AIBU to think most people have no idea how wealthy people live their lives?

[AnneValentine]

Just that really off the back of a lot of threads but most recently one where multiple people were adamant that the only way it’s possible to have no savings if you have salaries of £200k plus unless one of the couple is squirrelling savings.

Followed up with how do they pay for a broken down car with savings? Hasn’t even dawned on them that people on those salaries don’t have cars that are breaking down.

Is it so hard to believe that money literally eliminates money worries? That you can create a level of security that means savings and such aren’t needed?

Op I generally have good reading comprehension but I'm afraid I don't understand the first paragraph of your first post.
Please could you try re wording it ?

I have not called a single person stupid on this thread and never would. Ever.

Also, as I’ve already said I’m sat in hospital. Bored.

Well some people have enough wealth to not have to worry about illness, redundancy, whatever. With the caveat that they don't desire a Jeff Bezos penis superyacht.

But they're of course exceedingly rare!

There are 20.8 million HNWI, 200K UHNWI and a few thousand billionaires.
In a planet of 8 billion human beings.

Really nothing to do with the rest of us 'mere mortals' 😉

@LadyLapsang interestingly your friend with multiple homes might not even count as one of the above. As the wealth definition involves liquid assets. No matter how many properties you own, it is not a liquid asset.
You can however borrow against it using it as collateral.. that would put you in the running.

It’s already been established I do have savings. Just not what I consider to be savings.

But all good because I have savings.

Re. Health crisis that is not true at all. One of you could have a major stroke (hope not). The NHS rehab offered is not sufficient, health insurance deems or chronic. You won’t get the care you need to manage when the stroke survivor is home.....this will be about 2 k a month, the rehab will be about 3 k a month, modifications to the home.....bathroom, widen chairs etc. Yeah there is critical illness.....but the rehab is for years and years.......actually years and years if you want any quality of life. Initial outlay in the first year can be circa 100 k....and yes will get sick pay from work.....but that will reduce and flip to insurance after a certain number of weeks. - and it takes time for that to happen.

if you both work, the ‘well’ one will end up taking unpaid leave for hospital visits as will run out of leave.

Chronic illness is very expensive in this country.

I’m astounded that any intelligent person would attempt to come on MN and make such sweeping generalisations

Op, I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt because you have said you are in hospital and I’m conscious you might have been taking powerful medication

Who cares if you have savings or whatever, or what you personally class as savings OP. What are you looking for people to say here?

😂😅😁

And that is where you are wrong. An agressive cancer is far and away being private somwhere like the Royal Marsden. Trust me. It’s night and day. It where you get access to drugs which the nhs won’t fund on cost grounds. It’s where you actually don’t wait for tests and results and can choose and see the best doctors in their fields. It’s where instead of being told there’s no point treating you on the NHS and you’ll die on 3 months you end up living for 3 years, 2.5 of them with an excellent quality of life.

I’m technically what you’re considering wealthy as we earn over £200k. Lots of student loan though so our net is £12-13k max a month.

I don’t think this is “wealthy” by definition. We are absolutely in the top percentiles and doing well, but wealth suggests bloodline to me and a huge abundance.

We don’t WORRY about certain things but our cars are very old because we don’t care about cars. If something breaks, I don’t have to worry much because I’ll just replace it but also I’m not some spoilt brat who doesn’t understand the value of things. We have only just come into this amount of earnings in our late twenties so we don’t have anything behind us. We haven’t built on this money and had it for a long time, like someone wealthy. So life isn’t as you describe.

Pedantic much 🙄 obviously the ones who aren’t working don’t earn

Of course investments can be accessed. You can sell shares or a bond today and have the cash within 2 days. Premium bonds are even quicker.

And surely you also have foreign currency accounts? It always makes sense to keep a healthy balance of USD, EUR and CHF to hedge against GBP.

It is very, very odd to not consider investments to be savings.

I think this is the oddest thread on Mumsnet I've seen in quite some time. The OP keeps saying people don't get her point but even when I read the posts she quotes that she says DO get her point I don't get her point.

