Poll: Are you rich?
Total Members Polled: 535
Discussion
GT03ROB said:
Shnozz said:
Zolvaro said:
He said it would be nice if she gave him some now the way her parents did for her., that isn't the same as wanting a handout.
I must be going insane then as that to me reads exactly as wanting a handout. In fact I cannot see how, “it would be nice if you gave me a slice of what you have” is not desiring a handout. I don't see myself as rich, certainly not compared to some of my customers. Comfortably above the level of many of my friends and acquaintances though.
Went through my assets a couple of weeks ago as part of sorting out my will. My estate would be around £600k.
My brother thought he would be in a similar position come state pension age. Unfortunately, he got divorced a couple of years ago. Had to get a mortgage to pay off the ex, as well as emptying his bank account and cashing in his pension.
Now owns a property that he can't afford to heat or maintain.
Went through my assets a couple of weeks ago as part of sorting out my will. My estate would be around £600k.
My brother thought he would be in a similar position come state pension age. Unfortunately, he got divorced a couple of years ago. Had to get a mortgage to pay off the ex, as well as emptying his bank account and cashing in his pension.
Now owns a property that he can't afford to heat or maintain.
Jimjimhim said:
I'm surprised it's not higher than £120k to be honest.
It’s just what someone has chosen as the cutoff point.I think that most people would think that “rich” is more about income in most cases, and the lifestyle that it could provide. Probably needs one that lets you buy a nice house, drive a nice car, eat out at nice restaurants and so on.
Alex_225 said:
It's interesting with everything costing so much and people having £30, £40, £50k cars on their drives without flinching that £120k in assets/savings would be considered rich.
I do fall into this category but I do work hard and also feel really lucky every day to live in a nice house, have the cars I want and be comfortable. I always say to my other half we're luckier than a lot of people out there and don't have debts.
The cars are not assets in the calculation though they are debt if they are on finance.I do fall into this category but I do work hard and also feel really lucky every day to live in a nice house, have the cars I want and be comfortable. I always say to my other half we're luckier than a lot of people out there and don't have debts.
Ken_Code said:
craigjm said:
The cars are not assets in the calculation though they are debt if they are on finance.
No, the finance is debt, the cars are assets.Lots of people "feel" rich because of assets and experiences being paid for by cheap finance which is now over so there will be some impact there
craigjm said:
Alex_225 said:
It's interesting with everything costing so much and people having £30, £40, £50k cars on their drives without flinching that £120k in assets/savings would be considered rich.
I do fall into this category but I do work hard and also feel really lucky every day to live in a nice house, have the cars I want and be comfortable. I always say to my other half we're luckier than a lot of people out there and don't have debts.
The cars are not assets in the calculation though they are debt if they are on finance.I do fall into this category but I do work hard and also feel really lucky every day to live in a nice house, have the cars I want and be comfortable. I always say to my other half we're luckier than a lot of people out there and don't have debts.
ie that he would expect the majority to have £120k+ in assets before considering financing something of that value.
I read it that way, anyway. But this afternoon I am questioning my interpretation of the written word....
craigjm said:
but if the car is 50k and you have 42k on finance then only 8k is an "asset" when it is all squared off. My point is that a 50k car on finance doesnt automatically get you 40% of the way to the target
Lots of people "feel" rich because of assets and experiences being paid for by cheap finance which is now over so there will be some impact there
I agree, but suppose that another way to look at is is that if your salary does allow you to have a “rich person”’s car on your drive for as long as you want then maybe those people do count as “rich.”Lots of people "feel" rich because of assets and experiences being paid for by cheap finance which is now over so there will be some impact there
GT03ROB said:
So what do you think constitutes rich?
Rich suggests to me people who dine in the finest restaurants, have Yachts, drive supercars, are invited by other rich people to private member clubs and mix in certain social circles. They're either old money rich through estates or they're new money through business ownership. Yes globally, there are lots in the UK who are PAYE rich if you want to put it like that but to be rich in the UK, I don't even think a couple of people on £100k salaries are necessarily rich, just well off.
Shnozz said:
Au contraire. It very much seems as though he expects a hand down.
