Seriously. My partner and I are millionaires. We’re almost 40 and have a net worth just shy of $2M. We’ve a couple of DINKS. We’re both engineers, are pretty good with numbers, and understand compound interest. We got on the property ladder pretty early. I bought my first townhouse in 2012 pretty much right at the bottom of the housing market. We’ve moved twice since then and have benefited from the full rise in house prices.
Our net worth is a little under $2M. About $10k of that is checking and savings. Another $80k in a taxable brokerage account as an emergency fund. $450k in home equity. The rest is in retirement accounts such as 401ks and IRAs.
We are working class. The closest either of us have ever come to hiring someone is when we’ve hired a plumber or electrician to fix something at our home. I’ve technically owned a business, but just for my own freelance tutoring work. And the closest either of us have ever come to being a landlord was when I had a couple of roommates at that first townhouse I bought.
We’re doing very well; we have no complaints. And while we’ve achieved some modest amount of wealth, it’s not ultimately about living large or in luxury. We live well below our means. We recently bought the first new car in a quite awhile, a Toyota Corolla. It replaced a 15 year old Corolla that my partner bought new. We buy affordable reliable vehicles and drive them til the wheels fall off.
But again, we’re not trying to get rich. We’re not trying to hoard the largest possible of money we can. We don’t view wealth as a lifetime high score. It’s simply a means to achieve stability and safety. We’re on the path to early retirement. We hope to retire by the time we’re 50. We need to save up a couple of million not because we want to live in luxury, but simply because it’s the only way to have a decent stable and safe retirement in this capitalist hellscape we live in. In a world with universal healthcare and a universal basic income, we would have no need for millions in retirement savings. If my partner and I each brought in say, $20k a year from UBI? If we had a paid off house and also didn’t have to worry about healthcare? We could live quite well off just that $40k per year.
I’m a millionaire and I support much higher taxes on millionaires. I do this because ultimately the point for us for having a couple of million is not to have a couple of million. The point is to have safety and stability in our lives. And the secure the social safety net, the less the need to cover those needs privately.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 20 hours ago
Can’t even buy a house for $1m where I live. So not rich.
mcv@lemmy.zip 19 hours ago
Yeah, millionaire status is rapidly becoming meaningless. Lots of people who have a mortgage will probably be millionaires when they pay it off, but they can’t buy anything for it because they still need a roof over their head.
I think 10 million now is the million of the past. Call it inflation. It’s entirely driven by ridiculous housing prices (which are mysteriously not counted in inflation figures).
anon_8675309@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Put 5 randos in a room and one is a millionaire on paper.
It means nothing to be a millionaire if you include house car etc.
You can’t “spend” those items.
IronBird@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
can with a heloc, but that’s just me being pedantic
Rhaedas@fedia.io 18 hours ago
I am old enough to remember when a simple savings account at the bank was 5% interest, no minimum balance. Now grabbing a high yield account of 3.5% is doing well for the average person, and requires a high balance to qualify for that "incredible" rate.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Yes but a mortgage was 11%.
Now housing was still affordable then, so…
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 19 hours ago
Owning a house doesn’t protect you at all. Every decade or so there’s a real estate bubble that pops, you lose all your equity, and you have to start over.
Also try not paying your taxes, or your HOA, and you’ll quickly find out that you don’t really own your home, you’re still paying someone to keep it, or the court will forcibly remove you. And if a squatter moves in, they can stay, and you’re paying for the right for them to stay there.
arrow74@lemmy.zip 17 hours ago
That’s if you consider a house a store of wealth.
I consider it a place to live that compared to everything gets cheaper every year. By the time my mortgage is paid off all I have to pay is maintenance and property taxes. Which are a fraction of rent
Flower@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
Decamillionair
sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 12 hours ago
As with all things finance, depends on where. $1m in San Francisco means you can’t afford a home. $1m in Sicily is a great life.
blackberry28@sh.itjust.works 18 hours ago
Canada?