Freelance /self employed panic thread

Don't expect to be bankrolled....just cushioned from the shock. Have 3 months of war chest in cash but I would be surprised to be back at any level of income before Sept.

I don't have much to say about payment thresholds for who should or shouldn't be excluded in this package, but I will say this 'Don't use the NHS or public education' is both awful attitude to have as human being and also factually untrue for a number of reasons.

Yeah you are right. It won’t be back by Sept. it might not come back at all.

Running out of money? Sell something. Cut outgoings further. You’ve had the good times, these are the bad.

Erm.
Rather than piling in, someone here is saying "fuck. I was looking for a bit of help from the government here. Considering the tax and ni contributions I've made, why not? On some level I'm not withdrawing from the state but am paying in. I need help. I know I have savings, but I'd hoped not to use them all right now. And when they're gone, then what?"

My apologies. Definitely not @amey , he wouldn't keep a "war chest", he's a man of peace and he only prepares for amity.

^ if the person had said that then I think I would have responded differently.

I know I have savings, but I'd hoped not to use them all right now. And when they're gone, then what?

Sell one of your Rolex. Sell a car or some jewellery. Cut expenditures. That holiday home, get rid of that too (ok that’s not easy but you could take a loan against it maybe)

This is what people did in the 80s when shit got real. It turned out ok, mostly.

I know I have savings, but I'd hoped not to use them all right now. And when they're gone, then what?"

When you have spent your savings you will then be eligible for Universal Credit same as everyone else, no?

Honestly, I don't know.

user110782 is not me btw.

It's 4D chess from Howard to scope responses.

Busted

Classic How.

.

.

.

have plenty of levers at my disposal

Can you expand on those?

If you literally pay hundreds of thousands in tax, your total gross household income must be >£400k so at least £17k/mo (net)? You've 3 months' worth of expenses set aside in cash. Would £5k/mo (gross) really make that much of a difference to your situation? Your expenses/spending must be astronomical, or what did you do with your income?

It is a little strange that they decided to just cap the grant to employees but completely cut it off to the self-employed. Seems like a small pool of people so a relatively small additional cost to government. Not that politics is at the forefront of anyone's mind, but it's especially strange as self-employed high earners are probably core Tory demographic.

Also been left on the pile. I've had very little work for 3 years due to health issues and looking after elderly relative, then having to clear up the absolute mess that was their estate after they died (pretty much a full time job in itself) I'm fortunate that I've been able to survive on that inheritance in that time, and still have some savings from it, but that has dwindled now, and just as I really need it, I'm left in no man's land.
I have just enough savings to not qualify for UC, wife has taken a 20% pay cut. We should be ok, if this doesn't drag on for too long. And if it does, we'll be welcoming our first child into this absolute mess...

I can't even be in our 12 week scan that's happening right now, so I'm particularly bummed out at the moment.

So if you broke your leg you wouldn't call an ambulance, just crystal therapy and homeopathy? If you needed medication you'd check webMD and then order it online from Canada? And you're innoculating your own children with homemade vaccines? Also if you're somehow intimating that you're private healthcare only, if anything serious happens to you - cancer, hospitalisation, emergency C-section: all that is on the NHS. It's the giant infrastructure on which all the optional private health operates on top of, and the safety net over which you and the rest of the UK live.

And all those kids not robbing your house because they are in school learning to be responsible people? All those clients and friends that know how to read and do maths to correctly pay your invoices, where do you think they learned those skills? There is a myriad of ways you directly benefit from state schools that have nothing to do with you or your kids attending them. It's the same way you use the police and criminal justice system even if you're not down at the copshop reporting a stolen breadmaker - it's also all that peace and law and order and social accountability you've been enjoying. This self-interested perspective on what you 'get' as a member of society vs what you're putting in via tax is the attitude I'm addresssing.

@Chalfie can you translate what I'm trying to say in a nice way if you have moment

I can't even be in our 12 week scan that's happening right now, so I'm particularly bummed out at the moment.

Sorry to hear this :(

it's especially strange as self-employed high earners are probably core Tory demographic

They are? I would have thought they were champagne socialists based completely in Greater London - and wherever the BBC is these days.

White van man is Tory, but anyone earning top, top dorrah just kids themselves they are being virtuous by voting labour because they can afford to.

That didnt go down quite as planned for that user.

I would actually benefit from help

Yeah you would benefit. You don't need it. Danger is if you got it, someone who needs it does not get it.

That doesn't excuse the fact that there will be some highly paid furloughed workers who do not need it but will receive it - the furloughing plan strikes me as surprisingly generous. I think the problem is that it has set a false expectation here.

I used to have a similar view of my position in the economy when I hit hard times.

I mostly use private medicine and in the past used to comment that I don't benefit from the NHS.

The thing that really changed my mind was when I got to an age where friends and family started to get cancer and the NHs spent literally millions of pounds keeping the people close to me alive.

They spent over £2m on Rowhan alone.

For that reason, I walked away from Tax avoidance and have been paying maximum possible tax on my earnings since.

My old opinion was an incorrect one. Every penny I contribute is a penny well spent.