How do some people earn so much?

[SchoolShenanigans]

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?

I earn around 60k and have been working for 11 years since uni

I absolutely agree the only way I moved up to 60k was by switching up my job/role every 2/3 years if not sooner in the same company for example went from an admin role to deputy team manager in 1 year, team manager a year later, then moved to another organisation to be a team manager after another year and got a good payrise then as I had relevant experience and wasn't starting out as a new manager they would need to train as much got a good jump up then

Progressed again to the next level but that took longer as I had a baby and went PT for a year

Then a year ago I did a sideways move within my organisation to a team/department that pays more.

I am still not satisfied on 60k but I also put myself out there in my industry, go to events/conferences/network because I want to look out for the next opportunity to step up further and earn more. I'm 33 and my next objective was 70k within next 18months

Also, I’ve been at my current company for 12 years and have more than trebled my salary since I joined. I think it’d be difficult to move externally and get the same salary, let alone a higher one, so I don’t automatically buy into the “you have to move to progress your pay” rhetoric. Between promotions and being willing to move sideways to get experience of a particular activity before moving up, I’ve climbed the ladder well.

That said, I work for a company that gives very generous bonuses and pay rises every year and these are further increased for high performers so I’ve done well in that respect.

I agree about moving roles.

I work in a niche area of law and work part time. It is £75k FTE. I can’t leave as my part time hours are good dust. At times I have loathed it (crap boss) and at others like now it’s good and I feel lucky.

but it lacks “worth” to society. Maybe I sound spoilt saying that.

i thought about a move to the public sector and was basically told I would get less than my current part time salary for full time hours and more stress. Fuck that I thought!

I earn 39k working for a charity. I have a BA and am working toward a masters. I love what I do and will happily always sit in the 30s as long as I get to work in something I believe in.

Would your skills be transferable to the public sector? I work for a corporate that supposedly doesn’t pay well but I think that your salary would be considered very low for mid management w 10y experience …

Aim to increase seniority in each work move (either internal or external)..e.g Officer to Manager, then to Senior Manager, next Head of..., then Director (or whatever your sector equivalents are). That's just 4 moves. Avoid sideways moves unless they are into a much better paid role with obvious routes to internal promotion.

Does moving every 2-3 years in teaching help increase your salary? I feel it’s more fixed?

How old are you?

I've just turned 40, and at last payround I was bumped up to £49k pa.

Ten years ago, I was celebrating exceeding £20k pa. No joke. I felt exactly the same as you (I also have a degree and felt like it was a waste of time).

I have been promoted twice - through me applying rather than purely by merit - and I'm in the NW so my salary is really very good. I work for a massive high street bank in a change role.

I really hate my job if I'm honest, I moved roles in October and it was a HUGE mistake. But I'm not going to leave, I'm going to apply for something different in a few months.

I earn a lot and I think it’s a combination of three things: luck (finding the right opportunties, places and people at the right time) hard work, and also always feeling that I don’t want to have a boss + being willing to “risk” going self employed in order to fulfill that.

I think if you look at people on very high salaries and you subtract A) people who are extremely smart in a particular field (doctors, lawyers, finance) and B) people whose parents had the right connections, a very large proportion of those remaining after subtracting A) and B) are self employed - basically they took a calculated gamble and it paid off.

Agree with this, it’s hugely down to luck

Finished uni, then started off as a graduate trainee with a mid-tier accounting firm in the City. Qualifies as both ACA and CTA.

Stayed there for almost 8 years, then moved into industry, changing roles by joining a new company with a promotion every 3-5 years. The largest salary increase I received was a few years ago, going up by £42k in one go, simply by moving companies. I recently joined a new company, achieving a £30k increase on the basic, though I haven't been through a bonus round yet.

I haven't chased money especially at work, it just happens to be that the work I find interesting and love doing pays very very well.

I'd say you should aim for a professional qualification, as jobs you get following those, tend to command higher salaries.

I think you need to move. I was being massively underpaid for my responsibilities (on senior management team of a medium sized social care provider. Huge scope of responsibilities including legal responsibilities. Aren’t around 28k after 9 years. Now on 38k with no line management, wfh, no targets. WLB has massively improved- I stuck around out of fear I wouldn’t be good enough anywhere else- not true at all. It’s called imposter syndrome. Good luck!

Surely comparing public sector and private sector wages doesn't make sense, as the pensions are completely different?

