# Too Expensive to live in Britain?



## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

It's crazy espensive here compared to Canada and the US, where I've lived. If you take the price in $ and change it to £, it's about what prices are. Rent for my flat is about the same in $, but in £ and smaller (though in London, not in Ottawa). But it's worth it. London is a great city.


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## eddyk (Mar 26, 2005)

As not often know....Britain is expensive compared to other countries...But we earn more in our jobs than other countries....so you see...its not as if everyone in the UK is poor because everything so expensive....we get on fine like everyone else!

hkskyline said this in one of his posts...

An american will earn $5 in an hour and a burger will cost $2.50, a Brit will earn £5 an hour and a Burger will cost £2.50


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## DoctorZero2 (Mar 2, 2005)

eddyk said:


> An american will earn $5 in an hour and a burger will cost $2.50, a Brit will earn £5 an hour and a Burger will cost £2.50


I do not know the current situation, but a decade ago (prices where already stratospheric back then if you converted your money to pounds) the average salary in UK was nowhere near the average salaries of Switzerland and Denmark, two other comparably expensive countries. It was significantly lower than the average salary in (western) Germany, which in relation to its rich neighbours is a low price heaven. And average UK salaries never ever reached near average US salaries, or maybe did only in exceptional times like when the dollar was at a absolute low during the first US-Irak war.

But what I would like to know: How much does an average earner in UK (married, 2 children) have to pocket out for taxes, health insurance, pension contributions and the like? What's the disposable income?


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

DoctorZero said:


> I do not know the current situation, but a decade ago (prices where already stratospheric back then if you converted your money to pounds) the average salary in UK was nowhere near the average salaries of Switzerland and Denmark, two other comparably expensive countries. It was significantly lower than the average salary in (western) Germany, which in relation to its rich neighbours is a low price heaven. And average UK salaries never ever reached near average US salaries, or maybe did only in exceptional times like when the dollar was at a absolute low during the first US-Irak war.
> 
> But what I would like to know: How much does an average earner in UK (married, 2 children) have to pocket out for taxes, health insurance, pension contributions and the like? What's the disposable income?


UK salaries are now some of Europe's highest and similar to western Germany. 










Someone earning the mean salary of £26,000 per year would pay about £6,700 in income tax and social security/pension contributions. Not many people in the UK (only about 5-10% of the population I think) buy medical insurance as you can get free healthcare from the NHS.


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## Accura4Matalan (Jan 7, 2004)

The UK isnt too expensive, London is very expensive though.


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## spxy (Apr 9, 2003)

As to fuel prices, smaller countries tend to have higher taxes as people dont drive as far.
Image petrol (for examples sake) was £1 per mile If people in one country drive an average of 20 miles a day you would spend £20.
In a smaller country with drives an average of 10 miles a day if petrol cost£2 a mile you would spend the same money per week.
Yet if you came from the bigger country came to the smaller it would seem twise as expensive, yet you would not yet have adopted the driving habits of that smaller nation and would not realise that on average people dont drive as far as in your country and that the cost to the individual per week is the same.
A big country with spread out houses needs to charge less per mile than a smaller country as more miles are actually driven, so less tax per mile is needed to raise the same amount.

Bear in mind also that a British gallon is larger than a US one.

As to fish and chip prices, it depends where you bought them from as to how much they will cost, one example means nothing.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

^^Also cars in the UK (and the rest of Europe) tend to be much more fuel-efficient than cars in the US so when you combine that with shorter distances and a bit more walking we probably don't spend that much more on fuel than in the states.

As for Fish and Chips they may well be cheaper in Canada, but a portion big enough to feed two only costs is still only about £3 or £4, not exactly extortionate.


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## eusebius (Jan 5, 2004)

er, I don't get this. Should Britain be too expensive, you'd look at lower incomes, not at median and mean incomes .. And it would mark a difference whether you're a mum with kids in Greater London or in say Shropshire where a mum with kids is likelier to receive 'silent' support from a grocery store. And I guess that's universal.


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

eusebius said:


> er, I don't get this. Should Britain be too expensive, you'd look at lower incomes, not at median and mean incomes .. And it would mark a difference whether you're a mum with kids in Greater London or in say Shropshire where a mum with kids is likelier to receive 'silent' support from a grocery store. And I guess that's universal.


In Shropshire children from poor families pimp their own mothers on the street corners to get money for fish and chips and cider.


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## eusebius (Jan 5, 2004)

hno: :rofl:
you mean kids charge their divorced fathers for sex with someone else's mother? England has a bright future with these young managers


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## Peyre (Nov 22, 2003)

I live in London. We have a modest house and 2 cars. We manage okay, and my dad is a Bus Driver, earning about 25k, he's been there for quite a while now, with my mum working part-time in a doctor's reception, earning about 5k.

If you budget sensibly and shop around, you can manage FINE.


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## eusebius (Jan 5, 2004)

Budget management is the issue here. People get into problems after giving in to demands created by advertising.


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## Tubeman (Sep 12, 2002)

eusebius said:


> Budget management is the issue here. People get into problems after giving in to demands created by advertising.


Yes I keep popping out for a pint of milk and coming back with Bentleys and Rolexes


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## DarJoLe (Sep 11, 2002)

I'd rather London be expensive and somewhere only a select few can live and enjoy rather than having hordes of tourists coming over for the cheap beer and souvenirs...


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

DarJoLe said:


> I'd rather London be expensive and somewhere only a select few can live and enjoy


Large swathes of London are hardly inhabited by 'a select few'. Even a ne'er-do-well chav can make money in London by doing sumthin' or nuthin' so that means that even commoners can live there 



DarJoLe said:


> rather than having hordes of tourists coming over for the cheap beer and souvenirs...


Of course there are no tourists in London buying tacky teddy bears dressed as beefeaters or plastic tower bridges mounted on fake marble are there?

You're right about the one thing though, I wouldn't go to London for cheap beer although the rest of the country has caught up somewhat in recent years in my experience. I pay about £1.90-£2.50 for a pint (568ml) unless it's happy hour/wetherspoons.


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## eusebius (Jan 5, 2004)

Tubeman said:


> Yes I keep popping out for a pint of milk and coming back with Bentleys and Rolexes


Notify me when the Bentley advertisements are on, I never saw one, honest!


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## high_flyer (Jan 30, 2003)

Stop watching ITV, aka Lowest Common Denominator TV, and you might see one :yes:


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## Monkey (Oct 1, 2002)

which is procent of poverty in UK?


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

ZOHAR said:


> which is procent of poverty in UK?


how do you define poverty? It will make a big difference to the answer:

% of the population live on less than $5 per day?

% of the population live on less than $10 per day?

% of the population live on less than $25 per day?

% of the population live on less than $40 per day?

% of the population live on less than 50% median income?

% of the population live on less than 60% median income?

% of the population live on less than 75% median income?

% of the population live on less than 50% mean income?

Who are you talking about? low-income families, old, disabled and unemployed people get money and free housing from the government so they can still live ok.

Poor in Norway might be rich in Poland


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## Monkey (Oct 1, 2002)

less than 25$ i think it's poor no?


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