I remember as a young man holding Millionaire as an mystical person in a parallel universe but now its seems quite normalised and no longer the tag it used to be infact it isn’t really ‘special’ anymore! It’s like that old phrase ‘Never meet your heroes’. Getting older is very enlightening thats for sure and I am fast learning its all about the chase and not the finish line but once you get it life is so much easier.
RIAC
I think your answer is pretty simple:
In 1980, the average house price in the UK was £23,287 - so to be a millionaire, you had to have £976k liquid assets. Adjusted for inflation, those £976k would be £4,463,578 today. That is still a lot of cash/liquid assets.
However, the average house price is £231k today, with London houses closer to £600k. Doesn't take so much liquid assets to make a millionaire on top of that, less than a tenth of the buying power compared to 1980.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
I have a friend who is very wealth and he got to the top off him game , I said to
Him in the middle off a conversation shall we swap lives , his reply was its very lonely when your single as it’s had to work out who’s after your money and who is genuine , he also said it’s very much keeping up with other as in joe bloggs has a new Bentley so I need to upgrade my Bentley, also his staff was very much as he put it up his arse , not many people would just say it like it is and be honest
But agree it’s the chase and for most no finish line, for me I don’t won’t to be a millionaire , just happy healthy and financially secure
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 1999
Don't waste your time on jealousy
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind
The race is long and in the end, it's only with yourself
My motto is I can't take it with me, so if I can not enjoy it during my lifetime what really is the point?
I would not go far as to say I would not like to be wealthy, but I am certainly not willing to sacrifice large chunks of my existence to try and get wealthy. I am perfectly content being able to get by relatively comfortably, even if that means I have to pass on most of the wealthy luxuries in life.
Old school mate of mine won 6m on the lotto. I saw him a few years later and he said it wasn’t much fun at all.
He was single and his parents had died, so he struggled to meet new women without the subject of money coming up, and many of his mates showed their true colours. He was so happy to talk to me as I’ve known him since we were 10 so no hidden agenda.
I told him to head to Monaco for some normality :)
1m isn’t much these days though which makes me wonder how fast that inflation keeps going. The millionaire raffle or even the pools used to be enough to retire on in opulence, but now if a 25yo won that they wouldn’t have enough to go less than part time, unless they bought cheap property and tried the rental game but that’s still a job of sorts.
Sadly that kind of mentality doesn't come with wealth, just look at the number of people deep in debt because they need the latest iPhone, iPad, Car, earphones, nicest holiday, need to send their kids to private school and on and on and on...Originally Posted by Iceblue
The concept of living within one's means seems to be rare these days.
As others have said, £1m doesn't go very far these days - Not to say I wouldn't mind being given £1m, but I couldn't live the life it would have given me in the 1980s with it!
M
Last edited by snowman; 26th April 2022 at 09:39.
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
I wonder how many Rolex on the forum have been bought on credit?
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Down here in the South East you don’t get an awful lot of property for a million pounds these days. With the recent hike in property prices, many of those have little or no mortgage on them so there are lots of paper millionaires, many of whom are struggling to get by on a day to day to day basis.
It’s a strange world we are living in at the moment.
I’m also wondering if, with the current high inflation, property values are going to continue to increase in line with inflation bringing those with £6-700,000 properties into the millionaire bracket within the next few years.
A lot from experience, also so many that rent houses and cars but buy watches! I was always the other way round in that you buy the essentials like a house and car and when they are paid for you indulge.
its certainly on the up in some things and going down in others, thankfully an index linked pension is a blessing as it keeps the void from widening further
RIAC
My eldest lad is 25 and has a net worth of circa £1.5m. He “got lucky” with a professional sports contract and still earns a decent wage from playing. He probably wouldn’t need to work again having five properties, maxed out his pension and put away a decent amount in other investments. He drives a £8k Corsa and lives in a three bed semi and whilst enjoying life and appreciating how lucky he is, has his head screwed on and not interested in being “flash”.
You are right though they need to do “something” and so a part time landlord and trading to be a financial advisor for post professional career keeps his mind occupied.
This. Being a millionaire was very different in the 1980s compared to the 2020s.
biggest problem with that club is staying in it.
Russ Hanneman’s biggest fear...
Agree...we've now had nearly 15 years of near zero interest rate and it feels like people are conditioned to live off debt and buy now, pay later. I think this conditioning where the latest luxury product is within 'easy' reach makes it harder to curtail spending and fight inflation.
There must be many people in their 40s and older who are paper millionaires (house and pension pot etc), especially in the south east.
It’s funny money though as you can’t spend a house, unless you move to another much cheaper country/part of the UK.
I feel very sorry for youngsters today, what chance do they have of home ownership unless the bank of mum and dad can help?
Paper Millionaires is a funny one, if you have a load of cash and watches but don’t own the house then its the same really, I’d judge it on what you are worth right now and disregard the pension that stops when you die or not depending on widows allowance etc.
