Top 5 financial things to do before labour get in?

[Puzzles]

I seem to recall labour saying the covid handouts didn’t go far enough!

[Cupid-stunt]

oneandone said:

Cupid-stunt said:

Paying school fees is a strain on budget, but the alternative is pretty dire where I am.
Adding another 20% could result in me (and a number of other parents I have spoken to) pulling their kids out of school.

Paying as much as I can upfront does seem a sensible idea. This is one that I will be discussing with the school.

Tarquin may have to HTFU

Tarquin your lad?
Definitely not mine.

Mine does kick box and plays rugby, so he's ok in the HTFU front.

[Olivera]

Douglas Quaid said:

The government decided to do all the covid stuff which has put the country into a bad financial place. They didn’t have to do that. Their reaction to it is what has caused the problem, not the thing itself. However labour would’ve done the same, if not worse. It was a complete overreaction and has only really succeeded in making some people very rich at everyone else’s expense.

Indeed, most of the crackpot Covid schemes were either created by or signed off by the chancellor at the time... Rishi. A colossal amount of money was squandered on BBL, Furlough, Track and Trace, PPE contracts, the list goes on. Yes we needed stimulus, but we got spectacularly bad value for money, which will take decades to repay.

Add on top of that: piss poor growth, a creaking NHS, crumbling infrastructure, poor public services, fiscal drag effecting historically high tax rates - anyone that considers the current Tories as financially prudent is off their trolly.

[oneandone]

Cupid-stunt said:

oneandone said:

Cupid-stunt said:

Paying school fees is a strain on budget, but the alternative is pretty dire where I am.
Adding another 20% could result in me (and a number of other parents I have spoken to) pulling their kids out of school.

Paying as much as I can upfront does seem a sensible idea. This is one that I will be discussing with the school.

Tarquin may have to HTFU

Tarquin your lad?
Definitely not mine.

Mine does kick box and plays rugby, so he's ok in the HTFU front.

He might need those skills

Mine went to comprehensive, still managed a first ( no idea how, the lazy sod)
I’m embarrassed to say, he stopped playing rugby at 12, I lasted till 38.

[Funk]

muscatdxb said:

NorthernUproar said:

This thread is totally incoherent. The current Uk tax burden is the highest it has been in 70 years. Despite this, public services are broken and the Thatcherite dream of privatisation has been proven to fatally flawed. So much so even the conservatives are talking of privatisation.

Yet despite this you believe that things will get worse for you under labour who btw also reduced effective tax rates overall from John Majors government. So your argument that labour = bad is wrong.

In a simple guy, I grew up in a council house and through free tuition fees went to university, built a business and retired at the age of 37. I’ve paid more in tax already than most folk will do in a life time. I’m not a non-dom, I love this country and want it to be good so so much, far more than those folk with flushed red faces who shout about loving our country loudly and regularly. though I could have been a non-dom, I don’t begrudge a penny in the taxes I paid.

To me it’s a simple choice, are you decent or are you a bit of a sh@t. Even if you’re a bit of a sh@t you surely want things to be better than they are. Because they’re largely crap here now. I can’t blame immigrants, half a dozen daft lads in a boat from Calais, Ukraine or Covid. It’s the chronic underfunding followed by latter crude and poor decision making in crisis funding for our education system, social services, health service, justice and infrastructure that we can blame. They’ve broken them all.

The “no money left” by the way is a treasury tradition that civil servants leave at the end of every government for the incoming portfolio holders. HMRC are already onto the private school fees ruse btw and I’m not aware of a single credible public school that are offering it. See Dan Niedle on the topic.

I begrudge the taxes I pay. Like you I’ve paid a fortune into the system but for my money I still cannot get in to see a GP for 2 weeks or find an NHS dentist. I have to wait for 12 hours in A&E and I can’t get the police to come out for love nor money. I have to pay for all of those services privately including schools.

Now if someone wants to come back for more of my earnings then of course I’m not thrilled about it.

I wouldn’t be so quick to overlook Covid. We absolutely haemorrhaged money during that period and it was absolutely pointless waste.

I agree. I've sat with a friend in A&E for literally 12 hours recently whilst they waited to be seen. On a personal note I've recently been diagnosed with low testosterone and despite having paid thousands into the 'pot' for years (and taking relatively little out) I can't get a referral to see an NHS endocrinologist for what will probably be 6-9 months at the earliest - and even when I do, they won't/can't prescribe the best treatment. I'm about to pay £450 for a private consult and then around £125/mo for TRT for the rest of my life.

What pisses me right off and to put things in context is that I've already paid over £10k in income tax and NI since the start of this tax year - damn right I begrudge what I pay; it's a f*cking disgrace.

