Financial wellbeing | Top bosses earn more in three days than UK workforce - a stark reminder

Now we've taken our Christmas decorations down and say goodbye to the festive period, we usher in the frosty weather, alcohol abstinence, and minimal sunlight associated with January.

Just as these occurrences happen every year, so too does the revealing of stats telling us how the UK’s richest bosses have earned more than all of us only three working days into the year. Like clockwork, we hear how FTSE 100 execs earn more than the UK average salary – £35,000 – before many of us have even had a chance to turn off our ‘out of office’ message.

Research from the thinktank High Pay Centre, which campaigns for fairer pay for workers, found that the pay of FTSE 100 CEOs overtook that of the average worker by lunchtime on the 4th January. Leaders from FTSE 350 companies can expect to make that of the average worker on the 10th January.

What’s striking about these facts is that for many of us mere mortals who were unthrifty over Christmas, January is a time when money – or lack thereof – is at its most prominent in our minds. This, coupled with the shock-factor of the UK’s 1% making more than we will earn in a year in a matter of days, makes these statistics as surprising as they were even the previous year.