Average Brit is 52 days from ruin

Last Modified: 25 Jul 2008
Source: ITN

The average Briton would run out of money within 52 days if they were unable to work, research has shown.

According to the Yorkshire Building Society, most people have monthly outgoings of about £1,445, but have an average of just £2,474 set aside in accessible savings.

And as many as 36 per cent of people would run out of money within 11 days if they could not work, having less than £500 of savings.

To make matters worse, nine out of ten people have no form of income protection insurance to cover their bills if they were unable to work or lost their job.

A fifth of people admitted they had no idea how they would survive financially if they were unable to work, while others had unrealistic contingency plans.

Around 19 per cent of people said they would manage on state benefits, despite the fact that they had weekly outgoings of around £334 and would receive just £75.40 a week in state benefits.

A further 5 per cent claimed they would sell their home in order to access money quickly, despite the fact that the state of the housing market makes it difficult to do this.

Among people who do have some form of insurance cover, the majority have policies that will only pay out if they die, with 47 per cent having life insurance, while just 10 per cent have income protection cover.

The research was supported by figures from Combined Insurance, which showed that 34 per cent of people would run out of money after just 12 days if they were unable to work, while 52 per cent would be able to survive for only 17 days.

It found that women were particularly vulnerable, with 30 per cent having no savings at all, compared with 21 per cent of men.

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