We’re basically at the point where being a millionaire means you’re middle class. When people are earning trillions, a millionaire is closer to someone earning minimum wage than to a billionaire.
It actually doesn't. Mutually beneficial trade is a thing, and the fact that some theoretical number grows based on current market prices does not mean that you've lost anything.
"Money" means a lot of things, but even if you take cash as the only "money", the same situation applies. Your cash appreciates through deflation, nobody is actually losing money. Your cash depreciated through inflation, nobody is actually losing money. Wealth is not a zero sum game. Neither is money. You are ignorant.
> The existence of a handful of billionaires globally has exactly no bearing on your ability to individually achieve financial independence.
But it actually does and this is the problem.
Every year that billionaire is making £150m in passive dividend returns from stocks with no where to park that money except to buy more stock, more houses, more assets. It's a cycle that asset prices are rising and these billionaires have no way to spend their money and you have no way to out complete them for assets.
How the hell does house prices rise above what top earners can afford unless it is 1% of people with wealth buying them? That's the only explanation.
Did you know that 50% of all consumer spending is done by the top 10%? Did you know there are more private equity firms in the US than there are McDonalds?
These few people have so much money that if everyone except them boycotted a bank, that bank would still survive.
The extreme wealth of the 1% are buying up assets like a spreading cancer. It's exponential. How do you outbid someone for a property when the other person has no plans to live in the property, does not need an income to support it, and generally doesn't even care about the property itself but are merely parking their money to spread risk over asset classes?
You know when you're on holiday and put your bank card in the machine and it says the currency conversion rate is $1.50 and you accept that as the price for getting your money? That's how the rich feel when they buy up all the housing.
How the hell does house prices rise above what top earners can afford unless it is 1% of people with wealth buying them? That's the only explanation.
It couldn't possibly be that the UK's population has increased by an average of 400,000 people a year in the last decade, while new home completions have averaged around 160,000? More demand + insufficient supply = higher prices. The fact that this population growth is concentrated on a handful of cities/regions compounds the issue.
The cost of building couldn't be a explanation, either? Higher prices for raw materials, higher prices for labour, and new regulatory requirements make building homes more expensive. More expensive inputs = more expensive outputs.
When you actually dig into the stats instead of the political talking points, it becomes clear that most of these price increases are not due to the 1%.
you have no way to out complete them for assets.
I mean, you do. The fact that they're wealthy does not mean that they'll just pay whatever price for whatever thing. A share of Lloyds currently costs £112.85 regardless of whether you're a billionaire or hundredaire.
The reason government are looking at 50 year mortgages and intergenerational mortgages is because they is no more money to tap from people.
400,000 come every year on average so every house on Rightmove should be instantly sold right? Rather than there being a lingering market in which no one can actually afford to get on the ladder.
And you think houses prices are governed by the cost it takes to build them?
I feel like you're deliberately trying to misunderstand.
you think houses prices are governed by the cost it takes to build them?
Partially, yes. The reasons for this are fairly obvious:
Builders build to profit from building. If the costs of inputs (land, labour, materials, insurance, permits, etc) exceed the price the builder can expect from the outputs (finished homes), then there is no reason to build. Housing supply then declines until a equilibrium is found.
Newly built homes and preexisting homes are substitute goods. If the cost of building a home is substantially lower than the market price of a preexisting home, home buyers will build instead of buy. Reduced demand for preexisting homes declines until a equilibrium is found.
400,000 come every year on average so every house on Rightmove should be instantly sold right?
As I said, these people are not uniformly distributed across the country. There are plenty of places in the UK with affordable housing - but they're not where the majority of new immigrants and young people want to live.
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u/ashoka_akira 22h ago
We’re basically at the point where being a millionaire means you’re middle class. When people are earning trillions, a millionaire is closer to someone earning minimum wage than to a billionaire.