Money Box: Surviving or Thriving? Households
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rising costs are having an impact on almost everyone, but that impact is very different for different social groups. Is anyone managing to make a difference to their own budget, however small? Whether they be high earners or low income households, how are people taking control of their finances?
Felicity Hannah meets Peter who lives alone in a rented flat in Stoke and has a disability that prevents him from working; Hollie, a new mum, living with her fiancé in Wigan, who’s trying to juggle money while on maternity leave with the rising costs of having a small baby. And Kishan, one of many people being bitten by monthly mortgage rate hikes. He lives in London and has three mortgages; his own plus two buy to lets.
The programme also talks to Dr Gemma Tetlow Chief Economist at the Institute for Government to ask what does Peter, Hollie and Kishan’s experience tell us about the cost of living crisis across the nation. Are households surviving or thriving?
Series Producer Smita Patel Editor Clare Fordham Studio Engineer Rod Farquhar
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one. |
| 0:06.5 | I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:11.2 | I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects, |
| 0:16.0 | relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life. |
| 0:22.4 | So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature, |
| 0:28.3 | and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you. |
| 0:33.6 | So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:39.5 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:45.5 | Things are beyond our control. |
| 0:47.8 | Things are changing. |
| 0:49.1 | They're changing drastically. |
| 0:50.5 | And they all revolve around one thing, money. |
| 0:57.0 | Soon it's going to be like really scraping the barrel, and cutting my pennies and trying to go to like the cheapest alternatives |
| 1:00.0 | of everything that I can to keep going. |
| 1:03.0 | I don't understand why there's so many people struggling |
| 1:07.0 | and yet so many people still doing okay. |
| 1:10.0 | It's not envy. It's just a desire not to struggle. |
| 1:15.3 | The cost of living crisis has been exactly that, a crisis for homes and businesses across the UK. |
| 1:22.9 | The numbers are really stark. Price rises rose to a 41-year high in October, and although inflation is |
| 1:29.3 | slowing, it's still stretching many British households and companies to the limit. In this series, |
| 1:35.3 | we'll look at the impact the cost of living has had on individuals, high streets, schools, and even |
| 1:40.9 | farms. We'll hear from some who say they are barely surviving, but also from |
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