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".

I think when you buy what you want without looking at prices and considering if you can afford it, that is rich.

My BFF is rich, she earns more a week than I get a year, owns multiple properties and doesn't worry about spending. She spent £250 on 2 t-shirts (designer) for her DH and she was shocked when I said that I didn't spend that much on myself, including all clothes, toiletries, beauty stuff etc in a year.

I am other end of the scale - worried where I will find £10 for my DD to do an excursion at school.

My income and DH's is less than £20k each. We have 2 children in primary school and live SE and struggle.

To me: earning over £250k/yr is wealthy. Beaker is rich - I can't even imagine having £1-2million per year. It's like dreaming of what it'd be like to live on Mars.

The cost of living is very high, certainly where I live in Ireland. I live an hour from Dublin City Centre. We earn 100,000 euro between us and have one child. We are just about comfortable. We have two crap cars and have to choose between doing up the house and holidays in the summer. To me, rich would be no mortgage with extra property and being able to travel and buy things without thinking about it.

our house hold income is rather healthy but not ridiculous (£140k) We live in a house worth about £350k - but it's just an end of terrace (expensive area) of which there is about £170k left on the mortgage.
If we were to pool our savings and investments it would probably top £100k.

But these are just figures-money isn't real- I know I work in finance, it's all just numbers on someones spreadsheet.

However, I would say that we are rich. It's not the material things (to be honest we don't own much and share a 10 year old car- and me and DP's clothes fit in the same double wardrobe)
What makes us rich is the fact that we can do what we want, we can eat out with friends, try new hobbies, travel, learn new skills. I never have to worry how a bill is going to be paid.
I guess I feel rich now as when i was a single parent I had to chose between eating and heating the house. I was broke and broken.

Being "rich" means that you have "fuck off money"

I might steal your definition!

Rich is always the person who has a bit more than you.

We went on holiday at Christmas to the Carribean

I just don't believe we're rich

Can you really not see how contradictory those two statements are?

Are don't see them as contradictory at all. Lots of rich people go to the Caribbean at Xmas, but so do students, people who have borrowed the money to go, people who aren't rich but aren't struggling either. People visiting their family. Loads of people with varying financial positions.

" My husband makes 250k+ a year, we have 3 kids in private school, I'm a SAHM, we go on 3-5 vacations throughout the year and I think we are middle class. Def not rich"

Try having £10 in your purse to last you 11 days.

Believe me your rich. We haven't been on holiday for 8 years , my kids have never had a holiday , we have to budget constantly to make sure their is food on the table for the kids . We can't afford days out unless they are free .

I agree the top wealthiest should distribute the wealth through taxes. I'm Not saying that these people did not earn their money at all. I'm just saying put back in to a society even more to help the whole economy grow which will ultimately effect you.

I have looked after people my entire adult life I have prevented deaths I have helped bring over 40 people in to the world. There are plenty of doctors nurses, paramedics in debt some even visiting food banks. All that money might keep you warm in your nice beds, but when you have an emergency you will wish you put more back in to the nurse that is helping you, the doctor that saved your life, the people that trained them. I get 600 a month and sometimes walk around Aldi with a calculator. Rich is not having to worry about how you will see out the month or the next few months or how you will pay the mortgage or put a roof over your babies head. How after 14 years of not going abroad you will manage that some day. Rich is not even knowing what the never ever is. People are selfish though and will hold on to all their money while children are starving in this country and people are on the streets they will take their money to the grave but its not a sign of a rich life..

I agree with the poster who said that most rich people aren't PAYE so the relatively small number of taxpayers (1%) who actually pay the 45p rate of tax will never increase tax revenue significantly. Most "rich" people ime are self employed rather than PAYE employees. The link shows that 364,000 taxpayers pay the 45p rate of tax. Even if you increase that to 50p, it's not going to result in any significant increase in tax revenue - the numbers simply isn't there. It makes for a good political sound bite though.

The majority of taxpayers - 82% pay basic rate tax.14% of taxpayers pay higher rate tax which seems to be the MN demographic. Guess where it would be effective to have a tax increase albeit political suicide.

Anyway, back to the point in hand, regardless of whether you feel it or not, being a higher rate tax payer makes you statistically rich. Even more so, with 2 higher rate taxpayers in the household.

The OP household's net income is approx £8.7K pcm (excluding pension contributions). No children and a £130K mortgage - I would say that you could probably pay your entire mortgage off in 2 yrs (£5K+ mtg payment) with relative ease. Sounds rich to me.

A mortgage house worth about £1m is a saleable asset = RICH unless you're in negative equity.

My mum tells people I'm rich, I'm far, far from rich. I have a management role dont earn masses but I'm very careful with money. I'm the go to person when someone wants a loan but only because I save and always have. I have a small mortgage, enough to live on, dont worry about money, a couple of cheap foreign holidays a year, I think I'm fortunate but I work hard for what I have

My definition of rich:

• able to spend without checking the bank balance or using credit, be it a meal out, new furniture, bills/home or car repairs etc.
• not needing to worry about money.
• having enough disposable income to go on regular 'exotic' holidays.

The thing is, I think people with more money seem to spend more on more expensive things, so it probably all feels relative. So my second element above possibly doesn't apply to people who ARE 'rich'.

