Our favourite television shows constantly show us unrealistic expectations when it comes to affording life’s common expenses.

A lot of their characters work minimum wage jobs, just like students do, but still somehow manage to afford all their daily expenses, as well as luxuries and rent in some of the most expensive cities on the planet.

Come on, we’ve all wondered how the characters in Friends managed to live in large, beautiful apartments in New York City despite constantly becoming unemployed.

Loss assessors Harris Balcombe have worked out insurance figures for three of our most popular TV shows, against UK national averages.

Big Bang Theory – Sheldon’s Apartment

With a real-life salary of £50k, Sheldon would have had to pay £285 a year (£172 more than the UK average) to insure his apartment based on £30k worth of belongings, but he would have been able to claim £4850 to replace his stolen belongings after being burgled in S3 E13.

Stranger Things – Joyce Byer’s House

A lot of students have experienced the horrors of working retail, so we can at least relate a little bit to Joyce Byers (although hopefully most of us don’t have to deal with the Upside Down regularly).

She’d have to pay £1589 a year for her house in Hawkins, which is £1476 more than the UK national average.

Sounds huge, but she would have been able to claim £1500 back for the hole in her wall alone (S2 E4).

Friends – Central Perk

Despite Central Perk appearing in almost every episode of Friends, it’s owner Terry only appeared in a few.

He would have had to pay £1231 per year to insure the hangout spot for public, employers & product liability, business interruption and contents insurance, but he would be able to claim £25,000 back if Central Perk was damaged in a fire.

We can all agree that when you’re already tight for money, getting your stuff insured is probably the last thing on your list of necessary expenses, but your insurance premium wouldn’t be nearly as high as your favourite TV characters.

After all, most of us don’t own a million rare comic books or live in an area that can only be described as a death trap.

The last thing any of us want is to get your laptop stolen with all your dissertation work on it, or to lose all your hard-earned belongings in a house fire caused by burning toast, so it’s worth taking the time to look over policies and make sure that the cover you’re getting actually works for you, your belongings, your lifestyle and your budget.

You can check out the full interactive piece by Harris Balcombe

By Katie Ansell

Like this: Like Loading...