Daily Telegraph says 1 in 4 Pensioners are millionaires

That was the last sentence of a post which disappeared saying I have two in my small circle of friends.
One from vastly inflated property sale and one from a large inheritance.

RichmondPark

*more divisive nonsense from The Telegraph.*

Quite!

1 in 5 pensioners in the UK live in poverty. Age UK.

But the fact that 1 in 5 is living in poverty doesn't negate the claim that 1 in 4 is a millionaire. It just means that there's a great deal of inequality.

Yammy

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m surprised the number is quite that high, but it’s driven by house price inflation in the more expensive parts of the country. Many are asset rich but cash poor, rattling around in big old houses which they can’t afford to heat.

A family friend found this when house hunting within a computable distance of their jobs. They went through quite a few over the million piles, just to see what it offered. Lots were run down, had no central heating and couples were living in a small part of the house to save money.
As GSM says many were asset rich but cash poor.

But they still have an asset which could be sold.

HousePlantQueen

If DH and I were to drop dead tomorrow, the value of our home, savings would be a million plus, just a simple fact of where we live and ridiculous house values. Many of our friends are the same, simply because of where we live, nothing in particular that any of us did, most of us have private pensions, but nothing massive. I don't believe the 1 in 4 figure though, more divisive nonsense from The Telegraph.

The data is actually from the ONS. The Telegraph has just reported it.

Yes the figure or slight variations on the figure have been in a variety of sources.

FannyCornforth

So, according to my ‘calculations’ ? the ‘1 in 4’ thing works if no one below the age of 65 is a millionaire

The report actually says that 1 in 4 pensioners live in millionaire households, not that they are millionaires as individuals. I don't know how many pensioners live as couples, but many do. Therefore, the figure is probably more like 1 in 6, which I do find conceivable.

Galaxy

Yes the figure or slight variations on the figure have been in a variety of sources.

The sources of the information probably are known housing values and maybe tax declarations plus census information, which gives the ages of people living at the addresses.

I'm one of the one in four only because the current value of my home in the south east, purchased forty years ago for 20,000, now pushes my assets into the million bracket. But that is only because housing is deliberately kept in short supply. Where are the 300,000 new homes a year the Tories promised in their 2019 election campaign?

I know too that any property crash as a result of an unstable economy could sent house values tumbling, just as they did in 2008. I am also aware that I am going to have to pay for care somewhere down the line and that the money will have to come from savings and the value in my home.

I am a WASPI women who worked full time outside the home for 44 years. I have continued to work voluntarily in the community since then. I had to wait another six years for a state pension I expected to receive at 60. That’s over 50,000 of lost pension, money women were contracted to receive when they started work and paying NIC in the 1970s.

My income is enough to manage on at the moment, a mix of occupational pensions and state pension which I have only recently started to receive. Like most, I worry about the spiralling cost of food and the fuel that I need to get me to my work.

From the Telegraph article:

Baroness Altmann, a former pensions minister, said many pensioners are asset rich but cash poor and will be heavily reliant on the bumper state pension increase next April to get by.

"It is outrageous to suggest that just because some pensioners live in a house that has risen in value they are very wealthy. Property prices may have gone up but that doesn’t help them to live, they can’t spend that £1m, they live in the house,” she said.

The UK state pension is the lowest in the developed world, she added. "To say that they don’t need to be protected from rising prices is misguided at best.”

A 10% rise in SP will give me an extra £18 a week which will barely touch the sides of increased food and fuel costs.

I didn’t cause this economic crisis. Geopolitics and bad government did. How dare Thérèse Coffey, part of our current appalling cabinet, try to guilt trip state pensioners into giving money back to the government where who knows how it will be spend? I choose to and do help people worse off than myself by other means.

It is interesting assets versus income. There are a few ex local authority houses in our village which have obviously been bought years ago, under right to buy, and are now lived in by pensioners on very limited income. In a terrace of houses, they are easy to spot; those still under LA ownership have had replacement windows, front doors, heating, solar panels on the roof, whereas some of those bought decades ago are in a very sorry state.

More. Divide. and. Rule.

A distraction to take people's mind off the appalling performance of this government and the rabid narcissist who leads it.

Set one demographic against the other - that'll keep them busy... and if they get bored with it all, throw in some tittle-tattle 'news' headlines about celebrities' lifestyles, love affairs, court cases, and give the 'fellas' a lift with a bit of 'side-boob'. Not to mention that reliable chestnut of 'illegal' immigrants 'flooding' our shores and the golden-oldie - 'benefit scroungers' who all have mega-inch TVs, and take at least two luxury holidays per year.

