What salary are you happy with these days?

[g3org3y]

PrinceRupert said:

Some firms are paying £150k + bonus for NQs in London. Some firms just gave COVID bonus of 6k (for NQs) to 32k to lawyers in London ON TOP of their annual bonus they will get at Christmas. It is mad.

Why did they need/get a Covid bonus? Presumably for their hard work in litigating against this disease?

[NickCQ]

g3org3y said:

Why did they need/get a Covid bonus? Presumably for their hard work in litigating against this disease?

Some combination of (i) recognition that WFH has generally been unpleasant and (ii) there is a talent war on for junior lawyers that is causing salaries to spiral.

[g3org3y]

Sheepshanks said:

princeperch said:

Where I work, the people that really really work hard get at best a £50 love to shop voucher.

My wife, doing a Civil Service admin job, part-time, used to get those now and again. Even she was slightly insulted.

We give those vouchers a Christmas bonus to all our staff at work. They seem very appreciative to be fair.

[768]

ChevronB19 said:

Next annual review, I was criticised for ‘taking other people’s credit’. In this case it was my senior manager (2 levels up) claiming credit for what I’d done.

I've lost track of the number of times I've seen managers even rubbish an idea only to then brazenly declare it as their own back to the people who proposed it and who would be doing the work.

Now I'm a contractor it's less an annoyance and more a deliberate influencing strategy to persuade them it was their idea.

[PrinceRupert]

g3org3y said:

PrinceRupert said:

Some firms are paying £150k + bonus for NQs in London. Some firms just gave COVID bonus of 6k (for NQs) to 32k to lawyers in London ON TOP of their annual bonus they will get at Christmas. It is mad.

Why did they need/get a Covid bonus? Presumably for their hard work in litigating against this disease?

Basically, there is an insane pay war for junior talent in the US, and so one firm does it, and the rest follow. These firms tend to pay their UK associates the same as their US associates, and it looks even more insane in light of the generally lower salaries in the UK than in the US. You can have 25 year old NQs earning 175k+ total compensation...

Edited by PrinceRupert on Monday 2nd November 21:45

[ChevronB19]

768 said:

ChevronB19 said:

Next annual review, I was criticised for ‘taking other people’s credit’. In this case it was my senior manager (2 levels up) claiming credit for what I’d done.

I've lost track of the number of times I've seen managers even rubbish an idea only to then brazenly declare it as their own back to the people who proposed it and who would be doing the work.

Now I'm a contractor it's less an annoyance and more a deliberate influencing strategy to persuade them it was their idea.

It’s ok. When I left I told him and his managers in the exit interview. His managers believed me, he was stunned I’d ‘gone above his head’ in telling them this without consulting him.

Amazingly, he’s still in the job (worst record for staff turnover in a multi thousand staff company). He does regularly send me LinkedIn requests.

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

bobbysmithy said:

Did you manage to pay off the mortgage on a sub 30k salary?

I bought the house for cash having done the same with my first one due to having very generous parents. As I said I was very fortunate! That fact is what gave me the flexibility to work as little as I could get away with.

[PrinceRupert]

Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area said:

I bought the house for cash having done the same with my first one due to having very generous parents. As I said I was very fortunate! That fact is what gave me the flexibility to work as little as I could get away with.

So your statement "In my last job however I was working 3.5 days/week and earning about £28k pro rata. This gave me a lifestyle I was content with with a nice house in a good area owned outright and no kids or partner. I couldn’t afford to splash out particularly but at the same time I didn’t have to be careful what I spent." is bks. The nice house in a good area owned outright was gifted to you.

[g3org3y]

PrinceRupert said:

g3org3y said:

PrinceRupert said:

Some firms are paying £150k + bonus for NQs in London. Some firms just gave COVID bonus of 6k (for NQs) to 32k to lawyers in London ON TOP of their annual bonus they will get at Christmas. It is mad.

Why did they need/get a Covid bonus? Presumably for their hard work in litigating against this disease?

Basically, there is an insane pay war for junior talent in the US, and so one firm does it, and the rest follow. These firms tend to pay their UK associates the same as their US associates, and it looks even more insane in light of the generally lower salaries in the UK than in the US.

Maybe I should have done law rather than medicine.

I don't do badly as a GP Partner, but certainly no BIG bucks (or bonuses) for my work. I used to get Thursday night applause (priceless obvs), but that's stopped now.

[bobbysmithy]

PrinceRupert said:

So your statement "In my last job however I was working 3.5 days/week and earning about £28k pro rata. This gave me a lifestyle I was content with with a nice house in a good area owned outright and no kids or partner. I couldn’t afford to splash out particularly but at the same time I didn’t have to be careful what I spent." is bks. The nice house in a good area owned outright was gifted to you.

Beat me to it.

[PrinceRupert]

g3org3y said:

PrinceRupert said:

g3org3y said:

PrinceRupert said:

Some firms are paying £150k + bonus for NQs in London. Some firms just gave COVID bonus of 6k (for NQs) to 32k to lawyers in London ON TOP of their annual bonus they will get at Christmas. It is mad.

Why did they need/get a Covid bonus? Presumably for their hard work in litigating against this disease?

Basically, there is an insane pay war for junior talent in the US, and so one firm does it, and the rest follow. These firms tend to pay their UK associates the same as their US associates, and it looks even more insane in light of the generally lower salaries in the UK than in the US.

Maybe I should have done law rather than medicine.

I don't do badly as a GP Partner, but certainly no BIG bucks (or bonuses) for my work. I used to get Thursday night applause (priceless obvs), but that's stopped now.

