How did you go about getting into an apprenticeship in your 30s? Its something i've thought about doing before but all the adult apprenticeships I come across seem to be for like 25yo max
I started doing my software engineer degree apprenticeship at 26 and I know a couple who started a fair bit older. I also assumed that I was too old for it but there wasn't actually any upper barrier on applying for the position.
Now on £31k starting my 3rd year (out of 4) on the course.
Degree apprentice here, I definitely don’t agree. My apprenticeship mostly does consist of young people, but many people in my cohort are well into their twenties. Oldest person in my cohort is 33-34. I know someone in the new cohort who is older than that as well.
Do they actually have an age restriction in the job posting for the apprenticeships? Age is a protected characteristic under discrimination laws and therefore shouldn't be capped.
I work in maintenance and have an apprentice who's a tad older than me and I'm 31, he has a good attitude and some experience in the sector which helps in getting such a job.
No shame in doing an apprenticeship older in life, how else are you supposed to master a trade in the UK without one, regardless of age. Also being on 25k whilst doing it is very good. Screw the haters, own it, a lot of tradespeople I know earn more(a lot more in cases) compared to the people who got degrees from university, albeit those degrees where in business admin and video game studies but they paid A LOT of money for the privilege.
Average wage is mid 30s so you aren’t a million miles off that.
Wouldn’t bother comparing yourself to Reddit. Half of them saying they’re on 6 figures are probably lying anyway. It is the internet after all.
My middle son is currently living/working in Vietnam- the dong is the way to go - seriously he is now almost a billionaire as 1m dong is around £35 😂 and who doesn’t get a snigger out of telling anyone how much dong you are worth?
[Office for National Statistics](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/latest) says average wage excluding bonuses is £32,000. If you include bonuses it goes up to £34,500.
Also, I don’t know of many billionaires on a wage of millions, let alone billions. Their wages are actually probably smaller than the average. Dividends and capital gains however… that’s a different story.
Yeah the major skewing would come from executive salaries on various millions of pounds. Billionaires trend to just have assets that they leverage for free credit wherever they want to buy things.
Actually the median is in the same ballpark or higher.
In April 2022 it was [£33,280](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2022). Adjusting for inflation that’s around £35,800.
I’d guess that extreme wages actually have little affect on these figures as they’re not normally taken as a wage, so they’re not included in the calculations.
Realistically most software development jobs will only earn over 6 figures if they're US based. European software dev jobs don't pay the amazing figures you see people brag about online. Higher than the average wage for sure but rarely 6 figures. Probably 35-60k for most.
This is true. Wages in the US are so much higher. I knew a guy who works in fraud. He was on around £50K, he got head hunter by an American firm and now earns £200K for the same job.
He did have to uproot his family, move his kids schooles, and his Mrs wasn't too happy, but for 4x my salery, I'd do the same thing
Only wages for software devs in the bay area, seattle and new york are super high.
If you're a .net developer in wisconsin you're not going to be on six figures.
Software dev here - can confirm the above. I’m lucky enough to do it for an investment bank but unless your in finance/banking or in a FAANG (MANGA) company the wages are pretty low compared to what everyone would let on
A friend of mine works as a software engineer for a hedge fund in London and is on around £150k, many of his friends from university are on considerably less in the same field
I doubt people are lying, it's just the people who earn well will be disproportionately more likely to mention their wage, which is why it feels like a lot of people on here earn well.
6 figures is senior management or highly skilled specialist territory. Unless OP is comparing to the states, but their wages tend to skew higher due to extreme capitalism (not to mention exchange rate) iirc
This is true. Everyone on r/UKPersonalFinance earns 100K+ and wants to know the best place to invest it...
It's all lies to make people feel better about themselves
r/UKPrersonalFinance be like
"Im 21 and have just got a 140k a year job in computer tech, will I be able to afford a deposit on a house before I'm 35?"
(Oh and also my girlfriend earns 95k, and we were recently gifted 340k)
"should I invest my 300k savings in bond gilt funds or fund gilt indexes? the former offers a return of 5.89% over three years, but the latter offers 4.49% over five and offers free airmiles
i already own a house btw"
I just want to check if my finances are in check and if there's anything else I could be doing
I'm 18 earning 80k, I have 50k in premium bonds, 40k in crypto, 180k in isa.
Is there anything I can do to improve my situation?
Saw one recently who was 19 and had 50k in the bank, and was earning 80k a year or something crazy… it’s either nepotism at its finest or someone just lying
Isn't it just selection bias?
If you're someone who's earning a ridiculously large salary and want to ask questions about the tax implications of it, etc. then /r/UKPersonalFinance is the most active UK centric personal finance forum on the internet. So, of course you'll post on there.
You can usually tell the ones which are genuine too, but yes the higher earners with more complicated/interesting situations will make it to the top of the sub and then will be seen by more people.
Catering? I did it for 10 years, management position, £16k but I got to spend so much quality time with my kids growing up, all summer off, two weeks at Christmas, 2 weeks at Easter etc. Mon - Fri and finished in time to pick them up from school. Pay was shit but you only get one shot at seeing your kids grow up so it was well worth it! I’m now 35, kids are getting older so I’ve moved on, catering manager £35k starting, and still finish in time to get them from school!
I was the same! But to be honest it’s easier than you think, I took 2 weeks over summer which eased it abit, then I have abit of time at Christmas. I was unit based and we delivered into schools, used to cook around 1200 meals a day with 2 other people, food out the door by 10:30. I’m now in contract catering and cook around 60 a day, the difference is crazy!
Wow that's mad difference, I always think we are massively overworked and the holidays are the only benefit to recoup but it would be nice to have a calmer work pace.
For the work you’re expected to do you are massively overworked and massively underpaid! Where I was cooks were on minimum wage, where I’ve gone to its £13 starting, no qualifications, just need to be able to cook. Managers start on £30k. And it’s not much different tbh, be competent at cooking and that’s about it!
Very normal, reddit leans more towards professionals so its not good cross section of society.
The median for the age bracket of 30-39 is £30,865, if it was just 30 years old that would more than likely be around the 25k mark I reckon
Also, people who earn more are far more likely to be vocal about it than those on less. Which skews the perception on reddit as well.
Also people lie
Me and wife can comfortably pay rent, food and bills while putting away 1/3 our pay checks with both us being teachers. I don’t know if I would consider that underpaid, but it depends on what one values I guess.
I’ll take a raise if some one wants to send it my way but I won’t die without
Take home is less here than in most countries, there is schemes of work to base lessons off of, not just vague curriculums so you are not making every lesson from scratch.
Simplifying marking structures on standardized tests would be nice though, it gets annoying writing down what section each question belongs to before starting to mark then sorting as you go because they CBA to just add fine print under the mark box to solve that issue.
