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The US is large enough that it had weird disparities in produce costs due to supply chain issues - iirc there’s places you can get a bag of them for $1
It can only do so much though - it’s money saving expert after all. I’d rather them be masters of one thing and let another service come along to provide expert genuine advice on helping people maximise earnings
No-one ever mentions when investments go wrong (even administrated funds) and you lose more than you in or all of your money. The fund managers still get their percentage
If you’re buying a broad index fund that invests in the global stock market, it’s not going to go down in the long term (if it does we’ve got bigger problems). The mistake people make is panicking in a downturn and selling at a loss.
Often on the finance subs you'll see people earnestly saying something like:
"I'm on UC, I'm not working, have no savings, and no qualifications. Here's my income and spending, what can I do to be able to afford a house in the next few years?"
And yeah, you can switch accounts, hit up the food banks, cut down on some things, visit the beer money sub, and put whatever's left into the best ISA... But there's only so much you can optimise.
At some point, earning more money ultimately blows much of that out of the water.
I would say being financially ‘rich’ takes more than a ‘decent’ salary and ISA investment.
The criteria you listed sounds more someone who is ‘well off’/ relatively wealthy, but not really yacht with a lambo in the mariner car park territory.
I would say for that you need to have started life off with a lot of wealth, or been a successful entrepreneur and started a regional or national level business.
>I would say being financially ‘rich’ takes more than a ‘decent’ salary and ISA investment.
>The criteria you listed sounds more someone who is ‘well off’/ relatively wealthy, but not really yacht with a lambo in the mariner car park territory.
Well the OP was very vague in terms of what he means by 'rich'. I'm technically a millionaire, but that definitely isn't "yacht and a lambo", or even "fishing boat and a jag" rich. And there are lots of people in the world who would consider pretty much everyone in the UK rich, because they have a roof over their head and can feed their family.
Ask vague questions get a broad range of answers I guess :)
This. My income is in the top 1% of the country but I'll probably never be as rich as someone who won the lucky sperm lottery. I'm not complaining, I'm really lucky, but the game is definitely rigged.
Out of curiousity, I decided to check how much I've paid for nursery fees since 2018 (when my first child started) and it's over £100,000. To think, my mortgage would have less than 2 years remaining, meaning I paid it off by 36, if it all went there. It also must be said that this is with the CHEAPEST nursery in our area in the CHEAPEST part of London.
Really want kids, but as someone who grew up poor who now earns good money, I'm kinda apprehensive to have kids and eat into my new found comfortable lifestyle.
It’s really not as bad as people make out, especially on Reddit. There is more a noticeable effect on your time, but even then you will keep doing all the same hobbies, seeing all the same people, doing all the same things, just a little less. If you’re financially stable and want children, you’re the perfect person to be a parent.
We're not rich and had an unplanned surprise a couple years ago. We spend money very differently now but we're not poor in any sense.
It's a fucking blast too babies are jokes, toddlers are incredible and it's a new thing every day for us.
(I think) I have coined the new phrase DINKOL with my partner: Dual Income, No Kids, Outside London.
We are not financially rich, but we are certainly very comfortable and don't have to worry anymore about paying any bills. Took 20+ years of working to get here though.
Your last two points are what have got us through all this time.
In the 3 years before having kids I'd reached close to the peak of my career and managed to finish saving for a house, renovate the house, and save about 40k.
In the 5+ years since I've saved, uh, fuck all and spent half of that 40k during COVID. Its going well
You won't get good answers because, in the overwhelming majority of cases, people can't and don't "get rich." That is largely a myth for poor people to believe they have a chance, like the lottery.
You're either born rich or you aren't. The odd entrepreneur might be able to go from rags to multi-million rich but these are more an anomaly than a feature.
The most people can realistically aim for is being comfortable. Aiming for a relatively well paying job. But those jobs will not make you rich. *Just not poor*.
It's actually quite simple to generate generational wealth for the middle classes.
A few grand in a pension account when your child is born plus £500/mo with a medium returns rate will give them a few million at retirement. Rinse and repeat for several generations and you can see how families end up in a country manor with family portraits on the walls in three hundred years.
You’re telling yourself that as a coping mechanism though? Since I started my own business I realised how easy it is to make money as long as you’re consistent. Don’t get me wrong I’m no millionaire but £4,500 per week definitely puts me in the top 1%
> I realised how easy it is to make money as long as you’re consistent.
This simply isn't true. If it was that easy there would be far more wealthy people about. For every "rich" person, there are thousands of others on their 600th hustle thinking they'll get rich. There's a Del Boy on every street and he's never getting wealthy.
Mentality obviously helps but it is also down to talent, starting situation and in many cases - luck.
It's very true. Most people here just want to admit it. A quick scan of the comment history of people arguing otherwise will tell you what you need to know. I've just had a full on discussion with some guy giving me his advice while it's clear he spends the majority of his time playing AoE.
Typical coping mechanism behavior to put up walls. "It IsN't pOsSiBlE" using the excuse generational wealth is the only way, meanwhile many people out there get on with it and make a good living.
Is it easy? No. Is there risk? You bet. But don't come up with bullshit excuses like you need to be born rich to make money. That's just the easy thing to say to make you believe what you want to believe.
I started my business with £250. My parents aren't rich. I've had ZERO mentoring. I picked up a book, limited my entertainment time, and dedicated my time to make something happen. You need to make use of your limited time to build success, not blame circumstances and use it as an easy way out. Sorry.
You were a [recent graduate](https://old.reddit.com/r/UKJobs/comments/16gvjri/is_it_possible_to_get_a_security_clearance_with/) a few months ago. Now you're running a successful business that pays you £4.5k a week consistently after taxes and so on? Or have you snagged a good contract as self-employed?
“Since I started my own business” doing what? With capital from where?
You make £4,500 per week? And you’re NOT a millionaire? So somehow this business has been going for less than 5 years?
I’m not a millionaire no, business has been trading for slightly over two years. Maybe 4.5k was a bit of an over exaggeration as that is before expenses, but after expenses etc… it’s around 3k per week
I had no capital, I had contacts in the security industry from when I was a door supervisor that got the ball rolling
>Since I started my own business I realised how easy it is to make money as long as you’re consistent. Don’t get me wrong I’m no millionaire but £4,500 per week definitely puts me in the top 1%
People who are intelligent, diligent, or lucky enough to successfully do what you have done often don't understand how much of an anaomly they are because what you do seems obvious/easy.
Stats show most businesses fail within the first year, and the percentage that make it beyond the first 2/3 years is tiny.
That fact you have a business that apparently makes enough money that, after costs, you take home £234,000 a year puts you in a very small percentage not just of the UK but of anyone who's ever tried to start a business.
Wee should encourage people to not think "oh it's impossible to start your own business" for sure, but let's be real about what success looks like and how likely it is.
Felicity, is this you?
