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".

When my mother left my father when I was 12 she had to have two jobs to support my sister and myself and mum spent much of the money she earned on drinking in pubs and smoking. We really struggled. The places we lived in were awful and food was basic and just about enough.

When my DH and I started out we had two jobs and a mortgage and were in the red at the end of every month.

Gradually we grew more secure and his salary improved. We spent every penny on prep school fees and paying down the mortgage. At one point the DH had a small inheritance and we both had modest payrises and he had the odd bonus. We never improved our lifestyles and continued to live frugally and so started being able to save. Ta our best point we were in the top five per cent of household income but this didn’t last long.

DH had his salary reduced and I had to retire early on a reduced pension because of stress. Then he was mad redundant so we had to live on my pension.

In short, I have never been wealthy but I have experienced all aspects of the income spectrum. We have gone from the top income decile to the bottom.

What I have noticed is that attitude is a small much a factor in feeling rich or poor as anything. The real poison in terms of income is resentment. Those who are jealous of others’ money and want them taxed until the pips squeak are corrosive of their own happiness and that of others. I have family members who splurged all their cash on ephemera and pleasures now look at me and call me ‘rich’ when they knew I worked for every penny I had and that I always lived frugally. Their jealousy is painful as is that of others in society who hate what they see as ‘ the rich’.

One incidental point is that, having been perilously poor once I have never stopped worrying about money. My comfortably off middle class friends never see the gaping pit beneath their feet should things go wrong and I never see anything but.

Sorry, ‘small’ should read ‘much’.

Also should say, I do have potential to earn 500k plus per year and was previously on that path. But a) hated it and everything that came with it and b) am now a mum so working 28 hours a week with ability to make that flexible as required (and we have no childcare costs as family have baby when we're at work) suits me and it's far more important for me to spend time with my child rather than working every hour god sends (which is what I did previously and would have put me in an early grave I'm certain).

As above, my closest friends are all earning massive salaries but boy do they work for it (and aren't going to have kids as they don't want to). When I went shopping with one of those friends recently I was, for a moment, rather envious of her dropping over 3k in one sitting on clothes and handbags, but that disappeared once I saw my little one and remembered that time with them is far more important than anything else. So I am very rich from that perspective (and having a fantastic husband too).

That said, if I did win the lottery I wouldn't be crying!

We can afford to eat out whenever we want. We can afford to go away when we want to. These things are important to us. We live in a tiny flat and rarely buy new things as these things aren’t as important to us. We have a mortgage but not other debts. I feel very rich tbh. It’s all relative I guess...

Rich really is not about money. You could be financially on the breadline but have loving friends and family. Now that is really rich!! Financially, I consider myself comfortable but I am rich in those around me.

To me you are rich... having disposable income left at the end of the month.. being able to just book and pay for a holiday without paying monthly or putting it on a credit card.

Me & DH literally have nothing left at the end of the month.. got previous credit card debt to pay off.. big nursery bills. Big overdrafts.

I feel sad that I live for payday.. & have to take all the extra on call shifts I can just to make ends meet.

However I appreciate that I'm lucky in comparison to some.. I am able to pay my bills each month & feed & cloth my kids.

Harold above comments on people saying £200k does not make you rich. It doesn't really. The state takes about half that away in tax. (£117k after tax) so basically you are working half the year to help those less fortunate than you are etc.

Then of ypou have a student loan you pay 9% of £175k in student loan tax £15,750. which leaves £101,250. If you ahve two toddlers at full time London nursery that will cost you about £40k of that £101k that brings you down to £61k and if you often have to work late or at weekends , and don't have a husband to help with that you probably have some out of hours childcare costs too.

So we take our £61k that is left and spend it on say £30k of London rent which leaves about £30k a year . You might well want to pay 10% of your £200k into a pension so that is your choice would leave you £10k for food, holidays, savings.

So you can see why that £200k which is £100k after tax is not a millionaire's life. If you want to buy a small flat in London for £500k on that then you need to save about 10% of that price too for a few years.

However no one on these incomes (we had a women who earn £1000 a day thread on MN at one point ) is expecting anyone to weep for them. Probably once your toddlers go to school you continue the £40k a year cost for school fees for 2 and then still as I am doing now paying all university costs which are currently £50k a year for two.

To me being rich is not having to worry about money. I'm not sure exactly what figures you'd put on it but owning more than one house (maybe having a holiday home in France for instance) would seen rich to me - I'm definitely at the the lower end.

Happiness, good health and contentment are surely more important than money in the bank.

You seem pretty rich to me. You can always find someone richer to compare yourself with, but as ONS calculates the average household income at 28400, and you are way over, you are rich.

I am rich..... very very rich
I have love in my heart , health and happiness.
I don’t have any money though.

I don't think people who like material things get that that it doesn't do it for other people. Give me a little cottage near the coast rather than a big house, top of the range car and designer clothes. People feel rich for different reasons.

Some people not all.

I have an Aunt who has quite a bit of money but drives an old car and lives a very normal life. She just isn't interested in material things.

