To ask if you're wealthy, how did you acquire your wealth?

[PinataHeeHaw]

I'm sat here in the early hours looking at luxury Spanish villas, wondering how I've never got rich.

And just to add, I'm obviously not saying anyone can build wealth by not buying takeaways and buying second habd clothes, I'm highlighting the importance of how being happy with what you have and having a mindset of saving and not spending is what brings me happiness, not the latest mobile phone- there is always something to want in our world and so many people are happy with so much less. Health is everything.

The quality that my wealthy friends all have is drive. They have this inner drive and energy to get on, work hard etc. I really believe it is something you are born with, lucky things.

-DH currently earns about £350k salary and bonus. Poor family but worked hard and chose a career that is known for high salaries and has moved jobs wisely. Bought a 500k house when he was 29 with a 25% deposit he saved himself- no family support at all.

-me: currently earns about 125k salary and bonus. One parent is from inherited wealth, immigrants who came to the UK at the start of the 20th century poor AF and then entered professions, bought property and now have a portfolio that passes down as inheritance. I know I’m in line to inherit this but currently very grateful my parents are alive and well. It does make a big difference though.

We could afford a property abroad but like visiting new places too much. We spend a lot on holidays and have one DC in private school. Both volunteer a day a week to local charities as it’s important to us.

I think the system is unfair and I think how we tax wealth in the UK is insane (not income) btw. My grandparent is a multimillionaire who pays less tax than DH and I as we are both employed and taxed at source.

I know a lot of people who are comfortable (our family included), but the only really wealthy people I know are coming from generational wealth

This. The only people I know without this who I would count as wealthy are partners at places like Goldmans or v senior at other investments banks (both of them in the couple).

YANBU - but can I ask how would you define wealthy?

I completely agree with you, i dont think thats controversial at all, 1 million isn't wealthy, I just wanted to highlight how unless you are extremely lucky or perhaps in a certain sector, its something built over generations.

I've moved from a benefits family to owning a home outright at 40, with the hope my child will start from a better position and with someone also on a stronger footing than we were.

I think true wealth is something where i don't even understand the finances because a Trust owns the mansion and you have staff and sit on several Boards 😆

I think being wealthy for a lot people is knowing the difference between appreciating and depreciating assets. But a nice car and it's value will plummet; buy property and it's a good long term investment. Be prepared not to go for short term gratification but he patient with your investments; pensions though dull can by the time you are 50 suddenly present you with real choices and liberty.

Get a good financial advisor and be tax efficient (without telling the world about it).

What I find interesting is that investment is not taught in terms of financial literacy at schools. A lot of the basic financial planning taught in the state sector is about avoidance of debt and assumes an equitable cohort of pupils. I think it's a good debate to be had about discussion of wealth with children.

Comprehensive educated, went to Oxford, converted to law, became a barrister. I always earned good money but since I became a KC I have earned serious money.

Things that made a difference:

Supportive parents who wanted me to go to uni (they both left school at 16), and who were not wealthy but didn’t make me get a Saturday job so I could focus on my A Levels.

No tuition fees and I had a grant, plus my college had cheap accommodation which I lived in all three years. I had to pay for the law conversion course but graduated from that with debt of £7.5k.

I didn’t buy a flat till my early 30s but when I did they were cheaper, no banks really carried out affordability checks so it was easy to get a mortgage when self-employed, and I didn’t need a large deposit.

My parents gave me £5k towards the deposit.

We made a decent amount on the flat which we put towards a do-er upper house (though what we made was about 25% of the deposit on the new place and the cost of the works. The rest was paid for from earnings).

My husband and I didn’t have children (not by choice).

Became a KC which was a shedload of hard work to get. Chose a lucrative specialism (ie not crime).

We have well north of £2m in assets including a second home we don’t rent out. I expect to pay off the mortgage on both over the next year or two. I will inherit from my parents but it will be about £200k and won’t be the main source of my wealth. Where my background made a huge amount of difference was when I was a kid - as I say above my parents were v supportive and although not wealthy were determined to shove me up the ladder further than they’d got. I owe them a huge amount for their support and the scrimping and saving they did on very ordinary jobs to make ends meet (I earned more as a trainee than my dad ever did). The other two factors which contributed hugely to my social and economic mobility were no tuition fees and much lower house prices.

I’d say we were wealthy in a lucky but
not oligarch or landed estate way. Don’t know if this is what people mean by wealthy though. A few £Million in personal accounts and investments, more again in business and business investments and then £2m in property. We live a normal lifestyle; shop at Tesco, fly EasyJet, drive one old car and one new etc. Maybe this isn’t what the OP means.

Anyway, to answer the question, it was built through my DH’s career and subsequent starting of a small but successful business. And through this business meeting contacts for investments in other business that have been successful, and stock market investments. I’ve worked at a business which has been very successful and had lots of bonus and equity payout from that but being salaried it will only go so far with me and won’t be as much as my DH.

No inherited wealth and state school for me, my DH is a bit different but received zero help with his career and business.

Im salary wealthy but asset poor. Good jobs in specialised field, work two jobs. Spend every penny. Stupid really. Can't seem to get off the treadmill.
I have few very wealthy friends, they either made their money in property or finance.

