To think it's not really possible to get wealthy?

[ilyana]

I live in London and earlier today, I treated myself to a fancy haircut in Belgravia and met a friend for a coffee and a walk around. I saw a whole side of London I don't normally see! I live in a nice enough but definitely not posh part of south London, get the bus everywhere, and shop at Lidl.

We saw a woman coming out of one of the gorgeous townhouses and getting into a chauffeur driven car, and I commented that I'd love to have that lifestyle. My friend told me I could if I really wanted it and worked for it, and that I'm limiting myself. I'm 38 and single and earn £65K at my day job and another £5K or so through a bit of freelance work on the side. I could probably push that up to £10K if I gave up a lot of my free time. I know £70-75K is decent money, but it's hardly a stepping stone to this kind of wealth, is it? If I really pushed myself at work and looked to move to another role elsewhere, I could maybe get to £85K in a year or two, possibly £100K by 42ish, but that's still not huge money in London, is it? Particularly without a partner to share costs.

AIBU to think it's pretty much impossible for me to attain that lifestyle at this point, and that almost everyone who does live like this has inherited wealth, privileges like having gone to top private schools, or married into money? Or maybe done something like bought/inherited property young and got lucky with property prices rising?

I think financial services was a very good decision! I was put off it because I wasn't good at maths at school, but I learned too late that the maths you need isn't complex at all. I was also put off by the long hours and toxic atmosphere, but then I ended up having those things in my chosen career anyway. Better to be on £100K+ and miserable at work than on £25K and miserable at work.

I guess for me, never having to worry about money would make me very happy. Money worries just create a whole new layer of stress.

And how would I realistically and practically attain the Belgravia level of wealth doing those things? It's well and good throwing out random vague statements. I know lots of people running businesses and YouTube channels and not even making enough to quit their day jobs, let alone buy a London townhouse!

I know three people with that sort of Money - tens of millions in the bank,
One inherited.
Two earned, one own (very successful) business and one in corporate law but both of those went abroad as you’d couldn’t make that sort of money in the U.K. apparently

Well if it were easy, everyone would be doing it 🙂

I don't know what job you do but you basically need to be in consulting or banking or finance maybe commercial lawyer to make anywhere near the amount of money you're after for a lifestyle approaching that.
That wouldn't pay for a chauffeur but would give you a fancy London house and those trimmings. But it would involve having started out of uni and working evenings, weekends and progressing fast through the ranks to get to equity partner type stage or senior VP stage as quick as possible where you be getting substantial bonuses. Depending on the industry these can be £m. I know a few who've done it and they've got very nice houses but boy did they work their socks off and not all of them have time to enjoy it now.
But it certainly is career/industry dependent if you want to go the "not family money" route and definitely not just work hard and it will come.

It’s possible if you own your own business.

I'd properly hate to get in a chauffeur driven car. They look like right wankers.

I worked as a nanny for an extremely Wealthy family in Chelsea, they lived just off kings road. It was money I had never seen in my life. The people they mixed with and the lifestyle they lead was extraordinary but it felt awful. Me, the housekeeper and the chef were all miserable, we worked 12-13hours a day and were treated like muck.
I walked out after only a few months.
I wouldn’t want to be mixing in those circles ever again, even if I was the rich one this time.

Nope that sort of money isn’t dependent on a degree or ‘working your way up’ in an industry that sort of money is from having your own business and investments.

A banker etc working 14 hour days and earning huge bonuses.
Or an entrepreneur that is successful.
Or marrying money.
Or inheriting.

I think those are pretty much the routes to extreme wealth.
But are any of those people happy?

A long time ago I was married to a minor royal (not British). We met and married as dirt poor students in the U.K. Moved to his country a few years later.

We did not have hot and cold running servants. However the rest of his family did.

The experience of having a front row seat to watch people live with that kind of wealth left its mark. Having far too much can be as soul destroying and limiting as not having anything like enough.

Thank you to the universe for having everything I need, and just a little of what I want. Because that’s the sweet spot. IMO & E. I don’t buy lottery tickets just in case I win and ruin everything.

