Spoken like a true person whose never lived below middle class. It takes a LOT to move from being ACTUALLY POOR just to lower middle. You will still need a job to maintain that increase. People with money don't understand how CRAP the economy is now and just let their kids fend for themselves.
Also is "still need a job" a problem here? You can be "not poor" and still need to work. I'm not poor. I still have to work.
The point is it won't make a poor person rich.
Define rich. It will make a poor person no longer poor. It will make a poor person richer than half the population.
Do you think people just... keep their money?
This is ridiculous. With £1M you can buy three family houses outright.
Tell me you've never been poor without saying you've never been poor. 💀 It's more than just needing a home. It's home, transportation, and medical care after years without it. Even in a place with free health care, there's SO MUCH that goes into being poor.
You really don't know anything about what life in the UK costs, evidently. Healthcare actually is free. Nobody in my family has ever received non-NHS healthcare. I keep wondering whether you think £1M = US$1M.
I addressed free health care already. Even in that case there are other expenses. *Like I said*
Name another healthcare expense? Prescriptions? £10 a go; negligible, and if you're actually poor it's free.
I wasn't referring to other Healthcare expenses. I was referring to general expenses. 1 mill is enough to handle life a few years before it runs out depending on how poor we're talking. If you actually add up bills with mortgage, car payment, gas, monthly groceries for a family, etc it's a LOT.
Can we agree that "a few years" is 10 years. Buy a house outright. Spend £50k/yr on other expenses (more than most people earn). For that 10 years all your salary can go into a pension. You're setting yourself up to retire 20 years earlier than otherwise.
That's if you're smart about it, but there are still SO MANY FEES associated with being below the poverty line, especially if you have children.
If £1M drops in your lap, you should get financial advice. Because it's a rich person amount of capital. £1M is the sort of money where they hand you over to the high-wealth advice team.
You really don't understand what it's like to live below your means...
I mean, even if you lease a car, £400/mo gets you a *nice* one, including insurance, servicing, everything. £1M gets you 2,500 years of motoring.
You don't have a mortgage because you buy your house outright with, say, £400k. You don't have car payments because you spend £30k on buying a car outright. Now you have £57k a year (plus interest) for the next 10 years and only fuel, household bills, food and home maintenance to spend it on.
Most British jobs don't pay £57k *gross*.
Yes but they're expenses everyone has. £600,000 buys an awful lot of "transportation".
The tone deaf privilege is insane...
I'm here telling you I don't have £1M and I don't feel poor. You're telling me it's not possible to manage on £1M.
I'm saying 1 mill WHEN YOU'RE POOR runs out quick. I've also been talking about families, not a singular person getting 1 mill. Poor people tend to have significant debt which is why they stay poor. That's another place the money goes.
Quantify "significant debt". How much do you reckon a typical poor person owes?
Figuring that out is near impossible. A common thing that happens is they use their kids social to apply for new new credit cards. Some maliciously, some because there's no other option. So compiling average debt below the poverty line won't work if it goes based on company reporting.
I'm telling you £1M won't pass through my accounts in 20 years of living. And I'm pretty comfortable by British standards.
Yeah I can tell. Being poor is more expensive than middle class. You are speaking from a place of privilege when saying what the money could do FOR YOU. You're not thinking about someone below the poverty line getting that money because you lack that experience outright.