The millionaire next door drives a 4 year old car , lives a frugal lifestyle and doesn't take on consumer debt or show their wealth..

[cremeegg]

Do I and my wife consider ourselves millionaires ?

You are nearly 1 millionaire between you. You may have deferred tax liabilities which you haven't considered. You use 40% of your wealth to live in, so not quiet the same type of free wealth as cash. Your pension assets are also tied up by the pension rules so not totally yours to do with as you like.

If we would be classified as millionaires then I imagine there are lots of us around.

There are lots like you around, but owning a €400k home with (almost) no mortgage is not that common.

 

[cremeegg]

The location of your home has a huge impact on future wealth as the cost of lifestyle in an area will have an impact on your ability to accumulate wealth. If you neighbour has the car, golf club fees etc, you may want it too. Or your wife may want it. Or your kids will want what the others kids have.

Very interesting point.

 

[joe sod]

Can you not also buy other assets with your pension payouts?

A rental property is also an illiquid asset, does that mean it doesn't count in calculating wealth?

How about Government bonds? Do you exclude these on the basis of a possible default?

No because all these are assets that can be sold at any time in the open market, a state pension entitlement cannot be sold in the open market therefore it does not count. Even the riskiest bonds will always have a price on the open market so can always be sold however i cannot sell my greek or argentinian pension entitlement on the open market.

 

[Palerider]

Curious all the debate about am I or am I not in this thread, it's simples folks, can you liquidate assets without selling your family home ( downsize if necessary ) and have over €1m cash to hand ....if you can you are a millionaire and if you cannot you ain't.

Attempting to value any pension pot as part of this sum is futile, quite meaningless and irrelevant, cash or near cash please. Staff in the butcher shop, the jewellers, the travel agent and the local premium car dealer generally know you....except for the cute wans who don't display their wealth....too garish, I quite agree with either approach but they are out there and not all have K Club memberships and 192 Barges.

 

[SPC100]

I discovered the term Liquid net worth, which is closer to your way to measure....

What is Liquid Net Worth? | Calculate YOUR Liquid Net Worth

Liquid net worth matters because it provides a better reflection of the amount of money you have available if you needed to liquidate your assets.

www.goodfinancialcents.com

Basically the idea is, if you had to cash in everything now in a hurry and pay off all loans what do you have in your bank.

On the pension topic, my view is that a defined benefit pension is part of you wealth. It's a future cash flow (that has some amount of risk). As would a life interest in a home count towards wealth.

I think it makes no sense to not include defined contribution or defined benefit in your wealth tracking. How to value them correctly though is an interesting question.

 

[SPC100]

But if we can't agree a definition we can't easily measure how many there are.....

 

[Gordon Gekko]

The significance of being a millionaire is a very antiquated idea.

The smart way to think about wealth is the level of income it can generate; in my view, wealthy people spend income, not capital, and build capital to generate income.

What can €1m generate, realistically? €50k maybe?

In an Irish context, and this is just a personal view, I think “wealthy” means a net worth including one’s family home of €3m+.

 

[goingforgold]

The significance of being a millionaire is a very antiquated idea.

The smart way to think about wealth is the level of income it can generate; in my view, wealthy people spend income, not capital, and build capital to generate income.

What can €1m generate, realistically? €50k maybe?

In an Irish context, and this is just a personal view, I think “wealthy” means a net worth including one’s family home of €3m+.

Again though, would this include as part of a couple, DC pension pot?

I probably agree although maybe I would class them as very wealty...as I don' think there are too many up at €3m+. €1m+ would be quite common...