Would UBI make a difference to me right now?

I am a fan of the idea of universal basic income: UBI.

Under this concept, everyone receives a certain amount from the state.

Everyone, without means testing etc.

I am a fan of this, although I’m not sure how it would work out in practice, at least without other supporting regulation. For example, would it just lead to higher prices?

But I was pondering the other day whether UBI would make a difference to me, personally.

And… I don’t know.

Right now, probably not too much.

I would not complain about extra money, of course, but there are plenty of people who need it more than I do. I could just give it away.

At the moment, I am working and I am earning, and I would not stop working, or change my job, because of UBI (unless UBI was some unrealistic massive amount, which I doubt).

Would I work fewer hours? Honestly, I doubt it, but again I guess that might depend on how much one received in UBI.

Could I do more pro bono work? Interesting… yes, possibly! That might be the biggest difference that I’ve come up with.

Most of this comes from doing a job that I enjoy, and earning a good salary from doing so. If either of those factors were different, I’d likely feel very different.

Would I spend more (on the assumption that I would have more disposable income, which I guess very much is an assumption)?

If, as I somewhat fear, prices would go up across the board, then I suspect that yes, I would spend more, but just to stand still. In other words, the benefit of the UBI would be consumed by the increase in prices resulting from it.

And if prices did not increase? I don’t know.

I do wonder whether I would feel that I should give (at least some of) the additional money I receive to people who would still need it more than I did, as I am struggling to believe that UBI would mean that everyone had all the money that they needed to live.

Spending it, ideally with small businesses? Perhaps…

Saving it, rather than recirculating it, seems counterintuitive to me, but I haven’t given that much thought. But then saving for a rainy day also has an appeal.

Of course, if I could not work, or did not want to work, then it would be a different story. And either or both of this is entirely possible at some point in my life.

Basically, there will be a whole load of people who will benefit much more from UBI than I feel that I would based on how things are for me right now. And that’s fine, and I’d still love to have UBI for them.

I wonder whether, in my lifetime, this will ever be more than idle pondering for me.