How much do you earn?

[mcg_]

Not enough after today, fk me.

Relying on other people to do a decent job is a fking nightmare.

[marksx]

Budflicker said:

No where near as much as some people on here, but a ton more than I ever thought I would or my education would suggest.

This. For essentially an unqualified nobody, I'm doing pretty well.

[toastyhamster]

marksx said:

Budflicker said:

No where near as much as some people on here, but a ton more than I ever thought I would or my education would suggest.

This. For essentially an unqualified nobody, I'm doing pretty well.

Yeh this as well, left school with a massive underachievement of an A in Motor Vehicle Studies and not much else, now an IT Consultant in an area with a massive skills shortage. Only fell into IT cos the at the time gf's Dad needed a programmer, so gave me some tests which I sailed through.

[J4CKO]

toastyhamster said:

marksx said:

Budflicker said:

No where near as much as some people on here, but a ton more than I ever thought I would or my education would suggest.

This. For essentially an unqualified nobody, I'm doing pretty well.

Yeh this as well, left school with a massive underachievement of an A in Motor Vehicle Studies and not much else, now an IT Consultant in an area with a massive skills shortage. Only fell into IT cos the at the time gf's Dad needed a programmer, so gave me some tests which I sailed through.

What area ?

I am a DBA, formerly Oracle but now exclusively SQL Server, get offers of interviews daily.

[TameRacingDriver]

TEKNOPUG said:

Phenry said:

£18000 a year as a motor claims handler. At my age of 27 I’m beginning to think about buying my own place however with this salary I won’t be able to do that. It works out as £1303 pm. I should add that I have no outgoings other than a £140 keep so £1163 after paying that.

I’m hoping next year I’ll get a better well paid job. Not how I saw my career when I graduated with a business degree 5 years ago.

Have you considered moving in order to find work? I don't know where you live and therefore what the job market is like, but I left college and didn't go to Uni and instead started doing office temp jobs in London - and I was earning more than £18k a year at 18 and that was 25 years ago!

Maybe I'm just completely out of touch with the current job market

Maybe, or maybe you were lucky, who knows.

21 years ago (18) I was working for the ministry and earning a whopping £6,500 a year. Was not that much more than £100 a week I seem to remember. There was absolutely NO prospect of any 18 year old where I live earning £18K a year. None whatsoever.

Now at the age of 39, I'm the epitome of Mr Average. Probably not even as good as that. Pretty depressing considering how much effort I've put in over the years, although I have to take some share of the blame as I am a late developer and so in my 20s I didn't give a single fk about doing anything about going out and getting wasted, and having an addiction to cars that I couldn't really afford put paid to any chance I ever had of a settled future (although I did have a lot of fun and I don't regret all of it).

But it is what it is, and it's been a positive thing in many respects as I've learned to live very frugally, which in itself isn't a bad thing. As a result I am not in the slightest materialistic or competitive in any way - I quickly learned that was a path to depression and I've had enough struggles with that in my time without adding fuel to the fire!

So yeah, could be worse but it could be a lot better.

[toastyhamster]

J4CKO said:

toastyhamster said:

marksx said:

Budflicker said:

No where near as much as some people on here, but a ton more than I ever thought I would or my education would suggest.

This. For essentially an unqualified nobody, I'm doing pretty well.

Yeh this as well, left school with a massive underachievement of an A in Motor Vehicle Studies and not much else, now an IT Consultant in an area with a massive skills shortage. Only fell into IT cos the at the time gf's Dad needed a programmer, so gave me some tests which I sailed through.

What area ?

I am a DBA, formerly Oracle but now exclusively SQL Server, get offers of interviews daily.

Security, but yeh I know a few DB admins contracting on silly rates, not so much permies though, cyber security is basically short of staff right from support/analysts all the way up to CISO, I'm somewhere in the middle with little ambition. Anybody at Uni doing anything vaguely IT related should look st blue or red teaming as being pretty lucrative.

[HairyMaclary]

El stovey said:

HairyMaclary said:

Contractor mate of mine was distraught the other week as he was expected to take a rate cut. £200k down to £137k!

That’s still a big reduction in earnings and particularly bad if you’ve become used to budgeting on £200K

Most people probably spend the same % of their earnings each month regardless of salaries.

You just buy more or more expensive stuff.

I totally agree. Kids in very expensive private school, big house etc etc. I'd have been gutted too.

As someone that should be contacting I dont know why its an issue. Just crack on and get your CV out there. But it is an issue for my mate and but knowing him he will sort it out just this time it will have to be on a new gig.

[schmalex]

I do OK but my wife is, by a country mile, the major breadwinner in our house. Which is epic.

The only time this causes a slight issue is when it comes to booking business travel as I tend to need to defer to her schedule. Both of us travel pretty frequently (her to the US and me to Asia) so we can, quite frequently, go a number of weeks between seeing each other for more than a day or so.

Our lad weekly boards at school, so we do try to schedule travel to leave Sunday night and return Friday afternoon to let us have a chance of being together as a family from Saturday lunchtime until the car picks either one of us up on a Sunday evening.

[anonymous-user]

schmalex said:

I do OK but my wife is, by a country mile, the major breadwinner in our house. Which is epic.

The only time this causes a slight issue is when it comes to booking business travel as I tend to need to defer to her schedule. Both of us travel pretty frequently (her to the US and me to Asia) so we can, quite frequently, go a number of weeks between seeing each other for more than a day or so.

Our lad weekly boards at school, so we do try to schedule travel to leave Sunday night and return Friday afternoon to let us have a chance of being together as a family from Saturday lunchtime until the car picks either one of us up on a Sunday evening.

Sounds awful.

