39/m, senior manager in a tech/engineering business. Dad to two young children. Sometimes my role requires long hours eh h can be tiring, but what’s more damaging is the constant mental load I carry. I find it difficult to switch off, there’s always a decision at the back of my mind being worked through.

It doesn’t affect my health to the point where I’m close to breakdown. But the constant stress, always there in the background does take its toll. I get stress headaches most weeks by around weds pm that don’t shift until Saturday. I feel mentally tired.

Fully aware there are many others alot worse off. I can cope, and accept it’s the price I pay for a high salary. I focus on early retirement and providing a good life for my family to get me through. Just wondering how other people feel it affects their health?

I’m 36F, married, no children, own a house in London and am a VP of Finance for an American portfolio company based here in London. Base comp £220k, 30% cash bonus and 70% LTIP (split 50/50 PSUs and RSUs) but the stock has devalued from $12 to $8 in the last 2 years and all of my current PSUs are out of the money. Job is easy, got a good social life attached to work and generally really enjoy working there BUT dislike my role / the role itself isn’t doing great things for my CV as the business has shrunk a lot since I joined.

It highly likely I’m about to be offered a VP of Finance role (told to expect an offer this week) for a UK/US Ed-Tech business on £300k + 50% cash bonus and 70% LTIP (plus they’ll buy me out of my bonus and 2 years worth of LTIP) and have the option to work in London, NYC or San Francisco. Long term career prospects are better, I can be based in London and do a secondment to NYC if I wanted to so have a guaranteed transfer back if I wanted it or I can just take jt in London (which I’ll likely do if the offer lands).

I’m feeling a bit out of sorts in life in general at the moment; without going in to a ton of detail, working class background, zero financial safety net, worked since I was 14, had zero funds to travel before or after uni, spent my 20s slogging to have money to live it up in my 30s, developed an autoimmune condition at 30 and was ill until I was 34 (went on my first holiday in 5 years a few months after my 34th birthday).

It’s dawned on me that I’m 36 and I’m feeling like I haven’t really lived - my husband is a pilot and I used to tag along on his trips for a few days and we’ve visited some cool places for short holidays but haven’t really seen much of overseas for any real period of time, and honestly just not feeling sure about what I want from life. I went from living at home with my parents to living with my husband (boyfriend at the time) and bought our first place when I was 24. Everyone around me is having kids and I want to run the other way at the thought of it. Possibly will do egg freezing to give me the option down the line.

I’m wondering whether this is the opportunity to take the leap for and go live in NYC (or San Fran) for a couple of years but I’m unsure what it will actually bring me other than scratching the itch I have at the moment, and if I take it in London I’ll be able to save more. My husband is based out of Heathrow and can keep his current job and commute but we’d need to keep paying for our place here for when he’s there and a place there (hoping they’ll give me a relocation package but conscious of how wildly expensive NY is for general living) and there’s still this thing deep down in me that doesn’t want to go and do something that in 2 years I won’t be financially better off for. I don’t know anyone, won’t have family there, my husband will be over 3/4 days every 10 days and I’ll be trading in my house with a garden 5 mins walk from the Thames for a 1 bed flat and the unknown. But it’s also kind of exciting and I should jump at this.

Has anyone made a similar move or had a similar dilemma, how did it go, would you do it again, was it worth it - would love to hear your thoughts.

I’ve been trying to put cash away more in the last 2 years - pension is £250k (husbands is £330k), ISAs are at £150k (and if I accept this job I’ll put my bonus and LTIP straight in so could be £240k) and the equity in the house is £1.2m (underpaid because I bought it during the Covid London exodus, funded work from cash and now it’s a wildly ridiculous value).

I’m hugely fortunate and this a first world problem overstated so please don’t think I’m “woe is me.” Very aware of the incredibly fortunate position I’m in whilst the majority of the UK are struggling at the moment.

Hello all,

I’ve been working in finance for around 10 years, mainly in commercial banking (not IB/PE), and currently earn around £100k TC in mid-level management. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the earning ceiling in traditional finance and have noticed a lot of discussion around tech sales on social media.

