View Single Post
Old 02-01-2014, 11:12 PM #9
user104658 user104658 is offline
-
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 36,685
user104658 user104658 is offline
-
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 36,685
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Livia View Post
£12,000 a year for doing nothing. I'm sure that would be enough for some people to retire from work forever and live off the back of the less feckless.
Really? £12,000 is only £1000 a month.

A 1-bed flat on average costs around £300 - £350 a month (more in some areas, but let's split the difference and call it £325)

Household bills, realistically, come in at around £110 a month

Council Tax + Water (even low band) £100 a month


That's the absolute basics out of the way, at £535...

A food budget to eat decent, real food - £200 a month...

So that leaves £60 a week for absolutely everything else (including transport, clothing, etc.) and to live on. So yeah it's a subsistence but enough to "retire on" and live any sort of life? I don't think so. You could "live", in the sense of not dying, but you wouldn't be able to actually... do much else.


I don't think it's an outlandish amount for a minimum for a single person. Although it should obviously not be "no questions asked" as, for example, 3 or 4 people could band together with their £12,000 each in one house (splitting rent and more importantly, bills) and live better than most people. A £48k income in a 4-adult house would be pretty cushy. But as a base-line expectation I don't think it's excessive.
user104658 is offline