Do you think Brits are really as broke as the media makes out

[SlothfullyYours]

I took some flexi leave this afternoon to run some errands and do some "life admin."

Started off in town. The shoppers' car park was packed, the shops were packed, coffee shops packed. People spending money.

Came home and tried to book car in for a service - garages booked up weeks in advance. Tried to get some trades round to quote for work on the house - all too busy (have been trying for months!).

Friend popped round. Recently started as a self employed cleaner. She says all her slots for house cleaning have been snapped up - and she's charging £20 per hour and we're in the Midlands!

My hairdresser & dentist (private) - have to book weeks/months in advance.

Are we really as skint as the media makes out?

Anecdotal .... New Italian opened up near me recently, its been jammed ever since.

A friends carpentry business has been pretty quiet over the last few winters, this year, order books full.
Local pubs packed for Sunday lunches, even the holiday park has opened up a carvery.

I think the people with money have more of it and those in lower/middle incomes have less disposable.

Caveat.... i live in an area with perhaps a more older demographic, maybe that skews things?

I suspect it probably does.

I think we are the 6th largest economy, but with high inflation currently

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn092p27xn0o?app-referrer=deep-link

We don’t have a ton of millionaires because we are broke. We have a ton of millionaires because some people earn hugely and all governments seem to pretend that we’d collapse if we did anything about that, with regard to tax. Obviously, as soon as you suggest there should be even the tiniest rebalancing, so that the poorest children are warm and fed, the richest squeal very loudly, and shout that the economy would collapse.

Less than 6% of the Uk is built on.

The reason that places look tatty is that local council budgets are almost entirely eaten up by social care costs, and our welfare bill is enormous. Combined with regulatory overreach (have a look at how 6 years after Hammersmith Bridge was closed, we are still no closer to a replacement). We pay high taxes to subsidise individuals on welfare, rather than building strategic infrastructure and stuff that promotes growth.

Not only is our economy doing better than most G7 economies, the UK household savings rate is increasing.

And maybe the reason you see women in the hairdressers is that they have more money, and manage it better than you, not that they are hanging on to one luxury that makes them feel good? I find that very patronising.

I think it's more a case of the country being overcrowded than skint. There are 285 people per square kilometer in the UK. Germany is similar. In Sweden, it's 26 people per square kilometer.

The more people there are = the more services are packed and generally oversubscribed.

The roads are far more congested these days than they were in the early 2000s. I'm almost certain at least half the cars I see on the road are driven by foreign nationals/recent arrivals. More people sat in traffic for longer, thus more road rage which is also markedly worse in the summer, ie sat in a hot box even with AC, your patience is short, you probably need a wee and everyone goes outside when the sun is out. There are always queues in the cafes as such that I've not sat in one for a few years now as I can't stand crowded places.

People can't face the reality that we are absolutely rammed full, yet we keep letting people in and expecting the same level of service and quality of life. Something has to give and it will eventually.

TL;DR: GDP (money changing hands) is still high because of there being a lot of (far too many) people, because of this you then question there being a cost of living crisis because you see so many people spending money.

Car main Dealers are cutting workshop technicians, we now go to an independent. cheaper labour costs. One garage and used car dealer closed down in our town.
Pub closed.
More people because of new estate, so surviving businesses have more customers.

Hard to tell.
No, not really, looking around where I live.

I never serviced mine when l was broke. MOT only.

If people are really skint though, they don’t have cars.

Well you are not seeing the skint people out and about as they can't afford it. I think also area dependant

I feel like the poster you quoted. I'm on the highest salary I've ever had, but am squeezed from all sorts of directions. I lose some of my child benefit, I'm expected to contribute a fairly large amount towards the eldest's uni costs (her loan is reduced because of my salary), I can only earn £500 in savings interest before being taxed in it.

My savings aren't huge. They're in a savings account with a good rate on and are basically just an emergency pot for something going wrong in the house.

I'm a single parent with a small house, aging car, etc. I feel like everything is very risky at the moment. I'd be screwed if I lost my job. So whilst I look like I'm doing ok day to day, I certainly feel less comfortable than a few years ago when I earned half as much.

Or all the people ( my exhusbabd and his wife who had CC debts of £96,000) who just put it all on cards and pretend it's not there

A local shopping centre near me seems very busy at times but there is at least 15 empty units
Even Starbucks has closed. Debenhams closing and covid didn't help. When in it I do wonder where all the people from the car park actually are cos they are not all in the 2 stores outside Next and Marks.

