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Here's a question: How much do you need to earn to be well off?
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, famously described £250,000 as "chicken-feed". Ask this question to the 1,250 council workers who earn more than £100,000 a year, or the several hundred at the BBC who also earn this figure, and you'll no doubt get a very different answer from the millions who earn the recently increased minimum wage of £6.08 an hour.
According to the trade union Unison, £8 an hour is the figure needed to earn a living wage. It argues that far too few earn the average wage – around £26,000, according to the Office for National Statistics – and that far too many are still described as being in the state of poverty, which is officially defined as any family living on less than 60% of the median income (13.5 million people were living in these households in 2008-09).
But are absolute numbers a measure of wealth? The problem is, you don't have to earn much more than the average wage to suddenly be in the top quarter of UK earners – the threshold starts at £32,000. And you have to earn just less than £60,000 a year to be in the top 5% of all earners.
Perhaps it's the lifestyle we choose (and whether we can afford it) that often dictates whether we feel rich or poor. It's also our sense of how we measure up to the people around us that informs the way we feel. According to a survey for the Dare to Care campaign – conducted by Community Service Volunteers, the UK's largest volunteering charity, and the coalition Campaign to End Child Poverty – one-in-five children now think not having a mobile phone is the definition of poverty.
So what's your view? A recent ICM poll of 5,000 UK employees, commissioned by the Guardian on behalf of income protection provider Unum, reveals 20% of respondents describe themselves as poor. This is fewer than the 28% who say their outgoings exceed their incomes. So are they rendered poor by their own purchasing decisions, or are people simply not able to earn enough to cover the basic cost of living?
And in these tough economic times, how can people afford to maximise and protect their regular income? What safeguards do you have in place for your continued financial security?
Join our live debate to discuss just how much money we really need to live, how much more we need to feel like we're well off, and how can we seek to protect what we already have?
Join us here from 1pm on Tuesday 1 November to take part in the live discussion.
Please note that this webchat is designed to promote discussion and debate around the subject of working life and personal finances. Any posts that are deemed "off topic" will be subject to the usual rules regarding the Guardian's community standards, which you can read here.
Sarah Jackson, chief executive, Working Families
Ian Tarr, wealth coach, Shoot For The Stars Coaching
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, famously described £250,000 as "chicken-feed". Ask this question to the 1,250 council workers who earn more than £100,000 a year, or the several hundred at the BBC who also earn this figure, and you'll no doubt get a very different answer from the millions who earn the recently increased minimum wage of £6.08 an hour.
According to the trade union Unison, £8 an hour is the figure needed to earn a living wage. It argues that far too few earn the average wage – around £26,000, according to the Office for National Statistics – and that far too many are still described as being in the state of poverty, which is officially defined as any family living on less than 60% of the median income (13.5 million people were living in these households in 2008-09).
But are absolute numbers a measure of wealth? The problem is, you don't have to earn much more than the average wage to suddenly be in the top quarter of UK earners – the threshold starts at £32,000. And you have to earn just less than £60,000 a year to be in the top 5% of all earners.
Perhaps it's the lifestyle we choose (and whether we can afford it) that often dictates whether we feel rich or poor. It's also our sense of how we measure up to the people around us that informs the way we feel. According to a survey for the Dare to Care campaign – conducted by Community Service Volunteers, the UK's largest volunteering charity, and the coalition Campaign to End Child Poverty – one-in-five children now think not having a mobile phone is the definition of poverty.
So what's your view? A recent ICM poll of 5,000 UK employees, commissioned by the Guardian on behalf of income protection provider Unum, reveals 20% of respondents describe themselves as poor. This is fewer than the 28% who say their outgoings exceed their incomes. So are they rendered poor by their own purchasing decisions, or are people simply not able to earn enough to cover the basic cost of living?
And in these tough economic times, how can people afford to maximise and protect their regular income? What safeguards do you have in place for your continued financial security?
Join our live debate to discuss just how much money we really need to live, how much more we need to feel like we're well off, and how can we seek to protect what we already have?
Join us here from 1pm on Tuesday 1 November to take part in the live discussion.
Please note that this webchat is designed to promote discussion and debate around the subject of working life and personal finances. Any posts that are deemed "off topic" will be subject to the usual rules regarding the Guardian's community standards, which you can read here.
The panel:
Peter Crush, HR journalist and Work:Life UK editorSarah Jackson, chief executive, Working Families
Ian Tarr, wealth coach, Shoot For The Stars Coaching
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