Latest news with #financialstruggle
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
I wake up to an empty fridge wondering how I'll feed my kids, so started a GoFundMe – trolls say get a grip & work more
A SINGLE mum has been left broken as she struggles to put food on the table for her children. After leaving her relationship, the mum from Newcastle in the UK, was now asking strangers to help her pay for the food shop. 2 2 The mum, who hasn't shared her name on social media decided to put up a GoFundMe to help feed her family. While many people have been generous and have offered to help her out, others have told her to go to work to pay her way. In the clip, the mum opened up her practically empty fridge. Inside were a couple of bottles of squash, some butter, potatoes, cabbage and milk. After leaving her husband, she and her kids had been put in temporary accommodation and were struggling to make ends meet. The desperate mum said: "I can't live another day like this waking up every morning thinking how I'm going to feed my kids "I wish I never left, I wish I stayed. "I'm broken, completely broken." The mum's GoFundMe page had been shared to her social media account and she was hoping to raise £300 to pay for essential needs. She also revealed she had recently lost her job, which had put her in even further financial struggle. I'm a mum of two and get a £1.7k Universal Credit payday each month people hate me as they work 40 hours a week for the same The clip was posted to her TikTok account @ and it went viral with over 337k views and 2,700 likes. People were quick to share their thoughts in the comments section. While many empathised with the mum and offered help, some told her to get a job if she needed more cash. One person wrote: "What's wrong with going to food bank like?" How to save money on your food shop Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how you can save hundreds of pounds a year: Odd boxes - plenty of retailers offer slightly misshapen fruit and veg or surplus food at a discounted price. Lidl sells five kilos of fruit and veg for just £1.50 through its Waste Not scheme while Aldi shoppers can get Too Good to Go bags which contain £10 worth of all kinds of products for £3.30. Sainsbury's also sells £2 "Taste Me, Don't Waste Me" fruit and veg boxes to help shoppers reduced food waste and save cash. Food waste apps - food waste apps work by helping shops, cafes, restaurants and other businesses shift stock that is due to go out of date and passing it on to members of the public. Some of the most notable ones include Too Good to Go and Olio. Too Good to Go's app is free to sign up to and is used by millions of people across the UK, letting users buy food at a discount. Olio works similarly, except users can collect both food and other household items for free from neighbours and businesses. Yellow sticker bargains - yellow sticker bargains, sometimes orange and red in certain supermarkets, are a great way of getting food on the cheap. But what time to head out to get the best deals varies depending on the retailer. You can see the best times for each supermarket here. Super cheap bargains - sign up to bargain hunter Facebook groups like Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK where shoppers regularly post hauls they've found on the cheap, including food finds. "Downshift" - you will almost always save money going for a supermarket's own-brand economy lines rather than premium brands. The move to lower-tier ranges, also known as "downshifting" and hailed by consumer expert Martin Lewis, could save you hundreds of pounds a year on your food shop. Another commented: 'I'm skint too, I have children too! I have 2 days off in 22 days due to picking up extra! Then on annual leave and still picked up bank to survive, half term and spent no time with my children! Can we also get a GoFundMe page! Absolute f**king madness like! We're all struggling!!!! It's life! Work more!!!!" "My fridge is the same, a lot of people in this country are struggling," penned a third. Meanwhile a fourth said: "Life's tough, I get by on a packet of noodles each day, so I can give my kids more, things will get better." "Do what most people do, get a job, anything to put food on the table for your kids,' claimed a fifth. Someone else added: 'Can the food bank help? I can try and help send some essentials."
The Sun
21-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Kate Garraway update on her stressful £800k debt battle and £288k tax bill after husband Derek's death
KATE Garraway has received a much-needed financial boost amid her desperate struggle to repay huge debts. The Good Morning Britain star was faced with the daunting prospect of paying back £800,000 following husband Derek's death from covid-related illness early last year. 4 The cost of caring for Derek during his four-year health nightmare ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds. At the same time, Derek's psychotherapy firm Astra Aspera Ltd - which was jointly controlled by Kate - went bust owing hundreds of thousands to creditors, including a huge sum to HMRC. A new liquidator's report reveals how Kate has been trying to repay debts as well as a more palatable revised total. HMRC has submitted a preferential claim of £288,054, a third of its previous submission of £716,822. It's not known why the HMRC have dramatically dropped their demand. There are also creditor claims of and £196,548 from four other firms including a £50,000 bank loan. However, at this stage, there will be no pay out for any creditor after liquidator fees of £32k and 40 per cent of assets have been realised. So far, Kate has paid back £21,000. Kate and Derek's financial issues go back further than the pandemic. In 2012, two other firms they jointly controlled went bust. Fulfill Media Ltd had debts totalling £922,807, which included £88,486 owed to HMRC, £90,882 to trade creditors, and £462,808 in "third party loans". 'He was on the up' say heartbroken viewers as they hear Kate Garraway's husband Derek speak weeks before his death At the same time, Countrymouse Media Ltd, was liquidated owing £189,121, which included £98,944 to the taxman and £48,000 on an overdrawn directors loan account. Derek and Kate were both personally owed £24k each by the business. Last year, it was reported that Kate may have to sell the home to repay the debts with one source saying: "It is so sad for Kate. Not only has she had to watch her beloved husband suffer for almost four years but her financial worries have never been far away from her thoughts. "It has cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to look after Derek and do everything she could to get him better but it's left her struggling. "The house is about all she has left financially and she is now facing up to the fact it might have to be sold. "It's where she and Derek were so happy and also where her two children grew up – but bills are bills and they have to be paid. It's dreadful for Kate." 4
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
The astonishing collapse of Australian wages - and why your pay won't recover anytime soon
