Strands #248 “Strumming Right...
Quizzes & Puzzles23 mins ago
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.You are indeed a rarity in today's have it now society. You are not alone however. For the record my only debt is a mortgage which I think is necessary because you cannot save fast enough to buy a house so gearing in this case is necessary. I am amazed at the things people will get themsleves into debt for, holidays? new sofa!?? car? I suppose I just hate paying interest so I use a system of "reverse loans" ie what monthly payment can I afford? what do I want to buy? Save the former until you have enough to buy the latter, genius!
Any way congratulations on not being in debt I don't know the stats but you are indeed rare. Do your parents have a lot of debt? the reason I ask is because my parents where always up to there eyeballs in debt collectors, CCJ's, bailiffs etc so I think that made me like I am.
All I can say to the question posed is fair play to you, you obviously don't subscribe to this 'I want it and I want it now' culture, the idea of waiting for something and saving up for it might be an old fashioned notion but it works. why hock yourself up in debt for a car which will be in need for replacement when you've paid it off, just to be seen with the latest reg, or a new house which has quality control problems, its silly. I couldn't sleep at night if I thought I owed something like 30 or 40,000 pounds and no means of paying it off, some people don't care though and I just don't understand them.
My brother bought an �8000 kitchen for his first house after just three years of being there. He added this to his morgage so will pay something in the region of �23000 for it. He moved 2 years later! Debt for some is due to poor wages, however for most people it is often driven by greed or impatience. We live in a society driven by materialism and an expectation to 'keep up with the jones's'. Drive round any new housing estate and look at the cars people now have, necessity? NO because next door have one (but mine's better)!
My mother tutted at me buying a new toilet seat - couldn't I have just mended the old one? Apparently I was being "extravagant".
If you were born into a poor family in the war you might well think like her, especially if you are not very flexible in your thinking. Fine, but I refuse to take criticism off someone who hasn't organised the payment of a family bill since the early 60s.
I can understand disliking waste, and feeling critical of people who live beyond their means, but it doesn't sound like that is anything to do with you. If you can afford to pay for your holiday, what is the problem?
As for the number of people in debt - that seems hard to assess - wouldn't you have to balance debts against assets? Add property into the equation and it gets even more complicated.
I'm sure thought that the statistics could be frightening - why else would there be so many loan adverts on the television? The cost of property doesn't help - something older people are unlikely to have had to face.
The real problem in the U.K is not spending on credit cards and taking the odd holiday - it is inadequate pensions, the problems of which cannot be held entirely against the individual. This is an issue which pensioners such as my mother have not had to face - but we will have to in the future.