justthisbloke

I've also got a few years of a DB pension that won't pay out for decades. I've asked for a valuation to transfer out - at least then I'll be able to see and understand the risks. Now is probably the ideal time to transfer out. However, I remain undecided. It's a form of diversification. I can have an equity heavy portfolio as a counterweight to the DB pension. I looked at the funds holdings and it was far more bond heavy than I'd imagined - presumably because I was one of the last in and most of the scheme members are now drawing their pensions.

All pensions are based on tithing the currently working generation via some mechanism. Directly as per the local government schemes where current worker contributions make up a large percentage of the payments pensioners. But, if you hold a portfolio of shares and everything looks tickety-boo funded; where do the dividends come from, where does the value come from?

Some public sector funds are sort of funded and they tell you they have no deficit. When you look at the details, most of current pension payouts are being made from pension contributions of those still working. And they have a shrinking workforce. You tell me what happens next. Actually, don't - because the phrase "central govt bailout" is likely to feature prominently. I was briefly a trustee on one of these things - until I sat down with a calculator.

Well, I watched a robot road crew fix the potholes in the road outside my house the other day. OK, it wasn't actually a team of androids - it was a truck with lots of tech that simply drove over the holes, manoeuvred back and forward a bit and drove away leaving a smooth road. In the past it's taken a couple of vehicles, a few men, and a load of equipment.

Yeah - it's income not capital that's counted. So the big house, unlet holiday home, gold bars etc won't disbar you from continuing to touch up the taxpayers for more loot. Another person I know owns a £1.25m pad[1] and happily claims tax credits. She's just quit work as it's "not worth the hassle" and reckons she'll still get almost £900pm Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit. She got quite cross when I referred to her payments as "benefits". I've checked that £900 figure and don't think she's wrong [1] I think her dad must sub her something for the running costs.

As far as I remember, tax credits don't take capital into account. So her holiday home in Cornwall doesn't effect her receipt of them.

Housing benefit payments to related party rentals are permitted - provided it's not shown to be a contrived rental. Basically, if Ms X is already getting HB somewhere and then moves into her dad's BTL, she'll probably be paid OK. Of course, even if she puts in a first claim for a BTL that her dad has bought specifically for HB rinsing (ie totally contrived) there are very few checks. My most recent shocker (as in what utter mugs tax payers are) is someone I know who's just bought a prime central London flat under Right to Buy. Fair enough, you may say. But she already owns outright a really nice place in prime holiday Cornwall - worth a mint. All above board and legit. That's the asset side of her life - the income side makes you weep as well; single mum, part-time public sector job, tax-credits.

It's pretty hard to keep adult's hands off their money these days. Trust structures don't help much. Even with a settled trust, they can pitch up at 18 and ask for the cash - the trustees have to oblige. Of course, on the eve of their 18th birthday, the trustees could put it all in a fixed term five year bond! The easiest route is to set up a "bare trust". Set up a bank account in the name of JFK RE JFKJnr. You manage it on their behalf until they're 18. Beware tax. If it's a big sum, it's worth paying for advice. In the case of your money, first decide what you want it for an when. If you want to buy a house, say, sometime over the next five years the investment solution will be different to the case where you want income for the rest of your life. Edited for: PS. Sorry about the loss of your relative.

Buying real estate; shopping centres and commercial freeholds seems to be very popular with councils just now. Ours has done it as well. Bubble aside, I find it hard to see the justification for direct holding of individual buildings - there's no diversification. Particularly if they're investing on their own patch. Why not just buy into a REIT?

This thread is v mistitled! The post starts of as a pro-Brexit piece. Then it talks about documentation checks. Then it finishes with, well, I don't know what (and neither does the OP!). Rent controls don't even feature. Anyone wanting rent controls and more state intervention with renting should urgently talk to someone renting (or trying to rent) in the pre-AST days. It was ghastly. Landlording legally made no financial sense so the only landlords you could rent from were crooks. Not just crooks as in "thieving parasites" but proper scary bandits. Re documentation checks. When I first rented post-AST I think all I supplied was one payslip, which the LA just glanced at, and a cheque for the deposit. There weren't even any fees. Just a contract to sign - which was all one one page of A4.

