The most recent bankruptcy statistics highlight a growing trend in the number of young women filing for bankruptcy. The majority of under 24s filing for bankruptcy are now female, suggesting that it is young women that are more likely to succumb to ever growing temptation to spend money that they don’t have. This may not come as a surprise since a passion for the latest in designer fashions and the associated shopping spree have become ubiquitous pop culture references to young women. Five years ago, 48% of young people that declared bankruptcy were female. By last year, this figure had risen to 55%. That’s 1,560 women to 1,250 men. So, what’s sparked this trend?
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Watching the helicopter footage of an ambulance crew arriving, crowds of curious onlookers gathering and the World’s media clamouring for the best vantage point, it was all too easy to think of this as some kind of clandestine peek into Michael Jackson’s home at his most vulnerable. Jacko seems all the more vulnerable when we consider that the Beverly Hills mansion, in which he lived out his last moments, wasn’t actually his home. Jackson had been living a self imposed exile from his famous residence, the Neverland Ranch, for many years. The pressure of spiralling debt and its association with child molestation court cases had, understandably, taken the sparkle off his fairytale refuge.
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With the first green shoots of recovery starting to peek through, we can begin to dream about life after the credit crunch. Obviously, it would be foolhardy to think that things had returned to the buoyant boom-time that we enjoyed pre-crunch; unemployment continues to rise, house prices are still down and interest rates remain on hold. However, as the global economy starts to improve, that barometer of public opinion and lasting budgetary indicator, the Premiership football club, is a continuing beacon of resilience.
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Once upon a time, following a protracted divorce from her sweet Prince Andrew in 1996, the fair Duchess of York found herself up to her tiara in debt. In an effort to pay off her £4m arrears, Sarah Fergusson became a spokesperson for Wedgewood china and WeightWatchers in America.
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