Tag Archives: statistics

Marriage rate at record low: 10 risks we take when we live together

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  • The marriage rate of opposite sex couples was the lowest on record in 2018, with 20.1 per 1,000 unmarried men and 18.6 per 1,000 unmarried women.
  • In the previous 10 years, marriage rates had fallen most among those under the age of 20: down 57% for men and 63% for women.
  • The average age to get married is rising – in opposite-sex couples, men married at an average age of 38.1, and women 35.8 years.
  • There were 234,795 marriages in 2018 – down 3.3% from 2017.
  • Since 1972, the annual number of opposite-sex marriages has fallen 46.5%.

The Office for National Statistics has published marriage statistics for 2018 today.

wedding planning, wedding, weddings,

Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown

“Marriages hit a record low in 2018, as more people decided it was better to live with their partner first for a few years than live with a bad decision forever. But as more couples move in together for longer without tying the knot, they need to understand the ways it can make them vulnerable.

Separate ONS statistics show that among those under 30, more than two thirds of couples are living together without getting married, along with one in five couples in their 40s and one in ten people in their 60s.

There are all sorts of reasons why people choose to marry or live together, and nobody would suggest marrying for money. However, if you are living together you need to understand the financial risks you face. You could be in for a horrible surprise if you split up, or fall foul of rules you never knew existed if your partner was to die.

The good news is that you don’t have to rush into marriage to protect yourself, because there are steps you can take to cut your risks, whatever your marital status.

10 risks of living together

  1. If one of you dies without a will, the other could get nothing. If the home is in their name, you could lose your home too, because everything passes to your partner’s children. If they have no children, everything in their name will pass to their parents instead.
  2.  If you have a pension which is meant to pay out to a spouse when you die, some pensions don’t allow this to be left to an unmarried partner. Some will allow you to complete a ‘nomination of beneficiaries’ form, to ask for anything to pass to your partner, but if you don’t complete the form there are no guarantees that this will happen.
  3. If you have children, the father isn’t on the birth certificate, and the mother dies, the father doesn’t automatically have a right to care for the child.
  4. If one of you dies and leaves everything to the other, in a marriage or civil partnership this would all be free of inheritance tax. If you’re not married and you breach the inheritance tax nil rate band, there could be tax to pay. In some cases, this could mean you can’t afford to stay in your home.
  5. There are no inheritable ISAs. If your spouse holds an ISA on death, you will get an additional ISA allowance – called an Additional Permitted Subscription, which essentially means ISA assets they leave you can all be wrapped up in an ISA again without affecting your allowances. If you’re not married, you don’t get this extra ISA allowance.
  6. If you split up and one of you owns the house in their name, the other may have no right to live in it or to a share of the property.
  7. On the flip side, if the property belongs to one of you entirely, but the other has contributed towards it in some way – including paying a share of the bills or helping with home improvements, they can claim an ‘interest’ in it, and go to a court for a share of the property. It means couples who move in together may have made a bigger commitment than they appreciate.
  8. If you split up, and one of you has sacrificed their career for caring responsibilities, they have no right to spousal maintenance. On average, women’s pay falls 7% for each child they have – so without maintenance to make up the difference, this could leave them thousands of pounds worse off each year.
  9. In the event of a split, if one of you has a sizeable pension and the other has nothing, there’s no compulsion to share.
  10. There are tax disadvantages. We all have a personal allowance that’s not subject to income tax, a personal savings allowance, a dividend allowance and a capital gains tax allowance. Married couples can share assets between them to take advantage of both people’s allowances, and the lower taxpayer can hold the balance. If unmarried couples try to do this, sharing the assets could trigger a tax bill.

How to protect yourself

Make a will

The only way to ensure an unmarried partner inherits is to draw up a will so that your assets are left exactly as you want them. While it’s vital that everyone makes a will, the stakes for unmarried partners are even higher.