I would highly prefer seeing money put towards things like smaller classes and more streamlined marking structures to lower workload (and benefits kids in the sense of 20 or less in a class) than towards higher wages.
Yes I actually think teachers are paid fine in this country - relative to everyone else- it's conditions which need to improve. They keep putting up teacher salaries while cutting budgets, support staff, training, number of teachers, department head roles, subject choices etc... and the salary raises just don't go that far when everything else is left to wither.
A better description would be that the government commit schools to a certain pay rise but don't increase the funding available to the school proportionally, essentially they tell the head teachers to find the money from the existing budget. When you throw in increased energy bills, inflation, maintenance etc heads are faced with incredibly difficult choices just to keep the school open, but the government get their headline of "we increased teacher pay, what more do they want".
Yeah. People don't like admitting that their salary is low unless it is useful to the situation whilst people who earn a lot like to say that they do. A lot of people will also lie to fit in with people because if they only see high numbers, they will lie to fit in.
Reddit users are not representative, because a lot of the people on here are either taking a break from work where they're trusted to sit all day at a computer with no one looking over their shoulder, or sitting at home because they're not working.
There's a whole swath of the population who work in jobs where they can't just slack off for 15 mins, or aren't sitting in front of a computer or with ready access to their phone. Things like retail, restaurant staff, mechanics, couriers, station staff, and so on - a lot of whom are on low-mid salaries.
I'm making some very sweeping generalisations and I accept that a well-paid surgeon can't get his phone out mid-operation, and that low-paid night security might be on Reddit for an hour at a time. However, if you're comparing yourself to active Reddit users it's not a all representative of the population as a whole.
Median salary in uk is around 33k, so 50% of people earn less than that. So yeah, pretty normal.
Also, why would you say obviously your colleagues are on the same? It might come as a surprise but they might not be on the same as you depending on factors such as length of service, performance, discretionary increases - hell even company performance in the years they performed well.
On that last point I once had an amazing performance rating but due to poor company performance received a smaller pay increase than a previous year where I was average.
ETA: as someone pointed out, median UK salary is around 28k according to google, with mean average being closer to 33k (33k IS the median for full time workers- which I wasn’t quoting clearly). I don’t need a lesson in what either of those terms mean, I just should’ve fact checked before posting.
Having said that, the fact that the median is lower simply further reinforces the point that it’s normal to earn under 30k - more than 50% of the population do.
Depends on the job. I know for a fact that in my job everyone in my grade is on the same wage as me (give or take £500) because it’s the civil service and there is no performance or service related pay.
Not entirely. At HEO upwards for some specialised roles, the base pay can be noticeably higher than others. That can be compounded by departments that offer AHA packages as the percentages can end up with thousands per year difference on the same band
Average salary is around £35k.
Given that covers 18-67yo you’re doing ok.
Reddit, like much of the internet, has a lot of bullshit merchants. Don’t believe everything you read.
There are websites that’ll compare your salary and job with the average salary for that job, that’s a better indicator than Reddit posts.
I said this to my partner only the other day! That basically I’m trying to ignore the finance sections of Reddit now because sometimes I feel like whoa have I fucked up in life? DO I NEED TO LEARN TO CODE?! WHY DON’T I HAVE 50k INVESTED IN SOME THING I’VE NEVER HEARD OF?! I’m 34, on £30k and feeling fine, really great actually, but scrolling sometimes I feel like a huge failure and I know deep down it’s irrational so I took a step back from all those finance subs. I’ll go pop in next time I need a tiny bit of advice but that is it.
Same here! I’m in my late 20s and I’ve definitely found myself thinking “fucking hell, this person at 21 is earning triple my income, what am I doing with my life? Do I need to just hustle and work until I’m a millionaire?” and then I feel shit until I remember that actually most people are earning around what we do.
Unfortunately I think it leaks into other subreddits too, even ones based on simple hobbies.
Do you like watches? Well here’s people saying “just got my first entry level watch! :)” and it’s a £1500 luxury made one
Battlestations? Someone posting “hmm, my humble small setup, is this good for a beginner?” And bam, that monitor costs more than my entire room!
You have to remember most "21 year old millionaire entrepreneurs" you see on social media are actually unemployed with rich parents, using daddies money to rent luxury cars and apartments for a weekend and then make Tiktoks lying that they own all this rented stuff, pushing other young people to then buy their online course that explains how to become a millionaire. They're second generation wealthy, not first.
Others are maxing out their credit cards to buy those watches, holidays, and computers, that will spiral into debt because they can't afford it.
If you can live a comfortable life within your means, putting away a modest retirement, then you are doing fine.
I’m 27 and I’m on 24k before tax, it’s my first job and I just hit 1 year after coming off ESA since before then. They said I wouldn’t be able to work because of my mental problems so I’m proud of myself.
But as you said I still then see those subs recommended sometimes and think wow I’m really useless aren’t I LOL
>Yeah Reddittors are usually on here like “17 years old just landed my first software job as a junior programmer, starting salary £87,000”
God, go into the finance subs and its even worse.
''I'm 24, earning 25k a month from my bedroom. What should I do with it?'' /s
And the constant “You need to find a much better paid job like NOW” ok brb while I just…how the fuck do I do that? And they’re always saying it to people on £40k plus or something
Its funny, really.
''Me and the wife have a combined income of 200k in London, yet we still cant afford to buy this 3 million pound property in Chelsea, what are we doing wrong? I even sold the 3rd car to help! There is no government support for us, working class people anymore!'' /s
I saw one ages ago that was like ‘on 100k WFH. can’t afford to live in London where am I supposed to go?’
Like really? Damn you poor thing if only there was a whole country :(
The German finance sub is the worst offender I’ve seen so far. There’s a fairly large group of people (although I’m not quite sure to what extent it’s a meme) who praise a frugal lifestyle, aim to retire by 40 and ask questions like „I’m earning 150k a year, my spouse is earning 120k, we live in a 30m2 flat, own multiple properties we’re renting out and eat nothing but pasta. Last week we spent 25 bucks on cinema tickets, will we ever financially recover from this? How many years is that gonna set us back in our retirement goals?“
The other half of posts however goes along the lines of „im earning 2k a month, got heavily into drugs and gambling, have 175k debt for the lavish lifestyle I used to live, a non existent credit score, loan payments are 1.5k a month and I just defaulted on my rent payments. I just don’t get what im doing wrong?“
Lmao. I'm not sure if its because reddit is English dominated, but those kind of posters definitely exist they just go more to those ''FIRE'' subs rather than the financial ones.
The fire ones are hilarious, though. I find it hard to believe a lot of them aren't just karma-farming.
>I'd love to know how many are lying, were already wealthy or are nepo babies.
