I am currently in London for a wedding. No, I wouldn’t fly over the ocean just for anyone but for this friend who has visited me several times in the U.S. there was no way I wouldn’t fly over for this wedding.
I have discovered that I am unable to turn off the personal finance mentality and have found some fascinating finance things to think about while here in the U.K. Specifically, the cost of living in England and two shows that I watched on my off day. Skint (broke in U.S. lingo) and How the Other Half Live. I found both shows incredibly edgy, honest, and thought provoking.
Skint specifically follows the lives of unemployed individuals in a former steel town in England. This show really hit home for me because a lot of my relatives used to work in factories in a small town. Several of these relatives lost their jobs due to downsizing and factory closures.
Skint takes an almost unflinching look at the downward spiral of poverty, lack of opportunity, and hopelessness. The patriarch of a family of 11 said it best when he told the viewers that he would do anything, anything to provide for his family. The video that I included for this show is not the episode that I actually watched. That episode was outstanding.
Buy back shop=Pawnshop
Pension=Social Security
300 pounds=Almost $460-it DOESN’T go far!
The other show, How the Other Half Lives is a show where a wealthy family sponsors a struggling family in Britain. The idea behind the show is would it be better to sponsor a family in your home country? Then, the show follows the families throughout a 3-6 month period. It is AMAZING how what is considered pocket change to one family is considered a life changing opportunity to another family. I preferred this show because of the affect the experiment had on the kids in both families. The exposure to poverty and wealth helped expand each family’s world view. Unfortunately, I was unable to embed a video from this show. If you want to check out a video just go to youtube.
I will expand on this post later when I get home next week! Do you ever watch shows like this in your home country? What’s the name of the show? What does it make you think about?
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The second show sounds really cool and one that would probably make me cry…geez been doing a lot of that lately. ha ha! I love any shows dealing with money because I find it keeps me motivated. For instance I watched a True Life episode on MTV called Living in Poverty. It was amazing what “dumb” mistakes they were making and how they were scraping by on so little with a lot of kids involved. It made me think how lucky I am, but also to watch myself so I don’t get stressed about money in my own little world. If that makes sense.
The second show was really interesting and one episode had me bawling! It was a single mother and her daughter. The mother was around 27 years old. She had run an organic catering business but had charged the start up costs with credit. She eventually lost the business, was about to lose her home, and was super frustrated (and devastated). Her daughter was so sweet and they were hanging on by a thread. Fortunately for them the wife of the sponsoring family was actually a business tycoon. The business tycoon (besides being super nice) paid off the outstanding debt (around $15,000) put together a sustainable business plan, start up cash, and bought the other mother a van to use for her company. That mom was so overwhelmed. I cried the ENTIRE episode! You can watch it on youtube. Amazing.
There was a show here in the states that I was watching for a while about a blended family (guy had kids, gal had kids, they got married, dad’s construction business got hit hard in the recession). I can’t remember what it was called and I’m not sure it’s still on, but it was really interesting. They were middle to upperclass and the kids expected a certain lifestyle. When the lifestyle had to be cut back they started to appreciate the things they had. I’ll have to search for the name of the show. Have fun in London!
That sounds a lot like Skint. It’s a shame because the actual episode I watched was really good and the video that I posted doesn’t do the current show justice. The family that was followed was solid middle class so they didn’t have far to fall when the economy took a downturn. If you get a chance try to catch it on youtube. WARNING! At the end of the show the guy gets a vasectomy…and they showed his family jewels. I was a bit surprised. Just saying.