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!

MrsJAlfredPrufrock, I hadn't heard that phrase before but yes I probably do suffer from an element of "tramp dread" but it would be too simplistic to say that this is the only thing that drives me. My parents were both born in poverty, did well in life and so early part of my upbringing was very comfortable. Around the time of the last recession my parents took some bad decisions (some bad luck, some stupid ones) which had horrible financial consequences so we spent 5 years trying to avoid home reposession and 2 years in the homeless shelter. If you met me at work, you would more focus on the fact that I am very driven, ambitious, competitive, energetic etc etc but one of the things that made me driven was to avoid making the same stupid mistakes with the same consequences.

DH and I only had high earnings for a limited time, because for me that lifestyle wasn't what I wanted for ever. I hated the work and have always wanted to work for myself, which just wouldn't work as a lawyer - I don't love law enough to start up a law firm.

We lived pretty frugally then, as we do now. The only thing we spent money on really was eating out - and not fancy places (although I was lucky enough to go to lovely fancy places with work for free ) just a curry or a pizza or whatever, but we would eat out at least once a week and we bought nice food and lots of wine etc. Otherwise, we pretty much lived then as we do now. I am more careful with the weekly shop and I got to Aldi rather than Waitrose, but that is largely because there is an Aldi very near where we live that has a large car park, whereas when we lived in London, we passed through Canary Wharf (with its Waitrose) quite often, so we happened to buy stuff there. I also went out with friends quite often and bought 'naice' drinks and went to nice places for dinner with them, without really worrying about the bill. Although I was when I went for drinks one night with a couple of people I had known back up north and we had a bottle of champagne, a bottle of wine and a small cheese platter between 3 of us and the bill was £100 each - I still feel a bit sick when I think about that one!

Neither of us are really good at holidays (we both get twitchy on holiday - unless it's heavy duty sightseeing) and we don't spend huge amounts on clothes etc. I did have a £90 a month gym membership, but that's not especially lavish in the context of £100k a year I suppose.

I can honestly say that I haven't noticed a particularly significant change in our lifestyle on having a major reduction in our income. But having said that, we still have 'enough'. We can pay the mortgage, the bills and eat and we don't have to constantly think about money. We still have some savings (although they're dwindling now that I have started my own business!) so we're ok if there is an emergency, which I suppose makes a big difference to how easily we sleep at night. We can't save at all the same rate these days but hopefully we will again soon when my business takes off.

I remember for years wanting a pair of Gina 'Cabaret' sandals. I always put off buying them ('when I qualify', 'when I get a pay rise' etc). After I got a whopping pay rise in London, DH said, 'why don't you buy those shoes now?' So off we trotted to the Gina shop and, you know what? When you can finally have something you really want - you might just find (like I did) that you don't want it any more. I thought they didn't look that great, they weren't worth the price tag and I put them back and walked out the shop and don't regret not buying them for a second.

Years ago, when I was working in John Lewis as a student and getting paid £133 a week full time, I used to wander around naice shops and think, 'when I'm rich I'll buy all of these lovely things' - but when I was 'rich' enough to do that, I couldn't be arsed. Several times I went off shopping and told DH, 'I'm going shopping, I'm going to spend about £2k today' And each time I came back with nothing. The 'stuff' doesn't have the same attraction when you know you can have it if you want it.

Just my take on it...

That's been my experience too emsyj - I spend less now that I earn more.

Quattro I don't know if they are equity partners, but if they are then yes, more like £1m between them. The established EP's I know are making £1-2m plus in large global organisations ie Ogier and Mourant

botticelli - I absolutely believe that being an engaged parent is one of the biggest advantages you can give your children. Taking an interest in them, spending time with them, encouraging them, above all, to believe and to aspire. Self belief and confidence is so very key to attainment. That was the single biggest gift my parents gave me, the belief that anything was possible if you worked hard enough. I come from an Asian immigrant background, and it's a feature of our culture, this feeling that you can achieve if you study hard enough, focus your efforts and work, work, work.

So encourage your children to make smart choices in their educational options and work hard. Encourage your children to aspire. Encourage them to look outside their own experience and that of their families for their dreams if they want to. Who can fail with a mother in their corner fighting for them?

