Debts, `wants` and leisure: how our financial habits have changed

Research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed how our financial habits have changed over the course of four decades, the Guardian reports.

Between 1971 and 2008, we grew richer: in real terms, GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per head more than doubled during this time. By 2008, however, we were saving less than ever before, with just 1.7% of `total resources` put away - the lowest on record since 1970.

Instead of saving, Britons increased the amount of debt they took on. In the eight years up to 2007 alone, household debts rose by 125%, while household income increased by just 40%.

The figures showed that there were more credit cards than people in the country - and that in 2008, banks wrote off £6.9bn in bad debts (in the form of loans) to individuals.

Over the last four decades, the research indicates, we have moved from buying "needs to wants", and we are spending more on services than goods. The figures also revealed that Britons `now spend nine times as much on recreation and culture as in the 1970s` - with most families spending an `increasing proportion of their disposable income on leisure, holidays, clothes, shoes and communications`.

---

Gregory Pennington offer debt advice and debt management plans, as well as a range of other debt solutions. If you are worried about debt, contact one of our expert debt advisers now.