Majority of single adults ‘could not cope with an unexpected £850 bill’
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/majority-of-singles-could-not-cope-850-bill-5HjdYdz_2/
Posted by tylerthe-theatre
Majority of single adults ‘could not cope with an unexpected £850 bill’
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/majority-of-singles-could-not-cope-850-bill-5HjdYdz_2/
Posted by tylerthe-theatre
42 Comments
Of course not, I earn an average wage. Housing costs are extravagant, living costs arent cheap and i have a young child to provide for as well.
Lucky if I have a few hundred quid leftover.
I fall back into that camp following renovations etc
Those irresponsible adults, needing to eat and get to places.
It’s very difficult to manage on a single income these days unless said income is well above the median, and it’s probably still a struggle even then if you’re a single parent.
There’s a huge number of people who are hand to mouth. Even relatively well off people can be saving zero, eg when your kids are small.
I mean, no one wants a £850 unexpected bill but this article doesn’t quantify what “could not cope” means. I imagine it’s just that most would have to cut back on something or dip into overdraft or credit card to pay but it’s not like it’s going to cause the majority to suffer financial ruin.
People are routinely hit with larger vet bills, boiler breakdowns and other fees that can dwarf this so I’m not sure what this article is trying to say
I’m on disabilty benefits and there is almost zero way to afford big unexpected bills. I got a large dentist bill back in February and luckily my dentist lets me pay off a bit every month but that bit every month is mostly from my grocery budget.
>Researchers blamed the high cost on rising rent prices and costly subscription services. When rent or mortgage payments were added, monthly spending for single adults rose to an average of around £1,100 per person.
>Extra costs like broadband, mobile phone bills, insurance and subscriptions, brought this up to £1,200 a month on average, without spending on socialising, holidays or hobbies.
£1100 rent, £100 on subscriptions, but yeah expensive subscriptions are driving the problem.
The system working as intended then….. this would indicate that a majority of people spend their wage on surviving until their next payday. Everything is so expensive now its actually depressing.
> Aviva recommended that Brits aim for a realistic and accessible savings safety net to help cover unexpected costs, before focusing on longer-term savings goals.
Good advice if you can do it. For some it might take a long time to build that up though
Especially when the recommended safety net is 3 months of outgoings
Mate I can’t afford an unexpected £50 bill. Every month I tell myself, I’ve worked more this month so I’ll be better off next month. Then something comes out of the sidelines and bends me over the financial barrel and there goes my extra money.
I am bored of struggling I must say.
This doesn’t surprise me. I personally could, easily (either from savings if I have a few days notice or with a credit card if not), but I earn enough to be able to save a bit and have pretty cheap bills.
I couldn’t cope with an unexpected £8.50 bill, what dream world would £850 ever be okay?
Design a system to make people’s lives precarious. Ends up making people’s lives precarious.
Who knew?
Why don’t articles like this have to link out to the research they are quoting? That should be the bare minimum. ‘Journalism’ is so sad these days.
Boomers: ‘its all the luxury items that people are buying like coffee’
I would say majority of couples can’t cope with that either. I guess we should cut down to the absolute bare minimum, not own anything and give more to our betters.
Infact, instead of our lad completing his education, we should make him go work in the Pit or the Fields. Honest days work for an honest days pitance I guess.
Will the govt announce a surprise bill allowance to all workers, or are unqualified handouts only for pensioners?
Well yeah. The government doesn’t give a shit about single adults, and so they don’t get anything.
This article has no details about the research, but the headline refers to people who live alone. For people who don’t live alone the figure drops to 23%. People who live alone could be a deliberate study choice to focus on people who typically have less money – young adults early in their career, for example.
The phrasing of the question itself always matters too, which the article doesn’t include. Why £850 specifically? Is it because £700 was affordable for more people and wasn’t drastic enough for a headline?
The researcher also matters. Aviva’s conclusion is to save more money, set up automatic transfers and use ISAs. Funnily enough, products Aviva itself offers.
Would Aviva release research that says “hey everyone, most people feel super comfortable with their finances, no need to save this month”? Of course not.
Cost of living is a problem, but always take these kinds of studies with a pinch of salt.
