bdon

VW make some very good reliable cars - I remember fondly my Golf. And Porsche is a design house. So seems reasonable. I do wish though that someone could fix the battery problem; was so hopeful about AgZn but they seem little more than a website now.

The Bee is showing asking price reductions in my area (central London) so be patient. The other thing you need to watch out for is that as times are so slow for EAs some of them have stopped using Rightmove to save on fees - two out of the six primary agents in my area have pulled their listings from Rightmove.

1. Pay off debts - the interest they charge you far exceeds the interest paid by banks. 2. As you are <5y suggest NOT equities 3. Fill ISAs (as you have done) 4. If you are HRTpayers then check out NS&I 5. MoneySupermarket et al have best buys for savings. Suggest 6mo / 12mo?? fixed bond/rate. Rates are currently 6.8+ 6. Whatever you do - lock it somewhere and don't leave in your current account - you will spend it otherwise! (speaks from some personal experience)

Whatever you do - start now! and get compounding! Suggest 1/2 into a regular drip feed tracker and 1/2 into a pension. A decent rule is: 1/3rd future. 1/3 house-bills. 1/3rd enjoy life I'm nearly 40 and if I could turn back time I'd set up a regular payment into tracker+pension with the same ratio. [Check out Alvin or Fool for compounding stats] It's quite startling how quickly time progresses! (you are looking at least 30 years into the future)

Like many retailers, they sought to lower costs and make items cheaper by outsourcing and trimming quality to the minimum. Clothes from most HS retailers are of shockingly poor quality. Yes it's cheap but it looks nasty and will go in the bin after a week or two. Fine in "boom time" but not in recession. We will see a gradual shift towards expensive quality items (middle-class) and premium branded sportswear (lower-class) as people need to wear things for longer. I still have, and will keep for some years, my "black tie" from Hackett. I also have a pair of extremely comfortable Nike that I expect to get another three years out of. "Disposable" is no longer fashionable.

Generally, though, paying off debt is a good thing and will certainly yield a better return than any savings. If nothing else, it will reduce outgoings.

I particularly like this bit: "We want to ensure there continues to be stability and fairness in the housing market, and that the support is in place for consumers who may need it right now," said Ms Flint, following the meeting. fairness in the housing market - hmmm, does that mean that I can buy a flat for < 5x my earnings? that'd be fair. I'm not sure this is p*ssing in the wind by central government or genuinely a new age of debt slavery. Astonishing times eh!

Whatever we may feel - one can not retrospectively reverse contracts / agreements - this is a fundamental principle. How would you feel if your xmas bonus from '06 was reclaimed, you were retrospectively charged for your staff canteen meals for the past 10 years, your car allowance/milage had been re-graded? Pretty rotten - I know I would. He did bad yes. Can we make it better in the future? Yes: Vote. Discuss. Shop around for products and services.... oh, and be nice to people :-)

If (and this is a big if) you have six months rent in cash then you can find a flat in a day. I've done it twice now (hmmm planning?!) once after a long-term relationship blowup and once after bad scheduling of vacations and flat sale completions. You forgo the luxury of price bartering but gain in terms of speed

The speed of retraction is fast! First Direct announced that it was withdrawing its mortgage range from new customers while two other lenders raised their rates for existing ones. Internet and telephone bank First Direct said it was temporarily withdrawing its range after receiving five times the usual volume of applications in recent weeks. At the same time, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland and Kent Reliance Building Society became the first lenders this year to raise their variable mortgage rates for existing customers. http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQ...xC3vG95c-wmKIPQ - I guess the question is will this be enough or is it a case of stable door - horse bolted?

Libertarian Left according to the PoliticalCompass questions....

artificially propping up decaying assets?

It has been suggested to me that good properties will be very hard to come by during the crash because the mortgage holders will not be selling. I've yet to see any correlation between the quality of the mortgage holder and the quality of the property This is very true - I recall the last crash and there were very few properties available (although they were quirky!) - and now, when I scan my local area and + 1/2 mile there are a LOT of ex-LA coming on the market. I think over the next year or so we can all be a lot more relaxed about choosing our next place to live. No more of that "sealed bids" nonsense thank goodness!

I bet the tossbags at NR were also "people-focused" and "employees are assets" and "only YOU can make it work!" etc. Don't give a f--k do they - Applegarth is quietly enjoying his nice pounds... got out early didn't he?!