How much do you earn?

[RizzoTheRat]

g3org3y said:

I'm surprised, I'd have thought a woman with her own career (especially relatively low paying teacher) would be more sensible/have her head screwed on right.

Is her social circle also made up of teachers or other more affluent women she's trying to keep up with?

My Mrs is a teacher and generally pretty good with money, although she does have a bit of a blind spot on restaurants and we do probably eat out a bit too much. Then again a lot of her friends are also teachers so you might be on to something there.

I've started a new job abroad so at the moment one of us is travelling most weekends, so she's dropped her hours to the equivalent of 4 days a week so she can fly back on a Monday morning. I think we'll actually have more cash when she packs up work in the summer and moves over as we'll rent the house out and not spend as much on flights/trains. She'll need to find some work here though as she'll get bored otherwise and then probably will end up spending a lot of money.

Difficult to compare overseas salaries though. To get the same take home pay in the UK at current exchange rate I'd be on a shade under £130k, but at the pre-referendum 1.4 €/£ it would be under £100k. However I'm currently paying €1700/month for an apartment that's smaller than my house in the UK which I reckon I'd rent out for about £1000/month, and it doesn't have a garage/parking/garden like my house. On the other hand my UK house isn't a couple of minutes walk from the beach.

[db10]

Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area said:

If you don’t mind me asking, from your pay level I assume that you’re getting towards your firm’s retirement age? My wife has just started her third year of being a Big 4 partner and will earn a little less than half as much as you this year, and as I understand it partner income is weighted towards the later years of being partner. In her firm they have to retire at 55, and I guess it’s similar with the others. It’s difficult for her to get an idea of how it all works as the firm’s profit share system is all rather secretive at the moment!

Re the thread - I earn nothing as I’m a stay-at-home dad

Ha. I’m not that old. I’m 45 so am not planning to retire for another 10 years. I’ve been a partner for 7 years for context.

I guess it depends on the firm but it’s perfectly possible to earn higher sums as a partner “earlier” in your partner career but to do that you have to be better at something than the “average” partner in the firm.

Mandatory retirement age for partners in the big 4 is 60.

[djc206]

I thought mandatory retirement was pretty much outlawed a few years ago?

[db10]

djc206 said:

I thought mandatory retirement was pretty much outlawed a few years ago?

Not in a partnership. It’s in the partnership deed you sign when you become a partner. I’m amazed no one has challenged it in court to be fair although you’d have to be a bit mad to want to carry on past 60 given most partners are probably millionaires a few times over by that point.

[djc206]

db10 said:

Not in a partnership. It’s in the partnership deed you sign when you become a partner. I’m amazed no one has challenged it in court to be fair although you’d have to be a bit mad to want to carry on past 60 given most partners are probably millionaires a few times over by that point.

Ah fair enough. Do most go younger than that anyway?

I’m not sure if we have a mandatory retirement age any more at my work, I doubt anyone has been mad enough to stay past 60 anyway.

[designforlife]

33, earning £35k pa. Zero work stress,mid level job which I can do with my eyes closed. Regular 9-5 hours, can't remember the last time i was in the office past 6pm.

In Hertfordshire that's nowhere near enough for living costs really...i'll be dead before i can afford to get on the property ladder

[db10]

djc206 said:

Ah fair enough. Do most go younger than that anyway?

I’m not sure if we have a mandatory retirement age any more at my work, I doubt anyone has been mad enough to stay past 60 anyway.

There’s a financial incentive to go at 55 due to the way the self funded pension arrangements work. Obviously a large percentage of partners drop dead a few years after retiring 😱

[djc206]

db10 said:

There’s a financial incentive to go at 55 due to the way the self funded pension arrangements work. Obviously a large percentage of partners drop dead a few years after retiring

Ha I’m not surprised with the hours being talked about in this thread and the contracted hours thread!

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

Believe me, my wife works very hard and her life (and mine to some extent!) revolves around her work. She wouldn’t do anything else though and the money is just a byproduct.

db10 - thanks for the reply. Maybe she’ll have to find more of a niche for herself.

[toon10]

designforlife said:

33, earning £35k pa. Zero work stress,mid level job which I can do with my eyes closed. Regular 9-5 hours, can't remember the last time i was in the office past 6pm.

In Hertfordshire that's nowhere near enough for living costs really...i'll be dead before i can afford to get on the property ladder

I remember being in my mid 30's on £36k pa doing a zero stress mid level job that I could do with my eyes closed. Also regular 9 - 5, never in the house later than 5:15 pm every night including my 1:30 pm Friday finish. That was until the company decided to do away with software development and I ended up going down the management route. Department head now and I can only dream of the glory days. I'd happily go back to that and sacrifice the extra cash for a less stressed life. Enjoy!