Edited by Funk on Tuesday 28th May 12:08

[Cheib]

sugerbear said:

Simpo Two said:

mickythefish said:

The Tories have been printing money, driving inflation, and borrowing at levels never seen in recent history. Who ever gets in is pretty rubber ducked

And when they took over from Labour in 2010 they found a note in a drawer saying 'There's no money left, good luck'.

Before blaming everything on Truss's brief tenure, as Labour does because it suits them and fools believe it, let's not forget that little pandemic thing:

'Current estimates of the total cost of government Covid-19 measures range from about £310 billion to £410 billion. This is the equivalent of about £4,600 to £6,100 per person in the UK.'

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-brie...

Everybody loved Rishi when he was printing money to give to people. But they squeal when it's payback time.

And as for inflation, https://www.knightfrank.com/research/article/2023-...

So, two massive clobberings that would have knackered any government's plans.

I don't think any government is going to halt the UK's decline. That would take things that people won't vote for, so we'll just get more shiny politicians making promises they can't keep and demanding 'change'...

They may have left a note but it clearly wasnt true. Uncomfortable truth is that Gordon Brown saved the UK economy.

Imagine if the Alistair Darling had been vaguely proactive when Northern Rock went bust in September 2007 and thought “I wonder if if it just Nortern Rock that has such an aggressive business balance sheet….maybe we should make sure all the other banks (especially the big four) are not exposed”….it was a year until RBS had to be rescued. 12 months to do something proactive. But no….leave it until the very last moment. Many, many billions of pounds and 15 years later HM Gov still owns part of RBS.

[mikeiow]

Cupid-stunt said:

Paying school fees is a strain on budget, but the alternative is pretty dire where I am.
Adding another 20% could result in me (and a number of other parents I have spoken to) pulling their kids out of school.

Paying as much as I can upfront does seem a sensible idea. This is one that I will be discussing with the school.

You say “could”, not “would”.
If you can afford to lob thousands (tens of thousands?) up front, I doubt a 20% increase would see you remove yours from school. Just a guess!

I know parents make a lot of sacrifices for that private education. I think in general it can be a very good investment.
Maybe the schools themselves need to make a better case for why they exist as charities.

I wonder how many Labour MPs have their offspring at Independant fee paying schools. I bet it is a fair number!

[Cheib]

oneandone said:

Cupid-stunt said:

Paying school fees is a strain on budget, but the alternative is pretty dire where I am.
Adding another 20% could result in me (and a number of other parents I have spoken to) pulling their kids out of school.

Paying as much as I can upfront does seem a sensible idea. This is one that I will be discussing with the school.

Tarquin may have to HTFU

I think paying the entirety of the 24/5 school year should be okay as the school will be able to invoice the entire amount and you are paying in the period when the services are due. Paying beyond that when the school fees haven’t already been set ? You would need to be very careful in terms of getting the correct invoicing etc.I can see HMRC challenging.

Let’s say you save £20k in VAT by pre-paying school fees. HMRC will send you a bill in a couple of years for £20k….you will then have a choice. Pay or fight it. The latter unless you have some expertise will cost you a few thousand…..clearly this will impact a lot of people but someone will probably have to take it to court to set a precedent. HMRC’s tactic is often “we think you owe us £20k but we’ll settle for £10k” that happens over many months/years though. They wear you down……

Not a lawyer but I don’t think it is clear cut by any means.

Edited by Cheib on Tuesday 28th May 09:11

[bitchstewie]

Incidentally my guess is that if you're actually rich enough to have access to schemes that will save you from taxes from any government you'd be speaking to your tax advisor about it rather than asking on an Internet forum.

Just do sensible stuff and be very cautious of people suggesting things like advance payments and anything that's not yet been tested with HMRC.

Surprisingly you might not be the first to have thought of it

[markymarkthree]

If Labour get in, we will be moving all our NS&I savings elsewhere.

[DevonOhar]

Funk said:

muscatdxb said:

NorthernUproar said:

This thread is totally incoherent. The current Uk tax burden is the highest it has been in 70 years. Despite this, public services are broken and the Thatcherite dream of privatisation has been proven to fatally flawed. So much so even the conservatives are talking of privatisation.

Yet despite this you believe that things will get worse for you under labour who btw also reduced effective tax rates overall from John Majors government. So your argument that labour = bad is wrong.

In a simple guy, I grew up in a council house and through free tuition fees went to university, built a business and retired at the age of 37. I’ve paid more in tax already than most folk will do in a life time. I’m not a non-dom, I love this country and want it to be good so so much, far more than those folk with flushed red faces who shout about loving our country loudly and regularly. though I could have been a non-dom, I don’t begrudge a penny in the taxes I paid.

To me it’s a simple choice, are you decent or are you a bit of a sh@t. Even if you’re a bit of a sh@t you surely want things to be better than they are. Because they’re largely crap here now. I can’t blame immigrants, half a dozen daft lads in a boat from Calais, Ukraine or Covid. It’s the chronic underfunding followed by latter crude and poor decision making in crisis funding for our education system, social services, health service, justice and infrastructure that we can blame. They’ve broken them all.

