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!

Related personalfinanosaurus posts:

1. Sometimes there are good reasons why men are single….
2. Life insurance fears following the London bombings tragedy

When Roger came to ask for mortgage for a $385,000 property in Mapua the bank refused. On top of his NZ $190,000 in cash Roger was also going to sell his $110,000 campervan. That would leave the bank with about $90,000 to loan and that’s well more than the %20 deposit they require.

So why did Westpac refuse the mortgage? They pointed out that Roger Griffith is an artist without a regular income and therefore doesn’t qualify at all.

The last straw for Roger Griffiths was when Westpac lost $110 million in a loan to Lane Walker Rudkin. He told press;

“They can lose $110 million with LWR but turn down a normal customer who has never missed a loan payment,” he said. “If they don’t have the trust in me after 25 years, there’s a problem for Westpac.”

Roger’s response was not only to withdraw his entire $190,000 savings but to do it in $20 notes.

After a discussion with the bank they finally agreed to have all the money ready in his local branch for 9am. They counted each note out and provided bags for the artist to takehis money away. He did so and carried to the Nelson Building Society.

Griffith’s reason for picking Nelson was that he felt it was part of the community. His final message to Westpac was;

“If you don’t support the community, the community won’t support you.”

Related personalfinanosaurus posts:

1. Tories label bank charges as unfair
2. Bank of England rate has risen yet again