Potential Career Earnings dilemma.....please help

MiddyMum

getmore4less wrote: »

Top of 6 is £34k add 20%-30% for enhanced rates, £40k should be easy(Sundays BH base+60% rest 30%.)

Get involved in the career options, managment or consultant 8c is a target £67k

I am about to indulge in a little career planning..:rotfl:

Midwives in London start at Band 6, so as it stands it works out to be arond 30K with weighting etc.

Work through increments for 2 - 3 years, move up to band 7.

Work through those increments for 3 - 4 years, move up to Band 8.

But I need to remember that when I move up bands I will always start at the bottom! I cant think about this in a lot of detail because the salaries will probably increase with inflation by then, it is a long way off.

Although, I can see that I would be looking at 7 years minimum before getting to the Consultancy type work. However, and its a big BUT, I would need to do a Masters part time in order to progress, by the time I am applying for Band 8 roles I will most definately need to be working towards a phD. Although, some trusts will sponsor me to do them. Also, the example I gave was for London, outside of London midwives start on Band 5, progressing to band 6 on average within a year and I guess it is pretty much the same pathway after that. If I was very very ambitious and worked really hard, I could be a Consultant Midwife after 7 years of post qualification graft. But I would start at the bottom of the band 8 pay scale and work my way up the increments again. I just have this feeling that I will always have to work agency shifts (like someone else mentioned on this thread) to top up income. It will pay me £30-55 and hour..

I would love to work in London, but then if I did that I wouldn't be able to buy a house. :rotfl:Oh dear.

Fluffi

MiddyMum - firstly I think you're doing the right thing, thinking about the kind of life you want and whether your study/career choices fit in with that. So many peopl study and then find they can't achieve the kind of lifestyle they hoped for at the end of their degree. And I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to earn a good wage while working in a caring profession! I don't understand why carers have to be poorly paid! Personally I'd love to have a more caring or people-centric job, but especially early on in my career I'd have struggled to have lived on my own in a relatively safe area of London so I pursued a different career - maybe one day I'll have saved up enough money to switch to something more fulfilling.

Also don't think you necessarily have to send your children to private school for them to get a good education ... you might be better moving to be in a catchment area for a relatively good state school and then paying for private tuition to ensure they are stretched sufficiently, especially if they show signs of being bright.

It also might be less stressful to have additional tuition at home than being the "scholarship" children at a private school. As others have said its not easy to be the "poor" children amongst the wealthy crowd who will for example enjoy multiple foreign holidays and ski trips a year.

And saving on private school fees will also give you more money to put towards after the school clubs, music/dance/language lessons and sports which will help your kids to make more friends (and future connections) and also help them be "rounded" individuals which will be vital when applying for competitive Uni courses if that's the path they chose to take in the future.

Kynthia

If you did decide to work in finance then I wouldn't do a degree. Usually the best jobs require you to be a chartered accountant and therefore you would be best to study either CIMA or ACCA. If you did a degree you would spend three years full time doing it, pay thousands of pounds and still need to to do the chartered accountancy qualification afterwards.

MiddyMum

Fluffi wrote: »

I'd have struggled to have lived on my own in a relatively safe area of London so I pursued a different career - maybe one day I'll have saved up enough money to switch to something more fulfilling.

.

Thank you so much for your post, I will definately take on board what you said about the private schools. However, what you said here particularly struck a chord with me. I am still with my little girl's father but he has no ambition unfortunately. I plan my future as a single mum from a financial perspective. I know some may disagree with that but it is one of the reasons why I may choose not to apply for Kings College London (my dream uni) and work as a midwife in London. If I was to be a single mum there, I really would end up !!!! creek without a paddle. £2000 a month after tax, at least 50% would go on rent, I wouldn't be able to save. The thought of not being able to save almost makes me break out into a sweat..:rotfl:so I can see why you decided not to pursue a caring career in London it's just not feesible if you are single. I have considered living further out i.e Kent but then I would have extortionate train fares to consider so it all seems a bit pointless. I feel a little sad that I can't apply there but I like to know that I could support myself independently with or without my partner.

phill99

I find this debate quite saddening and deflating.

Respectfully, to you OP, you say that you want 2 main things: a home that is paid for and a good education for your child. That in itself is not an issue, but I just feel you are focused heavily on the remuneration of midwifery, rather than the true value and reward that that a job like that can bring.

I fully believe that medical professionals should be properly recognised for their skills in terms of both how that are perceived and how they are remunerated. But there is an argument that if they are too well rewarded, then people choose that career for the wrong reasons and we loose out on people who see medicine as a vocation.

I think you need to be realistic. While there is a chance of earning up to £67k, plus doing other financially rewarding roles, you need to acknowledge that the career grade is going to be the £30 - £40k bracket. Exceptional people will earn above that. I have no doubt that you are ambitious, confident and intelligent. I also have no doubt that every other midwife is exactly the same and will be as ambitious as you to develop their careers. Therefore, competition will be exceedingly tough and you may not be any better or worse than any other midwife. Therefore you could easily be passed over for promotion.

On that basis, I think you are setting yourself up for real disappointment. If your two main goals are a house that's paid for (every homeowner in the UK will have a house that's paid for - once the mortgage is paid off) and to get your child privately educated, then to be honest, midwifery isn't for you.

