Pretty good at making decent amounts of money.

Terrible at saving it, despite having reasonably humble material possessions – more of a lifestyle failing

Coke and hookers? 😀

Coke and hookers?

Are they in the standard STW ‘Basket of Goods’ yet?

Working in oil and gas for four years made me realise how little I earn and spend in the grand scheme of things, sitting working for twenty-something grand on the same project as people earning two, three or four times as much or more, who knows, still working damn hard doing a technical job with big responsibility and huge financial value, with big implications if I get something wrong, just not got engineer in my job title.

Got made redundant in spring and decided to take the summer off, which became 8 months as jobs became scarcer. Signed on for 2 weeks before getting current job earning what I was ten years ago. BUT I had a great summer off, biking all the time, living like a student, relaxing and just ‘being’, it was great.

Think I’ve only bought two t-shirts and some brake pads in the last year, not got a mortgage yet, total income in the last year probably 3k so far. Not as happy right now as I was in the summer but once I get the needle back in the groove things’ll be rosier.

The cartoon is spot on I was definitely in the Paula house and my kids are in the other house my 25 year old eldest son earns over £80k a year + car + all the benefits in New Zealand and his route was exactly the same as Richards – still not sure if I am happy about selling my soul to the upper middle class

Never had much cash as it always went into my asset Base – children/house/business/pension
People have asked me how I got the property and businesses and the answer is the same – I worked too hard and took too many risks

Think I spent far too long working for one company through out my 20s and most of my 30s, 2 years ago, got signed off with stress and lost that job. Managed to find another job, took a massive pay cut, spent the last year for some reason feeling unmanly and not able to open up to my girlfriend of 10 years, that broke our relationship, lost the following job in August last year. Got a new one back in September, but after that i realised that I had that relationship with my girlfriend from the start of the movie Up and my life was actually everything I wanted I’m now single and lodging.

But career wise I’ve no idea what the future holds.

Very interesting thread. It seems most folks can identify what is standing in the way of having more cash / assets but can’t or won’t address the issue – just like me!

I am doing ok but could be earning a lot more. My weakness is that I won’t “play the game”. Can’t stand cloying brown nosing and the cliques I need to get involved with to get ahead. I am also uncomfortable with shameless self promotion and undermining the competition. Naive of me I know.

Hence, I resign myself to staying where I am or generating income from a secondary source if I want more cash.

Things got better once I realised your salary wasn’t a marker of how good you are at a job, but how good you are at negotiating your pay.

They got even better when I realised time and not money is the most important resource I have. Time to ride my bike. spend with my friends, family.

I used to be pretty bad with my money. Once I realised what was valuable to me it became easier to stop spending it, and put it towards what was important. In my case, that was a house for some stability, and savings for some peace of mind. Occasionally it gets spent on things for my family and I. This makes us happy.

Occasionally I do daydream of earning the big bucks and whatnot, but right now, I’d not trade it for what I have. Things may change later though.

I’ve never had mega bucks, but have neither have I been on the poverty line. Been a self-employed chippy since I was 20, so 12 years now.
of my work was cash in hand… Kitchen fitting, hanging doors, extensions privately, with some site work thrown in when necessary.

Now in Germany in the the exhibition abs events branch. Nothing gets done without an invoice as it’s all tax deductible.
I’ve earnt well the past few years, but the tax is now crippling. Now making a conscious decision to turn down jobs and earn about 60% less then I have done the past years.

And to those saying money isn’t everything…. It’s not, but it’s much easier to say that when you have enough that you are not worrying about just existing.

How **** depressingly spot on is that cartoon? Jeez… 🙁

I am doing ok but could be earning a lot more. My weakness is that I won’t “play the game”. Can’t stand cloying brown nosing and the cliques I need to get involved with to get ahead. I am also uncomfortable with shameless self promotion and undermining the competition

Pretty much the same here. I work hard and am usually very proud of my work but can’t stand the lying, brown nosing clients and one upmanship that goes on, or what people will do to climb the ladder.

Some of the Partners in a previous job were pretty painful to work with, they had the gift of the gab and could talk people round anything, it could be very painful to watch when you knew they were lying through their teeth or getting facts horribly wrong. I guess it’s fair enough and gets you ahead in life but I just wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it.

Was on a fixed rate mortgage when rates plummeted so didn’t benefit from low interest rates.

But it’s this kinda thing that sets folk apart.

You chose a fixed rate mortgage, you swapped risk of increase for stability of a fixed amount. This has two downsides, higher initial rate (+1%) and if rates go down you don’t benefit.

When we had a mortgage we always went variable, and accepted that the rate could rise, but knew we could benefit from reductions and weren’t overpaying (the fixed ‘premium’).

The cartoon makes one relevant point – parents are the biggest determinant of futures – and that’s something we cant choose for our selves but we can leave a legacy for our grandchildren.

br makes a good point.
Risk/reward, I guess.

The cartoon makes one relevant point – parents are the biggest determinant of futures – and that’s something we cant choose for our selves but we can leave a legacy for our grandchildren.

How true

Never, ever a truer statement, I try my very best to be a good parent, god knows its hard with three daughters (all single) aged between 22 and 30.

I keep stressing the need to take their time and find someone that will bring out the best in them but one of them loves “bad boys”,one has a really good fella and the others fella is just odd, really odd.

Its an emotional roller coaster but I’m reasonably confident they will get a better start,better advice and far more support than I did so thats progress.

ps making money is a complete and utter breeze compared to bringing up kids with good values and a sense of their own worth.

I’ve met so many people like the first person in that cartoon, and heard them utter those exact phrases in the final frame. Always a depressing experience. 😥

I’ve met so many people like the first person in that cartoon, and heard them utter those exact phrases in the final frame.

Stop attending Tory Party Conferences then 😉

bigjim – Member
Working in oil and gas for four years made me realise how little I earn

I’ve worked in a company supplying o&g and I think it more how much more most of these people earn than their equivalents in differnet industries. A bit like banking, its squewed and if they leave the industry they are usually quite shocked how much less they will earn for doing the same thing.

my 25 year old eldest son earns over £80k a year + car + all the benefits

Where are these job? I’ve got 10 year on him went to a top 10 and top 3 uni and don’t see these jobs anywhere other than a few people I know who work in “the city”. It seems like there is a diffrent job market out there for some people.

It seems like there is a diffrent job market out there for some people.

Yep, senior sales roles, which would pay £80k basic (or more), won’t normally be advertised. They’re filled through networking etc / poaching / head hunters as you’re normally after a person with connections rather than skills. The only way in is to work your way up from a junior position.

Is this anyone on here?