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Original poster

How do some people earn so much?

105 replies

SchoolShenanigans · 10/05/2023 18:31

I earn £31k. I have a degree and 10 years in the public sector. I am low-mid management. I'm grateful for my salary but the more I hear people talk about what they earn, the more I wonder if I'm missing something?! Most people I speak to around my age (mid 30s) seem to earn £50k+ minimum doing all sorts of roles. Today, someone told me in passing that they earn £90k and I'm thinking - where did I go wrong?!

I know I chose the underfunded public sector, so I don't expect £90k but I genuinely can't see how I've ended up earning so little compared to people around me.

So for those on big salaries, how did you make it happen? Training? Right place at right time? Was it a result of a long term career plan or a couple of fluke promotions? Is this a recent salary or have you been a high earner for a while?

OP posts:
PinkFootstool · 10/05/2023 19:16

@ghyt V true, I made an assumption. Still, the points stand even if the grades are different in, say, non-uniformed roles for police / prisons / fire / NHS, councils etc. Most of them will offer courses to encourage people to seek out promotion and it's often aimed at women in particular. Online training packages are the norm in the public sector so always worth a browse.

I think as women we can be very passive about work opportunities and encouraging you to look for training internally and externally is valid whoever the employer is. Look at Universities for free courses - for example: www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue or search for MOOCS - massive open online courses. Harvard offers them amongst other top institutions.

gwenneh · 10/05/2023 19:16

I did an MBA and moved jobs a few times to increasingly senior roles, producing results which can be directly measured in revenue for the company so it's easy to demonstrate value.

HamBone · 10/05/2023 19:18

Most people have to do professional qualifications for a number of years before earning those large sums.

Yes, @Oaktree1233 , that’s the case with the high earners I know, they have specialist skills that command high salaries. Law, accountancy, some areas of finance, etc.

YukoandHiro · 10/05/2023 19:20

They switch to private sector then go back into public sector at a higher band skipping loads of steps

redskylight · 10/05/2023 19:23

I think a lot of it is influenced by working in London or other affluent place, and by the sector you work in (e.g. financial). If I did my exact same job in London for a bank, I'd earn about 3 times what I do now.

I don't think that's something that gets really explained when you're thinking about future careers. And it maybe should do.

YukoandHiro · 10/05/2023 19:23

ghyt · 10/05/2023 19:09

Don't stagnate. I change jobs regularly, I don't wait around to get promoted. I look at what the next level is, the the experience I need and apply as soon as I have the evidence to show I can do it. Public sector also. Longest I've stayed in a role was 3 years, after that I've never stayed more than 2.

Yes this is the other thing. Easier for men than women as those who choose to have children often stay for a while especially in 30s to protect maternity packages. That stuffed my earning progression up. I'm now self employed and earn the same as I used to before children on fewer hours but not sure how to get back into the cut and thrust

Lovelynames123 · 10/05/2023 19:25

My friends who are high earners are highly qualified in their field, lawyers, accountants, HR etc, we don't speak about our income but I'd guess each half of the couple is on 100k+. We're in our 40s.

I've always been the lower earner but I'm catching them up, with my own successful business, which I've put blood, sweat and tears into.

Basi

HamBone · 10/05/2023 19:25

gwenneh · 10/05/2023 19:16

I did an MBA and moved jobs a few times to increasingly senior roles, producing results which can be directly measured in revenue for the company so it's easy to demonstrate value.

It’s hard to argue when you’ve made millions for a company in a fiscal year, @gwenneh!

Lovelynames123 · 10/05/2023 19:26

Doh

Basically, usually high earners have put the time and energy into where they are, people rarely earn huge amounts from luck, smd definitely not by stagnating!

Notminecraftagain · 10/05/2023 19:35

If its any consolation, I am on 7k a year & 33 years old. I know I could work more, but I literally have no idea what to do. For now, a retail job is fine alongside being a mother.

My husband is on 92.5k and same age as me. In all honesty, he didn't go to college or uni. He's just smart and self taught. He started working in the private sector but is now in public. Public sector will never pay that well. He'll eventually go back to private and be on 6 figures.

I think you get out what you put in but also it depends on the nature of the job.

