According to research carried out by the retirement income specialist, MGM Advantage, the typical British household needs to spend an additional £1,000 more than 12 months ago to maintain their current standard of living.

Households need to find an additional £25.4 billion between them to live in the same way as they did last year. This huge figure, which amounts to £966.78 per UK household, comes despite the recent fall in inflation to 2.8%.

CPI inflation has dropped recently thanks to falls in fuel and food but the cost of living is still high and eating into our incomes.

Sales and Marketing Director for the company, Aston Goodey, said, “The fall in inflation will come as a welcome respite for many people who continue to feel the pinch.  But each UK household will somehow still need to find an extra £966 a year to maintain their standard of living, or as many millions of UK families have seen, their standard of living falls dramatically.”

The past year has seen the cost everyday things rise to unaffordable levels, and with a large majority of families being made up of up to five people, it’s not surprising that plenty will not be able to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed last year.

For families that spend a lot of luxury items this won’t be too much of a problem, but people that are already in debt and struggling to cover standard household expenses, it could cause serious financial difficulties.

Anyone that is currently in debt, whether its credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts, or anything else needs to seek help.

This research suggests that people will not be able to sustain their current standard of living. If that standard of living is already very low due to low income or high outgoings, next year could prove to be even tougher.

There are debt solutions available that can cut the cost of debt repayments, leaving households with more cash to cover their other expenses. Debts soon mount up and can leave people in impossible circumstances. People’s incomes are being squeezed harder due to the cost of everything rising, so a reduction in debt repayments could be the relief households need.

Trust deeds are one of the many debt solutions available to people in Scotland, they can write off large chunks of outstanding debt and reduce payments. If you enter into a trust deed you will make one affordable monthly payment each month for three years, with any remaining debt being written off. One of the major benefits with this type of insolvency is that you are protected from creditors chasing you for payments.

A trust deed could lower your overall monthly outgoings, leaving your household with more money each month to spend on food and other essentials, or even to put towards savings for the future.

If debts are preventing you from having an additional £1000 to maintain your standard of living, contact a debt expert.

Posted by: Yvonne Wilson on 28/06/2012 at 02:17 PM