To ask what people consider rich....

[Imoen]

I'm possibly going to be flamed but Im genuinely curious. I keep reading on thread about its ok for the "rich" or the rich are getting richer etc....

I've also had several conversations with friends/family and often the throw away comment is "its ok for you, you're rich".

Thing is, I don't think we are. To me rich is not having to worry about working again.

WE both have very very good salaries which I'm grateful for an I know we're lucky (me 90K, him 60K) and we have a mortgage on a 4 bed house worth 280K. (130K left to pay).

But I would not say we are "rich".

Well I'm a trainee solicitor earning £19000 per year (pro rata part time) and DH is a manager earning just over £21000. We have a two up two down terrace house so to me you would be rich OP, but from where I grew up in would be considered well off as I actually bought a house and own a car. I suppose it's all relative!

The thing is you could take several people earning the same amount and some would be in debt every month and feel poor, some would manage and say they were comfortable and others would look as if they were earning a lot more than the others by the way they managed their money.

Basically beyond a basic living wage whether we feel rich or poor is often down to the decisions we make about how to spend our income. If I told you my monthly income you probably wouldn't believe me because I am able to do things that many people would consider only someone with a much higher income could do but that's because of the choices I have made in the past and continue to make.

yes that is your opinion but when Jeremy Corbyn, the Green Party or indeed most other parties are standing up saying the rich need to contribute a bit more they are most definitely meaning higher rate tax payers they are not just talking about the really really rich

we live in one of the richest countries in the world and while poverty exists it is not abject poverty ( ie dying of starvation and cholera poverty) but that doesn't make it pleasant being at the bottom or that people are not worried about bills
to me in the UK per person over 21 ( not counting students or apprentices)
below 12 K poor very hard struggle
below 20k just about managing but still difficult
below 30K average ( the vast majority of the population)
below 40K doing OK
below 50K comfortable
below 70K very comfortable
below 100k wealthy
above 100k rich
above 500k very rich

the average salary is about 28k in UK, lower in SW, Wales, the North and Scotland and it is 34K in London

You are well off and quite wealthy but the rich are super wealthy. Many multiples of what you earn or they have huge value assets.

I have a two friends who are billionaires - I would say they're pretty rich. My husbands uncle owns his own successful company, he’s pretty rich too. We do ok - I think we’re very comfortable, as I came from nothing and my family still have very little - although we find ourselves in a position to help them which I am grateful for.

Not that it makes a big difference, but

the average UK salary is £35,423 full time and £12,083 for those in part-time.

Over £100,000 household salary is rich to me

Rich=
Not being up in the night worrying about money
Being able to afford holidays
Not panicking about the MOT
Not dreading your kid's feet going up a size
Not budgeting every single penny every month
Not having a house with a waiting list of things to be mended as and when it can be afforded.
Not having my heart sink when friends organise lovely nights out because I'm going to have to decline due to lack of funds.

I don’t really know. As my salary has gone up, I have started to notice small differences, like buying the loo roll I like in the supermarket rather than the cheapest brand. But I don’t feel richer on £60k than when I was on £30k. Because I now spend a bit more on rent, a bit more on activities for my DD, a bit more on babysitting, I buy slightly more expensive presents for relatives etc etc. I imagine until you get to quite a big salary, this happens to everyone. You just live to your means. I think I felt most rich when I was at Uni, my parents paid my rent and all my part time job money went on fun stuff for me! I don’t think there is a definitive answer to this.

If you have to go to work and still have a mortgage you aren't rich imo.
I have a lowish income but a property I rent out and am almost mortgage free. My partner also rents out a property. We also have savings. We both work part-time as we can afford to. In a few years we can pack up work completely and that makes us feel rich.

May we ask what line of work Breaker is in ?

and most people are below average as it is the mean not the median the actual average of all people is £29,008 so my info at 28K was not far out

Breaker, as a millionaire, why are you on mumsnet? Not sure that’s how I would be spending my time if I was loaded.

@Inclemental what a weird question

To me "rich" is when your income so substantially exceeds your everyday costs that you either a) are piling up investments of one form or another eg BTL property, stocks & shares, land or other commodities or b) are regularly spending amounts in the tens of thousands of pounds on exclusive/luxury lifestyle eg owning your own yacht/plane/maserati, routinely spending thousands on jewellery, being a member of an extremely exclusive golf club like the Wentworth etc.