Think carefully about how all assets are owned

If one of you moved in with the other, and the home remains in their name, have you contributed financially? Financial contributions can be reflected by switching to own the property as tenants in common. This allows the financial contribution to be reflected accurately in the proportions of ownership. Also think before taking on any debt: if the loan is for the benefit of both of you, it should be in both names. And consider your savings, if you’re saving together, it should be in both names.

Consider a co-habitation agreement

This will lay out all kinds of things, from how you manage money between you to who owns what in the relationship. It can also iron out what will happen in the event that you split up.

Ensure both parents have parental responsibility

Fathers can protect themselves by being there when the birth is registered, and being on the birth certificate. If it’s too late for that, you can agree parental responsibility between you and complete the form . If you can’t agree, you may need to go to court.

Take out life insurance

Both of you should have enough insurance to ensure the children are provided for in the event you die. After a split, the resident parent should have cover and if one of you is paying child support, they should have cover that will replace it in the event of their death.

Build a nest egg for your child

One of the best ways to protect your child against whatever the future holds is for them to have savings and investments in their own name. The Junior ISA can be a really sensible option. Nobody can access the money until they are 18, and at that point it belongs entirely to the child. While the money is saved or invested it grows free of tax, and there’s no tax to pay when it’s withdrawn either.”

  • There were 6,925 marriages between same-sex couples, of which 57.2% were between female couples.
  • 803 same-sex couples converted their civil partnership into a marriage.
  • 21.1% of opposite-sex marriages in 2018 were religious ceremonies, the lowest on record.

 

Is That a Big Number? By Andrew C. A. Elliott

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is that a big number, maths,

This is a fun and riveting book. Written in an accessible and engaging way, it is unputdownable.

Impressive statistics are thrown at us every day – the cost of health care; the size of an earthquake; the distance to the nearest star; the number of giraffes in the world.

We know all these numbers are important – some more than others – and it’s vaguely unsettling when we don’t really have a clear sense of how remarkable or how ordinary they are. How do we work out what these figures actually mean? Are they significant, should we be worried, or excited, or impressed? How big is big, how small is small?

With this entertaining and engaging book, help is at hand. Andrew Elliott gives us the tips and tools to make sense of numbers, to get a sense of proportion, to decipher what matters. It is a celebration of a numerate way of understanding the world. It shows how number skills help us to understand the everyday world close at hand, and how the same skills can be stretched to demystify the bigger numbers that we find in the wider contexts of science, politics, and the universe.

Entertaining, full of practical examples, and memorable concepts, Is That A Big Number? renews our relationship with figures. If numbers are the musical notes with which the symphony of the universe is written, and you’re struggling to hear the tune, then this is the book to get you humming again.

Is That a Big Number? By Andrew C. A. Elliott is available here.

Is This the Best Treatment for me Doctor? Statistics on a Postage Stamp by Dr Kathleen Thompson

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When we read about impressive new drugs, do we really understand what the percentages quoted mean?

You may need to make medicines-related choices—particularly for cancer, but other illnesses too. To make rational decisions you MUST understand the numbers your doctor quotes. He won’t deliberately mislead, but it is easy to misunderstand  statistical data.

So let me give you an inkling—not a maths lesson, just a few tips to help you ask the right questions.

Last week the BBC headlined: ‘Breast cancer: Taking hormone drugs for up to 15 years can reduce risk … cancer recurrence was cut by 34%’

Wow. Impressive. But let’s look closer: In that particular study, 95% of those who took the treatment for 15 years were cancer-free, compared to 91% who stopped at 10 years.

Hang on – 95% isn’t that different from 91%. How is that cutting risk by 34%?

Well (and this is important) improvement percentages quoted in newspapers, and by doctors and scientists, are often described in relation to the original risk.

In these patients, the original risk of cancer recurring was only 9%, so any improvement would appear large relative to 9%. If the original risk had been higher, the same benefit would have appeared less.

OK that’s the bottom line. But for the curious, another example:

Relative Risk Reduction (RRR) is a statistic often used to describe drug benefit. It is what it says—the reduction in risk (eg risk of death, or disease recurrence) relative to the original risk, ie the actual risk improvement divided by the original risk.

cancerriskreduction2

The Table shows an example. Patient A has a low risk of cancer returning (9%); Patient B’s cancer is more likely to recur (50%).

