Absolutely rinsed in this budget - almost £1k a year worse off.

[Mushroo]

Honestly in despair at this government. On a very high level calc, we are so much worse off!

We both pay a lot into pensions, so the NI change is about £700 a year worse off.

We have an EV car, so based on our 4k a year mileage, it’s about £120 a year. (Although how it will be enforced I have no idea).

Stagnating tax thresholds, probably about £100 a year between us.

Council tax F house (4 bed end terrace, not a mansion, needs renovating). So risk of revaluation after having paid a fortune in stamp duty. We didn’t get first time buyer stamp duty relief because we bought about 2 years too early, and we moved before Covid so no relief there either. So overall we’ve paid about £30k in stamp duty already over our lifetime.

Weve already had the private school hit (which is a separate debate and we’ve accepted that) but wow, we are just being kicked on all sides.

We are classic ‘middle earners’ - earn about £70k each, but have mahoosive mortgage and pay over £2k a month in nursery fees already.

Every measure just seems to have a negative effect on our lifestyle, which is ‘comfortable’ but increasingly squeezed.

I will save my sympathy for those in povertyZ

Honestly, the point here isn’t that we’re poor or struggling. It’s that the whole budget has absolutely nothing to offer.

We aren’t millionaires, we just have reasonable jobs, long hours and a decent family house.

We just have lifestyle erosion, which most people do, but we seem to have been hit very hard in this particular budget. Which is hard when you do all the ‘right’ things and don’t have much to show for it each month.

Investing in an index fund via a stocks and shares over the long term isn’t gambling. It’s almost guaranteed very good returns over the long term. You are not being encouraged to take high risk strategies investing in single company stocks - global tracker funds are an incredibly safe place to put your money as long as you’re comfortable that you won’t absolutely have to access it in the next five years to give you flexibility to ride out dips in the market.

If you need to know you can use your money in the short term without having to consider the state of the market, i.e. your emergency fund or saving for a short term goal, then use a different type of sayings account or your remaining £12k cash isa allowance.

This isn’t about where to put short term savings, it’s about the use of ISAs for long term saving and wealth building.

It’s really badly worded and seems to confuse people. It’s not child benefit that was capped. It was universal credit/tax credits that was capped at two children. It was a two-child, benefit cap. Not a two, child-benefit, cap.

Given how common this misunderstanding is I'd love to know how many MP's also thought that - either now or when it was originally brought in.

I bet there was a fair few.

Just ignore the comments on this thread OP, well done on working hard and being net contributors. An increasingly rare thing in the UK.

This. Mumsnet just hates people who are doing ok in life and can’t bear to hear a word of complaint about all these shit policies that are designed to discourage ambition and hard work, from people who have the audacity not to be on minimum wage. It’s embarrassing to read.

Well we earn more than op and I think her post is fucking ridiculous.

1k a year is really very little. Maybe it's a lot when earn 12k a year, but not 140k. If you don't want to pay tax or live as a part of a society piss off somewhere else. Then see how much you like it if you lose your job, or become disabled, or your child does, or the roads you travel on to get to work collapse etc etc

It means restored eligibility in means-tested benefits (e.g. Universal Credit / tax-credits child allowance) plus any universal child-benefit payments for the 3rd child (and possibly beyond). This is projected to be an extra 5.3k per year for families on low/no income with 3 children.

Why aren’t the private school fees in your budget OP?

OP there are lots of us quietly reading your thread understanding exactly how you are feeling, and agreeing with you.

Obviously there are also lots of very noisy, presumably envious people here shouting at you, who want to give you a hard time about you and your DP working hard and being sensible with your money and pensions.

Ignore the histrionics in these replies. YANBU to feel the way you do.

The house is worth 2 million +? Council tax band rises only apply to houses of that value.

But that's the point of a civil society, right?

The economy is in the total shitter. There isn't enough money. The govt has to raise it from somewhere. And probably makes more sense to tax those better off than push those already in poverty deeper.

Leaving aside all the issues of the need for welfare reform, NHS reform, the ageing population, etc. I don't think there's any budget she could have come up with that would actually raise money and wouldn't disadvantage someone.

We're absolutely screwed by this budget. Fortunately the pension changes don't come in until 2029 so it gives us time to move abroad which is 100% what we'll be doing.

Spot on. Some truly embarrassing theatrics in these replies!

Good bye, good luck

I don’t understand why you think the council tax thing will impact you? Unless your house is worth over £2.5 million, in which case - no sympathy 😂

Maybe sack the expensive kitchen remodel off then

This is another hackneyed Tory myth. The truth is that hardly anyone on MN is on minimum wage. Most of those on this thread who think OP is being crass and selfish are also financially very comfortable and will be paying a healthy tax bill. They just aren’t Tories, so they don’t resent paying their fair share.

And btw, I totally get where you're coming from. It sucks to work hard and not get to reap the rewards you think you have earned/ deserve.

But the country is fucked financially and while Labour aren't exactly covering themselves in glory when it comes to running the country, they inherited a shit show and this economic situation is global - so there's huge limits on what they (or any govt) could actually do to make it better...

Probably because they are planned future costs when her nursery aged DC starts school.

I think you are stretching the definition of “middle earners”

Big hugs OP. I understand how you can be objectively “well off” but still feel stretched and stressed. Deep breaths. You’ll find a way to make it work.

Not with mortgage payments of £2.5k a month - unless she paid a £1.5 million deposit.

I wonder what this "end terrace" looks like...

No salary sacrifice scheme in NHS either. A quick Google seems to say govt doesn’t allow salary sacrifice in public sector schemes.