\n\t\t\t\t\tGeorge Montgomery works as an NHS and private dentist. He believes the effective 60 per cent tax rate between \u00a3100,000 and \u00a3120,000 is too punitive\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
In our <\/a>How I Manage My Money<\/a> series<\/a>, we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.<\/p>\n This week we speak to George Montgomery, 40, lives in Stamford, Lincolnshire, with his wife, Lucie, 39, and their two children, Tilly, 10, and Felix, nine. George, a dentist in the NHS and private practice, uses pension contributions<\/a> to reduce his income to below \u00a3100,000 and says the 60 per cent \u201ctax trap\u201d deters him from working full-time. <\/p>\n \nMonthly budget<\/p>\n My monthly income:<\/strong> Two-thirds of my income comes from private work, while one-third comes from my NHS job. I have around \u00a33,000 coming in from my NHS work each month. Before tax and professional expenses, I make between \u00a36,000 to \u00a36,500 from my private practice dentistry work. My wife\u2019s NHS salary is about \u00a340,000\u00a0pro-rata over three days, primarily working from home.\u00a0<\/p>\n My monthly outgoings:<\/strong> Mortgage, \u00a31,250; council tax, \u00a3273.10; groceries, \u00a3500; gas and electric, \u00a3212; water, \u00a345; broadband, \u00a329; two mobile phones, \u00a330; subscriptions like Netflix and Amazon Prime, about \u00a340; car fuel, \u00a360; trains, \u00a3100; childcare, \u00a3200; eating out and takeaways, \u00a3200; day trips and activities with the children, \u00a3150; money into joint savings account, \u00a3250. I add about \u00a3500 a month to a private pension and around \u00a3500 to \u00a3600 a month to my stocks and shares ISA. A squash club we go to costs \u00a3120 a year. Our house insurance is \u00a3500 per year and we pay \u00a3830 a year to insure two cars. Any surplus income is used to offset our mortgage account.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I knew I wanted to be a dentist from the age of 15. After studying biomedical science at the University of Sheffield, I studied dentistry at the University of Bristol, qualifying in 2012. <\/p>\n I\u2019m a dentist in both the NHS and private practice. I take home about \u00a33,000 per month from my work as an NHS dentist, and between \u00a36,000 to \u00a36,500 from private work. <\/p>\n I\u2019m an associate dentist, which means I don\u2019t own my own practice. I simply turn up, do the work, and when I leave, my time is my own. I don\u2019t have to deal with employing staff or managing a business, so it\u2019s essentially a nine-to-five role. My current schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with Tuesdays off. The Tuesday off allows me to do school runs and contribute more at home. <\/p>\n I think the pay I receive is fair given the years of training and effort that went into reaching this stage, though I couldn\u2019t maintain my lifestyle if I worked 100 per cent in the NHS. <\/p>\n What I enjoy most about being a dentist is the people I meet. I enjoy building trust with patients who have had poor dental experiences in the past. The dentistry itself I could take or leave, but the human side of the job is very rewarding. <\/p>\n I\u2019ve always been relatively careful with money. I research purchases thoroughly and avoid impulse-buying. I\u2019ve never been in any serious debt. As my dad was an independent financial adviser, saving for retirement has been on my radar from a fairly early age. For the first decade of my career I was well covered by the NHS pension, but with my NHS income now halved, I\u2019ve had to put more aside separately. <\/p>\n I would like to retire at the age of 55. If I\u2019m healthy, I wouldn\u2019t mind tapering down to work one or two days a week to bridge the gap before I can draw my NHS and private pensions. To do this comfortably, I estimate I would need a resilience fund of \u00a3250,000-plus. Hopefully by this point the mortgage will be cleared, and downsizing may also be an option. <\/p>\n Saving money into pensions is a priority for me and I add \u00a3500 a month to a self-invested personal pension (SIPP), split across a mix of UK and global trackers. I have about \u00a320,000 in my SIPP. I contribute between \u00a3350 to \u00a3400 a month to my NHS pension. I used to contribute \u00a3800 per month to my NHS pension. If I stopped paying in now, by retirement, I believe my NHS pension would provide around \u00a314,000 per year. <\/p>\n