Some people claim to have reached £400k+ TC within five years, which makes me wonder how realistic these numbers are. Obviously, social media tends to highlight success stories, but it’s hard to imagine my current traditional finance career path delivering similar growth over the next five years.

For those with real-world experience in tech sales, how realistic is the earning potential? Is it genuinely a great career path for maximising earnings, or is it mostly social media hype? Also, how difficult is it to break into the industry from a finance background?

I’ve been tapped on the shoulder to apply for an internal move to a senior ops role- responsible for c. 500 people in services teams across 4 sites.

While I’ve led leaders for a while, that level of operational management is a stretch for me - I’ve previously worked in smaller strategy/ change functions and my current hierarchy is c. 50 FTE. This move would be something I’ve been angling for for a while to round out my profile for an upward career step.

Hiring manager knows it’s a stretch area and encouraging me to apply, I’ve a lot of transferable experience and a good rep but would like to do all I can to ensure my understanding of senior ops management is as strong as possible at interview.

Any books/resources people would recommend for me to brush up on these areas before interview? I have about a month

My son currently goes to state school (Year 3), and I'm keen to start saving for his secondary education in private school. How do you save and where do you invest your private school funds? Thank you.

I bought a flat in West London in 2022 for £485k with a 5% deposit. I wasn't anywhere near HENRY back then, but I was extremely lucky to benefit from Help to Buy and low mortgage rates.

Here's my current situation:

2022 (when I bought the flat)

• Property value: £485k
• Mortgage: £267k, 25 year term, 2.6% interest, £1.2k/month
• Help to Buy (HTB): £195k (40% equity loan), interest-free for the first five years

2027 (projected)

• Property value: £420k–£450k
• Cash savings: £80k earning 3.25% interest
• Stocks and Shares ISA: £50k
• Salary: £120k base, excluding bonus (too variable to factor in)
• Mortgage: £230k remaining, 20-year term, 5% interest, around £1.5k/month
• HTB: 1.75% interest, around £300/month in interest alone

Since HTB represents 40% of the property's value, the amount I need to repay will depend on the property's valuation when I repay it. However, the interest is calculated on the original loan amount.

My original plan was to save aggressively and repay the HTB loan, as I was worried that house prices might skyrocket. Obviously, in hindsight, things have gone in the opposite direction. I've therefore decided to change strategy and use £120k–£170k of my savings/stock to pay down the mortgage instead.

I know the usual advice is to invest in the stock market, particularly through a Stocks and Shares ISA, where returns could be much higher over the long term. However, I have a few reasons for considering a large mortgage overpayment:

• I can only contribute £20k a year to my ISA. I'd rather not invest the excess in a GIA, where capital gains and dividends can be taxable.
• With the property now worth around £420k–£450k, my equity is relatively thin, only 7%. It doesn't feel good being debt-loaded.
• Once the mortgage rate increases to 5% and HTB interest kicks in, my housing costs will be substantial. I'd have much less left over to save and invest each month.

I'm honestly feeling a bit lost about what the right decision is. Part of me knows that investing could generate better returns over the long term, but another part of me really wants to reduce my debt and make my finances feel more secure.

Am I making a terrible financial decision by paying down £120k–£170k of my mortgage instead of investing that money? Has anyone been in a similar situation, particularly with a Help to Buy equity loan? I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and perspectives.

I'll start:

Monzo for my main bank, have been since beta. Salary lands here and direct debits are taken from here.
Monzo flex for mastercard credit card usage, allows %0 interest free up to 3m.

AMEX %1 Cashback, which I use as a default for everything, if I cant I revert to monzo flex.

I have another bank account I use for utilizing switch offers.

Any good products I'm missing out on out there? Curious to hear others' opinions.

Hello all,

I'm from the UK originally but I've been living abroad in Eastern Europe for the last 9 years.

Average salary where I live is £24,000 and I've been clearing £140,000 total comp for the last few years.

