Rich house poor house??

Splatfoot

The poor family have more disposable income than we do. I do wonder what we do wrong sometimes!

CakeCrusader

Davy_Jones_II wrote: »

I agree with the above, but I’m more surprised at the fact that the “rich” families seem to spend all that they earn. I can’t get my head around that; they’ve a big mortgage, car payments, music lessons etc, and what’s left goes in the pot labeled “blow it.”

Probably not, I don't think they are going to tell Channel 5 about all of their finances, and I'd expect them to be quite savvy with their cash and have savings really. Most of the 'rich' families spend a proportion on extra curricular stuff for their kids, and the programmes never tell you what the families have left at the end of the week despite the 'poor' family blowing a chunk of cash on take aways/food/stuff they wouldn't usually buy (which the 'rich' families probably wouldn't do either). At a guess, the 'rich' families save what they can. I think this is the biggest difference between the two, one can save for a rainy day, one can't as they live hand to mouth and there's nothing left at the end of the week.

New_and_Improved_Me

CakeCrusader wrote: »

Probably not, I don't think they are going to tell Channel 5 about all of their finances, and I'd expect them to be quite savvy with their cash and have savings really.

Not everyone thinks about the future. With some people when the going is good and money if flowing in they 'live it up' and spend everything they earn on non-essentials. There is nothing wrong with treating yourself but some people take to another level and never think about the rainy day.

There are people out there that earn 000's per month and never have anything left at the end of the month. They have the mentality of the 'The more you earn, the more you can spend' and seem to think that money will always keep coming in.

CakeCrusader

New_and_Improved_Me wrote: »

Not everyone thinks about the future. With some people when the going is good and money if flowing in they 'live it up' and spend everything they earn on non-essentials. There is nothing wrong with treating yourself but some people take to another level and never think about the rainy day.

There are people out there that earn 000's per month and never have anything left at the end of the month. They have the mentality of the 'The more you earn, the more you can spend' and seem to think that money will always keep coming in.

It's hard to tell from the info in the programmes, I'd imagine it would be difficult to blow 6k a month though. There's only so many microwaves/cars/sofas/watches/computers etc people need. All of the 'rich' (old rich, not new rich) people I know don't spend wads of cash every week, they save and invest most of it (and they are often to busy to go shopping anyway).

Happier_Me

I think it would be more interesting if the show gave an indication of how much each family were saving for the short and long term, even if that was a % of their disposable or total income. Also what's included in essential bills exactly - the car paymenf for the flash car on the drive or simply utilities and mortgage payments?

As a family of 4 we allocate around £1,450 a month to food and stuff, which includes activities, entertainment, travel, new tech (cheaper end), clothes and the odd weekend away. We can live within this and have a nice life as long as we budget and spread out certain costs. Equally we can blow this out the water if we stop budgeting and simply spend, spend, spend.

But I think this is a lot of money!

Then again I'm a bit of a tight!!!!!, which has seen us mortgage free and on track to retire in 12 years at 55. If I redirected our savings we could increase our disposable income to over £1,000 a week. I'd have no idea what I'd spend this on and I'd have to work until I drop to do this, but it is possible. And we are not rich by anyone's standards... both are and always will be 20% taxpayers.

What I'm trying to say is for some people the amount they spend on non essentials each month is a choice they make based on lots of factors. But this show doesn't explain the factors at all, so we're left guessing just how rich or poor these families actually are

Teacher2

'Rich House, Poor House' is quite a refreshing show as it points out that, even on the lowest quartile earnings, people can have a perfectly pleasant life in this amazingly privileged country.

The programme focuses on disposable cash and families' choices. Of course, everyone benefits from:- free medical care and education, a stable and law abiding society, maintained infrastructure, a redistributing taxation and benefits system which is more equal than it has been for 30 years, pensions and so on. That is probably worth about £30 grand a person if it is not considered priceless.

The families seem, almost without exception, decent and respectable and the parents focus on doing the best for their children. I am sure a lot of this is to do with the selection process and the rigid formula of the programme but the consistency allows the audience to focus on the similarities and differences between the families.

Prosperity might depend a bit on luck but a lot of it is to do with expectations, attitude, character and hard work. The abiding feature of 'Rich House, Poor House' is that the poor families want more money and the rich ones more time. But you don't get the money without sacrificing the time. I always wonder whether the rich kids who wistfully long for their parents' attention would actually give up the pony lessons, the designer kit and the iPhones to have it.

At any rate it is an eye opener.