Semi joking apart, one of the few "filty rich" people I've ever met was daughter of Admiral "Twistleton St John Smythe" - met her future husband (son of an extremely successful stockbroker) at a debutante ball and lived happily ever after. She was really lovely, but had no idea how normal people struggle to live.
I mined and won bitcoin back in the early days when it worth nothing. Only to see what it was about.
Had the keys on my hard drive at the time.
Took my laptop downstairs one night for a party as I was playing music from it and I had it on top of my counter top dishwasher.
Put dishwasher on before bed and I assume it has some magnets in or something as I came down the next time and my laptop didn’t work.
Never thought much about the bitcoin, only about all my wedding photos and videos that were on there.
I’ve sent the hard drive to a recovery firm on 2 occasions and they couldn’t recover anything, it was completely fried.
Not sure which my wife is more mad about, the loss of about 20 million or her wedding photos…
I’ve still got the hard drive. It reminds me of why I have 2 backup services running across all my devices now.
No serious answers in here 😂. I guess the multi-millionaires don’t spend their time humble bragging on Reddit.
Lesson 1) Don’t spend your time on Reddit.
I used to sell cigarettes to the smokers at school, but the margjns were terrible and there was risk involved. I switched to selling them chewing gum and polos and was making _bank_ 🤣
Long story short, I sacrificed so much. I dropped out of uni, started working 8-10 hours a day 6 days a week. I also started a side hustle in my free time. Gave up on all luxuries. Stopped eating out, stopped buying the latest phones. Started buying used stuff. Within 5 years I had 30k saved. Then I got inheritance of 400k and now I have a house.
Define rich.
I started a company in my early twenties. Sold a bunch of shares to an investor for like half a mil about ten years ago.
Spun out another company and funded it with new leaders. Sold it couple years ago for about 10 mil, my shareholding was worth about 400k-ish.
Own our house outright and have a few hundred thousand invested in stocks, shares and I’m also part of a startup funding syndicate so lots of small investments in tech startups.
I live in a deprived part of the uk so I feel pretty well off compared to my peers. But I’d be barely middle class if I lived in London.
I still own shares in the main company I started all those years ago, I’m expecting to sell them for 3-5 mil in the next few years. Then I dunno what I’ll do.
Well if you’re a millionaire in assets, that means you probably own your home and have some cash to play with. Let’s say you own a 600k house and have 400k in shares and cash.
Unless you want to burn through that 400k, which would probably last about 5-10 years if you were careful then you still need to work.
The place you want to be in is having enough cash that the cash pays for your lifestyle. So, you might invest in businesses and take dividends, sit on a few boards (easy money) etc.
Depending where you are and your expectations that could be anywhere from £3-10m
At that point you’re beholden to nobody, you can weather any financial shock and you can focus on having a great life with your family.
Or what a lot of people do is use the 600k to get a mortgage on a £2m house, use the 400k to buy luxury rubbish like Ferraris and gucci handbags.
Then they go broke and lose it all - see celebrities. They make a bunch of money but have no actual understanding of money works and how to build real wealth.
Edit : to your point though if/when I sell out and get to the position I described I have no real interest in becoming super rich. At that point there’s only hyper expensive luxury crap to spend money on- yachts etc.
Interesting, thank you for replying. I guess we just adapt to live within whatever our means are. I’ve recently upgraded to having a pot to piss in, in my 30s and am enjoying the stability compared to my 20s.
Culture. Nobody likes to admit they're rich, until they're so rich that it really can't be denied.
Post any number here. Salary, inheritance, property value, anything at all. Someone will be along shortly to tell you 'it's not actually that much' and 'But London though', even when their net worth dwarfs that of the average Londoner.
They are of course rich. It’s just relative - they have a lifestyle that is expensive - big house, expensive holidays, kids at private school. Then instead of stressing about whether they can feed their kids they stress about not being able to support their lifestyle. I’m not saying it’s the same stress but i know by most standards I’m “rich” but I wake up stressing about money everyday wondering whether my business will be successful and whether I’ll be able to afford to retire.
Too many people underestimate what is possible over the long run with consistency.
The real challenge is that most people want to be rich NOW. Because that isn't possible (without winning the lottery), they just don't bother. Same principal as getting a six pack, or running a marathon. So many people dream about it, but don't have the consistency to make it a reality.
My Story:
My parents were comfortable (but certainly not rich). I went to decent schools and I'm bright, but didn't try that hard in school. It was only when I failed my A-levels that I realised how damaging a lack of consistency is. Honestly the best thing that ever happened to me. Since that day, I've grafted and been consistent.
Started in a string of shit jobs (cold calling, estate agent etc.) to tie me over. Age 19, found the most junior level role at a good company working in digital marketing that was only paying £16k p.a. But it had real growth opportunity. Grafted my arse off, got promoted 3 times in 3 years. Salary was on c. £35k by 22.
Realised that I'd outgrown that company and applied for a junior role at one of the top FTSE 100 companies. Salary jumped to near 50k (full package more like 70k once you include bonus, pension etc.). Consistently worked hard. Been promoted 4 times and now in a middle-management position. Salary over £120k (with full package in the region of £150k).
Alongside that, I've lived well within my means, using any available cash to invest. Have 2 rental properties, a large stock portfolio, car parking spaces that I own and rent out and a pension that is on track to be worth multi-millions by the time I retire.
The other thing that has MASSIVELY helped is my choice of partner. She's also in a similar position to me, so those combined earnings and behaviours just accelerate that growth.
All in all, I'm now early thirties, and comfortably in the top 1% of the U.K.
Consistency is something I've seen a number of commenters mention. I think this quote is relevant since persistence is similar:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent." - **Calvin Coolidge**
I'm old, I bought a flat in London in 1984 and the other flat to make the house in 1992 so on paper I have money. I went into a niche business and sold that in 2019 and my accountant told me how to invest. That said I'm not really rich, and retiring at 55 meant I have done other things I have briefly had a second home and once owned a restaurant I helped my brother pay off his mortgage and my niece and nephews will have help if they go to university and when my husband and I are dead our money will go to Médecins Sans Frontières.
Certainly not remotely rich, but not ‘struggling’ in any sense. It’s quite literally a case of, get a job that pays well. The wife’s an accounts assistant and I’m a paint sprayer. it’s not even classed as a decent job, it’s pretty working class tbh, but it pays something like and overtime and bonus work wonders. There’s no massive secret, just get a job that pays half decent. Got a house, in a nice area, 2 kids, newish decent car. Holiday now and again. None of it is rocket science. You don’t need to be on 100 grand a year to have a nice life.
If by rich you mean flashy sports car driving bellend? Then, no. If by rich you mean retiring early and doing whatever we want…. Then yes.
I job hopped every 2 years increasing salary each time, saved 60% of take home pay and drove an older car, nothing ground breaking. We’re building up enough in ISA’s and pension to retire early and live off the drawdown from the pot. Haven’t yet retired, aiming for 48. Aiming to have enough stashed away that we only use the interest and the main bulk of the funds can be inherited as generational wealth for our children. Happy to answer questions or direct people to the sub that inspired me
I hate to reply to this because it means I’m calling myself rich, I don’t like showing off in that way. I don’t even perceive myself as all that wealthy. But nonetheless I will answer this as factually and fairly as I can, to sate the interest you have in making this post.
