This months wages…

I’m in Scotland working for a Scottish organisation and got the nice message about my NICs being spent on NHS and social care.

Being spent on NHS and social care in Scotland? If so, then I’m pleased to have misunderstood what it was being put towards as that should mean everyone is benefitting.

i appreciate it is very hard for some people, really not good. I’m a single father here in Sweden and the cost of living has rocketed recently. Fuel is (or certainly was) one of the highest priced in europe. However, as a general rule i think that people being more frugal and consuming less is generally a good thing.

The govt haven’t spun it well but the NI increase is actually a decrease for anyone earning under £35k. The threshhold at which you start paying is in July going up from £9880 to £12570 which for most earners will more than cancel the percentage rise.

https://ifs.org.uk/publications/15929

I don’t particularly object to the NI hike. Everyone is living longer and dying more slowly and messily.

hat’s a different story/conversation though, the topic was more about him being hit directly on salary

He didn’t actually say that, he said:

So, over £200 down on the family income this month as of pay day tomorrow.

Then you wouldn’t be posting on STW….

I’ve been here for a long time, and through various changes in personal circumstances from completely out of work and scouring supermarkets for 10p loaves of bread, through *just* making ends meet, to relatively comfortable, and wobbling back and forth between states.

My interest in bikes, riding and chatting shit on the internet was a constant.

My social, work, and voluntary work circle encompasses people from refugees to millionaires, while they’ll all be ‘impacted’ some are very much more impacted than others and I’m genuinely worried for some of them right now :-(

From what I can telly my NI increase will be offset by the money I saved with a better mortgage deal. I have just had a pay rise though – yay me – but it’s small, and only the third small increase in 11 years and I’m still about £15k down in inflation-adjusted terms.

But I’m comfortable currently which is the main thing.

He didn’t actually say that, he said:

Yeah that’s exactly what he said. He never said anything about the increases in gas, water, fuel, food, but directly on salary. Which as he then stated was directly related to NI.

The govt haven’t spun it well but the NI increase is actually a decrease for anyone earning under £35k. The threshhold at which you start paying is in July going up from £9880 to £12570 which for most earners will more than cancel the percentage rise.

That’s interesting, thanks.  Hopefully the hand-to-mouth families won’t have starved in the next 3 months.

Still doesn’t change that even with changed thresholds, applying the increase across the board vs more at higher levels impacts the lower paid substantially more. To Flaperon’s point, I don’t dispute the need for a rise, it’s how that rise is applied and the impact it has. One might speculate that not applying more of it to the higher paid and well off pensioners in pandering to the tory voting public?

I had an unexpected pay rise this month which the NI raise cut cleanly in half. Still better off so I’m grateful but I’d really like the other half back. We’re making do in the household now with our combined incomes so we can cope with the cost of living rises, but there is no room for savings.

Can’t imaging ever spending £30k on car though unless we win the lottery. Seriously do normal people spend £30k on car? Do they all live in mansions?

Bike: £2.5k
Car is a van: £5k

Comparing the NHS to equivalent services in similar countries, its clear that we don’t get value for money. The UK has 6.1 MRI systems per million people, fewer than countries such as Estonia and Slovenia. The UK has fewer doctors per head of population than most other countries in the OECD.
The nhs budget per person isn’t far off the median in similar countries, around £3k per year per person.
Looks like a leaky bucket to me. You don’t fix a leaky bucket by pouring more water in.

i can’t either Jonny… but look outside your door, many many many do…

Mine was £6500 i think… that’s been about my threshold over the last 10 years, i can’t spend £10k let alone £30k on a car… but looking out of the window, there’s more cars that cost £20k+ than there is ones that were £5k.

The govt haven’t spun it well

Alternatively… jam tomorrow doesn’t change the fact that there’s less in the cupboard today. For many people, having a lower net income for the next 3 months might mean nothing… but for some their household incomes will be in an even bigger mess before we get to July. And then, the fiddle back the other way will be swallowed up by all the rising costs.

Seriously do normal people spend £30k on car? Do they all live in mansions?

No, they spend ~300 quid a month over 36/48 months and lease it.

I don’t even know what my car costs (retail) i just lease it through the company (all i do is put fuel in it, *everything* else is covered).

