MSE News: Half of UK 'struggling to next payday', study says

jamesd

ilovelondontown wrote: »

We'd like a family but we can't afford one :wall:

And with that sentence you've demonstrated that you are one of those who at least broadly understands money and financial planning. It is perhaps wondering what you could change that cold make it practical, though.

ElkyElky

gadgetmind wrote: »

It's a two-way street. If you can't be bothered to acquire the skills to earn significantly more than minimum wage then why should someone pay you more than your current meagre skills are worth to them?

Harsh but true.

I have an honours degree and currently studying for a second. I have 8 other qualifications in my field and several vendor certifications. I feel, based on my skills, I should be getting paid more than I currently am but unfortunately the world doesn't work like that.

It's not as easy as just acquiring the skills to improve one's pay.

You-kip

ilovelondontown wrote: »

My husband and I don't get any benefits- no a single thing. Both in work.

We'd like a family but we can't afford one :wall:

I'm talking about the many who have children & work who slate people on benefits yet these people are also getting benefits.

You'd be surprised on how many families who have fairly decent salaries actually claim Top Op benefits but as they work they say they don't fall into being on benefits bracket when in reality they're still claiming benefits.

pmduk

Wywth wrote: »

You're not sure what money you have coming in each month? :eek:

If you are typical, it's no wonder so many people are struggling financially. How can anyone hope to manage their financial budget if they don't know what that budget actually is?

Sadly, for many people in modern day Britain, that is indeed the case. For people, say on a zero-hour contract how on earth can they be expected to know what hours they'll be offered?

Sazzie23

Archi_Bald wrote: »

How do you conclude that?

I wondered that too....

I don't get any benefits other than my wages which as a public servant (nhs) the government pays. However 12 months ago I was slightly struggling and now, am really struggling despite cutting expenditure. Why.? Well the nhs cut my out of hours allowances (frontline nhs) and whether or not you think we're worth it, this has put myself and a lot of 'highly trained & skilled' workers into financial difficulties.

And so, I believe the survey, since I know a lot of other hospital trusts, schools and other public servants have had downgrading & allowances cut, overtime lost etc. This is not a whine, I'm lucky to have a good, relatively (less than the average wage) well paid job.

gadgetmind

ElkyElky wrote: »

I feel, based on my skills, I should be getting paid more than I currently am

Yes, you and 99% of everyone else on the planet.

I'm afraid that degrees have been devalued, so employers trust the paper less and their own intake exams more. It's truly astounding how many we get knocking on our door we have the paper but fail to demonstrate the skills to go with it.

So saying, we do get a lot of good graduates applying, and we start them on 3x minimum wage straight from university, which shows that the rewards do follow the hard work.

Of course, I don't know what your personal expectations are.

MoneySaverLog

gadgetmind wrote: »

I'm afraid that degrees have been devalued, so employers trust the paper less and their own intake exams more. It's truly astounding how many we get knocking on our door we have the paper but fail to demonstrate the skills to go with it.

To employ graduates straight from university into high earning roles purely because they have a university degree is madness. What life and work experience do new graduates bring to the company, very little usually.

Pincher

At what time in the last 500 years did the bottom half of society not struggle to make ends meet?

There is no reason why you should be able to afford to live just because you are willing to clean toilets for minimum wage.

Some years ago, I was getting lodgers in, for a nice, well maintained house. The smallest room was available, which suits a student in size, single bed, wardrobe, desk and tall bookshelf.
There was an MBA, MA and an MSc in the house, the two lodgers were from Europe, and we got on fine. An Eastern European middle aged woman saw the advert and came to see the room. She could barely speak English, but managed to convey that she and her husband were cleaners, and the place they were staying at was terrible, and how much I wanted for two to stay in that room. The MA had a large double room for £100, and the small room was £70, but they were obviously unsuitable, so I said no. She offered £130, for the £70 single room, and I had to be firm and sent her away.

I have seen a tiny Polish girl living under a staircase, exactly like Harry Potter, and the landlord managed to find a two and a half foot (i.e. one side of a five foot double) bed to fit in the space. I believe she was paying £50 a week.

When you are at the bottom, things are not cheaper, you are actually paying more for less. You can only get into awful housing run by slum landlords, because "nice" people don't want you where they live. When I borrow, it's 2% Fee for a 0% Balance Transfer, the poor pay 3,000%, so they say.

When you are poor, you can't afford to buy in bulk, and have money sitting on the shelf. You can't afford the £30 Costco membership, and no car to go to bulk buy at the coupon price.

There was this haunting documentary, about the train companies telling people to go to the American Mid-West, where you get the land for FREE. They didn't tell you setting up and running the farm costs money and the bank forecloses with no mercy. A few years in, mortgaged to the hilt, the farmers finally realise that the numbers will never add up.

You have a subsidence claim, and the building insurance suddenly shoots up to £1,500 and no one else will insure you.
You have a car accident, and how much is the renewal premium? You thought you budgeted for a safety margin of £1,000 a year, it's just gone.

Half the country is near the edge, you just have a bigger safety margin than those under you, that's all.

gadgetmind

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

To employ graduates straight from university into high earning roles purely because they have a university degree is madness.

I'm not talking silly money as our median grad starting salary is about £28kpa. We'd pay less if we could still attract good people but competition is *very* strong. I'd expect this figure will be around £30k next year.

What life and work experience do new graduates bring to the company, very little usually.

I can assure you that our graduates contribute greatly pretty much from the start and are put immediately onto real projects. Sadly, we can't get enough home-grown graduates and have to do a long of hiring from elsewhere in the EU.

matttye

Pincher wrote: »

There is no reason why you should be able to afford to live just because you are willing to clean toilets for minimum wage.

An Eastern European middle aged woman saw the advert and came to see the room. She could barely speak English, but managed to convey that she and her husband were cleaners, and the place they were staying at was terrible, and how much I wanted for two to stay in that room. The MA had a large double room for £100, and the small room was £70, but they were obviously unsuitable, so I said no. She offered £130, for the £70 single room, and I had to be firm and sent her away.

Your ignorance is astonishing.