And as for not knowing enough about careers, or knowing people who can help, well, you're on this thread aren't you? You know us, don't you? I'm always happy to dole out careers advices, help draft CVs etc, especially when it's helping young girls achieve. there are plenty of threads on here asking people about best GCSE choices, Uni choices etc. MN rocks like that. So don't be shy about asking for help and advice, there's always bound t be someone on here who can help.

botticelli - I was brought up in some poverty. It made me determined to be successful. You may well be providing your children with the grit they'll need to make it. If you can encourage them too, I'd say they'd be in a better position than many who are not used to having to "earn" things.

It's the opening up of possibilities which the best parents, schools and contacts children have help them with most. Most people have some parent or mentor teacher or someone who helped them get to where they are. it is particularly helpful if your life otherwise would never have shown you how things are for others although given how easy it is to view films etc presumably most children whose families can afford a television get some idea of how some other people live just from films.

bottcelli I absolutely agree with BossofMe and Belle's posts - money is not required to be a good parent and instill self confidence and a good work ethic into your children. Granted, it does make things easier, but it is not essential. My parents didn't have a bean when I was growing up (large family/teacher's salary), but they got me into a great state school and university. Dh's parents were by no means rich (his dad was a pharmacist in Boots) but he has just worked his way up to a salary of just under £200k.

Talk to your children about what they want from life, and the differences in career choices, particularly your daughters. Money isn't everything, career satisfaction and doing something you love has to be the most important thing. My dh lives and breathes his work, has a genuine interest in it.

On lifestyle, we don't have a very lavish lifestyle at all. We have quite a big (old) house in the southeast, which is a money pit. We run 2 cars, but they're not flashy. We don't buy designer clothes, and we have actually only just bought our first flat screen TV in the January sales. We had a great clunking beast of a TV before that. The children go to state school (but that may change in the future. We do eat out a lot, and we do go on holiday several times a year. I belong to a gym and dh plays golf.

We save a lot in investments/pensions etc for all of our futures. I think the biggest mistake high earners can make is to assume they will be on that level of salary forever, and upgrade their lifestyle accordingly - sometimes so much so that they are struggling to pay all the bills and 'feel' poor! We are well aware that dh may burn out, he may want to take a step down in his career, so we want to make sure he is not under pressure to earn this salary forever.

And yes, the best thing about having money is not having to worry about it.

Lovely encouraging posts above. Thanks all.
I'm really enjoying catching up with this thread.
Its nice reading about successful people who are thoughtful with money, and a refreshing change from the celebrity, bling, conspicuous consumption stuff.
Nice to know that hard work really can lead to rewards for people.
Get-rich-quick, is often followed by Get-poor-quick in my observations.
I know if I did have a lot of money, I too would save, save,save.
I also hope I would give a lot to charities dear to my heart.
I also don't see being poor as a failure, really, but I do want my family to see the world as wide open to them.
Someone above said that a lot of it (your career,) is down to your personality, and I think there is a great deal of truth in that.

It's interesting how similar most of us are. Some people who seem well off because they spend a lot aren't really. You wonder how they can afford it but it's all on credit cards and then the whole thing comes tumbling down on them. We always saved and sought to repay debt, paid off the mortgage totally on the last home before I was about 35 and on two flat rather than spending and obviously that tends to mean you have a safer foundation for the future than if you spend all the money as it comes in.

I agree with B that a lot is about personality too. Some people are very keen to be successful in what they do not necessarily just for the money.

I think for children the main thing is to show them the vast vista of possibilities and help them pick something that they will love but which is also likely to ensure they have a standard of living which is acceptable or of a type they would like.

botticelli fwiw you sound like a lovely person and a great mother who really cares about her kids. That's worth so much to your children, don't ever underestimate how much a parent in their corner is worth to them..

can i just say thank you to mrsJAlfredPrufrock (must also be a TS Eliot fan?) for posting those Larkin poems, like his work but not read those before. Isn't MN fab sometimes for its unexpected gems like this?

On the question of what is it like to have this lifestyle, I can see with friends in finance that it is good but with its own little niggles. Plus they are surrounded by people in the same boat which can sometimes breed competitive angst. I don't doubt their happiness.

But I do wonder what it must be like for those with inherited wealth and property/ies in central London and abroad. That must be nice.

