Prodigal Londoners outspend the rest of the country by hundreds of thousands
London households can expect to burn through £2.3m over the course of a lifetime, dwarfing the UK’s average expenditure by almost half a million.
Investment manager Tilney unveiled the discrepancy in its Cost of Tomorrow Report, which also revealed that the average British household has spent their first million by the age of 50, while Londoners can expect to reach that milestone by 45. They also spend £85,000 more in retirement than the average pensioner.
Despite coughing up close to £800,000 on housing compared with £568,522 nationwide sociable capital-dwellers also spend the most on going out to restaurants and hotels, splurging £180,000 in a lifetime next to a national average £138,000.
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As a result, London is second from the bottom of the nationwide league for the consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and narcotics to enjoy at home, tallying up a total bill of £35,000 compared to Scotland’s average £52,000 outlay.
Across the country, those in their 30s and 40s burn through their income most quickly, with the wealthiest Brits spending more than £50,000 a year at this stage of their lives.
But those who go into retirement with the highest savings can expect to spend more money on luxuries than any other group, with the top six per cent of over-65s spending £410,000 on entertainment, holidays, restaurants and cars in retirement.
According to Tilney’s head of financial planning Andy Cowan, “The key to enjoying a comfortable or even prosperous lifestyle in later life when you are no longer earning is, of course, to plan ahead and to start investing as early as possible.
“People set expectations for their living standards in retirement during their peak earning years in their 50s, and this is the time when most ramp up saving, but it is also important to invest it in the right places.”