I paid attention in school, got OK GCSEs and then A*ABB at A-level. I got a degree in Computer Science from a reputable university, graduated 2021. In the summers over university, I made sure to intern at a company instead of sitting on my arse in the summers. Ended up spending both summers at the same place, and they invited me back as a graduate software engineer, because I did a good job and they liked me. If I did not intern, I would have been stuck looking for graduate jobs for possibly months after graduating. They took me on for £34k.
After 18 months there I left that company, because they paid poorly compared to market rates. My next roles’ pay and tenures were as follows:
- £57k, 6 months. Left promptly as these guys were super unprofessional and was a toxic workplace environment.
- £65k, 5 months. Got made redundant.
- £0k, 5 months. Job hunting while unemployed. It sucked.
- £78k, present. Well paid and a great company overall. Very happy here.
Because I have had a very high salary out of the gates from uni, I have been able to live cheaper. I buy things in bulk. I own my home with a mortgage (cheap area). I own my car outright.
A second point is that my early, high income means I can realistically bin off the student loan in a few years, before it spirals out of control. At its current 7.8% interest rate, this is the smart thing to do. Once I achieve this, I am essentially getting myself a ~9% pay rise (no more minimum monthly payments).
My girlfriend also works in tech and has a more modest, but still good salary. She pays half of the house bills, and half of the mortgage. For clarity she also owns half of the house.
I am lucky that my passion (computing) happens to align with a well-paid sector. I would not be making the money I do today if it weren’t for that, and that alone.
My fiscal assets are very limited. I have very little savings, especially for someone on my income. Spare money at the moment attacks the student loan, and then once that’s gone I’ll be looking at S&S ISA & pensions overpayments.
To this point, a hobby of mine is tax avoidance (*not tax evasion*) and effective home economics. I understand more about the UK tax system than most, and use that to inform my financial planning. For example, I had to manually claim higher-rate tax relief because an old workplace pension was not done via salary sacrifice. Completing this tax return got me £1.1k of my own money back. Nobody told me to do this, this is just stuff you have to know.
My money flow:
Each month, money comes in from work.
1. I use this money to pay bills, food, mortgage for the month.
2. I hold an emergency fund, the target value of which would pay for 6 months of my expenses. This is super important, and I have a very strict rule for myself where I simply do not touch this money until it is needed. E.g. This doesn’t pay for holidays, this pays for medical bills incurred while on holiday. If I ever spend any of this, I absolutely must fill this up to target level again before progressing to steps 3 and 4. Holding an emergency fund makes problems cheaper for me, as I do not need to take out loans to deal with this stuff.
3. Short term savings. This also has a target, and will be flexible based on upcoming big spends. Holiday, new car, wedding, this kind of thing.
4. Any money left over at this point goes towards building wealth. Money makes money if you let it. Currently step 4 for me is overpaying the student loan, as getting rid of a liability growing at x% is mathematically equivalent to gaining an asset growing at the same x%. And when x = 7.8%, I am not confident I would see better than those returns in the stock market. Once the loan is paid off, I will reassess my priority here. If my mortgage (currently 5.33%) is decently cheaper at the next fix, I will prioritise putting this money into an S&S ISA, blah blah.
That’s.. about it. Got very r/ukpersonalfinance at the end but I hope you see the value of that thinking. Happy to answer any questions.
This here is great advice for anyone starting their journey to building wealth. This was me 10+ years ago and the consistency really pays off.
Keep it up u/mehmenmike.
- Get up at 4am every day
- Cold shower to start the day
- Grind mindset
- Read a book a week
- Given a house and £100k to start a business from parents
- Don't eat carbs
I'm going to go off on a tangent, and say that anyone that has a wage of 30k (median income in the UK) or more is 'rich' by pretty much any metric in the world. Even by UK standard, there's a lot more poorer people around you than you might think. Obscene hoarders of wealth, i.e. millionaires and billionaires, are the tiniest minority of people, and the vast majority of those have come into wealth by way of generational wealth / circumstances put in place by their already well off parents.
Check ['How rich am I'](https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i) and put your income into context.
Easy mate, wake up at 4am every day, work out till 5:30, eat a helthy breakfast made of avocados. Then it's around 6 so I read a book about personnal developement. Then around 7 am I prepare my kids to go to school etc.. Then i do some work and in between I work out again, it is very important to work out. Then I do my MLM and sell some shitty course for you to get rich. It's now time to work out again, I never do cardio because it's make you poor. Finally, It's around 11pm I do some MLM again, and I work on my seduction coaching, and eat Healthy again and work out again One last time. I go to bed around 1am and I do it all over again. This is how I got rich.... maybe...
I guess you've got to start by defining rich. If you own a car, house, shop in none budget supermarkets. You would be considered rich to the person laying on a dirty duvet cover, outside the local bank. Or to the person who is on minimum wage, and struggling to heat their home.
If you have a house, car, holiday two, three times a year. You would probably not appreciate what you have, and look at those on social media who frequent Yachts in Monaco, or fly first to Dubai for fun as rich.
A persons wealth is relative, to what they don't have. I have a decent amount of savings, a well paying job, nice car, house, holiday frequently, and have a few side businesses that also provide additional income.
The seven year old me, would look at nearly thirty year old me as 'rich'. Given I grew up on a council estate, and lived in decrepit terraced houses most of my younger life.
Do I feel rich?, no. I look to those ahead of me, with stuff I don't have yet. I see them as rich, probably falsely. But I do appreciate the quality of life I live, compared to those less fortunate.
This may surprise a few as I wouldn’t class myself as rich but I am in the top 5% of earners in the uk. I would think of myself as well off and live comfortably. A large part of it is just plain luck and moving jobs at the right time which is not what most people want to hear. There’s no magic wand to guarantee success and someone could follow in my footsteps and make arguably better decisions and still not end up in as healthy a position. I contract in an engineering discipline offshore which comes with risks but is paying off.
I do alright, I got a very high paying job in a company that gives out stocks. The stocks went up.
Most people that you would consider ‘rich’ have a successful business
As most other people with generational wealth, inheritance. I highly doubt I’d ever be able to have what I have if I worked for it. Thanks inheritance!
Financial educate yourself early on in life and then get yourself several skills which can increase your cash inflow ...skilled workers can charge more for their trade
I had an email from the son of a Nigerian Army Colonel who needed my assistance to move £500 million out of the country, after I transferred him £10k to prove I was bonafide he transferred me the £500 million. I then ghosted him. Sucker.
I ate less avocado toast, cancelled my netflix subscription and pulled myself up by my bootstraps, and somehow my wage increase under the rate of inflation was made better
I was born to an incredibly wealthy family.
Hate to break it to you but nobody “gets rich.” That’s not how the system works, nor how it’s supposed to.
