Are you worth a £1million?

[MoneyBags]

DH & I used to be quite good at keeping an eye on our financial affairs until the kids (8 & 5) came along. Since then, we've bumbled on through, just about remembering to stick lumps in ISAs and PEPS, paid off bits of mortgage etc, but not done any active management or review.

Anyway, a number of 'life decisions' prompted us to go to an IFA for a total review. By way of preparation we had to fill in load of summaries of investments/ house prices/ mortgage etc.

Well.... we sat down with him today and discovered that if we add up the net equity in our house (value minus mortgage) and all our savings and investments.... we are worth £1 million

I am truly gobsmacked - it has sort of crept up on us.
The bizarre thing is that we don't feel rich or anything - I use coupons and codes for shopping and regularly buy and sell on eBay. And yet I am a millionaire

Don't think anyone actually resents other people havimg more money then them. But this thread title is quite simply rather gross. And to call yourself moneybags?

Good for you moneybags, I wish I could have a surprise like that

I am, however, poor and in debt (my own fault) but I am rich in love and children and that beats money any day!!!

FB x

These sorts of threads never go well. There are lots of people on MN who are in dire financial straits, and oddly enough aren't thrilled to hear this sort of thing. (Does anyone start a thread in Conception saying 'Oooh, i get pregnant really easily whenever I want, so I never visit this board'?)

Oh FFS - the name was a joke! Don't you ever 'do' tongue-in-cheek???

Anyway, faffing around on here won't make anyone any millions (except Justine & Carrie of course ) so in the words of Dragons' Den "I'm declaring myself out!"

TTFN

P.S. I DID explain why the name change BTW - I felt it would be too crass to post this under my real name, given RL people know it... ho hum...

I'm going to go on the Weight Loss boards and boast about how effortlessly slim I am!

I already boasted about my shapely bum!

Lol Rhubarb.

Moneybags - yes it would have been crass to post under real name and still as crass to post anon imo.

Glad you have gone to add to your money pot.

god its not tasteless to talk about your money, i think the op was being helpful in a round about way and if it made others look at their situations well done. but jesus mumsnet really has a few who seem to begrudge / bemoan / critcize anyone who is kinda positive or upbeat maybe with regards to assets , i dont know but this happens time and time again. and i just dont get involved, but
dont tell me you dont go round your mates house and discuss what state you are in financially or discuss tips on tax or how to economise or make maoney. there s nothing crass about that.
bling bling is crass. op isnt that.

imo there should be more information avaiable for everyone to make the most of their hard earned monies and some people just dont know how or where to look.

See how she ignored my requests that she share her cash?

Proves my point!

hear hear re: NQC's comment on insensitivity

Been following this thread with interest and would just like to add my two pennies worth:

Firstly : I'm in debt,live with my parents with my 2 Dc after my relationship with Dc father finished.I'm on benefits,and on housing lists waiting to be rehoused,been here 2 years.
I hope that doesn't offend you Moneybags,I can quite honestly say the situation I and my Dc are in is through no fault of my own,Ex threw us out.I am currently doing everything in my power to remedy this.

Secondly:I can honestly admit that when I read the op yesterday I didn't take it as Moneybags trying to boast.I just thought,Wow how lucky can you be and the obvious God I wish that was me thought,lol

Moneybags I would just like to say Congratulations,and genuine best wishes and a big good for you.

not read all this but what I have read of these posts makes me lean far more towards catsmother's view of money and luck and much more away from your view, moneybags.

MB you say you wholeheatedly believe in "you can if you think you can". That is such a simplistic way of looking at life and luck IMO. Could I be a brain surgeon or a famous artist - no!

As for being worth a million - good for you. If you had started a thread just outlining your luck, without the tips and judgements, I'd have more time for it.

A million is worth a lot less now than it used to be, anyway, so it's a sign of the times that more and more people will find they are millionaires.

can't believe this thread is still going on......that reminds me, must check my Lotto numbers......

I should probably add, I do not have financial worries. But I still find the OP quite smug and offensive. And as for the 'anyone can do it' ... am a pleasant mix of and at the idea.

I'm off to post on miscarriage/bereavement about how healthy and happy my kids are, and there being no deaths in the family. Oh, and off to SN as well. Gosh there are lots of areas on this board where we can all post about how terribly well we're doing, and how anyone could to the same.

