Pay

4. Choose the right time

As with many things in life, timing can be everything when it comes to asking for a pay rise. Don’t try to have a conversation with your manager in the middle of a busy office, at the end of another meeting or just because you are both in the kitchen making a coffee!

In an ideal world, our employers will always value the work we do and pay us what we are worth. That doesn’t always happen though. For many people, the pandemic has increased the likelihood of them feeling undervalued and underpaid, as working from home has made them less visible to their line managers, roles have changed, and greater demand is put on us in order to help our employers navigate what has been an economically challenging period.

For many people, their appreciation (or perhaps that should be grudging understanding?) of tax is often limited to how much tax is deducted from their hard-earned wages when they get paid. They consider tax to be complicated and dull and taking an interest in tax can be seen as something only high earners, the wealthy or the self-employed really need to concern themselves with.

But the reality is that understanding tax is important as it affects us all, regardless of how much we earn or how much money we have.