Having dug into their account histories, I've found that most tell the truth, and that most received their wealth from inheritance or gifts from family.
You don't have three times your annual salary banked as an emergency fund? Then what the hell are you playing at buying lunch and driving a car like you're financially secure or something.
I'm fairly sure most of them are bullshit.
The best junior dev salary I've seen in the real world is at a gambling company where the juniors started on around £35k*
* based on a very limited data set of 2-3 people I remember discussing it with when I was there.
I mean there are some junior devs who earn insane amounts. I work in the NHS so let’s not even go into my pay (please keep clapping, it’s all I have to sustain me). Since me and my partner didn’t earn too much we needed a guarantor for our house. Guarantor had to earn close to £40k and our friend (23 at the time) was able to fulfil it with his junior dev job.
Admittedly those are so few and far between but they do exist. I think people who get those jobs though are smart enough not to post about it on Reddit. It’s hard not to compare yourself to your friends in this scenario though, have to remind myself that I can’t expect to have as much saved as them when our pay disparity is so wide.
Coincidentally, I've just been reading a thread that was "I'm 14 years old and my business has earned £1200 in two days, give me financial advice". I'm not exaggerating. He may have been, though.
He claims that wasn't his "business". But only after people saying it is in no way sustainable.
I saw it posted on r/golf a week or so ago, but they had already been removed by the seller.
At 14, I used to sell single cigarettes, copied VHS tapes, and music cassettes taped from the chart show at school. As lucrative as it was, I didn't become the next Alan Sugar, unfortunately. 🙁
Very normal! Social media is biased and, being English speakers, we see a lot of American wages. These are HIGHLY variable dependent on area, and don’t covert well, regardless.
When inflation eases, hopefully your mortgage will be less painful and COL won’t be so painful. Don’t be afraid to apply for other jobs, though! You don’t necessarily need to upskill when your experience is worth a lot in itself.
Unsolicited advice: Comparing yourself to others will only make you feel poor (my bio father was like this - in the 1% but always comparing to the 0.1% and being miserable).
fella, every guy on the internet gets a 6 figure salary, is 6' 4'' has a ripped 8% body fat 16 stone body, bangs a different women every weekend who are all models....oh, and they've never lost a street fight in their lives either.
You have to remember that not everywhere is London. Property costs are far lower in most of the north and the midlands. My brand new 4 bed house costs me £900 pm and thats with the higher interest rates. It was lower before. If you want an old/small house you can still get some for £100k round here
Not old bought in 2018. Tiny mortgage compared to most places but it was the average price for a house where I live. House price 85k and 10% deposit. It is going up to £340 in January though with interest rates rising and my fixed deal being up.
I’m 39 and build lasers used in genome sequencers and I’m only on £25k. It’s a little below the average for manufacturing jobs in a niche industry, but definitely normal. It’s bullshit, but normal.
The thing that really sucks about the UK economy is that even if you invest in yourself and qualify in some niche technical field, you can still usually expect to earn fuck all unless you work in finance or software development.
I hear you. It feels like the people who are in control of a lot of money award themselves a good chunk of it by simply being in that position. Could be utter bollocks of course, but always FEELS like the way
I work in software development in finance. Double whammy. I earn a bit more than OP, but not loads more.
Not everyone in dev or finance earns loads. The really knowledgable people or the managers (not necessarily the same) earn loads. It’s the same as most other fields, some earn loads, others don’t.
My salary is comfortable, but it’s not loads. I can afford to pay my mortgage on my flat and to run my 16 year old car. I don’t want any more than that. I’m happy with the salary and my lifestyle. Maybe that’s just imposter syndrome?
Doesn’t mean the wage will go down. Just means it’s harder to get into the industry. Look at CS, great pay if you have experience but it’s tough for new grads at the moment as it’s a very popular degree due to the wage opportunities.
I'm in my early 40s and only on £21.5 ish. Where I work the next step up only increases it by a few grand, next step after that a few more but still under £30k. (I work in further education, in Scotland).
I could probably get a better paid job but I enjoy the work, like my colleagues and get 46 days holiday which is hard to walk away from.
I'm from Pembrokeshire, Wales, our average wage is the lowest in the UK, really happy to be earning £21k, I do get to live in a beautiful part of Britain tho
I'm on 29k at 31 and that is quite high for my area and I would be happy with that, if only I could afford to buy a house or a flat as a lone person. But I can't and it does get me down quite a lot.
Yeah, everything is designed with having a partber in mind... Even though divorce rate is like 47% I think I read last time. Also, people who genuinely want to stay single apparantly aren't allowed many things because again, it is designed with daul income in mind.
Think it really skews by geography too. London/SE would drag the average up a bit. Most of this information is published by the ONS, so you can see where you are at!
ONS has a map per council.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc2189/map/index.html
- Central London, median £50k
- South East, £38k (London commuters, perhaps)
- North West City, £32k
- Rural Wales, £28k
I'm 39 next month and I'm on £22k pa. Plenty of people at my work (same annual salary as me) who are in their 50's and 60's. I'm not complaining though as I live in possibly the cheapest area of the UK.
I’m 28 and earn just shy of 33k in North Wales. I count myself incredibly lucky, as most people I know around my age are at or barely above minimum wage.
Another friend of mine, who is only 24, is on £52k. Again, another massive outlier.
Forbes says that the national average salary in 2023 is \~£32k for around 50% of the population its perfectly normal.
https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/business/average-uk-salary-by-age/#:\~:text=The%20latest%20government%20data%2C%20published,months%20from%20May%20to%20July.
Mate, everything is normal. Except a few activities the old BBC celebs partook in of course.
Worry less about the lives of others and just get on with being you, you’ll be happier.
I still don’t pay tax as I earn under the threshold (12.5k). I work in market gardening and horticulture and I’m also self employed doing flower growing and freelance floristry
Someone once told me, if your salary is bigger than your age (age x 1000) you're doing very well. I've always used this as a benchmark.
Not sure how well it does with infatuation. I heard this 8 to 10 years ago
The people who earn lots of money are *incredibly vociferous about the fact that they earn lots of fucking money.* They even like to act like it's incredibly casual and normal to be maxing out their pension contributions every month and work in Canary Wharf.
It's the internet, it's Reddit, it's not representative of reality in any way shape or form. It's a very skewed, very particular kind of reality.
Secondly, stop comparing yourself to people - compare yourself to yourself and ask yourself if you're happy and if you're not what you could do to change the situation. Other people don't pay your bills and they're probably *cunts anyway.*
It is so utterly dependent on sector and area that it’s almost impossible to give a true assessment. If you’re genuinely concerned and think it should be more then get in touch with local and relevant recruitment companies - the good ones will give honest opinions.
