The alternative wealth poll - liquid assets

[Skeptisk]

I think a weakness in the other poll (and the other thread I started) is that house price inflation has meant that many older people have a lot of assets but it is tied up in property and pensions. I think a better measure of wealth is liquid assets: cash, savings, tradable shares and bonds, cars, watches etc.

For this poll include all liquid assets and investment assets (including BTL) less debt that is funding those assets but exclude your own residential property (and mortgage) and also ignore pensions.

So how many liquid assets do you have?

[steveo3002]

big steps there ? alot of difference someone having a fiver in the bank and the other having 10k but both vote the same?

[Jimjimhim]

steveo3002 said:

big steps there ? alot of difference someone having a fiver in the bank and the other having 10k but both vote the same?

Agreed that's vastly different in terms of wealth

[Funk]

Also people in debt are possibly unlikely to want to vote. I know when I was deep in the st a decade or so ago the last thing I wanted to do was discuss it publicly or even think about it more than I had to...

[Silvanus]

Not sure those amounts really work very well, nearly half of people in the UK have less than £1000 in savings

[Skeptisk]

Silvanus said:

Not sure those amounts really work very well, nearly half of people in the UK have less than £1000 in savings

It just confirms that people posting on PH are not at all representative of the general population when it comes to wealth. I suppose to be expected because if half the households have less than £1000 they probably aren’t thinking of paying out lots of money on unnecessary cars and other toys.

[CammyN]

Silvanus said:

Not sure those amounts really work very well, nearly half of people in the UK have less than £1000 in savings

People have some funny attitudes to money and saving. I know one quite well paid couple who spend every penny that is in their current account during week 4 of the month, they have no savings but earn £100,000 between them and had no idea what to do with a £20,000 inheritance recently. They asked my advice and rejected it immediately.

They didn't make a rainy day fund but had a summerhouse built in their garden with a fully stocked bar.

[lizardbrain]

I don't think it's a better measure, I recently paid of a big mortgage with savings, am I suddenly less wealthy?

Also it's not really tied up. I could sell and rent and have the cash in my pocket in a few months, or remortgage and have it back in a couple of weeks.

[Jimjimhim]

Skeptisk said:

Silvanus said:

Not sure those amounts really work very well, nearly half of people in the UK have less than £1000 in savings

It just confirms that people posting on PH are not at all representative of the general population when it comes to wealth. I suppose to be expected because if half the households have less than £1000 they probably aren’t thinking of paying out lots of money on unnecessary cars and other toys.

It confirms that poles on this site are a waste of time because you can guarantee that people vote on the extremes to change the results.

I also think that people who are in debt or have very little saved are also still likely to have expensive cars.

[okgo]

Many folk on here/elsewhere who earn well (but not well enough for tapering) will be putting a lot into their pensions for obvious tax reasons which can easily mean someone has significant wealth but perhaps not much in liquid assets per se.

Personally I think you’d include pension in hindsight because it’s a vehicle to build wealth. You’d argue that the only ones doing that are those who would be building it elsewhere if they needed to.

Edited by okgo on Saturday 22 June 11:49

[hammo19]

Now I’ve retired my liquid assets are depleting but boy it’s good not have to think about work or have any accountability anymore.

[Skeptisk]

okgo said:

Many folk on here/elsewhere who earn well (but not well enough for tapering) will be putting a lot into their pensions for obvious tax reasons which can easily mean someone has significant wealth but perhaps not much in liquid assets per se.

Personally I think you’d include pension in hindsight because it’s a vehicle to build wealth. You’d argue that the only ones doing that are those who would be building it elsewhere if they needed to.

Edited by okgo on Saturday 22 June 11:49

People commented that being rich was about having economic freedom. If you have been paying money into a pension or paying off your mortgage then you have on paper wealth, but what happens if you lose your job or suffer another misfortune. Do you have enough savings to keep paying the mortgage whilst you find another job? It is no good if you are 40 having money in a pension if you have to sell your house to release some cash.

[okgo]

Skeptisk said:

People commented that being rich was about having economic freedom. If you have been paying money into a pension or paying off your mortgage then you have on paper wealth, but what happens if you lose your job or suffer another misfortune. Do you have enough savings to keep paying the mortgage whilst you find another job? It is no good if you are 40 having money in a pension if you have to sell your house to release some cash.

I doubt anyone that is self electing to build a large pension/pay down property debt is silly enough not to have cash for that eventuality.

[Turtle Shed]

How do we factor in final salary pensions?

[KingGary]

Weird thread. What is about PH where everyone wants to know how wealthy other people are? Some people will live month to month and have every trinket it’s possible to have, whilst others will have loads of cash but experience nothing that life has to offer. I’d say neither are wealthy.

Having loads of rented stuff and not a pound left at the end of the month is definitely not.

[alscar]

Pensions are obviously an asset albeit not particularly liquid unless your age gives you access to it.

[BoRED S2upid]

Include BTl and holiday homes ? Not very liquid though are they? Take 6 months at least to sell a BTzl but you could borrow against one very quickly.

[bitchstewie]

KingGary said:

Weird thread. What is about PH where everyone wants to know how wealthy other people are? Some people will live month to month and have every trinket it’s possible to have, whilst others will have loads of cash but experience nothing that life has to offer. I’d say neither are wealthy.

Having loads of rented stuff and not a pound left at the end of the month is definitely not.

This.

You can be worth a small fortune but forced to work or you can be worth relatively little but have freedom.

It's a rich v wealthy thing (lots of articles online as people frequently conflate the two).

[Steve H]

alscar said:

Pensions are obviously an asset albeit not particularly liquid unless your age gives you access to it.

Indeed. Whether I have investments in a pension is just tax treatment, not really any other difference to an ISA or BTL etc……..

Liquidity can be higher than something like a BTL although both would have tax implications if cashed in.


And where’s the £500m+ option for the real PHers?

[Steve H]

bhstewie said:

KingGary said:

Weird thread. What is about PH where everyone wants to know how wealthy other people are? Some people will live month to month and have every trinket it’s possible to have, whilst others will have loads of cash but experience nothing that life has to offer. I’d say neither are wealthy.

Having loads of rented stuff and not a pound left at the end of the month is definitely not.

This.

You can be worth a small fortune but forced to work or you can be worth relatively little but have freedom.

It's a rich v wealthy thing (lots of articles online as people frequently conflate the two).

It’s a measure, I don’t really understand why that’s hard to understand.


By all means start a thread on how happy/free/satisfied you are with life, give us some guidance on how you would like us to quantify it and I’d be interested to see the results .