The 5 year plan to £50k

builder22 · 27 Jul 2014 at 12:48

FoxEye said:
I would like to end up doing something that not everybody could just walk in off the street and do.

just noticed this....why??

subbytna · 27 Jul 2014 at 12:52

Retrain as a plumber....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/ne...umbers-20m-turnover-time-35-year-history.html

His plumbers now earn an average of £80,000

oldbag · 27 Jul 2014 at 12:58

Generally the more you earn the more you spend. 50k isn't much in the south east/London as the cost of living is huge. The key is to do something you like.

dowie · 27 Jul 2014 at 13:00

subbytna said:
Retrain as a plumber....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/ne...umbers-20m-turnover-time-35-year-history.html

they had a TV show where everyone in the company revealed their salaries... IIRC his son was the CS manager on something like 40k, the PR/Marketing manager bloke poncing about in the suit was on something similar or maybe 50k and thought he deserved a 10k rise

the 'drains men' however.... 100k or so each - even more than the plumbers

Jez · 27 Jul 2014 at 13:03

RedvGreen said:
OK, to start off, you earn more than my basic wage.

I've got a 2:1 IT Degree, a Distinction at MSc, 8yrs working in IT, 3yrs in current expert role, and about 20 law enforcement/police/military training courses to my name.

I only actually earn more than you if you consider that I am expected to work 60-100hrs extra per month at flat 1x rate., which brings my annual gross salary to around £32k, but I never have weekends off.

To be fair to FoxEye i think you shouldnt be having a rant at him, it is you who are on a particularly bad salary given your history if that is all true. I would suggest that rather than it being the OP having it cushy, you have it badly.

£32k after 8 years with a degree, in an "expert role", with industry qualifications, and including loads of overtime?! :confused:

Buffman · 27 Jul 2014 at 13:45

Jez said:
To be fair to FoxEye i think you shouldnt be having a rant at him, it is you who are on a particularly bad salary given your history if that is all true. I would suggest that rather than it being the OP having it cushy, you have it badly.

£32k after 8 years with a degree, in an "expert role", with industry qualifications, and including loads of overtime?!

This.... Sounds pretty horrible situation there RedvGreen and I'd look at a different job

The "never have a weekend off" just shows you're definetly not getting rewarded well enough :x

FoxEye · 27 Jul 2014 at 14:13

Surveyor said:
£15-£20k seems rather optimistic.

I assume the £27k is gross pay so net would be around £21,300 then less whatever other deductions the OP has, e.g. pension contributions.

My take-home is roughly £19k after tax and NI.

Bills are about £5k a year, including council tax, food, gas, leccy, landline, TV, internet, the essentials. Leaves me with £14k. Electric alone is something like £1k/year, last time I checked.

Realistically I can save between £10k and £13k a year.

To answer the other questions about why haven't I moved out yet?

5 years ago I had no job and a lot of debt.
I took a £15k/year job for 3 years and this paid off the debt, eventually.
I've been on £27k since March only. The saving starts now.

Freefaller · 27 Jul 2014 at 14:16

1k a year on electric?? Are you growing illegal drugs???

You're able to save 10k a year which is significantly more than a lot of people here can save. I'd say you're in a great position if you're willing to put the effort in.

FoxEye · 27 Jul 2014 at 14:21

Freefaller said:
1k a year on electric?? Are you growing illegal drugs???

Hmm. Now there's an idea. Think I'd hit 50k doing that?

Maybe it was combined gas/electric bill then

We use the same supplier for both.

arknor · 27 Jul 2014 at 14:23

Freefaller said:
1k a year on electric?? Are you growing illegal drugs???

You're able to save 10k a year which is significantly more than a lot of people here can save. I'd say you're in a great position if you're willing to put the effort in.

maybe his heating is electric.

I spent just over 300 on electric in the last year living alone and probably about the same on heating :S

Hmm. Now there's an idea. Think I'd hit 50k doing that?

probably a month if your internet savvy

Nitefly · 27 Jul 2014 at 14:25

10k of savings a year is pretty good. Certainly more savings that the average bear.

Bear · 27 Jul 2014 at 14:29

Nitefly said:
10k of savings a year is pretty good. Certainly more savings that the average bear.

I'm not average

IronWarrior · 27 Jul 2014 at 15:09

David_VI said:
Train driver. One of the best paid jobs if you have no qualifications!