Australian workers are expected to continue struggling financially until 2040 even though wage rises are now outpacing inflation - as mortgage repayments squeeze borrowers. Treasurer Jim Chalmers and new Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth last week hailed the strongest real wages growth in five years. 'Under Labor, more Australians are working, earning more and keeping more of what they earn,' they said. 'The government's policies are driving strong and sustainable wage growth for workers. 'This is the strongest rate of annual real wage growth in five years.' But MacroBusiness chief economist Leith van Onselen said Australian workers were still going backwards financially, despite enjoying real wage increases since the end of 2023, where pay levels have risen at a faster pace than inflation. 'It's a pretty bad situation there whether you adjust wages for inflation or the cost of living of employees,' he told 2GB. 'The disturbing thing about this is that real wages in Australia aren't actually expected to pick up for a long, long time; aren't expected to recover to what they were at their peak - for a very long time, potentially 2040.' His forecasts for declining living standards until 2040 were based on Reserve Bank predictions for the labour market and inflation. 'Real wages may not recover until 2040 which is absolutely extraordinary when you think about it. 'This post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis is likely to persist for many years.' Overall wages rose by 3.4 per cent in the year to March, which was well above the headline inflation rate of 2.4 per cent. This meant a real wage increase of one per cent. 'It sounds decent on the face of it but the problem with it is that when you adjust for inflation, Australia's real wages are still tracking 6.1 per cent below their mid-2020 peak,' Mr van Onselen said. Another Australian Bureau of Statistics measure showed employee living costs climbing by 3.4 per cent in the year to March - which was the same as the wage price index. This effectively meant Australian workers paying off a mortgage or battling high rents had no increase in the wages, adjusted for living costs. 'It's effectively the inflation rate that adjusts for other things that workers have to pay,' he said. 'So, things like mortgage payments, stuff like that. 'When you adjust the wage growth against the cost-of-living index for workers, what it shows is that wages after adjusting for the cost of living, are tracking 10.2 per cent below the mid-2020 peak.' During the June quarter of 2020, covering the first Covid lockdowns, real wages were growing by 2.1 per cent. This occurred as wages rose by 1.8 per cent as prices fell by an annual pace of 0.3 per cent. Employee living costs were then falling by 2.1 per cent, which meant workers were getting a 3.9 per cent increase in wages, adjusted for living costs. The prolonged lockdowns of 2021 in Sydney and Melbourne and Russia's Ukraine invasion in 2022 saw inflation soar to levels last seen in 1990. Australians were suffering real wage cuts from June 2021 to December 2023 as pay increases lagged well behind inflation. While wages have outpaced inflation for more than a year now, the buying power of pay is back to where it was in late 2011. 'Which is quite extraordinary - that suggests that Australians have experienced no real wage gain in more than 13 years,' Mr van Onselen said. 'The purchasing power of Australia's wages is back to where it was 13 years ago. 'It's actually worse than that.' This factors in the weak wages growth of the 2010s before workers suffered more than two years of real wage cuts before the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates 13 times in 2022 and 2023. The cost-of-living crisis was expected to persist even as the RBA cut rates again on Tuesday, with inflation back within its two to three per cent target. 'When inflation is coming down, it doesn't mean that prices are falling, it just means they're not rising as quickly as they were,' he said.
Japan Times
16-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Finances are tight for dual-income households, too, survey finds
Almost half of full-time workers whose spouses are working say they are struggling financially, according to a survey released Thursday by job-matching company Mynavi. The survey, which was conducted on married workers in dual-income households, found that 46% of them feel financially strained. Respondents reported an average household income of ¥8.06 million ($55,500), but said their ideal income would be ¥11.26 million — a gap of ¥3.2 million. The study, which collected responses in November from 3,000 men and women between the ages of 20 and 59, highlighted the economic stress felt by many working couples, even though 85.8% of respondents said their partner had a full-time, salaried position. Financial anxiety was more pronounced among households with children, whose average income was higher, at ¥9.01 million, but still fell short of the desired ¥12.47 million. Respondents who said they were struggling financially reported an average household income of ¥7.17 million — around ¥1.7 million lower than those who said they were not experiencing hardship. In addition to income stress, the survey explored how couples managed their finances and household responsibilities. A total of 28.8% of respondents reported using an 'allowance system' of setting aside a fixed amount each month for them to spend for themselves. The system was most common among couples in their 50s, with the rate of usage rising to 31.2% in that age group. The data also exposed stark gender disparities in domestic labor and career advancement. On average, men reported working 18.8 hours of overtime per month, compared with 9.5 hours for women. However, women spent significantly more time on housework — 2.5 hours per day, compared with 1.4 hours for men. When asked about their career standing, 56.1% of respondents said they did not hold a managerial title. The gender divide was pronounced: 71% of women said they had no title, versus 47.8% of men. Only around 30% of respondents — or 33.6% of men and 24.2% of women — said they wanted a promotion. Some respondents cited personal ambition as a reason for wanting to move up the career ladder, but others were hesitant to be promoted, expressing concern about the potential 'bigger workloads and more responsibilities without meaningful rewards,' as one man in his 20s put it. One woman in her 20s stated she had no interest in climbing the corporate ladder after watching her supervisors being 'overwhelmed and underpaid.' 'Differences in ambition or income levels between men and women are not necessarily the result of individual ability or mindset,' said Akari Asahina, a researcher at Mynavi's Career Research Lab. 'They are often rooted in uneven divisions of labor at home and deep-seated unconscious biases in society.' Japan had about 13 million dual-income households in 2024, according to government data, and the number is expected to grow. Asahina said the economic anxiety among these households underscores the need to reassess expectations — not just about money, but about the way people live and work.
