
That Arnold is less selfish than I.
He married a woman to stop her getting away
Now she?s there all day,
And the money he gets from wasting his life on work
She takes as her perk
To pay for the kiddies? clobber and the drier
And the electric fire,
And when he finishes supper
Planning to have a read at the evening paper
It?s PUT A SCREW IN THIS WALL ?
He has no time at all?

ooops posted too soon! There is no way that my happiness would rise with more cash so it's no longer a motivation for me. With a baby and toddler,they are my priority and think the balance between home and work is so fine at the moment that any more work would tip it over. I have turned down a various opportunities over the last few months that would have significantly increased my income. I get more excited about the opportunity rather than the money and thankfully my fab dh is good at pointing out which ones would involve working myself into exhaustion and having no personal life.

Am I worth what I get paid? As someone else said, compared to nurses (lots of them in my family), absolutely not. However, I have very specialist knowledge in an area that saves companies hundreds of millions a year, so if you compare what I earn in that context, yes I am worth it. I would also add that one of the reasons why I have been very successful in my career is having a very good idea of what I am worth and not being prepared to accept less for it. When I was more junior, it meant I had a reputation in my organisation for being difficult and arsey about pay. Funnily enough, none of the men were regarded as difficult when they made their remuneration expectations clear.