I'm not rich. I've been comfortable. Right now I'm poor.
Compared to a great many people in the world I am well off.

Being rich means not being concerned about prices or affordability. It’s about having choices and freedom. I don’t think it comes down to a number, as there are so many variables about how that money then gets spent.

Some scary ideology from PP around taxation. If you overtax, people find workarounds or emigrate.

The government recoups your tax free allowance if you go over £100k. So the £11k tax free that everyone else gets, is actually taken back! It’s appalling and I’ve had to amend my hours to a part time 4 day week and make the maximum annual pension contribution in order to avoid going over that barrier. I’d move overseas before paying more tax.

Icey4 - I don't think 'middle class' comes into it? Class and wealth are not the same thing. But I can understand that how you can have a household income of £250K and still not feel rich...

If you live in London, have a mortgage and are sending three kids to private school, your disposable income would still mean you have to budget.

£250 taxed is around £140K
3 x private schools at £20 per anum per child (London prices for schools) = £60 K
So you are already down to £80K
Mortgage, bills, cars, travel, living expenses out of that and you are not talking about a care-free, no budgeting lifestyle

Wealthy? Yes
Privileged? Yes
But that 'not giving it a second thought' that Breaker has?
No.

And to me, being rich is defined as being able to make decisions based on desire/want/need/morals/values etc without giving a thought to the financial implications.

We have a household income of between £100K and £150K per year depending on various factors and I've just had to let the cleaning lady go, because we are skint....

not needing to worry about money

that's a fair point, but I think the meaning will vary hugely for different people.

I know many people you would consider "rich" according to your other points but who are very worried about future cost of health care, retirement etc. It's a long term game.

I agree that you're not rich.
I imagine they actually mean "you're rich / doing well compared to us"?

There was even an understanding (before the referendum at any rate) that most people earning more than (IIRC) £150k had agreed to pay more tax; there was a move in that general direction vocally if not listented to by the gov. The trouble is, while people earning under £1m per year or even £20m may want to give back, the big businesses don't and govt is scared they will move away.

Now Brexit is happening and a) people are less inclined to pay for the poor who are still viewed as "voting for this shit-show" - a lot are also finding their jobs are being threatened by Brexit b) many companies are moving anyway and govt is having to bribe them (see Nissan) with NDA to stay promising them sweet nothings about low tax in return.

There were certainly other ways of addressing inequalities than prolonging austerity and a Tory govt. Sadly now Brexit will delay that even further and the good will from the top earners to pay more tax optionally may have evaporated.

@Imoen the issue really is that PAYE tax is the easiest thing to collect and go after, unlike wealth etc, in Scotland they increased tax on the top 30 percent, 70 percent of Scottish people earn under £30,000 PA so I'd say to your family that there aren't enough PAYE rich folk to make a significant enough difference, if PAYE tax rises significantly, the net will probably catch them too!

Your rich you earn 4 times as much as us and we are on the higher end for where we live.

Rich is not having to worry about paying essential Bill's to me and having disposable income.

Rich isn't just about income. You can have assets or inheritance.

My cousin and his wife own their house outright and own a btl flat with a small mortgage. Both earn 30k a year, so not a huge income but they have a good amount of disposable income. Both only children who inherited a lot from grandparents.

Someone else with a household income of 60k a year won't feel as rich as they do.

Beaker is clearly in the rich category and is at a level most people would see as being extremely wealthy. However, there always seems to be a lot of delusion at the 100k plus point though. Anyone at this level of household income is much wealthier than the vast majority of the population. Yes you might have to pay a nanny or school fees and have exorbitant mortgage payments but they are choices that many other people simply can’t afford.

Our household income is high and I don’t have the lifestyle I imagined we would when we were on more normal salaries but that is because we’re making prudent choices re mortgage, pension and investments. That is a choice we are lucky to have. I would never be deluded to say we’re not rich because of our fixed costs.

@MorondelaFrontera

not needing to worry about money

Yes it's relative, but there is worry that you can't afford to pay utility bills, rent/mortgage, school dinner money etc and there's worry that you might not be able to keep up aspects of your well off lifestyle - they're very different.

I personally can't afford to go food shopping for essentials that's a worry .

Worrying that you can't afford the brand new Iphone is not a worry for example

If you are sending your children to private schools, that is something you are choosing to do with your disposable income, though. It’s a luxury item, like any other. My children went to/ are at state comprehensives in London and did/ are doing brilliantly.

I would say anyone with a household income putting them in the top 5% is rich, but this doesn't allow for people who have lots of investments etc but not much cash coming in. And if you own your own house outright that obviously saves you paying a mortgage every month, but there's a big difference between owning a 100k 2 bed mid terrace up north and owning a 5 bedroom detached in London.

So I'm not sure... in my everyday life I guess I think of people as rich if they have expensive cars, a 4+ bedroom house in a nice area, lots of spare cash for holidays and posh food etc but of course they could be buying it all on tick for all I know.

Compared to most of the world nearly everyone in this country is rich. I earn 13k (part-time) as a single parent, no benefits, no maintenance. We don't feel poor at all, maybe because I paid off my mortgage, have savings and no debt, but also because we live a lovely but fairly frugal lifestyle. We have absolutely everything we need.

Rich is a 25k salary and above to me. Very rich is anything above 50k.