RIAC
I hear this a lot but who do you think will own all the property once we’re all dead and buried?
I think I first started thinking about being a millionaire round about 1976. I just did a calculation and that's about £7.5M in today's money. So realistically, a "millionaire", as us old folk remember it, needs to be worth something like £8.5m today. Certainly cuts down on the number of millionaires.
Inflation innit, always with us.
Uk property in London/ SE especially is a great way to fund a lifestyle/ a good bet/investment but bloody hard work/bit of a trap/ illusion of wealth, if you're grafting to pay the mortgage.
I never thought about being a millionaire but rather how much I/we needed to generate to fund a lifestyle and for that to be sustainable over the long term. Generally speaking the money comes with success.
It's a shame, tragedy really that the relatively easy avenue of cashing out your chips in the over priced UK and enjoying a life in the warm and easy going continent next door, is now closed to many.
Last edited by Passenger; 26th April 2022 at 12:14.
Yeah sure, but they'll be 60 by the time and won't need it anymore.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Your retirement home?
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
The banks, they have already started buying property, they will turn mortgage defaulters into renters if things go tits up.
Yup this.
It's the last tax before inheritance.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
The meaning of the word millionaire has probably lost its meaning at the same rate degrees have lost theirs. Both used to be big deals and a differentiator but now they’re very run of the mill.
Even if my house is somehow worth £5m one day it’s totally meaningless unless I move somewhere cheaper. Just stuck on the financial treadmill.
It’s a fair point, but it (hopefully) will be a long wait for most to inherit, my kids will likely be in their 50s for example.
I don't recall hearing of billionaires back in the 80's either. Inflation, zero interest rates and all the QE swelling prices of all assets, investibles, even rolex.
Last edited by Passenger; 26th April 2022 at 12:35.
Thank you for the correct term (mine was a literal translation from French)
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
While I’m no millionaire by a long shot my ambitions/priorities have changed, seeing good friends, family and even a young child leave this planet in the last five years does bring home the wealth vs time factor.
I like my money like anyone else but I appreciate not doing something I don’t want too.
Enjoy how you earn, not how much you earn is my motto..
This.
I have no kids so a couple of charities will do very well when I go!
I am a millionaire
in yen
The multinational care home companies?
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
A decent trust fund
RIAC
It’s an interesting one. My dad always said to me early on decide if you want to live to work or work to live. Choose carefully. I chose the latter BUT still wanted to be successful in my own eyes with criteria I set myself.
It’s very easy on watch and car forums to be envious of others but look back at what you wanted to achieve and if you achieved it then be happy. Money won’t bring happiness but it can bring options until you have so much money it brings problems as others have mentioned on this thread. It can be and is widely regarded to be the route of all evil with good reason.
I never chased it I had my own small business and a great working life. I retired two years ago at 65 now we are comfortable, holidays nice car eat out when we want, and every morning is a bank holiday. I would sooner have my health than a million
that sounds awesome, enjoy
Never mind the million - I'm all for retiring as soon as possible and living the simple life. Unfortunately the joint bank account holder doesn't share the same values
Very sensible approach, I’m at a similar stage in life and you finally realise how important health is, beyond a certain point wealth becomes irrelevant.
I’m 64 and completed a 40 minute run earlier today, I’m fortunate to still be in good health and I’ll take that any day over materialistic wealth, I don’t care how much money the next guy has and whether he likes to brag about it, its water off a ducks back to me . I have an elder sister who’s in a care home at the age of 68, suffering with advanced Parkinsons, she’s not short of brass but her health is shot............who’s the lucky one!
Food for though guys.
Spot on, health is wealth.
When my parents got older, they moved to a semi-detached house in a small village in the country. Next to them a younger couple, living an ordinary life with 3 young kids. Nice people, nothing special. He had a company that he sold at the age of 35 and he started a new company. Within 7 yrs, he sold that one too. He was 42, 43 and had developed rheumatism.
A few years later, a Dutch magazine published a list of Holland's 500 wealthiest people. He was in the middle of the list, around #220 with an estimated wealth of 300 million (that was around 1995/1996 I think). I remember that my parents, in their late 60s, early 70s and healthy, talked about health, happiness and money with their neighbours. His message was: "I would gladly give it all up for a pain-free life!"
If ever a thread needed Skyman this is it🤪👍
I guess octo-millionaire just doesn't have the same kind of ring to it, but as many have pointed out, it would be closer to the mark these days.
I had a friend obsessed with becoming a millionaire (in US dollars, so less still) just so he can say he is one, but by the time he finally did, the goalposts had moved so much it means he's still chasing, never happy.
It would need to be a billionaire thread wouldn't it ;)
Skyman vs Elon
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
What did Skyman do?
RIAC
Magician. Pif paf puff and he’s gone.
Talked sh1te 😂
A forum Stalwart then!
RIAC
Quite !! 😂
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