Definition of a millionaire?

[Steve in Stoke]

A few mates and I were talking over dinner last weekend about success, wealth and suchike, and ended up pondering what defines "a millionaire".

Is it £1m in the bank or liquid funds, £1m of assets (house/car/business/art etc), £1m a year salary or even a £1m credit line?
In the end we sort of roughly concluded that it was someone who was in a position to make a £1m purchase with relative ease - either immediately or without having problems raising the credit on the basis that to borrow that sum in the current economy they would have to be a reasonable bet to be able to repay it.

We also did some rough sums, and worked out that at least two of our group had topped £1m in cumulative earnings since birth, could they be classed as millionaires?!

We are meeting up again next weekend, and no doubt we'll all have been thinking this one over, so what are the PH collective thoughts on the definition of a millionaire?

[okgo]

I always thought it was liquid assets, but to live like a millionaire is percived by much of the british public you probably need to have a few million to your name.

[xr287]

To me being the definition of a millionaire is after adding up the value of all your assets and cash minus your liabilities the total is more than £1m. i.e. if you sold everything you owned and paid off all your debts you would be left with at least £1m in cash.

[Nolar Dog]

To have available £1mill to spend without worrying about it.

[wiffmaster]

Nolar Dog said:

To have available £1mill to spend without worrying about it.

Plenty of people have £1m liquid, but I imagine most of those would still worry about spending it. Would they still be millionaires?

[TheEnd]

I always regarded it as having 1m in available cash, with others being an "on-paper millionaire" if they own a few nice houses and stuff but can't immediately get to the money

[Plotloss]

Bar in the bank!

[shirt]

what scintillating conversation. another reason to avoid stoke

[spud989]

[Steve in Stoke]

Thankfully (ish) it's Steve IN Stoke, not Steve FROM Stoke!

[bigTee]

Hey! You leave Stoke alone!!!!

[koolchris99]

million in liquid i always thought. to be able to live "like a millionaire"

houses and cars mean nothing, can have a million quid house but still live like a person on 15k pa. first hand experience.

[RDMcG]

Technically its a million in net assets. My personal definition is a million in investable assets. (no cars, house, furniture or the like).

[fido]

In car terms, could you spank a million on a car, or cars, and still carry on as normal? (or at least until it's time to service the damn thing). I imagine most PH'ers who've worked a number of years in their career have homes and other assets totalling a million, or shy of, but we're still driving around in a sh8tty hatchback. Still the best things life are free. And it's true.

[Jasandjules]

xr287 said:

To me being the definition of a millionaire is after adding up the value of all your assets and cash minus your liabilities the total is more than £1m. i.e. if you sold everything you owned and paid off all your debts you would be left with at least £1m in cash.

Yep, that's how I see it.....

[ProfessorPeach]

You wear a top hat and monocle.

[Silent1]

ProfessorPeach said:

You wear a top hat and monocle.

I thought that was the costume for monopoly rape?

[ProfessorPeach]

Silent1 said:

ProfessorPeach said:

You wear a top hat and monocle.

I thought that was the costume for monopoly rape?

Monopoly Rape?


Good grief, is there no end to how far Hasbro will stretch that franchise.

[Pork]

Jasandjules said:

xr287 said:

To me being the definition of a millionaire is after adding up the value of all your assets and cash minus your liabilities the total is more than £1m. i.e. if you sold everything you owned and paid off all your debts you would be left with at least £1m in cash.

Yep, that's how I see it.....

I'd go with that - a mill, net worth.

[Dupont666]

Pork said:

Jasandjules said:

xr287 said:

To me being the definition of a millionaire is after adding up the value of all your assets and cash minus your liabilities the total is more than £1m. i.e. if you sold everything you owned and paid off all your debts you would be left with at least £1m in cash.

Yep, that's how I see it.....

I'd go with that - a mill, net worth.

Id go with this as I doubt you would find many millionaires (1-2million in net worth) that just have a million in cash in their bank account... they havent got there by letting the cash just sit there doing nothing.