We don't have credit cards so we don't ever think just put it on the cc.

Botticelli, have been away from this but just wanted to say that from your posts your children seem to have an abundance of love and non financial support and that is priceless. I know lots of children who have everything but who have been an irritant to their parents for much of their lives.

Back to the OP, DH and I watched Peppa Pig from the start and met two of the creators who signed a picture for my boys not that long ago. We also went to Peppa Pig land and often wondered how it must feel to have gone from 'unknowns' to literally billionaires! :)

P.S. DH is in £100k bracket and he is 31 and an IT consultant. We both started on the same salary as interns in the same company (how we met) 10 years and was earning £18k per year then. Needless to say, since having children, I've changed jobs and considered myself very lucky to be earning £20k PT a year doing a job I love and that is flexible enough so I can spend time with my DCs as well as support my DH in his demanding job.

That's the biggest problem for getting women to positions of power that it is "needless to say" that woman yet again sacrifices herself on the altar of husband's career to support him. Why isn't angel on £100k and her husband ironing shirts and clearing up sick at home on £20k a part time?

£20K for a part time job? Lead me to it!

Because honestly Xenia I have no wish to have the kind of demanding job my DH has and I don't have the head for it either. He has a talent for that and he has the right personality to deal with the politics that go with it. I actually like being at home 4 days out of the working week, two working and two spending time with my DSs. And I love the one day I have in the office working for a lovely boss and beautiful colleagues.

wonderful not beautiful colleagues... :)

Surely the point is it works for us as a family? It might have worked for another family if the mother in the family is a barrister and earns over £100k and the father works PT and earns £20k a year and they are happy with their lot?

I have two beautiful healthy sons, we have a lovely home and we have a good quality of live. Does it really matter who earns the bulk of the money?

I think my DH would have gladly stayed at home/gone part time if I had continued on the law career path. He loves spending time with DD and often takes her out for the day to give me chance to work (such as today, he took her to the local farm for the day whilst I did some stuff on my own business). His aim is to be able to go part time in any event within 5 years.

I don't consider that I personally have 'sacrificed myself on the altar of husband's career' - I work less hours now and earn less because I am building a new start-up: I expect the hours to increase exponentially this year, as things get busier...

It's about choice. Many women want to be at home with their children. I enjoy working and am mightily glad of the 3 child-free days a week that I have to work on my own projects, but that doesn't make me unable to understand that some women want to be at home whilst the children are small and some women don't feel as comfortable with putting their children into childcare as I do.

Clearly there is a risk involved in making yourself financially dependent on another person, and I do think all stay at home parents should be aware of this and make plans (so far as possible) to keep their skills and experience updated in case the day should come when they want/need to return to work - but it is still a valid choice to stay at home/reduce hours. Not everybody is career focussed - in fact, I wouldn't consider myself 'career-focussed', particularly, I just know that I would not want to be a full time mum and that I enjoy working.

angel what bothers me most about your post is "needless to say" and "consider yourself lucky" to have a pr job earning 20k.

I work pt and earn over 100k. I have dh who earns similar I think, never asked him. It is absolutely not needless to say you gave up your career and it's never luck that finds you the right job and pays you well. It is effort, hard work and motivation.

xenia I am with you, far too by women sleepwalk into losing their career.

Isn't the point Xenia is making why should it (usually) be the woman whose career is sidelined/becomes SAHP etc? Are women less career focussed due to external/societal pressures etc...

I'm a LP, but even when I was with my Ex, I would never have given up work, or worked PT, I get a lot out of my job and do it very very well, even though (sadly) I earn nowhere near £100k - I work in the wrong area of the law, never got into the right firms, and I doubt I will ever earn much over £50k now. My Ex had his own business, at points when it was doing well he was earning over £1k a week, a lot more than I did. I could have stayed at home or reduced my hours it would have been easy to manage financially as when both DC were small my net salary just about covered childcare & travel (plus about £50 a week left over) but it was never for me. I wanted that financial independence, which now I'm on my own and receive no money from him, is probably a good thing!

OneLieIn I am lucky because I have the choice and I am lucky because I have the balance I want in my life. Of course I've worked hard to get to the point where I can have a flexible, PT job I love that pays me £20k. I'm happy. :)