The “no money left” by the way is a treasury tradition that civil servants leave at the end of every government for the incoming portfolio holders. HMRC are already onto the private school fees ruse btw and I’m not aware of a single credible public school that are offering it. See Dan Niedle on the topic.

[b]I begrudge the taxes I pay. Like you I’ve paid a fortune into the system but for my money I still cannot get in to see a GP for 2 weeks or find an NHS dentist. I have to wait for 12 hours in A&E[b] and I can’t get the police to come out for love nor money. I have to pay for all of those services privately including schools.

Now if someone wants to come back for more of my earnings then of course I’m not thrilled about it.

I wouldn’t be so quick to overlook Covid. We absolutely haemorrhaged money during that period and it was absolutely pointless waste.

I agree. I've sat with a friend in A&E for literally 12 hours recently whilst they waited to be seen. On a personal note I've recently been diagnosed with low testosterone and despite having paid thousands into the 'pot' for years (and taking relatively little out) I can't get a referral to see an NHS endocrinologist for what will probably be 6-9 months at the earliest - and even when I do, they won't/can't prescribe the best treatment. I'm about to pay £450 for a private consult and then around £125/mo for TRT for the rest of my life.

What pisses me right off and to put things in context is that I've already paid over £10k in income tax and NI since the start of this tax year - damn right I begrudge what I pay; it's a f*cking disgrace.

Edited by Funk on Tuesday 28th May 03:08

Also agreed here. I wouldnt mind paying the ridiculously high taxes we have if it wasnt totally squandered and misused.
Public services have collapsed despite record funding. Weve 9 million working age adults who cant be bothered to work and sleep well assured the State will look after them. The whole system is broken and (IMHO), Labour are going to make things even worse and drive the last few of us that actually prop up the entire system, out of the country.

My answer to the OP is - get your house valuation done so you can put a reasonable plan together and understand where you may be able to relocate to.

Good times !

[98elise]

Also consider what you invest in.

Last time they were planning to expropriate 10% of the stock market (for no compensation), and 100% of some companies at a price they would choose.

Kier was right behind it last time so hopefully this sort of thing will be addressed before the election.

I don't fancy losing 10% of my pension.

[Greshamst]

markymarkthree said:

If Labour get in, we will be moving all our NS&I savings elsewhere.

I’ve heard an emergency COBRA meeting has been called to deal with this monumental development, however will the govt survive such a devastating blow?

[NRS]

DevonOhar said:

Also agreed here. I wouldnt mind paying the ridiculously high taxes we have if it wasnt totally squandered and misused.
Public services have collapsed despite record funding. Weve 9 million working age adults who cant be bothered to work and sleep well assured the State will look after them. The whole system is broken and (IMHO), Labour are going to make things even worse and drive the last few of us that actually prop up the entire system, out of the country.

My answer to the OP is - get your house valuation done so you can put a reasonable plan together and understand where you may be able to relocate to.

Good times !

Pretty sure most of those are pensioners who have a good enough pension to retire early (top part) or bad health so forced to retire early (poor people)? The major issue we have is the demographic ticking time bomb which is starting to go off, a lot more people retiring onto pensions which need paid, on top of the huge amount of healthcare they need to - by less working people. Not much wonder we need to cut spending elsewhere and increase the tax take more - we're not even at the worst point yet economically.

Edited by NRS on Tuesday 28th May 10:03

[phib]

bhstewie said:

Incidentally my guess is that if you're actually rich enough to have access to schemes that will save you from taxes from any government you'd be speaking to your tax advisor about it rather than asking on an Internet forum.

Just do sensible stuff and be very cautious of people suggesting things like advance payments and anything that's not yet been tested with HMRC.

Surprisingly you might not be the first to have thought of it

Thanks, I am indeed talking to advisors but I have also found having a wider view never hurts.

Re school fees, been paying 2 years in advance for years as I have a business that goes up and down with the weather (literally!) so always like to know where we are.

Over 2 years I can see an issue but many private schools have done the 2 year thing for years, back in the long gone 80's I rmember companies paying all the years schooling in one hit !! 5-18 !! and schools were very keen on the guaranteed cashflow!

Phib

[DevonOhar]

NRS said:

Pretty sure most of those are pensioners who have a good enough pension to retire early (top part) or bad health so forced to retire early (poor people)? The major issue we have is the demographic ticking time bomb which is starting to go off, a lot more people retiring onto pensions which need paid, on top of the huge amount of healthcare they need to - by less working people. Not much wonder we need to cut spending elsewhere and increase the tax take more - we're not even at the worst point yet economically.