Parisj · 10/05/2023 19:38

Add a third to your salary to reflect public sector benefits (poss less in some parts of the public sector than others)

I am just shy of 50k at 50 having got to the top of my banding. I have self funded a lot of my postgrad study, cpd training and accreditations to build skills because work can hardly ever fund it (even though the skills and maintaining accreditations is only for work, I'm not in private practice). And of course studied outside work time. Many of my colleagues do the same.

BroomHandledMouser · 10/05/2023 19:38

We earn a fair amount, but on paper iyswim.

Our company accounts show a nice profit, a very nice turnover but we take minimum dividends, and keep as much money as we can invested in the business.

It has taken years to get to this point, a lot of arguments, stress and tears. At one point we even thought our marriage.

We’re late 30’s, don’t struggle with money, can have breaks away etc.

But it nearly cost us our family, it’s a double edged sword in our situation but we’re very thankful and appreciative of what we have.

ArbitraryHaddock · 10/05/2023 19:41

I have two undergraduate degrees and a MSc. I worked in a university until I was bullied managed out after work years. I received a payoff of two years salary, then two bereavements and the pandemic led to me never going back to work. But if I was still there, I’d be on 39k. Hardly worth the bother.

MargotBamborough · 10/05/2023 19:41

Did an English degree. Realised that the easiest route to a decent salary without doing another degree would be a law conversion course. Applied for summer placements with law firms, secured a training contract, the firm paid for me to go to law school, then I worked for them for two years and qualified as a solicitor.

My starting salary in 2011 was £31k. It's now about two and a half times that but I no longer work in the UK.

ArbitraryHaddock · 10/05/2023 19:41

That should read 19 years.

ChippyPrincess · 10/05/2023 19:43

Public sector pay is what public sector pay is. You need to find work in a different industry if you want better money with no cap on earnings.
The area I live in is very commutable to the City of London. Hence a lot of people round here have enormous incomes relative to ours (2 x public sector workers). They own the biggest houses, drive the nicest cars, have the most exotic holidays - that's where their cash comes from...... while the rest of us teach their kids, run their hospitals and sweep their streets on a low wage.

DanceMonster · 10/05/2023 19:45

Started a grad scheme straight out of uni 16 years ago on £30k. Stayed in the same industry since but have moved around the major players, and had a few promotions. Now earning just under £100k (late 30s).

Swishhh · 10/05/2023 19:46

...... while the rest of us teach their kids, run their hospitals and sweep their streets on a low wage
And they are busy paying X times more than you in tax.

FoolsOld · 10/05/2023 19:47

I'm 42. Earn £64k in Comms & Marketing. A year ago I was on £43k. Moved jobs, did six months there (hated it) but that netted me an extra £12k. Then moved to this role and negotiated my salary. Every rise I've had, that has felt significant, has come from moving jobs. No one will pay you more than they have to, and your greatest position for salary negotiation is before you take a job.

koalab · 10/05/2023 19:54

If I did my job in the public sector I would be on approx £30-35k. Private sector I'm on £50k and much more prospect of continuing to be promoted and getting pay rises. I'm mid 30s. Did five years public sector before moving to consultancy.
My DP is the same age and in his sector he is on £70k for about the same grade as me. I won't say what our jobs are but we could both work for a local authority.

Campervan29 · 10/05/2023 19:57

Everyone has to work hard.

For a lot of people it’s also an element of luck…if you were interested in something when you were young that led to a higher paying job in science / tech for example.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 10/05/2023 19:57

No qualifications and I earn well, I changed jobs every 2.5yrs in my first half of my career, built a solid cv in the right sector, last job was 10 years hence a bigger pay rise this time I moved- private sector job in London

swanling · 10/05/2023 19:57

Capitalism is a pyramid scheme. Only a minority can be on high salaries or the whole thing collapses.

Being in the majority towards the base of the pyramid doesn't mean you went wrong, it's just how our society is structured.

HermioneWeasley · 10/05/2023 20:03

Look at the value of your public sector pension when comparing packages

bluebird3 · 10/05/2023 20:04

I'm not a high earner but am very happy to make £45k. At my previous role I was on £30k having 1k/year increases. I took 3 years off after maternity and then got this job. If I'd stayed at my previous employment it would have taken 15 years to get to this point! Moving jobs seems the only way to jump up pay scales significantly.