Why Living Single Can Take a Toll on Your Finances – Sarah Coles

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It’s the day it technically pays off not to have a partner, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the other 364 days a year where you pay more than couples for almost everything.

You would be forgiven if you never heard of Singles Day, largely because it is only really celebrated in China. This comes from the fact that the day itself is November 11, because the numbers 11/11 look like a bare stick, which is Chinese slang for someone who has never married (and therefore has not added any branches to its part of the family tree).

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Singles Day falls on November 11.

It started in the 1990s with events for singles, and in 2009 Alibaba made it a day of offers for singles to treat themselves to. It quickly became the biggest trade event on the planet.

Beyond Singles Day, great deals for singles are scarce. The 7.9 million people who live alone in the UK automatically pay more per person than a couple for all kinds of essentials.

Figures from 2020 show retired households with two adults receiving more than the state pension spent an average of £ 53 per week on housing costs, including heating and electricity (£ 26.50 each) , while those with an adult spent £ 46.40. Even where there are discounts for singles, this is not enough to offset the additional cost. Housing tax, for example, is only reduced by 25% if there is only one person in the property.

Then there are the couples’ deals and singles extras which mean that everything from hotel rooms to gym memberships is paid for singles. Meanwhile, anything that includes an administration fee in the price means buying two tickets is cheaper per person than buying one.

Single life can be expensive.

And, of course, big expenses like buying a home are much easier to manage if the two of you are saving up, potentially each enjoying a lifetime ISA and sharing mortgage payments.

As a couple, you may need exactly as many bedrooms as a single person, but it’s twice as easy to afford them.

And while it’s hard enough to stretch your budget if you’re single at a young age, when you suddenly become single out of the blue, whether because of divorce or death, it can completely derail. This means that when we think about retirement, we need to plan for the period when at least 50 percent of us will be alone.

You need to think about how pensions are held between you and your partner, and the rules for each when you die. If you have a defined benefit pension, make sure you have named your partner as beneficiary when you die and that you know what they would be entitled to.

If you have a defined contribution pension and you withdraw money, they will be able to inherit it. If you used it to buy an annuity, it depends on the type of annuity you chose. If you have a guaranteed period, it will be paid to you for the remainder of that period; if you have value protection and you are within the protection period, he will pay you a lump sum; and if you have an annuity that includes a dependent or a nominee, it will be paid to them. All other annuities will die with you.

Living alone always tends to be more expensive than living with a partner, but if you plan this in advance, it will be much easier to make ends meet. Who knows, you might even have enough money to treat yourself on Singles Day.

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