What applies to business applies to life?

We all know by the sheer volume of DIY and property shows that have originated in the UK that there must be some thing of a knack for business and project management ingrained in the average citizen. Applying high levels of advanced planning to this kind of project usually pays dividends. Naturally English have thought to apply the same levels of diligence to other facets of life.

On favourite pastime of the English is to plan Holidays. Whether this is related to a sense of project management, or ingrained desire to leave cloudy Brittani for some sun remains to be seen. I'm not just talking about planning a holiday, I'm talking about planning a holiday to the max, all included in a nice package - complete with payment plan (should one chose). Thing is Brits book these package holidays that far out, that anything could happen in the mean time. The travel company could go bust. Their personal circumstances could preclude them being able to make the trip. etc. Naturally all this leads rather conveniently to another rubbish financial product - travel insurance - the kind that includes all that extra crap that covers these eventualities. So why do Brits do it? Why do they pay through the nose for all manner of questionably unnecessary holiday extras (when in all likeliness they are just going to get drunk at night and lie on the beach all day), then take out a ridiculously priced insurance policy on the whole shebang, and potentially ice it off by paying for it on personal finance. I reckon it has to be a desire to plan ones pursuits in life like a business - planning months or years ahead in business is common practise, and progress in business often comes with coughing up cash in regular payments. Perhaps on the one hand it looks like holidays in the sun is all they have to look forward to, or to brag to colleagues to!

So you don't believe me on all this holiday stuff - go and open a British tabloid (or even a flashier broadsheet) newspaper - these are loaded with holiday 'packages'. Funny thing about these holidays is that if the protagonists involved simply got educated on their destination rather than the deals, i'm sure they could snag even better offers on accommodation and activities. Furthermore a bit of freedom never hurt anyone - booking later, and booking activities/ accom when you use them may cost a little more, but also leaves more options open. Potentially it may even be cheaper given the opportunity to haggle with poorly occupied hotels.

Holidays are not the only thing English people like to plan as if they were running a business. As i have touched on before, they also like to purchase assets ina similar manner to businesses - in payments - also known as finance. Finance is not really a new concept to an Australian such as myself, Aussie Bogans have been maxing out mortgages and credit cards for decades - not to mention buying furniture on x months interest free terms. 
What is staggering by comparison is the manner in which English employ yet another rubbish financial product. I'll give two examples of acquaintances of mine. The first earns a reasonable salary for someone his age, and decided to treat himself to a new car, on finance of course. All and good i suppose, if it enables you to get to work reliably in order to earn money. Nope, he has a new performance car that cost about 10k - yet today he complains about social commitments to going out for dinner - but surely for a once a month event that is cheaper than the interest he pays per week !
Another ludicrous example of finance is yet another acquaintance of mine who intends to buy a 1k bicycle frame. on finance. over 2 years. Few things here - you would want to be bloody good to pay that much for a frame - I've represented my country in the sport, and by current steed which sees probably 5k miles a year cost 80 quid. On this form i would not dream of spending any more. Thing is this bloke hasn't turned a pedal in 2 years! Then he intends to put a race bike on Finance? They are usually obsolete / worn out within that pay off period!


Not only do English love to pay for things in instalments, they also like to 'pre-buy' - in a similar manner that a business does when setting up or launching a new product. The classic English example is buying a car prior to having a licence. Yepo i know someone in this boat too. He's just bought a near new car on finance - a few months prior to actually being able to drive it!

Whats the moral to all this? Don't run your life like a business. The key thing about buying things in advance and in payments in business is the capital cost of these things, and the fact that they are purchased in order to pay for themselves by value adding to the business. Critically anything bought with personal finance is likely to depreciate in value, and is not likely to earn it's keep. clearly then, business concepts should not be applied to individual lives! Perhaps this is also where it needs to begin when it comes to the debt crisis too?