What do you consider a 'decent' salary (non-London)

jojo90_2

LilyDeTilly wrote: »

I haven't read the other posts

Perhaps you could give that a go then respond?

nikki33

jojo90 wrote: »

Sorry but I completely refute that. Computer Science studies the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and their practical applications. Natural Computation takes that one step further and I was studying everything from quantum physics to biology and how these are used to create algorithms capable of solving complex calculations. This was very much a research orientated degree.

Put it this way – the university handed out a single prize for the top dissertation across all the sciences. The prize went to me while studying Computer Science & Software Engineering . So yes, it is a science. There are other ‘IT’ degrees out there if you just want to learn how to code however Computer Science is a lot more than that.

With my degrees I could go and start writing research papers for some of the big players, HP, Dell, etc. With an 'IT' degree that couldn't hapen.

I think you totally misunderstood what I meant. I never say that your degree was less hard or worth less than a "pure" science degree. What I was trying to say is that had you done a degree in biology or chemistry and stayed working in biology or chemistry, you would be unlikely to be earning £50k at 29. That is why I asked the question in the first place. I am sure you will probably come back to me saying you have a biologist friend earning £100k a year but in my experience that is not the norm!

jojo90_2

nikki33 wrote: »

I think you totally misunderstood what I meant. I never say that your degree was less hard or worth less than a "pure" science degree. What I was trying to say is that had you done a degree in biology or chemistry and stayed working in biology or chemistry, you would be unlikely to be earning £50k at 29.

Sorry - yes I did misunderstand . Even if you go into research? My lodger is a biologist, 29, and from our conversations I reckon she earns 40-50k. She is on placement from Spain so perhaps things are different over there and perhaps not normal here .

nikki33

jojo90 wrote: »

Even if you go into research? My lodger is a biologist, 29, and from our conversations I reckon she earns 40-50k. She is on placement from Spain so perhaps things are different over there .

She must be lucky - I also believe that a lot of people's earnings are also down to luck (AS WELL AS hard work - before you slate me for that!), being in the right place at the right time. I agree that you definitely need hard work as well but unfortunately hard work is no guarantee of anything. I thought about doing a PhD but with 3 more years out of the work place then the opportunities seem to be mainly post docs which are one or two year contracts at around £25 -28k so no job security. Have a look at new scientist jobs if you don't believe me.

jojo90_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

Out of that £400/day you'd also have to pay employers AND employees NI and your own holiday pay. There'd also be fees to setup/run your Ltd company, or an Umbrella Company Fee for them to do everything for you and give you a payslip. (Ignoring tax free amounts etc) if you earn £400/day then straight away under an umbrella you'd have to set aside £40 for employers NI, £40 for employees NI and £40 for your own holiday pay, dropping the rate instantly to being paid £280/day + holiday pay.

I think that's a debate for another day

PasturesNew wrote: »

Except that when you're contracting you often have less/no control over when you can take holidays because you're there for the duration of the task you've been hired to do. When the contract ends, your focus is then on getting the next job/contract, so need to get that sorted out (rather than holidaying), then suddenly you have a new start date and there's no time for a holiday

Make hay while the sun shines and all that My dream is to finish work in 10 years and contracting is a component of that. The two post-it's attached to my laptop say 'Work Hard, Play Hard' and 'Try and see the good in everything'

getmore4less

jojo90 wrote: »

Hmmmm.

I am starting to get a little peeved by some of the comments that I've ignored so far however probably time to respond. If you took the time to read through my posts I’m looking to hear from other people to get a sense of perspective and advice.
.

The problem as I see it is you have lost the sense of perspective.
£50k is plenty but if you spend it all you need to keep earning it.

Your plan only worked to 30 but what next?
It seems to be based on I can delay savings now because I WILL earn more soon!
If you continue to spend then you will need to continue to earn.

IT management(I think test group?) off shore, wait till they decide they can do the management offshore as well(thats what made me redundant last year).


The problem is that if you want to do all those great things from 40 you need to fund them and no one but yourself will be doing most of that and it requires savings/investments to fund the loss of income.

This needs to come from current income, over time the assets compound untill they are of a size to replace earnings.

You need to re evaluate where you get value for money from your current spends against saving for the long term goals.

I liked to do like for like comparisons on an annual basis when making choises.

eg. Knocking £100 per month of a food bill or £1200 of the holiday budget or both or 1/2 each.

One thing is clear is that you need to reconsider your motoring habits, cars are the biggest destroyer of weath you will ever have(unless you get into boats).

Bottom line is you need to start building the assets that are going to fund this future paradise you see for yourself.

I assume that that the mortgage is allready on target to be paid of at 40?

If not that would be a good start.


Have you done a SOA/budget with a 10y plan?

[Deleted User]

I'm surprised, you're doing IT contracting and only earning 50K? That's pretty small fry for contracting. I know i've seen jobs doing what I do (also IT) for 350 - 450 a day. Hell, if I went abroad, i know of places I could get 800 a day for what I do.

I'm also a scientist turned IT bod.. must say that computer science exams were considerably easier than my genetics exams (I took several 3rd year CS exams within my masters course). Also, computer science is not hypothesis driven, as natural sciences are

haydonwynter

I would say £24,000 would be decent, but if I was to push the boat £30,000 a year would do me :P

bristol_pilot

People who STAY in science can often be poorly paid, but the intellectual rigour of a scientific training can pay dividends later to those who then go into something else - IT, management, banking, law or whatever.

KxMx

I'd consider 13,000 decent, 15,000 absolute riches!

Looking at your budget, you spend alot on your mobile, plus landline and internet. There are lots of good bundle deals out there, you could easily cut that cost right down.