My rate isn't going down, but I'm earning less

Not long ago, out of curiosity, I did a simple sum. The result was not remotely funny.

The small print on the word "stability"

I'm self-employed and I work on projects. In my sector contracts are long, and on paper that sounds wonderful: I know what I'll earn next month and, almost certainly, a year from now. It's the word everyone wants to hear. Stability.

The small print is that the figure, once signed, rarely moves. And since it doesn't go up on its own, the years go by and there it is, as stable as ever.

Mine has been stuck for years.

For a long time I treated it as neutral: I earn the same, I spend about the same, nothing's wrong. That "about the same" was the problem, and it took me quite a while to look at it straight.

The awkward sum

My rate hadn't gone up. The food shop had. Clothes had. Electronics had. Nursery had. Eating out had. Everything had.

In official numbers: between January 2022 and July 2026, prices in the UK, where I live, went up 27.5%. What cost 100 back then costs 127.50 today.

Now look at it from the other side. If I still have 100, I can't reach what costs 127.50: it only gets me 78.43 of what it used to. In other words, 21.57% less. Both figures say the same thing: one looks at prices and the other at my pocket.

21.57% less. More than a fifth of what I earn, gone, without anyone telling me in writing. Not because I work less, or worse, or fewer hours. Just because my rate stood still while everything else went up.

Why I don't dare ask for more

The logical thing would be to ask for a rise. In practice, the mood isn't right.

At several clients I've watched the same film: one day there's a team of consultants here, and the next, part of the work has gone to a country where labour is cheaper. They haven't let you go yet, but you can see it coming. And with that in front of you, putting your hand up to say you'd like to be paid more looks a lot like volunteering for the next round.

On top of that there's artificial intelligence. Not a week goes by without a headline announcing that jobs like mine are on borrowed time. True or not, the effect is the same: it doesn't feel like the best moment to ask for more for something that, according to the news, a machine will soon do without complaining.

So the rate doesn't move, and the consequences are what they are: costs keep going up and income doesn't.

And there's another trap, harder to see. Since my invoice still showed the same number, I didn't feel I was losing money. Nobody was taking anything from me: every month, that same money bought a little less. And that doesn't hurt, because there's no single day when you notice. It's an ordinary Tuesday, and another, and another.

Working more hours wasn't the answer

My first idea was to put in more hours. But the day has the hours it has, and mine are already split between work and a little girl I'd rather watch grow up. Even if I filled every last gap in the calendar, I'd still have the same problem.

That was the switch. The problem wasn't the hours. It was depending on a single source of income and, on top of that, one that doesn't rise with prices. If you rent out a flat, you can put the rent up. If you sell something, you raise the price. My rate, on the other hand, usually stays where I signed it.

So I started on two fronts. On one, I put part of what I earn to work on its own, in things that can grow over time. On the other, I'm starting this blog, which I'd like to bring in some income one day too. And there are more ideas on the way: the point is to diversify.

I'm not telling you this because I've got the formula sorted. I'm building it right now, with doubts, with months when I put nothing into my investments because an unexpected bill turned up, and with the constant feeling of being late to the party. I'm telling you because I wish someone had opened my eyes much sooner.

The question I'll leave you with

Has what you earn gone up at the same pace as what it costs you to live?

You don't have to take my 27.5% on trust: it's my country's and my years'. Just below there's a calculator to run your own numbers: put in what you used to earn, what you earn now and since when, and it tells you whether your income has kept ahead of prices or fallen behind. It takes less time than reading this post.

And the number depends on where you look from. Compared with 2022, I'm 21.57% poorer. Compared with 2006, when I started out, I'm 622% richer, although back then I lived with my parents and my outgoings were pocket money. Both are true: one measures how much I've grown and the other how much inflation has been eating since I stopped growing.

Sometimes you're doing fine and can relax. Sometimes it's an ugly number. But the ugly number was there all along, and the only thing that changes when you look at it is that you can't say you didn't know any more.

Which is, more or less, the definition of opening your eyes.

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Source for the UK figure: consumer price index, from 111.6 in January 2022 to 142.3 in July 2026. UK statistics office (ONS), series D7BT.

Steer your money, or it'll steer you.