Chicken

Areva is a listed company. Buy some shares.

It's on the front page of the report Later on in the report: Shipside adds: “Buyers and sellers are staring each other out, and it’s a question of who will blink first. Even if they wanted to, buyers cannot blink unless lenders release more funds for mortgages. As that’s not going to happen, there are likely to be some blinking sellers this winter!”

Another case of taking one positive point and completely twisting the conclusions of the report. Actually read the report here and you'll see that the author is actually rather bearish.

they already pay a "tax" in that they have to pay more for graduates.

Another way of looking at it is that they won't be able to afford all of those so something is going to give. Graduate debt is going to go up (if this story is to be believed). The number of people entering higher education will go down but not by much as it will be seen as the price of playing the game. Get a degree and you're in with a chance (even if small) of a higher paid job but don't and you're definitely out of the running. Government debt depends on the shape of government spending Boomer pensions are pretty much set - you can play around at the edges by raising the retirement age but not by much Leaving house prices. I can envisage a scenario where house prices fall below the long run income multiple average as a result of this.

that's a nice house. Can't you schedule a viewing for the middle of the day (when there's no traffic jams and you'll hear the noise of cars/trucks going fast)?

I grew up just the other side of Cringle Fields and had relatives living in that area - remember it being pretty nice.

not a Simpsons fan?

??? Whether you question his products, methods or personal hygiene, the man has built and sold several companies from scratch. I give him his dues.

I'm guessing that's before tax so knock off about 40% for tax and NI leaves 180k over the 3 years. If he's saved 110k then he's spending 23k a year plus wifey's income. Hardly the high life.

"Your income is so high that you lie beyond the far right hand side of the chart." guess I can't complain about being poor anymore...

Mr Smiths with the Hitman and Her?

buying by the ton? That's only $43m at the current price.... You used to be able to walk into any bank in Zurich and buy souvenir sized bars of gold? They made great presents. By the way, did I ever tell you guys that I once took inventory of UBS's precious metals vault?

I understand London prices - been here nearly 20 years - but doesn't mean that you are forced to play the housing game. If you can afford 1.2-1.3m but not 1.5-1.6 then your household income is £250k-400k pa (say 150-250k after tax). Houses of a similar size in that area seem to be renting for £1k a week Even if you are at the lower end of that income range, that still leaves you c.£100k pa to live life very very very well - rather than worrying about having to chip away at a very big mortgage principal for the next 25 years.

Very difficult to do that in London unless you're renting a room in a shared house. And then you'd be someone making six-figures living like a student.

It was okay - certainly better than a lot of dross that has been out recently but far from Stone's best. Excellent performances from Douglas and Langella and I didn't want to beat Shia LaBoeuf into a bloody pulp (a first for me). The fiancee is cute but has one look the entire film. Story-wise, it tries to weave too much of real events into it and it feels strained. If they had just taken one strand and focussed on that, they could have had something special. On the banking and product technicalities, they kept it low level enough for non-insiders to get what was going on without the equivalent of Ewan McGregor's coffee analogy in Rogue Trader. Oh, and watch out for the world's most annoying ringtone. All in all, you'll see worse films this year, you'll have seen better.

No questions? nothing?

I saw it last night. Not bad but not as good as the first one.

Like it! Could we call it something like "National Insurance"?

Ken, you're doing it wrong!!!!

Usual disclaimers apply (not financial advice, speak to a professional, blah blah blah). For ultimate peace of mind, you know exactly how much you'll be paying with a fixed rate - especially since you plan to pay it off before the fixed period expires. However, based on the circumstances you have outlined, I think a tracker would be better for you for now. The main reason is that the arrangement fees (which are fixed per mortgage) will be a disproportionate amount on such a low mortgage. You easily satisfy the LTV requirements for any of the low arrangement fee products (http://www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/). We all know that interest rates will have to go up at some point and you can calculate the amount that it would have to go up in order for you to lose out. That's the gamble that you take.

If you see a property that you like on an auction website, it is worth making an offer ahead of the auction date. In the current environment, sellers know that a lot of properties are not selling even at auction so will prefer the sure thing. If your offer is accepted, you will have to pay the 10% deposit before the auction date to have it taken out with completion about a month after (remember that a quick sale is one of the reasons that sellers choose to use auctions). Don't bother offering below the guide price if you are serious about buying the place, especially if the guide price looks suspiciously low already (auctioneers sometimes do this to drum up interest). You will lose that 10% deposit if you pull out (barring a couple of exceptional circumstances) - the bid is to buy - so you need to have looked around the place and be comfortable that you have the cash to be able to remedy any problems that you find. For this reason, I personally would only buy for cash. If you do have to mortgage, I would look at having cash reserves of not less than 25% of the purchase price to allow for slippage in mortgage valuation (if you've done your homework you'll know what similar properties in the area have sold for recently) plus remedial works if needed. Before you even think about looking at the property, you should already have 1) a good local solicitor (you are working against the clock so shaving a day by driving documents around can matter), 2) a idea of what you are conservatively mortgageable for (speak to your bank or an advisor beforehand). Hope this helps.

Why would you put in an offer (of nearly £700k) on something that you don't really like?

The assymetry of reward for short-selling means that investors/speculators have to be that much surer of their views. I think it was Warren Buffett who said "it's not an easy way to make a living".

When you say "it would be funny if it happened here", are you talking about Spain? I heard that 40% of all of the 500 euro notes are in Spain because of the prevalence of corruption and backhanders.