Chris Rowe

Chartered Financial Planner. FT Awards commended and Scottish Widows awards winner 2010. Eater. Skiier. Drinker. Views are own.

[Sophie Corcoran @sophielouisecc]

Those who work will now be £18,000 worse off than those on benefits

A worker now needs £71,000 to match the income of a three-child family on benefits, and around £90,000 to match that of a five-child family.

Workers earning £35,000 will be £1,400 worse off under Reeves’ plans whilst 18,000 non-working families will be £14,000 better off.

Some larger benefit-dependent families will gain around £20,000, per The Times.

A three-child family on average UC benefits will receive up to £46,000 next year. A comparable working family (one full-time, one part-time on NLW) will take home £28,000

There can be no arguing that this budget is the definition of unfairness.

It is a resignation worthy budget.

Yesterdays piece for the express

https://t.co/u6mNoLNGMv

[Sophie Corcoran @sophielouisecc]

A worker on £35k a year will be £1,400 poorer because of the freeze in income tax

Yet a family with 5 kids on UC will be £10,000 better off.

This is the most unfair budget in my lifetime

[Chris Rowe @chrisyboyIFA]

@RupertLowe10 Ask him what specific and targeted measures his government will introduce and implement to reduce the burden of taxation, ease the cost of living and make the lives of hard working tax papers better! I bet he couldn't answer you!

[Aleksandra Huk @HukAleksandra]

Me: I earn £100k
HMRC: That’s nice, we’ll take £45k

Me: I bought a car
HMRC: VAT applied

Me: I want to gift my kid £5k
HMRC: Taxed

Me: I made money from crypto
HMRC: You mean we made money

Me: I made £50 profit on Vinted
HMRC: That’s income. Tax it

Me: I bought a house
HMRC: Stamp duty please

Me: I want to retire
HMRC: Pay tax on your pension

[Chris Rowe @chrisyboyIFA]

@NJ_Timothy Would've have taken slightly longer from Rewanda! Just saying...

[Chris Rowe @chrisyboyIFA]

@RupertLowe10 I support 99% of what you say Rupert, our country would be in a better place with more people like you in Westminster but on this, I disagree. Many children in gazza have lived through hell you wouldnt wish on your enemies, our strength/respect globally comes from compassion...

[Matt Goodwin @GoodwinMJ]

New. The UK is heading for disaster.

-we have borrowed £100 billion this year, £13% up on last year

-our public sector net debt is 94% of GDP, highest since the 1960s

-so far this year we have run a £72 billion deficit, 17% up on last year

-we paid £10 billion last month alone just servicing the interest on our national debt, up £4 billion

-and we have paid £60 billion on debt interest this year, up £14 billion on last year

And all the Left want to do is keep spending, spending, spending while dodging serious reform

This is unsustainable

It’s not just that Labour isn’t working —our entire economic model is no longer working

[Richard Branson @richardbranson]

The utter irony of Putin and Trump meeting soon in Budapest to jointly seal Ukraine’s fate should not be lost on anybody. This is the very same city where the US, the UK, and Russia came together 31 years ago to give Ukraine ironclad assurances that its territorial integrity would be respected and protected within existing borders in exchange for giving up a third of the world’s nuclear weapons (to Russia!). Ukraine trusted the US, trusted the UK, transferred all its nuclear weapons to Russia, and joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Within 20 years, Putin effectively ripped up the Budapest Memorandum, ignored Russia’s pledge, and invaded and annexed Crimea. In 2022, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine finally removed all remaining doubts about Putin’s imperial greed.

If treaties and agreements between countries are to be trusted, the US and the UK must stand by the original Budapest Memorandum and give the Ukrainians everything they need to push Russia out of Ukraine, as President Trump said he would do before taking Putin’s latest call. It is the only way for Ukraine to get its territory back and put an end to this brutal invasion.

If the US and Russia continue to ignore the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, how on Earth can Ukraine be expected to have any faith in yet another Budapest memorandum signed in the same city between Russia and the United States? They can’t.

[Chris Rowe @chrisyboyIFA]

@iamtomskinner Stick with it mate. You do more good than you'll ever know.

[Stan Collymore @StanCollymore]

Suicide.

I'm choosing to be deliberately blunt and provocative in this post because it's necessary. Government, charities, football clubs are all pushing water up a hill in highlighting what is undoubtedly a major health crisis.

You take a rope.
You put it up in a garage or a tree nearby or far away.
You're thinking about every loved one you'll leave behind as you put that rope around your neck.
Then you drop.

Some are decapitated.
Some aren't.
All are found by someone who has a lifetime of trauma that will never leave them.
A son.
A daughter.
A brother.
A sister.
A mother.
A father.

I know 2 men who hung themselves.

