How the cripplingly high cost of living across Britain is affecting its citizens
The U.K Royal family is mourning following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. As Britons and the world mourns her death, many of the citizens are feeling the pinch of the recent cost-of-living crisis across the island.
The British pound is currently at its lowest level since 1985, and the inflation rates are at a record high as food prices, rent, and energy costs face their highest prices in decades.
The high cost of living has been exacerbated by many connected factors, majorly the global COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war. But these are not the only factors, with global inflation, lower production rate, and a drop in the GBP all contributing to Britain’s worst crisis this century.
While many are suffering, in this article we focus on issues affecting the country and some of the solutions readily available to Britain’s citizens including participating in markets and increasing the rate of investments.
The rising cost-of-living crisis across Britain
According to a report by The Economist this August on what caused the high cost of living across Britain, 82% of the adult respondents blamed high gas costs and electricity bills as the cause. This has certainly been caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, two of the countries that supply most of Britain and Europe with gas and petroleum.
Nonetheless, even more, 96% of the respondents, blamed the higher prices of food prices as the cause. While food represents a smaller fee than the electricity bills of household budgets, people pay for food more frequently and are more visible to the average household rather than other factors. Overall food prices were 12.8% higher in August than they were a year earlier; the report from the Economist reads.
Additionally, over the past year, the British Pound (GBP) has been steadily losing against the dollar as U.K’s trade advantage diminishes. With the GBP falling over 15% against the dollar, its lowest since 1985, exports from the island have become cheaper and imports more expensive, making production costly and in turn rising the cost of living across Britain. This has played a big role in reducing U.K’s competitiveness against its trading partners and made the currency less attractive on the basis of labor costs.
Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the global production rate and increased unemployment across several global industries. As the unemployment rates increased, many people turned to alternative means to increase their income, with trading markets and crypto becoming a go-to activity for them.
A workable solution to the high cost of living in Britain
With the high cost of living, people are forced to look for more income-earning opportunities. Investing in the markets, which are currently in a ‘bear market’ could be a great starting point. One of the leading solutions, online trading, gives investors an easy route to start their trading journey without many complications.
easyMarkets, a regulated online trading company, is one of the leading markets that offer investors this opportunity. With a minimum deposit investment of $100 and a 400:1 leverage opportunity, it offers a great starting point for users to solve their funding problems and increase their income to combat the high cost of living across Britain. As the name suggests, easyMarkets offers an easy-to-use platform with several unique features attractive to beginners via its proprietary trading platform.
The platform includes features such as easy trade, which allows the trader to set the maximum amount they are comfortable risking before they start trading, a trade time limit, and shows the potential payout of the trade set. In addition, the platform includes negative balance protection, guaranteed stop loss/take profit features, no slippage, and fixed spreads.
Finally, traders who have never touched the market before are provided with training courses and a demo account to help them navigate the market.
Conclusion
The rising cost of living crisis is set to continue in the foreseeable future with the global macroeconomic factors still reading “bearish”. Having additional investment opportunities could be the way out for many struggling Britons, giving them an opportunity to make extra pounds in times of hardship.
