Re: Rising cost of living
 

Wanna tell me how I'm "bleeding the country dry" :dozey:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Didn't know you were old enough to be retired Paul? ;)

Thanks to the Govts promise to lock state pensions to the inflation rate, which they've lost control of, pensioners will now be getting >10% rises, whilst the working population get a fraction of that.

Meanwhile the country's debt increases massively and tomorrows pensioners can expect diddly squat.

Jam to bribe the Govt supporters today , sod all for future generations except having to pay for it all.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

10% of bugger all = not a lot per annum

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Yeh, living the dream…

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...l%20population.

I get my State Pension this November, and after tax it will be £666 per four weeks, or £8,658 per annum - a 10% on that is £66.60 per four weeks, or £2.38 per day extra…

I’m lucky - I’ve contributed to workplace pensions (4 final salary, 4 defined benefit), so I don’t have to survive on the State Pension, but if you think those on State Pensions are living the life of Riley, you’re sadly mistaken.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

£1600 more than I get and I survive quite well considering

Re: Rising cost of living
 

At least you have a state pension to add to all your other pensions Hugh . In 20 years time, I'm not sure UK plc will be able to afford it, which will be particularly unfair on those that have propped up today's pensioners.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

How do you pay rent/Council Tax on £7k per year?

(Not to mention utilities and food)

---------- Post added at 22:14 ---------- Previous post was at 22:12 ----------

You missed the bit about 1 in 5 pensioners living in relative poverty…

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I only pay Bedroom tax and a portion of CT I am also on the Big Difference scheme so only pay a fraction of my water rates. Those solely on SP will have access to these benefits too

Gas and electric are already 20% and from October 27% I pay £28 to VM and £6 for mobile phone. I online shop every 2 weeks and have around £40 to £50 per months for sundries / luxuries. I do not drive which does help a fair bit I guess and if I want to treat myself I buy on paypal credit when ebay or certain stores offer 0% interest plus I hardly drink and do not smoke

I consider myself fortunate that I live a system where I can live with my health problems without really struggling.

Also I tend to live off very simple foods quite cheaply when I need to free up some cash for other stuff.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

It's more than unfair It's embezzlement, it's not a benefit it's a pension we've all paid into, people used to kill themselves if they got caught dipping into the company pension schemes

He doesn't...

Re: Rising cost of living
 

What do you think will happen? Do you think people will be left with nothing at all ?

---------- Post added at 22:25 ---------- Previous post was at 22:24 ----------

I pay some
As I said the Bedroom tax for the extra room in the house and a portion of the CT it comes to around £25 a month. I know it is not a lot and as I said I am fortunate.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I look forward to capitalism intervening to save us :rofl:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

You haven't got a lot so imo it's to much but then someone has to pay something or else these huge corporations wouldn't be able to make record profits. With all the things going catastrophically wrong in the country right now I'm just glad we didn't end up with free broadband, imagine how bad that would have been

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Capitalism is only ever used in the good times to make a minority richer, in the bad times it becomes nationalised and the good old taxpayer sorts it all out. When they have, it's sold off again to make a few people some more money. Rinse and repeat.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I'm not, yet.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Mortgage rates and interest rates were much higher in the 1980s and 90s. I’m sure we can cope as a country, like we did before and when the media didn’t have such a leftie bias.

---------- Post added at 12:20 ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 ----------

You may well think differently when you have to live on a pension. I’m afraid you will find you will be a lot worse off.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

So were savings rates.
I remember when I used to get 10%.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

If you have had enough of all the doom and gloom that seems to be enveoping the country then skip this post

If anyone can bear being more depressed by our financial situation then read on.

