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| Debts delay independence day till we’re 50 |
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| 22/01/08 |
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Britons don’t get out of debt until they are 50 years old. And three months, to be precise.
Only then can the average spender celebrate a kind of independence day – the day when they can finally kiss goodbye to student loans, school fees, overdrafts and credit-card debts.
That’s the price we pay for a lifetime of holidays, cars, and sundry other indulgences, according to an online survey. Until independence day the average Briton is in debt to the tune of £10,306. And that doesn’t even include our mortgages.
Men are deeper in the red, with average debts totalling £12,631, while the average woman owes £7,982. In fact, though the average debt-free age is 50, men will typically not be debt free until the age of 52 and three months, while women could be in the black by 47 and two months.
A spokesman for Your Money Matters, which conducted the online survey, said: "As the cost of living continues to increase, we’re being forced to save through our 20s and delay the major milestones of life until our 30s. We’re not having kids till 30 or getting married till 31. And can you blame us? Kids cost an average £186,000 each and you get little change from £20,000 for a wedding.
"On top of that, the average cost of a house is well over £200,000 so we’re not even getting on the housing ladder until the age of 34. All of this and the average UK salary is just £25,986 for men and £20,488 for women so it’s no surprise most of us are hitting our 50s before shaking off the shackles of debt."
To pay off our debts, most of us use a mixture of salary, inheritance, or profits from investments including property and shares. Or, if we’re lucky, a lottery win. Speaking of luck, Londoners are typically able to clear their debts the earliest, thanks to their bigger salaries and profits from property sales.
They start celebrating financial independence day at 42 years and 11 months, almost a decade earlier than the national average.
But the Welsh are the hardest done by, having to dig deep and go without until they are an average of 53 years and one month old.
The Scots usually reach independence day aged 49 years and six months.
The online survey of 1,000 people is a precursor to the Your Money Matters exhibition in London’s Docklands on February 2 and 3.
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