[LivinLOS]

I have a similar viewpoint to Paul (Marc26) in that I would feel very shallow if I was sacrificing my home life to achieve a couple of week in thailand one or two times a year.. Life is too much for living than the constant saving for a fun investment..

That said the statement that in the UK people work just to get by or survive is something I have seen that Paul may not have.. Not only are UK wages not that good, there is comparatively high taxation and a fair bit higher cost of living.. It all adds up to a treadmill that doesnt leave much disposable income..

Of course if I was to point out the bigger picture in that the US seems to have fairly massive personal debt (a trend the UK is catching up on) and government federal spending (deficit) that has to be paid by the population eventually in taxation there is a lot of 'fun money' being spent in the US on credit.. I read a figure the other day that with the current levels of gov debt each working American (non gov jobs obviously) owes 11,800 + interest personally purely in deficit debt !! Madness !!!