Living 'costs at least £14,400' for a single person

Chris1712

Chris1712

Chris1712

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Interesting article on the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10510360.stm

BBC said:
A single person in the UK needs a gross income of at least £14,400 in 2010 to live to an acceptable standard, a charity says.

And a couple with two children need £29,200 for a minimum acceptable standard of living, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said.
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It really sounds about right to me. I'm currently earning a lowly £16k on my degree placement year and I'm living within my means so to speak. I have a social life and run a car, but I can't really afford much beyond that.

I'm certainly not looking forward to going back to uni next year and having my money basically slashed to a third of what I currently have, I really can't remember how I survived on student loans in the past! Don't really want to work PT again as its my final year.

You can use the 'Minimum Income Calculator' they've dreamt up, its pretty useless though. It assumes my rent is £50 a week! I wish!

Opinions?

Sorry for the RSS.
 
Average rent where I've grown up is £400+ for the worst of the worst. On 14k and requiring the means to travel (IE; car or bike) that's just not really acceptable.

I think I'd struggle on my current 19k to be honest, and is why im living with my parents. Took a combined ~30k to live acceptably with my ex in a £377 a month morgaged property.
 
The Mad Rapper said:
I am amazed you can manage on that - well done! What do you do for accommodation?
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Its not hard because really I'm still a student. Rent is £300pcm, no council tax etc. to worry about. £20-30 a week on food, £30 ish on fuel (car share to work) say £20-30 again on being 'social'. I'm on placement year so the days of spending 200 quid a week on nights our is way behind me. Any unexpected costs can really shaft me though.

Also bare in mind I'll have basically the same living costs next year, but with a whopping income of £4722. This is when I get completely stumped when I see people on here asking what they should buy with their student loans!? It barely covers rent for gods sake.
 
Really depends on what an "acceptable standard" is I guess.

As a research student I currently get a yearly stipend of around £13,600. Though that is tax free, so is probably closer to a 15k salary. On top of that, during term time, I earn a few hundred extra a month as a teaching assistant.

On that sort of income, as a single male in my mid twenties, I live with two other similar gents in a nice 3 bed city centre apartment, run an 06 car, have a £400 smartphone on a monthly contract, don't really consider what I buy in terms of weekly food etc.

I try and curtail my going out spendings, but regularly buy gig tickets, and I try and keep holidays to one or two fairly cheap European trips.

With all of this I live almost exactly within my means, with a small fraction left over as savings (and I do mean small).

Now really, I would class how i currently live as being beyond what I would expect to be purely acceptable.

As a student, I lived on around £6000 a year, admittedly, a 9 month year with the remaining 3 months spent at home. I never felt hard done by.

Personally I think £14,400 may only be just enough in some parts of the UK, but in others (namely more northerly parts...) it's actually quite a decent living wage for a young single person.
 
What is an acceptable standard?

I'm only on 17k atm, live in Surrey, pay £700 p/m on rent. Have to save on everything else that I have left.It could be worse I suppose. I suppose I live in poverty by the government standards on the money that I have left for food, transport and entertainment.
 
Dup said:
I think I'd struggle on my current 19k to be honest, and is why im living with my parents. Took a combined ~30k to live acceptably with my ex in a £377 a month morgaged property.
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You Sir either have an expensive lifestyle or no financial planning ability what so ever.
 
What do these studies aim to achieve? I wouldn't consider any of the numbers in the article to be anywhere close to acceptable but does acceptable mean 'living life to the fullest' or 'enough for you to not die'?
 
I'm on about 19k after enhancements, and I don't feel I'm any better or worse off than when I was on less than 13k right after uni. I still go out regularly, and still get the things I want -as others said, you live within your means. A year or two on 5k extra, and you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. Similarly, 5k less will leave you wondering what you did with all that extra money.
 
So a holiday a year is classed as being a requirement for this as is a PC and broadband connection for all.

Will be interesting to see what else is classed as being needed for an acceptable standard.
 
Deadbeat said:
I'm on about 19k after enhancements, and I don't feel I'm any better or worse off than when I was on less than 13k right after uni. I still go out regularly, and still get the things I want -as others said, you live within your means. A year or two on 5k extra, and you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. Similarly, 5k less will leave you wondering what you did with all that extra money.
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So true, i am on 11k more than I was 2 years ago and yet I don't live any differently and still manage to have £0 at the end of the month :eek:
 
anticonscience said:
So a holiday a year is classed as being a requirement for this as is a PC and broadband connection for all.

Will be interesting to see what else is classed as being needed for an acceptable standard.
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Yeah that is a bit barmy imo. I haven't been on holiday in about 5 years now. Also nearly a tenner a week on clothes? lolwut.
 
I earn 7K max at the moment, which allows me to rent a place with a friend, pay bills, have extras like net, phone contract etc, buy plenty of food and new games or etc each month....

Jcb33.
 
I can survive comfortably on 11K a year have a car Motorbike house with Partner and can easily afford to go on holiday If I want Just obviously need to save up a bit.

Never had much more than this so doesn't bother me as I don't know what its like. I may add I do have some small debts such as a loan and credit cards. but can easily say im happy and comfortable.
 
Chris1712 said:
Its not hard because really I'm still a student. Rent is £300pcm, no council tax etc. to worry about. £20-30 a week on food, £30 ish on fuel (car share to work) say £20-30 again on being 'social'. I'm on placement year so the days of spending 200 quid a week on nights our is way behind me. Any unexpected costs can really shaft me though.
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Can you get any part-time work to help?

This is when I get completely stumped when I see people on here asking what they should buy with their student loans!? It barely covers rent for gods sake.
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They most likely live with their family still, so have no rent to pay. There was an article in the Evening Standard last night which stated that something like one third of men aged between 20 - 30 live at home because they cannot afford to rent or buy their own place. If true, that's a shocking statistic.
 
The Mad Rapper said:
Can you get any part-time work to help?
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I worked part time for the previous 2 years of uni, and really want to avoid it for my final year as it really gets in the way come hand in week. It's looking like I'll have to though.

The Mad Rapper said:
They most likely live with their family still, so have no rent to pay. There was an article in the Evening Standard last night which stated that something like one third of men aged between 20 - 30 live at home because they cannot afford to rent or buy their own place. If true, that's a shocking statistic.
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That is shocking. I really couldn't deal with that personally, leaving home for uni at 18 I hate having to go home even for weekends. Its weird, I have a great Mum who really leaves me to do my thing when I'm home but I still feel a little trapped and supremely bored. If I have to move back home when I finish uni, getting out of there will be my top priority!
 
Sounds about right to me. About 6-7 years ago I was surviving on 12K per year with no luxuries. No holiday or broadband in there and rent was a bit lower. It's not much of an existence but you can do it.

It's scary that a couple of years before that I was literally living the life earning £13K and a few years before that (1996, in my first job) I was comfortably living on my own and running a car on £8300 per year :eek:

Amazing what changes in 14 years!
 
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