Chancellor John Healey will deliver his first Budget on 28 October. In it, he will set out plans for spending and taxation designed to deliver the vision of the new prime minister, Andy Burnham.
You might be concerned about what the Budget will contain and how new legislation could affect your financial plan. However, while it’s important to adapt to the changing landscape, rushing into decisions could leave you in a worse position.
Here are some important dos and don’ts of preparing for the Budget on 28 October.
Do: Be clear about your financial goals
All financial decisions should centre around your ambitions for life. It’s important to consider your specific goals when deciding how to react to legislative changes.
For instance, in last year’s Budget, the chancellor announced that the Cash ISA allowance will fall to £12,000 for under-65s from April 2027. This could disrupt your plans if you’re trying to build cash savings to pay for short- to medium-term goals such as funding a child’s education or buying a holiday home.
Consequently, you might want to increase contributions to your Cash ISA before the allowance changes.
However, if you already have a healthy cash reserve and are focused on investing for the long term, the Cash ISA change is less likely to affect your ability to reach your goals. As such, you might not need to change your financial plan at all.
This is a simple example of why you must consider any Budget changes in the context of your own specific goals.
Don’t: Let rumours and speculation panic you
Before the Budget, you’ll see countless headlines warning of tax rises or changes to important allowances. The alarmist nature of the reporting can panic you and may lead to reactive decisions.
However, many of the rumours likely won’t come true and making pre-emptive changes to your financial plan based on speculation could backfire.
We saw this ahead of the 2025 Budget, when retirees rushed to withdraw lump sums from their pensions amid rumours that the government would limit the amount of tax-free cash savers could take.
This meant many people accessed their tax-free cash earlier than planned, limiting their ability to make tax-efficient withdrawals in the future. Crucially, the changes never materialised, so retirees altered their plans unnecessarily.
According to Money Marketing, 61% of retirees who withdrew tax-free cash ahead of last year’s Budget regret doing so.
To avoid feeling this regret yourself, shut out the media noise and wait until the chancellor makes his announcements. We can then discuss the changes with you and help you decide how to alter your plan, if necessary.
Do: Model various scenarios to understand how the changes affect you
After the Budget announcement, when we have a clear idea of what changes are coming, you can consider how you will be personally affected.
As discussed earlier, keep your goals in mind. More importantly, you may want to model various scenarios to see how new legislation might influence your long-term plans. We can support you with this.
Using cashflow planning, we can input details about your financial situation and how it will evolve. Then, we can change certain variables to model how Budget changes will affect you.
For example, if the government increases the rate at which you pay Dividend Tax, we can calculate how this will affect the size of your investment portfolio in future. We can then see whether the change will make it more difficult to achieve your savings targets. If necessary, we could also model different investment strategies to explore options for adapting to the change.
Modelling scenarios in this way allows you to make decisions based on data and your own unique situation, rather than guesswork.
Don’t: Make decisions without seeking professional advice first
The Bray Wealth Management team are on hand to support you before and after the Budget. With our help, you can gain a clear understanding of how you are personally affected, whether you need to adjust your financial plan, and what your options are.
This means you can continue working towards important goals, despite legislative changes announced in the Budget.
Please give us a call on 01276 855717 or email info@braywealth.com today if you are concerned about what the Budget means for you.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise and you may not get back the original amount invested.
HM Revenue and Customs’ practice and the law relating to taxation are complex and subject to individual circumstances and changes which cannot be foreseen.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate cashflow planning.
Approved by the Openwork Partnership on 04/09/2026
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