Need help with important market research question!

tangyfog

Ok I been looking into why people are in debt and poor and I looked into the theory that you

1st save 10 percent of your income into a saving account
2nd pay the rest of you living cost from that other 90 perent of your
salary

This led me to an interesting idea. What percentage of my income is used for each of my critical spending categories.

So Have done this below.

The reason why I am interested. I want to know not how much money someone spends on their rent or mortgage. i.e. £1000 or £500. because some people earn more than other.

But what percentage of their income is spent on each of their living cost.

I used to say £100 is nothing I just buy a xbox etc or what ever. but I didnt think about what percentage of available resource I had to spare. i.e. i was thinking about absolute money vs percentage of resouces available.

Anyway the point is living within your means is a function of percentage of your income NOT a function of your absolute income.

i.e. i think we should spend no more than 25 percent on the rent/mortgage category. so for me I think im ok with 18.95% but some other people are spending over 25 percent.

I think this is why some people are in debt. they try to spend beyond their available resources i.e. their income.

so me spending £540 on mortgage could be 50 percent of someone who earn £1000 a month and then that person is living beyond their means.

If we lived with our means we would be doing ok.

So my question to all MSE DFW is what are your percentages?

Basically what I am interested is two thing one are we poor from spending beyond our means. and is so what are the correct percentages?

i.e. should I spend 8.77 percent on food is that too much
is 14 percent too much on transport?

the theory is one should adjust their life styles according to the percentages of each category. and live that way.

so for example also my debt to income ratio is 10.49 percent so I guess that is ok for the moment...any feed back or thoughs on this matter would be appreciated. Hopeful we can learn about what percentages should be in each category.

Income £2850

Mortgage/Rent £540 18.95%
House Bills £481 16.88%
Shopping £250 8.77%
Entertaiment and eat out £96 3.37%
Transport £423 14.84%
Healthcare £18 0.63%
Debts £299 10.49%
Savings and Pension £60 2.11%
Insurance £83.75 2.94%


Total £2250.75 78.97%

Available Surplus £599.25 21.01%

Culex

tangyfog wrote: »

If we lived with our means we would be doing ok.

Et si ma tante avait les couilles, elle s'appellerait mon oncle!

Logie143

la floufi fla, flou

Culex

Just Google what I wrote...

Elaine_Wilson

There wont be any correct percentages - it will all depend on your circumstances. I would expect a wide spread from just MSE members, and an even wider one from the general population.

I have worked and cleared my debt so my figures will not be typical of those currently reading this board, but for what it's worth, here goes.

Mortgage/Rent - nil
House bills - 35%
Food shopping - 9%
Entertainment/meals out - 22%
Transport - 18%
Healthcare - 1%
Debts - nil
Savings and pension - 7%
Insurance - nil

The house insurance I have included in house bills and car insurance in transport. Hobbies have been included in entertainment. The rest of my expenditure is on things like clothes, donations and presents.

Certainly a different profile from yours.

DVardysShadow

Logie143 wrote: »

la floufi fla, flou

Is that the sound it made when it flew over your head?