hostman

I have my future house deposit with YBS (under 35k), Yorkshire Building Society, www.ybs.co.uk. They have a fairly attractive ISA rate, but its only annual payment. I'm in the process of moving some money out of my "Internet Saver", to take advantage of the next tax tear's ISA allowance with Natwest (monthly interest), but I'm more than happy with their online facilities + general service and will be keeping the majority of the deposit with them. Current rate is 5.60, gross, paid monthly.

Canada. Couldn't resist.

I believe its the taper relief they are more concerned about?

Jebus - The people on that expat forum use waaaaay too many smiley faces in their replies.

HSBC or Natwest would be pretty safe. My business banks with HSBC and I personally bank with Natwest.

I read this today and thought it was incredibly bad advice. If you buy now, even getting 10% off the asking price, there is a real chance you'll end up with negative equity for quite a few years.

It *could* be a bargain for someone if they can arrange the lease to be extended for a good rate. But I imagine its up for auction because the current owner can't extend the lease from the lease holder for a reasonable sum.

Heh, thats one of the ones I have saved on Rightmove to watch for reductions

He'll need to take off 10% every two weeks if you he wants people's attentions. I see people knocking off the odd £1000 on Rightmove and thats not going to get anyone interested.

Haha.

Looks like a good property at a good price. I don't know the area at all its for sale in, but 155k for a detached 4 bed where I live would be a fooking miracle. For 155k you can buy a 2 bed flat. Try and secure a 10% discount and buy it.

My Mum had a go at growing tomatoes last year. I don't know why, but I was expecting the first time we ate them to be a joyous occasion. It wasn't, they tasted the same as supermarket bought ones. Until they become £50 to buy in the shops, I'll rather watch Sky One and scratch my ****.

Hold.

Edit - Ignore me.

Closer to 8 times - Depending on which house price survey you look at. Prices need to fall at least 20-25%, given the recent lending tightening. Whether or not it will continue to fall after that is anyones guess.

Oh quite. One of our other directors spent a very long time suing his previous employer. Short version of it: He won them a big contract, he should have received a big commission, they sacked him before paying the commission, the company still had their money spinning contract. The whole thing pretty much consumed his life for two years (he won and got the comission + legal costs). I've also wanted to put legal pressure on various people and organisations over the last few years (various things: copyright, interfering with a 3rd party contract to name a few), but there's little point unless there's significant sums at stake, they all want £1000's to do anything.

You only need public liability insurance if members of the public or customers come to your premises or you go to theirs. Whats hiring people got to do with becoming a Ltd company or VAT registered? The only extra expense you'll have, if you kept your general business the same, is the accounting expenses, which as I said are unlikely to be more than £600 a year. You do not need to employ a minimum number of people to be either ... If you wanted to expand your business, unless you're selling porn or are superman, then you'll probably need more staff.

Yeah, we have actually. One person we knew would have kicked up a fuss, as he's that type of person, arrogant as hell. There's a fair bit of scaremongering from some people regarding the difficulty of business - Most of it is misunderstanding rather than real law / regulation. Heck, I started at 16 and managed just fine - Even able to register as a Ltd company at 17 (rules at the time were a parent or guardian must be a share holder and / or sectary of the company if under 18).

Huh? You're talking about a £600 expense per year (likely to be a fair bit less), maximum, for a good accountant to complete the work for you - Not the end of the World

All these comments from people with businesses, claiming to be overwhelmed with regulation, it makes me chuckle. As a director of a company employing 9 full time staff, I just don't see it. The leg work is done by the accountant - That's what he gets paid for. Increasing minimum wage should be celebrated. It is a very good standard compared to other nations. There's a whiff of snobbery I feel.

I'm monitoring 156 properties on rightmove twice a day, all properties I would consider buying in Bedford / Luton at the right price. Quite a few drops, most by £5000 at a time, some multiple times over the past two weeks. Couple of properties coming from "Sold STC" back to "Available". Lots of very similar properties, only way for the price to go is down in my opinion, regardless of greater national events.

/me wonders if these are coming out today at all I imagine the BoE will already have access to the data.

Negative you mean?

The nuke would have saved us all.

When was Russia great? 1866? No one alive to remember that. Any time after that is just full with murderious dictators.