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> If you earn upwards of £150k, you're rich. This time and time again. Income does not equal wealth. Sure over time you can build your wealth and become rich,

> If you earn upwards of £150k, you're rich. This time and time again. Income does not equal wealth. Sure over time you can build your wealth and become rich, but not really if you earn £150k. It takes awful lot of work to get to that level. You are probably be in your 30s or 40s when you start making this much. If you come from working class, then you are unlikely going to have any sizeable assets until then. £150k gets you "only" £7.5k net. If you want to actually enjoy life and fruits of your hard work, then you don't want to live in a flat share, you want to go out sometimes etc. In London, £3-4k rent for a decent home, nothing luxurious is a normal price. Bills, other outgoings probably £1-2k. You also want to save some money for retirement. With that kind of money, you are realistically looking at £2k of disposable income. To put that into perspective - if you put £2k each month into your savings account, it would take you about 40 years to save your first million. This salary is really nowhere near making someone rich. People are often confused, because they see an actual rich person that is making this much money, but they are not rich because they have such a job. They most likely inherited their wealth or they get money in other ways.

nerdawson 4y ago
> Income does not equal wealth. 100% agree. You can have a high income and choose to live beyond your means preventing you from accumulating wealth. We're debating income taxes and thresholds however so that's the metric we have to use. Those on £150k+ are in the 98th percentile.
- varispeed 4y ago
  > Those on £150k+ are in the 98th percentile. This metric is no longer meaningful, as in 99th percentile you'll have someone making £1.5m+, which is a world's difference. > You can have a high income and choose to live beyond your means preventing you from accumulating wealth. What I described wasn't living beyond one's means. It would be that if a person started engaging in taking loans and credit cards and buying things they can't really afford etc. Simple living adequate to earnings, at a £150k, won't make you rich.
  - nerdawson 4y ago
    > This metric is no longer meaningful, as in 99th percentile you'll have someone making £1.5m+, which is a world's difference. We're debating various degrees of rich. If you earn more than 98% of your working peers, I don't know what else you could call that. People make choices with their money. Living alone in an expensive city is a choice. If you choose to do that on £150k, you're going to have far less disposable income than others on that same salary making different choices. I have very little sympathy for people who blow all of their income funding a lifestyle they can't afford to project the appearance of wealth and status.

nerdawson 4y ago

> Income does not equal wealth. 100% agree. You can have a high income and choose to live beyond your means preventing you from accumulating wealth. We're debating income taxes and thresholds however so that's the metric we have to use. Those on £150k+ are in the 98th percentile.

varispeed 4y ago
> Those on £150k+ are in the 98th percentile. This metric is no longer meaningful, as in 99th percentile you'll have someone making £1.5m+, which is a world's difference. > You can have a high income and choose to live beyond your means preventing you from accumulating wealth. What I described wasn't living beyond one's means. It would be that if a person started engaging in taking loans and credit cards and buying things they can't really afford etc. Simple living adequate to earnings, at a £150k, won't make you rich.
- nerdawson 4y ago
  > This metric is no longer meaningful, as in 99th percentile you'll have someone making £1.5m+, which is a world's difference. We're debating various degrees of rich. If you earn more than 98% of your working peers, I don't know what else you could call that. People make choices with their money. Living alone in an expensive city is a choice. If you choose to do that on £150k, you're going to have far less disposable income than others on that same salary making different choices. I have very little sympathy for people who blow all of their income funding a lifestyle they can't afford to project the appearance of wealth and status.