Just to add ... Many people are not academic enough to work hard and get all As at school. Doesn't mean they don't work their arses off, but don't get rich. It's not just working hard that gets you wealth, it's a certain amount of ability at passing exams and about the environment you grow up in.

I always think that people who tell you they've got rich through hard work somehow think everyone else could do the same. And it's simply not true.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the alternative to receiving an inheritance isn't everlasting life, it's losing the person and receiving no inheritance.

We aren't rich as in multiple homes, jetset lifestyle, yacht. But we are in a position of having savings of 500k+, a six bed house in nice area of NW we own outright. We'd be much richer if we didn't have 4 kids, lol. They are currently working their way through uni.

We have not inherited a penny. We met at uni, worked hard, did well in work. Importantly we bought our first home in 2000 for 92k, sold it in 2005 for 200k, bought a new home for 250 which we sold in 2015 for 350k, bought our current home in 2015 for 450k and it's now worth about 800k. No way would we be able to afford it nowadays.

In addition though my job is public sector on a fixed pay scale DH took a risk, joined a very tiny company with a small share holding, that company grew and he sold his shares when he left the company. The money was heavily taxed but it enabled us to pay off the mortgage and gave us a nest egg to put into the stock market (I would have bought property but DH had final say as it was from his job). It's been up and down but over 10 years has increased in value.

We have £1m house that is paid for and a lot of savings and shares at 50.. not mega rich but super comfortable. DH still working but will retire at 55 as we have dd in education and a son with SN so need to know we have them sorted .

Done by working hard in his career and going up the property ladder and adding value to each house ourselves ✅

Ah yes if only hard work alone was the key, many more of us would be (financially) rich.

I would disagree- the wealthy people I know made their money through business. I don’t mean employment, I mean entrepreneurship. That’s certainly our story. I earned well (City career for 20years) but it was my DHs tech businesses that made us the big money. But there were also times when he didn’t earn anything and even once it got very close to the wire with one start-up that he put all his staff salaries on his credit card one month, as that was the only way he could pay them. Not long after he sold a big slug of his shares and that was his first big pay out. So the risks are big, but so are the pay offs. He started work at 16. Now both 50s and retired. Not so much as a penny of inherited wealth here!

What do you think of as wealthy OP? My DH earns around £120k a year and I earn about £100k. Nursery fees and a high mortgage in London are crippling us though. I'm sure we'll feel wealthy in our 40s/50s, particularly if we retire outside of London, but not now.

We both went to top unis and got high paying jobs. No parental help for housing or anything etc

Can anyone recommend any resources regarding investing if you’re doing that? I’m not wealthy but we do alright and I’m aware the next step is to invest but I’m not sure where to start. Thanks 😊

Not exactly wealthy yet, but I'm currently quite flush. But it's hard work, you should try fencing a solid gold toilet...

I agree that £1m in assets these days is more like “comfortable” than wealthy, and in some parts of the country even then you could still feel the squeeze…

I am not wealthy but I have a small property in spain (£150k though, not £400k). Mortgage free on a £700k house, and I’m not 40 yet, so I’m comfortable.

Mine was mainly luck (good or bad). Bad luck in inheriting £100k at 18, good luck that I bought my first house at 19. Good luck that I met DH when he was starting a business - good luck he sold it before that industry crashed and would have been worth next to nothing.

It also took work - I’m a lawyer so there was a lot of study and long hours. But again luck played a huge part - luck in finding a firm that paid off my uni costs, luck in promotions and “right place, right time”.

I agree, we desperately need to increase taxes on unearned income - bring back investment income surcharge on earnings that don’t come from working. Reduce/scrap exemptions and allowances for interest, drastically reduce the tax free element of ISAs. We shouldn’t be encouraging hoarding money for the sake of it. Get people to make their money work rather than let it passively grow. Workers have been squeezed too much for too long and deserve a break. There needs to be a massive drive to increase wealth by opportunities to work.

100 % agree with this .

I am a single parent ( after divorce my drive increased to a turbo level in reaction to the sole responsibility) and have a large property with 90 % equity which will be paid off in 3 years .

No inheritance, just total hard graft , every opportunity I overpaid the mortgage.
During the pandemic after bills and grocery shopping every penny went to the mortgage.

Im on a mission , I’m comfortable but not wealthy (will work until I am too old !)

That said , I ensure that I have holidays regularly with my DD as one day I’ll just be a memory for her and I want it to be full of places we went and things that we did .Not looking at her bank balance to “see my legacy there “.

I am excellent at getting deals so while I have taken her lots of places , they have all been in a budget .

One particular favourite was LA for £420 each return flights and hotel 🙌
Another was a week in the Caribbean for £575 each … flights and hotel !!

It’s a balance …

Im just about to log in and get a few extra hours done !!

My dh is in property. He’s building up and looking to sell out within 5 years which is when we’ll have to leave the country due to the inheritance tax laws here or it was all for nothing.

Not just hard work, but going above and beyond, taking risks, seizing opportunities, etc, working smarter not harder, etc. Studying alongside a job to improve qualifications and prospects, etc. Taking a second job which may open more doors or make new connections, etc.