1 in 79 in the UK is a millionaire

[nicolasturgeonGRTRtheresamay]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4852306/House-price-rise-make-1-79-Brits-21-millionaire.html

Just because of buying a house. Aibu to think this is just ludicrous?

The UK has never seemed so poor!

Indeed but this is a usual type of (yuk) Daily Mail article which proves nothing. Asset rich but cash poor is what the majority of people are. You can starve in a mansion too.

They may be poor in reality though as they need to live there so it's pretty meaningless for many of these millionaires.

It's not really a millionaire though is it! Lots of people particularly in London may have a house worth a million that they paid a lot less for and who are not in any wY wealthy.

read it another way, 78 out of every 79 people aren't millionaires. If you own even a modest 3 bed terrace in London and have some sort of pension saved up you may well be worth a million on paper, but that doesn't mean your lighting the cooker with £50 notes and eat caviar of gold plates.

WTF. this makes me feel enraged, when I am a rent away from being homeless and depending on the food bank.
Taking about inequalities is just a start. Why don't we do a f* revolution.

I'm refusing to read the daily mail awful newspaper
So I don't know but have they just take all properties and the uk (adult) population and worked it out that way

What about all the foreign investors in U.K. Property?

@cueless

A revolution because some people have more than you?

Why should higher achievers be punished? I assume you mean a revolution where you take things from others because you feel entitled to it.

Call it entitlement if you want, but I feel that the government and most well off have a duty of care instead of putting all their effort into tax evasion.
What tells you that poor people are not high achievers in some ways or others?

I wouldn't class someone that happens to live in a house worth £1m as a millionaire as the chances are that they don't own it outright. They don't have millions knocking around in their bank accounts!

A friend of mine is a millionaire becajse they bought a perfectly ordinary 3 bed semi in London in 1980something. They did not pay £1 million for it and they don't have the million now, they just live in it. I'm sure it will be great if they one day sell up.and move up north or something but day to day they live just like the rest of us.

Cueless - I agree with you but this country doesn't do revolutions. The government knows that. The government has screwed so many people out of ever owning a home. Their raison d'etre has been and will always be to keep property prices high.

It's disgusting. It could have been sorted out in some way 2008 during the global financial crash but instead they just printed money again and again and again and kept house prices high. Bastards.

Surprised there haven't been more riots though.

The ridiculous idea that all high earners are tax evaders is bloody insulting. Don't tar everyone with that stereotypical brush.

Our London house sold for 1.5 million.
Does that make me an evil person? No.
We bought 20 years ago for £250,000. Prices have rocketed. Husband had own business and worked seven days a week sometimes . No inheritance or generous parents.

In the South East lots of people live in properties worth a million plus. Many of our friends are planning to sell up closer to retirement and buy outright elsewhere in the country, leaving a nice lump sum to live off. Many of our renter friends are looking at a very poor retirement. It's unfair and the wealth gap continues to grow.

cueless I have never avoided tax or tried to in my life. I am a high earner and now pay 50% income tax on a big chunk of my earnings. I am prevented from saving for my pension in a tax effective manner. I donate to and volunteer for a number of charities including mentoring young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. I don't "come from money" and my parents were both first generation in their families to go on to university.

Do you have any constructive ideas on what I should do in addition to this, plus raising two children, I should do to fulfil my "duty of care"?

mrsmalcolmreynolds try reading the thread properly (and particularly Cueless' posts) and don't be so aggressive.

Being asset rich does not make you cash rich. If someone bought a 3 bed semi where we now live in London 20 years ago they would now be millionaires by this measure. That doesn't mean they have a pots of cash just that they bought in the right time, in the right place.

Why would someone who has no more disposable income that most owe a duty of care because the housing market has risen.

Our London house sold for 1.5 million.
Does that make me an evil person? No.
We bought 20 years ago for £250,000. Prices have rocketed.

That was still a lot of money 20 years ago, even in London. My old house in SE London, sold in '99, for £81K.

The issue isn't with the number of millionaires but with the huge volume of people who have far far less.

Making money doesn't make you evil. It also doesn't make you 'smart'. The trick is to manage your finances properly. DH and I are well to do. My jeans come from Tu and my DC are dressed in second hand clothes.

Unfortunately in the Uk today managing your money properly means not having more than 1 child.

Pressed post too soon....

Having more than one child is what screws over most families because of the stupid tax rules. Meanwhile here in the US if you are average income or above it's almost like you are asked to have more.

clueless
So anyone who has less than you do can take money or possessions away from you to even things up? You are OK with that?

Link isn't working, but from the headline it sounds like utter rot.

I'd be quite comfortably off if I sold my house - own it outright - as long as I set up a tent somewhere or lived on the streets. Otherwise it's just money I would need to put towards my next home.

Unless they die and leave the money to someone else and there's no mortgage to pay off, the amount most peoples' houses are worth is meaningless.

Why should higher achievers be punished

Well buying a house when salaries were high and house prices were low isn't really "high achieving" is it? It's lucky and being in the right place at the right time.