To think this is classed as being wealthy?

[hadenougj1]

I genuinely don’t know. I have come from naff all so my judgment could be totally off.

This is for one person and one child… Do you think savings of 50k, income of 75k, own (mortgaged) home worth close to 500k and parents with four homes (one of which used as a holiday home all year round) means you are wealthy? Is this what is meant by ‘he or she is wealthy?’

Parental income or assets don’t count.

I’d say comfortable but not wealthy. If the job was lost they could quickly go to uncomfortable.

"Your example is doing fine and pretty average for a taxpayer in a professional job "normal" "hard working" person !"

To be frank, I find this sort of response quite ridiculous.

For a woman to be earning £75k is not in any way at all "pretty average" or "normal" - and the implication that anybody who doesn't earn that much is not a "hard working" person ! is really quite goady.

Statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that a woman earning £75k outside of London is at the 97th percentile of female full-time employees.

What that means is that she earns more than 97% of all female full-time employees.

For those working in London, the figures are obviously a bit different. In London she would only (only?) be at the 90th percentile - so she earns more than 90% of all female full-time employees in London.

There is a rather sharp divide between private and public employees in London. Is she worked in the public/non-profit sector then £75k would put her at around the 96th percentile but in the private sector she would be at around the 88th percentile.

So here is a woman who, by any measure, is one of the top earning women in this country.

Although, of course, income isn't a measure of "wealth" as such. The ONS did a survey back in 2020 (so figures will have increased somewhat since then with rising house prices) and found that the median net wealth of a household in the UK in 2020 was £302,500.

It varied by region, the highest was the South East at £503k and the lowest median net wealth was in the North East at £168k.

So where do you put the cut off as to what is counted as "wealthy"? Who knows? The top 20% of households? The top 10% of households?

Well, here is the information by percentiles (I've included every 5th one). Pick a percentile that feels right for you.

Household net total wealth by percentile, UK 2020

1st - minus £1,700 (yes, it's a negative figure)
5th - £6,700
10th - £15,400
15th - £27,200
20th - £44,700
25th - £71,000
30th - £107,200
35th - £146,400
40th - £193,800
45th - £246,600
50th - £302,500
55th - £366,300
60th - £436,100
65th - £519,000
70th - £617,900
75th - £733,800
80th - £895,000
85th - £1,105,900
90th - £1,413,700
95th - £1,988,500
96th - £2,197,500
97th - £2,469,200
98th - £2,862,800
99th - £3,668,200

No. Wealthy is when you have enough assets for multiple generations after you not to worry about money. i e. Richi Sunak, the Kardashians, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezzos.

No, not wealthy as we don’t know how bug the mortgage is. If you have a £425K mortgage on a £75K salary there won’t be enough left over each month to be considered wealthy. What other family members have is irrelevant.

Comfortable not wealthy.

Comfortable yes but not wealthy. Also their parents wealth is not their wealth.

Privileged and probably comfortable but not what I’d call wealthy.

I would say wealthy, considering that only 4% of the UK earn of 100k, an income of 75k is definitely above average. Perhaps it should be framed as family wealth, if including the parents homes for holidays.
It's all relative so your friend may feel poor compared to what her lifestyle was like when married but she's definitely not not wealthy 🙈

Wealth is a term for holding assets.

Salary is not equal to wealth.

You could be earning £150kpa but blow it all on holidays and partying and you'd not be wealthy.

Her parents have absolutely nothing to do with her personal wealth - not sure why you'd throw them into the mix.

If she has 10% of equity in a £500k house, then she's not wealthy.

Her salary puts her in a position where she could become wealthy, if she can get the mortgage paid off, have a good pension, and somehow, also manage to get some investments etc.

I wouldn't consider owning one house outright to be wealthy. Comfortable, more than likely in combination with her excellent salary, but not wealthy in the way most people think of wealth.

I wouldn't call that wealthy. Maybe her parents are I don't know.. but she's not.

Her parents wealth is not relevant.

Does she own her £500k home outright?

A 75k salary is very good, but if she has a mortgage and childcare then that would take a big chunk.

I don't think she's wealthy but may be comfortable depending on outgoings.

The parents are irrelevant.

so 50k in savings, 75k earnings, and a mortgaged house, which you don’t say how heavy the mortgage is at this point.

for me, no this is not wealthy, and depending on the mortgage size, maybe not even comfortable as they are single.

I'd say wealthy is income over 100k

Wealthy? No.

Parental wealth is not personal wealth.

Mortgaged property is not equity in a property. (How much of her £500k home does she own?)

£75k is a well above average household income, but not "wealth". £50k is a well above average household savings pot, but not "wealth".

I'd say well off rather than 'wealthy'. Her parents homes don't count, as you don't know what will happen in the future with those - their value may not go to their child/grandchild as inheritance.

The value of a mortgaged home also doesn't really count - how much equity does she have in the home? How many repayments could she continue to make if she suddenly lost her job and struggled to get another one? How quickly could she sell it if she really needed the money and what could she buy/rent with whatever she got from the sale?

I'd love to have a £50k safety net, so she's in a significantly better position than a lot of others, but that still doesn't put her into the wealthy category.

Wealthy, for me, is when your owned assets generate enough income for you to live in comfort, spend without worry, travel whenever etc such that you don't have to work.

No good ever comes from comparison. Find your happiness and nurture it. It doesn't matter what anyone else is or isn't doing or saying. If you can be content, you have richness in your life.

Don’t think you can include parents houses in your view - my parents and in laws are wealthy but haven’t given us any help (not that they should of course!) so their financial situation is relevant to them.

a mortgage on a house that price is £££ so their disposable income might not be as high as you might think

She might be when her parents croak it, but I think she sounds like she’s doing ok for a single parent. By no means wealthy. Her parents might live for another 20 years.

@ButterflyKu You’re only the second person to comment on the thread, why quote the original post? Everyone knows what you’re responding too!

Because I hoped it would annoy you!

I definitely wouldn't describe that as wealthy. The parents sound more so.

@ButterflyKu oh Lord yes this!! it does my nut in as well! Why do people quote the OP??? We have all read it!

Fair enough to quote a later poster if you're responding to one of their points or quote an OP update, but absolutely no need to quote the original Opening Post.

Aargh!

And to answer OP, I would say they are comfortably well off, but not "wealthy".

Wealthy to me means not really having to work because you have so much money in the bank, land, property etc that you don't need to live a "normal" life of work, mortgage and bills.

Depends on where you live - savings, (single) income and mortgaged house value of those ranges is pretty modest down south? Parents apparent wealth is irrelevant as that can end up paying 20 years of NHS medical bills and never reach the person you mention (and the properties themselves may be relatively modest, too, depending upon where they are).

So, no, I’m not sure that person is necessarily wealthy. Just being very careful by spending their income on an asset (home) and saving on the side. Giod luck to them.

No i wouldn't say wealthy as being a single parent they still have the same household costs but from one salary, but extra childcare costs you'd assume.

50k savings is a nice cushion though I think.

I'd say comfortablez

*comfortable