How skint is this country and the people in it?

[BenBhoy]

To be honest I observe the wealthy and half of them if not more are **** scared just as much as me!
I don't envy their life styles one bit but do wish I could provide better for my wife and daughters.

100% the same mate. I happen to live in a bloody posh village (I know, I'm a right sore thumb!) ever other car at school drop off is a 73 plate F-Pace or a Tesla. Kids in my daughter's class have half term in Caribbean & fortnight summer hols in Maldives. Dunno how much of that is on credit obviously.

But they work stressed filled jobs, rarely attend sports day or kids nativity as they have meetings in London or businesses trip to Europe. For that, I don't envy them. But I wanted to take family abroad ths year, just an all inclusive to Majorca type thing - just can't afford it, simple as. Week in summer hols looking at £5k for us all!! Don't have that amount going spare.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

Throughout my working life 1965-2018 wages in my branch (engineering) in the UK were so far behind Europe and the USA where I had worked (driven by the wages here) to be able to compare them. It seems many trades are looked down on by the professional / upper classes and they will not recognise that these trades are bedrock of the motor of a country not the few folk moving mega sums of digital currency around the world.

 

[Drum123]

Not always. All my current guns have been bought 2nd hand, none over £350 as simply can't afford it. Seem to be calculating finances every other month to make sure more coming in than going out & sometimes not quite making it.

There will be exceptions, for sure .But my point is how we judge poverty is out of whack now. Poverty for some means no new thermal this year , for others it means something else.

 

[Liveonce]

There will be exceptions, for sure .But my point is how we judge poverty is out of whack now. Poverty for some means no new thermal this year , for others it means something else.

something else…….., food banks in the U.K. who would have thought of that a few years back ?

 

[BenBhoy]

something else…….., food banks in the U.K. who would have thought of that a few years back ?

One night a week, every week , I help at a homeless kitchen in Sneinton, Nottingham city.

On Wednesday mornings my wife volunteers at a food bank & food bank delivery.

Both of us have commented on a huge shift in the demographic of people we're seeing & becoming regulars. People with jobs, people with kids, who are private let tenants. That's the real crisis.

 

[Bo Diddley]

One night a week, every week , I help at a homeless kitchen in Sneinton, Nottingham city.

On Wednesday mornings my wife volunteers at a food bank & food bank delivery.

Both of us have commented on a huge shift in the demographic of people we're seeing & becoming regulars. People with jobs, people with kids, who are private let tenants. That's the real crisis.

Yes, it's tough for many working families.
I rent out a bungalow, and the couple that are renting have three children under 11 years old, this month they couldn't pay all of the rent due and asked if they could pay the balance over the next 3 months, they have both changed jobs recently, his tax code has got a little mixed up and he's been clobbered for tax (Never heard that excuse before), they use a food bank sometimes, and the weekend entertainment for the kids is a day swimming and Kayaking on the river Wensum, with a little bbq and trampolining in the garden, anything cheap & fun, they are both workers with a decent university education

 

[Mr Tree]

The sheer numbers of second home owners in my county is staggering! Local people can never afford a mortgage & cant compete with the London prices quoted ro a small Fishermans cottage, rents in town are disgusting, £900 quid a week for a flat , thanks to air b n b, a woman, a friend of mine met, told him that she had just bought 52 holiday homes & is looking for more. I drive through some villages on the North Norfolk coast in winter & you dont see a single light on, they are like a ghost village. In the summer, I see a parade of the insane, driving their Porches Lambos, Astons, Ferarris & range rovers around, showing off their wealth. Councils not enforcing the affordable housing clause in the new gold rush of development. The gulf between the have & the have nots, & it seems to me that a lot of these people dont seem to have a lot of manners, selfish in the extreme, I dont grudge people money, but for FS sake, show a bit more compassion. Particularly with your driving manners.

 

[VSS]

It's time we stopped measuring wealth in money.

 

[big ears]

https://fb.watch/sCt7o_3sGm/?mibextid=KsPBc6

Watch this. This guy made his first million in his temerities and retired a multimillionaire by 30. He talks absolute sense.

 

[Dunwaters]

It's time we stopped measuring wealth in money.

I await your alternative proposal with great interest.

 

[BenBhoy]

I await your alternative proposal with great interest.

Time spent with family & loved ones.
Doing a job you enjoy & want to do.

 

[Drum123]

I await your alternative proposal with great interest.

Well the obvious answer there is contentment and happiness, however I'm also aware how naive one needs to be to think that's going to buy the weekly shopping. Or the latest thermal.

 

[VSS]

I await your alternative proposal with great interest.

