What is considered wealthy?

[Spotsbeforemyeyes]

Been watching Rich House Poor House, the rich families have almost £2k spare every week. How much must they earn in order to have that after mortgage and bills?

I find it staggering that they have that kind of money just spare.

People earn different amounts. That's why there are two different tax brackets and expensive goods for sale that I can't afford

I’d forgotten about the tax bracket. So actually that makes it even higher if they’ve already been stung for huge tax before their spare money.

I do like this programme and I think they always choose balanced families although not loving the new thing where they meet.

I think this programme isn't honest about how they do the calculations. They might have three children in private school, costing £60k total a year. So the programme take that £60k and divide it by 52 and hey presto, you've got £1k a week to spend on stuff! They do the same with holidays.

Yes some people have a lot more than others - that's hardly news. But the artificial "weekly budget" thing isn't a true comparison.

How much must they earn in order to have that after mortgage and bills

Per week:

£2k (the spare amount)

• amount of mortgage plus bills (how long is a piece of string? They could have £2k left because they are mortgage free and their bills aren't much - are we including food and travel in the bills amount, or does this have to come out of the £2k? Anyway, say mortgage and bills are £500 pw, so that's a monthly after tax income of around £11k.

One person would have to be on about £220k to earn this much, assuming no pension, student loan or other deductions (company car, share options, all sorts of other stuff).

😳

piper I didn’t realise they did that.

£220k, that’s a lot of money.

I don’t like the bit where they meet now either. To me, the ‘poor’ family just look so hopeful for a financial gift, as it’s been given on previous episodes. Then it seems a bit awkward when there’s no grand gesture. At the end of the episode prior to Thursdays, the narrator says ‘and the families meet for the first time’ then in the short clip it shows, it showed one of the teen boys saying ‘nice to see you again!’

@Glossymare I spotted that too!!

Oh I missed that. Well if you think that these people are going to have free run of each other's private homes than it would make sense for them to meet first.

Absolutely, but then why say that they’re meeting for the first time. Pah! Tv, eh?!

Quite. Very annoying.

I too don't think the calculation of spending money is fair. The 'poor' house always has to pay gas/electric out of their budget and this doesn't happen in the rich one. I don't think that the '£2k spare per week' is disposable income at all. It makes for good tv though.

So what are realistic weekly disposable income? We're 2 adults, own home and after mortgage, bills and savings we have about £500-£750 each week for petrol, food, general spending.

I guess it depends doesn’t it? You have no children so that sounds like a decent amount. If you had 4 dc to factor into that, suddenly it’s not.

The £220k calc is definitely not right.

We are generally able to save between £1-2k a month, we both earn c. £70k. Mortgage is £1800 a month and we have one child in full time nursery. We're south east/outskirts of London so appreciate that's way above national average but it's not particularly high for where we are.

Shit I missed the week, assumed you said month!! I'd say definitely more than £220k total household income then.

I love this program but I get annoyed triying to figure out what “all bills” actually consists of. I’d like to see a better break down. Is it including bills like sky tv and over the top mobile contracts or are we talking water, council tax, gas and electric? I’m also getting a bit fed up of the gift giving by the rich family. I seem to always be saying “and now they are offer to going to pay for....” (Must be nice for the poorer family of course). I’m also not convinced that some of the families really are in the bottom 10%.

There was a Syrian 'rich' family who were both medical consultants and assuming they both earned the maximum £103k each, there is no way after tax that they would have £3k disposable income per week with 4 dc at private school. I don't even think they would earn that much per week.

There's definitely a poverty porn narrative, there is always the obligatory 'oooh they have a tv in everyone room!' from the rich children regarding the 'poor' house and usually a mention of how the rich family don't own a playstation.

The £220k calc is definitely not right

I did say it was a complete stab in the dark based on £500 pw for undefined bills, which will obviously be an underestimate for a family with a large mortgage, childcare costs, season tickets, utilities, council tax, plus we don't know if food is supposed to come out of bills, disposable or an unmentioned third category.

Plus the numbers would work out differently with two earners instead of one.

I haven't seen this programme,

I think being wealthy is paying all bills and buying and saving what you want without having any kind of worry at all . What people consider within reason and those sums will vary wildly.