The middle classes are suffering a significant decline in their standard of living with the cost of household bills increasing twice as fast as the official inflation rate. Inflation for middle class households was the highest rate in a decade last June ranking in at 7.4% according to recent research. The underlying problem is that households are faced with an increase in the cost of living yet without a comparable increase of income. This is a situation not seen since 1995 and one leaving many households at a loss.
Inflation is usually at a headline rate of 3.8%, a rate which middle class households are accustomed to as they proportionally spend more on fresh food, energy, education and food. However, they are now facing an inflation rate of nearly double the norm. The Cost of Living Index by Capital Economics is the longest-running independent set of cost-of-living measures. This index reveals that pensioners are also facing a 7.2% increase in prices, a rate not far from middle class households. Few can escape the impact of the rising inflation, but those being hit the hardest are families and pensioners who are especially exposed to the rising energy and food prices.
Unfortunately, there is no good news to be heard in the near future. Energy costs and food prices show now sign of slowing while the cost of private education is expected to increase significantly. In fact, even lunch costs at most public schools will increase as a result of inflation. For instance, London schools have increased the cost of lunch from £8.50 a week to £9, a trend expected beyond just London.
As far as energy prices, Centrica recently reported that gas bills could rise by seventy percent because of the skyrocketing oil prices. Contrary to food and education, the high energy bills will likely hit pensioners the hardest since the elderly typically spend more of their income on heat during the colder season. More than three million pensioners could soon find themselves in “fuel poverty” with energy costs continuing to rise. A person has reached fuel poverty when he or she must spend ten percent or more of their income on energy bills. However, the problem for pensioners is that many elderly will feel the need to cut back on heating their home which could add to health problems.
These groups of consumers hit the hardest with rising inflation will soon find themselves in a position of needing to compensate for the decreased income, if not already at this point. Fortunately, there is a way to make extra money by taking advantage of the largest growing industry online – gaming. Arbitrage trading in sports has become possible thanks to the internet providing a platform for transparent price discovery. Advanced software today allows ordinary people the ability to scan prices globally in seconds and find risk-free betting opportunities providing guaranteed returns of 12% per month.
Former investment banker Rajeev Shah explains this unique investment method in his bookSports-Arbitrage – How to Place Riskless Bets and Create Tax-Free Investments. The book provides a better understanding of the strategy behind this investment method as well as the advanced software called ArbAlarm providing individuals this terrific opportunity for risk-free returns. If this was not compelling enough, the UK Government recently announced through the Treasury that profits from arbitrage trading will remain free of income tax and capital gains tax. Risk-free, tax free and guaranteed profits are incentives enough to give arbitrage trading a chance. As one of the largest growing industries online, it looks like not everyone is waiting for policymakers to find a solution to the rising inflation!
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