I've been playing catch-up and reading a report published by the IMF in July. It's headed "Gloomy and More Uncertain" I tried to find an extract that gave a anything other than a gloomy out look and the following quote just about sums up.
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/...date-july-2022

The IMF blog by By Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas published on JULY 26, 2022 gives a more indepth look at the figures but seeing the UK coming last in the Advanced Economies, Largest World Economic Outlook Growth Projections table is even more depressing.
https://blogs.imf.org/2022/07/26/glo...rtain-outlook/

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Reporting facts ≠ ‘leftie bias"…

Oh, those well-known leftie-biased papers such as the Sun, the Mail, the Express, the Telegraph, and the Times who are reporting these things… :erm:

In the 80s, average house prices were around 3 times the average wage (4 in London), they are now 7 times the average wage (11 in London).

Re: Rising cost of living
 

We need to be more ambitious for the UK and future generations than simply coping with an economic crisis.

We want to be at the forefront of global economic growth, not taking a tea break watching the rest of the world surge ahead of us.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Indeed, in which case it was an incredibly stupid decision we made in 2016. Lots of factors at the moment but that has put the tin lid on UK plc.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I wasn’t referring to the facts, Hugh, I was referring to the ‘doom and gloom’ context that is attached to everything these days to gain eyeballs. It’s pathetic, and a wonder anyone bothers to read all this negative tripe any more.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Where would you get your sport if they didn't? :D

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I think that people have been complaining about negative news since day zero, it's nothing new.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

The problem is that the lies in the media influence voters. You only have to look at fuss and bother of the global profits of the oil companies, and that somehow people are made to think that the oil companies control the cost of household energy.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Let us think positive for a moment... O yes... I am going to join the Conservative Party for the very first time as they have loads more Parties than anyone else he, he.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Maybe we should stop encouraging it.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Turkey fillets, which we buy about once a month, have gone up from £6.20/kg to £10.28/kg. Almost a 66% increase.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Buy chicken fillets instead, they're cheaper(at the moment).

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Get a couple of nut cutlets mate. It'll do you good, save the planet and most importantly cheaper.:)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Yuk! No thanks, mate, you can keep all that veggie stuff for yourself!

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Looks like that dead flesh has kept you in trim OB ;)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

My sister mortgage fixed term is up for renewal, I was talking to her and my BIL, they would have gone for 2 years, but due to China about to kick off they went for 3 years, and their bank is the best deal around.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

We arranged the mortgage on our new house in January and reserved the rate so we were able to take it up almost 6 months later when we were ready to move. Now, there’s nothing anything like as good as what we managed to secure. I’m really glad our house builder was slightly pushy about passing our details on to their favourite mortgage broker because we might have left it another couple of months otherwise. :erm:

We went for a slightly higher rate, 5-year fix rather than the more competitive 2 and 3 year deals that were available. And boy am I glad we did (actually wondering whether it would have been even better to take the 10-year fix they were offering). Hopefully 5 years from now we will have ridden out the worst of the crisis, although I’m under no illusions about the chances of mortgage rates ever again being as low as they have been.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Same. I purchased a flat at the start of the year but thankfully had the mortgage sown up late December. Fixed for 5 years. The base rate went up whilst the mortgage was being agreed so I got in just in time.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Thankfully I own my home outright.It's about the only high point in my life.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I keep reading that inflation is about 9- 11%,maybe someone should inform supermarkets that that isn't 11% per week ,every time i go shopping things have gone up in price, the same things that went up last week :spin:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

The projections for what the price will be has gone up again: https://www.cornwall-insight.com/pri...p-methodology/

Re: Rising cost of living
 

We are also fortunate to own outright and have had a small windfall cash sum that we are putting aside. For us saving rate increases are a good thing but we are noticing inflationary pressures on prices and if "producers" are hit with higher expenses, which could also include borrowing, they do need to pass it on.
I do get annoyed that so many people that want government to keep out of the way in the good years demand intervention in hard times. The good years are the time to save and put resource away for the bad times. (I do appreciate there are those unable to to this, we do need to take care of those who need it.) You can't have the public purse not collecting but open to spend. We are in a situation at the moment exiting from a period of high expense (COVID especially) so the purses are less full and now more pressure.
I am sure though that there are many who are in the "haves" at the moment who are looking out for those in their communities who are in the "have nots". Maybe more should be reported about the local community helps and encouraging that than simply doom and gloom. Smaller groups and individuals can react faster and can also filter out those who sponge or know how to play the system that often cause larger/national groups delays and drain resource. Things could be so much simpler if rules didn't need to cover fraud etc.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Just a couple of things we buy in our household for example are chicken breast fillets which were £3.20 are now £4.09 and a tub of spreadable butter which was around £1.50 but is now £2.35.

