The cost of living crisis is hitting many families hard, but high earners who are still able to splash out on luxuries have revealed what it is they spend their cash on every month.
In an eye-opening thread on the parenting website Mumsnet and unnamed woman, 27, who lives an hour outside London, explained that she and her doctor husband, 29, earn just under £140,000 a year combined.
Her post entitled: ‘High earners – how do you spend your salary?’ explained that they contribute to their pensions and give 10 per cent a month of their earnings to charity, but wanted to know if they could be allocating their income in a better way.
Other responders listed expenditure such as private school fees and chilcdare, trips to the opera and hiring help for household tasks.
A Mumsnet user (not pictured) sparked debate after asking fellow ‘high earners what they spend their disposable income on
The poster revealed that they invest £1,000 a month, and also put £1,000 aside for holidays, as well as general savings
In an eye-opening thread on the parenting website Mumsnet and unnamed woman, 27, who lives an hour outside London, explained that she and her doctor husband, 29, earn just under £140,000 a year combined
Another said that she’d been helping to buy each of her five children their first property, while one said their money goes into investments, taken care of by her banker husband.
Expensive food, exercise classes and taxis made the list as did travel, athough one admitted that she finds holidays ‘a chore’ and would rather spend money on home decor.
Kicking off the thread, the woman said she wanted to ‘ask other high earning households how they tend to allocate their money?’ to ‘see if we could be using it better or this is about right for comparables.’
She explained: ‘We plan to start overpaying the mortgage. We invest £1,000 a month (so £500 each) and save £1,000 for holidays.
High earners revealed that they spend money on luxuries including holidays, home help, and the opera
Other responders listed expenditure such as private school fees and chilcdare, trips to the opera and hiring help for household tasks
‘We of course do general/specific savings but then have a good chunk left over for disposable income.’
One revealed: ‘Combined gross salary is £220,000. It goes on large pension contributions, son’s school fees, savings and investments, holidays, we have people over for dinner quite often, eating out, a whopper of a mortgage.
A second wrote: ‘Apart from opera, not much. Everything’s paid for and the children are grown up. Oh wait, half of son’s forthcoming wedding reception.
‘Still both working full time because we like work. There is nothing we need or want particularly so the money just gets reinvested.’
Another simply listed: ‘Home help, holidays and activities/ lessons.’
Many users felt that speaking about financial matters can be helpful, as well as interesting, and defended the poster’s question
However, the post also received some negative feedback, with some commentators branding it insensitive, especially given the current cost of living crisis.
One poster wrote: ‘What a boastful thread and rather insensitive given the current financial situation a lot of people are facing. Why don’t you just go and pay a financial advisor to tell you what to do with your bloated salaries instead of bragging on Mumsnet?’
Another agreed, adding: ‘Good grief. What a truly unpleasant thread. At least there aren’t any comments about ‘giving back’ and charitable donations. Then I might puke.’
However, others inisted there’s nothing wrong with questioning how other people spend their money.
Another forum user added: ‘Making it taboo to talk about earning well is not helpful. I earn ok and tend to think I should be grateful (and I am) and be satisfied with that – something a lot of posters on here would no doubt agree with.
‘Well, I read a salaries thread on here recently and it gave me the confidence to ask for the pay rise that I’ve suspected I was due for a while. Not because the posters on there were in my situation, but because I saw that there are a lot of women out there on very good salaries. You don’t have to settle for ‘good enough’ because it’s greedy to have more.’
And a third added: ‘It may not be detailed financial advice, but op is quite clearly trying to get a feel for ways in which people like her are apportioning their earnings to different things.
‘Are other people prioritising pensions or mortgages? What about fun stuff? How much does someone in her salary bracket splurge vs save? It’s not something that is spoken about openly, and we are all curious about how we compare to others.’
The post was criticised by some posters, who suggested that it was insensitive, given that many people are currently struggling with the cost of living crisis