@Savoury99 🙌 we have just bought our tiny cottage by the sea and I cannot wait! No tv, an acre for the kids to play in with a woodland. We are lucky that we have no mortgage on it either that just means I can work part time. We have no cars on finance, our car is 12 years old. No money worries as we are not tied into anything and that is priceless for me. Security is the key!! I know that If my hubby loses his job tomorrow we are not up shit creek, he’s a proactive guy who could turn his hand. We only need to make money for bills and food essentially. So I agree. we earn good money and have little outgoings so it helps but it’s not what we live for.

I’d say that we are rich but we don’t have any spare cash! But that’s because we are paying for a large house that we own half of. And I say rich because if things went tits up and DH (main earner) lost his job, we could sell up and still afford a nice enough 3 bed house outright. But people who earn less than us seem to afford Disney holidays etc whereas we never spend over £2000 on a self catering holiday

Youngandfree, sounds perfect.

@Housemum but those holidays for most are paid on credit cards and some are still paying for a long time after the holiday. To me that’s not affording it. If I can’t cash flow it, then it doesn’t happen. 🤷‍♀️

@Xenia 200K is rich because of the lifestyle it buys even if you pay 83K taxes and NI it enables you to purchase 117K of things every year
what you spend these on may vary but as most people are managing on about 30-40K you have 70-80K more than most people which buys a lot if you spend it on private education etc that is a lifestyle choice so is a very large mortgage and holidays etc
just because there are a few and it is a tiny few (less than 1%) earning more does not make it not rich
OK so the top 1% ranges from about 150K - 150 million but it is still the top 1% whether you are on 150K or 150 million, obviously you don't get yachts for 200K but you could have a second hand 4 berth sailing boat you can have more than 1 holiday a year you can have 2 cars, as you said you can educate 2 children privately, things that the other 99% probably struggle with , the 90-99% can probably manage a couple of these but not all so they are merely wealthy
people are being deluded about how wealthy/rich they are compared to everyone else when they think they are merely comfortable on 200-500K
Comfortable is not worrying about paying bills, not going overdrawn, being able to buy food, clothing, heating without worry maintaining and running a car, not panicking if a gear box or boiler needs replacing, having a nice holiday every year, can afford iphones new tech etc, some savings, your kids can have piano/tennis or whatever lessons go on school trips, probably a work place pension and secure housing day to day life is easy but things like an extension, a new car need planning but will be ok long term; comfortable may not run to private education for 2 kids
anything beyond this is wealthy/rich/ super rich/ multi millionaires / billionaires
can you explain why people who have vastly more than practically everybody else still insist they are not rich? or are they falling into the trap of just thinking that because they know a few people with more they are somehow hard done by while conveniently forgetting the millions that are worse off if you earn 150K in the UK you are in top 1% which means out of 65 million, 64.3million are worse off than you

Absolute - There was some reason DH didn’t qualify for entrepreneur relief. I can’t remember exactly what it was. This was a company that he bought shares in about 15 years ago and he had a non-exec role. He also has another company he’s in the process of selling now. He’s done several IPOs and has at least 3 other non-exec roles with shares in those companies. He has a lot invested in various other ventures. He has City Index portfolio and a property business worth about 10 m. So a lot of money, but it’s all tied up.

Me, have cheap rent two beautiful children and one on the way and am about to marry the handsomest (is it even a word) man I’ve ever seen. We can eat and have a holiday if we want. Small manageable debt. Never been happier. That’s rich to me, maybe not to others, could have more money but don’t feel like it’s necessary for extra joy.

Rich, is multi millions, own plane/boat/classic car or art collection/several properties either as investments or holiday homes (which you don’t rent out). Anyone working on a good salary may get there eventually but if you have to work to finance your lifestyle, you’re not rich

Breaker hit the nail on the head when they said they don't need to think about money, when you get to that point your rich.

People who do think about it it becomes a bit more depending on various things as to where you are on the wealth scale.

I'm mortgage free, low outgoings, modest house, DH 2 kids, reasonable savings BUT definitely not in the position to take my finances for granted as if DH health deteriorates to much more, he will not be able to work, technically shouldn't be working now but self employed and chugging on. So to some we may seem well off but, were not as if things change we will be relying heavily on what we have built up.

Owning a nice house over 2000sqft outright and having enough money to be able to fully fund three children (full boarding and then university) and care in ones old age without ever needing to work.

Just to add if the worst happened what we have built up wouldn't last longer than a few year then we would be struggling, so we're lucky to a point but....

myfaceisamask may I ask what you two do for work if you have a Phd and a masters degree but only earn £42k together?

Opinions on this subject seem to be falling into three broad camps.

• If you have to work to finance your lifestyle, you’re not rich.
• If your income is in the top 1% you are rich.
• If you have health and happiness regardless of your financial situation you are rich.

I can see the logic in all of these arguments but tend to agree with the first one the most.

I earn euros but my salary is equivalent to about 230k pounds per year for a single person household. I know this is a very good income but I honestly don't think of myself as rich.

I'm in the fortunate position to be able to pay for things like clothes, furniture, tech gadgets and holidays without thinking about it too much but if I lost my job that would no longer be the case.

I absolutely realise I am comparing myself to those who have more not the great majority who have less. The fact that almost everyone I work with earns roughly the same as I do or more makes it easy to lose touch with what is normal for most people.