You can see from the Table that Patient A’s risk will only decrease by 4% with Treatment X, whereas Patient B’s will decrease by 15%.

Knowing this, Patient B should be more inclined to take treatment X than Patient A.

However, if Patient A’s doctor describes the benefit as RRR (see Table), then Patient A’s risk appears to decrease by a massive 44%. Consequently Patient A may have wildly inaccurate expectations for the treatment. The doctor isn’t tricking him, RRR is scientifically valid, but you need to know what it means.

This example highlights another point. Sometimes we only know that a treatment works in most people. However sometimes there is more information about how much it works in different patients eg Patient B would respond to Treatment X more than Patient A.

If available, you need specific information on the benefit for YOU. This could influence your decision, particularly for a treatment which has significant side-effects.

So, in summary: 

If your doctor uses percentages to explain a treatment benefit, ask:

1. Exactly what do the numbers mean?

2. By how many percentage points should you improve on treatment?

3. Is there more specific information for your particular situation? 

Don’t be frightened to ask your doctor for more information—he wants you to understand and may not realise when you don’t.

By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co,uk

Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice

Further information:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36455719

http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1604700

http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2013/03/15/absolute-versus-relative-risk-making-sense-of-media-stories/

http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/understand/abs_v_rel

http://www.nps.org.au/glossary/absolute-risk-reduction-arr

 

 

 

Do You Have Smart Energy?

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A new infographic released from Smart Energy GB shows that a majority of people who have one find them accurate, with 76% trusting the information that they give as opposed to 57% who think the old system does a good job. It also shows that unsurprisingly gadget-friendly younger people are more interested in the device, and that 59% of people who have heard of one would like one. The northwest is more clued up about smart meters, and the main appeal of having one is in being able to count up your energy usage in pounds and pence, the graphic shows.

National Smart Meter Awareness

Two Thirds of Men Would Be Happy To Be a Stay-at-Home Dad

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baby, shared parental leave, feminism, equality, childcare, leave, maternal, work, working mothers, lean in The times they are a changing. It is true that women and men will never be equal until men take up their share of childcare (and while we are at it, domestic chores) and it seems that that might actually be happening. A recent survey suggests that two thirds of men would be happy to be a stay-at-home dad.

Despite mums traditionally dealing with the majority of childcare, three quarters of men say they would be happy to quit work during their son or daughter’s first year so that their partner can return to their job, instead of taking the usual period of maternity leave.

And almost one in twenty men are already responsible for looking after their children whilst their wife or girlfriend goes to work.

It also emerged that 72 per cent of women would also be happy if their other half wanted to look after the children with 65 per cent worrying about the effect any time off would have on their career.

The statistics emerged in a study commissioned by national law firm Irwin Mitchell a month before a change in the law which will see couples have the opportunity to start sharing parental leave.

But these results show the new laws designed to encourage parents to share time off work following the birth of their child look set to be far more popular than government predictions had previously stated.

Irwin Mitchell employment partner Glenn Hayes said: “For a long time now, the traditional roles have seen dads returning to work just days after their baby has been born, while mums take a year or so away from their career to look after the children.

“But times are changing and it’s becoming easier, and more acceptable, for dads to take on the role of caregiver, while mums become the main breadwinner. What’s more, it seems the majority of men are happy to have it this way around.

“Thanks to changes coming into effect in April, working couples will be able to share that period of leave over the first year, meaning neither one has to miss out on such a large amount of time away – whether it’s from their career or baby.

“Shared parental leave is one of the most significant changes to flexible working rights but it is still uncertain how many families are expected to take up the new right.

“According to Government projections, as few as 5,700 men will apply over the next 12 months, but the figures in this survey suggest that the appetite for doing so could be much stronger with take up being much higher.

“So it’s important businesses and employers need to be prepared for the changes before they come into force, and know their rights as well as those of their employees.”