Looks like a leaky bucket to me. You don’t fix a leaky bucket by pouring more water in.

Oh, it’s playground level politics time, is it?

It costs money to fix a bucket or buy a new one.

@howsyourdad1

i appreciate it is very hard for some people, really not good. I’m a single father here in Sweden and the cost of living has rocketed recently. Fuel is (or certainly was) one of the highest priced in europe.

>I’m in the same boat as you, though I’ve not really noticed the cost of living increases so much due to other changes, and they certainly don’t seem to be as bad as they are in the UK, but fuel is eyewatering now. Compounded by the drop in value of the SEK. Luckily i locked myself into a fixed rate 3 year electricity contract in January, so i’m a little insulated from that…

not wanting to derail on car costs – but given they all basically do the same thing (transport 4-5 people plus some luggage from A-B) I am amazed in the difference in costs. There was a post on here a few weeks back where their £50-60K car was now in short supply and could be sold back for more like £60-70K as a used one (IDK the numbers exactly, you get the gist). What does a £60K car do that a £20K car doesn’t, really.

The NI changes have cost me less than 200p… How the other half live. :lol:

We got very lucky as regards to electricity bill hikes, in that we signed up to a two year fixed deal in early ’21, otherwise money would be rather tight.

Looks like a leaky bucket to me. You don’t fix a leaky bucket by pouring more water in.

Agree in principle, but this is another thread altogether (must exist already?).

EDIT:

What does a £60K car do that a £20K car doesn’t, really.

This too!

We’ve just moved from a new build and pretty energy efficient flat to a house (just in time for the energy price rises), new nursery for the child, so because everything’s changed the NI increase (and everything else) just combines into the general ‘life is more expensive now’ feeling.

As we’ve moved from London we don’t yet have a car and I just can’t fathom how people afford what they’re driving around in round here. And given how much they cost, why they even bother with something so pricey?

We are very lucky though so absolutely no complaints about our financial circumstances. Second child due in August though so will probably be making some preemptive cutbacks over summer.

What does a £60k car do? Not a lot. I drive a £60k electric Volvo at work. In normal use it isn’t any more comfortable or faster than a cheap small hatchback. For long journeys slower as you’ll need to charge it.

The fleet also has diesel Seat Atecas doing the same job at around £25k.

But the EVs save the planet and the taxpayer is paying for the cars. (NHS).

What does a £60K car do that a £20K car doesn’t, really.

Like anything else expensive – it does the same job but a better, and as such is nicer to own. So if you have lots of money, you could opt to spend it on a nice car. That’s how it works.

Seriously do normal people spend £30k on car?

Depends what you mean by normal. We all live in different worlds, and it can be surprisingly easy to drift into another if your circumstances improve. That’s how you get people on seven figures moaning about the cost of things just like people on average wages. You cut your coat to suit your cloth, everyone does. The phrase works both ways.

What does a £60k car do? Not a lot. I drive a £60k electric Volvo at work. In normal use it isn’t any more comfortable or faster than a cheap small hatchback.

I have a car that cost nearly that much when it was new (9 years ago) and it is MUCH nicer than the one it replaced which had been £28k about 7 years before that. Quieter and more comfortable and more relaxing to drive, but also handles much better on windy roads. And the stereo’s better. So yes expensive cars are definitely better – or they should be – but they aren’t better value.

What does a £60K car do that a £20K car doesn’t, really.

I’ve driven a Ferrari 575. I had a little diesel Peugeot 306 at the time.
The difference between them was as big as the difference between, say, a Santa Cruz 5010 and a BSO.
All moot, as I can’t afford a Ferrari or Santa Cruz, but if I could i would!

TBH, the only thing i’d pay more for is better fuel economy and a more comfortable place to sit.

Current car i can do 8 hours straight with only a 10 minute break for the toilet, and 60+ mpg.

Rental car i had in a couple of years ago had to stop every hour or so as my legs went to sleep and my back went into spasm (and that wasn’t a cheap car either, about £28k IIRC)

The nhs budget per person isn’t far off the median in similar countries, around £3k per year per person.
Looks like a leaky bucket to me. You don’t fix a leaky bucket by pouring more water in.