To be clear, there are only a small handful of firms that pay NQs 140k+, and they do not recruit that many NQs. There are a much larger number of NQs on around 100k at the Magic Circle firms and on between 70 to 100k at the tier below. There won't be many private practice NQs in corporate firms in London on less than 60k. The salaries also increase relatively quickly in the first five or six years, plus bonuses of 5-25% at the top firms. The really really big bucks come if you become a rainmaking partner. Top of equity at a Magic Circle firm is in the region of £3m. The very very best paid partners at US firms can hit $10m a year - premier league footballer wages!

Of course, as per our friend PrincePerch, there are vast numbers of lawyers employed in small firms/personal injury firms/regional firms/in house/public sector etc who earn nothing like the wages mentioned above.

Also the top paying firms really take their pound of flesh. I billed 2250 hours last year, plus non billable time. There will be guys at some of these firms billinh 2500-3000. It can really be extreme.

Edited by PrinceRupert on Monday 2nd November 21:58

[NickCQ]

Classic.

"If every one was like me and lived within their means, didn't waste money on avocado toast and had rich parents, they'd be able to buy a house. I really don't know what the snowflake generation are complaining about"

[Leicester Loyal]

PrinceRupert said:

Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area said:

I bought the house for cash having done the same with my first one due to having very generous parents. As I said I was very fortunate! That fact is what gave me the flexibility to work as little as I could get away with.

So your statement "In my last job however I was working 3.5 days/week and earning about £28k pro rata. This gave me a lifestyle I was content with with a nice house in a good area owned outright and no kids or partner. I couldn’t afford to splash out particularly but at the same time I didn’t have to be careful what I spent." is bks. The nice house in a good area owned outright was gifted to you.

He didn't claim it wasn't gifted to him?

The question in the title of the thread is a personal one and we're all different, he gave an honest answer and could afford to live off 28k pro rata due to his situation. Maybe I've misunderstood but I'm struggling to see why people are having ago at him for his statement?

[loskie]

yes I agree.

Re the vouchers, we get them too, limited places to spend them in my area. My initial thought are they are nice then when I think about it I find it quite insulting, it's like throwing me a few extra crumbs and expecting me to be grateful. When more often than not I am working two grades above the one I'm paid for.

I'm on a lowly and I think insulting 26.5k for what I do.

I'll await the flak.

[bobbysmithy]

Leicester Loyal said:

He didn't claim it wasn't gifted to him?

The question in the title of the thread is a personal one and we're all different, he gave an honest answer and could afford to live off 28k pro rata due to his situation. Maybe I've misunderstood but I'm struggling to see why people are having ago at him for his statement?

Are you seriously saying that: " was working 3.5 days/week and earning about £28k pro rata. This gave me a lifestyle I was content with with a nice house in a good area owned outright " would not lead anyone to believe that the salary gave him the lifestyle? The free house makes an unbelievable difference and a great position to be in.

[Kent Border Kenny]

Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area said:

I bought the house for cash having done the same with my first one due to having very generous parents. As I said I was very fortunate! That fact is what gave me the flexibility to work as little as I could get away with.

I see the same lack of ambition in friends of mine whose parents kept supporting them into adulthood. Money for a house, gifts for the grandchildren, a car bought for them when they have maintenance issues on their current one.

It’s something that worries me about my own children. How do stop them being spoiled? How do I help them to understand that they can only live a lifestyle like mine if they plan a good career?

I imagine that they’ll not thank me if they spend their best years doing as little work as they can get away with, and then as is very likely feel real regret when their own children leave home.

I considered retiring when my first child was born, to bring him up, but realised that even when he went to school I’d be pretty unhappy being home.

[bobbysmithy]

Kent Border Kenny said:

I see the same lack of ambition in friends of mine whose parents kept supporting them into adulthood. Money for a house, gifts for the grandchildren, a car bought for them when they have maintenance issues on their current one.

It’s something that worries me about my own children. How do stop them being spoiled? How do I help them to understand that they can only live a lifestyle like mine if they plan a good career?

I imagine that they’ll not thank me if they spend their best years doing as little work as they can get away with, and then as is very likely feel real regret when their own children leave home.

I considered retiring when my first child was born, to bring him up, but realised that even when he went to school I’d be pretty unhappy being home.

i believe duncan bannatyne or peter jones had the same dilemma. One of their rules was to offer double salary to them as a gift if they did something 'good buy underpaid' i.e. nursing/teaching/police. If it was law, medicine or something with higher wage, there would be 'top up' cash in early years, or something likke that.

[Kent Border Kenny]

bobbysmithy said:

i believe duncan bannatyne or peter jones had the same dilemma. One of their rules was to offer double salary to them as a gift if they did something 'good buy underpaid' i.e. nursing/teaching/police. If it was law, medicine or something with higher wage, there would be 'top up' cash in early years, or something likke that.

They are still very young, but it feels like something that I need to pay attention to even now.

I wonder about moving back to my home town in the future, so they are brought up around people like me, back in the same state school.

[loskie]

Kent and Bobby

I think one of the best things you could do would be for your children once in their teens to do weekend and school holiday work. I worked on farms from the age of 14.

Also for birthdays if I wanted something big like a bike I had to save and pay for half of it, things didn't come easy.

My father was director/co owner of a fairly large company so it wasn't as if he was hard up .

He was pretty mean though!

[bobbysmithy]

loskie said:

Kent and Bobby

I think one of the best things you could do would be for your children once in their teens to do weekend and school holiday work. I worked on farms from the age of 14.

Also for birthdays if I wanted something big like a bike I had to save and pay for half of it, things didn't come easy.

My father was director/co owner of a fairly large company so it wasn't as if he was hard up .

He was pretty mean though!

what do you think you should be paid?