In the seven weeks since Andy Burnham became prime minister, millions watching his social media videos have learned about his music taste, fashion, football passion, love of pints, pork scratchings and Greggs the baker. Tellingly, he has yet to make content about the parlous state of global bond markets. The new PM shares big political ideas on his curated feed, showing him driving buses, stacking shelves and bemoaning rising prices of Cadbury's Freddo chocolates.

While cutting VAT on energy bills, reducing bus fares and easing subscription cancellations, these tokenistic cost-of-living efforts risk being wiped out by higher mortgage rates as UK borrowing costs hit their highest since the 2008 financial crisis. "The markets are clearly worried that we now have a spendthrift prime minister who wants to say yes to everyone, but cannot tell us where the money is coming from," thundered Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition, at Prime Minister's Questions. Fiscal headroom that new chancellor John Healey might have had is evaporating fast, increasing fears of tax rises at the Budget on October 28. The PM said little in parliament about reining in government spending, yet FT readers tell me they are trimming theirs, driven by avoiding punitive tax thresholds by limiting pension income or dividends, or sacrificing more salaries into pensions.

Cutting back feels depressingly self-defeating for the consumer economy. Here's my autumn checklist to preserve family finances. Prepare to move your mortgage — bond market movements mean mortgage brokers expect big lenders to start increasing rates.

Current best fixes around 4.5% may not last, so check your expiry date. Check your pensions — the 2022 mini-Budget gilt run alerted many savers to bond exposure in workplace pensions. Lifestyling reallocates investments from equities to bonds 10 years before retirement.

If staying invested in retirement, the default option may not suit your strategy. Should you buy an annuity? Recent bond moves offer best rates since pension freedoms began over a decade ago. Evelyn Partners reports increased interest partly driven by next April's inheritance tax changes.