this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 45 points 8 months ago (2 children)

"The thinktank urged the government to take action to encourage saving"

Do they think people don't have savings by choice?

They might find a lot more people "willing" to save if their incomes were a bit higher compared to the cost of basic living.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I actually do have savings it's just for some stupid reason the bank don't seem to want to give me decent interest rates.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Savings accounts almost never have good rates. Hell, my checking account pays more interest than my savings account, which is still almost nothing. You have to move your money into money market accounts, CDs, bonds, or other stable investment vehicles if you want to earn a little guaranteed return on your savings. The problem with that is that it's not instantly available for critical emergencies.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Ah these dumb fucks don't like having money

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Well that makes me feel better about my situation. I have enough to survive two weeks without a paych- oh...vehicle registration. Aaaand it's gone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm confused by what your confused by

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

When do you register your vehicle except when you buy it? Also there's no cost unless you mean the car purchase? Doesn't make sense.

Who the fuck pays "vehicle registration" monthly with their "paycheque"?

Are you American?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I believe they're referring to vehicle tax that you have to renew each year

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Car tax. It's never been called "vehicle registration".

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Across the pond you renew your vehicle registration

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

This is a UK sub for UK people!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Oh yeah you just reminded me, my road tax runs out at the end of the month. Yay.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

You’re not asking for advice and it’s a lot easier to manage a budget when you’re not living hand-to-mouth (been there myself), but I really can recommend something like YNAB. It made a WORLD of difference for our family.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What's vehicle registration?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

In some places government requires vehicles to be
regularly re-registered at certain intervals and it's usually associated with a bill or fine to update the registration paperwork on the vehicle

Most cases it's just a way to collect taxes at a local level

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think every country in the UK requires vehicle tax information to be resubmitted every year unless Northern Ireland is different? I've not heard someone refer to it to vehicle registration before though, only car tax.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Interesting, I imagine Northern Ireland is no different and also requires it yearly and folks just call it tax. Where I am we pay both a property tax on the vehicle (based on vehicle value at the time) ASWELL as a yearly registration fee to operate the vehicle on public roads. This is all in addition to a titling tax needed once when first obtaining the vehicle (also based on value of vehicle)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

The two main ones in the UK are MOT and VED.
MOT is a yearly roadworthiness test that costs about £50 (and any repairs required to bring things to standard). VED is roughly correlated with emissions and the price of the car.

Both of them, interestingly, are not needed if the vehicle is over 40 years old. Though the police can still pull you over if it's not roadworthy.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

They have us where they want us...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)

As an American I would like to know the secret to their great wealth. And no, that's not sarcasm; I'm disabled and poor as dirt.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

I assume they aren't crazy for avocado toast

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Capitalism hasn't reached the same level of endgame as in the US. Headed there tho.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Almost like we need to be taught how to save, the condescending fucks!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I feel like that figure is higher than quoted here, also I would be more interested in knowing how many Brits have negative net worth.

Debt is a fucking evil trap.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

That's approximately 16% of the population.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Of the total population.

The working-age population is probably half that, which doubles that 16% to 32%.

Let's see a newspaper run with "Austerity gone wrong: One in three Britons have no savings"

But then that's too many words for a front page.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Oof, that definitely paints a more dire picture.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


More than 11 million working-age people in Britain don’t have basic “rainy day” savings of at least £1,000, according to a report that warns that the poorest households are struggling to build up financial resilience amid the cost of living crisis.

It said fewer than half of working-age households in the UK had savings worth at least three months of income, leaving them ill-equipped to face events such as unemployment or family breakdown.

Highlighting the risk to households struggling with the cost of living crisis, it said those with lower levels of savings were more than twice as likely to use credit cards, overdrafts or borrowed money than those with more than £1,000 held back.

The thinktank urged the government to take action to encourage saving, calling for an expansion in auto-enrolment contributions by employers and workers to boost levels of financial resilience, suggesting a rise to 12%.

Molly Broome, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “We can address all three challenges by building on the success of pensions auto-enrolment to opt more people into both easy access and long-term saving.

“We should also offer people more flexibility over their pension pots, as other countries do, in order to help them with difficult circumstances.


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