Are there any millionaires who contribute to MSE?

Eco_Miser

GeoffTF said:

artyboy said:

GeoffTF said:

mebu60 said:

OAP1952 said:

And the question I really want answered:  how do we change the life-long habits and spend the cash?!!!

There's many a thread on here endeavouring to find ways and means of making ourselves try to do that! 

Spending money is not a virtue. Give to charity.

The two things are not mutually exclusive! 

But by all means pontificate away if it makes you feel better...

Of course, we all have needs. I was responding to the suggestion that I should spend £millions at the local public houses to avoid it burning a hole in my pocket (assuming that I have £millions of liquid assets, of course). I would not do that, even if it was feasible and was not injurious to my health. Much the same applies to gorging myself with unhealthy food at the local eateries. I expect that there are those who would regard me as an old eccentric, but it takes all sorts to make a world. There are people with greater needs than me.

I don't see any suggestion of spending anything at the local public houses, or gorging on unhealthy food at the local eateries (except from you). Rather a question of how to reduce a frugal mind-set and actually get some benefit from the accumulated wealth.  

Personally I prefer to donate to community organizations that are not charities, but still doing important work. 

UKX69

vacheron said:

In the 1970's-80's "Millionaire" presented a nice round number which denoted an exceptional (but not completely unacheivable) level of financial success.

In 2025, to live what most people envisage as a Millionaire lifestyle (large country house, possibly with a couple of staff, a couple of exotic cars, multiple luxury holidays, kids in private education, large boat / small yacht) you would probably need closer to £5-10million.

Today, £500K in a pension fund (providing approximately £20K per year income) plus a £500K paid off house, and there you go... Millionaire!

I'd imagine hundreds of people in this forum are in this position, most will probably be in their 50's or older and probably in the south with their property value increases has done doing a lot of the heavy lifting. 

Also, much like retirement, when the big day arrives it is generally without all the anticipated fanfare as neither you, nor your abilities or aptitude changes when you reach this number. Many won't even realise when the "magic threshold" is crossed as everything just carries on as normal like it did before.

Bought my first house in the middle 70’s for <12k, 3 bedroom semi, needed some work, but no problem 😉 Still live in the same house I bought in 1984 for 17k, owners wanted 21k but knocked them down as it too needed attention. Completely happy 😊 

mebu60

GeoffTF said:

mebu60 said:

OAP1952 said:

And the question I really want answered:  how do we change the life-long habits and spend the cash?!!!

There's many a thread on here endeavouring to find ways and means of making ourselves try to do that! 

Spending money is not a virtue. Give to charity.

Nope, not seeing where I said you should squander your £millions in local public houses or eateries. 

FYI donate to a local and a national charity as well as volunteering for a different local charity and locally for a different national charity. I also occasionally eat out in pubs and restaurants. 

Excelled myself on Monday, finally bought a new pair of walking shoes to replace the old ones that were falling apart and taped up in places. In the sale section of an outlet store :-) 

GeoffTF

Eco_Miser said:

GeoffTF said:

artyboy said:

GeoffTF said:

mebu60 said:

OAP1952 said:

And the question I really want answered:  how do we change the life-long habits and spend the cash?!!!

There's many a thread on here endeavouring to find ways and means of making ourselves try to do that! 

Spending money is not a virtue. Give to charity.

The two things are not mutually exclusive! 

But by all means pontificate away if it makes you feel better...

Of course, we all have needs. I was responding to the suggestion that I should spend £millions at the local public houses to avoid it burning a hole in my pocket (assuming that I have £millions of liquid assets, of course). I would not do that, even if it was feasible and was not injurious to my health. Much the same applies to gorging myself with unhealthy food at the local eateries. I expect that there are those who would regard me as an old eccentric, but it takes all sorts to make a world. There are people with greater needs than me.

I don't see any suggestion of spending anything at the local public houses, or gorging on unhealthy food at the local eateries (except from you). Rather a question of how to reduce a frugal mind-set and actually get some benefit from the accumulated wealth.  

Personally I prefer to donate to community organizations that are not charities, but still doing important work. 

I was responding to Section62 above: "Depends how and where you spend your money.  Supporting local facilities (shops/post offices/pubs/cafes/farm shops etc) possibly has a lot more social value than some charity donations will achieve." The context here is £1 million+, presumably in liquid assets, since this is a savings and investments board.

artyboy

GeoffTF said:

Eco_Miser said:

GeoffTF said:

artyboy said:

GeoffTF said:

mebu60 said:

OAP1952 said:

And the question I really want answered:  how do we change the life-long habits and spend the cash?!!!

There's many a thread on here endeavouring to find ways and means of making ourselves try to do that! 

Spending money is not a virtue. Give to charity.

The two things are not mutually exclusive! 

But by all means pontificate away if it makes you feel better...