I am on a lot of early retirement fb groups and the amounts of savings that many people have in their fifties and early sixties is astounding but I suppose they wouldn't be in those groups if they weren't in a good financial position. Most of my friends in their late fifties work part time or are retired, I am about the only one working full time still. I do come across some struggling people in my job which is working with older people doing disability forms etc. The media would have you believe that most older people are struggling to heat their homes and buy food but it simply isn't true. A lot are loaded and just don't want to spend it.
I do think a lot of young people are really struggling and almost ' hidden' being supported by parents and still living at home. My friendship group all have sons in their late twenties and early thirties unable to leave home. This is the group the budget should be looking to help.

I can't afford the dentist, a car or a Starbucks so you won't see me in any of those places.

I travel into what is described as a "deprived" part of the country regularly for shopping (shops are fab, not sure where the deprivation tag comes from, I guess there is a high level of unemployment) and, as you note with your area, whichever time of whichever day you go, it is absolutely rammed. I'm talking absolutely zero parking spaces so I often take the bus, shops full to the brim, more checkouts always opening due to the crowds, I had to stop seeing my hairdresser as he is now booked months in advance - I used to be able to get a same-day appointment only one, two years ago.

Not sure about other places but around here (North East) people certainly don't seem short of money, despite seeming not to work. Yes I know I don't see the ones sitting at home but this is small town and there are literally hundreds of people out shopping every single day - the type of crowds you only used to see on Christmas Eve.

Well I'm 53 but my mortgage has been paid off for8 years now so I was 45.

The people who are still in my age group with large mortgages are those who divorced or those that kept having to have " bigger, better , fancier" houses

And anyone who stretched themselves to take out a mortgage at 1% was deluded. The rates obviously weren't going to stay that low. I think was about 6% when I bought the first place but I didn't take the maximum mortgage I was eligible for ( not too long after the 15% Interest rates scenerio)

Yes. DH and I are considered ‘high earners’ by this government but we never have surplus cash each month unless we’re as tight as Scrooge. We have 5 children which was of course entirely our life choice, I’m not complaining in any way about this and wouldn’t. Had we had the average 2 children, we’d definitely be better off but there you go. We’re lucky to have a mortgage rather than rent, there’s just no way we could afford a house this size in rent. We’re also fortunate to be in the north, I don’t think we’d survive down south.

We’re better off now we don’t have nursery fees- just breakfast and afterschool club for the two youngest which isn’t so bad. We’re also ‘lucky’ DH has a company electric car so we can travel around for ‘free’ (he pays a small amount from his salary each month). All of these things work in our favour yet still, each month we have to be tight. A lot of birthdays to factor in and Christmas is astronomical, as is school uniform.

All bills have risen too as we all know. As I say, we’re apparently ‘high earners’, we don’t get any benefits whatsoever as a result but this also means we pay for opticians, dentist, school dinners etc so we’re on our own with everything. Food bills are insane now, some items have risen by 50% or more in a year or so. We’re not rich. We certainly can’t afford to shop in M&S and something like Costa coffee or McDonald’s is considered a treat.

Tradespeople have been really tough to book for years. We've only just managed to get someone to do a big job for us after trying for literally years.

We've resorted to getting a "handy man" to do some jobs in place of specialists. The final result is OK but not as good as a time served specialist.

No idea why. If you look at our local FB page, it seems saturated but they can afford to be picky about the jobs they take and/or are booked up.

Finding an electrician to change 3 lights? Not worth their time apparently.

Maybe people are spending more time at home because they cant afford to go out so have decided to spend on their homes?

I live and work overseas. I'm back in the UK regularly (every 2 months ISH sometimes more often). I visit London and the West Midlands.

For me as a regular external visitor the UK appears poorer. When I look at how people dress in the UK compared to other places the quality of clothing is less good, the shops look poor, the quality of products being offered is diminished, the quality of service is less good.

Overall it feels like a very expensive poor country if you know what I mean. Property is expensive, energy is expensive, services are expensive, meals out are expensive.

If your education policy under produces trades people and medical professionals and your immigration policy is designed to replace skilled people with unskilled people then it's no wonder you simultaneously as a nation get poorer and services get more expensive.

I think on average we are much worse off than we were 20 years ago.

I was clearing £2k a month night shift in the NHS 20 years ago. That same job has been dropped a band and the night shift enhancements removed.

Pretty specific I know, but this has been repeated in numerous jobs, decades of below inflation pay rises inevitably leads to poverty.

Nobody thinks everyone is broke. The problem is that people doing many ordinary jobs can't make ends meet. Housing costs and childcare are too much for a huge number of people.

💯 % this.

What they mean is I spend too much, have massive debt, no money after spending it on nails, lashes etc

All the "skint" people at work get coffees and lunches out, all the ok people pack lunches and put the kettle on!

People in coffee shops, driving into town rather than getting the bus, and laden with retail bags a “necessity”? £20 an hour home cleaners a “necessity”? Haha. Come off it. Love how the Reform / Racists manage to turn absolutely any discussion into a chest beating “country’s full”.