Careful, when you’ve lost access to the NHS, which is what they are trying to get you to agree with (and note the success in 2016 when they last tried to persuade ordinary folk to **** up their lives), you’ll quickly find out the £3k does nowhere when it comes to private healthcare – USA is 3x this.

https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/154e8143-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/154e8143-en#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20average%20per%20capita,000%20for%20every%20US%20citizen.

I kind of get it for the Ferrari, particularly if you do track days. Just to drive at 1/10th of it’s capability around the M25, not so sure.

Same with genuine utility type vehicles, farmers do need 4×4’s and so on.

I know if you have it you can spend it, your prerogative, but for the vast majority of folk all they do is carry people and sometimes things from A-B, and I get a desire to do that in a modicum of comfort and style…. but spend 3x as much – doesn’t compute to me. It’s a car and it’ll still be stuck behind others at the queue for the lights.

The govt haven’t spun it well but the NI increase is actually a decrease for anyone earning under £35k. The threshhold at which you start paying is in July going up from £9880 to £12570 which for most earners will more than cancel the percentage rise.

Thanks for the clarification – I earn less than 35K and I was wondering why I paid more NI this month! Didn’t realise the threshold wasn’t going up til July. It’ll be like a little payrise…

I’ve also arranged my life around not driving much, so appreciate if you’re needing to do long miles or have specific utility requirements (as noted above) your needs are different.

There’s also something on Ars Technica today which suggests that, if you can afford it, the pricier EV is better for the environment after two years.

What does a £60K car do that a £20K car doesn’t, really.

What does a £10k bike do that a £20 bike from the tip doesn’t?

You could literally apply that theory to everything in life.

Yes, if you spend the money on a more comfortable car then that’s what you get. I drove 3hrs in a £30k EV on a windy road after my holiday, I was pretty tired by the end and my shoulder hurt for a day afterwards. Driving the Merc is far more relaxing, and the cost on the loan isn’t a lot more than the cost of the EV lease, although it’s 8 years older. It’s currently in the garage mind, and it costs 10x more per run.

What does a £10k bike do that a £20 bike from the tip doesn’t?

depends. You couldn’t race a £20 bike competitively, it probably wouldn’t even survive a reasonable vigorous off road ride. But if the purpose is to pedal 2 miles a day to and from work carrying your laptop in a rucksack, point is valid.

What a belter of a thread!

OP – “Wow, pay has gone down this month due to tax change”

Argument 1 – “look at you getting paid too much, don’t you know there are less fortunate folk around. You don’t deserve to complain”

Argument 2 – “And you probably spend your disposable income wrong too”

FFS! STW can be as predictable as it is depressing sometimes.,

But hey… we’re all still here, kicking along in our middle class lives talking on the internet about our £5000 bicycles and £30,000 cars…

It’s all good 🙂

Clearly I read this differently to some of the posters above.
I interpreted as an acknowledgement that actually Weeksy, and the majority of the posting population on here, are actually very comfortably off and he accepts that and is grateful for it.

Now of course there are many people on the forum who will be impacted, and the way the increase is targeted is indeed criminal, but let’s try to realistic about where each of us stands and what genuine impactit has on us.

Thanks for the clarification – I earn less than 35K and I was wondering why I paid more NI this month! Didn’t realise the threshold wasn’t going up til July. It’ll be like a little payrise…

Thinking about this, the govt have surely ballsed this up. It’s the week before the local elections and the majority of earners have less net pay this month, thanks to a tax rise.

And the mitigating threshold increase is delayed until after the election! Someone didn’t plan this very well.

Someone didn’t plan this very well.

You’re assuming that it was planned.

My OH earns less than 35K but her take home this month went down 14 quid.

edit – just seen above – new threshold not till July. Sly dogs.

MCTD + 1,000,000

I would expect random tax code changes to make a bigger difference than the NI increase.

Will find out tomorrow when we get paid.

I believe the amount which you start paying income tax will rise on 6th July? I think this’ll return take home wages to pre April levels for the less well off.

To be perfectly honest @Kryton57 – if the NI increase is costing your household an extra £200 a month, you could damn well afford to pay more given your combined income is over £200k a year which puts you in the top 1%.