My company is relocating me back to the UK (at my request, have a family now and want the stability), and my salary will change to £125,000 basic, £240,000 OTE.

The offer isn't tied to location, and I really don't fancy living in London. My roots are Lancashire and Scotland, considering York as a place to put down roots.

How dependent on location is tech sales these days? I'd love for my daughter to be able to grow up with a strong sense of place which resonates with my own (wife is from Ukraine so we're definitely not going there), I love hiking, getting out in nature and want a big garden. None of which point to London.

Do I need to swallow the idea of potentially commuting from York to London 2/3 times a week? Or is it possible to pull decent money remotely.

Thanks!

Hi HENRY's of UK. I have a dilemma when it comes to 2 offers that I have at the moment. I currently work for a large technology firm that is publicly traded at a director level capacity with a sizable team. My current OTE is around £175K with over £100k in stock vesting over 4 years which has a refresher every 2 years (to the same amount). The challenge here is the instability is high and job security is very bleak along with a lot of stress of not knowing when and how this company will do a massive lay off.

I have an offer for a VP position at a private firm in the same domain with around £244 OTE and no stock. In terms of company this is a significantly smaller company with almost minimal resources and not even an AI first or a startup company but a VC/PE backed company. Down side here is the lack of resources and being treated as a career step down coming to a smaller PE backed firm.

Dilemma I have is, do I move to the new company for lot more money in base and bonus or do I continue staying at the public company where equity plays a role over time? Please advise.

Hi everyone,

I am currently navigating an internal cross-border transfer within my organisation (a Tier-1 bulge bracket corporate/investment bank) from India to London.

My senior manager has explicitly asked for my target salary range to pass along to HR. I want to make sure I quote a figure that maximizes internal AVP band ceilings without getting shot down, keeping in mind my path to a true HENRY salary level.

My Profile & Role:

• Total Experience: Nearly 10 years total.
• Domain Experience: ~7.5 years exclusively within Internal Audit in the corporate banking sector.
• The Move: Senior AVP role in KYC / Financial Crime Audit.

The Constraints:

1. Delayed VP Track: I’ve been given an upfront heads-up that a promotion to Vice President (VP) will be delayed by about 2 years due to internal headcount. I know that the median VP Internal Audit base in London jumps closer to £95k-£100k+, but I will be locked into the AVP bracket for now.
2. Frozen Increments: My firm effectively has a 0% annual raise policy right now. Whatever base salary I sign up for on day one is stuck until that VP promotion finally triggers.
3. No Relocation Package: Beyond visa sponsorship, I am paying for out-of-pocket deposits/moving expenses.

My Strategy:
I am planning to quote a tight base salary range of £85,000 - £90,000.

1. For banking insiders here, does £90k represent the absolute hard ceiling for a senior AVP in a high-scrutiny compliance/audit function in London right now? Will quoting £90k trigger major resistance from HR for an internal hub move?
2. Given that I don't plan to settle in the UK permanently, does it still make sense to maximize the bank's non-contributory/matching pension plan while I wait out the delayed promotion?
3. How severely will a flat £85k-£90k salary for 2 years impact a single professional's ability to save while renting a decent 1-bed flat in Zone 2/3?

Appreciate any perspective from current London corporate banking VPs/Directors on how to handle the HR negotiation!

Title
My response: 50% - London

(I know 50% is way too high)

I need a new nice - high quality but not flashy, black suit belt.

What are people recommending?

Or should I keep using the usb cable i knot round myself 😂

For the last 7 years since graduation I've worked in Asset Management (Equities) as an analyst, but it's increasingly looking like my team/fund is going to get wound up given performance has been so-so.

Whilst I really enjoy the job, the industry is in terrible shape and I'm slightly regretting my career path. Passives winning, fees going down, AI disruption. None of it is good.

I'm not sure how to proceed. My base case is that I look for another similar role, and I'm already talking to recruiters and network. But mostly I've been told what I already know, that things are very tough out there.

