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".

Some people will believe that you rich if you earn more than 35k a year. The ones who have to live with that amount might disagree, it's all relative, but "you earn more than me you are rich" is not the most accurate description.

" you earn more than me you are rich " is not true but then neither is
" I know someone who earns more than me so I'm not rich"

While earnings might put you in top percentages of income I think it depends on your disposable income. Earning a lot but having a massive mortgage because house prices where you live doesn’t mean that you have lots of money to spend.

We have a combined income of around £85k but a massive chunk goes on our mortgage. We’re comfortable but I don’t consider ourselves rich. We have to consider what we spend money on, don’t have big flash cars or go on lots of expensive holidays.

I do realise that we are however much more comfortable than many people.

It’s not about what you’ve got to spend or the size of your mortgage. The wealth scale is based purely on pretax income. That’s the bottom line. A big mortgage may make you feel you’re not wealthy but factually a household income of £150k is more than 99% of the population.

as she says a big mortgage means you have money otherwise you couldn't get the big mortgage

a big mortgage means you have money otherwise you couldn’t get the big mortgage

This

If you chose to spend all your high income then you won’t feel rich, however you have opportunities which simply are not available to the vast majority of the population.

Although I probably wouldn’t consider the previous posters 85k income rich, more very comfortable. The ones on 100k plus are rich. No doubt about it, however much they protest.

Exactly @Teacup.

An income of £100,000 is only £70,000 (roughly) after tax and NI though, so not rich by any means. Rich means having assets.

Unburnished bollocks, I own two houses outright but earn £17k. I'm not cash rich in the slightest. I will be better off when one house sells, but not at the moment.

@unburnished

You could say that about any income. We all pay tax!

If you earn over 100k you’re in about the top 3 or 4% or earners and therefore you are rich compared with the masses. Sorry.

Of earners.

It's more interesting when people realise how much spare cash they have at the end of the month. I have seen some people with low income be quite surprise to realise how child benefit, tax credit, discounted rent and so on actually add up.

It does work in favour of the genuinely rich people if people bicker over who is "rich" and the tax levels, so ignore them completely.

No one seemed too troubled about the set-up of the late Duc of Westminster's estate and how his son could inherit without losing a fortune.

But increasing the tax of someone who earns a salary of 120k a year, that is something worth fretting about...

I really hate that ‘money solves everything’ argument 🙄
My mum and dad have split up after 36 years of what I thought was a solid marriage (I’m 34) and my dad is in a treatment Centre for alcoholism and drug addiction. I am struggling emotionally with that and I feel extremely lost. I could throw a ton of money at it but it’s not going to fix it. 🤷‍♀️

Money doesn’t solve everything. I’d never say it does. It does take away one element of stress, but there are plenty of other things to be stressed about.

Sorry your going through a tough time @youngandfree

We earn about the same as you but we live frugally- try to buy clothes at charity shops, no fancy holidays....we save money because we know if one of us loses a job we will burn through savings on just living- we owe 470K$ on our home so we actually live more like we are on 45K a year!!

It is undoubtedly a high income but You wouldn't appear in the Sunday Times Rich List earning £100k though would you.

This is interesting (and sobering):

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/wealthingreatbritainwave5/2014to2016

@Ithinkmycatisevil thanks 🙏

I really hate that ‘money solves everything’ argument

solve, maybe not, but any problem you have is made 10 times worth when you haven't got any money.

@MorondelaFrontera money has nothing to do with some problems I don’t see how me have millions, or being shit poor would have an effect on my parents splitting up and my dad being in treatment 🙄 I am comfortably well off (as I said upthread I have no mortgage) THAT doesn’t make me feel ANY better. Everyone has their shit!

yes I agree the set of Duke of Westminister estate needs looking into but Tony Benn also tied up his estate so his heirs paid virtually nothing on a lot of money, The Miliband family also did what they did was not illegal but was certainly tax avoidance

how far 100K goes depends on what you spend it on

Riches is far more flexible than wealth as it is income based, people move in and out of the top bracket quite easily but wealth is generally more solid as it is based on assets rather than income
of course most wealthy people are also rich but not all rich are wealthy
The duke of Westminister is wealthy the assets have been there for generations they are tied up in trusts they are going nowhere however his riches could be lost on a gambling table tonight, his wealth is not so easily accessible
collecting tax off the mega rich is difficult both in terms of people (top footballers, Trump Philip Green etc) large companies amazon ebay facebook etc they all have very "good" accounts which somehow manage to equate taxable income to not much above zero This is a major loophole my bugbear is that there is a lack of will to tackle this
it is much easier to get the full tax off a consultant surgeon earning 100K as it is largely deducted at source and even earnings from private practice are relatively easy to trace
it is also annoying when you see people like BBC news presenters grilling politicians about tax plans or how they claimed 2000 as expenses which really wasn't as if they really care about how it affects Joe Bloggs on 45K while all the time they have arranged not to be paid as employees but as a company so they pay corporation tax at 28% instead of higher rate tax at 40% when they earn over 200K so can afford to pay their taxes and claim all sorts on expenses too.
if more tax is needed ( which is a whole different thread) it is of course easier for those on 100K to give an extra 2% than those on 20K and it is much easier to tax those on 100K than those on 10 million

To me, you are rich if you can afford to buy new clothes for your kids when they outgrow their old ones. You are rich if you can afford to eat a decent meal every lunch time and every tea time and it’s not savers soup and a heel of a loaf or beans on toast because you’ve saved the good food for your husband and kids.
You’re rich if you can afford to spend more than 17p on supernoodles that aren’t filling at all, but cheap and they have some nutritional value.
You are rich if you can afford calpol without having to ask at the gp if they could prescribe some for you and they do because they know how tight on you are financially.
You are rich if your mum isn’t lending you £20 to buy food for the kids that you have no way of returning to her.
You are rich if you can put the heating on, not just add another blanket to the bed.
You are rich if you can afford to go on holiday.
You are rich if you can afford to go to work.
That’s my definition of rich. It will differ from other people’s, but that’s the way I define it

I consider "rich" to be having alot of money to fall back on, rather than your actual income, e.g. I know a couple of people who I believe earn average salaries (don't know for sure, but guessing based on what they do), but there's millions in family money squirreled away.

So, when one friend wanted an extension on her house, she could just tap into that nest egg; same with holidays, they have at least a couple of exotic ones every year.

Essentially, it's never needing to budget for extras and knowing that even if you lost your job tomorrow, you'd be completely fine long-term. DH and I are comfortable, but we definitely need to work, there's no golden egg to fall back on!

Youngandfree

your family situation would be a lot worst if you still had to hold 2 jobs to feed your kids, couldn't afford to take a day off - even unpaid - to deal with things, and being able to afford a decent treatment center to your dad makes a huge difference too.

Being poor really sucks basically.

@unburnished that is fascinating link

@MorondelaFrontera I have two children to feed, I haven’t taken a day off work and my husband works away at sea so yeah it’s fairly shitty right now! sorry that’s not “hard” enough for you 🙄