Creative Britons Saving More
It appears that many Britons are making a commercial use of their creativity to
make money from a hobby or interest. Recent research by National Savings and Investments
has found that twenty percent of the population are earning an average of £3,511
a year after tax in this manner. It's a promising sign that Brits are becoming both
more entrepreneurial and being able to put their passions to good use.
Of the extra money made, 31% of people said they used the money for savings, 15%
to pay off debts, 56% to pay for rising day to day living expenses, while 16% use
the money to pay for extra luxuries. However, despite the apparent good nature from
earning money in this way, there are warnings to be had for employers and families.
More than 11 hours a week are spent on the hobbies, which is quite a lot of time
outside normal working hours, and 19% admit that their money making hobby has affected
their relationship or partner. Meanwhile, the hobby often seeps into work time with
36% confessing that they have used working hours to continue on a project.
The most popular money making hobbies are:
1. Collecting and trading (27%)
2. IT and website design (21%)
3. Music (16%)
4. Arts and crafts (15%)
5. Writing (8%)
Cookery (8%)
It is clear that the growth in internet and web 2.0 has made a massive difference
on how people are able to make their money these days. 74% percent of those who
make extra money say they use the internet. Certainly Ebay has contributed to the
ease that people now conduct collecting and trading, meanwhile Myspace has had a
big effect on music promotion and notices about gigs, meanwhile blogging has created
a greater potential to for writers to self publish, IT and web design being second
on the list, meanwhile, goes hand in hand with all this. Interestingly 50% of those
asked said they could not go without the internet, while 35% say they actively use
social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace to promote their work. Further
to the findings on the so called 'play dough earners' the NS & I also revealed
that quarterly savings for autumn 2007 were on the up. All of the key savings indicators
increased in value from the levels recorded the previous quarter. Encouraging figures
revealed that the average amount saved each month across the population increased
from £81.43 to £91.15 per person, while the average monthly amount saved by the
British as a percentage of income has increased from 6.22% to 6.81%. Additionally,
the average amount of money set aside each month has increased to its highest ever
figure of £184.36. Try Santander for more information about
savings.
Disclaimer - Important, this article is of a journalistic nature, and is
supplied by a journalist external to AgentQuote.co.uk. It should in no way be considered
as advice. Should you choose to act upon any information in this article then you
do so at your own risk. AgentQuote accepts no liability in respect of any information
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