Under 40 and on £100k+

[muffinhead4]

Talking to my brother who is 35 about work. He is on over £100k and has been for a few years (he works in IT sector) He thinks its a normal wage for his age and is shocked i am on £60k at my age (37) I work in finance.
We both work in London. Am i really behind like my brother says?
I would love to be on £100k but wouldn't know which direction to turn to.
Anyone else on £100k under 40? what do you do for work?

What does he actually do in IT op?

I don't think these threads are helpful unless people are specific.

Ok maybe i should rephrase as clearly i am inviting all the haters. My questions are aimed at people who work in LONDON. We are both aware the rest of the country wont be as high, hence why "googling" doesn't always work
Thanks to those who have answered politely; some with help and ideas. Much appreciated.

How much does he think nurses teachers doctors firefighters etc earn in London?

Me, financial services, not London.

Compared to the salaries of people I work with (in the several hundreds bracket), you can feel like a low earner. Maybe that's what he means - he's surrounded by people who earn more and therefore doesn't feel wealthy. Bit tone deaf, though.....

I’m in London and am lucky to be on a 6 figure salary as a HR Director in my mid thirties. I have worked in HR since 21 and worked my way up. I don’t think your brother is correct at all, coming from someone who looks at salaries all day! You are not behind so don’t compare yourself to him.

He works in IT operations,(i believe he writes a lot of code?! not sure if relevant) and sometime is on call at weekends.

I work in finance as a part qualified accountant. Over time at month ends only, not every month

I think this is the crux of it really. My husband and I do similar jobs and both earn £100k plus and have done since our early 30s, and our friendship circle is the same because our friends mostly are from university or previous jobs and then we have all gone down very similar routes.

we realise how fortunate we are and I don’t think it’s usual compared to the rest of the country but it is usual compared to our friends / people that we know

He is on over £100k and has been for a few years (he works in IT sector) He thinks its a normal wage for his age

He works in IT but does not know how to use a Google search?

Imagine how much the good IT workers are earning!

This again for the OP who has snarked at some responses and appears to need to read this again and let it sink in.

Also think about what you mean when you say things like 'people' and 'normal'. 60k is way, way above average. Surely you know this. Your idea of normal is skewed by your own high salary, and your brother's even higher one.

What do you think they person who serves your food earns? Or the cashier in the supermarket? Never mind school teachers and nurses etc. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that if you had a cleaner, that would probably be a woman, and you wouldn't pay her £100k pa, however old she was.

Is she a person?

I work in London, highly qualified in what I do, and I earn less than you, but then I don't work in finance and I'd expect to be earning a lot more if I did.
Did he mean 60k at your age is low for someone working in your sector? I can see how he might think that. Of course it's not a low wage overall though

Tbh think the person with the odd wage is you OP

Early £60ks for FT with an accountancy qualification is low - people on 4y exp are on that in every Financial Services role (grad plus 2 yr exp)

I imagine you'd get £80k at another company have a look it's a job seekers market you'll be surprised

Your brother works in IT. A lot of very junior roles, or those with a few years experience in that sector can start on £50k, and jump up very quickly. In a previous workplace, we paid day rate Cyber Security specialists over £1k per day. Your brother sees it as normal, because it's his normal.

In a country where £25-30k is the average wage, of course 3-4 times the average isn't the normal wage, and people on less aren't behind. And I say that as someone who started earning six figures from my mid-30's (Finance Director).

You are on a very good wage for being part-qualified OP, and you have an obvious route to getting a higher paid job. Finish your qualification, and you'll increase your salary very quickly, as lots of team lead finance roles won't even consider those QBE, or part-qualified.

I'm currently recruiting for a of Head of Service, advertising salary at £100k, plus up to 40% bonus. Anyone not qualified didn't make it through the long list sift, final candidates all have ACCA or CIMA, if it helps for you to know that.

I am, but to be fair I live in Switzerland where both COL and wages are much higher!

It’s normal in many industries and specialisms if you’ve got valuable, niche or in-demand skills. It’s not “normal” in the sense of being something you could assume of the majority.

I’d say the majority of my friends earn six figures or close to it (I’m in the close to it group, alas!) so for me it’s “normal” in that sense - it doesn’t surprise me to learn that anyone around me does.

Hardly anyone earns that it will put him in top 5% of earners. But if he hangs out with his workmates only then it is his normal.

I find people who are not curious about other groups and make assumptions a bit dim. I have a few friends that work in IT and do earn very well but they are more open to the world around them.

Obviously massively depends on sector and area. Lots of jobs not even requiring technical professional qualifications are paid £50-60k in the City, e.g. PAs in law and finance. So obviously their professional technical staff will be paid far more. In tech also not uncommon. But usually these salaries in early/ mid- career are in roles requiring at least some of: significant post-grad training and exams; long hours committed to career in the early years at least and working in lucrative sectors, and working in London usually as obviously salaries are higher due to higher living costs.

So by "normal" it depends whether he's referring ot normal for your sector and areas and expertise. I doubt he was referring to average across all roles and sectors and regions of the UK?

I work in finance as a part qualified accountant. Over time at month ends only, not every month

Well £60k for part-qualified is not bad. You'll have opportunities to significantly increase your salary when you qualify. Did you start your career rather late, to still be part-qualified at your age? Clearly that will impact earnings at this stage.

DH earns £150K+ at 37 as a Commercial Director. Neither of us started our careers in London and have friends & family working elsewhere so are very aware this is not the norm.

However most of my friends who work locally either work in finance or law so probably will be on £100K in their late 30’s - as a PP says, this is their normal although I’d hope that they would also have some self awareness, or awareness in general, of the rather fortunate echo chamber that they are in.

£100k+ in London feels common in my circles for lawyers, accountants, bankers, consultants in their 30s.

Im currently recruiting accountants around 2-3 years PQ (so 5-6 years total experience), and salaries are around £80k. Most of these candidates look around 27/28 years old, and the good ones should expect a promotion to £100k+ after around 3 years - so around age 30.

He is shocked you're on 60k? What a privileged and awful comment to make.

No, you're doing well. Are you happy? Do you have work life balance? Do you like your job? Many factors are to be considered than chasing money x

Yes 116k at age 34. Pharmaceuticals. However I have 3 degrees and 9 years experience and work a lot of hours. I am well aware that it’s not a normal salary though, I’ve not been in the sector for long and my salary doubled when I made the move.

Get thee to the the ONS ASHE tables OP:

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2022

This is the bulletin. Then if you look at the ASHE tables guide you can see all the options:

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/annualsurveyofhoursandearningsasheguidetotables

You then search ASHE followed by the table number on the ONS website and you can view loads of different possible cuts of that particular data set.

You can see centiles by geography, sector, age, sex etc. It's very interesting. Doesn't work very well on a mobile though.

Dh is, and he also works in IT. He does feel very privileged to have such a high salary though!

Some people are on £25K some are on £11K, some are on benefits.

You are behind everyone in front of you and ahead of everyone behind you.

What's important is where you want to be and how you get there. Every moment spent wondering how you compare to your brother is a moment robbed from planning to get to where you want to be.