To think work no longer ‘pays’

[Cuppasoupmonster]

This is a controversial topic so I’m expecting a few biscuits to be thrown at me so I’ve got my hard hat on. Inspired by the ‘benefits overhaul’ thread.

I often see on here that working and owning your own home is always better than claiming benefits and living in social housing. But it seems like the perks are long gone if I’m honest.

It feels like every day I’m dragging myself up at 6am to take my daughter to nursery (when I would much rather have her at home with me), just to pay our enormous mortgage and bills, before breaking even at the end. We haven’t had a holiday in 5 years. A few months ago I went into my overdraft for the first time in about 6-7 years despite the fact my spending is no different. What are the upsides again? Is it just that we get to choose the care home we die in (perhaps)? Because right now I’m feeling pretty pissed off with the whole thing and wondering if anyone else feels the same.

And inheritance for your children.

How do you know what the political landscape is going to look like in the future? That housing benefit could easily disappear. I wouldn't bet my future in it.

But it won’t be will it? Even the nasty tories won’t see the biggest voting demographic out on their arses.

No but I am at the mercy of my lender who increased my payments to an unaffordable amount, so we now have to move

So you might have move once, maybe twice. Some people have to move every bloody, often ending up in temporary accommodation because landlords won't lend if you're on UC. You find getting up at 6 tough. Imagine getting up at 5 to take your kids to school 10 miles away because they're settled and you're hoping to eventually get a rental near their school so you leave them there.

@Cuppasoupmonster students used to be able to claim housing benefit. They can't now. Things change all the time.

There will soon be the expectation that people save or prepare for the future.

The system is bollocks isn’t it? Working people are generally not paid enough for their skills and people who are making money from assets are not taxed enough.

Quit your job and claim benefits then?

You need to get over yourself OP.

Reduce your hours if you want to spend more time with your daughter.

Change your job if you are unhappy with it.

In a few years time you won’t have nursery fees, that’s got to have a dramatic impact on your finances. Maybe you could spend that money to go on holiday.

All of this ‘I’ll loose my house when I need a care home’ is bollocks anyway. You won’t need your house when you’re in a care home but you will need care.

What matters is that you make the most of the time between now and going into a care home.

So what happens to people who don’t own their own house and need a care home?

Fuck me sideways. I’d swap for your life any time. I can’t work, not because I’m ill but because my daughter is severely disabled and even though she goes to school any time of day I can be called to collect her for a reason related to her health. She barely sleeps.
I “live off” carers allowance and my DH is self-employed so there’s a fluctuation in his salary.
I will probably never have a holiday abroad again.
I will probably never work again.
If I wanted to see former work colleagues and friends it’d cost me £50 on a train. Out of £260 a month, that’s a lot.
My DD will probably die before me.
We own our house but it’s a shit hole.
what I’d give to have the problems you have.

This 100%

Also, while there are of course exceptions, I don’t imagine the standard of accommodation would be as good as you’d get with a ‘huge mortgage’!

I grew up in social housing and I wouldn’t trade my home now for where I grew up… and we were very lucky to have the home we did comparatively.

The grass isn’t greener 99% of the time.

They get what they are given and have no choice when it comes to spending some of their money to choose something that suits.

This!

I live on disability benefits, swap with me if you like, it's great fun.
ignorant fool

You’re also at the mercy of whichever MP wants to make a name for themselves. Remember the spare room tax?

You chose to have kids, and you chose to have a mortgage.

I get what the OP is saying. One major perk of working is presumably mixing with other people of a certain status and enjoying one's work - we get nothing of this here. If the job is no fun then it is a drag of an existence - it becomes like prison where you're let out at 5 for parole but have to be back in at 9.

On top of that, the country has no national narrative whatsoever. Nothing out there to really tap into, to get an impression - illusory or otherwise - of anything getting better. It's like this Govt really doesn't care and is only in it for itself, usually the proviso being, as with the 'promise' of being on benefits, 'well, it would be worse if you do the alternative...' i.e. Labour.

Third, living standards really haven't gone up so it's stalemate. It is running to stand still, and it's true - as the OP predicted - that many say, well, it's worse on benefits, but it's not much of a life if the only happiness comes from thinking of people worse off than you, it's a thin line between 'Oh, there for the grace of God go I, I should be grateful for my lot' and 'Oh, glad to see another story about welfare claimants being crapped on, it makes me feel relatively successful'.

You are forgetting you will have a capital gain at the end of this. That's a big difference.

I think it depends on the choices you make. If you overstretch yourself financially by getting the most expensive house you can afford and having more than 1 set of childcare to pay for and so on then your outgoings will be higher and you'll be working for less luxuries.

I am so glad I worked full time straight after maternity leave, it's meant I've been able to progress my career, the first 3 yrs of nursery were hard because the nursery bill was twice our mortgage and at the time half my annual gross salary so it was a push.

Since then my salary has quadrupled, we haven't moved to a more expensive house or upped our lifestyle in line with salary increases because the house we have is just fine so we have a small mortgage of only £400 a month, we no longer have regular childcare fees as DD is 8yo and we WFH so just need holiday clubs. That means we now have a lot more disposable income.

I'm assuming your "huge mortgage", is on a basic, just adequate home BTW, if not, serves you right doesn't it.
No?
Well whose fault is it you have a huge mortgage?

if you feel strong enough about this, give up work and claim the benefits on offer to you and see how you get along

You are just moaning, don't you think people work just as hard as you and still can't own a home. Some people work less so they can be with their children more, go part time stop forking out huge fees and use the 85% government childcare help. Going part time will allow you to be with your child more and yes you will get paid less but then apply for universal credits it will probably work out the sane as the wage you are earning. Now I know this comment will be absolutely scandalous but the amount of workers who moan, don't work as much then and claim if it gives you a better work life balance and no I do not care about saying that, when the government are sneaky little crooks I will not be a martyr working all hours just to break even.

In which case you won't need it anymore but hopefully there would be a fair few years before that when rent/mortgage payments weren't still being paid!

If you've got a job you don't enjoy then I think you're right OP. at least on benefits you've got your days to yourself (if you can handle the pressure of the job centre, which I could and couldn't at different points in my life).

The main benefits for working class home owners is that your KIDS might inherit a paid off house when you're dead. But anyone buying a house and working is a rubbish paid job now is most likely to have a life of drudgery until they're too old to enjoy it

Give up your job then, sell your house and go into rented. You have the choice. Funny that no one who starts these threads never does that.