The richer you are, the more likely you are to think you can live on £53 a week
The whole ‘could you live on £53 a week?‘ question is rather a daft one to get exercised about, regardless of what your political views are because:
(a) the person who raised the question it turned out themselves has rather more than £53 a week to live on, so why pick that number?, and
(b) the pertinent question isn’t whether you can live on a small sum of money as a one-off, it’s whether you can afford to live on it over a longer period of time as you run into extra costs like clothes that need replacing or emergencies hit you like a close relative falling ill the other side of the country.
But in amongst all the guff generated by the question, there is this telling opinion poll finding: the richer you are, the more likely you are to think you could live on £53 a week. All income brackets on balance heavily say they couldn’t, but the richer your household is, the more likely you are to think you could.
Excluding rent, do you think you could live on £53 a week? Yes/No
Gross household income under £20,000: -57% net
Gross household income £20,000-£39,999: -46% net
Gross household income £40,000-£69,999: -46% net
Gross household income £70,000+: -32% net
stephentall markpack Excellent poll – surprised >50% 18 – 24s think they can too!
stuarte5933 markpack Depends how many 18-24 year-olds in poll know full cost of paying for rent, bils, food etc, I guess.
stephentall stuarte5933 markpack
Weekly expenses gas elec wifi phone food petrol car rego& insurances clothes medicine gifts for family
stephentall Possibly true. rich have more savings (even excluding cash – eg food, drink, entertainment) & more access to free things
mjturner1975 Yes, there’s more than a bit ‘gap yah’ poverty tourism in this poll.
stephentall markpack Yeah the more money one has, the less sense… ^^
FeelMyFire markpack Hmmm, I’m against generalisations of both rich and poor!
stephentall markpack That is fine. I probably should have added ‘mostly’ So as not to lump them all together.
FeelMyFire fair enough!
VitaEmilia if you think £53 isn’t enough money how much do u think is the right amount. And where would this extra funding come from ?
DanHillTV It should be as much as the country can afford to give. And it could afford more by closing tax loopholes, making cuts in other >
VitaEmilia if you were in charge what government departments would u cut ?
DanHillTV We bailed out the banks, they should return the favour. There are enough people/businesses in this country with enough money >
DanHillTV to mean that the poor do not have to shoulder the nation’s debt. The poor spend money. They’re the ones keeping our economy going
DanHillTV Read about Iceland. They jailed the bankers responsible for their financial crisis. Look where they are now.
VitaEmilia I don’t support the bankers what they did 2 our economic stability is unforgivable. they were allowed to do that under labour.
VitaEmilia I understand what your saying but how much extra tax should the rich pay.
DanHillTV actually, it started under thatcher – she deregulated the banks
VitaEmilia DanHillTV Margaret Thatcher: best prime minister we’ve had since WW2! And today you can’t even argue with me, Miss Wright!
DJJarmany Haha! I will argue with you regardless of the fact she’s died 😛
DanHillTV sectors, and not giving the rich tax breaks. We got a bedroom tax instead of a mansion one!
VitaEmilia how much extra tax would you make the rich pay ?
DanHillTV Do you think £53 is enough? Not just enough to live on, but to get out of the benefits trap? There are a couple of articles >
DanHillTV I RTd a day or so ago you might want to look at. One about what cuts the 50p tax could have prevented, and one about what £53 >
DanHillTV a week actually means to someone who has to live on it.
Frances_Coppola stephentall I guess you lose track of the cost of things when you don’t have to count the pennies
Frances_Coppola stephentall Today’s YouGov has a similar poll question using class instead of income.
Frances_Coppola stephentall Doesn’t mean it’s not true, though! And any reference to this should add it’s after accommodation and bills.
andybower Frances_Coppola stephentall surprising but again doesn’t mean it isn’t true.Lots of fulminating lefties and journos well paid.
stephentall markpack if you own your own home & lose your job, you’re screwed. Benefits don’t cover mortgages. Far scarier than £53/week.
ilegal I live on £50 a week. It’s becoming harder all the time.
NintendoNinja I can believe it.
ilegal The life of a student 🙂 Have to look out for those bargains.
@NintendoNinja @ilegal my top tips:
(1) get a bike to save transport costs (keeps you fit too)
(2) invest in an Italian stove top coffee machine (less than £10) to make your own coffee & take it to uni in a flask to save on coffee shop trips
(3) eat leftovers/home made sandwiches for lunch
You can save
Frances_Coppola stephentall not surprising my experience of ppl who’ve always been rich often think they’re just above poverty level
I lived on £130 a week (in London) after mortgage, council tax & utility bills were paid and that was pretty miserable. £130 a week had to pay transport, food, books (I was studying part time), going out, clothes, contact lenses, dentist, home insurance (compulsory when you have a lodger without which I’d have been unable to pay my mortgage) and anything else that could arise e.g. Boiler service, new wheel on my bike, etc
I managed by becoming an expert (you could call it obsessed) on how not to spend money. I cycled to work/university/to meet friends/see family even when it rained, avoided eating out and never bought coffee or lunch (made packed lunch every single day).
Could I have managed on £53? No. I could manage on £130 a week for all the day to day stuff by budgeting/not spending very much, but this leaves you with no margin for manoeuvre at all. E.g. My dishwasher broke and it cost me £130 to mend it (a whole week’s budget!). If I had been living alone, I could have left it broken and washed up, but I had a lodger whose rent was enabling me to pay my mortgage and he liked the dishwasher!
At last! A survey which isn’t counter-intuitive. The richer you are the less likely you are to have had experience of being poor!