Get rich and die trying: Typical Brit must save entire lifetime of earnings to become wealthy

A typical worker would need to save more than a lifetime’s worth of earnings to become wealthy, new research has found.

British wealth has expanded dramatically in recent decades, tipping £17 trillion in 2020-2022.

But this vast bounty is held by relatively few people, the Resolution Foundation has warned – and without rich parents, it’s almost impossible to join their ranks.

According to research published by the think tank today (8 October), it would now take 52 years’ worth of typical earnings – £1.3 million in total – to move from the middle to the top of the wealth distribution.

This is up from 38 times in 2008.

“Wealth gaps in Britain are now so large that a typical full-time employee saving all their earnings across their entire working life would still not be able to reach the top of the wealth ladder,” said Molly Broome, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation.

“These gaps are doubly concerning as wealth mobility in Britain is low – people that start life wealthy tend to stay wealthy, and vice versa.”

That figure means 52 years of total earnings, excluding all expenditure. So if you’re able to eschew food, housing and clothes for more than five decades, you too can get rich (and die tryin’).

Read more:

• World will soon see first trillionaires as wealth of billionaires yet again on the rise: ‘Obscene’
• Wealth of world’s five richest men doubles as five billion people get poorer
• Wealth is increasingly in the hands of winners. It’s why Labour must introduce a wealth tax

What is going on with British wealth?

Don’t let the shuttered high streets and cash-strapped public services fool you: Britain is not poor.

Household wealth reached £17tn in 2020-22, of which £5.5tn (32%) was held in property and £8.2tn (48%) in pensions.

As a result, Britain’s wealth reached a new peak of nearly 7.5 times GDP by 2020-22, up from around three times GDP in the mid-1980s.

Just like in the 1980s, the richest tenth of households own about half of all wealth. But this continuity “should not obscure” Britain’s widening wealth gaps, the report authors warn.

The gap between average family wealth per adult in the top wealth decile and those in the middle (fifth decile) reached £1.3m in 2020-22, up from £1.0m in 2006-08.

“To put this into context, the average adult in Britain had just £168,000 in wealth in 2020-22,” the authors continue.

“These larger wealth gaps, and the growth of wealth relative to incomes, mean that it is more difficult for those lower down to climb the wealth ladder through saving alone.”

How to get wealthy in Britain

Work hard, and you will be rewarded: that’s how our supposedly meritocratic economy is meant to work.

Most (53%) of the wealth in this country comes from passive gains – like rising house prices. That means wealth increases primarily flow to the already wealthy, like older, homeowning families.

After controlling for the wealth accumulation effects of ageing, the research finds that three-in-four (76%) people from lower-income families don’t move more than one decile up or down the wealth distribution over a four-year period. 

“Rising house prices and changes in the value of pension promises account for most of the growth in wealth gaps since the early 2010s, rather than any active behaviour on the part of individuals, such as buying homes or acquiring new assets,” said Broome.

For these reasons, wealth mobility in Britain is severely limited, say the authors. Your life quality is more likely determined by “who your parents are”, not how hard you work.

In short, if you’re born poor, you’ll likely die poor.

Which groups in Britain are wealthy?

The wealth gap between people in their early 30s and people in their early 60s has more than doubled between 2006-08 and 2020-22 – from £135,000 to £310,000 (in real cash terms). 

Wealth is also unevenly distributed between regions, with median wealth per adult in 2020-22 standing at £290,000 in the South East, compared to just £110,000 in the North East. 

Britain’s wealth gaps are most stark in the capital, where a combination of soaring house prices and low home ownership rates mean that families at the top held 12 times more wealth per adult than those at the middle (compared to a gap of 5.2 across Britain as a whole).

How can we tackle this? Ahead of the Autumn Budget in November, many groups have called for a wealth tax.

This could take many forms. One proposal is an annual levy of around 2% on wealth in excess of £10m. According to A University of Warwick tax simulator, that could raise around £24 billion a year.

According to YouGov polling earlier this year, two thirds of voters support this kind of measure.

Because of how wealth is concentrated in pensions and property, we need to “be honest” about who this would impact, said Broome.

“Soaring wealth and an acute need for more revenue has prompted fresh talk of wealth taxes ahead of the Budget next month,” said Broome. “But with property and pensions now representing 80% of the growing bulk of household wealth, we need to be honest that higher wealth taxes are likely to fall on pensioners, Southern homeowners or their families, rather than just being paid by the super-rich.”

But with inequality rising, the stakes are high. As of 2023, the wealth of the UK’s 50 richest families exceeded that of 34.1 million people – over half the population. This half of the population own just 9% of the country’s total wealth.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Reader-funded since 1991 – Big Issue brings you trustworthy journalism that drives real change.

Every day, our journalists dig deeper, speaking up for those society overlooks.

Could you help us keep doing this vital work? Support our journalism from £5 a month.