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?

Different mindsets. I can afford a house, but I can't afford coffee. You take your choice....

People trading down from restaurant to quality ready meal?

I get my varifocals online. As long as you have the pupil distance or whatever it is, the varifocals are fine.

The glasses feel cheap but I dont think they look awful.

But, my prescription changes at least yearly if not more and I got a pair of varifocals, a pair of reading/computer glasses and a pair of prescription sunglasses (I have sun sensitive eyes) for less than one pair of varifocals from the high street.

The average deposit for a first time buyer is now £55,000. Thats the equivalent of 25 years' worth of daily £6 coffees.

@Penfoldfive We met up with friends in a small cathedral city last week, it’s 45 mins away. It had only 2 vacant shops, our little High street has more than that. It even had a bookshop, which is a rare spot these days. We had a gorgeous meal and DH enjoyed the lunch so much he tipped 20%. We are all meeting up again there in February. Shopping is nowhere near as good in my little town. The big city near us has wannabe road men and lots of beggars when I went in last month with DS the Police were searching for people after an incident. It was quite frankly a cess pit.

I feel the same sometimes, often when at an airport or in a restaurant. You see people spending loads of money on rounds of drinks, expensive meals, take-aways etc.

Having lived in Europe for many years, I have learnt that us Brits often don't know how the budget and spend wisely. We tend to buy much more 'tatt' that other European, like cheap clothes and fast food.

And don't get me started on nail bars - people spending £40 on a set of nails. How can they afford it? And then there are all those women getting lip enhancements. Not cheap.

Then do some research OP instead of asking for opinions (which obviously can only ever be anecdotal 'evidence') on MN. 18% of the UK population living in absolute poverty is an horrific statistic: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68625344
As is the fact that just 50 families in the UK own 80% of the country's wealth - that's astonishing and, frankly, an obscene disparity between the haves and have nots.

Most of the people affording daily coffees are people on benefits, and with the increase in money they will be getting there will be even more lovely coffees for them whilst those of us working and not eligible for any benefits will be losing even more money to pay for them - no lovely coffees for us!

It's not just the coffee. It's the mindset. The compound interest means that actually it is 12 years. So someone would have had enough money to put down a deposit at 32 if they hadn't started their coffee habit at 20.

Different people have different mind sets on what is affordable

Or... my mortgage payment increased by £120 a month, which is 3 coffee and cake a week (3 visits is a lot but I know people who get a coffee most days).

I dont know anyone who had a £55,000 deposit.

If you think someone on basic universal credit of less than £400 a month is going out for “lovely coffees”, you’re completely untethered from reality.

@SlothfullyYours

Lots of garages offer payment plans too. And how do you know what people are taking their cars to the garage for? You don’t.
I do because they told me they had no slots available for services because they were all full.

More likely due to not having the same staff numbers they used to have. Just like shops with queues etc. Businesses can't afford to have staff doing nothing for even part of the day, so they cut down staff to the bare minimum meaning they're rushed off their feet. That's why you have to wait for a car service, the garage is probably running on 3 mechanics instead of the previous 5 or 6.

It's also rare that people need to put down a £55k deposit and in any case, a good proportion of their deposit will be made up of interest and LISA bonuses. They won’t have put all that money in themselves.

It’s also rare that it’s only coffee that aspiring FTBs are spending money on that could be cut if they were saving for a deposit. You’ve also got high end smartphones, lease cars, grooming, fast fashion, bought lunches, travel etc etc that many are spending hundreds of pounds a month on that could be significantly cut down if they were serious about saving for a deposit.

NMW is £1700 pm and many graduates earn more than that. If a couple lived at home and were serious about saving for a deposit, they could probably put away £1500 pm while still having money available for ‘a life’ and to pay their parents board money. Or to pay rent and bills on a small flat. They could probably save up in 2-3 years at most. I’m not saying it’s easy, but in many cases it’s far from impossible, but made a lot harder if you expect to save for a deposit, keep up with a spendy lifestyle and buy more than what used to be a FTB property all at the same time.

I don’t think the ‘you’re not broke if you can afford x’ comments are helpful.

I’m far from broke, but if I’m having to be more careful, then very probably, those with less are struggling and those who were struggling are really struggling.

I think, the rhetoric that poor people are poor because of bad decision making is, at best, narrow minded.

Unemployment is up, inflation is rising and people we know are leaving the country. We are seriously considering it. So yes, it’s pretty dire.

Inflation is actually going down.

K-shaped economy - not exactly the same as US, but similar enough that it has a name.

https://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/banking/article/what-is-a-k-shaped-economy-and-whats-causing-the-divide-213458866.html

I haven't read every post on the thread because it's quite large but I think the word broke or skint really depends who you are talking to.

Myself & my husband both work full time have 2 kids, one more on the way. We own our house with a mortgage, which has increased in recent years, we bought our cars using loans which we have now paid off. We waited 10 years to have kids because we wanted to ensure we could afford them! We don't buy branded clothes, I get my hair done maximum twice a year (birthday and Xmas), we shop in Aldi not M&S, we don't have any annual holiday. I've become a fan of Vinted for used clothing, clothing and shoes are only bought as required. I cannot remember the last time we had a meal or a night out. On paper, we are rich but the last few days of every month are a struggle.

My SIL and her husband on the other hand, also have 2 kids, had kids within a few months of getting together. Live in social housing (nice new build), paying very little rent and they have solar panels for reduced electric bills etc. No car but free bus travel, neither have EVER had a job, they go to food banks twice a week before they go and do the grocery shop. They go out twice a week for dinner or to the pub, they wear expensive clothes, they go on holidays every single year. On paper, they should be skint but they seem to have more "disposable" income than me!

Yeah, this definitely happens. People in COL discussions don't always realise that some of the spending they see is people belt tightening. So restaurant to ready meal, some of the people getting coffee would previously have had a meal when they were out, that kind of thing.

@BudgetBuster this really disgusts me

A very common scenario, and exactly why workers, especially younger workers are thoroughly fed up with never having any money, and many of the professional ones are moving abroad.

I live in a fairly affluent market town in the south east and things must be bad here, because the BMW garage is closing down. 🙃

I volunteer at a mental health charity locally and see first hand people claiming disability benefits for minor issues or completely fabricated issues. In fact they advise each other on how to answer the ADP questions in order to qualify. There are a hell of a lot of them where I live. The town is full of them and yes they go from one coffee shop to another, breakfast, brunch, lunch, takeaways for dinner, holidays abroad a couple of times a year. These are the people I am talking about, not people on basic universal credit of less than £400 per month. If you think the people I am talking about don't exist it is you who is completely untethered from reality.

I agree. Same experience here. But sadly some lefties are completely divorced from reality as they live in their own echo chambers.

Shops round here are busy and Xmas events- panto/ Xmas lights/ Santa booked up months ago.
within my friends and family nobody has cut back, still eating out, going on multiple holidays, home upgrades, cars etc. but in every household except my parents and in laws (who are retired) these are two adult working households.

As someone who works in social housing i can assure you that sadly there are many, MANY tenants who are not holidaying twice a year and living on Costa coffee..

We spend around £1million a year helping tenants in hardship to get the basics they need. Food vouchers (we only give out once a year, twice if they have kids) utilities support, necessary furniture (so no one is sleeping on the floor), white goods so they can wash their clothes and refrigerate their food etc.

The poorest really are in dire need of support, and whilst there will always be those who know how to work the system, the vast majority are genuinely in need and rather shockingly, often working as well.

Our anger should be at businesses who pay such low wages because they know the tax payer will top up their employees to a barely livable wage.