One in 65 UK adults now a millionaire

mayonnaise

The number of millionaires in the UK has shot up by 41% over the past five years, with one in 65 adults now classed as having a seven-figure fortune

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/27/number-of-millionaires-in-uk-rises-by-200000

Good to see not so much the rich getting richer, but the rich getting more numerous.

Cheers. :beer:

wymondham

Without looking at the link I'm guessing this is purely to do with the fact they probably have a house that's gone up a squillion percent meaning they are 'rich'..?

Graham_Devon

Yer, it's an interesting one. Much excitement about how house prices are creating millionaires...

...and then a paragraph stating it's not just London that's benefitting, it's other areas too, "as rising house prices push more wealthy people out of London".

So Reading, for example as it's highlighted does great too, as the new found wealthy people find they can no longer live in the areas they used to be able to afford to live in.

So it seems a case of "yay, I'm richer, I can now afford less than I could a year ago".

CLAPTON

so, if those londoners with a one bed flat move down to devon, they could probably buy a whole village

regprentice

Graham_Devon wrote: »

So it seems a case of "yay, I'm richer, I can now afford less than I could a year ago".

Suppose you could argue these rich people have been canny be crystalising those house price gains by selling. A once in a generation chance to cash out of the london housing market.

Wouldnt move to reading personally... Been there and its similarity to east ham brought on my ptsd from when i used to live there. Completely indistinguishable from the rougher edges of 'up and coming' london...perhaps thats the appeal

Graham_Devon

CLAPTON wrote: »

so, if those londoners with a one bed flat move down to devon, they could probably buy a whole village

They could manage 3-4 normal houses dependant on area.

However, this reminds me of a programme that focused on the huge differences in London. One women who worked passed retirement age, around 69 years old bought home 13k a year. She couldn't afford a car. She couldn't afford holidays. She could just about get by on the basics in life.

However, she was sitting in a house worth 960k at the time. A house she had bought 4 decades previous for a tiny sum of money.

The presenters asked why she didn't retire a millionaire and go and live somewhere else a very wealthy women. She simply replied "and do what, my friends, my family, my life is here...money can't buy that".

Not much fun sitting on a hundreds of thousands of pounds if you are completely isolated from everything and everyone you know.

Her place, it seems, would have quickly been snapped up by developers who were desperate to split it into 4 tiny flats.

CLAPTON

Graham_Devon wrote: »

They could manage 3-4 normal houses dependant on area.

However, this reminds me of a programme that focused on the huge differences in London. One women who worked passed retirment age, around 69 years old bought home 13k a month. She couldn't afford a car. She couldn't afford holidays.

However, she was sitting in a house worth 960k at the time. A house she had bought 4 decades previous for a tiny sum of money.

The presenters asked why she didn't retire a millionaire and go and live somewhere else a very wealthy women. She simply replied "and do what, my friends, my family, my life is here...money can't buy that".

Not much fun sitting on a hundreds of thousands of pounds if you are completely isolated from everything and everyone you know.

Her place, it seems, would have quickly been snapped up by developers who were desperate to split it into 4 tiny flats.

why would a person (even if 69) bringing in 13k a month and owning her own home, be hard up?
am I missing something?

Thrugelmir

mayonnaise wrote: »

Good to see not so much the rich getting richer, but the rich getting more numerous.

Cheers. :beer:

That's why politicians love inflation.

Keeps the illusion alive.

Graham_Devon

CLAPTON wrote: »

why would a person (even if 69) bringing in 13k a month and owning her own home, be hard up?
am I missing something?

Was supposed to say a year - I edited just before you had quoted.

CLAPTON

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Was supposed to say a year - I edited just before you had quoted.

she would be no better off in Devon or probably poorer

princeofpounds

So it seems a case of "yay, I'm richer, I can now afford less than I could a year ago".

This exact point has always amazed me about the wealth illusion caused by rising house prices.


We would all be much richer in reality if we all had access to large comfortable houses.


Wealth is about access to goods and services. Prices are just a way of keeping tabs on the relative share of any a particular good in the economy.


Scarcity raises prices but impoverishes all of us.