Why is personal DEBT so high in this country?

SingleSue

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I think it's both, and they are both important.

I did say I was boring :rotfl:

EdInvestor

Pobby wrote: »

Thanks Ed, great post. That`s where we have got caught out. Annuities. We had planned for £15k a year and at best that`s halved. Any chance of annuities going up again?

I don't think so, unless of course we go back to a high inflation era which is IMHO unlikely.Longevity has also been updated as well in recent years and turns out to be longer than they thought, so that is also pushing rates down.

Best to consider "income drawdown" until you get to an age where the return is better (eg 75). If you qualify for an impaired life annuity you can get a better deal.

Poet49

Why is perosnal debt so high? because we are being robbed blind in this Country, taxation is way too high, Council tax has increased at a scandalous rate, fuel tax cripples us all, vat on almost everything we buy is another con by the government,
The TV tax is another outrage that should have been kicked out years ago.
As for house prices, if you have bought a new house recently at least £100,000 was pure profit for the developer, I know because I worked in the industry until October.
Income tax and NI (another name for tax) have both been creeping up each year.
The utility companies increase prices whenever the mood takes them.
The only sure bet is that wages will not go up (if you still have a job) at the same rate as everything else around us.

davilown

Poet49 wrote: »

Why is perosnal debt so high? because we are being robbed blind in this Country, taxation is way too high, Council tax has increased at a scandalous rate, fuel tax cripples us all, vat on almost everything we buy is another con by the government,
The TV tax is another outrage that should have been kicked out years ago.
As for house prices, if you have bought a new house recently at least £100,000 was pure profit for the developer, I know because I worked in the industry until October.
Income tax and NI (another name for tax) have both been creeping up each year.
The utility companies increase prices whenever the mood takes them.
The only sure bet is that wages will not go up (if you still have a job) at the same rate as everything else around us.

Fair enough, but if we did not have these taxes in their various guises, how would the government afford to bail the banks out???;)

bubblesmoney

why is debt so high in this country?

see the link http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/index.html

if you see the various debt related forums and see the number of posts and then see the savings forums and see the number of posts you will see the huge difference in the number of posts. many times more posts on the debt forums. so you have more than 60,000 reasons why debt is so high in this country because people cant be ARS*D to save and think free money will always be available in the form of 0% cards and MEWing as house prices apparently only go up with only small temporary blips like now.

Poet49

Fair point Davilown, but I would have thought those bankers on zillion pound salaries should have been a bit smarter, they have shown incompetence of truly epic proportions, their heads should be on spikes at the Tower of London for what they've done to this Country.

davilown

Poet49 wrote: »

Fair point Davilown, but I would have thought those bankers on zillion pound salaries should have been a bit smarter, they have shown incompetence of truly epic proportions, their heads should be on spikes at the Tower of London for what they've done to this Country.

I agree but people, for some reason, are reluctant to hang them out to dry. Yes it may have been a minority of them but I think their job losses should be a minimal requirement of ANY bailout

geoffky

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

lol, you're such a bag of fun geoff. I can imagine your wife and kids being desperate for you to go to the legion with your mates so that they can unwind and watch a bit a telly, free from the media dictats of their liege lord, geoffky.

Hows the lonely flat...:rotfl::rotfl:

Dithering_Dad

geoffky wrote: »

Hows the lonely flat...:rotfl::rotfl:

Do try to keep up Geoff. I now have a new contract where apart from a week in Norway to get my security access (last week), i am now working from home supporting payroll from my home office at £800 a day.

How about them apples?

Addiscomber

dervish wrote: »

When watching thre excellent DAILY POLITICS today Neil Armstrong referred to the fact that Britain had the highest ever personal debt in HISTORY!

How has this happened?

Why is it only really happeing here?

Is the government complicit in this?

In my view it has happened because when it used to be called "being in debt" it was something to be ashamed of. Then it became having credit and acceptable. Can you image people being so keen to have a DEBT card or a good DEBT rating?

It isn't only happening here, it is similar in the US, and maybe other English speaking countries.

Of course the Government is complicit in it all, because of Gordon Brown's insatiable need for taxes to spend (although he is of the mistaken impression that he has been investing). Also the Government needs the "feel good" factor in order to be re-elected and save their own sorry skins, so the longer people felt good regardless of their debt, the better for the government.