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!

What is a 'magic circle' solicitor? I've heard this expression before but don't know what it means. Also the term 'Big four' ??

Julia scurr. Futures traders and plastic surgeons.

Futures makes are not solely for punting on, they serve a crucial function as a hedging instrument against risk.

Plastic surgeons perform crucial reconstructive surgery. To breasts and vaginas. I know how fucking dare they!

How do you manage interests for your CV when putting all these hours in?! You guys are superhuman! I am very jealous, yet inspired by your success. Thanks to those of you who shared, you've helped give me the kick up the arse I need for 2012. My job is not challenging, boring, and in an industry that's in rapid decline. I've ummed and arred about jumping ship (as I don't want to awful and abandon a 'nice' employer, as they are, and partly out of fear) but the time has come I do believe to make an effort at life instead of hiding under my 'safe' (hahaha sooo not) rock. Have a all!

rhetorician:

I know many IT contractors who work a bog standard 9-5, short commute, 6-12 month rolling contracts, and are pulling in £500-£800/day (110-180k annual). One of the ones I use frequently only works 9 months of the year, the other 3 he is snowboarding

Markets not makes

REALLY sorry to pick on someone , but just HAD to quote Marvellous :

"I head a legal team for a big creative business (1000+ employees). I'm 31, and was a lawyer in the City beforehand, where I worked my arse off. That led to this role, where things are a bit quieter, but not much. During a good week, I work 10am-6pm and do a bit of Blackberry-checking at evenings and weekends. During a bad week, I work 8am-10pm and one day of the weekend. I'd say one week in four is a bad week. The rest are somewhere in between.

In terms of training, I did a Law degree, then a year of post-grad and a two year training contract - so six years in all. My work-life balance is generally ok; partly because my husband is supportive (he works in a similar business and so talking shop is never a problem). Planning for maternity leave will be a challenge though."

This,is what you call a good work-life balance ?

OMG OMG

Dh is an Operations Manager. I do accounts, part time (have always worked part time whilst having 2 children). Our work-life balance is pretty damn good. Our combined salaries are not near 100k.

To earn 100k you often need years of slog and to be putting in 60-80 hour weeks now. Is that what you want OP?
Is that what you all call a good work-life-balance? Not in my book.

CJ2010 - Magic Circle refers to the Top 5 (I think?) Law Firms in the world, so Clifford Chance, and erm, others. The next tier down is called "Silver Circle". Big Four refers to the Big Four consultancy firms, KPMG, Delloite, PWC and the other one.

The magic circle is a name used to describe the top 5 firms in London - Freshfields, Linklaters, Allen & Overy, Slaughter & May and Clifford Chance.

Wow this gets better, so people are allowed to earn over £100k as long as someone else deems what they spend it on is okay with them?

Absolutely none of your business! If I want to buy value peas, or gold plated peas I'll purchase what I bloody well like.

And for your information talkin my team have made my company 110 million euros this year a record in the history of the company. Due to this we are taking on 100 new staff and successfully clearing problem stocks for the company to aid liquidity. The more successful the company, the better for everyone : factories, shipping staff, retail staff and head office staff across Europe.

Next people will come on harping that everyone earning this money was already priviledged and born with a silver spoon in their mouths blah lblah blah....so to set you straight on that one - i paid myself through uni, took 3 jobs to do it, started in lowly paid retail and worked my butt off. As I'm sure a whole host of people on here did.

Does not give. Employers don't give a crap about your interests really!

So whilst I do not write that I watch Eastenders and OBEM...I also don't pretend I climb Everest every Thursday.

Good luck! And happy new year.

I don't but DH does.
He hit that amount (before bonus) when he was 31 after 6 years HE (degree + masters + 18 months work experience) and 6 years working. He's a strategy consultant.

I do a similar job (consultancy) but not for the same company and earn considerably less. Less pressure/hours for me though.

Consultancy is a good way to earn good money fast after graduation but you have to be smart, hard-working, prepared to put in the hours and be very tough-skinned (the evaluations we have at the end of each project and every six months are very detailled and can be quite depressing, or make you feel very good about yourself!). You also have to know how to work with lots of different people and personalities and be very flexible.

my clients earn well in excess of £100k each year. they are creative types.

I would like to invent the next Hello Kitty - no tricky animation or voices required

My DH is a former IT contractor and the rates you can earn are brill - he is now employed again but is a director and shareholder of the business and there are medium-plan terms to sell out once it's worth enough, then he would probably go back to contracting. He earned about £70k doing this in London a few years ago (no degree, A levels only, aged 26-28 at the relevant time but very talented at what he does I imagine!!!)

Mathematician. Paid handsomely to do exactly what I choose to do. In fact, the choosing is the main point; if someone else had to do the choosing for me then I wouldn't be worth my money. But you don't get to where I am with a spot of retraining, you have to commit yourself from your teens.

Can't say I've ever wanted to earn that much money but this thread has certainly convinced me I'm not interested in trying to go for big bucks - I don't think there is a single thing on here that appeals to me...

however, I can say that being very lucky to have a DP who earned well enough over a few years so that we have relatively low running costs now due to being able to get a smaller mortgage than we otherwise would have done. This gives us the freedom to be middle-earners and not pressured to work harder/longer/aggressively compete for promotion etc.

That is the ideal I think - earning enough to give yourself some freedom of choice; a lot of high earners seem to fall into the trap of continually upping their material trappings to match their earnings and then they have to keep earning more and more to sustain themselves - essentially putting themselves in the same position (except with fancier furniture and more far-flung holidays etc.) as if they were earning half as much.

not at the moment, but my part time wage as a commercial property solicitor for a legal 500 firm was the equivalent to £100k pro rata. I do think that a high salary, in law anyway, comes with certain demands which for me would not be compatable with a decent family life.

I know lots of people that earn that amount - or their husbands. In fact, I rarely meet people earning lower than that amount. I'm not boasting, it's just that people who I went to university with, or trained with, or their friends or partners are high earners - we live in London and are all quite old and all went into those professions listed.

malinois - or spent hours and hours in their bedrooms as teenagers writing code...

My DP is a CEO and earns a lot more than £100k. But he is in his mid-forties and will have been a CEO for 20 years this year...

In house employment lawyer in a bank.

I am 32 - before that I did a degree, 1 year conversion, 1 year post grad and 2 year training contract. Then worked non stop for the next 4 years (US firm) so almost every weekend, bank holiday - rarely left the building before 10pm.

Then I went in house - still work 80+ hours a week and always will have blackberry on and with me on weekends/ holidays in case something kicks off.

rhetorician - well, that's a given!

cj2010, what are you interested in? When you say retrain, are you thinking of doing a degree?

I'm currently 7 months pregnant with my first child and will probably be a SAHM for a few years, but was on that amount up until recently as a headhunter in Banking - hours were pretty heavy and was constantly "on call".

My DH on the other hand (an IT Project Manager) makes more than I did and works 9 to 5 (no weekends).

My DF was earning over 100K by the time he retired and got to the top of his career by 45 (Finance Director, Local Gov). However, he worked stupid hours and wasn't around much when I was a teenager.

Aside from the hours he worked, I've never been comfortable with his attitude to money. He goes on lots of holidays/buys 'stuff' and talks about how much things cost, but I honestly think my not-at-all well off mum (they are divorced) is happier than him.

I think his attitude/long hours he worked are the main reason I have chosen to not have a high profile career (well, and the fact I lack ambition...). I have a good, responsible job in quite a niche field (in the charity sector). I earn a good wage for the hours/responsibilty I have, but will never be on mega-bucks.

The short version of the above is: high salary does not equal happy life.