Investor Says People With Rs 50 Lakh Liquid Net Worth Are ''Lower Middle Class'', Sparks Debate

An investor's tweet on net worth and wealth classification has gone viral, sparking a debate on X. Sourav Dutta, an investor and trader, who now lives in Europe, shared a tweet on June 20, wherein he shared a comprehensive table of wealth categories based on net worth. For him, people with ₹10 lakh of liquid net worth are ''poor'', while individuals with a liquid net worth of ₹50 lakh are ''lower middle class.''

People with Rs 1 crore of liquid net worth would fall in the ''rich'' category, according to him, while a High Net Worth Individual (HNI), would have liquid assets worth ₹10 crore or more. 

''My Definition of Wealth by Liquid Net-worth: Poor : 10 Lacs Lower Middle Class : 50 Lacs Middle Class : 1 Cr Upper Middle Class : 2 Cr Rich : 5 Cr HNI : 10 Cr UHNI : 50 Cr Don't Care Wealth : 200 Cr Generational Wealth : 1000 Cr Agree? I am an HNI. What about you?'' he wrote while classifying himself as High Net Worth Individual.

See the tweet here:

My Definition of Wealth by Liquid Net-worth:

Poor : 10 Lacs
Lower Middle Class : 50 Lacs
Middle Class : 1 Cr
Upper Middle Class : 2 Cr
Rich : 5 Cr
HNI : 10 Cr
UHNI : 50 Cr
Don't Care Wealth : 200 Cr
Generational Wealth : 1000 Cr

Agree?

I am an HNI. What about you?

— Sourav Dutta (@Dutta_Souravd) June 20, 2024

Notably, Net worth is the value of a person's or company's assets minus their liabilities. Regularly calculating your net worth helps you get a feel for where you're at with your finances and gain insight into ways to improve your financial life.

In the comment section, Mr Dutta explained that based on the above categorization, a person's net should only include assets that can be liquidated to get money in two days. ''Liquid Net-worth = all liquid assets (those which you can liquidate and get money in 2 days) - all loans. Primary House isn't liquid Net-worth. Investment real estate and land plots can be considered but discounted by 30-50% due to illiquidity. Gold is liquid,'' he explained. 

His post has sparked a heated debate on X, with many not agreeing with him. Some even called his post in ''poor taste'' while some said that wealth is a relative concept. 

One user wrote, ''Age should be associated with it. At what age should someone be judged on the above parameters? Someone who has just started working or someone who has crossed 40 or someone who is in his retirement.''

Another commented, ''I always thought I was in upper middle class but today got to know that I'm poor.''

A third said, ''This is just a basic classification by 1 person, not scientific data-based research. I think this is a pretty decent classification as of today.''

A fourth added, ''it actually sounds funny that a crorepati is struggling to be middle class !! Think of it this way ...how quickly is the value of money going down.'' Yet another said, ''This is grossly overestimated figure, especially at the lower end.''