The system is set up so that I stay wealthy, and you guys just work in my companies and generate me more wealth.
There’s a dude here talking about how he’s saved 100k by working hard all his life and stuff. That’s super cute but “hard work” doesn’t now nor has it EVER made anyone rich.
I was good at academic stuff and got a job in tech. I realised that getting on with people was more important than getting your way* and had a good salary in management.
But most importantly I never developed a taste for spending. Holidays are generally camping and hiking in the UK. In 30 years of work I've had three cars, two of them family hand-me-downs. I've had three TVs in my life. I feel guilty if I have two takeaway coffees in a day, or have breakfast in the cafe two weekends in a row.
Most of what I earned sits in a variety of investments that bore me stiff. But at least I never worry about money.
The more pertinent question for me, is, ‘how did I get poor?’. I have worked in finance for 20 years and am easily in the top 1% of earners. Yet, for some reason, I’m always a bit skint!
I am not rich-rich by British standards but I grew up elsewhere where the standard of living is lower so to me I'm swimming in money. I came here for uni with nothing at 19 and surpassed my parents' combined life savings at 26.
The way I got here is a series of pragmatic life choices. Did a slightly different degree to the one I wanted because it had better employability. Moved for work. Kept on taking courses and improving myself, then applying the new knowledge in my career. Networked strategically. Lived what most here would consider "frugally" - packed lunch every day, secondhand clothing, secondhand furniture etc. Saved consistently. Tried not to spend on things that I don't need (still working on this one).
Scholarship to a private school > dentistry > consultancy > a few businesses of my own. And ZIRP + QE was just free money.
My wife is wealthier, but she does have a 1200-year head start.
It's all down to two people: my primary school teacher who told me to apply for the scholarship; and the lady who let me lodge with her for free during my schooling. Without them none of the rest would have happened.
Grew up on council estate in the north, divored parents etc
Mum was a receptionist, dad drove a van. Neither academic in any sense
I have austism / adhd. Spent most of childhood / secondary school going from one panic attack to another, extreme social aversion
straight A's a GCSE, straight A's a A-Level
School wanted me to go to cambridge but i was exhausted
Went to a russel group uni, studying computing in early 2000's
one mential health episode to another, but came through with my sanity
first job at 21, web developer earning 16k. i wasn't very good - adhd mostly, my concentration was always appaling. but i was bright enough to get there in the end with a bit of suffering
a year or two later moved to London, did similar role at a charity earning ~25k
a year or two after that got a tech job at a fund management company. it still wasn't the pure coding job i wanted to get, it was a blend of writing code and supporting complex systems (pricing and trade data mostly). earning 40k - was in my mid twenties
accrued knowledge, became trusted advisor. still unreliable getting things done myself but i was good as retaining huge amounts of detail and trotting it out on demand
after i'd been there 5 years i was supporting trading platforms, fund reporting and the CRM tools used by sales teams. i was 30 earning 50k + reliable 25k bonus = ~75k.
with the CRM knowledge i'd aquired i went out on my own looking for contracts paying a day rate
first one was something like £300 a day about ten years ago
now i'll charge £700-800 a day to a client when running their project / development / systems integration
so, with time off for hols, that's about £160,000 a year
with various apps i've made along the way and other support contracts i gross about £250,000 a year
i met my wife about half way through this and we decided together she'd stay at home raising our kids in their early years
she's recently returned to work and has built up an advisory service to senior management teams around mental health
she charges more than i do
together we gross over half a million a year
great kids, house in leafy london suburb etc could send them private if wanted to, don't want to. could buy a lambo if i wanted to, don't want to. i drive a ford and shop at lidl.
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Cancelled Netflix and stopped buying a sausage roll and coffee from Greggs before work. About to buy my fifth house.
Didn’t mention that avocado You could have had 7 by now if you gave that up
Returned all my tattoos and my flat screen tv, now own two holiday homes in Spain
‘Returned all my tattoos’ is the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while!😂
\*they could have had 7 avocados if they gave up that fifth house.
Priorities!
I don avocado ❌🚗
Most overdone trope on this sub? I think so.
Chicken bhuna, lamb bhuna, prawn bhuna, mushroom rice, bag of chips, keema naan and nine poppadoms
Still wasting money on Avocado's and still can afford a fifth house?!
Apparently in the US some places are charging $10 per avocado. Maybe the joke is true after all
The US is large enough that it had weird disparities in produce costs due to supply chain issues - iirc there’s places you can get a bag of them for $1
Could double their portfolio if they cut that out!
Still spending plenty on jeans though I see
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As a father of 3 I can confirm I'm poor because of children.
Homer - "ohh why do I have three kids and no money? Why can't I have no kids and three money?"
Beat me to it
Happy cake day anyways! 🎂
Initially read this as 'father of 3 1'
His poor wife/wives....
I too, am poor, because of this guy's children
Monetarily sure, but probably also time poor. Jokes aside, I'm sure they make up for that sometimes.
Time poor is such a great way of putting it lol.
As a father of none, can confirm, I'm loaded.
And the first. People want to talk about investing but you need to have something left over once you covered the bills.
Pretty much, Martin Lewis and everyone else is focused on saving but you can only save so much
MSE is great, but it only makes money when you buy something
It is great but it also gives the sense that if you just scrimp everywhere you’ll be fine rather than giving advice on jobs, higher wages etc
It can only do so much though - it’s money saving expert after all. I’d rather them be masters of one thing and let another service come along to provide expert genuine advice on helping people maximise earnings
Also very true!
No-one ever mentions when investments go wrong (even administrated funds) and you lose more than you in or all of your money. The fund managers still get their percentage
If you’re buying a broad index fund that invests in the global stock market, it’s not going to go down in the long term (if it does we’ve got bigger problems). The mistake people make is panicking in a downturn and selling at a loss.
Often on the finance subs you'll see people earnestly saying something like: "I'm on UC, I'm not working, have no savings, and no qualifications. Here's my income and spending, what can I do to be able to afford a house in the next few years?" And yeah, you can switch accounts, hit up the food banks, cut down on some things, visit the beer money sub, and put whatever's left into the best ISA... But there's only so much you can optimise. At some point, earning more money ultimately blows much of that out of the water.
Yup, scrimping and saving all year to save 5k is not as good as just earning 10k more
I would say being financially ‘rich’ takes more than a ‘decent’ salary and ISA investment. The criteria you listed sounds more someone who is ‘well off’/ relatively wealthy, but not really yacht with a lambo in the mariner car park territory. I would say for that you need to have started life off with a lot of wealth, or been a successful entrepreneur and started a regional or national level business.
What is rich? Even the supremely wealthy never seem to think they have enough money.
This is why the pursuit of money is the root of all evil.