There are just 2 examples of how much some items have shot up in price in a space of a few months.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

What good times though? In the last 10 years wages have hardly been doing well against inflation and economic growth has been slow. Remember even before this inflationary period, before COVID, there was the increasing use of food banks and increasing child poverty.

This isn't the good times coming to an end. It's the difficult times becoming much worse.

We had food banks but they can only do so much and now fewer people can donate. Look at the usage of the biggest UK food bank charity: https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-a...nd-year-stats/

Last year aside - probably depressed because of COVID - it's gone up each year. It reached 2.5 million in 2020. Again, that's before this cost of living crisis. Heaven knows what it's going to be like this year.

So all this stuff you're saying about saving for the bad times, communities helping each other out was already happening before COVID hit as people were already strugging. Now we have this. It's going to be very bad.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Things are getting so bad for nurses financially that the Royal College of Nursing is recommending they take their first ever strike. A vote is being held next month.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politi...-ever-27691880

Meanwhile, in-touch Ministers focus on the important issues the nation faces like privatising Channel 4 and too much perceived civil service equality training. :erm:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

So where are they focusing on those issues, to the exclusion of everything else?:rolleyes:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

The fact that they have proposals to privatise Channel 4 but not to tackle inflation by getting some of the one million over 50s back into work who left the job market during the pandemic tells you all you need to know.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62471260

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I guess good times is relative but over the past decades the percentage of wages spent on food dropped remarkedly. (I read somewhere it dropped from 25%+ to below 10%). If that were true then that is some capacity to save.
If you are buying luxuries that is also capacity to save, do you really need that luxury?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Food is just one part of household expenditure so whilst that may have dropped - what about the sharp rise in house prices and rental costs?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

The September CPI, which is used to set next year's changes in Benefits, etc. will no doubt plunge well into single figures. I wonder how that happens?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

You may find this informative.

https://ahdb.org.uk/news/consumer-in...-money-on-food



---------- Post added at 14:29 ---------- Previous post was at 14:26 ----------

Not sure if that’s accurate, as inflation is forecast to rise to 13% by the end of this year…

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I worked two jobs for a few years, and was able to reduce my mortgage to £50 in 2018.
I keep it at that value as I can dip back into it as an emergency backup should I require.
I have not had to do so yet, but these bills are going to dig deep, so I may have to consider it.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

What kind of mortgage product do you have that allows the balance to sit there at £50 for four years? Even if you overpay I thought they still wanted monthly payments.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

First Direct, I forget its actual name, Ive had it for well over 20 years.
Its basically like a bank account with a huge overdraft, I can pay in, or take out, as I please.
They charge monthly interest (only if my linked main account goes below £50). The only requirement is its cleared by my 65th birthday.

[ You cant get them anymore, although they still do something similar, but the requirements for those are out of my reach ].

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Fair enough, seems like a clever way to have an easy (and i assume cheap) line of credit available.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Yep, and its been used that way in the past. ;)
I've bought my car using it as a cheap loan, and at least two holidays in the 2000's.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Plus they have to securely look after the deeds and paperwork

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I wonder how so many fast food joints continue to survive when so many now know how to cook?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Knowing how, and actually wanting to, are two very different things. ;)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Deeds are all electronic now. When we paid off the mortgage we asked about deed storage etc and were told it's not needed. But that could just be NatWest.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

So nothing whatsoever says they are focussing on those issues, to the exclusion of all others? Different departments, so they are capable of doing more than one thing simultaneously.:rolleyes:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Pretty obvious - there are no viable proposals to sort the crisis out - compare that to Ed Davey's and Gordon Brown's proposals.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Ah, yes - much easier to shout from the sidelines and demand more money.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I'm sure they'd rather be in power serving their country in its hour of need rather than being a silent quitter like Johnson.