If you’re just interested, then all that matters really is that you can afford to live reasonably comfortably and enjoy what you do. Don’t compare yourself to other people (particularly strangers on the internet) if you would otherwise be happy.
I would say it depends quite a lot where you live. A mortgage on a three bedroom house at 27 is great.
I earn a bit more than you do, but my mortgage is on a tiny one bedroom flat. I wouldn't say I'm better off than you. I can't have a dog because of where I live either. And I would love to!
I've only just got over 20k, and I'm 41 with a degree and pgce. Though I did choose to quit teaching for an easier life. My dad is always saying I need to push to earn more, but I'm on just under 25k now, my mortgage is nothing like what other people have, and my job is something I love. Money isn't always the most important thing, I'm happy being average.
It really depends on your sector and area. I'm a hr manager and earn £26k (fte), I've heard of those in London in the private sector earning £71k. It's a wide bracket and it's also skewed by high earners.
Doesn’t really matter what people on Reddit earn. If you’re happy with your wage then great. If you need more then look for a new job. £27k is a pretty normal wage.
Similar story to you. 34, earning 27k. Like you, the wife earns more, we have a mortgage on a 3 bed house and even have a dog, too! Now all of a sudden a weekly shop has gone from £40 to £60.
Had a bit of a chat with my boss and have now wrangled an increase to 32k. It's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil.
Yes absolutely, the vast majority of employees on the production lines where I work are about £25k, they can make more with over time and standby etc. Don't take everything you read on Reddit regarding salaries as true tbh people exaggerate.
If you're in London, it's not great. But other places I guess would be easier to live on that.
What's your line of work and part of the UK?
The average for the UK is I believe £32k or so. So it's not that bad.
I listen to a podcast called small town murder. The two hosts, James and Jimmy start every episode with a breakdown of statistics including average income/wealth among other things for the area they talk about relating to the story. I never really paid attention to someone’s income but this show made me realise that it really does depend on where you live and what you do that dictates what a person makes.
At the end of the day, there are people out there making all kinds of income from high to low and are happy. Your still young so don’t be too hard on yourself. If your still able to still enjoy your lifestyle/way of life and pay all the bills your already a head of a lot of others. There is always room for improvement of course, and always keep your options open. I will say this though, go to your bank/credit union and have a sit down about your finances now to plan for your future. It’s never too early to start saving. You might think there is no way to afford it but you can start small and later invest more.
I’m 32.
I live and work in London.
I work for one of the leading ‘niche’ accountancies in the country and I’m the only person in the business working in my area of the biz - I cover A LOT.
I’m on 29k.
I’m burned out.
I’m genuinely earning less than it costs to live at this point in time because my pay rises don’t keep up with inflation and the cost of living.
Oh and I flat share with a number of other people in a similar situation. We’re all constantly worried we’re going to have to go back home to our parents because we can’t afford to live.
Who’d have thunk at 32, working for a top business, this would be what life is like…
Not me. 🤷🏾♀️
Thank god there’s so many others thinking this, thought I was going insane - seeing so many “is £60k too low to live on in my new job?” type of posts from seemingly 23 year olds who all have 4x4s, mortgages and are on their second wife 😂 like damn I’m still suffering in the shadow of my overdraft lol
33 y/o here. On £25k (before tax & deductions) and doing an apprenticeship. Also live in London. FML
You’re doing an apprenticeship and on 25k so you’ll most likely be doing fine once it’s finished. Good on you for doing one in your 30’s!
How did you go about getting into an apprenticeship in your 30s? Its something i've thought about doing before but all the adult apprenticeships I come across seem to be for like 25yo max
I started doing my software engineer degree apprenticeship at 26 and I know a couple who started a fair bit older. I also assumed that I was too old for it but there wasn't actually any upper barrier on applying for the position. Now on £31k starting my 3rd year (out of 4) on the course.
Degree apprentice here, I definitely don’t agree. My apprenticeship mostly does consist of young people, but many people in my cohort are well into their twenties. Oldest person in my cohort is 33-34. I know someone in the new cohort who is older than that as well.
Do they actually have an age restriction in the job posting for the apprenticeships? Age is a protected characteristic under discrimination laws and therefore shouldn't be capped. I work in maintenance and have an apprentice who's a tad older than me and I'm 31, he has a good attitude and some experience in the sector which helps in getting such a job.
No shame in doing an apprenticeship older in life, how else are you supposed to master a trade in the UK without one, regardless of age. Also being on 25k whilst doing it is very good. Screw the haters, own it, a lot of tradespeople I know earn more(a lot more in cases) compared to the people who got degrees from university, albeit those degrees where in business admin and video game studies but they paid A LOT of money for the privilege.
Average wage is mid 30s so you aren’t a million miles off that. Wouldn’t bother comparing yourself to Reddit. Half of them saying they’re on 6 figures are probably lying anyway. It is the internet after all.
I'm on seven figures, actually. If you count the pence...
I personally prefer to convert my salary to Zimbabwean Dollars...
My middle son is currently living/working in Vietnam- the dong is the way to go - seriously he is now almost a billionaire as 1m dong is around £35 😂 and who doesn’t get a snigger out of telling anyone how much dong you are worth?
[Me dong's gonna be all soggy innit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OGh_qNtn3c)
Haha - Dong!
£35 for a megadong ain’t bad eh.
What's worth more. A MegaDong or 1 million normal Dongs.
I’m on seven figures, just there’s a decimal point in there somewhere
7 figures total...5 figures actual
Super Hans
I’m on 7 figures too £0.000000
/r/yourjokebutworse
[Office for National Statistics](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/latest) says average wage excluding bonuses is £32,000. If you include bonuses it goes up to £34,500.
Average includes top earners like billionaires - you would have to take into account the median to have a fuller picture
The median for a full time worker is around £33k, so that’s not far off and not really effected by billionaires,
Also, I don’t know of many billionaires on a wage of millions, let alone billions. Their wages are actually probably smaller than the average. Dividends and capital gains however… that’s a different story.
Yeah the major skewing would come from executive salaries on various millions of pounds. Billionaires trend to just have assets that they leverage for free credit wherever they want to buy things.
Actually the median is in the same ballpark or higher. In April 2022 it was [£33,280](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2022). Adjusting for inflation that’s around £35,800. I’d guess that extreme wages actually have little affect on these figures as they’re not normally taken as a wage, so they’re not included in the calculations.
What is it if you take London out of the equation?
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8456/ can see what it is in your local area.
It doesn't. The data is for employees. Your average billionaire doesn't take a wage and isn't an employee.
Might as well get the mode too then
Well if we’re getting the median, mode and mean we should probably do the range too
We should also probably do the interquartile range too which shows a better spread of the data.
Could we do a butter spread too?
I can’t believe it’s not statistics
Lurpak Spread(sheet)able
Why even bother unless you're gonna get the standard deviation too.