Thank you to the universe for having everything I need, and just a little of what I want. Because that’s the sweet spot. 💕💕💕

Firstly you have to define what wealth is to you. You just came from a super expensive hair appointment which many many people on here can’t even dream of so that already shows you have resources above many people. To get more wealth if that is your interest, you can invest your time or your resources to make more money. Time is finite. So the way to increased wealth ( maybe not Belgravia level of course) is generating passive income. It isn’t instant but shavings make a pile.

an example of this:

increase all your traditional income streams you mentioned above for 1 year. At the same time in the same year, live on austerity measures. No expensive salon appointments. No coffees. No holiday abroad. Shop in your own closet to create new outfits.

Now with the money you save through earning more and spending only on the absolute essentials think about this

(using USD because the NY Stock Market operates in $)

if you invest $1,000 in McDonalds they pay a dividend of 2.2% so each year you will get $22 paid out quarterly
the same $1,000 invested in AT&T as of yesterday’s close pays a dividend of 7.7% so you will get $77 annually in dividends paid out quarterly.

Both these stocks are known as “widows and orphans” stocks because they have never not paid dividends since they started being traded. There is a list of these companies you can Google. Keep reinvesting the dividends into more stocks

invest in REIt’s

buy gold and sit on it.

now is a good time to invest in stock because the prices are low and will be low for about 24 months,

building wealth is playing the long game and also not without sacrifice. You can’t keep your standard of living at the same level. As someone pointed out, frugal people (self made wealth) get rich.

also Bonds are a great investment now.

(no real estate investment now though, it will burn you)

No, that level of wealth - like townhouse in Belgravia levels - is for the reserve of those with inherited wealth only.
I work with people on £500k a year, plus a lot of their partners/spouses have their own good career too. They just live in really nice, spacious semis or detached houses in the nicest bit of our regional city - bit nothing extravagant. Their houses probably cost £700-900k. After sending 2 kids to private school and paying for their cars and a couple of holidays, they're not rolling in it.
However I know someone with a townhouse in Kensington and he is from an aristocratic landed estate AND owns a hedge fund - how can your average Joe get anywhere close?

It is ‘possible’ eg the guy who started Gymshark. However is is very very very unlikely that you will be that young entrepreneur

To me, being able to earn 65k+ is something that I can never attain. I could push it to 50 if I worked 7 days a week.

Yes, reminds me of the people who say 'well Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates dropped out of college'.

It is ‘possible’ eg the guy who started Gymshark. However is is very very very unlikely that you will be that young entrepreneur

Yes & it's really unusual for a label to have that huge trajectory so quickly.

The thing is that if you are able bodied and born in a western country than you have won life's lottery anyway. Why are you comparing yourself with someone like that woman rather than the rest of the world who have nothing? You have a really good life. You own a home in one of the best capital cities in the world. You have a well-paid job. You can travel. You have access to free healthcare. If you have a baby, you will be entitled to maternity leave. You are an independent woman.

To be honest you sound really spoilt saying you want a chauffeur driven car. In terms of what you need in life that is really really low on the list.

Not with that attitude. If your current line of work caps your earnings at 100k, then no, you’re not going to get to £1m+ PA lifestyle. But it’s still possible, in a diff line of work

I’m only a page in, so forgive me if this is repetitive. It’s partly what you choose to spend money on. I earn similarly to you. I do have private health insurance, but my holidays are camping in the U.K. I suspect my insurance costs about the same as your Caribbean holiday.

To me, real wealth is not having to make those choices.

I dont imagine its impossible but I do think its unlikely. Otherwise we'd all be living that lifestyle.

By far the wealthiest person I know set up their own worldwide business after working in a city job for 15 years.

Im not sure they are in town house in belgravia territory though..i imagine thats approaching billionnaire territory?

One thing i have noticed is wealthy people share there stuff with other wealthy people, like let them borrow a spare house for a bit. My richest friends get loads of free holidays as their mates have a chalet here, a condo there.

The people I know who are mega rich have all done it via building up businesses then selling. Some were family businesses, others from scratch.

The ones who did their own businesses have all without exception had multiple failures and periods of poverty while on that journey and honestly, most people would have just gone PAYE at that point. It’s a lot to cope with when you’ve invested every penny and every minute for it to fail so there is something impressive about their resilience and perseverance.

One way to feel instantly richer is to move out of London, it’s extortionate.

I know a quite few people who have come from nothing and are now extremely wealthy. Of different back grounds too but all self made.

You will never earn a massive income through working for, and consequently making money for, someone else