Notting Hell

Toads are found everywhere Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life? Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork And drive the brute off? Six days of the week it soils With its sickening poison - Just for paying a few bills! That's out of proportion. Lots of folk live on their wits: Lecturers, lispers, Losels, loblolly-men, louts- They don't end as paupers; Lots of folk live up lanes With fires in a bucket, Eat windfalls and tinned sardines- they seem to like it. Their nippers have got bare feet, Their unspeakable wives Are skinny as whippets - and yet No one actually starves. Ah, were I courageous enough To shout Stuff your pension! But I know, all too well, that's the stuff That dreams are made on: For something sufficiently toad-like Squats in me, too; Its hunkers are heavy as hard luck, And cold as snow, And will never allow me to blarney My way of getting The fame and the girl and the money All at one sitting. I don't say, one bodies the other One's spiritual truth; But I do say it's hard to lose either, When you have both.

Boomers didn't grow up in anything like the impoverished circumstances of the generation before them. Real poverty, not "relative to median income" poverty.

Boomers have worked hard to spend their silver years riding the Orient Express ✓

https://www.ft.com/content/46d8bd13-1be1-4c59-8be7-d30f9d756d92 https://archive.ph/l4I3A ⏲️💣

False dichotomy

Why give someone the unilaterally-exercisable option to take 50%+ of your net worth? Marriage in UK is a sick joke quite frankly and anyone who enters into it is an idiot

They also thought Kate was dead

Thought I knew him from somewhere. Although he looks like Larkin

Quite a claim that the state pension will be means tested. Do you have any hard evidence. I am not suggesting you are making it up, but I would like to know more. There is no legislation that suggests this. Are you stating that the civil servants are dictating policy here. What is going on. What would be the consequence of paying voluntary NICs if the state pension then becomes means tested. They would become refundable. The WASPI campaign makes me sick to the core. Asking current workers who won't be able to retire at 60 and are likely to have lower life expectancy to pay for others to retire at 60 has no basis whatsoever in anything remotely equitable. Not only do current workers have to work for 8y longer than WASPI women (60 vs current 68) but if they did receive full compensation as a consequence of having to pay for their extended retirement, they would have reduced earnings which would be perhaps compared to a current worker working for an entire 10y longer than a WASPI woman. Totally sick. Why do they think they are entitled to this? I just don't get it. And that's before you factor in the additional taxation of student loans, high house prices etc. And current workers are about to pay for Thames Water that the WASPI women no doubt profited from. One way this situation in future could be avoided would be if the state pension operated more like a DC scheme in which an amount is accrued and then it is up to the individual to retire based on a financial projection. I find it hard to believe that anyone retires believing that their state pension is a particular age without actually checking before retiring. If they do such irrational things they need social support (mental etc.) and not financial compensation.

I love the idea of making a freehold title tradable like a stock. I have often thought about how to do this. The only possible structure at the moment is to hold the freehold of a house in a ltd company with a highly dynamic list of shareholders. Realistically it requires a change in law. I want to be able to trade a house over the counter instantly. No conveyancers, solicitors, mortgage brokers, surveyors, EAs, council search workers, coal board, the church, lord rentcharge, movers etc. jerking each other off for three months at my expense.

I have been hearing rumours that there is a growing "underground" effort to construct homes without seeking planning consent, and to "self-build" homes in the absence of planning permission. The movement substantially consists of young people (under 45) who are able to fund the construction of a house but are not able to fund the construction of a house+land with planning permission, or buy an existing property. One of the core principles of the movement is that "NIMBY" is fundamentally socially illegitimate and that the status of "green belt" should not be in preference to those who need homes for their families. The movement works in the following way: 1. Acquisition of: small plots between houses and next to houses, freehold garages, any mains utility-localised land whatsoever, paddocks, woodland, etc. on the scale of a maximum of a few acres (i.e. no large brown-field sites that cannot be funded by an individual). There are furthermore discussions of acquisitions of arable land close to mains utilities (approx. £10,000/acre) as private collectives. 2. The breaking of ground and pouring of foundations on a scale that would typically constitute the size of single family dwellings. 3. The preference of "off-grid" but as default the connection to mains utilities, ignoring the implications of "illegally" connecting to mains supplies. The movement believes that there is insufficient magisterial court time in order to process these "violations" of planning, and even if they ever do, it will take so long to process any planning violation claim so as to frustrate the case. It is difficult to tear a house down when there is a young couple and two children living there. Has anyone heard of similar. I am based in the SW.