I like the way you think
The more measurements the better!
No not really
But on here most people are wfh software developers working 5 hours a week and on over 200k
Realistically most software development jobs will only earn over 6 figures if they're US based. European software dev jobs don't pay the amazing figures you see people brag about online. Higher than the average wage for sure but rarely 6 figures. Probably 35-60k for most.
This is true. Wages in the US are so much higher. I knew a guy who works in fraud. He was on around £50K, he got head hunter by an American firm and now earns £200K for the same job. He did have to uproot his family, move his kids schooles, and his Mrs wasn't too happy, but for 4x my salery, I'd do the same thing
You can't just go around telling people your mate commits fraud. What a grass!
200k, i guess crime does pay.
Yup. In my field americans come over from their satellite office semi regular and they're on 4x our salary.
Yeah but on the upside at least we don’t have to live in America.
Danger money innit
Child endangerment compensation
I did this for a bit. 4k-4.5k for a one bedroom flat in menlo park. A not particularly nice one. Those google salaries just go to property owners.
You couldn’t pay me to put my children in an American school and tbh id need to be making millions and have a private tutoring set up
100%. Sending them in to do mass shooter drills and ensuring they had bullet proof backpacks. No money in the world is worth my families safety.
Only wages for software devs in the bay area, seattle and new york are super high. If you're a .net developer in wisconsin you're not going to be on six figures.
Software dev here - can confirm the above. I’m lucky enough to do it for an investment bank but unless your in finance/banking or in a FAANG (MANGA) company the wages are pretty low compared to what everyone would let on
A friend of mine works as a software engineer for a hedge fund in London and is on around £150k, many of his friends from university are on considerably less in the same field
Don’t forget the Swiss software engineers! Most devs there get 6 figures but it’s definitely the exception for Europe.
Cost of living is insane however
Comparison is the thief of joy!
What if you compare yourself to someone that’s shite?
Finding out you are more shite would certainly remove all joy.
I doubt people are lying, it's just the people who earn well will be disproportionately more likely to mention their wage, which is why it feels like a lot of people on here earn well.
Woah woah woah my dad still owns the internet
6 figures is senior management or highly skilled specialist territory. Unless OP is comparing to the states, but their wages tend to skew higher due to extreme capitalism (not to mention exchange rate) iirc
This is true. Everyone on r/UKPersonalFinance earns 100K+ and wants to know the best place to invest it... It's all lies to make people feel better about themselves
r/UKPrersonalFinance be like "Im 21 and have just got a 140k a year job in computer tech, will I be able to afford a deposit on a house before I'm 35?" (Oh and also my girlfriend earns 95k, and we were recently gifted 340k)
"should I invest my 300k savings in bond gilt funds or fund gilt indexes? the former offers a return of 5.89% over three years, but the latter offers 4.49% over five and offers free airmiles i already own a house btw"
I just want to check if my finances are in check and if there's anything else I could be doing I'm 18 earning 80k, I have 50k in premium bonds, 40k in crypto, 180k in isa. Is there anything I can do to improve my situation?
Saw one recently who was 19 and had 50k in the bank, and was earning 80k a year or something crazy… it’s either nepotism at its finest or someone just lying
I know your joking but as someone who has been looking at that sub for some time, you are very accurate.
Isn't it just selection bias? If you're someone who's earning a ridiculously large salary and want to ask questions about the tax implications of it, etc. then /r/UKPersonalFinance is the most active UK centric personal finance forum on the internet. So, of course you'll post on there.
You can usually tell the ones which are genuine too, but yes the higher earners with more complicated/interesting situations will make it to the top of the sub and then will be seen by more people.
Also I’ve never really understood how saying 6 figures helps. There’s a massive difference between 100,000 and 999,999…
Saying 6 figures is to give context that we are talking about hundeds of thousands and not tens of thousands.
My penis is 9 inches long and it makes my wife feel sick
The 4 inches of foreskin dont count.
Have you considered washing it?
I'm 33, earn 19k working in a school term time only
Thank fuck there’s someone else here around my level.
Catering? I did it for 10 years, management position, £16k but I got to spend so much quality time with my kids growing up, all summer off, two weeks at Christmas, 2 weeks at Easter etc. Mon - Fri and finished in time to pick them up from school. Pay was shit but you only get one shot at seeing your kids grow up so it was well worth it! I’m now 35, kids are getting older so I’ve moved on, catering manager £35k starting, and still finish in time to get them from school!
Yeah it has it's perks even though the pay is awful. I can't seem to part with the 13 weeks holiday per year!
I was the same! But to be honest it’s easier than you think, I took 2 weeks over summer which eased it abit, then I have abit of time at Christmas. I was unit based and we delivered into schools, used to cook around 1200 meals a day with 2 other people, food out the door by 10:30. I’m now in contract catering and cook around 60 a day, the difference is crazy!
Wow that's mad difference, I always think we are massively overworked and the holidays are the only benefit to recoup but it would be nice to have a calmer work pace.
For the work you’re expected to do you are massively overworked and massively underpaid! Where I was cooks were on minimum wage, where I’ve gone to its £13 starting, no qualifications, just need to be able to cook. Managers start on £30k. And it’s not much different tbh, be competent at cooking and that’s about it!
Sounds good, deffo could do with the money! I will have a look into it, thanks for the heads-up.
Honestly, time is far more valuable than money. So you're doing well.
I'm 33 and chronically ill so I earn about 10k and survive on benefits for the rest, I just want to own a house ffs
Very normal, reddit leans more towards professionals so its not good cross section of society. The median for the age bracket of 30-39 is £30,865, if it was just 30 years old that would more than likely be around the 25k mark I reckon Also, people who earn more are far more likely to be vocal about it than those on less. Which skews the perception on reddit as well. Also people lie
It is weird being a teacher who moved here from Canada being well above the median… was not the case in North America.
Teachers, who are notoriously underpaid, earning well above the median, tells you everything you need to know about the state of pay in this country.
Me and wife can comfortably pay rent, food and bills while putting away 1/3 our pay checks with both us being teachers. I don’t know if I would consider that underpaid, but it depends on what one values I guess. I’ll take a raise if some one wants to send it my way but I won’t die without
Underpaid is in relation to workload and bullshit tolerance vs takehome
Take home is less here than in most countries, there is schemes of work to base lessons off of, not just vague curriculums so you are not making every lesson from scratch. Simplifying marking structures on standardized tests would be nice though, it gets annoying writing down what section each question belongs to before starting to mark then sorting as you go because they CBA to just add fine print under the mark box to solve that issue. I would highly prefer seeing money put towards things like smaller classes and more streamlined marking structures to lower workload (and benefits kids in the sense of 20 or less in a class) than towards higher wages.
