I read in the Yorkshire Post this week that the insurance company AXA are asking a handful of people aged 25-40 to live off the state pension for a week i.e. less than £95. It seems to be part of a campaign to get this age group to think more seriously about putting money aside for the future. I thought it was quite an innovative way to get over the message by using peer group case studies and it will be interesting to see the results.
The lady who was featured had to seriously adjust her current life style and expenditure to be able to live off this amount of money involving shopping at Lidl and taking the bus and it was all seen as a bit grim. However, I was wondering if it would also help to show that our current life is just all too fast and the stresses we create in many respects unnecessary and that maybe, just maybe, slowing down and having the time to travel in a more leisurely fashion, looking around at nature, cooking from basic ingredients etc may show a life much more appealing.We have two key resources, time and money, and possibly we have lost sight of how precious time is.There again it would be good to have the money to enjoy our precious time without worrying and there are so many in our society unable to do this. I hope the AXA pilot helps in some way to address this.