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£250,000 a lifetime for living the single life…

August 19, 2023

lifestyle

Talk about a kick in the teeth - it has been claimed that living alone costs single types £250,000 more over the course of a lifetime than it would someone who is part of a couple.

The evidence comes from a study carried out by price comparison website uSwitch, and suggests that singletons carrying the burden of paying for a mortgage, holidays and day to day bills all by themselves are costing themselves a quarter of a million pounds (I thought I’d word it like that just to make the figure sound even more morbid).

The study also claims, rather depressingly, that it “shatters” the illusion that single life is just one big party.

Ann Robinson (no relation to the Weakest Link host, unfortunately), uSwitch’s Director of Consumer Policy said:

“Being single costs a lot and you’re bloody miserable.”

Thanks Ann.

After stating the bleedingly obvious she added:

“You’re having to spend on necessities rather than having fun. £5,000 is a lot of money to lose a year – you could definitely have a great holiday for that.”

Ouch. Well, in honour of the fact I’m thoroughly miserable now, I thought I’d try to write something looking on the bright side of financial life, with regards to all the singles out there.

See, it’s not all bad news. Whilst I’d be the first to admit that after coming to the end of a long term relationship last month my bank account took a hit at first, I highly doubt that the £20 I went out and spent on Morrissey’s back catalog sent me into financial ruin. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that staying in and listening to that for a week within the confines of my bedroom was a far better financial decision than having to go out and pay for dinner for two at a fancy restaurant.

And I’m fairly certain that whoever carried out the research with regards to holidays costing more for someone going with friends or on their own rather as part of a couple has never been away with a partner. After all, anyone who’s ever taken a lady on holiday with them will know that they could have went on their own twice with all the money they spent on food, drink, presents and other luxuries for their loved one.

Plus, Stuart Adam, Senior Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies said: “The quarter of a million figure depends first on whether you believe their £5,000 a year finding and I’d need quite a lot of convincing that they’d got their methodology right. Then to get from £5,000 a year to a quarter of a million over your lifetime they’ve based it on 53 years alone from 22 to 75. But nowadays people change their status all the time, going into couples and splitting up.”

So it’s not all bad, supposing you’re not single for 53 years at a time you’ll be just fine financially. And if you’re ever in a position where you have been single for 53 years, I’m pretty certain that being skint will probably be the least of your worries anyway.

Chin up!

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