That said clearly it's all relative & I think what you grow up with/surrounded by influences how you feel. I earn a lot relatively speaking but am not in the "rich" bucket (we have a nice house with mortgage, some cash savings but no other investments and out of choice aren't reallt lavish spenders). However I FEEL rich, in the sense I have more than I grew up with, want for nothing really and don't worry about financial security at all. I think part of feeling that way is also about having things other than current income - e.g a good education & supportive family, so feeling we wouldn't fall hard in tough times.

Rich to me would be to have £150+ at the end of the month in my bank account after bills and food shop done (and being able to buy whatever food I want rather than worrying about budgets and getting own brands and trying to make what I buy stretch into as many meals as possible). But then I'm very very poor right now, and I dream of being able to just go online and buy a new bra or buy some decent trainers rather than £6 ones from peacocks.

Rich= Not panicking about the MOT

If your car is old enough to need an MOT, you're not rich.

also I think that if you have a bit of money, you may live in an area that is a bit more wealthy, and have friends who also have a bit of money and keeping-up-with-the-Joneses might kick in. This may lead to a few things, namely feeling that you are not as rich as you are as others earn more than you, spending more than you should and end up in debt, feel a bit inadequate that you can't keep up. If you have a bit of wealth and live in a poorer area, you may feel richer. I'm not sure if that makes sense as I am already on my third glass of (M&S) white wine...

If your car is old enough to need an MOT, you're not rich.

Not true. Some people hang on to older cars simply because they like them.

Rich people:
Have cleaners
Have new cars
Have more than one car per household
Buy new clothes often
Pay for babysitters
Go out often
Have spa days

If your car is old enough to need an MOT, you're not rich.

you are not a nouveau riche possibly, but the wealthiest people I know tend to have a few old bangers - which the kids love to drive around their land.

@LinoleumBlownapart I agree with you
I think it depends where you live, how many children you have, how stable your job is, how many debts you have etc.

If you don't have to work and still have way more coming in per month than you need to live comfortably, then you're rich.

I wouldn't class you as rich.... yet, but if you continue earning what you are and continue to progress in your careers then I would say as a couple you will be rich. ATM you have approximately 130k assets in your home which is a good sum but not tons. If you decide to upgrade your house you will obvs have less disposable income.
Dh and I earn 100k between us, 1dc, a house worth 550k with a 135k mortgage so on paper we're probably 'richer' than you now but our salaries are unlikely to reach what yours is. We certainly don't feel rich and have a comfortable life but can't just buy what we want. Have a 15 year old car and a 12 year old car- but we're not into cars anyway! What it does afford us however is flexibility though which means I am going part time and have just set up my own business which will hopefully do well.

For me being rich, or even comfortable would be linked to disposable income. I'm currently on the highest salary I've ever earned (£26,500) but have the lowest disposable income due to being a muppet on maternity leave 4 years ago and getting myself into a crap load of bad debt. So I'm currently on a 5 year debt management plan to pay it all off. After all bills and expenses I have £119 a month to spend. So despite earning a lot more in comparison my disposable income is much lower than when I was 21 and earning more than £10k less but was debt free.

It really is all relative.

I earn c£50k. DH earns a similar amount. We own a detached house in a v nice area worth about £325K. If I want to buy something, whether clothes or shoes or something for the house, I can usually buy it without having to “save up”. I don’t have to wait ‘til pay day to go shopping or out for a meal, but I also don’t have £50K in the bank.

We have family friends who own homes with over £1m. They probably wouldn’t consider us rich. Our friends who rent their home or live in a smaller house in a not so nice area probably think we’re v well off.

The answer wrt taxes is easy, isn’t it? It’s not like everyone pays £X a month in tax. We pay a % and so the more someone earns, the more tax they pay, especially with the higher tax bands

🤷🏻‍♀️

I think globally you’re rich if you have a roof over your head, food in your fridge or larder and shoes on your feet.
It’s all comparative isn’t it. If you live on the streets of Malawi and grill rats for food; if your parents have died of AIDS leaving six children to fend for themselves; if your babies die of malnutrition then your definitely poor. Very poor.
Anything above that becomes whether you are richer than your neighbours or countrymen doesn’t it?
Luckily in U.K. we have free at point of delivery healthcare, primary and secondary education, welfare benefits to support the less well off, mobility payments to enable the disabled to remain mobile, heating supplements for the elderly. There are, sadly for such a wealthy country, still large numbers of children living in poverty. Meanwhile there are people with private jets, super yachts and untold wealth.
It’s not who is wealthy or poor but the polarisation of wealth that is the problem for a G20 nation.