He should get the two candidates together for the best of the country and Party and sort things out. The opposition parties and people like Martin Lewis have done his homework for him. He just needs to follow through.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Oh, so having been subject to a barrage of abuse and hounded out of office, he’s now a quitter! You would be the first to moan if he was still hanging on to office.

The reality is, the cost of living crisis is already being dealt with and a small fortune has been spent in help for people who are desperate. The money is still rolling out now.

What people are worried about now is further increases announced to the price cap further down the line. Any further help will not be forthcoming until that is due to hit.

The new PM will address that when he/she takes office on 5 September.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I said silent quitter ie someone who does the bare minimal work and is not engaged with it. One stage worse than a quiet quitter!

He was not hounded out of office, his colleagues lost confidence in him. I think the process to decide his replacement is old-fashioned and lethargic. It makes the TiVo box look like a rocket and it's a shame the Party can't speed it up.

People are having sleepness nights over the current cost of living crisis, let alone future energy hikes. They need action and plans now. Instead they see Sunak and Truss constantly point-scoring whilst London burns.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

He was hounded out of office by the Opposition and the media, as you well know. They forced the party into this position because they just would not move on and it forced a major slowdown in the conduct of the government’s business.

I don’t know what you expect the man to do, it is convention that no major budget decisions are made by an existing PM while an election for a replacement PM takes place.

Some people like yourself like to paint the picture that nothing is happening to help people who are struggling. So what is the £1,200 support for lower income families, then? Scotch mist?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Old Boy, to believe your first sentence you must be on the Scotch mist but it's too early for me to join you!

The man had a 75+ seat majority so the Opposition couldn't get rid of him or delay his legislation. It had to come from within the Party which it eventually did.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Actually if you want to know the truth on why he was finally hounded out of office then perhaps this might enlighten you as given the media is 90% supportive of the Conservatives they certainly did not hound him out of office.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/...have-resigned-

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Comedy gold Den

You do realise that "The Media" includes TV newsrooms don't you?

The anti Tory elements of the media far outweigh the pro Tory group.

Channel 4, Sky, BBC, Mirror, Guardian, Independent etc. are not just 10% of the media. ;)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Only two of those would be classed as anti government.

The rest are certainly not anti government.


You do know who the majority owner of the Independent is?.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Lebedev

Re: Rising cost of living
 

It is true that Boris could have carried on, but there is a General Election in a couple of years and the opposition and media wouldn’t leave it alone. The Conservatives had to recognise this, which is why they told him to step down. Noother reason, and you know it. Brought down by trivia. We mustn’t let them get away with that again.

I really don’t know who you think you are kidding.

---------- Post added at 18:11 ---------- Previous post was at 18:08 ----------

How do you make that out? Why do you think GB News sprang up? The left wing bias of the media, and particularly the BBC, needs to be addressed if market forces can’t sort it out.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Brought down by his lack of honesty. Trivial to some perhaps.

---------- Post added at 18:19 ---------- Previous post was at 18:15 ----------

GB News is driven by the whims of overseas billionaire funders, not a sizeable market gap, or it actually might be in profit.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

The only left wing bias of the media is the one in your mind as the vast majority of the media are full of government supporting client journalists.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

You mean just like you enjoy blaming all the austerity of the last 12 years on the previous Labour government? Or your (incorrect) claim that Gordon sold all the gold?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

He sold half the gold and he left us with insufficient balances, did nothing about our balance of payments deficit, both of which which made austerity necessary when the crunch came. No use denying it, Labour admitted there was no money left and they did not have a clue how to sort it out.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

It was just exchanged for more productive assets. If gold was such a great investment, we'd all be buying it!

The joke about no money left was just that! As Hancock's pub landlord found out, there is such a thing as a magic money tree!