How would you solve this problem. Let's say it were possible to sell a house immediately (i.e. there were some mechanism whereby surveys, conveyancing, mortgages etc. could be done instantly) this would create liquidity. But price discovery would still be held down by stamp duty, especially at the higher end. There will never be efficient pricing in the housing market until: 1. Houses can be exchanged and settled pretty much instantly (like you can buy a stock on an app instantly) 2. SDLT is removed and replaced with a LVT so that there is no cost of transaction.

There is lots of attention towards current high rates of NI/income tax. One tax that does get much interest at the moment is VAT (except school fees debate). Here is the historic list of VAT rates (taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax_in_the_United_Kingdom): From To Standard rate 1 April 1973 July 1974 10.0% July 1974 17 June 1979 8.0%* 18 June 1979 18 March 1991 15.0% 19 March 1991 30 November 2008 17.5% 1 December 2008 31 December 2009 15.0% 1 January 2010 3 January 2011 17.5% 4 January 2011 Present 20.0% Now, here's my basic analysis. Boomers were buying houses when, yes you've guessed it, VAT was at the lowest rate of 15% (1979--1991). Along come the millennials, and now they are paying 20% VAT on everything. That's a 5% additional stealth tax on virtually ALL spending for millennials. Obviously not all spending attracts VAT nor at the 20% rate. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Sob stories galore... I don't have any sympathy for the people who bought leasehold houses. Why didn't they do their own research? Why do people think the government will hold their hand? I see this in every aspect of life: - 'Our' NHS will look after me, I can blindly trust anything a doctor tells me. If my GP thinks anything is wrong with me, he will tell me - I can ship my child off to the nearest school. Teachers know best and will make sure my child gets a good education and be put on the correct career path - Banks have my best interests at heart. I don't need to read any of the payment terms, they've told me I can afford it - I can trust this solicitor to convey this house for me. He will tell me everything I need to know. etc. etc. British people have become a bunch of pathetic patsies. Seems like they are priming general public for "interest rates go down, house prices go up; therefore when inflation goes up, house prices go down". This is unavoidable: 5y+ of 5% mortgage rates needs to be priced in. House prices have to come down. And Martin Lewis is a charlatan extreme coupon cutter. For the last 10y+, instead of telling people to "save money for when interest rates inevitably rise so that you can still pay mortgage or rent" he told people to "waste time cutting coupons from the back of magazines to save 10p on a packet of rice". Totally missed the BIG costs in life and instead prattled on about trivial expenses and time wasting on uneconomic activities.

So this implies that mortgage rates are going to be roughly 5% for 5+ years?

Can't stand these documentaries: 30 seconds worth of information stretched into 60 minutes, with associated sob stories...

Are they even that great? I used to love classical/Victorian etc. architecture but have come to see old buildings as barriers to progress in improving quality of living. How do you adequately insulate a Victorian house to modern standards (it can't be done for an economic cost) Why should (nothing special) Grade II* listed sash windows indirectly provide employment for several wonks in the local council? (low-productivity UK) To eliminate damp, and enable 'net zero' how do you install a MVHR system in the Victorian loft space and fabric of building (you can't it's impossible) How can I charge an electric car? (can't create a driveway) Should a central London house, where pigs used to be kept in the back garden, really be considered acceptable accommodation? No it shouldn't. These buildings need razing to the ground and modern apartment (Haussmann-esque) blocks need building in their place.

I have never been able to understand why the distribution of insurance quotes over age is as is it is. Why should you pay more for car insurance when you are younger, and less when you are older. Why not distribute the risk through equal premiums over the years? Especially since younger people earn lower wages. Isn't the whole point of insurance to distribute risk? Why not provide for that to be done over lifetime of car driving? Quotes tend to be something like this, for a bog-standard car:- 18-25: >£1000 25-30: £500 30-60: £300 60+: starts going up again.... Why not distribute the premiums equally: 18+: £400 It doesn't make any sense to condition on age, and is unhelpful for the consumer. In an adjacent area, this is an the argument that junior doctors are yet to make... They shouldn't be earning £30k when they start, and £100k when qualified... the distribution should be smoothed over years of experience so that they earn £50k when they start, and £90k when qualified. Total lifetime earnings being equal.

I've never understood the British/(boomer - cue Insane) obsession with boilers. To replace a standard boiler in a standard house is what £2k, 2.5k? That's only two months mortgage payment/rent. The cost of housing itself is so astronomical that the cost of maintaining even the most expensive things inside the house, like boilers, is insignificant. Boiler insurance... don't get me started on that... just stick £10/month in a tracker fund, and when your boiler eventually needs replacing you will be able to pay for it... I'm guessing the obsession with boilers goes back to a time when boilers actually were expensive/significant costs to bear when issues happened with them. I don't think many older people realise how insignificant the cost of a boiler is now, relative to the cost of housing itself. They don't know how good they had it.

