From here:
Exhibit 1
Me: Ah, but DH has 'earned' a tax free £1.5m ish on his house....
Mountainousipswich: No he hasn't. Not until he sells it, if he sells it. And there could be a property crash before then. He may even - amazingly - want to live in it and pass it on to his kids.
Me: That's just silly. Of course he has it. If you bought shares and they went up you'd be richer. And all asset prices fluctuate. If his house price goes down he pays less tax. Really, come on now...?
Mountainousipswich: Shares are not money, where did you get that idea from?
If I buy ten shares in Apple at $10 a share, then I have $100 worth of shares, not dollars. Those shares might increase in value to $20 each, but I would only make an extra $100 if I sold them at that point. The shares may also decrease to $5 a share. But at no point do I have money until I have sold the shares and received the cash in hand.
Warren Buffett - who owns several billion in shares - would be completely penniless tomorrow if the world markets completely crashed.
I mean, really? Am I missing something?
Debate Magazine