House prices have been rising faster than wages for decades, mostly because of land prices. Land ownership is a zero sum game so those with land become richer and those who don’t become poorer. Wealth is flowing from the young and poor to the older and wealthier.
The biggest determinant of success for young people is the price of their parents’ home. We are marching ourselves towards a land based inheritocracy.
[The housing crisis is a land crisis.](https://progressandpoverty.substack.com/p/the-housing-crisis-as-a-land-crisis) We need to socialise and redistribute land rents via a land value tax
I’ve always lived pay check to pay check, only when I met my GF could I actually start saving some money.
Honestly unless you get lucky (massive bonus, bank of mum and dad) I feel like it’s impossible to get ahead on your own.
When wages have stagnated, not keeping up with inflation and the average salary being 32k….how the fuck can you even afford anything.
People want you to be broke and miserable, any modicum of comfort is denigrated. We can’t just work/survive.
The majority are probably wasting money on “luxuries” like food, heating and housing
The shittest mandatory TV licence is the costliest subscription I have.
I don’t feel like I’m doing that well for myself, definitely still struggling sometimes. But my dishwasher broke recently, had to spend £600 to get a new one and get it installed. I feel grateful that that was something that we could just get sorted within a week and didn’t have to stress about it.
I’ve been working full time, ever week for over 20 years, my entire adult life.
I have a few hundred quid spare at best. What I earn and the cost of living are effectively the same number.
Is that unexpected bill a water company randomly increasing your usage by 400% not giving you any warning and slapping you with a massive fucking bill? Cause that’s what’s been happening to just about one person in every social group I have across the country.
Look around at everyone’s cars. I’d say the majority of the population is financially illiterate.
I’m a Self employed driver.
My brand new van in 2016′ was £16k. I earned around £35k then.
My next van (identical van to above) in 2024 was £20k second hand, with 25k miles on it. I earn around £30k now for the same work. My expenses are much higher so I earn a lot less.
Last winter I had a chain of breakdown issues costing £2000 to keep the van on the road.
In a few years time i don’t think I could afford the next Van. Self employed driver and the companies that contract us don’t pay us enough to own and maintain a fooking vehicle to do the job.
It’s why you see “delivery couriers” driving round in 20 year old Toyota Yaris. People are expected to work for minimum wage AND pay the costs of running the Business of multi billion £ companies.
The situation with greed and costs has gotten insane, we a devolving.
So glad that trickle down economics is a thing to help us all out… /s
This is why I’ll be living in a van for a decade and waiting until I’m 40 to make kids. Your average person has to now sacrifice some of what we’d have considered modicums of comfort in decades past to gain any kind of long term stability and security.
Found out my housemate was taking my money (sent for bills) and not paying the council tax. Unfortunately it’s so much cheaper for me to live here I’m kind of stuck, and I still don’t have an emergency fund.
I generally get to the end of each month being overdrawn again, if I can make it through with a bank balance that is just a flat zero I feel lucky. an unexpected bill like that would literally ruin me financially.
I live with my parents at the embarrassing age of 32.
I earn slightly over minimum wage as a dental nurse (which is a joke of a career, it used to be much better), there’s no way I can afford to leave and live as a single person, little to no savings and if something unexpected happened I’d have to put myself in further debt.
Yep and this is how the government wants us because money = freedom.
Fucking hell, if I had that, I would be fucked til the next payday and even then, I would be struggling. That’s if I work my fucking arse off and I’m talking, the first payday getting swallowed up, me being in debt and having nothing left til the next payday.
Would have to sell the PS4 just to survive if that happened
I think there are quite a few people who would struggle to cope with an expected £850 bill… 😭
Don’t worry guys, if we just keep giving all the money to the already-disgustingly-rich, everything will turn out fine.
Yeah, I’m not surprised. Guess
[it is a good time to share the UK finance flow chart](https://ukpersonal.finance/flowchart/)
Absolutely no fun to be had only top earners and savvy people are having more to spend on luxury items and can handle are large car bill or an unexpected boiler breakdown. It’s difficult living on a low wage.
Because greedy ceos have kept wages low for decades to the point people actually believe they are the right level, we can all barely afford anything and they act shocked when we’re cut to the bone?
I would never get an £850 unexpected bill. All of my bills are expected.