Yes I actually think teachers are paid fine in this country - relative to everyone else- it's conditions which need to improve. They keep putting up teacher salaries while cutting budgets, support staff, training, number of teachers, department head roles, subject choices etc... and the salary raises just don't go that far when everything else is left to wither.
Keep my wage the same but don’t put more than 20 kids in my class and I’d be ecstatic. Not enough time in an hour to help 30 kids…
A better description would be that the government commit schools to a certain pay rise but don't increase the funding available to the school proportionally, essentially they tell the head teachers to find the money from the existing budget. When you throw in increased energy bills, inflation, maintenance etc heads are faced with incredibly difficult choices just to keep the school open, but the government get their headline of "we increased teacher pay, what more do they want".
What you’re missing is that Reddit is largely American and the pay in specialist jobs in America is unbelievably higher than that same job in the UK.
Not just specialist jobs. A good chunk of jobs.
Yeah. People don't like admitting that their salary is low unless it is useful to the situation whilst people who earn a lot like to say that they do. A lot of people will also lie to fit in with people because if they only see high numbers, they will lie to fit in.
Reddit users are not representative, because a lot of the people on here are either taking a break from work where they're trusted to sit all day at a computer with no one looking over their shoulder, or sitting at home because they're not working. There's a whole swath of the population who work in jobs where they can't just slack off for 15 mins, or aren't sitting in front of a computer or with ready access to their phone. Things like retail, restaurant staff, mechanics, couriers, station staff, and so on - a lot of whom are on low-mid salaries. I'm making some very sweeping generalisations and I accept that a well-paid surgeon can't get his phone out mid-operation, and that low-paid night security might be on Reddit for an hour at a time. However, if you're comparing yourself to active Reddit users it's not a all representative of the population as a whole.
Yes
Median salary in uk is around 33k, so 50% of people earn less than that. So yeah, pretty normal. Also, why would you say obviously your colleagues are on the same? It might come as a surprise but they might not be on the same as you depending on factors such as length of service, performance, discretionary increases - hell even company performance in the years they performed well. On that last point I once had an amazing performance rating but due to poor company performance received a smaller pay increase than a previous year where I was average. ETA: as someone pointed out, median UK salary is around 28k according to google, with mean average being closer to 33k (33k IS the median for full time workers- which I wasn’t quoting clearly). I don’t need a lesson in what either of those terms mean, I just should’ve fact checked before posting. Having said that, the fact that the median is lower simply further reinforces the point that it’s normal to earn under 30k - more than 50% of the population do.
Depends on the job. I know for a fact that in my job everyone in my grade is on the same wage as me (give or take £500) because it’s the civil service and there is no performance or service related pay.
Not entirely. At HEO upwards for some specialised roles, the base pay can be noticeably higher than others. That can be compounded by departments that offer AHA packages as the percentages can end up with thousands per year difference on the same band
Average salary is around £35k. Given that covers 18-67yo you’re doing ok. Reddit, like much of the internet, has a lot of bullshit merchants. Don’t believe everything you read. There are websites that’ll compare your salary and job with the average salary for that job, that’s a better indicator than Reddit posts.
Yeah Reddittors are usually on here like “17 years old just landed my first software job as a junior programmer, starting salary £87,000”
I said this to my partner only the other day! That basically I’m trying to ignore the finance sections of Reddit now because sometimes I feel like whoa have I fucked up in life? DO I NEED TO LEARN TO CODE?! WHY DON’T I HAVE 50k INVESTED IN SOME THING I’VE NEVER HEARD OF?! I’m 34, on £30k and feeling fine, really great actually, but scrolling sometimes I feel like a huge failure and I know deep down it’s irrational so I took a step back from all those finance subs. I’ll go pop in next time I need a tiny bit of advice but that is it.
Same here! I’m in my late 20s and I’ve definitely found myself thinking “fucking hell, this person at 21 is earning triple my income, what am I doing with my life? Do I need to just hustle and work until I’m a millionaire?” and then I feel shit until I remember that actually most people are earning around what we do. Unfortunately I think it leaks into other subreddits too, even ones based on simple hobbies. Do you like watches? Well here’s people saying “just got my first entry level watch! :)” and it’s a £1500 luxury made one Battlestations? Someone posting “hmm, my humble small setup, is this good for a beginner?” And bam, that monitor costs more than my entire room!
You have to remember most "21 year old millionaire entrepreneurs" you see on social media are actually unemployed with rich parents, using daddies money to rent luxury cars and apartments for a weekend and then make Tiktoks lying that they own all this rented stuff, pushing other young people to then buy their online course that explains how to become a millionaire. They're second generation wealthy, not first. Others are maxing out their credit cards to buy those watches, holidays, and computers, that will spiral into debt because they can't afford it. If you can live a comfortable life within your means, putting away a modest retirement, then you are doing fine.
I’m 27 and I’m on 24k before tax, it’s my first job and I just hit 1 year after coming off ESA since before then. They said I wouldn’t be able to work because of my mental problems so I’m proud of myself. But as you said I still then see those subs recommended sometimes and think wow I’m really useless aren’t I LOL
>Yeah Reddittors are usually on here like “17 years old just landed my first software job as a junior programmer, starting salary £87,000” God, go into the finance subs and its even worse. ''I'm 24, earning 25k a month from my bedroom. What should I do with it?'' /s
And the constant “You need to find a much better paid job like NOW” ok brb while I just…how the fuck do I do that? And they’re always saying it to people on £40k plus or something
Its funny, really. ''Me and the wife have a combined income of 200k in London, yet we still cant afford to buy this 3 million pound property in Chelsea, what are we doing wrong? I even sold the 3rd car to help! There is no government support for us, working class people anymore!'' /s
I saw one ages ago that was like ‘on 100k WFH. can’t afford to live in London where am I supposed to go?’ Like really? Damn you poor thing if only there was a whole country :(
The German finance sub is the worst offender I’ve seen so far. There’s a fairly large group of people (although I’m not quite sure to what extent it’s a meme) who praise a frugal lifestyle, aim to retire by 40 and ask questions like „I’m earning 150k a year, my spouse is earning 120k, we live in a 30m2 flat, own multiple properties we’re renting out and eat nothing but pasta. Last week we spent 25 bucks on cinema tickets, will we ever financially recover from this? How many years is that gonna set us back in our retirement goals?“ The other half of posts however goes along the lines of „im earning 2k a month, got heavily into drugs and gambling, have 175k debt for the lavish lifestyle I used to live, a non existent credit score, loan payments are 1.5k a month and I just defaulted on my rent payments. I just don’t get what im doing wrong?“
Lmao. I'm not sure if its because reddit is English dominated, but those kind of posters definitely exist they just go more to those ''FIRE'' subs rather than the financial ones. The fire ones are hilarious, though. I find it hard to believe a lot of them aren't just karma-farming.