[db10]

djc206 said:

Ha I’m not surprised with the hours being talked about in this thread and the contracted hours thread!

Can’t say my hours are that bad. Occasionally have to work past 6 but not often. I’ve worked on every holiday I’ve been on for the last 10 years having said that, although I enjoy what I do so it’s more like a hobby.

[designforlife]

toon10 said:

designforlife said:

33, earning £35k pa. Zero work stress,mid level job which I can do with my eyes closed. Regular 9-5 hours, can't remember the last time i was in the office past 6pm.

In Hertfordshire that's nowhere near enough for living costs really...i'll be dead before i can afford to get on the property ladder

I remember being in my mid 30's on £36k pa doing a zero stress mid level job that I could do with my eyes closed. Also regular 9 - 5, never in the house later than 5:15 pm every night including my 1:30 pm Friday finish. That was until the company decided to do away with software development and I ended up going down the management route. Department head now and I can only dream of the glory days. I'd happily go back to that and sacrifice the extra cash for a less stressed life. Enjoy!

this is it, the next step up for me would be a management role, maybe £5-10k extra a year tops, loads of stress and company phone/laptop, long hours etc. Also probably down in London so most of that extra cash would disappear on travel.

I'm very appreciative of my current situation!

[johnwilliams77]

db10 said:

Can’t say my hours are that bad. Occasionally have to work past 6 but not often. I’ve worked on every holiday I’ve been on for the last 10 years having said that, although I enjoy what I do so it’s more like a hobby.

Why is that? Because it is so easy to you now?
Great position to be in.

[BigMon]

db10 said:

Can’t say my hours are that bad. Occasionally have to work past 6 but not often. I’ve worked on every holiday I’ve been on for the last 10 years having said that, although I enjoy what I do so it’s more like a hobby.

You sound like you're a privileged position so good on you. Nothing better than being rewarded extremely well for doing a job you enjoy.

[Porridge GTI]

johnwilliams77 said:

Porridge GTI said:

Same bracket as db10 but wouldn’t go near trophy cars. As someone said above, I have what I need and just want to remove all doubt that the children will have provision that I didn’t.

Impressive. What do you do?

Oil-related in the Middle East.

[johnwilliams77]

Porridge GTI said:

Oil-related in the Middle East.

Must be a fairly senior position. Does your work feel like a hobby too?! I find it hard to believe the senior management love it, it is more ‘bearable’ due to the rewards.

[johnwilliams77]

P1ato said:

I trained at a big 4 firm. I might have stayed had I realised £800K p.a. was possible after 10 or 20 years.

I rarely earn more than £250K p.a, but I get carried interest on each fund I manage (if it hits its performance targets). For the last fund my carry share was £3m.

Possible, but presumably the competition for these roles is very high. Saying that, if you’re on 200k+ you might have stood quite a good chance of getting there !

[brickwall]

P1ato said:

I trained at a big 4 firm. I might have stayed had I realised £800K p.a. was possible after 10 or 20 years.

I rarely earn more than £250K p.a, but I get carried interest on each fund I manage (if it hits its performance targets). For the last fund my carry share was £3m.

Though isn't the carry normally taxed as cap gains? Let's say £2.2m net - if that's once every 5 years then it's equivalent to an additional £750k of gross ordinary salary pa.

[dlight69]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Thanks Tonker- only just picked this up (I was out all day on a 970km round trip in a 2004 Skoda, never again, I'm still 'wired' 2 hours after getting back.....). You nailed it completely. She's even moved my meagre stuff out of wardrobes so she can fit more of hers in there. I even found her local markets and FB groups where she could easily shift some of the junk accumulated over the years but she's jammed on "acquire" and never on "retire". I fear you're right. She needs help. But thanks for your very accurate assessment. It helps to know I'm not the only victim.

[alfaman]

Reading this thread kinda makes me glad I’m single at the moment LOL.

Had an ex-banker gf once whose spending habits didn’t stop when she left banking.

Used to buy 800 quid boob tubes and a jacket that was 6k

Also spent over the top running a prop dev business in the late 90s - 2004 ... went bust when she leveraged the properties to put 500k into a private internet stock in early 2000 ... which collapsed.

Some people have absolutely no sense whatsoever with money ...

trick is not to marry one ... easier said than done