Poor life planning..

[pocketpairs]

With the upcoming budget seen many "poor me" posts, particularly from high/middle earners. I find it frustrating that rather than blame themselves for thier life (& financial planning) choices, they blame some arbitrary government policy changes, such as upcoming introduction of new council tax bands.

Example: Sister & hubby earn £14k net p/m. But their choice to buy a nearly £x.xm house in SE & send DCs to private school means they have £3k (approx) to spend on everything else. They could have taken different choices...£1m houses &/or move to grammar school areas.

Clearly this is an extreme example, but I really don't understand why a family can't survive on £4-6k p/m, especially outside of London. Up until recently, I survived on much less and managed to put myself a firmer financial footing in 40s.

Sure this means some sacrifices, but it seems everyone wants to 'have their cake and eat it'.

I think this is very true

Umm the absurd triple lock… most elderly people at some point need care of some sort and they have to pay for it all themselves if they have any capital meanwhile they get no tax relief whatsoever for doing that ( even if they have terminal illness like dementia) this money is generally being paid to private entities and not to state managed care organizations, so that might be worth looking into but in the meantime leave them their triple lock they’ll need it if they live long enough

I think that people tend to budget so they have little in reserve which means they are more vulnerable to the economic downturn. That is poor budgeting agreed, however they are living within their means and are entitled to be worried about additional taxes. Equally those who are the breadline often make choices - having many children is one of these which causes initial strain.

If you earn £14k per month then you already pay alot of tax at the higher rate.

Do l hear to he so called "Squeezed Middle Classes" whingeing again?

Ttry to cut down on wine, after school clubs, cleaners, shopping at Waitrose, local delicatessens etc Before you started whingeing about money

Yes you may do work hard. But then again so do lots of decent working class people who just earn normal wages.

And don't have money from Welfare benefits thrown at them and getting everything paid for them. You know the ones who have loads of kids they can't afford to keep and expect the state to look after them.

If your can't afford them don't have them.

But it seems to be their god given divine right.

Was really let down by Rachael Reeves to see that the two children UC limit had been scrapped in the budget. Taking children out of poverty my arse

Very cynical. Just another vote winning attempt to get former Labour Voters back from Reform?

Not only that, but you can see that achievement, self-reliance and financial responsibility are actively sneered at! For some reason these things are seen as negative, as 'privileged,' as a target for exploitation because they deserve it. A person on benefits is seen as morally superior to someone who works hard in a skilled profession. It's completely backwards.

My parents were from immigrant families who both worked (and still work) incredibly hard to give their children a good life. Further degrees from Oxbridge, insane work schedules, mental and physical stress, the sacrifice of freedom and family time.

I think we will suffer massive brain drain from those who still want to achieve, and those who stay here will just choose not to.

Er…someone obviously didn’t watch Labour’s autumn budget on Wednesday!

Totally agree 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Ok. So I am one of the squeezed middle classes. Yes I shop in Waitrose because I care about where what I put in my mouth comes from (ie not shit meat from countries with no animal welfare standards); yes my ONE son plays football and we pay for him to be part of the local club; it’s good for his physical and mental wellbeing - he does go state school so I can’t get bashed for that. We do drink wine at the weekends and bloody well enjoy it! We have had one holiday abroad in 3 years. When I buy clothes I buy a few key pieces from reputable UK brands or Vinted. Clothing and shoes are bought to last.

We don’t have Disney +, Sky Sports etc. Our cars are about 15 years old. I don’t buy shed loads of shit off Temu and Shein that is the discarded after Halloween/ Christmas/ Easter or after a couple of wears because it is going out fashion or falling apart.

I pointed this out further up post to the OP who then didn’t respond. If we - the despised middle classes - stop spending in the high street (rather than supporting cheap shite from China), the hospitality and entertainment industries, the housing market and tourism, the economy will take a downturn. Basic economics - you need a thriving economy to drive growth.

So yes, we are pissed off that we are carrying the can for the benefit sector of the country (as in those who are just too f@cking lazy to get off their arses and work) but we can also see that by us spending less in the economy as a whole, the situation is just going to get worse!!

The majority of benefits to working age people go to those in work. But don't let that fact stop you ranting about benefit scroungers

I’m not the only one moaning about benefit scroungers - read the whole post! But this is where the system is wrong. I have managed an organisation where people refused to do more than their 16/18 hours a week (even on a once off basis) because it interfered with their benefits - and they are paying minimal if any tax. So they are being paid to work a few hours a week, plus benefits and not putting back into society!

People live to their means, if they are working and doing everything right of course they are going to be upset when the goalposts change and their chosen lifestyle becomes unaffordable. The way that any high earner in a household excludes child benefit is very unfair though, my husband is above the threshold so if I were to claim it we’d have to pay it back. However I’m currently not working as we have a child with a disability and I need to be available for them (I tried going back to work for a while and it wasn’t sustainable). So although my husband is in the high earning category if you were to divide it between us it’s a very average income. Households that bring in much much more are receiving the payments.

Agreed

You need to be claiming, and setting your amount of child benefit to receive as £0 (so you don’t have to pay it back). You are not working, therefore not earning National Insurance credits for your state pension. Claiming child benefit earns you a National Insurance credit for that year. If you continue not working/not claiming CB, you will have a huge hole in your state pension.

Your post makes no sense to me. It seems to imply that the only purpose of earning more money is to anticipate that money being taken in tax. The whole conversation is about the wrong thing. It should be about how we can grow our economy and raise average incomes, which would include raising the tip incomes and would increase the tax take without increasing the % tax paid. Instead of which you seem to be saying that people with money to spend shouldn't spend it. Ok, well, enjoy Cuba.

Totally agree. Everyone knows someone that works the minimal amount of hours as it affects their benefits. To those who say it doesn’t happen it does and I know a fair few of them.

I get a carers allowance, I should probably be wiser about these things but I assumed that would keep my NI and pension going?

What are you on about!? The state can only be there because of ordinary people working their asses off and NOT the other way around. Jobs will always exist with or without the state!!

I believe it does earn NI credits 👍

Another amusing parody. Please note people the obvious flags laid out (e.g. ‘x’h, as well as the clearly laughable numbers. But that’s the thing about parody eh, it works because there is a kernel of ‘truthiness’ therein. Bravo!

So your job doesn't rely in any way on state infrastructure? Your life doesn't? If you genuinely believe that then you're living in cloud cuckoo land

We rely on the state, it relies on us. It's symbiotic

As someone who was born in soviet Russia, I guarantee you EVERYONE in this country had the basics! And it should absolutely be everyone right to want more and not be taxted on the last penny!!

The CAB should be able to give you proper advice on this. You don't want to miss out

Not always insane hours, usually maybe but deffo not always .
My BIL works in finance , very flexible ,mainly working from home , never misses a child’s sports day, parents evening , or event . And never worked past 6pm or a weekend in his life . Granted it’s rare but not unheard of .

I'm quite obviously responding to the OP's argument, saying that technically their statement can apply to both sides of the argument. Duh