UK Millionaires

[antelopevalley]

Can I ask you to post what proportion of the population of the UK you think are millionaires - WITHOUT GOOGLING.

Then google the figure.
If the proportion of the UK population that are millionaires is higher than you thought it was press YABU
If it is lower than you thought it was press YANBU

I am just curious. The proportion is not what I thought it would be. Just wondering if others have a better idea in their head, or if others will also be surprised.

By millionaire, I mean taking into account cash, investments, properties, etc. So if you liquidated all of your wealth, what proportion of the population would have a million pounds or more.

Or is it....
😁

Anna?😂

if you own a house in London and large swathes of the SE, you are a millionaire. I’m going with 3-4%.

Worth noting that the public sector pension schemes that would have been available to today's retirees are generally closed to new joiners. The average 30 year old working in the public sector will be in a much lower value scheme. (Still better than DC, but not the amazing schemes that used to exist.)

Only if it's paid off though

Out of interest, all those people saying they are millionaires or close to millionaires on property alone, do you mean as a household or per adult? Big difference!

The number of people saying "we" makes me think they are talking as a household.

Yup add up all house equity, savings, physical assets, investments and pensions - and I'd guess there's quite a lot of millionaires.

But that's a difficult bit of maths for us as individuals let alone gov statistics!

Not really.
Plenty of people in £1m houses with a £600k mortgage. Their net worth would be the equity of £400k.
£200k each if a couple.

I'm surprised it's that low, given the growing proportion of the population that is older and were from the generation where good final salary pensions were common and there was huge house price growth, mortgages now paid off.

I suppose it is dragged down a lot because most adults in younger ages brackets - 20s and 30s - will still have much smaller pension pots and large mortgages so not have built up wealth yet even with a good income.

Also if it is a simple % of population it will also include children so that must be bringing the average down significantly!! I'd expect the % of the adult population only to be maybe 5%.

Let's make up an example. Couple in their 60s, ex civil servants or senior teachers in London or the inner SE. House 950k, plus a BTL bought when a set of parents died worth £350k, they also have an ISA each worth £40k, £25k readily available, £30k in premium bonds and a few investments totalling 35k. It all adds up to £1,345,000. Divide it by two and it's £672,500. It's individual millionaires.

I don't think pension pots count because the money isn't calculated for IHT and cannot be turned into a tangible asset despite providing a good income.

A lot I'd say. I know a few (in their 60s). One couple live a normal life. Lots of holidays and beautiful house but share a car and are quite frugal with food etc. They were high earners but I think millionaires because of lots of saving and savvy investment.

The other family is a bit flashy but nothing incredibly so.

I'd say maybe 6%?

Inheritance makes a big difference though. I do not know many millionaires, but those I do are all millionaires because of inheritance. One inherited a house worth over £700,000. Inheritance is the biggest entrenched of inequality. On the other side you have people dealing with funeral poverty who take out loans to pay for funerals or opt for direct cremation with no service as that is all they can afford.

Agreed. Also plenty of older people take out equity release loans. Plenty of older people have expensive houses but very little cash, so equity release loans make sense.
You cant always judge how much people have based on the house they live in.
I know from Age Concern research the people who live in the worst houses are those in expensive houses who cant afford to maintain them. They normally will not sell for the reduced value they are now worth. So equity release is the obvious solution.

@antelopevalley I know plenty of millionaires who are self made and yet to inherit. Inheritance helps.

@RosesAndHellebores Sure they exist. But they are less common than is popularly claimed.
Inheriting an expensive house though propels most people instantly into millionaire territory.

Well yes, as does the death of a partner. I'm sure most widowed millionairesses would prefer to have their partner and most manage that inheritance by passing it to their children if it isn't all tied up in property.

Inheritance is the biggest entrenched of inequality.

I agree with this, most people I know who had help onto the ladder was assisted via inheritance which was the case for me. And I know an awful lot of people who had inheritance to move up the ladder. This help is not insignificant, ours was 6 figs.

Tbh I think the best chance of owning a home these days is whether your parents can & will help you. More important that salary for most.

Lots of very poor widows as well. If you live in a big house then your partner dying will make you a millionaire. If you do not, your partner dying is unlikely to do this.
But you can live in a very modest house and become an instant millionaire when your parents die.

So my only friend who is a millionaire lived in a very modest house. A two-bedroom modern house that her parents helped her buy. When her dad died she was instantly a millionaire, and by some margin as well. So now lives in a very expensive house and quit work.

There's a difference between a million after debts and a million clear.

Eg owning a million pound house outright or a 2 million pound house with a one million pound mortgage.

Who is wealthier?

This is about a million clear.
If you have a 2 million house but very little equity, you could lose it. It is the equity that counts.

Calculations of wealth are always done by adding up the assets, and subtracting liabilities - it's the standard balance sheet approach. So in both cases they have £1m.

No wealth statistic is going to omit things like mortgage debt from the calculation.

I'm surprised that someone would even need to question that tbh!

Inheritance is the biggest entrenched of inequality.

This is absolutely true. And I agree that the biggest determining factor in whether someone will become a property owner is whether their parents were/are property owners. It's depressing.

I think this question just reveals the gulf between London / outer London / parts of the SE snd the rest of the U.K.
I'm in the Putney / Barnes / Fulham area and the ex-council terrace houses are £1m if in reasonable condition. A one-bed flat over a shop would be £600k. A Victorian semi (4-5 bedrooms) would be £2.5-£3m and there are streets upon streets if these for miles. Many slightly larger houses for £5 million or over. And this area is obviously cheaper than Chelsea and further in where you would not find any type of family-sized house for under £5m (apart from some ex-council properties maybe).
I know the average house price in the U.K. is £250k or thereabouts. Round here that would buy you a dilapidated garage in a dingy alley. That's it.