Health, wellbeing, happiness.
Too often we judge someone as successful or otherwise by how much money they've got, which is rather sad.

 

[Rasputin]

Yes, it's tough for many working families.
I rent out a bungalow, and the couple that are renting have three children under 11 years old, this month they couldn't pay all of the rent due and asked if they could pay the balance over the next 3 months, they have both changed jobs recently, his tax code has got a little mixed up and he's been clobbered for tax (Never heard that excuse before), they use a food bank sometimes, and the weekend entertainment for the kids is a day swimming and Kayaking on the river Wensum, with a little bbq and trampolining in the garden, anything cheap & fun, they are both workers with a decent university education

Should have had less kids then. But I bet the kids in your post are infinitely better children then the spoiled brats out there.

Not wanting to be overly harsh but peoples kids are a large part of the problem these days either too many of them or over spoilt. One of my missus friends just spent £2k on a bloody birthday party for a toddler yet simultaneously blaming the government for her having no money. How the hell do you square that circle?.

 

[Jagare]

I've never earn't big money in my working life. I have very rarely bought things on credit. I would never buy anything for the house or my stalking on credit. But I've lived a life my father could have only dreamt of. My father was a hard working and honest man but life often conspired to give him the sh1tty end of the stick.
There is no doubt that things are out of kilter and it is harder today for many to get on the housing ladder. I also think there is a different expectation from people about what constitutes being poor.
My youngest son earns good money. He seems to have plenty of money for tattoos and a new car every couple of years and looking at the size of him does not go short in the nutritional department.
But can't afford to buy a house.
My daughter and her husband lead a modest life and have managed to buy their own place. They don't cover themselves in tats and only drive older secondhand cars.
Myself, everything I own is paid for. There are still plenty of things I want but don't need, I consider that I live a comfortable life but I'm not going to start buying stuff I can't afford or need.

 

[noncomplianz]

The divide is big and getting bigger. Those who are wealthy have increasing wealth as gold, stock market and houses have all gone up a lot. It's been hard to loose money investing in the last 2 years. For those earning just enough to get by, increased tax, inflation and shrinkflation has eaten into your wealth.
It's been a move from the poor to the richer with the middle class shrinking.

The get out for me is Asia. For example, It's 60 pence a pint in Cambodia and a hotel with Brekky and a pool is 220 dollars a month.earn in the UK and spend it overseas to increase its buying power.

 

[NullMac]

Health, wellbeing, happiness.

All improved by having more rather than less money

 

[Jagare]

Health, wellbeing, happiness.
Too often we judge someone as successful or otherwise by how much money they've got, which is rather sad.

So true. There have been many times in my life when I only had a pound or less in my bank account a couple of days after being payed but I like to think I've still had a great quality of life.

 

[finbar]

It's all about the Haves & Have Nots. plenty of families living on the bread line, some of them with decent jobs as well, just having to rent and commute eats into their salaries, cheap money sloshing about for decades has sucked many into living a lifestyle they can't really afford...
It doesn't matter how much you earn, it's what you spend it on that matters.

Champagne life style with Coca Cola money
Face ache full of them

 

[Tim.243]

Is it getting worse in real terms despite it theoretically improving in terms of the current numbers.

We had covid, money printing, freebies and then supply chain issues followed by natural inflation. Interest rates went up and stayed up, so anyone with debt or who borrows and/or intends to borrow is getting hit by further costs. Wage rises have supposedly kept pace but I bet not for many or even most, relative to the actual increase of day to day to living.

Classic car market is always a good place to look. When people are shifting their 944 Turbos or Audi RS2's, you know it is pinching.

The classifieds on here and other forums are a great indicator. Taking in to account inflation and currency debasement, the actual nominal price of stuff when similar to how it used to be, is actually cheaper in real terms. But still it doesn't sell. There are some proper bargains on this forum and other non hunting forums I use but still things go unsold unless almost given away.

I have been having my usual annual ruthless spring clean the last few weeks. That always results in lots of stuff I either bin, give away or sell. I have never known golf sales on Ebay to be so slow. It is brutal. I have literally given stuff away at like 15% of new price for items which are mint or very good. When shooters and golfers are not buying, you know stuff is bad.

I don't have kids or a mortage, so I feel slightly insulated from the obvious financial squeeze but I feel sympathy for anyone with a family and debt outgoings right now. Hopefully 2025 is better but this year looks a bust to me.

Best of luck to you all. Maybe a new government can improve things

How make smoke?
15x365 nearly 5.5k in fags...... x that by both of the bread winners in the house...no sympathy