Feeling poor - you are not alone.

(Click on the chart to enlarge)

Do you feel that your income in real terms has barely changed in recent years? Are you relying increasingly on credit maintain your standard of living. Recent debt and wage data suggest that your experience is far from unique.

Average wages (including bonuses), adjusted for the retail price index have hardly grown in the last fifteen years. Since 1993, the index has gone up just 20 percent. Since the end of 2000, real average wages have increased by just 5.3 percent.

It is a very different story in terms of real household debt (again deflated by the retail price index). Since 1993, real debt is up 135 percent. Since the end of 2000, it has increased by a staggering 69 percent.

UK households have been hiding their stagnant income growth by ever increasing levels of personal debt. Today, household debt stands at almost 100 percent of GDP. It can not go on. It won't go on. We are maxed out on the collective credit card. It is now time to stop borrowing and start repairing our personal balance sheets.