Not much of a leap but moving into contracting helped remove a lot of the stuff I hated about my job. Want a permie job sometime though, just trying to find the right one.

Murder plot charge dropped – should have changed the names to protect the guilty.

Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things. For good people to do bad things, you need religion.

For bad people to change their ways and dedicate the rest of their lives to doing good – you need religion too. Usually.

Well I’m curious – why did you sell and why do you want it back?

Seems to have got more interest than a poppy seller being burned

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-29870960

You wonder where all the toilet cleaners in London live.

Thamesmead?

There’ll always be people, who are mostly interested in just having a place to live, who’ll look at price dips as buying opportunities – there are times when there aren’t enough of these though of course.

I’m hoping this is proves to be true:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2799834/house-prices-rising-faster-south-east-london-says-rightmove-national-average-property-cost-hits-271-669.html

Rich people may not want tiny flats but there are always people who’ll live in a tiny flat if it’s the right location – crazy to me. I mentioned my mate selling his Putney flat for £400k – it’s tiny, though not a studio, and it sold in a week a few weeks ago for the price he put it on at – one agent valued it lower and another a range which he went for the middle of.

What annual %age growth do you assume? I use 7% so double every 10 years – makes for easy calcs….

Why pick those to women? Pub debate type thing.

Anyway, Britney in school uniform for me.

Hmm they’re possible biased though!

Lump sums early on are good if you can do that – more time to grow.

Oh shame!

Is that recommended 🙂 What did you use? Got an image of you rummaging around to see what pins and needles you can find lying about….

I use calculations like the ones here:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-1633402/Pension-pot-calculator-How-need-save-retirement.html

Well at the moment I’m thinking about a target of £500k, I’ll have other assets though so it’s all part of a mixed approach – also ISAs and the property I live in. It’s all about how much cash I’m willing to put out of reach at the moment.

No plans around retirement age – will be pragmatic about that, currently 20 odd years to go though if mid-60s is reasonable.

I worked backwards from the pot size I think I need when I retire and assumed 7% growth. I wonder how many people have a good idea of their required pot size?

My wife’s Chinese and on a visit to China her family took us to a Chinese medicine institute sort of place in SE China. Wife’s family said she should have an examination, I just went outside as thought it a waste of time and bound to end up costing money (he he) turned out I was right as wife yelled out the window for me to bring my credit card, I ignored her. So her Mum bought some medicine which was supposed to make her less lethargic or something – cost equiv to £250 or so which is a huge chunk of cash to Chinese people but wife’s family are wealthy. When we got home I asked her if she was going to take it, eventually she just binned it.

So she’s still lethargic.

Maybe I’m lucky but every contractor I’ve worked with has been very professional. Small world I work in though so maybe that’s why.

Why would you use contractors and ethics in the same sentence?

We’re not estate agents!

Without the tax reliefs not sure many would bother with pensions at all which would just make things worse; the higher rate relief could go eventually though.

This is why we need nice young immigrants – to help our pension pyramid scheme…! I’ve been lucky enough to be able to put a good chunk into my pension so unless the Gov’t works out how to grab some back I’ll be in a better position than most.

I think the OP needs to rent for a while. Buying in a place he can afford will suck up a lot of travelling cost/time. Rent a room somewhere nice – like my old lodgers used to do 🙂

That flat must still be in a good location? My mate is selling his small flat in Putney for £400k.

Even more important when buying a place – don’t buy for the sake of it in a place you don’t like just because it’s all you can afford – might get stuck there!

Well that is low but closer to 1% would still be pretty good. Some of mine are over that but chosen for their performance.

I guess it has added about £400k on

What did you do and where are you? Must be a significant extension and/or expensive location?

Make sure any extension is not only financially justifiable but also will mean you’re happy to stay in the house for longer – not great to do work then move a year later anyway – like the people who sold me my house did.

My employee pension charges 0.35% for the cheapest funds

Hmm not sure about that – well maybe the platform charge is a good chunk extra? Those funds are pretty much trackers I guess? My last company used Aviva and was on their cheapest rates – or so I was told. I compared to HL and they were pretty good overall. I’m now with Interactive Investor for my SIPP though as better for larger funds.

So you’re statement shows number of units bought with prices and dates? Should be easy enough to work out what’s happened.

What are you meant to be doing when on Singletrack? If we all did what we should be doing Singletrack would struggle to survive and I for one don’t want that on my conscience.

Why do you pick up his slack?

At most I’d drop subtle hints but never have said anything.

Funds are not too bad:

http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices–and–factsheets/search-results/s/standard-life-inv-european-equity-income-income-inclusive/charts

http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices–and–factsheets/search-results/s/standard-life-inv-uk-equity-unconstrained-inst-accumulation/charts

Slightly out of date…

Pretty much no, integrity is a big deal to me.

My house had a load of dimmer switches which I left out of ignorance when I put in LEDs and CFLs. All worked OK really but I the CFLs didn’t last as long as they should. The LEDs all seemed OK though. I have now replaced with normal switches.

I bet you’d prefer Ardbeg

Well I have that too.

Opinonion seems to be that London prices will plateau for a while and commuter places will increase. My house in village near Leatherhead hasn’t gone up that much in recent years from what I’ve been told.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/10958987/Map-where-cheap-property-prices-meet-cheap-train-lines.html