Even a modest private school will cost you £12k a year. And that's out of your net salary, so gross that up and it's more like £18k off of your top line salary. So e en if you get to that £67k salary, your child would have probably left school by then.

I'm not trying to put a downer on your ambitions, but just trying to put a different slant on it. I wish you success with whatever you do.

I think you should really consider finding a career which is highly financially rewarding.

MiddyMum

Where did I say that having a house and a private education for my daughter is the only things I will look forward too? They are my goals yes, but not my only ones in life. I thought this is a forum that people go on to talk about anything money related. I set this thread to debate the earning potential of two career paths. Admittedly, one I do have a lot more interest for. If I want to talk about the personal rewards of supporting mothers with Breastfeeding, doing baby bath demonstrations, my attendance at midwifery conferences, the latest midwifery agendas and my growing library of books from authors such as Kitzinger, Michel Odent, and Leboyer I will do so on a midwifery forum. Here, I talk about the money side of things only.

Idiophreak

MiddyMum wrote: »

I am still with my little girl's father but he has no ambition unfortunately. I plan my future as a single mum from a financial perspective.

I think you need to have a serious chat with this guy about whether he shares your dreams for the future - and if so, what he's going to do to help you achieve them.

Or start a thread "how to get my guy to shape up"...something like that.

Practically speaking, I think it's much easier to get 2 people to 40k earnings than it is to get one to 80k...and the easier you get the income, the better it will be for your daughter.

(of course, with 2x40, you also get two lots of personal allowance, lower band tax and so on, so will get more each month for the same overall wage)

MiddyMum

Idiophreek - My partner is 38 years old, we have been together for 4 and a half years, since I was 21. He went back to uni as a mature student but doesn't see the point in saving lot's of money etc. We had a long talk about it, he is now looking for a graduate job. (He graduated last month). He wont apply for the well paying ones, as he is a creative person and wants creative work. He just does not have a great deal of get up and go and you can't force someone to get it. However, he does claim to be ambitious...but I don't see how he is. Not in the way I am though. The point of the matter is at 38 years old he does not have a penny to his name and it worries me to be quite frank. Offset that with the fact he is intelligent, funny, charismatic and a good father which is why I fell for him in the first place...but I am changing now.

FBaby

Very interesting thread, but from my experience, I think you are thinking your future way too much based on your current feelings when as you developped your career and your daughter grows up, you might find your ambitions/desires/limitations change things completely.

Like you, I was very ambitious and expected to earn a good salary. I started well, going from a starting managerial position with the NHS on £21K, now earning £47K 9 years later. I have been on the top of Band 8a for three years now and so normal progression would be to move to band 8b. I have been told that capability-wise, I am capable for it and should apply if one such post comes up (that is when we move from a situation where we are slotted in posts rather and not allowed to apply to higher grades). BUT, and that's certainly a BUT I never considered before, even though I would love the challenge of the tasks and certainly the increase salary, I know that I could cope with the demand of a position of that level with the role I want to play as a mum to two children of 9 and 12. In the end, being a good mum is much more important to me than my career. I know that if I was a band 8b, I would have to accept much longer hours than contracted, taking the blame for things going wrong and expected to sort them out, dealing with all the stress of late submissions/demands/worry that if one of my staff does something wrong, the responsibility along with the disciplinary actions would fall under me etc...

I am already constantly exhausted from the demand of a band 8a (very different in my organisation than what is expected of a band 7) and I've finally reached the stage where the extra money isn't worth the extra demand an 8b job would come with.

Unfortunately, as a midwife, moving above band 7, you would need to take on managerial responsibilities with the above added stress and demands.

Don't forget that your DD will also come with much more demands as goes up, wanting to do activities after school, going to friends/parties, school plays, teachers meetings etc..., having to arrange school holidays and the rest... will your partner be able to take all that on alone? Will you want him to and you having a much smaller involvement? Are you sure you want to stay at one child?

In regards to private school, I thought just like you. Both my children fall under the 'talented and gifted' category with expected exceptional results. I have been pleased with the primary schools they've attended, but was concerned about secondary schools and looked at the best local private school. I had been told by my DD teachers that she would have no problem getting a scholarship...except that the best she could get is 20%, and even that makes it extremely expensive, not even considering if we had to pay for my son too. I therefore delayed admission and she started at the local (conveniently 5 minutes walk from home) secondary school. It is not an amazing school, but a good one. Her tutor has admitted that she could be much better challenged, but she is progressing ok for her levels. More importantly, she has adjusted brilliantly to school life, made good friends I approve of, and is overall very happy. She is ambitious, talks about going to medical school and over the year, I have decided that although in a perfect world, I might still have wanted her to go to the private school, she is happy, progressing well AND.... I much prefer to limit the stress I deal with at work, have a bit more freedom to do things for/with my children, and spend what I can put aside each month towards wonderful holidays.

A long post, but I hope some food for thoughts.

MiddyMum

Thank you Fbaby for your post...a lot to think about there.

I definately only want one child, I realised a year go that I feel complete as a mum and don't want anymore. That may change, but deep down I feel like I am too much of a career woman to have lots of children.

Hmmm, dont know what to do. Like I said before, midwifery is a "heart " career. When I want something, I usually put my all into it, which is what I have done for the last few years. Its only recently, I have realised my plan may have flaws because I probably won't earn enough. I guess it is good that I am considering it now though before I start my training.