This page is quite old hence its rather spartan appearance.
Why not check out our Latest Stories page for our newest articles or search our site for anything.
When it comes to material possessions, especially so-called designer goods, I'm something of a "fashion Buddhist". Hence, it's not hard to spot the difference between me and, say, a male fashion model -- I'm more "man at M&S" than Armani! That's why a passage in Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss had me chuckling the other day. In it, Truss describes a conversation between two of her friends: SHE: "This skirt is by Issey Miyake." HE: "Really? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it usually aspiring gangsta rappers who set such store by designer labels?" Given that I'm more "own brand" than "designer label", this conversation really tickled me, because I find it bizarre that people seek to enrich their lives through gratuitous "retail therapy". Personally, I don't believe that you can fill a hole within you by acquiring material goods, any more than you can through drink, drugs or other addictive behaviour. Indeed, one of the tenets of Buddhism is that the solutions to our problems lie within us, not outside, and that suffering is caused by desire and want. That's why I described myself as a "fashion Buddhist", because, when it comes to possessions, I believe less is more! What's more, going shopping for yet more material goods in an effort to keep up with the Joneses is a recipe for financial, as well as spiritual, ruin. Indeed, our "live now, pay later" celebrity-obsessed culture has fuelled a dramatic rise in personal indebtedness. For instance, at the end of January 1994, our unsecured debts (credit and store cards, car and personal loans, overdrafts, etc.) totalled £53 billion. By the end of January 2006, this had soared to £193 billion. In other words, our non-mortgage debt has risen by 264% in twelve years, which means that it's been growing at a compound annual rate of over 11% over this period. Of course, wages haven't grown at anything like this rate (more like 5% a year), so what's been happening is that more and more of our income is being swallowed up by debt repayments, as I explained in Debt Problem? What Debt Problem? Thus, the UK's 25 million households carry a debt burden of £193 billion, or an average of over £7,700 per household. At a typical interest rate of, say, 15% a year, this debt is costing a typical household almost £100 a month in interest alone. Another way of putting this is that a typical worker with annual take-home pay of, say, £18,000 spends almost a month of each year working to pay this interest bill. Therefore, the next time that you get an "urge to splurge", stop and think for a few seconds. If you can't afford to pay cash for your must-have purchase, then it's going to cost you a lot more in the long run. As a matter of fact, a credit-card debt of just £2,000 at 19.6% APR repaid using minimum monthly repayments of 2% (minimum £5) would take an astonishing 42 years and four months to repay. Furthermore, this two grand ends up costing an incredible £7,466, thanks to £5,466 of accrued interest. Aaargh! If you need help with turning your back on debt, these links will help: Ten Ways To Dump Your Debts; Twenty Steps To Debt Freedom; Get Out of Debt centre and our Dealing with Debt discussion board. More: Why pay a heap of interest? Try our Best Buy 0% credit cards and personal loans!