If RTB (BTL) were to happen, it would most likely be in a manner that you really don't want. HMG would become the buyer of last resort - putting a floor on house prices. For prices to fall you need real financial suffering and raw, unhindered terror in the faces of investors. Government employees wandering around with cheque books is something you really don't want.

BLND is leveraged - 35% LTV, iirc. Again, iirc, the SP is down 25% over the Brexit period and, if I've done the maths right, every 10% fall in asset values would mean a 15% fall in enterprise value. Therefore, the 25% fall suggests an 18% fall in asset values is priced in. (Caution: I've neither looked up actual values nor fired up a calculator so this may be somewhat adrift!).

I've got an old DB pension and sometimes wonder if I should convert it to a SIPP. I'm sure transfer value would be pretty appealing right now.

Change in planning regulations a couple of years back permitted this previously verboten change of use.

These aren't problems of REITs (as per the title) such as British Land, though. REIT values will depend on a function of property values, rental streams, leverage and interest rates. (Holds British Land . Wouldn't touch funds with a bargepole.)

I really like that "walk score" feature on the listings - tells you how car-dependent houses are.

All parasites follow the same plan: raise the rents (taxes), innit?

£100bn being taken from people or, worse, borrowed in their name. To spend on politicians' vanity projects, pet schemes, and electoral bungs.

Well, I'm campaigning for the real problem to be addressed; non-contributory benefits - not the fake spectre of immigration or the EU. Of course we'll be the destination of choice if there's a big sign at Dover saying "Free Money". It's not even as if our system helps the locals. What lunatic system pays out benefits and subsidies to whole towns just because there was once a coal mine there where everyone's grandfathers worked - rather than incentivise people to move to work, start businesses, or to acquire skills? Barking.

Too much faff in the past but when we're not EU, unless Brexit agreements continue freedom of movement, probably very much worth the faff in future.

My kids saw this story and said they would leap at the chance to take up the offer of a German (or any) EU passport. Of course, currently they *have* an EU passport - and all the working and mobility benefits that entails. While the Brexit deals *may* include freedom of movement etc (or Brexit may never happen), everything's uncertain and a German passport would make them very happy indeed. The whole Brexit thing underlines the problem of local national governments within the EU when it comes to the rights of individuals. The EU really should have created an "EU citizenship", free of national constraints. Maybe Brexit will be the trigger.

Rubbish how? The worst that can happen is that Brexit woes (or whatever) slash the family income and/or childcare and domestic costs are more than predicted. Who is better positioned for these events? The FIRE-seeker with quarter of a FIRE stash? Or Mr Average with nowt but debts? Or maybe the worst won't happen and in 5 years he'll be well on the way to FIRE.

The only sovereignty that counts is personal sovereignty. Power retained by the individual. Brexit does nothing to return power to the people. Conversely, it will be used by Boris et al to legitimise further disempowerment of individuals and families. No Brexiters are proposing reducing tax burdens or rolling back legislation.

Interesting point. Somewhere to live is just the cost of living. Owning housing is investment (not necessarily a good one). Consumption is owning "too much house" when you know it's a bad investment, or spending on house-related crap like new kitchens (double delusion points if you kid yourself that it's an investment). Over the years we've done it all except the kitchen. Today we own the right amount of house (but it will be too much house if/when children leave). Owning now may not be a good investment but it does reduce risk. If you're paying rent from other investments you're carrying the "sequence of returns risk" (see WICAO's page here http://www.retirementinvestingtoday.com/2015/05/insuring-against-sequence-of-returns.html).

I strongly recommend FIRE. Even if you never actually RE (Retire Early), the FI (Financial Independence) part gives you a much healthier standing within both your personal and professional life. I declared personal FI last summer and left work earlier this year. Even if a Brexit apocalyptic poverty drives me back to the desk, I have absolutely zero regrets. The benefits of accumulating investments rather than being a consumer started on Day 1 for me. There was no "deferred gratification" - the warm glow of self sufficiency at putting half my pay cheque aside was immediate. If the investments go wrong, I won't be lamenting having not spent my earnings on iPhones, city breaks, and cars on PCP - I've had years and years of being debt free and financially untouchable. Priceless.