how are Brits so poor yet the country is damn expensive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They can spend more of their income because they have a better social safety net for health care and retirement. If you had better health insurance, didn't have to worry about retirement, and college for your kids would cost you $5-10K per year, you wouldn't have to save as much. Also, their houses, apartments, and cars are smaller.

None of this really explains the different salaries considering most people in the US don’t actually save nearly enough to cover all the things we should be saving for.

Perhaps corporate taxes are so high in the UK to pay for the things you mention above which indirectly means lower pay? Also, there must be VAT and other taxes driving up the price of food, oil, etc that drives up prices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work at the Federal Reserve Board and have worked a lot in my career with folks from the Bank of England. I became close friends with multiple individuals from the Bank of England. It honestly shocked me at how little they made. When I was making say $125K early in my career, someone similar at BoE was maybe around 60K GBP. Their entry level salaries were like 35K GBP right out of undergrad.

They often commuted long distances. The only real way to get a raise was to go to a private sector bank, then come back to the Bank of England in management. And even then, they would be making 135K GBP while their counterpart at the Fed Board made $225K+. It’s crazy.

But at least they had a yacht until Mervyn King decided to sell it. Bet the Fed didn't have one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a reason there was Mad Cow disease in England. The they serve spinal cord and other absurdly low-end cuts of meat for cheap that you can’t buy in the States.

The problem is you are pricing out foods you want to eat and not looking at the random cheap stuff they have in the grocery or at low-end dining places.

Ha ha! Good one. They serve spinal cord?!!!!

Meat attached to the spinal cord…that is what caused Mad Cow. Super cheap and not allowed in the US…perhaps finally outlawed in the UK?

Just representative of some really low end food.

You might want to do a little reading. Nobody was serving meat attached to the spinal cord.

I have…I lived there when several people died from Mad Cow. It was finally outlawed in the late 1990s now having researched it. It was dirt cheap meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a reason there was Mad Cow disease in England. The they serve spinal cord and other absurdly low-end cuts of meat for cheap that you can’t buy in the States.

The problem is you are pricing out foods you want to eat and not looking at the random cheap stuff they have in the grocery or at low-end dining places.

Ha ha! Good one. They serve spinal cord?!!!!

Meat attached to the spinal cord…that is what caused Mad Cow. Super cheap and not allowed in the US…perhaps finally outlawed in the UK?

Just representative of some really low end food.

You might want to do a little reading. Nobody was serving meat attached to the spinal cord.

I have…I lived there when several people died from Mad Cow. It was finally outlawed in the late 1990s now having researched it. It was dirt cheap meat.

Well then you have no excuse for being so unaware. The main cause was the recycling of contaminated animals into bone-and-meal fed to cattle. Nothing to do with serving cheap cuts of meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don’t have to pay for or even consider saving for things like:

Healthcare
A pension
Transportation (you do not need a car)

Jobs have job security and guaranteed vacations. Paid maternity leave. Also very cheap to holiday in europe. Council estates gor the poor. Etc.

This.

My spouse is British. Their sibling is retired in the UK. They live comfortably in a hcol city (not London). They generally don't pay for their medical care ( she just had a mastectomy due to breast cancer and paid nothing for it) and don't need health insurance. They walk into town mostly to run errands. She takes vacations with her friends quite often.

Their college costs are not insane like in the US. It's true that they don't eat out often but when they do, they don't tip.

One of the siblings works a low wage job, but they are still able to take vacations and have enough to live on because they don't pay for healthcare and worry about saving for it.

We are ready to retire now but for the cost of healthcare.

[Anonymous]

They vacation in Ft Lauderdale.

[Anonymous]

They have low salaries but live more simply as people said - smaller homes, fewer cars, use public transportation more than Americans.

They have health insurance, retirement, and have much lower costs for university. It is easy for them to travel cheaply around Europe.

I feel people are less stressed about money and work less than Americans and know more about the world too.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you’re hitting all of the touristy spots, OP.

We are in the UK right now, and while many things are expensive, there are many things that aren’t.

Try the Michelin Bib Gourmand list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don’t afford it. They live in much smaller homes, have fewer cars, fewer clothes etc. Anyone with British friends know they have a lot less stuff and can afford less entertainment.

Well who the hell is buying all of these 30-40 pound dinner plates, 15 pound glasses of wine, and 9 pound baskets of strawberries? These are literally prices we saw all day in small towns and smaller cities that weren't even London. GB is expensive AF. I wanna know how Brits earning garbage salaries afford there own damn country.