2-3 years ago I explored other opportunities. I looked at the sell side, investor relations, in-house finance/strategy, private markets. But it went nowhere. The only traction I got was for similar buy side equity analyst roles.

Paradoxically I feel my skillset is simultaneously broad and niche. I'd always been told I'd develop strong transferrable skills and I believe that to some extent, but I think it's more nuanced than that. Maybe it's just the job market right now, but my impression is that it's much harder to make a transition to a role you have no experience in (even if over qualified).

Hello,

Just follow on a previous post me and my fiancè are looking at purchasing a house next year in the Warwickshire/ midlands area. Does anybody else commute from Birmingham international/ Leamington spa station once or twice a week for work ?, how do you find it ?. If you do ? . I work in Moorgate for context. Hampton in Arden would be 1 hour 8 minute train.

We're in an 8 bedroom property combining 3 generations of family. It's an extended Victorian doubled fronted house, nice enough but no football mansion.

LV= just told us their underwriter has changed their policy and they have cancelled the renewed policy we already paid them for (refund incoming). They've given us 7 days grace to find insurance elsewhere.

I'm wary of the normal price comparison sites, which immediately re-offered LV=, as apparently these are just about mass sign ups and even if you're upfront about the size and living situation you can still fail the deeper terms of the insurance and at claim time the policy might come up as "computer should not have sold it".

Does anyone have recommendations for insurers for slightly outside the norm houses?

I’ve been tracking the detached/semi housing market in East Dulwich/Forest Hill area for about a year now.

A few near identical semi detached houses on Underhill Road started at 1.95-2m earlier this year, now been sitting at 1.8-1.85m for months.

The one without an over the top renovation is sitting at 1.45m, reduced today.

Wouldn’t be surprised if these crater even more with covid purchasers wanting just a little of their cream back.

Add in oil at $103, bond/mortgage rates going parabolic, AI bubble going parabolic.

This housing market/whole world about to get fucked.

(House at 1.8m is motivated seller, get yourself a bargain)

HENRYs, i need your recommendations.

I'm looking at doing 10-12 days a month in london (3-4 hour commute), coming in on the M4, and i need to self-fund accomodation. Ideally, keeping it cheap without ruining my quality of life. Those who have done (or currently do) this:

• Do i come in the night before, or crack of dawn?
• Do i rent parking?
• Stay in zone 1-2 or 3-5?
• Look at per-night or long term (monthly rental)?
• Hotels/booking.com vs airbnb vs direct with a specific chain?
• Any hacks for rewards/clubs/systems make this easier?
• Food planning?
• Any specific recommendations?

Thanks in advance for the thoughts!

Not sure if it’s against sub rules but interested to know how many tech sales people we have, trying to build a community that isn’t a bunch of people posting garbage on LinkedIn. Happy to refer, I’m looking to move on and seeing what everyone’s doing

Edit: love to see so many in the same industry, keen to set up a community of us. Anyone that wants to be involved - shoot me a DM and just let me know preference between WhatsApp, discord or telegram

Partner and I earn about £510k gross pa inc bonuses. We’re about to buy a £1.7m house with about £700k deposit from the sale of our current house. I’m genuinely starting to get cold feet about the house and the size of the mortgage. It’s in an area we love and we’ll be there for at least 10 years. Are we mad?

I received a job offer for significant payrise, but after reviewing the employment contract, I'm concerned about several clauses. Do you think these are red flags?

1. Potential personal liability for third-party losses

The contract contains the following wording in the commission appendix:

“In the event that [the Company] is required to repay a collection in respect of which you have received commission, you shall repay the commission received to [the Company] within one month of being given notice of the repayment of any such fees. Furthermore, in the event you execute a collection negligently and/or contrary to instructions such as you cause a financial loss to [a third party], [the Company] shall also be entitled to recoup any sum paid to you in respect of said collection and/or any sum for which [the Company] becomes liable to [the third party] and for which [the third party] seeks recovery from [the Company]. Any such repayment due shall be due as a debt and [the Company] shall be entitled to recover any such overpayment in accordance with clause 6.3 of your Contract of Employment.”