The study of 2,000 men and women found 66 per cent of men would be happy to take on the role of stay-at-home dad, whilst another three quarters would happily work part-time to allow their partner to return full-time.

Four in 10 say this is down to them wanting to be a bigger part of their child’s life than they would be if they worked full-time while 19 per cent worry they will miss out on too much of their child’s life otherwise.

More than a third say it’s the most sensible option for them as their wife or girlfriend earns more than them, with another 23 per cent not enjoying their job whilst their other half does.

One in twenty said taking the time off work will be less detrimental to their career than that of their partner.

Other reasons men want to take on the childcare role include it being easier for them to work around school or nursery hours than their partner, believing it would be less stressful to look after the kids than go to work and not wanting to commute anymore.

Sixty-one per cent even claimed they would be happy to become a stay-at-home dad, even if it had a detrimental effect on their career in the future.

But the researcher found that whilst most would be happy to share their decision, 23 per cent of men wouldn’t be comfortable telling their friends about their plan to be a stay-at-home dad, while 49 per cent would be worried about others judging them.

Glenn Hayes, an employment Partner at national law firm Irwin Mitchell, added: “These figures may take businesses by surprise and it is vital that they deal effectively with what is an extremely complex piece of legislation.

“It is important that employees start their conversations with their employers as early as possible in relation to shared leave, but it is vital that companies deal with the requests in the correct manner.

“Many businesses have been slow to prepare themselves for this important change and in doing so have left themselves exposed open to the risk of mishandling requests and inviting claims for discrimination.”

Shared Parental Leave rules allow those whose children are expected to be born or adopted from 5 April will be able to share up to 50 weeks of parental leave between mum and dad during the first year after a baby is born/child is adopted.

Previously, the majority of dads had two weeks paternity leave while mums could have up to 12 months maternity leave and nine months paid maternity leave.

 

 

Fashematics: Oscars Fashion Infographic

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With the Oscars fast approaching we are getting excited about…the clothes. Okay, it is about the films but the red carpet is a place for the actors and fashion designers to shine. We love this impressive infographic from Lyst. Over half the team at Lyst are data scientists, crunching over 100,000 data changes every hour from 9,000 fashion partners.

This week we tasked them with looking at the outfits worn by the Best Actress winners at the Oscars over the last 80 years.

They came up with a mathematically true formula that calculates the probability that a look will be Oscar winning, and also the luckiest combination.

The attached infographic sums up their findings, plus some extra data around the awards.

J is the luckiest letter for a Best Actresses’ first name to start with (good news for Julianne Moore this year)

oscarsfashion

Made by  www.lyst.com

 

 

One In Eight British Adults Are Now Vegetarian

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Leek And Lentil Hotpot Recipe Vegetarian FoodcookingSomething is afoot. A change in our eating habits which has become more than a trend. Sparked by people becoming more environmentally conscious and not wanting to contribute to the damage that cheap meat causes. More people are becoming vegan, pescetarian (eats fish but no meat), vegetarian and flexitarian (has a mostly plant based diet but occasionally eats meat. I would put myself at the end. I have tried vegetarianism before but it never worked out. The first time I got really ill and when I started eating meat again I always made sure it was organic, free-range meat and that the animal had had a good life). To be honest the thing that most put me off vegetarianism was, and is, aggressive vegetarians. There are few things worse in life than an aggressive vegetarian who is always getting on their high horse and telling everyone else what to eat and how to live their life. Debate is fine, not lecturing. My husband is now mostly pescetarian, we eat mostly vegetables at home. This has been a learning curve when cooking meals and has also been a trial whilst pregnant and constantly craving meat. My husband and I are not alone however.

According to Mintel, around 12 per cent of people now follow vegetarian or vegan diets – rising to 20 per cent of those aged between 16 and 24. Millions more are flexitarian. A staggering one in eight British adults are now vegetarian. The truth is, we are all eating less meat. The meat-free market is now worth £625million a year and growing all the time.

That is quite something. We will be doing more vegetarian recipes on Frost and will also be doing a lot of cooking videos on our YouTube channel. So watch out for both and let us know what you think.

