Getting into debt has become an integral part of growing up it appears and we must all have witnessed at some time or other the heartbreak that this awful addiction has inflicted upon family members and people that we know.

The surprise is that it continues unabated, our ‘must have it now society’ is fuelled by easy borrowing and credit cards despite the banks making it more difficult to do so.

There is also no longer any stigma attached to the process of being made bankrupt and the consequences thereafter, it is almost seen as part and parcel of the deal, made all the easier in recent times by companies specialising in this area who can rid personal debts at the click of a finger while lining their own pockets.

The credit crunch has only served to highlight the problem that has been growing year on year for decades and it is quite scary seeing the details from this infographic and wondering what the future holds for a nation that is unable to pay its way out of debt.

Infographic by Money Debt & Credit

• We would like to thank the charity Credit Action for their help with core statistics

The information is supplied by money.co.uk and clearly illustrates how the rich and poor divide in the UK could be set to increase dramatically as various groups face up to the possibility of losing up to 20% of their income.

While some groups stand to suffer a loss in their income others could actually benefit from the cuts.

UK Debt

There are of course many services that we cannot afford to scrimp on and on a personal level that certainly involves insurance, from motor insurance to home insurance – it is a necessary evil.

Many of us have been hit by the recent news that motor insurance premiums in the UK have risen by a staggering 40% over the last 12 months, but at least we do have the option of changing our cars for a smaller more economic model should we really want to.

With home insurance the option of moving house is not something that is anywhere near so simple, the property market is stagnant anyway so a move could take months or more likely years to achieve.

The market for home insurance has grown beyond belief in the last decade, with every financial institution and supermarket or department store offering the product, although in fairness there are many outlets selling the same product under their own brand.

When the opportunity to buy insurance online first reared its head, buyers were able to purchase insurance products at a discounted price due to the fact that the insurer had much lower overheads and frankly much less to do, as we completed the purchase ourselves.

At UIA Insurance they do still offer a 15% discount to those who choose to buy home insurance online and as a mutual company with no shareholders to pay the company boasts great value low premiums on all of their products.

UIA can offer further savings when purchasing buildings and contents insurance together and they can also save you money by allowing you to fix a voluntary excess to suit you.

While it may not save us a fortune it is reassuring to know that there are savings to be made on home insurance and every little does help.

The three ordinary mums reveal the rewards of living the eco high life in a unique video diary of their daily lives.

In the video they hope to show how easy it is to improve your eco credentials and demonstrate the day to day benefits of living a greener lifestyle – both to the environment and your budget.

Share their top tips for making practical changes to your lifestyle that will be kind to your purse and your plants.

Debt consolidation services, credit repair and direct mail all subsist off of the world’s obsession with credit cards. So, how does the view of consumer debt in the United Kingdom compare to that worldwide?

The UK is certainly among the most credit obsessed populations. The average household debt in the UK is about 8,600 pound sterling, excluding mortgage payments. One of the only countries with a higher average household debt is the United States, which boasts nearly 17,000 U.S. dollars per household, or about 11,000 pounds.

The two other major English-speaking countries, Canada and Australia, have high household debt. The highest is Australia, and Canada falls in just under the UK. Could it be that speaking English is part of the rationale? Far more likely, it’s the culture that has spread amongst these countries.

Major countries with outstandingly low consumer debt include China, Thailand, Indonesia and India. The proximity of these countries, both geographically and cultural, is likely the cause of these tendencies.

However, the contrast in the behavior of each country doesn’t stop there. It may be that the UK, US and Australia have very high consumer debt, but their saving habits are varied.

The US and UK have some of the lowest household savings of any country, while Australia finds itself comfortably in the mid-range of personal saving percentages. Indonesia, Thailand and India all have mid-range personal savings as well, but China has the highest saving percentages of the lot.

As a brief comparison summary, the UK has some of the highest household consumer debt and lowest savings percentages.

Everything from lavish holidays to premium pension plans was aimed at this group of people and many were happy to oblige by passing on some of their hard earned but ‘disposable’ cash.

Those that could and were inclined to, piled their money into pensions to protect their future lifestyle – and then came Black Wednesday and everything started to go pear shaped.

The financial crisis has made things even worse and a report from insurance company Aviva published today suggests that many of us are going to fall seriously short when it comes to retirement.

The over 55s are in the news for all the wrong reasons this time around as the financial crisis and all of the baggage it br¡ngs with it, including unemployment begin to take their toll on this once affluent age group.

The report reveals some devastating facts for the over 55’s in the UK, the Aviva Real Retirement Report shows that a quarter of that group are forced to dip into savings that would previously have been reserved for retirement income, to pay for unexpected expenses.

With banks offering very little worthwhile return on savings, the over 55s are most concerned about the cost of living above most other things, and over 60% are concerned over how they will pay unexpected expenses of £500 or more.

The report finds that over half have made no provision for such expenses and not surprisingly only 6% have made provision for long term care, 9% for private medical care and 23% for home maintenance.

Longer life expectancy a decade ago seemed like a good thing, but these days faced with thirty years of poverty until death doesn’t look so great.

From personal experience paying into a private pension during the 1980/1990’s proved to be  a complete and utter waste of time despite the promise of a better life in the future. Black Wednesday saw to it that the fund was rendered practically worthless, at least was worth less than the hard earned cash that had been put into it.