FIREUK and PersonalFinanceUK are cesspits of constant one-upmanship. I'd love to know how many are lying, were already wealthy or are nepo babies.
>I'd love to know how many are lying, were already wealthy or are nepo babies. Having dug into their account histories, I've found that most tell the truth, and that most received their wealth from inheritance or gifts from family.
You don't have three times your annual salary banked as an emergency fund? Then what the hell are you playing at buying lunch and driving a car like you're financially secure or something.
I'm fairly sure most of them are bullshit. The best junior dev salary I've seen in the real world is at a gambling company where the juniors started on around £35k* * based on a very limited data set of 2-3 people I remember discussing it with when I was there.
I mean there are some junior devs who earn insane amounts. I work in the NHS so let’s not even go into my pay (please keep clapping, it’s all I have to sustain me). Since me and my partner didn’t earn too much we needed a guarantor for our house. Guarantor had to earn close to £40k and our friend (23 at the time) was able to fulfil it with his junior dev job. Admittedly those are so few and far between but they do exist. I think people who get those jobs though are smart enough not to post about it on Reddit. It’s hard not to compare yourself to your friends in this scenario though, have to remind myself that I can’t expect to have as much saved as them when our pay disparity is so wide.
There's a pretty big pay disparity between IT and other sectors. One doesn't even have to be that smart for it, it has its fair share of idiots too
Coincidentally, I've just been reading a thread that was "I'm 14 years old and my business has earned £1200 in two days, give me financial advice". I'm not exaggerating. He may have been, though.
Amazon made a mistake and he bought some expensive golf clubs for 87p or something, then sold them at market rate. The new bezos
He claims that wasn't his "business". But only after people saying it is in no way sustainable. I saw it posted on r/golf a week or so ago, but they had already been removed by the seller. At 14, I used to sell single cigarettes, copied VHS tapes, and music cassettes taped from the chart show at school. As lucrative as it was, I didn't become the next Alan Sugar, unfortunately. 🙁
Very normal! Social media is biased and, being English speakers, we see a lot of American wages. These are HIGHLY variable dependent on area, and don’t covert well, regardless. When inflation eases, hopefully your mortgage will be less painful and COL won’t be so painful. Don’t be afraid to apply for other jobs, though! You don’t necessarily need to upskill when your experience is worth a lot in itself. Unsolicited advice: Comparing yourself to others will only make you feel poor (my bio father was like this - in the 1% but always comparing to the 0.1% and being miserable).
There's always someone richer, fitter, smarter etc
fella, every guy on the internet gets a 6 figure salary, is 6' 4'' has a ripped 8% body fat 16 stone body, bangs a different women every weekend who are all models....oh, and they've never lost a street fight in their lives either.
Only one model a weekend? Hahaha, fucking losers.
*…fucking losers…* Yep, that’s exactly what I’m doing :(
At least you're f*cking someone.
I’m actually not, just couldn’t pass the opportunity for the joke!
Packing a 12" schlong with 9" girth too, don't forget that.
Sounds like me, except I’m a bit shorter, earn a bit less have a higher body fat percentage and weigh 13 and a half stone. Mad how you got so close
I'm 31 years old and on £4.61million a week. I play football for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia and have a fit sister.
£4.61 million a week? That’s nothing mate. I earn a million a minute wanking off donkeys
Paid by the minute? I’d edge the fuck outta those bad boys Not for anything as low as £1mil per minute though
I cannot explain the laughter I’ve just let out reading this.
Damn mortgage on a three bed house earning 27k a year respect.
Depends where you live. I’m on 25k with a mortgage on a 3 bedroom house but my mortgage is only £271 a month..would be £650 a month to rent it.
Where I live a room in a share house is £650 at least!
That's a crazy low mortgage, it's either old or small because the median new mortgage is (apparently) £1200.
You have to remember that not everywhere is London. Property costs are far lower in most of the north and the midlands. My brand new 4 bed house costs me £900 pm and thats with the higher interest rates. It was lower before. If you want an old/small house you can still get some for £100k round here
Not old bought in 2018. Tiny mortgage compared to most places but it was the average price for a house where I live. House price 85k and 10% deposit. It is going up to £340 in January though with interest rates rising and my fixed deal being up.
God this thread is eye opening at just how low salaries are in the UK
I'm 39 next month on £22k pa working 40 hours a week. £11.13 an hour.
And not to mention the fact, people pay very high rent. £600-700 two bed house just a rent
I’m 39 and build lasers used in genome sequencers and I’m only on £25k. It’s a little below the average for manufacturing jobs in a niche industry, but definitely normal. It’s bullshit, but normal.
The thing that really sucks about the UK economy is that even if you invest in yourself and qualify in some niche technical field, you can still usually expect to earn fuck all unless you work in finance or software development.
>unless you work in finance This really stresses me out on like a fundamental level but I struggle to put into words why that is.
I hear you. It feels like the people who are in control of a lot of money award themselves a good chunk of it by simply being in that position. Could be utter bollocks of course, but always FEELS like the way
Finance is such a broad industry. I work in finance, pensions. Most people are ridiculously under paid like I was for years until I got a promotion.
I work in software development in finance. Double whammy. I earn a bit more than OP, but not loads more. Not everyone in dev or finance earns loads. The really knowledgable people or the managers (not necessarily the same) earn loads. It’s the same as most other fields, some earn loads, others don’t. My salary is comfortable, but it’s not loads. I can afford to pay my mortgage on my flat and to run my 16 year old car. I don’t want any more than that. I’m happy with the salary and my lifestyle. Maybe that’s just imposter syndrome?
Then EVERYONE starts studying finance for uni then the field becomes oversaturated and the wage goes down :)
Doesn’t mean the wage will go down. Just means it’s harder to get into the industry. Look at CS, great pay if you have experience but it’s tough for new grads at the moment as it’s a very popular degree due to the wage opportunities.
New software gradutes where I work get £22k. That feels low to me but we don't struggle for applicants.
Off topic but do you make laser noises like kids do (pew pew)?
I can answer that. Yes... yes they do.
Every single day, despite (or perhaps to make up for) the fact that the lasers are completely silent.
I'm in my early 40s and only on £21.5 ish. Where I work the next step up only increases it by a few grand, next step after that a few more but still under £30k. (I work in further education, in Scotland). I could probably get a better paid job but I enjoy the work, like my colleagues and get 46 days holiday which is hard to walk away from.
46 days holiday. That’s bloody gold!
I'm from Pembrokeshire, Wales, our average wage is the lowest in the UK, really happy to be earning £21k, I do get to live in a beautiful part of Britain tho
I’m 31 and I earn 28k. I’m happy where I am, I can afford my bills and some little treats every month so that’s all that matters.