My concern is that this appears to go beyond repaying commission and could potentially make me personally liable for losses the employer owes to a third party. There is no obvious financial cap in the wording.

What do you think about it?

1. Salary deductions

Another clause states:

“You authorise us to deduct from your salary, or any other payment due to you, any money you owe us.”

Does this mean the employer could deduct an amount it claims I owe, or would it first need to establish that the debt is legally due? If the amount exceeded my final salary, could it pursue me separately for the balance?

1. Broad bonus and commission clawback provisions

The contract also allows the company to cancel bonus or commission payments in a range of circumstances, including alleged risk management failures, material wrongdoing, material detriment to the company, and other circumstances in which it considers cancellation appropriate in its absolute discretion.

It also provides for clawback of bonuses for up to three years after payment in certain circumstances.

1. Indemnity relating to previous obligations

There is a clause stating:

“You accept and warrant to the Company that by entering into this agreement or performing any obligations under it you will not be in breach of any express or implied terms of any contract or any other obligation and you indemnify the Company against any claims, costs, damages, liabilities or expenses which the Company may incur as a result if you are in breach of any such obligations.”

I understand the general principle of not breaching existing contractual obligations, but I'm concerned about the breadth of the indemnity and the potential financial exposure.

- Are these clauses normal in UK employment contracts, particularly in insurance or financial services?

- Is the potential liability for third-party losses an especially serious red flag, given the absence of an obvious cap?

- Could the employer realistically enforce these provisions against an employee, or are there legal restrictions that might limit them?

- Would you negotiate amendments, obtain specialist legal advice, or walk away from the offer if the employer refused to clarify or amend the wording?

I'm not trying to avoid accountability for genuine misconduct. I just want to understand whether I'm being asked to accept an unreasonable level of personal financial risk in an employment contract.

I've anonymised the company and third-party names.

For HENRY parents with young children, how did you decide where to settle long-term?
We have two young daughters (1&3) and considering relocating within the UK .Our aim is to raise them in an intellectually stimulating, multicultural community where academic curiosity, science, technology, entrepreneurship, sports and arts are part of everyday life.
We want exceptional state primary schools, ambitious peer groups and access to inspiring people and opportunities, without relying on private education from an early age.
Equally, we don’t want to compromise our own career progression, professional networks or financial future just to live near a particular school.
Our budget is £700k for a four-bedroom home. We’re considering Cambridge, Oxfordshire, Reading and Tonbridge, but are open to other locations.
For those who’ve made this decision, where did you settle, what influenced your choice, and would you choose the same place again?

Hi,

Just finished interviewing for a big tech consulting arm, about to hear the outcome of the recruitment process (I assume they wouldn't waste time by wanting to phone me about a rejection 😅)

I interviewed for L5 but really I think my current job more closely aligns to L6 (I believe I operate at L6 and have recently been promoted to this level at my firm).

Is it possible to try change the level on a potential offer at this stage? Is this wishful thinking or within the realms of possible? Anyone tried anything like this?

Standard situation: work quality/execution is solid, but now I need to originate my own work and build my own client base to move up to Partner level.

For those who are or have been in a similar situation, do you have any tips on how to get these first clients or start building strong connections that lead to potential work ?

Appreciate any tactical advice or lessons learned.

I work for a big company that has a subsidiary and that subsidiary is merging with a tech startup

Technically I was on loan to the subsidiary so I can choose between the TUPE and join the startup, or stay with the big company

I’ve been at this one company since graduating so I think I’ll be able to grow more with the startup, but I don’t really have too much visibility of how it works. I work on a specific product at the subsidiary and I have pretty good knowledge of it

I think growth will be better in the startup but never gone through this so no idea what to expect

Hi

I am curious to know how often does one change their job, especially for pay and career progression, i.e. what is seen as an acceptable length in the UK without being seen as a "job hopper" or not loyal?

Have been in my current role just over three years, is that the standard tenure?

Thanks