To ask the opposite question then: what sort of accommodation is good value/quality for a fresh graduate in London?

Trade-off between noise and being within close commutable distance to actually earn the money to pay the rent. Would be interesting to know what percentage of these flat renters also commute via rail. Probably very high percentage. Depends, it's not easy to spot insane people (flat/house "mates", live-in landlord, maintenance bods) etc. when you agree to this sort of thing. At least a studio flat guarantees you can live in peace. Exactly, even if it is more expensive (debatable), you cannot price peace of mind high enough especially when you are starting a new graduate job etc. that is likely to be stressful. One thing about these flats is that they appear to have only a communal laundry.... not sure about that choice. Introduces a huge amount of hassle into life if you don't have a washer/dryer... Seems like the people who might want a self-contained zero hassle flat, probably want a washer/dryer in their flat too...

Just had a look at the Website for Enclave Croydon. It looks like a good deal for certain people (mainly young professionals with no base in London otherwise). - £1,500 ish a month for studio flat inclusive of ALL utilities AND council tax. - Easy to understand offering on the website. Straight-up no nonsense fees, tenancy agreement terms. - brand new apartments that look to be built to a good modern standard - fully remote tenancy arrangement (i.e. book the apartment from your home/move in immediately). Sure it's in Croydon, but if you were new to London and working in the city for example, it looks like a good option, at least to get started with, when you are new to London and just want to focus on your job.

Telegraph: If you’re under 50, it’s time to jump ship – get out of Britain while you can https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/17/under-50-time-jump-ship-leave-britain/ https://archive.ph/KwLlj

I equate not investing in S&P500 to predicting armageddon. If the tracker crashes, the world is in such a state that your cash "savings" are worthless as well. I disagree. There are better ways to access cash if you need to. Margin loan is number one, offset mortgage, credit cards/charge cards (with large limits established and maintained before you actually need to use them), unsecured loans (it's better to pay interest on borrowing short-term, than it is to lose purchasing power in perpetuity). And don't forget you can sell investments effectively instantly these days-and as long as you do your every day spending on a charge card/credit card (and I believe everyone should) you actually have on average six weeks before you need the cash. I think one thing that annoys me about "savings" accounts, and where we obviously differ in position due to age, is that as you have actually known "savings" accounts beat inflation, you have not had to allocate your capital to find real return. My entire adult life has never seen an account beat inflation (I don't dispute the information you have provided re. pre-2008 etc.), and therefore I naturally start to question, "how to actually get a return on my money". It's not unsurprising that I would reject absolutely a "savings" account run by some awful Barclays branch with sticky carpets that simply guarantees I lose purchasing power. My Grandfather started with Co-op savings accounts in the (late) 1930s. These accounts would not only give you inflation-beating returns, but they would often even simply give you money when you deposited money! It is crazy to think these things existed. However, what I wanted to highlight is the following. My Grandfather retired over thirty years ago, and in spite of running a public company for a time, it occurred to me, that he doesn't actually know how to manage money. He has placed all of his spare capital into savings accounts with various banks. He has prattled around for however many years ISAs have been around messing about with 3k/year into accounts bearing no real return where managing the damn thing is more hassle than the return obtained. Over the same thirty-year period the S&P500 has returned an average of 11.5% a year. That's a 26x return. So, let's say you started with £1,000,000. 30 years later it would now be worth £26,000,000. If you left it in "savings" accounts, you would not have anywhere near this figure. Its value would have eroded to be a fraction of its original purchasing power, whereas the S&P500 would have increased in purchasing power an astronomical amount in comparison. This is why I HATE "savings" accounts and the pernicious FALSE narrative that surrounds them. I believe the paradigm has shifted, and it is only because you have seen real return that you still think that "savings" accounts are worthwhile. I do not believe they are. They are a hassle to administer, they don't pay real return. Better off on an investment platform with literally any reputable tracker. Or money market funds if you are so inclined. The economic cost to the self is so high just to administer the accounts that it is not worth your time. You are better off doing a days shift at minimum wage than opening a new savings account in most cases. And then the narrative that "there's no risk in saving in a bank account". Well, I happen to think that a guaranteed loss in purchasing power of your hard-earned dosh is pretty damn risky. Eventually, it's a guaranteed loss of 100%!!!! It doesn't get riskier than that!

FTSE All-world at the moment. Premium bonds are a MASSIVE scam. You money is being devalued constantly in "premium" bonds. Nothing premium about them. You don't get your money back, you get back LESS. It is possible to replicate a premium bond portfolio with a savings accounts+lottery tickets, and get a better expected return.