Goodbye millionaire, we’re living in ‘thrillionaire’ times
Private bank Coutts & Co said the value of £1m (€1.46m) had eroded so much over the past 25 years that the term millionaire was less meaningful than it once was.
It said people would need £2.6m (€3.8m) to fund a lifestyle that included a luxury five-bedroom house with two staff, two luxury cars, an apartment and yacht in the South of France and enough money to dine out twice a week and take two luxury holidays a year.
It said it was time to coin a new phrase “thrillionaire” to reflect the fact much more money was needed to finance this kind of lifestyle.
Property prices are the main reason a million no longer stretches like it used to, with the cost of a home jumping more than 575% during the past 25 years.
Coutts chief executive, Sarah Deaves, said: “A millionaire used to be someone who was seen as super-wealthy, a person who didn’t have to work if they chose not to, and who was able to live a life of luxury simply by having £1m in cash or assets.”
She continued: “However, while 25 years ago £1m would have been more than enough to comfortably live the lifestyle a few times over, today it will only afford a small portion of the trappings.”
But despite this the group found 65% of people still said they would give up their job immediately if they won £1m.
The group found the number of millionaires in Britain had soared by more than 80% between 2001 and 2004 to reach 425,000, largely due to a 64% jump in house prices, and just over half of those questioned think they might become millionaires during their lifetime.
People living in London would need the most cash to support a millionaire’s lifestyle at £3.47m (€5m), although in 1980 they would have needed just £451,000 (€660,000) to support the same lifestyle.
The cheapest region to live a luxury lifestyle in is Wales at £2.2m (€3.2m).
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