[toastyhamster]

wormus said:

schmalex said:

I do OK but my wife is, by a country mile, the major breadwinner in our house. Which is epic.

The only time this causes a slight issue is when it comes to booking business travel as I tend to need to defer to her schedule. Both of us travel pretty frequently (her to the US and me to Asia) so we can, quite frequently, go a number of weeks between seeing each other for more than a day or so.

Our lad weekly boards at school, so we do try to schedule travel to leave Sunday night and return Friday afternoon to let us have a chance of being together as a family from Saturday lunchtime until the car picks either one of us up on a Sunday evening.

Sounds awful.

Agreed, apart from seeing the wife, I wouldn't take a job which meant I wouldn't see the kids most days. Always remember a quote from somebody saying that on your death bed nobody ever said "I wish I'd worked more". I'm lucky enough to do as many school runs as I want, sure there's times I'm away overnight but it's not that often.

[SCEtoAUX]

The real tragedy here is that to buy a house that a dustman could afford in 1960 you now need the salary of a well qualified dentist.

Those in power really screwed you young people and the biggest trick they pulled is that you don't even know it.

All it would take is a well organised rent strike by the 3-4 million who have been shafted and those landlords enjoying a free ride on your backs would come out bleeding from their eyeballs.

[J4CKO]

SCEtoAUX said:

The real tragedy here is that to buy a house that a dustman could afford in 1960 you now need the salary of a well qualified dentist.

Those in power really screwed you young people and the biggest trick they pulled is that you don't even know it.

All it would take is a well organised rent strike by the 3-4 million who have been shafted and those landlords enjoying a free ride on your backs would come out bleeding from their eyeballs.

Is it those in power or just a mature society, on an island with limited housing stock and an ageing population ?

Compounded by a lack of other decent investment opportunities people put money into property, but its only those with spare cash that can do it, if you live hand to mouth it isnt a possibility.

There does need to be a shake up though, it can feel a bit like the closing stages of a game of Monopoly.

[antspants]

toastyhamster said:

wormus said:

schmalex said:

I do OK but my wife is, by a country mile, the major breadwinner in our house. Which is epic.

The only time this causes a slight issue is when it comes to booking business travel as I tend to need to defer to her schedule. Both of us travel pretty frequently (her to the US and me to Asia) so we can, quite frequently, go a number of weeks between seeing each other for more than a day or so.

Our lad weekly boards at school, so we do try to schedule travel to leave Sunday night and return Friday afternoon to let us have a chance of being together as a family from Saturday lunchtime until the car picks either one of us up on a Sunday evening.

Sounds awful.

Agreed, apart from seeing the wife, I wouldn't take a job which meant I wouldn't see the kids most days. Always remember a quote from somebody saying that on your death bed nobody ever said "I wish I'd worked more". I'm lucky enough to do as many school runs as I want, sure there's times I'm away overnight but it's not that often.

I can see both sides. My wife mentioned my many years of working abroad as one of the contributing factors to us now separating. Although that stopped a couple of years ago, that may be when the problems started, or maybe she preferred me being away

Long haul travel is tough, I was also mainly in US & APAC and found I was always knackered on my return from the latter. So when my wife was pleased to see me on my return having spent a couple of weeks as a single parent, all I wanted to do was sleep.

If you're better than me with the travel and it sounds like you're away less than a week, then you can make sure you all spend quality time together. The other plus is you both do the same, it's definitely harder for the person left at home, who just assumes you're on a 2 week piss up! And don't feel sorry for their son, he's probably at a great school, living with all his mates Mon-Fri.

I also don't agree with that deathbed saying. I always wanted to work hard, wanted the money that gives me the stuff I enjoy, the experiences we might not otherwise get. But my mum once told me "you work to live, not the other way round". Wise woman and there's definitely a balance that I have been known to get wrong. As I've got older, I'm definitely leaning more towards quality of life, and to be fair I got fed up with the travelling eventually.

[Amirhussain]

Budflicker said:

No where near as much as some people on here, but a ton more than I ever thought I would or my education would suggest.

+1. Nicely put.

[anonymous-user]

J4CKO said:

Is it those in power or just a mature society, on an island with limited housing stock and an ageing population ?

Compounded by a lack of other decent investment opportunities people put money into property, but its only those with spare cash that can do it, if you live hand to mouth it isnt a possibility.

There does need to be a shake up though, it can feel a bit like the closing stages of a game of Monopoly.

Indeed. There was an article on the news yesterday about slum social landlords who buy up whole streets of property in (this case) Newcastle. They rent them out to vulnerable people and don’t do a bit of maintenance. They collect the rent whilst these people have to live in horrible conditions. After doubling their money, they sell them on.

I think BTL, private landlords have deprived many of owning their own homes. It’s one thing I’d like so see - more publicity owned, social housing.

[Mafffew]

Unlikely to happen anytime soon. Many in Government benefit directly from the current situation, on both sides...

[sc0tt]

Enough for a happy work life balance.

Today is payday. The first one in years whereby I haven’t had to save for a house and a wedding.

It’s going to be a good month!

[GOATever]

wormus said:

I think BTL, private landlords have deprived many of owning their own homes. It’s one thing I’d like so see - more publicity owned, social housing.

Da Komrad

[anonymous-user]

GOATever said:

Da Komrad

Very good. So having an abject dislike for greedy fkers who capitalise on keeping others poor makes me a communist?

I vote conservative which supposedly stands for equal opportunity.

[AC123]

About £75k all in (car allowance, bonus etc) at 27, jacked it all in to do the same job for myself. Suppose I didn't like the thought of work making a lot off my back and the job was never going to return much more than £100k in years to come.

Now a couple of years later I earn £750ish a month and thankfully the business has started making more than I used to earn.

Speculate to accumulate and all that bks.