Where exactly are you eating? I went to a nice Tuscan restaurant called Maremma in London a few months ago and about half the bottles of wine were £30-40. It was in Brixton. Also went to nice one called Minnow facing out onto Clapham Common and wine was similar price and entrees were £15-20. A glass of wine was £8. No taxes or 22% tip added on at the end.

If you are eating out in very chi chi parts of town like Mayfair, Kensington or Chelsea, I’m sure paying you would pay lot more.

We were walking around Oxford the other day. Many places with 30-40 pound dinner plates. A neighborhood pub charged us 15 pounds for two pints of beer. The real estate window had many places for rent exceeding 2000 even 3000 pounds per month. Nearly all of the homes for sale were north or 500-600k, with many approaching 800-1 million pounds. I just don’t understand how Brits afford this. Even if you factor in not having to save for retirement or paying for university or healthcare, there’s still a giant gap in affordability because their salaries are still like 2-3x lower. A 600k pound place is still quite expensive, especially when you factor in how small their homes are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we do the rest of Europe too? I have seriously wondered this. A friend in France in her made like 30k euros and I was shocked her salary was so low. A friend in London made 18k pounds and I wondered about that too.

I do think Americans have upped our standards of living to rates we really can’t afford. As noted by how many people have car payments.

You can’t really compare the cost and use of cars between UK and the US, because cars are essential in most parts of the US. Americans probably do spend too much on new cars, but cars also just cost a lot. The average price of a non-luxury car is 44k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don’t afford it. They live in much smaller homes, have fewer cars, fewer clothes etc. Anyone with British friends know they have a lot less stuff and can afford less entertainment.

Well who the hell is buying all of these 30-40 pound dinner plates, 15 pound glasses of wine, and 9 pound baskets of strawberries? These are literally prices we saw all day in small towns and smaller cities that weren't even London. GB is expensive AF. I wanna know how Brits earning garbage salaries afford there own damn country.

Where exactly are you eating? I went to a nice Tuscan restaurant called Maremma in London a few months ago and about half the bottles of wine were £30-40. It was in Brixton. Also went to nice one called Minnow facing out onto Clapham Common and wine was similar price and entrees were £15-20. A glass of wine was £8. No taxes or 22% tip added on at the end.

If you are eating out in very chi chi parts of town like Mayfair, Kensington or Chelsea, I’m sure paying you would pay lot more.

We were walking around Oxford the other day. Many places with 30-40 pound dinner plates. A neighborhood pub charged us 15 pounds for two pints of beer. The real estate window had many places for rent exceeding 2000 even 3000 pounds per month. Nearly all of the homes for sale were north or 500-600k, with many approaching 800-1 million pounds. I just don’t understand how Brits afford this. Even if you factor in not having to save for retirement or paying for university or healthcare, there’s still a giant gap in affordability because their salaries are still like 2-3x lower. A 600k pound place is still quite expensive, especially when you factor in how small their homes are.

The places that sit for a long time end up on the window. You’re not seeing the total spectrum of rent/buy prices.

And there are plenty of places in Oxford (tourist destination) that have cheaper food. Seems like you’re cherry picking.

[Anonymous]

This is a good thread and I have often wondered this as I have UK colleagues.

I think they do pay a high cost for social services and a safety net, but like US are now more dismayed at how those monies are being spent... like... not at all in the NHS.

Foreign money is also a huge problem in driving up RE. It's obscene. As it is here.

[Anonymous]

This is many places in Europe. The housing is cheaper, so is phone, internet, healthcare, schooling, RE taxes. Gas is expensive, but public transport is almost always an option.
Some get monetary support from local government.
I spend a lot of money sending kid to school with lunches here. Warm lunch is free in many countries.
In the city there are expensive restaurants and ofcourse houses, but regular worker has nothing to do with them.
I went to local pub and was the only person there. I was told that locals drink at home. The pub is busy only during special concerts and visiting by passing tourist. People don't eat/drink out as often as here.

[Anonymous]

It has been a while, but when I lived in London there was great cheap food, mostly Indian and Thai where I was. I remember one Indian place would deliver a free bottle of wine with large orders. The wine was…something…but it was free and had alcohol!

[Anonymous]

Our family in U.K. vacation in Europe easily (short quick flights), have nice homes in little villages outside of London area, seem so much less stressed than here. I do think it’s the healthcare and the pension (social security?) once one is retired. Also not everyone goes to university and if they do not as costly as here.