To wish I was rich?

[antelopevalley]

Not mega-rich. But to own an ordinary house and have half a million in the bank rich.
I have no family beyond DP and the kids. It would be so lovely to have a really good safety net, and to choose not to work when life is tough.

Wow @FemmeNatal that's an amazing achievement. And I can't imagine what your monthly budget looks like

In the spirit of the thread, would you mind listing some of the burdens that come with that (if there are any!!)

My parents are dead. Actually died in pretty tragic circumstances. But nearly everyone deals with their parents dying. The alternative is dying younger before your parents which I think is a tragedy.
But many people, including me, do not inherit anything or much at all.

Hey there, I own a nice house worth £1.5 million and have £400K-ish in the bank (I don’t even count it anymore) so i’m nearly there. I work v hard in a ultra high-responsibility job and earn alot (about £200K per year) but have struggled with mental health issues all my life (ADHD, depression). I am on medication for this but it’s a constant bloody struggle. I definitely wouldn’t say i’m happier than most, indeed I know loads of people with a ton less money than me who seem (in the way they look, behave, laugh, make jokes, fall in love etc) much happier than me. Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does offer more choices. Poverty causes misery, but you have to be in lowest net wealth 1% of UK population to get close to experiencing that.

As you’d probably expect, hours are long, work is stressful, and job security is poor.

We do enjoy the benefits that the money brings, but that does add complexity too, which isn’t great when time is already limited.

My husband spent decades needing to be at his desk in the city before 7 am, without fail. He says that he never, ever got used to this.

We are both a very long way from our families, and being in banking, are very restricted in where we can work. In the UK that really means London.

Being honest, truly honest. Having money doesn't stop shit happening but it makes it bearable.

When we lost a baby at 27 weeks it was as though a stake went through my heart. But the next year was bearable because an au-pair helped with ds, I had private obstetric care in the next pg, and no significant money worries.

When dd was depressed and self harming at 16, it was horrendous but she got a diagnosis and turned the corner because we had £6k for the adolescent psychiatrist.

My mother was a classic narcissist, still is, MNet helped me understand that. Having a materialistically perfect childhood helped - and of course fantastic grandparents.

Money and its acquisition often depends on a person's skill set.

My female friends who are independently wealthy all went into banking.

I did an arts degree, did ok-ish, worked in the public sector, married a man who also worked in the public sector, no family help and then our second child was disabled.

By the time he was 10 I had to leave my career because he couldn't access childcare and needed me to drive him to and from his special school.

We are moving to a flat because we are trying to live off one wage which is pretty hard.

Everyone does but tbh half a mile in the bank
Is being greedy! I just want enough to buy a big enough house when yiu have 2 kids sharing a bedroom with you cos plans/money didn't work out due to injury and unfortunate circumstances then start moaning it's sad that you see parents dying as ££££££££££

This is it. Money is important. And it's not fancy holidays etc it's being able to afford the care and support for our kids, give them a good life and that is money. Money doesn't buy happiness is bullshit when you can't afford anything for your kid that doesn't make you happy

Nonsense. This is not the monkey’s paw. Wishing for £500K isn’t going to make it appear through some unintended tragedy, and if the OP won it on the lottery tomorrow I’m sure it’d bring her nothing but joy!

I’d love to be rich. Those people who just won the £184 million on the lottery must be getting crazy amounts every month in interest alone. Imagine that! I’m lucky if I get 5p as my rate is so shit and there’s not a lot in there anyway 😆 I’d love the mortgage to be paid off and to have £100k in savings. I currently have £120 😢

My husband earns enough for us to be in the U.K. 1%. I grew up in a divorced family with a father not paying for my maintenance and a mother who was busy elsewhere so life was though. I remember eating bread and cheese for weeks because that was the only stuff in the fridge. Now I swim in money, can buy what I want, my children do everything they want, and all that. The best thing about being rich for me? I didn’t die when I had cancer because I would have had to wait months for treatment with the NHS, I went private and all was well. Money doesn’t bring happiness and doesn’t solve problems, but makes it all so much lighter and possible.

Be careful what you wish, be careful what you say. Careful what you wish you might regret it, careful what you say, you just might get it. Then it all crashes down.

What nonsense! Wishing doesn't make bad things (or indeed any things) happen. Why would being financially comfortable make things 'crash down'? Things can crash down in life regardless of whether you have money or not (but at least having money makes you more likely to be able to do things to sort it out!).

I agree. It is certainly possible. We started with nothing. Problem is people want it instantly and without having to lift a finger or compromise in any way. It usually takes time, some discipline and effort.
Instead of starting and trying it's easier to blame everyone, come up with excuses and how everyone else has/had it easier whinging and continue as before.
Any financial discussion on here ends up with people accusing others of lying, patronising and all the excuses under the sun about why they can't work, save or take any financial responsibility because it's not their fault. Plus loads of anger and jealous accusations towards others who have something eg holiday homes, rental property, decent pension etc,. If you want it you have to make it happen.

I hate comments like the one above. Both DP and I work bloody hard and both of us have done tons of training. The job I trained for that looked secure no longer exists. I made a sideways move with more training and get less money.
Unlike nearly everyone who claims it is all hard work, we have had nothing from family as they are skint. We have given family members money. And we will never have anything from family. Every bit of money we have earned ourselves.

Oh do get stuffed.

@antelopevalley erm so. Getting money from your family is not the norm.

Oh go on then. Tell us crappy, lazy people how you did it. You know you want to.

I have what you want OP.

Its nice in lots of ways, takes some worries away, but it really doesnt fix everything, or even much.

The thing about money is you almost never have enough either, it's like heroin, the more you have of it the more you need, and too much makes you a pretty unpleasant person to be around.

For a while it would yes.

Of course money doesn't bring happiness, but if you are unhappy and worried about paying your rent/bills etc as opposed to unhappy but able to cover all that and a few luxuries on top - well duh.
But most people I know who have nice houses, kids in private schools etc do NOT also have half a million in the bank - they have to continue to work very hard to maintain it all.

Then if your current career won’t get you there maybe the next one will. My DH started out on a career that he realised was never going to make him happy, or earn him a very good wage, so he left, did a doctorate, and after that took a complete change of direction and joined an investment bank as a trainee trader.

He started much later than the others on his course, with no money or possessions to his name (the doctorate cleaned him out), and started rebuilding.

Of course it was hard. Extremely hard at times, but after twenty years he ended up running a trading floor, and got the pay that went along with that.

Why do you want to know? You know that you aren’t about to do anything with it, you’ll just continue to underachieve and snipe at people who actually bothered to get out and try to do better.

I've been quite rich and not really had to think about money and I've been quite quite poor with enough income to last 3/4 of a month.

But when looking back at when I was happiest and when I wasn't, my bank balance isn't a factor.

You think it would be nice to be rich, but always worth remembering that wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you earn - you're still you.

I'd love my house paid for, £100k savings in the bank and enough salaried income to be able to cover all bills easily with money left over. Perhaps a holiday abroad every couple of years.

Right now we have a big mortgage, no savings, no holiday abroad since 2007 and enough to pay bills. Come the october energy increase, the inevitable council tax increase etc and the interest rates rising I doubt our financial position is going to improve. Rather it'll likely get worse.

I just want to not worry!!

Nicely put!