5 Reasons To Give Up Alcohol

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whitewineAccording to the latest statistics the average person in Britain spends £50,000 on alcohol in their lifetime. The shocking figures were compiled by Macmillan Caner Support who are currently asking people to sign up to Go Sober for October.

Nutritionist Elouise Bauskis from nutricentre.com gives her five simple reasons not to drink alcohol, or at least to reduce your intake:

We’ve been told that a little bit of alcohol is healthy for us, for example a glass of red wine will provide us with resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant.  if you’re especially addicted to alcohol, it is not only important to cut down alcohol, it is also important to visit rehab near me for substance abuse treatment. There may be some health benefits, but there is increasing incidence of women especially, consuming beyond the recommended amount of alcohol, often binging at the weekends. It’s very easy for us to consume over the recommended 2-3 units per day – that one large glass of wine may equal this! How many of us consume way more than this in an evening out or at home?!

Women are more physiologically sensitive to alcohol than men, states experts from alcohol and drug rehab. This is because we have a lower body content of water and we have a higher fat content, therefore alcohol becomes more concentrated in our systems and is retained in our bodies longer. As a result women develop liver disease at lower levels of alcohol intake than men do, and are at increased risk of osteoporosis (due to reduced absorption of nutrients).

1. Protect your liver – The liver is an amazingly robust organ, and is the only organ that has the ability to regenerate itself after certain types of damage. Unfortunately alcohol is one of the toxins that the liver doesn’t handle as well as other toxins, and it cannot regenerate after being severely damaged by alcohol. The liver processes 95% of alcohol ingested. Alcohol is seen as a toxin and therefore the body will preferentially process it before anything else. As a result alcohol is absorbed and processed before nutrients and food; therefore it’s not a good idea to consume alcohol whilst eating!

2. Optimise your nutrient absorption and prevent excess aging – Repeated consumption of alcohol inhibits the liver’s production of digestive enzymes, which then majorly reduces the body’s ability to absorb proteins, fats and the fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, D, E and K), as well as the B complex vitamins especially B1 (thiamine) and folic acid. Many essential nutrients are not retained by the body and are ‘washed out’ rapidly through the urine. This means that alcohol consumption causes a major loss of valuable nutrients and antioxidants. Without these vital elements, we may not have the adequate ingredients to make collagen, meaning we may produce wrinkles more easily. With the loss of antioxidants, we may age much more quickly, losing our vitality and looks.

3. Avoid excess weight gain, especially around the middle – Because alcohol prevents the body’s ability to digest fats properly, excessive amounts of fat may accumulate in the liver. Leptin is a peptide hormone involved in the regulation of appetite and energy metabolism. High levels of leptin are known to contribute to fatty infiltration of the liver. Alcohol prevents the release of glucose from the liver and can cause hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels). This drop in blood sugar often produces a craving for foods, especially foods that raise blood sugar such as more alcohol or sugar – not good for anyone, especially those concerned about weight gain, especially fat around the middle! For anyone with diabetes and are taking insulin, this can have very serious negative results.

4. Alcohol can negatively affect your sex life and fertility – Alcohol reduces the body’s storage of the essential mineral zinc. Zinc is involved in hundreds of reactions in the body, so without it, many processes suffer, including your hormonal balance and fertility. For men! For men it can reduce testosterone production and cause erectile dysfunction, and for women it can disrupt your menstrual cycle, and if you’re thinking about having a baby, alcohol consumption increases your chance of miscarriage and birth defects.

5. Alcohol may be making you depressed and anxious – As alcohol reduces the absorption of many essential nutrients, it may be having a major impact on your brain chemistry in a negative way. For example, those consuming excessive alcohol may have lower levels of tryptophan (the amino acid that is converted to serotonin). Low serotonin is a major feature of depression. Selenium deficiency may occur as a result of alcohol intake and is associated with depression, anxiety, confusion and hostility. The absorption of B vitamins are majorly affected by alcohol consumption, and deficiency in these crucially important vitamins will add to stress, nervous tension and energy levels.