Edited by NRS on Tuesday 28th May 10:03

Perhaps if people could keep a bit more of their own money, they would be able to look after themselves in later life?

The biggest challenge we have in this country is that the State has got itself involved in an every aspect of work/life. We need the State to get out of peoples way and for people to resume responsibility for their own lives and families.

[Gordon Hill]

NorthernUproar said:

This thread is totally incoherent. The current Uk tax burden is the highest it has been in 70 years. Despite this, public services are broken and the Thatcherite dream of privatisation has been proven to fatally flawed. So much so even the conservatives are talking of privatisation.

Yet despite this you believe that things will get worse for you under labour who btw also reduced effective tax rates overall from John Majors government. So your argument that labour = bad is wrong.

In a simple guy, I grew up in a council house and through free tuition fees went to university, built a business and retired at the age of 37. I’ve paid more in tax already than most folk will do in a life time. I’m not a non-dom, I love this country and want it to be good so so much, far more than those folk with flushed red faces who shout about loving our country loudly and regularly. though I could have been a non-dom, I don’t begrudge a penny in the taxes I paid.

To me it’s a simple choice, are you decent or are you a bit of a sh@t. Even if you’re a bit of a sh@t you surely want things to be better than they are. Because they’re largely crap here now. I can’t blame immigrants, half a dozen daft lads in a boat from Calais, Ukraine or Covid. It’s the chronic underfunding followed by latter crude and poor decision making in crisis funding for our education system, social services, health service, justice and infrastructure that we can blame. They’ve broken them all.

The “no money left” by the way is a treasury tradition that civil servants leave at the end of every government for the incoming portfolio holders. HMRC are already onto the private school fees ruse btw and I’m not aware of a single credible public school that are offering it. See Dan Niedle on the topic.

100% correct.

[valiant]

Gordon Hill said:

NorthernUproar said:

This thread is totally incoherent. The current Uk tax burden is the highest it has been in 70 years. Despite this, public services are broken and the Thatcherite dream of privatisation has been proven to fatally flawed. So much so even the conservatives are talking of privatisation.

Yet despite this you believe that things will get worse for you under labour who btw also reduced effective tax rates overall from John Majors government. So your argument that labour = bad is wrong.

In a simple guy, I grew up in a council house and through free tuition fees went to university, built a business and retired at the age of 37. I’ve paid more in tax already than most folk will do in a life time. I’m not a non-dom, I love this country and want it to be good so so much, far more than those folk with flushed red faces who shout about loving our country loudly and regularly. though I could have been a non-dom, I don’t begrudge a penny in the taxes I paid.

To me it’s a simple choice, are you decent or are you a bit of a sh@t. Even if you’re a bit of a sh@t you surely want things to be better than they are. Because they’re largely crap here now. I can’t blame immigrants, half a dozen daft lads in a boat from Calais, Ukraine or Covid. It’s the chronic underfunding followed by latter crude and poor decision making in crisis funding for our education system, social services, health service, justice and infrastructure that we can blame. They’ve broken them all.

The “no money left” by the way is a treasury tradition that civil servants leave at the end of every government for the incoming portfolio holders. HMRC are already onto the private school fees ruse btw and I’m not aware of a single credible public school that are offering it. See Dan Niedle on the topic.

100% correct.

+1 from me.

It does make me laugh that we've been through so much st with this government from Trusseromics to corrupt COVID shenanigans and their now complete ability to pull money out of their arses for crap like conscription and whatnot and it's the next government you fear?

Get a grip. If you've managed over the last 14 years you'll be just fine over the next 5.

[mickythefish]

I like how councils with billions of debt are giving millions out in retirement golden handshakes as well as the public sector gravy train.

Another waste of massive money not spoken about us the government to councils/NHS emergency loans. They mess about all whilst people don't get services then wrote the debt off anyway. Only people it seems to benefit are civil servants who manage it. Billions in that system that could be saved. A great Tory idea that always seems to profit someone connected with them, even when the country is slowly sinking into bankruptcy. Concentration of wealth is a myth as well, billions aren't really good at giving their money away lol

Anyway investments, debt collection companies, funeral Parlours because a lot of people will find out, literally their life isn't worth living the rate costs are going up , daily.

[Whoozit]

98elise said:

Last time they were planning to expropriate 10% of the stock market (for no compensation), and 100% of some companies at a price they would choose.

Kier was right behind it last time so hopefully this sort of thing will be addressed before the election.

I don't fancy losing 10% of my pension.

IIRC that was a Corbyn idea to gift it to the workers. Which promptly ran into practicalities like

"you'll need to pay for it"
"yes, at a market rate"
"yes, that'll increase borrowing"
"oh and it's still likely to be challenged in court so you won't be able to execute on it for years"
"oh and it'll punish small/private businesses the most, ie the ones who drive growth"