Following advise from my IFA I continued to make payments into seperate pensions for a couple of years during which time the fund never increased a penny. The payments were stopped and the pension frozen.

Many others are certainly in the same position, the pension market has hardly bucked the trend since. The current economic situation generally means that we are at least worse off than a few years ago and in a lot of cases out of work with little chance of employment because of age discrimination.

If you are 55 now there is another decade to face before the official retirement age in the UK, regardless of the losses they have heaped upon us over the previous ten years you can be sure that pension providers and banks alike will be urging us to take out more business with them to provide for the retirement years.

Is there an alternative?

Britain’s first new high street banking group since the 19th century will open its doors on Thursday promising a return to traditional banking practises from its ultra modern premises.

The flagship branch is the first of twelve planned openings across Greater London during the next two years, with premises in Borehamwood and Fulham Broadway already being fitted out in readiness for October launches.

Despite the promise of traditional banking values, Metro Bank opening hours are straight out of the 21st century and the branches will open at 8am until late and also at weekends.

John Wriglesworth, Moneyexpert and Immediate Financial, comments:

“Metro Bank’s launch is excellent news for the retail financial services sector as well as ordinary consumers.    People will be given more choice on the high street and we should see additional competitive deals which will spur other banks and building societies into offering similar – and potentially even better – products.   The banking sector – which has been shaken over the last couple of years – will also take heart from a new entrant with ambitious plans for the future.”

Of course in the current financial climate many of us will be looking at the many and varied ways of keeping the kids happy and occupied while keeping an eye on the family budget.

Prior to the school holidays starting is a great time to make sure that you are getting the most out of your bank and anyone who hasn’t switched to a high interest savings account should consider doing so now to start enjoying  the benefits.

Many of the most popular overseas holiday destinations no longer represent good value for money, so consider a stay at home holiday in the UK or for best savings treat the children to special days out.

Most children simply appreciate having their parents to themselves for days out, where the attention is totally on them and parents will also feel great for creating quality time with their family.

Younger children in particular love the reward of working and playing with their parents and the summer holidays is a great time to spend creative time with them.

Keep them occupied while also teaching them how to make things like simple papier-mache plates or greetings cards, things that cost nothing but will be rewarding for both you and your children.

Look out for ideas in magazines and on the internet and try to always be one step ahead so that you don’t have to hear that all too popular comment, “Mummy I’m Bored!’ during the school break.

According to Compass Management Consulting, which has analysed contracts within central government over the past 5 years, this means the public sector could save up to £6bn on its annual IT spend of around £14bn without affecting front line services.

Compass arrived at the 40% figure after comparing the prices paid by government departments in their outsourced contracts with the market price paid by the private sector for a comparable bundle of services.

Gary Bettis, UK President for Compass Management Consulting, said:

“There has been heavy criticism of public sector IT for the problems that have occurred in a series of high profile projects such as the National Programme for IT in the National Health Service.

However, it is not just development initiatives which are costing too much and delivering too little, there is significant scope for savings – of 40% or more – in day-to-day IT service delivery.

Currently, savings of around £6bn are being left on the table and whilst the initial target of £95m this year is a start we are hoping larger more aggressive targets will be set sooner rather than later. A number of reviews and studies on value for money have been completed in the last three years which prove the £6bn to be accurate.”

Compass claims that the approach taken in past value for money initiatives in government IT services were “far too timid” and that instead of savings of 35% or more in year one of a transformation project, the public sector benchmarks are set at 5-15%.

“This poor performance reflects a combination of questionable procurement practices and inadequate management of the demands that public sector clients make on the service provider for extra services and customisation which drive up costs,” said Gary Bettis.

“Standardisation reduces costs dramatically by allowing service providers to deliver economies of scale as they deliver utility IT services to a range of clients using the same delivery infrastructure.

There are constraints on making the sorts of transformations which the public finances need. There is often limited funding for these types of projects in the public sector. Perhaps, more seriously, there is a very limited pool of people who are capable of leading the initiative who have the skills, processes and tools to make the transformations happen.”

It is fair to say that plenty have had their fingers burned by the financial crisis through no fault of their own and cannot afford to take the risk of investment under current circumstances.

There are some areas of investment however that have profitted from the financial crisis, precious metals like gold for instance have rocketed in price, leading to a 21st century gold rush where every high street now appears to have a gold ‘expert’ ready to pay cash for your gold jewellery.

Inevitably the ‘gold rush‘ has brought out the worst in some unscrupulous people who are treating the business as they would any other scam that is fashionable at the time, and using outlets to rip off their clients.

But as an investment, if gold is doing well, how about other precious metals such as golds poorer cousin silver?

On the face of it, silver should make a good investment. Demand for silver has outstripped supply every year since 1990 and in the last two years supply has fallen significantly short.

Demand for silver in industry continues to grow, a staggering 44% of all silver produced each year is used in the technologies market alone, a huge growth market itself. But it does not stop there, silver is used in the production of many household goods and is essential to industries worldwide.

In the US the government is currently buying silver futures to replenish an empty stockpile of the commodity and many investors are seeing it as a safe bet, as industrial uses for the product grow along with the scarcity of silver.