Of course, we all have needs. I was responding to the suggestion that I should spend £millions at the local public houses to avoid it burning a hole in my pocket (assuming that I have £millions of liquid assets, of course). I would not do that, even if it was feasible and was not injurious to my health. Much the same applies to gorging myself with unhealthy food at the local eateries. I expect that there are those who would regard me as an old eccentric, but it takes all sorts to make a world. There are people with greater needs than me.

I don't see any suggestion of spending anything at the local public houses, or gorging on unhealthy food at the local eateries (except from you). Rather a question of how to reduce a frugal mind-set and actually get some benefit from the accumulated wealth.  

Personally I prefer to donate to community organizations that are not charities, but still doing important work. 

I was responding to Section62 above: "Depends how and where you spend your money.  Supporting local facilities (shops/post offices/pubs/cafes/farm shops etc) possibly has a lot more social value than some charity donations will achieve." The context here is £1 million+, presumably in liquid assets, since this is a savings and investments board.

...except that was not the post or indeed the user you quoted when you made your initial statement about giving to charity.

There may be the semblance of a decent point within all this but perhaps for now you should stop digging?

Linton

zagfles said:

surreysaver said:

Define 'millionaire'. I suspect if someone included their property and pension pot, there would be quite a few 

If the pension and property values are included I suspect the vast majority of people over 50 living in the south east in a decently paid public sector job will be millionaires. 

Though most people even in the south east are not in decently paid public sector jobs with many years accumulation of DB pension. 

Also, it would be more sensible to think in terms of cohabiting family wealth rather than that  of Individuals.

poolboy

Meaningful money podcast must have a few well off listeners.  I really like lord Lee the first isa millionaire too.

I m sure i heard that 800k people max out their isa every year so that and the 4000 isa millionaires is a decent indication.

A 1mn house in London is a 3 bed terrace in zone 6, 20km from centre.

Cus

This is a saving money website, not a making money website. I'm sure there are many millionaires who are happy to provide opinions on savings, as relevant as any non millionaires who also do the same, but imo I don't see the connection, maybe I don't understand the op question.

At a basic level, giving to charity is a virtue, learning how to spend more money is not a virtue.  Arguing about that as per this thread seems pointless, and I don't understand why anyone would want to comment against the premise, but also it's obvious anyway so why state it.

My instinct to the initial comment was to think that you can spend more money in a virtuous way without giving to charity, but maybe that was because I don't give to charity and deep down I should.

GeoffTF

Cus said:

This is a saving money website, not a making money website. I'm sure there are many millionaires who are happy to provide opinions on savings, as relevant as any non millionaires who also do the same, but imo I don't see the connection, maybe I don't understand the op question.

At a basic level, giving to charity is a virtue, learning how to spend more money is not a virtue.  Arguing about that as per this thread seems pointless, and I don't understand why anyone would want to comment against the premise, but also it's obvious anyway so why state it.

My instinct to the initial comment was to think that you can spend more money in a virtuous way without giving to charity, but maybe that was because I don't give to charity and deep down I should.

This board is about savings and investments, so it is about making money. We have already covered the main factors governing success at that.

I tried to air the issue of whether wealth carries responsibilities when we have acquired it. Perhaps that is off topic. Some will believe that the responsibilities are great. Others will believe that wealth carries no responsibilities. Others still will believe that all property is theft. I do not expect that we are going to get much enlightenment here.

Eco_Miser

GeoffTF said:

Eco_Miser said:

GeoffTF said:

artyboy said:

GeoffTF said:

mebu60 said:

OAP1952 said:

And the question I really want answered:  how do we change the life-long habits and spend the cash?!!!

There's many a thread on here endeavouring to find ways and means of making ourselves try to do that! 

Spending money is not a virtue. Give to charity.

The two things are not mutually exclusive! 

But by all means pontificate away if it makes you feel better...

Of course, we all have needs. I was responding to the suggestion that I should spend £millions at the local public houses to avoid it burning a hole in my pocket (assuming that I have £millions of liquid assets, of course). I would not do that, even if it was feasible and was not injurious to my health. Much the same applies to gorging myself with unhealthy food at the local eateries. I expect that there are those who would regard me as an old eccentric, but it takes all sorts to make a world. There are people with greater needs than me.

I don't see any suggestion of spending anything at the local public houses, or gorging on unhealthy food at the local eateries (except from you). Rather a question of how to reduce a frugal mind-set and actually get some benefit from the accumulated wealth.  

Personally I prefer to donate to community organizations that are not charities, but still doing important work. 

I was responding to Section62 above: "Depends how and where you spend your money.  Supporting local facilities (shops/post offices/pubs/cafes/farm shops etc) possibly has a lot more social value than some charity donations will achieve." The context here is £1 million+, presumably in liquid assets, since this is a savings and investments board.

Pity you failed to quote that. However the context is having a million quid and being too frugal to spend more than the absolutely necessary; not on squandering millions at the local pub, or the local post office or farm shop. 

Really, I can't see how you turned a suggestion to support your local cafe into gorging yourself on unhealthy food .

Funnily enough the cafe I do visit fairly regularly, for good healthy meals, is run by a charity.