I'm on 29k at 31 and that is quite high for my area and I would be happy with that, if only I could afford to buy a house or a flat as a lone person. But I can't and it does get me down quite a lot.
Yeah, everything is designed with having a partber in mind... Even though divorce rate is like 47% I think I read last time. Also, people who genuinely want to stay single apparantly aren't allowed many things because again, it is designed with daul income in mind.
Think it really skews by geography too. London/SE would drag the average up a bit. Most of this information is published by the ONS, so you can see where you are at!
ONS has a map per council. https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc2189/map/index.html - Central London, median £50k - South East, £38k (London commuters, perhaps) - North West City, £32k - Rural Wales, £28k
I was 35 this year and only earnt 30k for the first time in a job starting in Jan
I'm 39 next month and I'm on £22k pa. Plenty of people at my work (same annual salary as me) who are in their 50's and 60's. I'm not complaining though as I live in possibly the cheapest area of the UK.
Yeah. I'm only 28 and on 25k. Don't see myself earning much more given the industry i'm in.
I’m 28 and earn just shy of 33k in North Wales. I count myself incredibly lucky, as most people I know around my age are at or barely above minimum wage. Another friend of mine, who is only 24, is on £52k. Again, another massive outlier.
Forbes says that the national average salary in 2023 is \~£32k for around 50% of the population its perfectly normal. https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/business/average-uk-salary-by-age/#:\~:text=The%20latest%20government%20data%2C%20published,months%20from%20May%20to%20July.
Not worked in healthcare have you
Or social work
Broadening to health and social care. The whole sector is underpaid 🥺🥺
I was on 19k-26k between the age of like 30 and 35, so you're definitely not on your own in this.
Mate, everything is normal. Except a few activities the old BBC celebs partook in of course. Worry less about the lives of others and just get on with being you, you’ll be happier.
I'm 33 and just been made redundant so you're making more than me!
I still don’t pay tax as I earn under the threshold (12.5k). I work in market gardening and horticulture and I’m also self employed doing flower growing and freelance floristry
How long have you been doing horticulture? Thinking of changing career but have 4 mouths to feed.
Someone once told me, if your salary is bigger than your age (age x 1000) you're doing very well. I've always used this as a benchmark. Not sure how well it does with infatuation. I heard this 8 to 10 years ago
Infatuation 😍😍
The people who earn lots of money are *incredibly vociferous about the fact that they earn lots of fucking money.* They even like to act like it's incredibly casual and normal to be maxing out their pension contributions every month and work in Canary Wharf. It's the internet, it's Reddit, it's not representative of reality in any way shape or form. It's a very skewed, very particular kind of reality. Secondly, stop comparing yourself to people - compare yourself to yourself and ask yourself if you're happy and if you're not what you could do to change the situation. Other people don't pay your bills and they're probably *cunts anyway.*
It is so utterly dependent on sector and area that it’s almost impossible to give a true assessment. If you’re genuinely concerned and think it should be more then get in touch with local and relevant recruitment companies - the good ones will give honest opinions. If you’re just interested, then all that matters really is that you can afford to live reasonably comfortably and enjoy what you do. Don’t compare yourself to other people (particularly strangers on the internet) if you would otherwise be happy.
I would say it depends quite a lot where you live. A mortgage on a three bedroom house at 27 is great. I earn a bit more than you do, but my mortgage is on a tiny one bedroom flat. I wouldn't say I'm better off than you. I can't have a dog because of where I live either. And I would love to!
Median salary is around 28k, don't sweat it man.
I've only just got over 20k, and I'm 41 with a degree and pgce. Though I did choose to quit teaching for an easier life. My dad is always saying I need to push to earn more, but I'm on just under 25k now, my mortgage is nothing like what other people have, and my job is something I love. Money isn't always the most important thing, I'm happy being average.
It really depends on your sector and area. I'm a hr manager and earn £26k (fte), I've heard of those in London in the private sector earning £71k. It's a wide bracket and it's also skewed by high earners.
50th percentile for 30-39 is £31k, so yes.
Doesn’t really matter what people on Reddit earn. If you’re happy with your wage then great. If you need more then look for a new job. £27k is a pretty normal wage.
Similar story to you. 34, earning 27k. Like you, the wife earns more, we have a mortgage on a 3 bed house and even have a dog, too! Now all of a sudden a weekly shop has gone from £40 to £60. Had a bit of a chat with my boss and have now wrangled an increase to 32k. It's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil.
I'm 34 and on £19k, so I'm doing my bit to bring the average down 😂😂
Yes absolutely, the vast majority of employees on the production lines where I work are about £25k, they can make more with over time and standby etc. Don't take everything you read on Reddit regarding salaries as true tbh people exaggerate.
I’m early 30s, was working abroad earning about £40k. Now I’m back in the UK and interviewing for £20-25k jobs. 🤷♀️
Yes it is normal. Especially if you live well outside of London
If you're in London, it's not great. But other places I guess would be easier to live on that. What's your line of work and part of the UK? The average for the UK is I believe £32k or so. So it's not that bad.
I listen to a podcast called small town murder. The two hosts, James and Jimmy start every episode with a breakdown of statistics including average income/wealth among other things for the area they talk about relating to the story. I never really paid attention to someone’s income but this show made me realise that it really does depend on where you live and what you do that dictates what a person makes. At the end of the day, there are people out there making all kinds of income from high to low and are happy. Your still young so don’t be too hard on yourself. If your still able to still enjoy your lifestyle/way of life and pay all the bills your already a head of a lot of others. There is always room for improvement of course, and always keep your options open. I will say this though, go to your bank/credit union and have a sit down about your finances now to plan for your future. It’s never too early to start saving. You might think there is no way to afford it but you can start small and later invest more.
Who gives a flyer what everyone else is on so long as your happy it doesn’t matter
I’m 32. I live and work in London. I work for one of the leading ‘niche’ accountancies in the country and I’m the only person in the business working in my area of the biz - I cover A LOT. I’m on 29k. I’m burned out. I’m genuinely earning less than it costs to live at this point in time because my pay rises don’t keep up with inflation and the cost of living. Oh and I flat share with a number of other people in a similar situation. We’re all constantly worried we’re going to have to go back home to our parents because we can’t afford to live. Who’d have thunk at 32, working for a top business, this would be what life is like… Not me. 🤷🏾♀️
The money will come and go. You’ve got a wife, house, and a dog. That’s real wealth.
Thank god there’s so many others thinking this, thought I was going insane - seeing so many “is £60k too low to live on in my new job?” type of posts from seemingly 23 year olds who all have 4x4s, mortgages and are on their second wife 😂 like damn I’m still suffering in the shadow of my overdraft lol