AIBU to feel deflated after payday despite a decent salary?

This exactly. I’m on £42k and live in the South East. It’s peanuts. Don’t qualify for any help.

I totally agree.

we’re in this situation due to tinkering in the past. I think it was Gordon Brown who did this. Wanting to raise more tax without being so obvious about it as raising the tax rate. So the marginal tax rate for someone earning £101k is far higher than someone earning £125k. Why is that fair? It’s clearly not.

But changing it now won’t happen. It raises a lot of money which they’ve got used to spending, and RR promised not to raise income tax rates so expect MORE tinkering not less.

And why should we be obliged to put money in a pension many of us never see? My bathroom is falling apart. I’d love a new one. I have young kids so outgoings are high and monthly saving is hard. I earned that bonus. Why take it off me at such a rapacious rate?

Frozen thresholds at all levels are causing huge damage to the value of work and people’s quality of life.

But they get away with it because the UK’s perspective of ‘high income’ seems frozen around the year 2000 - probably because of the nice round numbers. £50k is very well off, £100k is a millionaire lifestyle. Inflation doesn’t seem to impact these figures for… reasons.

Thank you. I get it now.

Funded childcare should be universal imo

£100k in 20226 is rather different to in 2009…!

This gets overlooked far too much.

100k in 2009 is 163k today!!!

@EvangelicalAboutButteredToast normal in London / South East now.

Since Jan fee rises, local nurseries are all £2300 - £2600 for a baby.

Maybe the question should therefore had been… how much do you earn as that seems an awfully high nursery bill for one child?

People don’t have high outgoings because of ‘lifestyle inflation’ though, it’s because the cost of living is very high - and even more so in some parts of the country.

But no - no government support. I pay the 60% tax rate and can’t use the benefits it creates, that is a very deflating experience…!

First the massive bill to the tax man, then you have to pay 50% extra for an unfunded nursery place on top of that - while 97% of parents get a funded place. Very frustrating.

Is it not a bit strange that the UK has created a tax rate that increases then decreases? What is the justification for this?

And then ‘just put it in your pension’… so earnings are basically capped at £100k until you earn really quite a lot more than £125k to make it ‘worth it’ keeping the money at the 62% tax rate. Why?

It makes no sense. Particularly given this threshold has existed since 2009 (!) - so since 2009 it’s been decided you don’t really need to earn over £100k as you can put the excess in a pension? £100k in 20226 is rather different to in 2009…!

And the only way you would be paying that entirely out of your own pocket it would be if you were earning a substantial amount of money otherwise you’d be receiving government funding towards it

‘Lifestyle creep’ like my nursery bill, which is £2300 for one child…!

Most people start off in minimum wage jobs (and that’s the way it should be) but then most people should work on developing their skills to be able to be paid more, I would expect someone to work their entire career on minimum wage unless they have illnesses or conditions that mean they aren’t capable of gaining more skills.
I do appreciate though that there are some very important jobs that are low paid which is why benefits/ tax credits for working people are needed

Dd2 is on maternity leave atm with her second dc. She loves her job and always wanted to work full time even after having dc. She is now seriously considering dropping a day when she goes back (dc will still be at nursery) as the figures don't add up.

Goes to show how greed keeps increasing the more someone has, for most people. Amusingly the same people probably wonder about how billionaires behave, meanwhile they would be identical in the same position.

There are options to get another job, or improve education to skill up.

My underlying belief is that if you are working full time and earning your own money, then you do not have to be grateful for what you’re allowed to keep. I think the implication that people should be grateful to keep any of their own wage is disgraceful.

I think anyone receiving state money should be grateful for that support yes. Not because I think they are less than, but they are receiving a hand out, paid for by others. I could one day through no fault of my own, end up in that position. I would in that case be extremely grateful.

You should try living on my wage.

If you’d read the thread you’d see I’ve explained that I’d already maxed out my pension contributions and couldn’t add anymore for the year in question.

It'll be what you lose to income tax, and NI.
First line under each section is annual figure, then monthly, then weekly; eg the last set of figures is the take home pay annually (c £72k) then monthly, then weekly.

Well you mum can only have one birthday a year so that's not a regular expense

You should have put it in your pension obviously.

If your children are healthy and happy and you have a safe and secure home, you have the whole world OP.

If it's more money you want, do the Rebel Finance course on You Tube (it's free).

Get an emergency fund in place, and then invest your £700 each month and watch your wealth grow over time through compounding.

You won't get rich from earnings. You build wealth through investing. Make your hard-earned money work passively for you. Anyone with a spare £20 a month can do it. With your monthly "spare" £700, you most certainly can!

In the meantime, enjoy our bomb-free skies, your children's laughter, and the feeling of sun on your skin. Things which cost nothing but mean everything.

£700.00 savings and £300.00 in a holiday fund is living the life. I’d consider it a privilege to be able to do that. There are some families that struggle to even put food on the table.

I can’t make head nor tail of that.

So you have saved £1000 this month

mum’s bday is a one off

what is the 700 going towards each month so jus under £8.5k. An if dh is doing the same that’s £17k a year saved