Her and her DH have £13k coming into their bank account every month and she's complaining because she thinks people shouldn't see her as wealthy because she doesn't have any savings/£200k in liquid cash ready to access today. That's an absolutely bizarre 'what planet are you living on?' point of view.

She says the only debt she has is the mortgage and even if it's a massive mortgage it's not £13k/month. If she is spending all that £13k every month she is living a wealthy lifestyle regardless of whether she thinks she's wealthy or not. Excluding mortgage our family of 4 outgoings are about £3-3.5k a month but much of that is discretionary e.g. days out, new clothes etc. That would leave £10k to cover mortgage (maybe £2-3k for a mega nice house) and leaving c.£7k every month to transfer to savings.

If the OP ISN'T transferring £7-8k/month into savings because she's spending it on enjoying her life, that's absolutely fine but it is a wealthy privilege. Complaining that she's not wealthy because she doesn't have savings is blind to how she's choosing to spend her £13k/month.

For anyone who'd like to see how their wealth stacks up against the rest of the UK stick your income into this website.

https://ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in

DH was complaining we didn't have a high income (because he went to school with some people who've done very well for themselves and he was comparing us to them). I put him right by showing him we are in the top X% of earners in the UK and he's blinded by the people's circumstances he associates with e.g. £30k/month in salary.

Absolutely bizarre thread from someone who does not understand the difference between income and wealth. Wealth means you have assets. These assets can be liquid such as cash savings or illiquid such as property.

It is perfectly possible to have a high income but low wealth. For that case if you spend all your income but don’t build up wealth and can be vulnerable to redundancy/illnesses etc. Many young high earners, particularly in London are in this position. High house prices and childcare/school fees up the income and so the lifestyle for income is not what may be expected from the apparently high income.

You are only rich if you have wealth - i.e. assets not high income.

OP I genuinely don't understand what you are actually trying to say. Are you trying to say that you can still be "wealthy" (or rich, whatever) without a massive pot of savings? Your opening post is not very clearly worded at all. This may be why so many people are questioning you about it!

If your take-home is £13k a month, I am surprised that you have no savings at all - what on earth is it being spent on every month? Or do you just put all the leftover funds into investments? If you are very secure in employment, in control of monthly costs, and can adapt your monthly spending in the event of an unusually high money one-off requirement I don't see the issue.

We have insurance for long term conditions as well - trust me it’s covered. Our child has one. I’m painfully aware of the impact they can have and also aware that no amount of savings can mitigate against that. It’s also why we made the choice for me to change careers and alter our life accordingly.

I have not called a single person stupid on this thread and never would. Ever.

Also, as I’ve already said I’m sat in hospital. Bored.

Ahhh - okay - you're bored, well that's okay then. Take it easy.

I had thought you were certainly indicating that other people were lacking insight and intelligence - not literally calling an individual stupid.

Well done for reading the thread. We have assets. As if anyone is earning that and doesn’t.

Have never lived to my means, always below. DH has had self employed, uncertain income for more than half his working life, I have had a job for some time but had to take time out for disabled child. We couldn't risk it.

I don’t have insurance on my boiler? By your hypothesis it wouldn’t make sense to.

i can easily afford to replace it if it goes wrong but I am not risk averse, so I wouldn’t insure a boiler as I don’t believe the benefit is there. But then I work heavily in finance and understand how to calculate my risk factors.

I have pet insurance because it makes sense. So far I have profited off that.

You come across as rude and pompous OP. Well done on all your income and assets you’ve won.

I have also not suggested they lack intelligence. Insight yes. Intelligence no. Absolutely not what I’ve implied or said. But I equally lack insight for those who have income monthly that doesn’t cover their outgoings. I’m not going to pretend that I do or make judgements about how people in a situation that is not mine live their lives. I would certainly never suggest, as an actual example from a thread elsewhere on mumsnet, that the only explanation for not having savings is that the spouse is squirrelling it away.

.

Do you “win” your monthly income? Your home?

So you have assets but not cash in an accessible savings account and you think people are not getting it because you're making an artbitrary distinction between easily accessible cash and investments you'd need to cash in.

You have access to money even if it meant selling something quickly, and for less than it's worth if you need the money quickly, therefore you're wealthy. Because you have access to wealth.