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, if you don't have any savings, I think it is about time you put some aside.

I think the phrase is "money talks, wealth whispers".

So you’re arguing about vocabulary. OK 😂

So your argument is that:

• The best way to look after your high salary is to put it in (very difficult to access) investment accounts and pensions
• To be reassured that nothing will ever go wrong in an “emergency” sense such as a boiler or car breaking down, as long as said boiler/car is expensive and recently purchased
• The cash left over in your current account each month, which is highly variable, is reliable enough to further negate the need for savings

May I ask where you get your financial advice?

Hypotherical scenario - you or a loved one is diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and treatment in a private hospital total hundreds of thousands. You apparently will struggle to withdraw money for your investments (interested to know where your portfolio/s live, why are they ALL hard to access?), can’t withdraw your pension, have no ‘savings’, and your health insurance provider won’t cover you to the extent needed. What would your game plan be?

So if you have £13k a month and decide to book a last minute £8k holiday, how would you fund it?

BIL and SIL are wealthy. They have savings. They bought a lovely new car for 60k recently from their savings.
This is much more usual than whatever it is you are describing.

*I did say that we never hit £0.

also part of that money is being invested each month. It’s just not going into a savings account or benchmarked as “savings”.*

So you do have savings. You just don't have or need a small 'emergencies' pot. These are two very different things.

It makes much more sense of your original post as yes I agree, with £13,000 a month you probably don't need to think about small emergency outlays.

You definitely need savings though, which you've clarified that you have.

Ok- You're "wealthy"- feel better?

I still don't think you are according to my personal definition and it seems odd that you need reassurance from strangers online if you're so sure about your financial position

@Counciltelly off point and I agree that boiler insurance is expensive and should be unnecessary. However, it isn't just about the money. Our insurance with our heating engineers is wrapped up into a service contract. It isn't so much about the replacement of the boiler (for mechanical failure unrelated to wear and tear) but the fact that if the heating fails, it guarantees priority attendance. 30 years ago, our heating broke down during a nasty cold snap. It took 10 days to get it sorted and money wasn't the issue. Never, ever again.

Im confused, money that's in investments is savings surley?

Don't forget assets. Investments.

@AnneValentine I count these as savings if they can be easily liquidated.

I've also just twigged what OP means. The problem is she means a small 'emergencies fund', not 'savings'. That's where she has confused people.

Why on earth are you paying for insurance and service plans for your appliances?!

@RosesAndHellebores this winter two people I know with your type of cover had to wait a week for help with boiler.
Unfortunately the resources of repair people was stretched thin because everyone boiler goes at critical times.

Of course it is. OP is creating her own vocabulary. THAT is how rich she is 😂

Just letting us peons realize how wealthy she is and her lack of need for savings because the money just oozes out her pores.

Or maybe it's her reference to rich people not having broken down cars!
Baffled.
But yes this makes sense.
I mean. Presumanbly Mr/Mrs Rich calls their PA or whoever to deal.
And the PA calls finance person, who has the dosh and knows where it comes from whether it's a savings account, nvestment liquidation or gold bullion.

The Rich is hardly going to ring up AAA and themselves are they...?

'Hello this is Mrs Bezos Sanchez please rescue me and my pink cadillac cheers'

Her own re classification of what savings means?

I think I have reasonable comprehension skills but I really am struggling!

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?

Maybe this ^ is the golden thread running through the OP that financial security of "the well-off" immunises them from the grinding experience of having to watch every penny coming in and going out each pay packet.

I don't get the logic that savings aren't needed nor that those people don't get made redundant.

In my case it has taken me years of sacrifice to get to the stage where I don't have to worry about putting food on the table and have a career that's sufficiently flexible that I could get a well paid job tomorrow because my CV is portable to a number of different industries and roles, if I were to be made redundant.

Senior management are just as vulnerable to restructuring and severance, the difference is that they have made themselves marketable, so can find a new role quickly, have a very healthy CV with credible career history and get an exit package that gives them a lot more slack in their system to take time looking for their next job, and will probably be headhunted anyway.

OP the main thing I get from your CV is a sense of fatalism, that you don't have agency to better your own circumstances and have taken to criticising the "haves" rather than thinking about how you can change your life for the better, which is very sad, and a function of modern Britain where the division between the haves and the have nots has never been more entrenched.

I wondered this too

I think the answer is from the liquid cash in her current account that is absolutely NOT savings

For some reason

OP, if you had eg two kids at private school, you’d be making termly payments in excess of your monthly income. I’ve no idea whether you have kids or not but you must see that people with £13k monthly income need to keep a decent float of cash. You can’t just live on £13k a month because you are likely to spend much more than that some months.

It’s really unclear what point you’re trying to make. We have a high income and as a result we don’t insure smaller things like vets bills because it doesn’t make sense financially. But we have plenty of liquid cash and I check the rate we get on it- why wouldn’t I? Being rich doesn’t mean you don’t care about throwing money away.

Is this your salary or your husband/partner's?

I assume they are talking about people with significant investment portfolios who receive quarterly or annual dividends.

Though I suspect those people probably have enough of a float in their current account that they aren’t “living off credit cards”.

You're either being obtuse or thick. You don't seem to understand how less wealthy people live.

I am "middle class" on a "moderate income." I don't have to regularly worry about money, because I am earning slightly more than my monthly spending and have built up money in the account, which by your definition isn't savings but "just money I've not spent yet". I would call it savings. I think I'm likely to have to dip into it in March when my MOT is due. I'm not worried about this, as the "money I haven't spent yet" is there.

You're in a similar position but with much more incomings. You don't need to save because you don't need to think about money because each month you have lots of "money you haven't spent yet" and probably some leftover at the end of the month.

It's cheaper to live if you have wealth beyond a certain amount, from paying lower tax (1 in 10 people in the UK earning over a million pay just 11%) through to simply being able to buy stuff outright and interest free or buy food in bulk (and have the space to store it)

They tend to come from families which were wealthy, so have at least one inheritance coming along, are healthier so avoid the same care costs and however stressful their job is, once retired they recover from most of the damage done, unlike manual workers.

The biggest difference is obviously security, opportunity & health and those are getting wider.

I think most people are aware of it, but not many have experienced life at both ends.