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?

So at this moment you could pay £6000 for cat surgery out of funds in your "actual cash account", but you don't have savings? @annevalentine most people would define that as savings even if you are calling it money left over each month.

Of course things can fail. But no amount of savings is going to solve that. Hence we don’t prioritise saving.

We live like you. Within our means. Is the suggestion that a wealthy person has to have limitless funds?

Quite a lot actually.....

I should have said the treatment/ service is like private, the surroundings certainly not like the Cromwell/ Lindo wing.

You solely have experience, as you have stated, of a sick child at GOS......you are also funny when you talk about cancer treatment on NHS - good luck with waitlists outside of Royal Marsden.

You really are so funny, thanks for giving me a laugh.

There are other reasons for putting excess income in a savings account rather than keeping it your current account. It’s easier not to fritter it away and also more secure if your card gets hacked.

Am still laughing at 13 k a month being wealthy...

Most wealthy people would spend more than £20k on a Disney holiday. Even I know that I don't claim to be wealthy or rich.

If you are living within your means by definition you are saving.

/Thread.

We are wealthy.

We have very large pension pots,assets,savings and investments.
We also have large life insurance policies to provide for our now adult children if we pass away early.

Surely that is the luxury of being wealthy- having enough money behind you that if things go wrong you don't have to sell your home etc to make it through!

We have both worked for everything we have and intend for our children to have a good quality of life after we are gone so have used our money to insure this .
No savings when you have money is insane and irresponsible!

I actually could yes.

I don’t agree that money sat in your account meets the definition of savings. It is not money ring fenced for a purpose, it’s just money that is sometimes left over. Sometimes not.

How much do you have in savings and where is it? Is it for anything specific?

Honestly I have no idea how! That includes £1000 in the outlet mall!

Personally I wouldn't feel safe having lots of money on my normal account. Safer in a savings account if someone nicks my card or something similar.

Please do share a definition of what constitutes wealthy. Not your opinion, an actual definition.

Can you share a definition of what constitutes savings?

Not your opinion, an actual definition

By the one you previously posted, you definitely have savings.

I haven’t read the full thread or all updates from OP but what exactly is this thread asking? Using the word savings is just semantics.

For example I get lazy (stupidly) about moving money into savings account so have cash sitting in the current account. Both is liquid money.

Usually you only get those kinds of savings if you are willing to not only pay in advance but also book non-refundable, which is definitely not worth the savings in my opinion. I know I prefer to keep ahold of our money until a service has been rendered. That’s partly because the liquidity earns us some extra cash on the side —more than the slight discount we might get from paying in advance— and also partly because there is no guarantee that whatever you’ve paid (even if it is technically meant to be refundable) will be refunded if the service isn’t delivered for whatever reason, or is delivered to an unsatisfactory level. I have a friend who paid 200k up front to a reputable building company for a house renovation, and the company went bankrupt halfway through the process. my friend is at the bottom of a very long list of people who are owed money and will likely never see that cash again. There are a lot of people who booked and paid for things like hotels and flights before Covid and never saw that money again because the cancellations were due to force majeure.

If someone is giving you such a deep discount simply for paying in advance (vs in advance and non-refundable), that would set off warning bells for me that the service provider may have liquidity problems, in which case I definitely do not want them to be holding my money.

And I'm still fascinated to know why it's superior to leave that excess where it is instead of moving it to a tax-free savings account that's instantly accessible and earns a bit more. Is it just to demonstrate that you're so wealthy you consider interest beneath you?

We have adequate assets etc that we could liquidate, but we could also cover those costs.

Yes baby, WITH YOUR SAVINGS

Wealthy folks would probably have a healthy balance in their current account, say 5-20k and periodically sweep any excess funds over to investments.
Wealthy folks will not consider a small balance to be savings, they most likely consider it just a balance to aid cash flow.
There will be Isa's and other investments in funds/ETFS /stock market but they likely leave a certain level of cash in a general investment account possibly Invested in the short term money market fund.

If you’re shopping in the outlet malls, it’s clear that you are being careful with your money. With all your wealth, imagine bypassing the Mall at Millenia and instead shopping for ‘bargains’ in the outlets! The £1,000 isn’t particularly a large budget for outlet shopping either!

This is one of those weird threads where everyone disagrees with OP but she still thinks she's right.

I'm still fascinated to know why it's superior to leave that excess where it is instead of moving it to a tax-free savings account that's instantly accessible and earns a bit more. Is it just to demonstrate that you're so wealthy you consider interest beneath you?

i think that's getting to the heart of it, @DownByTheLakes . OP values not needing to plan too much and instead of realising that this is just a natural response to being reasonably solvent, thinks it's some kind of principle.

There's another disclaimer she uses - all the examples either fall into the category "That is a bad thing but it wouldn't happen to me" or "That isn't something I NEED so I wouldn't need the emergency pot".

I disagree that what I’ve described counts.

Definition of wealth? Because by my math we fall into to the top 5% based on our assets and top 1% for pre tax household
income. That not fit for you? more than happy to be told it doesn’t but I see a lot of threads here that are quite clear if you’re in this kind of net worth you’re wealthy.

The outlet mall, that's not what I want to read on a thread about wealth

It's because we aren't clever enough to understand that the definition of savings is "not any money possessed by @AnneValentine in any form whatsoever"

If it isn't painfully amassed, put in a piggy bank marked SAVINGS, for the latest copy of the Beano or a new boiler, it doesn't count.