I can't afford to be alive anymore

[worrywilma]

I live alone and I'm barely making ends meet. My mortgage is due to go up in 3 months by about £340 a month and I just don't have that money

My mortgage is for £125k and I'm already at the top end of the term. I earn £30kpa, which is a good salary, and just get by now, how am I going to be able to pay the additional on my mortgage?

I don't have children so I can't claim any benefits. A single person should be able to pay their bills, eat and have some sort of life on one salary. It's so scary

Pensions ?! You calling that a tax? Saving for your future in a tax efficient manner

Student loan repayments- clue is in the name - it's not a tax ( it might be a bloody disgrace but it's not a tax)

Why not add on the need to buy food as a tax ?
Or prescription charges and dental costs ?

Because you don’t have a choice? Nurses can’t choose their pension contribution - it is a fixed percentage according to your band. You would be working an extra shift but only get 38% of the money. It’s not difficult to see that someone might think it is not worth the stress of an additional shift for a relatively small percentage of your wage. Everyone values their time. If you calculate your take home hourly rate for your fixed hours and then calculate it for your overtime/bank shifts you might decide not to bother. Even if you were struggling financially, you might find it better to use that shift time to save money (tax free!) instead. A nurse could work a bank shift for £50 or spend half an hour shopping around for car insurance or a bulk buy deal on pasta, save £50 and enjoy the rest of the 8 hours relaxing.

@MrsBobtonTrent
Good to see your reply and understanding the point I am making is whether you call it tax, repayments or contributions, it is money earned by the individual and taken by the state without choice.

Up until April this year when the child benefit threshold was raised, our senior nurses (with children which is most) going over £50k were having 82% deducted. For someone earning £25 per hour for a hugely responsible job to receive less than £5 a shift was soul destroying.

There are a couple of points for me here. The first is surprising that some people see that level of taxation/repayments and contributions as ok or a good thing. The second is a lack of recognition as to how much this is really screwing the ability of the U.K. to generate wealth as people in the higher and the very much lower end actively avoid work, not because they are lazy but because they either lose so much in deductions, or lose Universal Credit. They understandably won't work for a pittance and that is even before discussing childcare.

The facts are that in the 1990s essentially no nurses and just 5–6% of teachers paid higher-rate tax, income tax thresholds failing to keep up with average wages means that by 2027–28 more than one in eight nurses and one in four teachers are set to be higher-rate taxpayers. Reference the IFS. Link here if you want to read it.

ifs.org.uk/publications/deepening-freeze-more-adults-ever-are-paying-higher-rate-tax

Not wanting to do more shifts because you don't think you will see enough benefit isn't "I can't afford to live " territory/ it's making a choice . And if those are nurses with children who are turning down shifts - spending more time with their family - that's not failing is it ? I'd called that being very sucessful

I think that's called earning enough to have a good work life balance, not holding the country back. If you need everyone to be working flat out for the country to do well, then that's a failed state not a sucessful one

Why not just have more nurses ? It costs pretty much the same to have 2 nurses rather than trying to make one nurse work excessive hours - that's 2 well paid jobs. Because you can't get them? Because the work life balance and the stress is shit - which would all be eased if you had more of them not trying to flog the ones you have

What's holding the county back is the lack of 60k a year jobs and the plethora of minimum wage jobs and the imbalance in housing caused by the lack of council homes and the exceed of inheritance - so rather than trying to make the 60k more attractive through wages make it more attractive as a lifestyle

MarieG10 I don't think anyone has commented that the level of taxation are a good thing, only that your maths is wrong. Whether these taxes and deductions are fair and good is another thread altogether, people just want facts presented honestly and several people have shown that someone on 60k does not only take home 1/5 of their salary.

Tweedbank makes a good point, if you can turn down extra shifts then you're probably doing ok financially. If more staff are needed then employ more so that 3 people work 40 hours each rather than 2 working 60 hours

Which part of the world is it that you are going to where you think things are fairer?

Well this has been a digression from the OP, but perhaps interesting nonetheless. I have been interested in a flat taxation system for some time - I grew up and have lived/worked in several countries with a flat tax (or nearly flat tax) system. There have been proposals to introduce such a system here. Eg a 10k tax free allowance and 10% tax on everything over that, then 10% corporation tax. The tax code is much simplified and all the loopholes are removed as well as penalties for edging into a higher tax bracket. Studies have shown (from actual implementations as well as forecasting) that tax revenue tends to go up slightly and costs of managing the tax system goes down. People are not disincentivised from working more if they want to. Some people (like me!) would still not want to work more than the absolute minimum. But it’s a different decision for people. I notice the decisions to work less (for tax brackets or benefit retention) much more here in the UK.

@Penguinpairs
"60k does not only take home 1/5 of their salary."

What I said was earnings over the threshold had deductions at either £50/£60k depending whether pre or post April. Commonly known as a cliff edge.

I’m also struggling through a reno but do have a lodger, tax free up to 7500 a year (I think, mine doesn’t pay this much)

Could you stay in the second bedroom or the living room and rent the main room to a lodger. I 100% get how intrusive it can feel but there’s a lot of people looking for M-Fr type accommodation and you can be strict with who you accept. I stayed on an air bed in a room with no plaster, not nice but doable.

If you don’t want to get a lodger, are you definitely getting single occupancy discount for your house? It’s usually 25% off council tax.

I’m too tight to pay for heating 99% of the time so my gas and electric combined is only £70 pcm. I went without WiFi and coped on data only and that was a decent saving for a while and tbh worked fine. I cancelled all streaming services too.

I earn a bit more than you, and have a bit of a lower mortgage so not comparable and we shouldn’t have to live this way in a modern society (GTTO). My flat was and is a money pit reno, and I did have to lower my standards and will actually move as it’s more work than it’s worth but I got my living room really nice and that’s my one nice room. Kitchen and bathroom function and if you can’t afford to eat, then it may be worth evaluating the reno if there’s any bits which are just cosmetic. I did a £250 bathroom makeover and it’s almost unrecognisable. BHF furniture stores are good and cheap for furniture.

ATB x

The thread seems to have turned into a debate. My other tip was if you pay a student loan to check if you are due a refund. I overpaid last year due to the nhs backdated payrise, and that’s the one loan that isn’t worth overpaying

Interest rates have just dropped. Surely you’re mortgage is going down? Go to citizens advice and get them on board. They are very helpful /resourceful.

I’d consider a lodger or maybe even two. I have lived in several places where the kitchen is the only shared space as living room was being lived in. You can get up to 7.5k tax free income from lodgers. Remember you can invoice for bills separately to maximise tax free part.