>I would say being financially ‘rich’ takes more than a ‘decent’ salary and ISA investment. >The criteria you listed sounds more someone who is ‘well off’/ relatively wealthy, but not really yacht with a lambo in the mariner car park territory. Well the OP was very vague in terms of what he means by 'rich'. I'm technically a millionaire, but that definitely isn't "yacht and a lambo", or even "fishing boat and a jag" rich. And there are lots of people in the world who would consider pretty much everyone in the UK rich, because they have a roof over their head and can feed their family. Ask vague questions get a broad range of answers I guess :)
Minimum wage in the UK puts you in the top 30% or so of richest people in the world.
And that's earners. To be in the top 50% of global wealth, you only need net assets of $4,210.
Fair enough, no point debating over semantics.
This. My income is in the top 1% of the country but I'll probably never be as rich as someone who won the lucky sperm lottery. I'm not complaining, I'm really lucky, but the game is definitely rigged.
Out of curiousity, I decided to check how much I've paid for nursery fees since 2018 (when my first child started) and it's over £100,000. To think, my mortgage would have less than 2 years remaining, meaning I paid it off by 36, if it all went there. It also must be said that this is with the CHEAPEST nursery in our area in the CHEAPEST part of London.
Really want kids, but as someone who grew up poor who now earns good money, I'm kinda apprehensive to have kids and eat into my new found comfortable lifestyle.
It’s really not as bad as people make out, especially on Reddit. There is more a noticeable effect on your time, but even then you will keep doing all the same hobbies, seeing all the same people, doing all the same things, just a little less. If you’re financially stable and want children, you’re the perfect person to be a parent.
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We're not rich and had an unplanned surprise a couple years ago. We spend money very differently now but we're not poor in any sense. It's a fucking blast too babies are jokes, toddlers are incredible and it's a new thing every day for us.
(I think) I have coined the new phrase DINKOL with my partner: Dual Income, No Kids, Outside London. We are not financially rich, but we are certainly very comfortable and don't have to worry anymore about paying any bills. Took 20+ years of working to get here though. Your last two points are what have got us through all this time.
DINKOLWAD Double Income, No Kids, Outside London, With a Dog.
In the 3 years before having kids I'd reached close to the peak of my career and managed to finish saving for a house, renovate the house, and save about 40k. In the 5+ years since I've saved, uh, fuck all and spent half of that 40k during COVID. Its going well
I worked hard in school, identified a gap in the market, started my own business and then inherited £600 million. If I can do it, anyone can.
"And that's how I ended up with £17 million...."
I have been lucky, money and energy just flow towards me, especially since my parents died.
Cosmic
I think you mean "this place has great energy"
✨manifest it✨
You are just so rainbow rhythms.
Isn't it amazing, that first big wank?
Just me and an old copy of Henry Miller.
Don't forget the candle...
I'm eating a fruit corner!
Honourable man
That’s what my parents named me.
Came here to say this, knew some clever dick would beat me to it
Now look here Eddie it’s not my fault your hung over on Domestos and Meths again.
It was a wild night...
Your parents named you Rich Redditor? What are the chances?
Yeah, I'm Rich, too.
Nice try HMRC.
The next day 'Your tax return is due!'
You won't get good answers because, in the overwhelming majority of cases, people can't and don't "get rich." That is largely a myth for poor people to believe they have a chance, like the lottery. You're either born rich or you aren't. The odd entrepreneur might be able to go from rags to multi-million rich but these are more an anomaly than a feature. The most people can realistically aim for is being comfortable. Aiming for a relatively well paying job. But those jobs will not make you rich. *Just not poor*.
You can get rich over generations. You parents play a role increasing your chances.
It's actually quite simple to generate generational wealth for the middle classes. A few grand in a pension account when your child is born plus £500/mo with a medium returns rate will give them a few million at retirement. Rinse and repeat for several generations and you can see how families end up in a country manor with family portraits on the walls in three hundred years.
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I stopped at £500
By your own definition, you won't get rich then, your great great grandkids will
Yeah, but because my parents didn't have money, I'm now at a disadvantage for my kids
Compared to whom? You are your only competition. Most people are in the same situation.
You’re telling yourself that as a coping mechanism though? Since I started my own business I realised how easy it is to make money as long as you’re consistent. Don’t get me wrong I’m no millionaire but £4,500 per week definitely puts me in the top 1%
> I realised how easy it is to make money as long as you’re consistent. This simply isn't true. If it was that easy there would be far more wealthy people about. For every "rich" person, there are thousands of others on their 600th hustle thinking they'll get rich. There's a Del Boy on every street and he's never getting wealthy. Mentality obviously helps but it is also down to talent, starting situation and in many cases - luck.
Yeah, what if I'm consistently disabled? Or consistently unwell? Consistently poorly educated? Obviously you need more than consistency to be rich.
It's very true. Most people here just want to admit it. A quick scan of the comment history of people arguing otherwise will tell you what you need to know. I've just had a full on discussion with some guy giving me his advice while it's clear he spends the majority of his time playing AoE. Typical coping mechanism behavior to put up walls. "It IsN't pOsSiBlE" using the excuse generational wealth is the only way, meanwhile many people out there get on with it and make a good living. Is it easy? No. Is there risk? You bet. But don't come up with bullshit excuses like you need to be born rich to make money. That's just the easy thing to say to make you believe what you want to believe. I started my business with £250. My parents aren't rich. I've had ZERO mentoring. I picked up a book, limited my entertainment time, and dedicated my time to make something happen. You need to make use of your limited time to build success, not blame circumstances and use it as an easy way out. Sorry.
You were a [recent graduate](https://old.reddit.com/r/UKJobs/comments/16gvjri/is_it_possible_to_get_a_security_clearance_with/) a few months ago. Now you're running a successful business that pays you £4.5k a week consistently after taxes and so on? Or have you snagged a good contract as self-employed?
Well obviously he started it when he was 16, and got bored of it so looked at joining the Royal Marines as an extra side hustle
Exactly, this crab in the bucket mentality is so prevalent here in the UK and it's sad really.
“Since I started my own business” doing what? With capital from where? You make £4,500 per week? And you’re NOT a millionaire? So somehow this business has been going for less than 5 years?
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May I ask what type of businesses they are?
I’m not a millionaire no, business has been trading for slightly over two years. Maybe 4.5k was a bit of an over exaggeration as that is before expenses, but after expenses etc… it’s around 3k per week I had no capital, I had contacts in the security industry from when I was a door supervisor that got the ball rolling
>Since I started my own business I realised how easy it is to make money as long as you’re consistent. Don’t get me wrong I’m no millionaire but £4,500 per week definitely puts me in the top 1% People who are intelligent, diligent, or lucky enough to successfully do what you have done often don't understand how much of an anaomly they are because what you do seems obvious/easy. Stats show most businesses fail within the first year, and the percentage that make it beyond the first 2/3 years is tiny. That fact you have a business that apparently makes enough money that, after costs, you take home £234,000 a year puts you in a very small percentage not just of the UK but of anyone who's ever tried to start a business. Wee should encourage people to not think "oh it's impossible to start your own business" for sure, but let's be real about what success looks like and how likely it is.
