General Election 2015: How you vote next week could affect your finances

Rival party pledges could shrink your savings or grow your nest egg

Promises, promises: David Cameron talks to staff at Asda's head office in Leeds today (Getty Images)

The campaign for Thursday's general election hasn't really been fought on personal-finance issues, but the way you vote could end up shrinking your savings in the coming months, or helping to grow your nest egg.

But who is likely to be better off under the new government? Analysis for The Independent of the two main parties' tax plans by accountant Blick Rothenburg reveals an unsurprising split: low-paid or average earners will be better off after the election under a Labour-led government; higher earners will be better off under a Conservative one.

Someone earning £20,000 or £40,000 a year will end up £260 better off under Labour, the study suggests. However, someone on £60,000 would end up £2,623 better off under the Tories. Ultra-high earners have even more financial reason to favour the Conservatives: anyone paid £200,000 will end up £4,943 better off.

What specific tax pledges are of interest? Labour has pledged to re-introduce the 10 per cent starting rate, but its manifesto doesn't say at which point that will be. Nimesh Shah, a tax expert at Blick Rothenberg, says: "I question whether this is needed as we have a 0 per cent rate of savings income up to £5,000 and the introduction of £1,000/£500 interest allowance from April 2016."

Meanwhile, the Tories are promising to increase the personal tax allowance to £12,500 and to set at £50,000 the threshold at which a person pays 40 per cent income tax. "However, that doesn't address the issue that a person starts to lose their entitlement to child benefit at £50,000," warns Mr Shah.

Married people certainly have a financial reason to favour the Tories: the party has promised to retain the transferable tax allowance which allows married couples to transfer £1,060 of their personal allowance, where neither individual is a higher rate tax payer. It is effectively worth £212 to a couple. Labour, on the other hand, has said it would abolish the transferable tax allowance.

Home owners who are banking on their property continuing to be a rising asset in the future did better during the last parliament if they lived in a Conservative stronghold, according to the online estate agent HouseSimple.

Property prices in Tory areas have climbed by 17 per cent since the last election, almost three times faster than the 6 per cent increase recorded in constituencies with the biggest Labour majorities.

Perhaps the biggest issue that politicians have chosen to keep away from is pensions. "No political party has clearly spelt out its intentions in the pension space," points out Chris Wagstaff, the head of pensions and investment education at Columbia Threadneedle. "In fact, the little that was said within the manifestos seems to be dissuading people from saving and investing, rather than encouraging them to do so."

In interviews, the Tories have indicated that they will reduce the current £40,000 annual pension allowance for anyone earning more than £150,000, on a sliding scale, down to just £10,000 a year for those on £210,000 or more.

Labour has said it will reduce the annual pension allowance for everyone from £40,000 to £30,000, For those earning £150,000 or more, it says tax relief on contributions will be reduced to 20 per cent.

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So far, the markets have stayed sanguine

By James Bateman

A hung parliament would likely spook UK equity markets, and the potential for a prolonged political stalemate could see them fall in relatively quickly, perhaps by up to 15 per cent.

Coalitions take time to form, so regardless of what shape our government ends up taking, any fall during the negotiation period could mean a buying opportunity for investors. We saw in 2010 that British markets regained losses quickly once the Coalition was in place, and I'd expect a similar rally after an unclear result this time. Investors who can hold their nerve through a hung parliament and increase their exposure to UK markets could be rewarded in the longer term. So far this year, UK markets have appeared relatively sanguine about the election. For instance, the domestically focused FTSE 250 index (the best temperature-taker in this instance) has performed well.

Part of the reason for this may be that markets are pricing in an ineffective government, at least in the shorter-term. Watered-down variants of the major parties' policies could be less disruptive overall than if they were implemented to the full.

New rules on fixed-term parliament could mean an ineffective government until 2020. There is also the risk of an "illegitimate" minority government. This could cause markets to constantly price in the possibility of an early dissolution, meaning significant uncertainty.

James Bateman is the head of portfolio management at Fidelity Solutions