Sorted.

newnanny

I know some will live in houses that have gone up in value but really 1 in 4 millionaires? I know a lot of pensioners and only 1 out of about 20 I know would be a millionaire if she liquidated all assets. Do you know many millionaire pensioners?

Yes, plenty here on the gold coast! Unfortunately not me. Grandson enjoys spotting the Ferraris and Porsches.

I know only one millionaire and it’s not me, and not a pensioner. I don’t know any millionaire pensioners. And don’t forget, if it’s a couple, they are only millionaires if they have two million.

I agree Growstuff. I was trying to point out the inequality and highlight the fact that the Telegraph was only telling one side of the story.

If you took a person’s own home out of the calculation, I suspect that the figure would drop considerably.

Of course a house can be sold, but when an ordinary family house - not your 5 bed Georgian rectory with morning room and room for a pony (to quote Hyacinth B) can easily cost £1m, then if you want to stay in the area, something just a bit smaller - always supposing that you can find such a thing - won’t release a great deal of cash - especially after all the fees, stamp duty and other costs of moving.

How did they work that out, who did they survey ? Even if it includes house still a millionaire ... if desperate could sell & buy a smaller one ... I know a married couple as have businesses aswell ... if I asked the others would just laugh in my face ... NO I am not a millionaire far from it saying that if they worked for it good luck to them ... others may have had a silver spoon in their mouth ... who knows ... I have a friend (no not met her family) who's daughter is married ( in her 60's) she keeps on telling me her daughter is a millionairess , yes I have seen photos of her & her hubby's properties ... saying that though ... by golly some still seem to get bargains & will not pay full price if possible even in charity shops , which that part gets to me about charity shops not paying full price when they can afford it more than most

There would have been no need for surveys. The source of the information is the ONS, which has access to records such as tax records and land registry house values, etc.

Witzend

If you took a person’s own home out of the calculation, I suspect that the figure would drop considerably.

Of course a house can be sold, but when an ordinary family house - not your 5 bed Georgian rectory with morning room and room for a pony (to quote Hyacinth B) can easily cost £1m, then if you want to stay in the area, something just a bit smaller - always supposing that you can find such a thing - won’t release a great deal of cash - especially after all the fees, stamp duty and other costs of moving.

But the house is still an asset, which could be sold and will probably be inherited. Some people don't have any assets and have to rent or be homeless.

maddyone

I know only one millionaire and it’s not me, and not a pensioner. I don’t know any millionaire pensioners. And don’t forget, if it’s a couple, they are only millionaires if they have two million.

But the original doesn't claim that one in four are millionaires as individuals. It claims they live in millionaire households - in other words, the joint asset is over a £million.

Do you have a copy of the contract stating you would receive a pension at 60 CaravanSerai?

RichmondPark

I agree Growstuff. I was trying to point out the inequality and highlight the fact that the Telegraph was only telling one side of the story.

The inequalities exist because the government has committed itself to raising the state pension for all, regardless of need, but not Pension Credit or Housing Benefit, which would benefit the poorest pensioners or working age benefits, despite the fact that many families live in poverty.

The claim has been fact checked:

fullfact.org/economy/millionaire-pensioners/

If it is joint assets that are counted, it will obviously push the number up.

Joseanne

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m surprised the number is quite that high, but it’s driven by house price inflation in the more expensive parts of the country. Many are asset rich but cash poor, rattling around in big old houses which they can’t afford to heat.

Exactly. It's only on paper.

Not even "only on paper". It's a distorted figure. If the Telegraph has printed these figures, they are following in the wake of the annual golden oldie usually put out by the Times. Fact-checkers have looked into this each year the Times has done it. If these right-wing supporting MSM are still doing it, it is just a part of the "wedge war" they are using to help the far-right government we seem to have acquired.

If two people have a combined household wealth of over £ 1 million, they have each counted both (according to Times maths) as millionaires. I can imagine that is being done here. Why not; it makes a good story!

One share equalling half a million does not make you a millionaire. This double counting is one ruse they have used in the past. The Times, when they have printed this tale, talks about this in terms of disposable income. It is not money in the bank. It is possible to be investment rich, in areas where house prices have risen rapidly, and income poor and possibly never to have been in anyway someone who has had large amounts of disposable income. The "story" really tells us very little - except that the paper it was in is a nasty piece of work determined to divide our community.

The Full-Fact view of the 2021 article is here.

I am another asset rich cash poor pensioner. I live in London so my house is worth a lot, though well under a million. I am cash poor as my pension is small.
I don't know the figures, but believe the number of cash rich, single, female pensioners is quite low. Cash rich pensioners are more often men or couples.

If the information is correct how many millionaires must there be posting on GN?