What jobs do people have that pay £200k+?

[Diamondpearl123]

I am thinking about making a career change to earn more (aiming for £200k +) but would like to understand what types of roles I should aim for and whether they are realistic for me. Grateful to understand people’s experiences and hopefully start a good discussion. Some questions below. Thank you

• What is your job?
• What is your salary?
• How many years into your career are you?
• What are the key qualifications/experience for the role?
• What hours do you work?

Daughter earns this plus bonuses. She really works impossible hours to earn it. 20 years as a solicitor in a high profile city legal firm.

Engineering school was the way to go for us: I’m on 200k (whole package, pre tax) in a software integration management role for a bank, some pressure but not too much, I almost never work more than 8h a day. And 3 days work from home.
DH on twice that as a developer/quantitative analyst but his job is more stressful and he often has to work evenings.

I mainly do arts journalism, as that is also related to my academic field. I started 15 years ago, writing for a local creative culture website and then just kind of expanded that into a side hustle when different publications started asking me for contributions — I also now publish creative writing and make a little money in that too (not loads, £1kish a year). If you publish academic work, you can get a little income boost (so long as you have copyright) through ALCS (website is quite easy to navigate and explains it all). External examining can also boost your income a little.

I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned property development as there's easily the potential to earn £200k.

The psychology of the discussion on MN around ambition and money is interesting.

I agree with a PP that there isn’t much discussion around what women earn. In fact I think there’s still an assumption that women will take up lower paid roles in care, retail, teaching etc. There’s still a high degree of internal and external unconscious bias which drives their career choices.

The fact that we don’t talk enough about women earning a lot, or encourage women to be financially ambitious, means that there is very little to challenge those biases.

Then you see the endless threads about (i) women who earn less and therefore have stepped back from their jobs because their DP is the breadwinner; (ii) families suffering from cost of living issues because they have 1 or 1.5 incomes; (iii) women who can’t get back into the workforce having stepped back; (iv)
women being screwed over when their DH leaves them without their own income/security/pension; (v) women who are terrified of old age because they won’t be able to meet their rent.

Most of this thread has been supportive but there are those who talk about money not being important; doing something fulfilling instead; or making assumptions that the rich are all Epsteins and that it’s all about unfair connections and “cheating” the system. There’s a whiff of wanting to put OP off.

MN often has a problem with people with money. There’s a lot of sneering at the wealthy, notwithstanding their tax contribution. There’s a distaste for ambition.

I think we should be celebrating women like the OP; encouraging girls to understand the financial reality of what settling for a lower salary looks like - not just in their 20s, but the impact on their life into their middle age and old age. We should be encouraging them to aim high financially and to regard ambition as a good thing.

Another academic here - its been my experience that the freelance add-ons get a lot easier to find when you're mid-career onwards. At the moment, I earn a few k extra per year editing a journal. Not all of these roles pay, though. I'm lucky one in my field did, but I'm not sure it's actually worth it for the stress/time. Sometimes a private school will pay a fee for a talk: £100-150. Similar fees for media appearances. External examining is another few hundred pounds a year.

For my last book, I got a few hundred in royalties the first year it was published and nothing after that!

If you're in a role where promotion to Senior Lecturer/equivalent is possible, that's probably the quickest route to earning more.

ETA @Katey83 is totally right about ACLS. You can earn from your articles, too. I get anything from £100-300 a year this way.

Dh is a commercial property developer. No fixed income but when he does deals they’re big and enough to pay for a lovely life. Usually around 800k a year.

My friend is a specialist recruiter for Dubai law firms.

Including bonuses, he earned £550k last year.

Degree in history from Bristol poly 30 years ago. Had the right connections to get a job in a London recruitment firm and worked his way up.

My DP does. He’s a software engineer earning just over £200k. He is around 7 years into his career. He has a masters degree in Physics. Works usually 9-6 but often a lot of extra work required in the evenings.

God, it sounds awful. Such hard work, schmoozing and dealing with arseholes. All this go, go, go - and for what? Probably not to do any good in the world or to the planet. I can't understand anyone who would want those kind of jobs. I just want a nice, quiet life (which I've got).

It’s a good job people do choose to do these jobs, as they’re the ones paying the massive taxes to keep the country running. If no one earned enough to be a net contributor we’d be pretty screwed.

100% think Ai will replace lawyers. Many of my solicitor friends agree. Why don't you think that's the case?

Did your hair grow back?

206k per year pre-tax working as a business consultant in financial asset management. Fairly decent hours, WFH 2 to 3 days a week. Have 20 years experience. Experience and extensive use of AI tools together keep the hours manageable, even with the severe cuts to junior consultant roles. Although the job cuts have reduced the available opportunities, I think there is always scope for mid-career transition into independent consulting roles. The pressure is high though and there is little room for error at this level.

This attitude is why women are stuck where we are and the world is run by men who don’t give us a second thought.

Most people are unlikely to earn £200k+. You typically have to be both smart AND incredibly lucky (right place, right time).

Even if she has perfect blend of techinal and soft skills, it's still highly unlikely.

PM me in a year and I'll tell you 😅😅😅

I had A LOT to begin with so its not as bad as it could be. I dont get any compliments these days though 🤣

Its def stopped falling out since I left....
The dermatologist told me it was telogen effluvium (spelling?) Apparently it isnt that uncommon....

I agree with @pocketpairs on being lucky / right place right time. I def feel that was the case for me. I had the goods.to back it up but luck was a definite factor

I don’t earn anywhere near that unfortunately, but hubby does, career path was degree in Business and Accountancy, various jobs in the city with financial institutions, got in early implementing AI in said financial institutions. Not so bad now but exceptionally long hours, leaving in the dark returning in the dark going straight to bed and getting up doing it all again. Very hard work, great benefits but stressful and long days.

And that surely is what @Lemondrizzle4A was saying its being happy and fulfilled that matters and if for you thats money thats great for others its other things thats also grwat.

It’s a lot of luck alongside years of studying and working hard.

My siblings and I all earn in this bracket - in IT, law and pharma.

I joined a FAANG-type company and was lucky enough to get stock options which have massively increased, bringing total comp to almost 7 figures some years. I don’t feel particularly senior- 4 or 5 levels below the Andy Jassy/Tim Cook/Mark Zuckerberg levels. The hours are long, with meetings with Asia in the morning and west coast US in the evenings, but plenty of flexibility during the day.

FWIW for the sake of this discussion and the 200k target I'm going o have to point out BA still have senority payscales and that sort of sum is I think still fairly/very near top end of the captain scale - in other words you do not start on anything close to that, and the quoted figure might also be enhanced by pay associated with a management or training role.

Starter/junior pay is a lot less (and these days there's often the need to pay back a >100k loan to fund training) so the pilot job, certainly at BA, is not a fast track to the OPs 200k figure.

I thought that list was WAY off too.

Haha, we're already pretty screwed, how haven't you noticed?

And you think far less tax coming in would make things better? Imagine how much more screwed we’d be if everyone said they were going to stick with a low paying job for a quiet life.
Plus everyone is different. Personally I’d be bored stiff with a ‘quiet life’.