justthisbloke Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Basics of a decent life would be (i.e. what most people on an 'ordinary' wage should be able to have): A 2 up 2 down house in a town a long way from London. 1 UK holiday a year (1 week) - no foreign travel as that is not a basic or essential. A wife not working who looks after the house and children. An assortion of household applicances but nothing special or extravagent. No Sky TV (or similar). 1 car (ordinary saloon) Enough money to afford cooking ingredients and a fairly decent diet. A modest pension that will provide some security in old age. A car is an extravagance and even the rest of the package is the height of luxury for most people on the planet. I suspect we're no longer special and that we shouldn't bank on an easy life just because we're English. But, as a thought experiment, how much would the deal cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StainlessSteelCat Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 My guess is that car owners will generally believe it is a necessity, while those that don't - won't. I've never had one btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 A car is an extravagance and even the rest of the package is the height of luxury for most people on the planet. I suspect we're no longer special and that we shouldn't bank on an easy life just because we're English. But, as a thought experiment, how much would the deal cost? A car costing £500 to £700 PA is not an extravagance........A flash expensive powerful car is an extravagance, unless it is the only way you can get to work in comfort, and do in excess of 10000 to 15000 miles pa......retired people tend not to have that problem so therefore make do with what they have got and what they can afford......take it away and life does not end, there will always be an alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inoperational Bumblebee Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Didn't answer poll as wording was vague. I'm 35 and I will stop work as soon as I can afford to. I work in safety in a rather specific environment which should hopefully be somewhat difficult to outsource. I've been paying into a Final Salary Pension for over ten years now and have been putting as much spare cash into index trackers since November (it's surprised me how much I've amassed already). I'm also registered as self-employed as I run a few websites for profit but nowhere near enough to live on. I'm slowly working towards not having to rely on The Man but it seems a very long way off at the moment... The alternative of having to be a wage slave 'til death is not an option though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errol Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 (edited) A car is an extravagance and even the rest of the package is the height of luxury for most people on the planet. I suspect we're no longer special and that we shouldn't bank on an easy life just because we're English. But, as a thought experiment, how much would the deal cost? We could probably gauge the rough cost (what it should be) by going back to the years before Nixon closed the gold window and finally set the world on the path of unbacked, unrestrained paper money. So look back to around 1960 or so. Edited March 27, 2015 by Errol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
200p Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 You can pick up a car for £1000. But people still sign up to the £300-400PCM for a new Audi/BMW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19 year mortgage 8itch Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 (edited) Why the car? Most of the population of the world (who we now compete with for our jobs) don't have a car on their 'ordinary' wage.Are you London based? Edited March 27, 2015 by 25 year mortgage 8itch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wish I could afford one Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 (edited) Are you London based? I'm not talking about me. I'm merely comparing the British 'basics of a decent life' requirement to that of our job competition who seem happy to accept less. Those competitors that I'm aware of certainly don't have cars nor decent public transport to the extent that companies only option to get people to work is to lay on buses from the surrounding areas. Edit to answer your question. Yes I live in London and do have a car. At the moment this choice enables me to maximise my savings and hence head to FI in the shortest possible time. Someday I hope not to live in London and hopefully also will be positioned to not need a car which is an extravagance. Edited March 27, 2015 by wish I could afford one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19 year mortgage 8itch Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 I'm not talking about me. I'm merely comparing the British 'basics of a decent life' requirement to that of our job competition who seem happy to accept less. Those competitors that I'm aware of certainly don't have cars nor decent public transport to the extent that companies only option to get people to work is to lay on buses from the surrounding areas. Edit to answer your question. Yes I live in London and do have a car. At the moment this choice enables me to maximise my savings and hence head to FI in the shortest possible time. Someday I hope not to live in London and hopefully also will be positioned to not need a car which is an extravagance. Are you legitimising beds in sheds too on the basis that the jobs competition is willing to accept it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wish I could afford one Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 ... But, as a thought experiment, how much would the deal cost? It's a global world and our expensive jobs will go elsewhere or just go as soon as globalisation, technology, automation or even lean enables it to. If the job still requires a human we probably need to be down at these levels if we are not to be eventually out sourced: - ILO suggests China average annual wage is $7,872 pa. - ILO suggests India average annual wage is $3,540 pa. So it's not really how much would the deal cost but more how much does the deal have to cost for us to be competitive. Our competitors certainly don't have Help to Buy or Help to Buy ISA's and they certainly don't have cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wish I could afford one Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Are you legitimising beds in sheds too on the basis that the jobs competition is willing to accept it? I'm not legitimising anything. I'm simply saying what the world now is. I didn't create the situation and I don't agree with it but that won't change anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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