Harsh as it may sound but he started by saying he’s never been able to save anything and in the next sentence says how they went through a not-unsubstantial sum of redundancy pay in a jiffy. With that approach to a windfall it’s little surprise that they’ve never saved anything. As dull as the 50/30/20 rule is or even just a 10% save what comes in rule, you could have surely stuck aside 10% of a £40k sum to give you a better float.
The £40k didn't all get spent straight away, it was gradually spent over the years following redundancy. I really don't think we splashed out at all, we just purchased essentials that we had gone without for a long time. Here's the things we purchased with the money..Harsh as it may sound but he started by saying he’s never been able to save anything and in the next sentence says how they went through a not-unsubstantial sum of redundancy pay in a jiffy. With that approach to a windfall it’s little surprise that they’ve never saved anything. As dull as the 50/30/20 rule is or even just a 10% save what comes in rule, you could have surely stuck aside 10% of a £40k sum to give you a better float.
Car - My wife taking redundancy meant she had to hand back her company car, meaning we didn't have one, so we bought a 2nd hand Skoda Yeti
Boiler - Our combi boiler broke so we had to replace it.
Carpets - We had lived for about 8yrs without any plaster on our living room walls (bare brick), bare floorboards in our living room and kitchen, and a 1970's worn out Axminster looking carpet in our hall/stairs/landing so we purchased carpets and laminate flooring, and had our living room plastered.
Sofa - Our sofa was beginning to tear and the springs under one of the seats had broken, so we bought a new sofa.
Bed - Our 10yr old mattress was needing replacing, so we replaced it
Holiday - We'd not holiday'd abroad together as a family for years, our 16yr old son only had faint memories of our last holiday as he was so young. But when he qualified for the powerlifting world finals in USA it was an opportunity that we felt we couldn't deny him, so we went there for just over a week. It was expensive but worth it as he won the world final for his age group and set a new world record.
Patio - The concrete patio slabs that were there when we moved into our house in 2007 were broken, wonky and rocking so we had a new patio laid.
So apart from the holiday all we did was uplift ourselves to having the things that most folk would already have. I hope you don't think we were wasteful in our spending. We'd simply never had the money to make our house a home, never mind putting money away in savings.
Edited by The Gauge on Thursday 6th June 23:56
It’s your money, to spend as you see fit. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with how you choose to spend it, I was saying that because of my attitude to finances it’d not be for me. I need a decent amount of savings to feel comfortable, but that’s a personal preference, not a guideline or rule for anyone else.
Ken_Code said:
It’s your money, to spend as you see fit. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with how you choose to spend it, I was saying that because of my attitude to finances it’d not be for me. I need a decent amount of savings to feel comfortable, but that’s a personal preference, not a guideline or rule for anyone else.
Would you have kept the money in the bank and continued to live without carpets or plaster on the walls? Really?The Gauge said:
Would you have kept the money in the bank and continued to live without carpets or plaster on the walls? Really?
Yes, I would. If I wasn’t working I’d not have bought the car either, but then I’d not have run into redundancy without any money saved in the first place.You have to understand that other people have different priorities, and not everyone would use their only savings to put a new patio in.
Ken_Code said:
Yes, I would. If I wasn’t working I’d not have bought the car either, but then I’d not have run into redundancy without any money saved in the first place.
You have to understand that other people have different priorities, and not everyone would use their only savings to put a new patio in.
I was working, my wife took redundancy. When put the money in Premium Bonds but when she found work again we decided to use the money to finally buy the essentials for our house that we'd gone without for so long. You have to understand that other people have different priorities, and not everyone would use their only savings to put a new patio in.
We kept £8k back as a savings fund, but then the opportunity for our son to compete in the world powerlifting finals in USA came up, so rather than us regret forever not letting him go, we went and used this as an excuse for a holiday, that took up a fair amount of that £8k, but as were then both working we felt it the right thing to do.
Before criticising others, maybe put some thought towards what their personal situation might be whilst you sit on your comfy sofa in your plastered and carpeted living room.
Edited by The Gauge on Friday 7th June 00:04
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