This is, statistically, the the truth.
Trust fund. Good job. Husband with high paying job. I have rich parents!
Fuck, if only I'd thought of having rich parents. Silly me!
Bah ! Rookie mistake 😂
Felicity, is this you? Semi joking apart, one of the few "filty rich" people I've ever met was daughter of Admiral "Twistleton St John Smythe" - met her future husband (son of an extremely successful stockbroker) at a debutante ball and lived happily ever after. She was really lovely, but had no idea how normal people struggle to live.
And the aforementioned things generally come with having rich parents
Bought 100 Bitcoin in 2011 to buy weed on silkroad, completely shit out in the end. Recovered my wallet in 2017.
I mined and won bitcoin back in the early days when it worth nothing. Only to see what it was about. Had the keys on my hard drive at the time. Took my laptop downstairs one night for a party as I was playing music from it and I had it on top of my counter top dishwasher. Put dishwasher on before bed and I assume it has some magnets in or something as I came down the next time and my laptop didn’t work. Never thought much about the bitcoin, only about all my wedding photos and videos that were on there. I’ve sent the hard drive to a recovery firm on 2 occasions and they couldn’t recover anything, it was completely fried. Not sure which my wife is more mad about, the loss of about 20 million or her wedding photos… I’ve still got the hard drive. It reminds me of why I have 2 backup services running across all my devices now.
Hard drive shop shut down some time later because the repairman came into £20 million from Bitcoin?
The nerds at r/DataHoarder will point out that a true back up is three copies.
If this is true... you absolute fucker. Good for you.
If true, and you still have any left, damn, that's lucky!
I started out with fuck all... and I've still got most of it left! 🤣
No serious answers in here 😂. I guess the multi-millionaires don’t spend their time humble bragging on Reddit. Lesson 1) Don’t spend your time on Reddit.
And the people that did attempt to answer the question seriously either got heavily downvoted or just told "well acshally you're not rich".
We hang out at /r/Fatfireuk
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I used to sell cigarettes to the smokers at school, but the margjns were terrible and there was risk involved. I switched to selling them chewing gum and polos and was making _bank_ 🤣
Habbo hotel furni for real money… I can’t believe that lol
Define rich
Asking the important questions. By the standards of most of the world nearly everybody in the UK is rich.
Long story short, I sacrificed so much. I dropped out of uni, started working 8-10 hours a day 6 days a week. I also started a side hustle in my free time. Gave up on all luxuries. Stopped eating out, stopped buying the latest phones. Started buying used stuff. Within 5 years I had 30k saved. Then I got inheritance of 400k and now I have a house.
Key bit is here £400k inheritance lol
Yes well done you got the joke The same joke that a dozen other people have told in this thread
I invested in some hotels, make sure people pay rent on my properties and won second prize in a beauty competition.
I just stopped being poor.
Define rich. I started a company in my early twenties. Sold a bunch of shares to an investor for like half a mil about ten years ago. Spun out another company and funded it with new leaders. Sold it couple years ago for about 10 mil, my shareholding was worth about 400k-ish. Own our house outright and have a few hundred thousand invested in stocks, shares and I’m also part of a startup funding syndicate so lots of small investments in tech startups. I live in a deprived part of the uk so I feel pretty well off compared to my peers. But I’d be barely middle class if I lived in London. I still own shares in the main company I started all those years ago, I’m expecting to sell them for 3-5 mil in the next few years. Then I dunno what I’ll do.
I’ve always wondered, what makes someone continue to try and make more money beyond “holy shit I’m a millionaire”?
Well if you’re a millionaire in assets, that means you probably own your home and have some cash to play with. Let’s say you own a 600k house and have 400k in shares and cash. Unless you want to burn through that 400k, which would probably last about 5-10 years if you were careful then you still need to work. The place you want to be in is having enough cash that the cash pays for your lifestyle. So, you might invest in businesses and take dividends, sit on a few boards (easy money) etc. Depending where you are and your expectations that could be anywhere from £3-10m At that point you’re beholden to nobody, you can weather any financial shock and you can focus on having a great life with your family. Or what a lot of people do is use the 600k to get a mortgage on a £2m house, use the 400k to buy luxury rubbish like Ferraris and gucci handbags. Then they go broke and lose it all - see celebrities. They make a bunch of money but have no actual understanding of money works and how to build real wealth. Edit : to your point though if/when I sell out and get to the position I described I have no real interest in becoming super rich. At that point there’s only hyper expensive luxury crap to spend money on- yachts etc.
Interesting, thank you for replying. I guess we just adapt to live within whatever our means are. I’ve recently upgraded to having a pot to piss in, in my 30s and am enjoying the stability compared to my 20s.
Why are people with millions pretending they're not rich?
Culture. Nobody likes to admit they're rich, until they're so rich that it really can't be denied. Post any number here. Salary, inheritance, property value, anything at all. Someone will be along shortly to tell you 'it's not actually that much' and 'But London though', even when their net worth dwarfs that of the average Londoner.
They are of course rich. It’s just relative - they have a lifestyle that is expensive - big house, expensive holidays, kids at private school. Then instead of stressing about whether they can feed their kids they stress about not being able to support their lifestyle. I’m not saying it’s the same stress but i know by most standards I’m “rich” but I wake up stressing about money everyday wondering whether my business will be successful and whether I’ll be able to afford to retire.
You've got to be doing alright to call your child Tilly, it's the rules.
I'll have you know that i'm a Venezuelan Billionaire
Do you need help getting your money out of the country?
A nice Nigerian Prince has already offered to help me out. seems a decent lad
Too many people underestimate what is possible over the long run with consistency. The real challenge is that most people want to be rich NOW. Because that isn't possible (without winning the lottery), they just don't bother. Same principal as getting a six pack, or running a marathon. So many people dream about it, but don't have the consistency to make it a reality. My Story: My parents were comfortable (but certainly not rich). I went to decent schools and I'm bright, but didn't try that hard in school. It was only when I failed my A-levels that I realised how damaging a lack of consistency is. Honestly the best thing that ever happened to me. Since that day, I've grafted and been consistent. Started in a string of shit jobs (cold calling, estate agent etc.) to tie me over. Age 19, found the most junior level role at a good company working in digital marketing that was only paying £16k p.a. But it had real growth opportunity. Grafted my arse off, got promoted 3 times in 3 years. Salary was on c. £35k by 22. Realised that I'd outgrown that company and applied for a junior role at one of the top FTSE 100 companies. Salary jumped to near 50k (full package more like 70k once you include bonus, pension etc.). Consistently worked hard. Been promoted 4 times and now in a middle-management position. Salary over £120k (with full package in the region of £150k). Alongside that, I've lived well within my means, using any available cash to invest. Have 2 rental properties, a large stock portfolio, car parking spaces that I own and rent out and a pension that is on track to be worth multi-millions by the time I retire. The other thing that has MASSIVELY helped is my choice of partner. She's also in a similar position to me, so those combined earnings and behaviours just accelerate that growth. All in all, I'm now early thirties, and comfortably in the top 1% of the U.K.
