Sadly, debt has become an accepted feature of life for most of the UK's population. Indeed, it may be shocking to note that debt in the UK has now surpassed the sum of one trillion pounds. In such circumstances, it is interesting then to speculate whether debt has become a serious crisis for Britain that we should all be worrying about, or whether the media has simply blown the issue out of proportion with pointless scaremongering. A number of researchers have recently argued that debt in Britain is more a sign of financial security rather than insecurity, and is in fact nothing to worry about.
According to maths experts Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot, whilst British people on the whole owe a lot of money, they actually own a lot as well. Most debt is minimal compared to how much wealth people have and it is likely not to be damaging in the least. It may seem ironic but often the reasons for debt are strategic: many are in debt because they are trying to ‘’build’’ money rather than lose it. Admittedly, there are some people who are genuinely in trouble but these are a minority amongst all those who owe money and yet are financially stable by anyone’s standards.
It is important to remember a few things about debt. First of all, due to economic growth and inflation, the number of pounds in circulation double every 15 years: it is therefore true that if there are more pounds around, there are ipso facto more pounds owed as well. Secondly, statistics rarely deal with the holdings of those in debt. For example, British people own more housing than anywhere in Europe. So, even if we owe lots on our mortgages, this property ownership and our overall quality of life makes us the final winners.
Though there are people who are still in trouble due to debt, it is still worth putting it all in perspective by considering that debt isn't intrinsically a bad thing. What is most important is not necessarily to avoid debt altogether (as it could indeed be beneficial in many cases) but to be conscious of it and stay in control. As long as this is managed and you have some kind of plan for how to manage your debt, the concept no longer needs to be feared.
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