ExRayTed said:
It's do-able with a little luck initially.

Join the railway as a train driver - that gets you around £45k a year excluding overtime. Do that for 5 years and you'll achieve your target most likely. Or drive trains for 3-5 years (depending on the company, mine is 3 years) and apply to be a driver instructor or competence / driver manager. Comp managers earn between £50k-£60k, again depending on the company you work for.

I was a driver for 5 years, an instructor for 10 years and have been a comp manager for the last 3 years.

The biggest hurdle is getting the driver's job in the first place.

How did you two get to become drivers?

I was looking in Google last year and couldn't find much information (seems to have changed now)

It seems a very compective job to get since there is only so many trains available and there must be 1000's of people trying to get one.

Freefaller · 27 Jul 2014 at 15:26

arknor said:
maybe his heating is electric.

I spent just over 300 on electric in the last year living alone and probably about the same on heating :S

probably a month if your internet savvy

Unfortunately we only have electric and pay around 500 a year and we're significantly in credit too.

Housey · 27 Jul 2014 at 15:29

Well the first objective is to have a plan and frankly a plan needs more substance than I want to earn 50K in 5 years time, but it's certainly a start. Is it possible? Well of course it is, 50K isn't that significant a wage at your age and frankly those suggesting "many people would be happy to earn 27K" is irrelevant, because many people would be hugely unsatisfied at earning 27K, so it's all about perspective and people who are happy with their lot at 27K or less is not really the source of best advice.

A question. Outside of a huffy moment of realisation, what has stimulated this ambition and outside of this thread, what have you done to start the change in your life?

FoxEye · 27 Jul 2014 at 15:47

Housey said:
A question. Outside of a huffy moment of realisation, what has stimulated this ambition and outside of this thread, what have you done to start the change in your life?

Plain and simple if the best I could do before I died was what I'm currently doing, my life would be an epic failure. I need to achieve more. And earn more.

What have I done so far? Well as yet I have no direction and quite frankly need some input to even get started. It's confusing, bewildering, and I should have started much earlier in life.

I know this probably sounds dumb. I guess I need to take small, measured steps. But I need to work out what steps they should be first.

Housey · 27 Jul 2014 at 15:52

You need to consider moving first of all I would suggest, as earning 50K in Cornwall without any real skills and at your age without any idea of what you want to do is probably going to end in failure. Have you looked at the Cornish job market and understood what jobs pay that sort of wage, that might be an interesting starting point. Look at job boards, speak with recruitment companies and also approach some organisations and have a candid discussion. You need to understand the marketplace before you can move into it, or in your case prepare effectively to move into it.

Housey · 27 Jul 2014 at 15:59

...to add you also need to understand what gaps there are in the workplace that you might fit into, what skills you need to acquire to fit into the space. Lots of older, retired people in Devon and Cornwall, is there a gap their to provide services there? The fact is setting up your own concern, should you wish to remain down there, is probably going to move you towards your goal quicker, but again you need talent and hard work and I hard work, it would seem, is something you have not been good at facing so far, so what is different now and what is going to maintain that difference?

RedvGreen · 27 Jul 2014 at 16:16

Jez said:
To be fair to FoxEye i think you shouldnt be having a rant at him, it is you who are on a particularly bad salary given your history if that is all true. I would suggest that rather than it being the OP having it cushy, you have it badly.

£32k after 8 years with a degree, in an "expert role", with industry qualifications, and including loads of overtime?!

Apologies! Rant was not directly intended at him, but more to make him appreciate and savour his current role and salary. If he cared for his role a bit more and appreciate the chance/opportunity he already has, he could make some good headway.

Housey · 27 Jul 2014 at 16:52

RedvGreen said:
Apologies! Rant was not directly intended at him, but more to make him appreciate and savour his current role and salary. If he cared for his role a bit more and appreciate the chance/opportunity he already has, he could make some good headway.

I suggest headway for him is not focusing on simply attaining more (or some?) additional qualifications. You have shown that simply amassing knowledge from an education system guarantees nothing and frankly far too much time is spent on this forum debating the chase for the next tick box in a process or qualification. Reach your mid 30's as our OP is heading towards and very few people are going to be looking at 35 year olds who have done nothing but have just spent 2-4 years at University gaining a tick box, there are far younger people without such baggage who are likely to be much more hungry. Spending time on getting good in an interview and having a clear direction would be far more fruitful.