What would you count as “rich”?

[partytimed]

I know it’s probably all relative but would be interested to know. My DB and SIL are rich IMO but they don’t think they are, my brother often makes comments to imply they’re strapped for cash.

hes told me he earns £280k and she earns £40k. Two kids in private school. They live in a house worth £1m but still have £300k mortgage to pay off.

in contrast our household income is £80k, live in a much smaller house, two kids. It grates a little bit that he’s always pleading poverty!

Of course he is rich. They have a household income of £320,000. So about the same as 6 average households. Yes, people may know or know of people with more money but they are still rich. It's obnoxious to claim otherwise. There are always people on Mumsnet who say they'd need for generations of the family to be able to live lives of luxury with nobody having to work for money to consider them rich. Can they not hear themselves?

This makes no sense, you could have 500 million & not be able to buy the most expensive yachts but you are still rich.

I assume you’re referring to people like
me as that’s essentially what I put in my response to the OP.
In my opinion that is what I think of as being rich, no mortgages, extra houses, nobody needs to work.
£320K income is substantially higher than my household income, I would love the benefits of having that money, I’m not being stuck up or snobby, but I would describe them as well off. That’s just my terminology, my opinion of what those words look like in terms of people’s lives, yes I can hear myself.

I think wealth and being rich are different things. Me and DH earn lower salaries but the other day I just felt so lucky and rich in life. I get to spend 4 days a week with DS, work part time. Have a lovely baby no 2 on the way. Our bills and mortgage are relatively low so we manage to save every month. DH is great and does 50/50 child care and house work. Grandparents that help us out and lovely friends.

I think it’s more about who you have around and time rather than money. I’ve got friends who earn a lot of money but struggle with their family or are childfree not by choice.

I would call them rich. They don’t have to pay for private school or have a huge mortgage. Both of those are choices.

They are very well off and should stop moaning! I might even describe them as ‘loaded’.
As per pp above, I’d only say someone was rich if they never had to work unless they wanted to and your relatives don’t fall into that category because their income in actively earned by working

Rich to me is not having to penny pinch, check the price when food shopping.
being able to afford a couple of holidays a year and have a nice home .

I would guess what he really means is that they have less disposable income than you / others would probably think. He will pay higher rate tax, have lost various benefits due to being a high earner, have (now subject to VAT) big school fees, possibly a big mortgage.

Those are all his choices though <shrugs>

I grew up on a council estate in west Belfast during the worst of the ‘ troubles’ My parents raised 5 kids on a pittance, the absolute bones of their arse. I loved horses, was obsessed with them but my family circumstances meant I wasn’t even able to have riding lessons. I now have my own horse and care for several more. I sometimes need to choose between a night out and horse feed. The horse feed always wins. In the winter, I’m cold and tired with no disposable income. But I have my horse.For this ex council estate kid, I’m as rich as Croesus, rich beyond the dreams of Avarice. It’s all relative :)

I mean, I feel the opposite of most here. I am in debt and struggle- live in a deprived area, my children go to state schools (failing). BUT I can pay my bills. My mortgage is paid (though I’ll be 70 when I own this house) and my husband will never pay his student loan (he won’t earn enough). But we are relatively rich. We eat a lot of meat. Go to the cinema. Have a holiday every two or three years.

I think maybe the relatively rich think that Rich is only generationally wealthy or 50% more than them. People who have been poor- really poor- ime feel rich on far far less than you op- let alone your brother. Of course he’s rich! Private school and a house worth £1M?!?! That’s indulgently rich to me. Equally a household income of 80K isn’t rich, but it is comfortable. IMO neither could plead poverty. But you’d have a more justifiable claim. Your brother- no such claim at all.

He’s a high earner, not rich. Rich means assets, cash, investments and funds which mean you’re not dependent on your next pay cheque to maintain your lifestyle. Rich people don’t get all their money from a job they do every month.
If he plays it right, he may be able to build some generational wealth for his kids. If they do the same, perhaps his grandchildren can be legitimately called rich. Unless it’s all fucked by then and the only people alive in the UK are on top of Ben Nevis and water is lapping at their ankles.

Rich to me is the level where you can just pay other people to get rid of all your problems. House ugly? You can pay someone to redesign it and pay for renovation. Stressed? Pay for regular holidays, massages, even a personal assistant. Don't like doing housework? If you're rich enough you never even have to rinse a mug.

That said, my life is incredibly rich right now compared to how it was for many years. Because I don't have to think twice before putting food in the shopping basket or turning on the heater. Whereas I used to be stretching out £15 at Lidl for a week and living in a damp cold room

Me and DH have the potential to earn 250k joint income and truthfully it's way too much money for us. DH works 2 days a week and I work 3 days a week. When we had a joint income of 80k I felt super rich.

Rich to me is when you don't have to look at the price of clothing so intensely and can shop in Sainsbury's. I didn't have very much growing up, so 80k to me is millions.

I would class your brother and SIL as fairly rich, even though they clearly don't believe they are. Other people might class them as more 'well-off' than 'rich:. It's just semantics what definition is used and doesn't really matter.

What should be quite obvious to your brother though is that they have more than 90% percent or so of the UK population, something like that. Your brother is completely tone deaf to keep moaning to you, when he surely MUST realise you have a lot less. He's out of order and his attitude stinks. He needs to get some self awareness and be grateful for what his family already has.

Rich is at least £5m in cash/investments, a house of the same value and a second home in a ski area, and enough money to pay for school fees, nice cars, maybe a live in housekeeper, three or four or more trips to the ski chalet…

Your db has high overhead which probably puts him near or on the same level as you when it comes to disposable income. For example, you have a car, he has a car. His car is probably more expensive, and so on.

He doesn’t have to pay school fees though - that is an entirely optional expense. If they didn’t pay for private school they would have a lot more spare cash - it doesn’t make them not rich, they are just choosing to spend huge sums of money on something that is freely available.