Not sure how a balance of payments deficit requires austerity.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Because it adds to the debt month on month.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Didn't take you long (less than 15 mins :shocked:) to roll out the old wasn't my fault excuse. If only people would leave it alone hey ;)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

ASDA PAYG Mobile is changing its rates.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

150% increase!

---------- Post added at 10:17 ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 ----------

Not my fault, I'm only Prime Minister with a huge majority, blame the Opposition, the Conservative-supporting media and the old lady at No. 55. :D

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I'm with 1 penny mobile https://www.1pmobile.com/

Re: Rising cost of living
 

does anyone still use PAYG? maybe those who still use a landline mostly perhaps

Re: Rising cost of living
 

i do

1p per min calls
1p per text
1p per mb data

network is EE

Re: Rising cost of living
 

on the face of it that looks great but you have to top up £10 still cheap though as long as you do not use more than that

Re: Rising cost of living
 

My phone is basically for emergencies, but also for all the One Time Passwords that I have to receive by mobile phone when making some purchases online, but also instore sometimes.

The beauty of the ASDA PAYG was that you only have to make one text every 6 months to keep it alive. So 4p twice a year.

The 1p SIM requires £10 per month, so £40 a year.

But they do say

"Credit rollover
Your credit lasts as long as your account is active, with no credit expiry period" so perhaps they would refund all the £10 topups if you decide to leave?

:confused:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Sadly, I doubt it. It says your credit lasts as long as your account is active. Closing it means it is inactive.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

You should probably check before making daft remarks. :sleep:

Gold has increased in value by about 40% in the last 3 years. ;)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Site below says around 17%, still not bad although you could probably have done better with a stocks and shares isa or similar investment (until recently that is)..


https://www.gold.org/goldhub/data/go...RoCBSQQAvD_BwE

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Where are you getting 40% from?

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Yes, they replied to a query I sent:

Re: Rising cost of living
 

A wonderful invention called the "Internet". ;)
You should try it sometime, and look up gold price charts. :D

Re: Rising cost of living
 

In addition to the previous link provided this one confirms 17-18% rise in the last 3 years. Taken straight from the internet.



https://www.bullionbypost.co.uk/gold...ar-gold-price/

Re: Rising cost of living
 

You sure you're not quoting from a day time TV advert? :D The figures that Dave cites seem closer to the mark.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

TBF the price increase from December 2019 to now is easily 40%. That would still count as in the last 3 years ;)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Using Dave's source, if you took the lowest price in December 2019 and compared it to today's you're not getting 40%.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

if you go from January 2019 then it appears to be upto 50% higher today

https://www.bullionvault.co.uk/gold-price-chart.do

---------- Post added at 15:09 ---------- Previous post was at 15:06 ----------

There are only a few months in it as the graph clearly shows. So if Paul was to say 3 1/2 years ago he would have been absolutely correct as that is when the prices started to rise rapidly. So you are simply arguing for the sake of it Andrew

---------- Post added at 15:12 ---------- Previous post was at 15:09 ----------

In fact any date before 14th May 2019 he is correct so you arguing over less than 3 months out

Re: Rising cost of living
 

If you have gold today then it has made 17.99% over three years. The price obviously fluctuates wildly but the important number is todays one. Tomorrow may be different.

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I didn't use Dave's source. ;)

Anyway most people can't afford gold to invest so won't affect the vast majority as part of the thread title. :)

Re: Rising cost of living
 

May 2019 price was around £31.300 per KG price today is £47.100 per KG think that is a little more than 17.99% as you say price fluctuates but there you go. The peak before then was December 2018 @ £32.900 so it is fair to say that gold prices have increased by around 40% in a little over 3 years. I think Paul was referring to the start of the boom that happened in 2019 not a couple of months into it which I think is fair enough. All arguing against this is pure pedantry which is fine of course but it is what it is

Re: Rising cost of living
 

I'll try that argument and cherry pick the optimum exchange rate date next time I go and change some world beating sterling into those pesky euros. :D

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Error edited

Re: Rising cost of living
 

Re: Rising cost of living
 

yes haha