Woah there NQC - that's not quite the same is it? Or did I totally mis-read the OP which I thought say "holy cow, we'd be savings bits and pieces for the past x years and guess what? It's actually worth something"

Good on ya moneybags

I'm sorry but you don't have assets worth £1m and not know about it. Of course you fucking do.

And anyone who goes to an IFA for a finace review knows they have good assets in my view.

You might not know your assets were were that much.

I only happen to know how much my assets are becasue my dh is a dreadful worrier with regard to our finances (even though we are comfortably off), so I di a spreadhseet which pulled all the bits and peices together. If I hadn't done that I owuldn't have had any idea of how much we had all togerther. Like Moneybags, it is a mix of thing - some cash ISA,s so Stocks and Shaers ISAs (all from different companies), some PEPs, some Norwich Unio PEPs, some shares in Astra Zeneca and ICI that I have 'cos I used to work for ICI, some premium bonds (any winnings from which are re-invested automtically), some "standard" savings, some share saves.....

I fully acknowledge that I/we are fortunate to be able to have the dsipsible means to have those savings. Having said that, at the moment I am the sole earner - my dh is currently studying, having taken a package from his last job (which helped us pay off most of our moprtgage).

If I hand't done that - and my "normal" mode would have been not to bother as I knew we had plenty of savings even if I din't know how much, as I didn't need to touch them just now - I wouldn't have been anywhere near accurate in estimating how much we had.

I have been fortunate - I was given the ICI shares (whcih subeseqyunetly split into AstraZeneca and ICI) purely because I worked for them. Dh was fortunate to be given a good package to leave a copmpany he was about to hand his reignation into anyway.

I haven't even factored in my pension rights - as I've worked for lots of companeis, they are scattered all over the place and I really should see an IFA to help me to get them sorted.

But going back to the OP - it is indeed possible, in the right circumstances, for the actual value to surprise you.

whether it surprised you or not, it's still bragging to put on mn...

I'd agree that it's possible for the value to surprise you - not least with the insane house price inflation that the UK is 'enjoying' these days.

ARGHHHHHH

I HATE the british sometimes.

What is wrong with being pleased about something great like realising that you ahve more money than you realised?

Why is 'bragging' or 'showing off' such a cardinal sin?

What about ENVY????

It is exactly this that has lead to me always always saying something negative about ds when a mum compliments me on how verbal he is or something. IT SUCKS.

I should be able to turn to her and say 'yes, i'm so proud of him, it's fabulous' but instead i do the opposite.

and frankly, I should be able to express my pride in him, or my husband, or my own achievements without fear of being slated for showing off.

It is a bitter and twisted attitude imo.

RANT OVER

I too agree that if you didn't keep a close watch on long-term investments, you might not know, at any given point in time, exactly how much in assets you had.

However, you'd probably think in terms of "so and so shares, probably worth xx thousand, so and so bond, worth around xxx, and so on. In other words, you'd still have some idea that you were reasonably well-off.

To get to a million, as in this case, it is, after all, very unlikely that you thought you "only" had £50k knocking about in "spare" money. You would surely know that you were comparatively (when compared to most, if not all) well-off, even if you hadn't imagined you'd reached the magicl 7-figure mark.

ANdd BTW - even though I did the spreadsheet, my dh still worries!

But at least he does acknowledge that the "issue" is within him, rather than the state of our finances, and the fact that he is not currently contributing directly to the household income.

I didn't read the OP as bragging - more as a genuine exclmation of surprise and a desire to share the moment - perhaps precisely because it is the sort of thing that is not so easy to talk about in real life.

well, clearly you have your own issues, sophable, but it's presumptuous to suggest that anyone who finds mentioning the size one's net assets vulgar is envious. i don't like competitive behaviour - it's rude and tiresome.

i don't have a problem with a thread entitled "ok total brag but i am so thrilled and can't talk about this in real life.." wouldn't matter what that was, lottery win, new car, fabbo holiday, child's excellent exam results, behaviour - i would find that ok.

Hmm, sophable, I do see your point. But fact is, it is just not acceptable in British culture to talk openly and proudly, particularly not about money.

I'm particularly aware of these sorts of rules because they are different from back home.

i just thought the op was rather disingenuous.