To think the problem with wealth inequality is that rich people don't know how rich they are?

[Neeroy]

Article in the Times today saying that people earning six figures 'don't feel rich'.

Because they are surrounded by six figure earning peers they are comparing themselves to people who have more rather than the 90% of the population that have far less. This is why the budget is poorly received in the news, because rich people think they already shoulder too high a burden when in fact compared to everyone else they still have far more disposable income. Even if they have to cut down on the number of holidays they go on. They aren't sitting in the dark under a blanket. Or only making food that doesn't require turning on the oven.

I don't think they realise how so many people have to live.

www.thetimes.com/article/1fb46414-8f65-436f-8f95-451d69626148?shareToken=8061d939633164c0dfbd805240c8e008

Did you miss the 'well above'?

It seriously is.

What does "well above" mean then?

I define it as any one of the following:

• Earns more than me
• A house more expensive than mine
• "Investments"

Those champagne swilling, exploitative bastards should pay.

You realise that lots of people have less than half that a month, for the same essentials?

It means well above.

It 'seriously' isn't.

So a truly meaningless declaration. Ok then.

As a side note, it's also true that a lot of people CHOSE not to earn a lot.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying they are all paid fairly and that the system is right or fair. When you chose to be a primary school teacher, a nurse, a soldier, you know you are not in there for the money. Some use it as a stepping stone, like nurses going to beauty industry to increase their salary, and no one would blame them.

But my point was that a lot of people on lower income DO NOT work hard and do not want to work harder. How many threads with posters saying they refuse to work 1 minute of overtime, that you should NEVER take a phone call or read an email after work, at the weekend or on holiday.

How may posters are miffed at the higher managers who go from meetings to lunch to more meeting, not realising that all these are work, and that they have to add hours to do what they can't be doing while on a client lunch.

People willingly ignore the work and responsibilities and choices by others who earn a lot more.

Nobody should be trying to keep warm under a blanket, or going without decent food. That’s why, back in days of much more widespread poverty, hardly anyone lived alone. The huge rise in single person and single parent households has contributed to lack of resources in many households. Especially in areas of high rents.

I know, as part of a pensioner couple, both of us on incomes below the Income Tax personal allowance threshhold, that if either of us was on our own, we’d really struggle financially. On our joint income we can keep warm and well fed.

Six figure earners already pay a large proportion of their income in taxes. It’s the multimillionaires, the massive conglomerates etc., who very often don’t.

Oh my god another idiotic thread bashing people making “six figures” which can be 100k for a family and is really not a lot as “rich people”.

do you know that in london nowadays you need 300k for a family with young kids not to feel rich but just to have MIDDLE CLASS lifestyle? (Less when they go to school and childcare costs drop provided there is no private schooling)

rich is 500k +

They don’t “feel” rich because they still have to watch their money and be budget conscious. I earn near six figured and still as a single woman don’t feel “rich” because to me “rich” would not mean needing to have a strict budget, having to make sacrifices and comprises. It would mean being able to get on the housing ladder easily, being able to afford annual holidays and also things I want do socially locally.

Also remember 6 figures is not 6 figures once various taxes kick in.

And I’m single. If I was married with 3 kids I would not feel remotely rich.

This!!!

My DP earns the lower end of six figures and WE ARE NOT RICH. I know this is so hard to get across to anyone but we are not in the last bit extravagant, one holiday in this country a year. Normal sized house with mortgage. Yes we have savings so I’ll accept that’s a lot better than many people. We don’t hang around with anyone wealthy. We’re just bog standard normal people.

Just because they have relatively more money, doesn’t make them “rich”.

So you’re saying that all state pensioners are rich then?!!

I am quite aware of what people have to live on coming from a low income household myself. However, £900 for food and bills does not make anyone rich, as well you know. My dad has slightly more than that per month and I’ve had to pay for a new boiler for him and to get his (very old) car fixed as he simply doesn’t have the disposable income to save for items like that.

You don’t have to be rich to have investments - my half sister is a 25 year old working in the probation service with investments.

With the trading platforms and fractional shares you can have “investments” of £10.

Of course the rich know they are rich. Obviously. how can they not as they look out of their drawing rooms at their Bentley parked next to their helicopter.

People earning £100k are NOT rich. The vast majority are normal hard-working middle class professionals with mortgages & car finance to pay like everyone else.

so you’re on £100k because you work in London, low grade professional services. You have 2 kids, one in nursery.

What do you think you’re spending on nursery a month? And mortgage? And commute? And wrap around? And savings? Cause you’re rich aren’t you!

I grew up in a council house and was on FSM. I now earn over £100k, and no I don't feel "rich" in any way. I feel aggrieved at how hard it is to sustain earnings at this level with a family, and don't exactly do backflips of joy over the 62% marginal rate of tax I pay in a good bonus year either.

About £35k of a 100k salary is confiscated in tax.

No.

To add to this, 'the banks' are not each owned by single wealthy people hoarding the money. People often invest as their pensions, so even if the banks had sufficient assets to write off all mortgages, this would cause the pension value to plummet and reduce their dividend income too. It's not as straightforward as just writing them off.

A lot of people on higher incomes don't necessarily work hard either.

A middle class lifestyle is rich.

Does anyone else feel like a lot of people on this thread are kind of proving the point? 😂 sorry

It's kind of depressing really, if you don't feel rich what hope is there for the rest of us?