One was found by his Mom.
One was found by his brother.
Neither have recovered fully. 20 and 30 years on.

A life sentence for people who were already worrying, terrified their loved one may do something.

So just visualise the above and ask, "is there another way"?

A segway for a moment.

I do a few Q&A's every year. Tales of yesterday with a 99% male audience of my age group.

After the stories and fun, my last question back to the audience is..

"Hands up if you struggle with a mental health issue".

Nobody ever puts a hand up. Despite 1 in every 3 of 500 attendees statistically struggling.

"Ah, nobody, that's fucking brilliant! Well I do! ". I then graphically tell people, stunned into silence about how a rope around my neck in the middle of nowhere jolted me to go home and cry like a baby to my Mom.

After the Q&A has finished, something always happens. I'll be chatting to a few guys, saying bye and one by one, men will come over and whisper " I struggle".

Or my mailbox the next day will have 30 emails from guys, their partners or kids saying " Dad/Uncle /Brother was there last night and what you said hit them hard".

And that's how some people realise that it's time to speak to a pal or family member or even rant to me in an email. It works, I often get a follow up email a year or 6 later saying that they took responsibility for their suicidal feelings and are now flying.

Humans are programmed to want to live, to have families and to keep the species growing and thriving. So for a human to want to short circuit that desire isn't normal, and it should never be spoken of as normal. It's the ultimate red flag.

If you suspect your mate, Dad, Brother, Uncle is struggling mentally, they deserve your intervention.

They deserve a " are you OK, please tell me what's up".

They deserve an opportunity to get past wanting to hang a rope over a tree or in a garage and slowly struggle until they die and you find them.

If you've been there and trust me I have plenty, then you'll know that text out of the blue, or a footie mate or one of your kids asking jow you are can open the curtains to some sunshine.

Because when suicide is your only answer, the room is already dark, and you can't see a way out.

So please, fucking pretty please, ask that husband, Dad, Uncle, Cousin, footie pal TODAY how they are.

You may be shocked what comes back but extremely glad that you asked.

For those who struggle, you're not alone.

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Just had a robust debate with the farming minister, Angela Eagle.

Whilst British farming burns, the people supposedly in charge simply do not understand the extent of the crisis.

The lack of certainty is a killer. Farmers work on lengthy cycles, and long term planning is vital. Instead, we're constantly being messed around by bureaucrats who understand nothing of how the countryside operates.

Rules change, schemes mutate, and the endless paperwork means we can't put in place necessary plans.

It is all so very depressing.

Where do these people think their food comes from? It doesn't grow on the shelves in Waitrose, despite what many MPs believe.

No understanding, no clue. London-centric attitude, that has no interest in what happens in the countryside.

One day, we will pay a very dear price for this arrogance.

We need fewer politicians as MPs, and we certainly need more farmers in Westminster.

[Rob Moore @robprogressive]

Starmer promised council tax would be frozen

This year I paid nearly £4k

That’s with money already taxed at 25% corporation tax, 39% dividend tax, & 20% VAT.

I had to earn nearly £14k just to hand £4k to the council.

And what do I get back? A bin collected once a week.

How is this fair?

[Bernie @Artemisfornow]

I have no idea what it is she sees when she looks around her. But obvs not the facts.

Highest taxes in 70 years, bankrupting debt, stricter regulations, increasing unemployment, falling standards of living, rising inflation, highest borrowing costs.

she thinks it’s fabulous 🤡

[Chris Rowe @chrisyboyIFA]

@QprEver They won't last that long...hopefully!

[Tom McPhail @PensionsMonkey]

Every politician who slavishly parrots the mantra of triple lock preservation should be asked to explain why they think it is fair, how they plan to pay for it and what test they will apply for its eventual abolition.

[Chris Rowe @chrisyboyIFA]

@JeremyClarkson Selective stupidity would be a fun tag to stick on her, but being honest, I think the selective part should be removed 🤣

[Basil the Great @BasilTheGreat]

Want to know how completely f*cked up the UK is?

The chancellor of the exchequer, the person in charge of the country's finances and taxation is DEFENDING tax avoidance because the person doing it is her mate

That's how rotten our government is.

[Chris Rowe @chrisyboyIFA]

@elonmusk Parts and depreciation. I'm nearing the end of my Model Y performance 3yr lease. The buyout price is about £8,000 more than market value. Also have a couple of minor niggles to fix but getting parts timely and at reasonable cost is horrific. Desperately want another Y but...

[TheIrishWatchdog @WatchdogTh96012]

😂😂

[Chris Rowe @chrisyboyIFA]

@robprogressive We live in Cornwall in house where our council tax is more than the proposed new property tax. Square that circle, why should we pay a fair amount more in an identical house to say a new neighbour that moves into a similar house?