I earn 31k part time with a degree
Was good money before fuel went up, food etc
Now I can just about afford to live

I knew exactly what I wanted to do, went to uni, studied hard in relevant degree, got on a graduate scheme in the field I wanted (competitive field over 2000 applications) but I worked hard researching the career, the company etc. so I aced my assessment centre. Then did the professional qualification, now qualified. From the age of 16-29 I was constantly studying, constantly doing exams and really focussed on my career path. Now 30 and qualified I’m on a really good salary and looking for my next promotion.

When I look back at my 17 year old self when I actively made the decision to take this career path I can’t believe it, but I’m so glad I did. A hard 13 years studying has paid off and I don’t have to sit an exam ever again!

I think lots of people will be putting in time and energy and have also trained for a number of years, but not all can get the pay.

Op I think the issue is definitely public service. My brothers are both younger than me and paid far more than me. We all have degrees and training. One has further qualifications and has earned well over £100k plus high bonuses for years now. Mortgage paid off etc and only just 40.

The other has a degree like me (but no extra qualifications), has worked up the ladder and is on around £60k plus company car. I also have worked up the ladder, but the fact is my ladder is nothing like theirs. It cuts off at a much lower salary unless you become the very top level management. The only way to 45k is to become leadership and even then it won’t go much higher.

The difference is I’m public sector and they are not. When I was young, I always wanted to do my job but didn’t really register that this would happen with my pay when I was training. I’m in the same boat as you with all my friends getting 50k plus as the norm. Others more 80/90K.
I wouldn’t advise my own children to go into public sector now.

I don’t think so! Maybe in bigger cities but not round here. You move with the fixed pay scale. Once you hit the top end (around 44K) you have to start looking at senior leadership really to even move jobs as often people aren’t keen to take teachers on who are more expensive because they can’t afford to. I know people who have dropped salaries to be able to move schools!

Thinking strategically is also important though, not simply luck and being interested in something. My DH switched from Political Science to a Computer Science degree back in the 1990’s, because tech was exploding and he was able to walk into a well-paid job straight after uni. He’s since got a Master’s and changed fields completely, but that decision to switch degrees into a growing sector got him started.

I haven’t been as strategic as him, but we’re encouraging DD (18) to think longterm.

I was a teacher earning £42 000 but I was working 100 hour weeks. I had to hand my notice due to burn out. I now earn £125 000 as I applied for a job and got it. Absolutely no experience in that area. I work half the hours and have my life back. My job is far easier than teaching!

Oh wow, that’s amazing - well done for taking that leap. Do you mind sharing what sector or type of role? Is it still in education?

I'd like to know how these mysterious people do it too!!
I'm late 20s, have a bachelors and a master's degree, have been working since I was a teen and earn slightly less than £22k, which is the most I've ever earned. I'm highly qualified, highly experienced and work hard, but don't seem to get these magical salaries other people seem to get with less experience and lower qualifications!

I’m an area manager for a sales company.

2005 - £9k a year SME
2008 - £24k public sector. 2011 - Redundant.
2012- 40k public sector
2013- 52k plus £8k bonus consulting
2014- 82.5k consulting
2018- 90k nightmare job
2019- 130k quasi public sector
2020- 160k private sector
2022- 300k plus likely 100k bonus private sector

The job that made me was consulting in 2013, most of what I did before was a waste of time, particularly the lower level public sector roles. The reason why they were poorly paid was because actually they weren't really necessary, I fell asleep at my desk multiple times with boredom between 2005 and 2011, I even emailed myself books from project Gutenberg to read at my screen. In one job I've not mentioned in 2005 I was hired simply so my line manager could apply for a rebanding and payrise on the basis they had management responsibilities. I literally had nothing to do and left after a month or so, all the whole team seemed to do was drink cups of tea - there was a communal email address and phone neither of which was much used. Since 2012, I've worked hard, up and down the country, moved away from family, now overseas, worked regular 65-80 hour weeks and taken jobs everyone else didn't want.

@Hotfootgoose all the high salaries on here - lots very high and you choose to single out train drivers 😂

Everyone else is obviously deserving of their salary.

I'd like some money thrown at me. Instead of trying to shred my t&c's so what little life planning I can do around shifts is taken away 🙄

Other side of the coin - no qualifications past GCSEs, worked since age 15 in various sales roles

Get really good at what you do, get poached by competitors, make yourself as indispensable as possible, then go freelance consultant

£100k+ for 4 days a week