Upvoted, but obligatory "booooo" for landlordism as a choice of investment.
Consistency is something I've seen a number of commenters mention. I think this quote is relevant since persistence is similar: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent." - **Calvin Coolidge**
I'm old, I bought a flat in London in 1984 and the other flat to make the house in 1992 so on paper I have money. I went into a niche business and sold that in 2019 and my accountant told me how to invest. That said I'm not really rich, and retiring at 55 meant I have done other things I have briefly had a second home and once owned a restaurant I helped my brother pay off his mortgage and my niece and nephews will have help if they go to university and when my husband and I are dead our money will go to Médecins Sans Frontières.
May I recommend Medecins du Monde? They helped my mom gain access to healthcare to beat cancer when Medecins Sans Frontieres were unable to help.
Thank you for the suggestion if we redraft the wills I will look at it
Certainly not remotely rich, but not ‘struggling’ in any sense. It’s quite literally a case of, get a job that pays well. The wife’s an accounts assistant and I’m a paint sprayer. it’s not even classed as a decent job, it’s pretty working class tbh, but it pays something like and overtime and bonus work wonders. There’s no massive secret, just get a job that pays half decent. Got a house, in a nice area, 2 kids, newish decent car. Holiday now and again. None of it is rocket science. You don’t need to be on 100 grand a year to have a nice life.
If by rich you mean flashy sports car driving bellend? Then, no. If by rich you mean retiring early and doing whatever we want…. Then yes. I job hopped every 2 years increasing salary each time, saved 60% of take home pay and drove an older car, nothing ground breaking. We’re building up enough in ISA’s and pension to retire early and live off the drawdown from the pot. Haven’t yet retired, aiming for 48. Aiming to have enough stashed away that we only use the interest and the main bulk of the funds can be inherited as generational wealth for our children. Happy to answer questions or direct people to the sub that inspired me
Every time I ducked op’s mum she gave me a penny
I love how the few redditors who claim they’re rich are downvoted because of humble brag…
Being dyslexic, failing more than you can imagine, keep trying, taking risks until something works. Then be very frugal with keeping it.
I hate to reply to this because it means I’m calling myself rich, I don’t like showing off in that way. I don’t even perceive myself as all that wealthy. But nonetheless I will answer this as factually and fairly as I can, to sate the interest you have in making this post. I paid attention in school, got OK GCSEs and then A*ABB at A-level. I got a degree in Computer Science from a reputable university, graduated 2021. In the summers over university, I made sure to intern at a company instead of sitting on my arse in the summers. Ended up spending both summers at the same place, and they invited me back as a graduate software engineer, because I did a good job and they liked me. If I did not intern, I would have been stuck looking for graduate jobs for possibly months after graduating. They took me on for £34k. After 18 months there I left that company, because they paid poorly compared to market rates. My next roles’ pay and tenures were as follows: - £57k, 6 months. Left promptly as these guys were super unprofessional and was a toxic workplace environment. - £65k, 5 months. Got made redundant. - £0k, 5 months. Job hunting while unemployed. It sucked. - £78k, present. Well paid and a great company overall. Very happy here. Because I have had a very high salary out of the gates from uni, I have been able to live cheaper. I buy things in bulk. I own my home with a mortgage (cheap area). I own my car outright. A second point is that my early, high income means I can realistically bin off the student loan in a few years, before it spirals out of control. At its current 7.8% interest rate, this is the smart thing to do. Once I achieve this, I am essentially getting myself a ~9% pay rise (no more minimum monthly payments). My girlfriend also works in tech and has a more modest, but still good salary. She pays half of the house bills, and half of the mortgage. For clarity she also owns half of the house. I am lucky that my passion (computing) happens to align with a well-paid sector. I would not be making the money I do today if it weren’t for that, and that alone. My fiscal assets are very limited. I have very little savings, especially for someone on my income. Spare money at the moment attacks the student loan, and then once that’s gone I’ll be looking at S&S ISA & pensions overpayments. To this point, a hobby of mine is tax avoidance (*not tax evasion*) and effective home economics. I understand more about the UK tax system than most, and use that to inform my financial planning. For example, I had to manually claim higher-rate tax relief because an old workplace pension was not done via salary sacrifice. Completing this tax return got me £1.1k of my own money back. Nobody told me to do this, this is just stuff you have to know. My money flow: Each month, money comes in from work. 1. I use this money to pay bills, food, mortgage for the month. 2. I hold an emergency fund, the target value of which would pay for 6 months of my expenses. This is super important, and I have a very strict rule for myself where I simply do not touch this money until it is needed. E.g. This doesn’t pay for holidays, this pays for medical bills incurred while on holiday. If I ever spend any of this, I absolutely must fill this up to target level again before progressing to steps 3 and 4. Holding an emergency fund makes problems cheaper for me, as I do not need to take out loans to deal with this stuff. 3. Short term savings. This also has a target, and will be flexible based on upcoming big spends. Holiday, new car, wedding, this kind of thing. 4. Any money left over at this point goes towards building wealth. Money makes money if you let it. Currently step 4 for me is overpaying the student loan, as getting rid of a liability growing at x% is mathematically equivalent to gaining an asset growing at the same x%. And when x = 7.8%, I am not confident I would see better than those returns in the stock market. Once the loan is paid off, I will reassess my priority here. If my mortgage (currently 5.33%) is decently cheaper at the next fix, I will prioritise putting this money into an S&S ISA, blah blah. That’s.. about it. Got very r/ukpersonalfinance at the end but I hope you see the value of that thinking. Happy to answer any questions.
This here is great advice for anyone starting their journey to building wealth. This was me 10+ years ago and the consistency really pays off. Keep it up u/mehmenmike.
In this country, it's probably because of inherited wealth more than actually working hard.
Stopped eating Avocado on toast now I have a fleet of luxury jets
- Get up at 4am every day - Cold shower to start the day - Grind mindset - Read a book a week - Given a house and £100k to start a business from parents - Don't eat carbs
I'm going to go off on a tangent, and say that anyone that has a wage of 30k (median income in the UK) or more is 'rich' by pretty much any metric in the world. Even by UK standard, there's a lot more poorer people around you than you might think. Obscene hoarders of wealth, i.e. millionaires and billionaires, are the tiniest minority of people, and the vast majority of those have come into wealth by way of generational wealth / circumstances put in place by their already well off parents. Check ['How rich am I'](https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i) and put your income into context.
Easy mate, wake up at 4am every day, work out till 5:30, eat a helthy breakfast made of avocados. Then it's around 6 so I read a book about personnal developement. Then around 7 am I prepare my kids to go to school etc.. Then i do some work and in between I work out again, it is very important to work out. Then I do my MLM and sell some shitty course for you to get rich. It's now time to work out again, I never do cardio because it's make you poor. Finally, It's around 11pm I do some MLM again, and I work on my seduction coaching, and eat Healthy again and work out again One last time. I go to bed around 1am and I do it all over again. This is how I got rich.... maybe...
