Britons' Personal Debt Exceeds Britain's Gdp

[Albert Tatlock]

From the Independent: For the first time, Britons' personal debt exceeds Britain's GDP

 

Surely this is a recipe for the mother of all crunches?

[BigDave]

Add to that fact that the GDP is only as high as it is because it's propped up on consumer borrowing and it gets even more concerning. Gordon Brown's borrowed economy was never viable in the long term. It'll last long enough for Labour to lose the next election then everyone can blame the Tories when the economy disappears up it's own arse. Then they'll have to sell more of the country off to the private sector to pay for it - if there's anything left to privatise.

[Grianane]

Cue mass exodus

[The Old Git]

Unlike other countries in Europe, where people seem happy to rent for all of their life, a fair chunk of UK debt is mortgage debt which is seen as "good debt" rather than "bad debt" for cars, holidays, etc.

[Tea&Biscuits]

Just out of interest as i am seriously finding stuff like this quite hard - as in "im 31 and not sure whether to buy a flat now, or wait a year, pay for a pension, dont pay for pension etc etc"

 

What do people in other European countries do for investments? We are always told that in our old age it is better to have a property so that is your main chunk of money, and then you get conflicting advise about pensions - it is sooo confusing!!

[thebees]

What do people in other European countries do for investments?

 

My friends in Sweeden gamble on the stock exchange, 'my people' in Luxembourg have businesses coming out of their ears and lots of property. Dont know any other Europeans well enough to know about their finances.