Just £50k enough to change lives, say Brits

31 December 2011

• A third of Brits (32%) say £20,000 or less would change their lives
• Over half of Brits (55%) admit ‘money would change me'; 40% think money can buy happiness
• 42% say the world would be a better place without bankers
• More than 1 in 5 Brits (22%) admit to hiding money from their partner; one quarter (26%) of Londoners confess to the same
• 1 in 5 (19%) devious Londoners admit to lying to make money, compared to just 1 in 10 of those from the East Midlands
• Research marks the launch of major new Channel 4 show, The Bank Job

To mark the start of brand new week-long live game-show, The Bank Job, starting on January 2nd 2012 and with a life changing amount of money up for grabs, Channel 4 asked the nation what they thought would represent a life-changing amount of money to them right now in the tough economic climate. In a stunning sign of the times, more than half (51%) of the cash-strapped British public feeling the post-Christmas pinch said just £50,000 or less would be enough to change their lives. While a third of the nation (32%), said just £20,000 or less would be enough to take their lives in a new direction.

According to the poll of 2,000 UK adults, even fantastic dreams of millions seem to be a thing of a more affluent past, with the average Brit saying that just £354,000 would be enough to alter their lives forever - £306,000 amongst women compared to £403,000 amongst men.

With the much of the nation feeling the financial strain after Christmas excesses, the stoic idea that "The money wouldn't change me" is no longer realistic for the majority of Brits, with 55% of us now believing the opposite. 40% of us, sick of struggling to make ends meet are now ready to accept that "Money can buy you happiness", while one in five people (20%) say that money is now more important to them than friends and family.

However, when asked which one thing people most associated with the accumulation of money, only one in five (22%) Brits identified success, with nearly half of the population (43%) pointing to greed.

It turns out that Christmas spirit wasn't enough to forgive and forget those blamed for dragging us into the tough economic climate we're now facing, with 42% of people agreeing with the statement: "The world would be a better place without bankers". While more than one in five (22%) of Brits admit to lying to their partner about money for personal benefit, with nearly twice as many men as women (21% v 11%) admit to having lied in order to make money.

In some fascinating insights into different attitudes to money across the UK, Londoners have shown themselves to be more willing to lie and conceal in order to make money than people from anywhere else in the UK. Nearly one in five (19%) people living in London admit to having lied in order to make money, compared to just one in ten (10%) people from the East Midlands. Furthermore, a quarter of Londoners (26%) confess to hiding money from their partner, compared to just 15% of people from Scotland. And those in the capital also value money over friends and family to a higher degree than anyone else, with 28% saying this, compared to just 11% of people in the north east.

 

Follow The Bank Job:

http://www.facebook.com/TheBankJob

https://twitter.com//thebankjob (@thebankjob / #BankJob)

 

The Bank Job TX details:

Monday 2nd - Thursday 5th January 2012                     10pm on Channel 4

Friday 6th January 2012                                                           9pm on Channel 4

Saturday 7th January 2012                                                     8:30pm on Channel 4

 

-Ends-

Notes to editiors:

• Survey of 2,000 UK adults carried out by OnePoll in December 2011

For more information please contact:

The Bank Job team, Tanya, Claire, Lee and Rich at House PR on

thebankjob@housepr.com  or 020 7291 3000