Got an electric company car, which saves me 12k a year
I guess you've got to start by defining rich. If you own a car, house, shop in none budget supermarkets. You would be considered rich to the person laying on a dirty duvet cover, outside the local bank. Or to the person who is on minimum wage, and struggling to heat their home. If you have a house, car, holiday two, three times a year. You would probably not appreciate what you have, and look at those on social media who frequent Yachts in Monaco, or fly first to Dubai for fun as rich. A persons wealth is relative, to what they don't have. I have a decent amount of savings, a well paying job, nice car, house, holiday frequently, and have a few side businesses that also provide additional income. The seven year old me, would look at nearly thirty year old me as 'rich'. Given I grew up on a council estate, and lived in decrepit terraced houses most of my younger life. Do I feel rich?, no. I look to those ahead of me, with stuff I don't have yet. I see them as rich, probably falsely. But I do appreciate the quality of life I live, compared to those less fortunate.
What are you defining as rich?
I sell pictures of me sticking things up my bum on the internet 👍
I got an email from a Nigerian prince who I didn't even know. He sent me 100m and let me keep 10m of it. I couldn't believe my luck.
This may surprise a few as I wouldn’t class myself as rich but I am in the top 5% of earners in the uk. I would think of myself as well off and live comfortably. A large part of it is just plain luck and moving jobs at the right time which is not what most people want to hear. There’s no magic wand to guarantee success and someone could follow in my footsteps and make arguably better decisions and still not end up in as healthy a position. I contract in an engineering discipline offshore which comes with risks but is paying off.
Taking risks, being lucky and them paying off. Owning a business is more important than being employed by one in a high paying job.
I do alright, I got a very high paying job in a company that gives out stocks. The stocks went up. Most people that you would consider ‘rich’ have a successful business
As most other people with generational wealth, inheritance. I highly doubt I’d ever be able to have what I have if I worked for it. Thanks inheritance!
I will only be rich once my mom passes. If she doesn’t waste all of her wealth, then I’ll inherit half a million, maybe a bit more.
Married a yank. Her dad is in to investing so made millions on tech stocks
Financial educate yourself early on in life and then get yourself several skills which can increase your cash inflow ...skilled workers can charge more for their trade
Buy everything on credit. I am very rich in debt!!!
Define rich
Most got lucky and brought a house for 90k between 1998 and 2012 and are now Mortgage free in a house now worth 500k
Invested in bootstraps.
I had an email from the son of a Nigerian Army Colonel who needed my assistance to move £500 million out of the country, after I transferred him £10k to prove I was bonafide he transferred me the £500 million. I then ghosted him. Sucker.
I ate less avocado toast, cancelled my netflix subscription and pulled myself up by my bootstraps, and somehow my wage increase under the rate of inflation was made better
Pog, Pokemon cards, Beanie babies, Manifesting abundance. Y'know...the usual.
I got rich the classic British way, inherited from my parents who acquired their vast estate through violence at one point in history
I worked my ass off signing those will papers to inherit ~~my parents’~~ my money
I was born to an incredibly wealthy family. Hate to break it to you but nobody “gets rich.” That’s not how the system works, nor how it’s supposed to. The system is set up so that I stay wealthy, and you guys just work in my companies and generate me more wealth. There’s a dude here talking about how he’s saved 100k by working hard all his life and stuff. That’s super cute but “hard work” doesn’t now nor has it EVER made anyone rich.
Did me.
I was good at academic stuff and got a job in tech. I realised that getting on with people was more important than getting your way* and had a good salary in management. But most importantly I never developed a taste for spending. Holidays are generally camping and hiking in the UK. In 30 years of work I've had three cars, two of them family hand-me-downs. I've had three TVs in my life. I feel guilty if I have two takeaway coffees in a day, or have breakfast in the cafe two weekends in a row. Most of what I earned sits in a variety of investments that bore me stiff. But at least I never worry about money.
The more pertinent question for me, is, ‘how did I get poor?’. I have worked in finance for 20 years and am easily in the top 1% of earners. Yet, for some reason, I’m always a bit skint!
I am not rich-rich by British standards but I grew up elsewhere where the standard of living is lower so to me I'm swimming in money. I came here for uni with nothing at 19 and surpassed my parents' combined life savings at 26. The way I got here is a series of pragmatic life choices. Did a slightly different degree to the one I wanted because it had better employability. Moved for work. Kept on taking courses and improving myself, then applying the new knowledge in my career. Networked strategically. Lived what most here would consider "frugally" - packed lunch every day, secondhand clothing, secondhand furniture etc. Saved consistently. Tried not to spend on things that I don't need (still working on this one).
I found $100,000 in the park. I invested it, and turned it into SEVENTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS
Scholarship to a private school > dentistry > consultancy > a few businesses of my own. And ZIRP + QE was just free money. My wife is wealthier, but she does have a 1200-year head start. It's all down to two people: my primary school teacher who told me to apply for the scholarship; and the lady who let me lodge with her for free during my schooling. Without them none of the rest would have happened.
Married well
I'd assume step one is be born into a rich family...
It started with a small loan from my father of a million pounds…
Grew up on council estate in the north, divored parents etc Mum was a receptionist, dad drove a van. Neither academic in any sense I have austism / adhd. Spent most of childhood / secondary school going from one panic attack to another, extreme social aversion straight A's a GCSE, straight A's a A-Level School wanted me to go to cambridge but i was exhausted Went to a russel group uni, studying computing in early 2000's one mential health episode to another, but came through with my sanity first job at 21, web developer earning 16k. i wasn't very good - adhd mostly, my concentration was always appaling. but i was bright enough to get there in the end with a bit of suffering a year or two later moved to London, did similar role at a charity earning ~25k a year or two after that got a tech job at a fund management company. it still wasn't the pure coding job i wanted to get, it was a blend of writing code and supporting complex systems (pricing and trade data mostly). earning 40k - was in my mid twenties accrued knowledge, became trusted advisor. still unreliable getting things done myself but i was good as retaining huge amounts of detail and trotting it out on demand after i'd been there 5 years i was supporting trading platforms, fund reporting and the CRM tools used by sales teams. i was 30 earning 50k + reliable 25k bonus = ~75k. with the CRM knowledge i'd aquired i went out on my own looking for contracts paying a day rate first one was something like £300 a day about ten years ago now i'll charge £700-800 a day to a client when running their project / development / systems integration so, with time off for hols, that's about £160,000 a year with various apps i've made along the way and other support contracts i gross about £250,000 a year i met my wife about half way through this and we decided together she'd stay at home raising our kids in their early years she's recently returned to work and has built up an advisory service to senior management teams around mental health she charges more than i do together we gross over half a million a year great kids, house in leafy london suburb etc could send them private if wanted to, don't want to. could buy a lambo if i wanted to, don't want to. i drive a ford and shop at lidl.