The Real Cost of Living in Britain

Generali

An interesting article:

http://www.yesdebtfree.co.uk/articles/the-real-cost-of-living-in-britain/

Less than 10% of the British population can afford to live an average lifestyle. The high cost of living is forcing tens of thousands of Britons into debt – one person is becoming insolvent every three and a half minute in the UK, according to latest research.

This article is written by Joanne Wood and Tim Wood. Joanne declared herself bankrupt in February 2006. From the age of 17 Joanne worked as a court reporter at the Central Criminal Court. She is the author of Bankrupt 130 of 2006 – a remarkably candid account of what happened to a family after bankruptcy.

Plagued by pressure to pay the bills many Britons plunge hundreds of pounds into the red each week. The reported average net household income of £558 a week is just half what a family of four actually needs to lead an average lifestyle......


.......The table below shows what it really costs a husband and wife and two children to live in Britain. It covers a £150,000 mortgage, household bills, running a car, owning a dog, a basic Sky TV package and a £20 fish and chip take away for four at the end of the week. A romantic meal for two is a once month treat of £50 and a two week family holiday. The figures also include two minimum interest payments for £5,000 for unsecured debt – credit card and HP agreements – which is the average amount per person in the UK.....

amcluesent

>It covers a £150,000 mortgage, ...<

It would be even bleaker once the true costs from bank bailouts, unfunded public sector pensions, health costs for ageing boomers and renewal of derelict national infrastructure is added on top!

The plain fact is that within 30 years, living standards in Britain will be akin to those of the 1930s. Grim, grey, grinding decades of scrimping and austerity are the inheritance for our children.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Just goes to show then that Mr and Mrs Average have become accustomed to living well beyond their means funded by debt,since so many are becoming insolvent.
It's no good speculating what you need to live on for a certain standard of living,you have to live on what you get and clearly people have'nt been doing that but creating a false econonmy of their own to fit their needs with money they have'nt yet earned.
Time to pay the piper,I fear and come back down to reality.

kabayiri

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

Just goes to show then that Mr and Mrs Average have become accustomed to living well beyond their means funded by debt,since so many are becoming insolvent.
It's no good speculating what you need to live on for a certain standard of living,you have to live on what you get and clearly people have'nt been doing that but creating a false econonmy of their own to fit their needs with money they have'nt yet earned.
Time to pay the piper,I fear and come back down to reality.

I can understand that people need to have a reality check.

But we also need to offer them a realistic way out of the debt trap they may be in.

It's an information age now. If your credit score is scarred, then you will find yourself excluded from financial products and the cost to service your debts may even increase, exacerbating your predicament.

Somehow, people have to unwind from overcommitted positions.

Graham_Devon

You'd think they'd be able to spell council right

"Counsel tax"

Anyway, theres a lot of assumptions in this article. Thankfully, what most are good at is budgeting to their needs, and that's why we can continue. It's probably right, less than 10% probably cannot live the average lifestyle, but I don't believe everyone needs to live that average lifestyle.

For instance, they have added up both running a car, and also a season travel pass for both the husband and wife. I have a car, therefore don't buy a season ticket buss pass! I can't see anyone having a car, and then buying 2x seasonal bus pass's for themselves. They'll either have a car (and 1 pass), or have no car and buy 2 passes. (IMO). Most likely, they'll just have a car and no passes.

Think a lot of things have been merged....i.e. whats average in maybe London with the seasonal bus pass, probably isn't average in say Bath. But they seem to have taken both and added them together.

And £1,195 per annum for one schoolchild to cover uniforms, school lunches and trips sounds overdone. Many of these average families will be getting help with these things. So the cost may be taken into account, but any help seems ignored? So these figures seem to ignore all benefits, and only concentrate on income...whereas most of these people will be getting at LEAST tax credits.

They also assume a 3k holiday budget? I mean, come on!

On saying all that, it's still pretty bleak reading.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

kabayiri wrote: »

I can understand that people need to have a reality check.

But we also need to offer them a realistic way out of the debt trap they may be in.

It's an information age now. If your credit score is scarred, then you will find yourself excluded from financial products and the cost to service your debts may even increase, exacerbating your predicament.

Somehow, people have to unwind from overcommitted positions.

True but they're also going to have to take a hit and learn to live with a very reduced standard of living to enable themselves to clear their committments.
We all personally need to take responsibility for our own situations we have placed ourselves in.

HappyMJ

Maths will get you every time. "Less than 10% of the British population can afford to live an average lifestyle." It is if you are minted. When I did maths isn't the average of everyone 50%? I agree that the richest 10% own 50% of the wealth but that's hardly an average lifestyle.

So my headline is "Less than 50% of the British population can afford to live an average* lifestyle" *average=median

BitterAndTwisted

If "Less than 10% of the British population can afford to live an average lifestyle" then that lifestyle cannot possibly be the average. I would say that it's an aspiration by some to live what they perceive an "average" lifestyle to be and I would also say that that perception is sorely skewed somehow.

It's the aspiration which has got so very many into the trouble they're currently in, not necessarily the lack of disposable income. It's sad and very regretable but if the money wasn't there then it should never have been spent in the first place. To believe that you're "entitled" to a certain lifestyle when your income doesn't justify it is plain madness.

tomterm8

I'm sorry, I just don't recognise the article as being remotely sensible. In the UK, we are not as well off as some countries, but the average person is still much better off than most of the world population. I think all this relative poverty stuff is faintly rediculous: in the UK, most people have good food, education, reasonable housing, reasonable medical care, and the opportunity to live a full life doing meaningful things rather than just scrabbling to survive. Even people who are poor are only poor in relative terms. The things you mention are things I didn't have growing up, and I never felt poor.

HappyMJ wrote: »

When I did maths isn't the average of everyone 50%?

Nah, the average is generally only 50% if you are in a normal distribution. (Average always means mean average if it isn't otherwise specified).

mardatha

People have spent too many hours reading Hello magazine instead of learning how to cook cheaply from scratch.
People are too lazy to go to the bank and get cash, far easier to use a card- and not have a clue what they have in the bank.
People spend hours watching stupid pretentious tv shows about property that they cant afford.
People have become totally deluded & enslaved by a fairytale false idea of life.

Graham_Devon

mardatha wrote: »

People have become totally deluded & enslaved by a fairytale false idea of life.

Not just people, global companies and governments too.