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Even if not "more intelligent", one might consider "more self-confident" or "more ambitious". So you're right that the figures are deeply flawed. On the other hand, short of randomising a group to "uni" and "non-uni" it's hard to see how you can adjust for the self-selection bias.
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Offset Mortgage-- A Scam Or A Good Deal
Selling up replied to Realistbear's topic in House prices and the economy
They're not new, I had one in 2003. They are indeed a tax-efficient way of managing your money: your savings reduce the mortgage interest so that there is no tax to pay on your savings. But as others have been pointed out, there's no free lunch. The interest rates are higher. I'd almost certainly go for one if I buy again though. -
Meaningless Political Concepts.
Selling up replied to Hyperduck Quack Quack's topic in House prices and the economy
Fairness -
Firms Get Powers To Sack The Slackers
Selling up replied to Mr. Miyagi's topic in House prices and the economy
That's not exactly been my experience. I think plenty of sackings occur due to personality clashes; where the employee is bolshy and hard-to-like but not actually incompetent, and the boss is bolshy and hard-to-like but not actually incompetent. -
Ecrb Checks + Registration For Landlords
Selling up replied to RichB's topic in House prices and the economy
CRB checks are an insane waste of time and money. We need less of them, not more. -
What's Your Personal Inflation Rate ?
Selling up replied to Doesn't Commute Anymore's topic in House prices and the economy
Mine is about zero, since almost all my wealth is being saved to spend on a house; house prices are more or less flat year on year. -
You are probably right that they will continue to try to prop up prices. But can they succeed? Could the dutch government have maintained the inflated price of tulips? I don't know, and as far as I can see, nobody really knows...
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News Britain Is Freezing To Death
Selling up replied to Pauly_Boy's topic in House prices and the economy
I suppose they calculate this by noting the excess number of deaths in the cold months over those in the warmer months. It's true, no doubt, but I think there is an interesting historical reflection to be made. Respiratory viruses, bronchitis and pneumonia are commoner in the cold months. These can prove fatal to the frail elderly. I imagine they account for most of the excess winter deaths. BUT remember that it was not long ago that pneumonia was called the "old man's friend": The frail elderly people susceptible to death from respiratory infection will typically have other underlying cond -
Nationwide - Uk House Prices Fall Again In Nov
Selling up replied to The Masked Tulip's topic in House prices and the economy
Sounds about right. -
Nationwide - Uk House Prices Fall Again In Nov
Selling up replied to The Masked Tulip's topic in House prices and the economy
Nationwide figures (nominal) Nov 10: 163,398 Feb 09 (recent trough): 147,746 Oct 07 (peak): 186,044 May 04: 149,020 So we're 12% off the peak. To return to the recent trough in nominal terms needs a fall of a further 9.6%. Any bigger fall would put us back to April 04 prices. -
No One Forced The General Public
Selling up replied to Wait & See's topic in House prices and the economy
It's important not to confuse responsibility with blame. If a borrower borrowed unwisely, repaying the loan should be his or her responsibility. Is the borrower to blame? Maybe, maybe not. I personally don't feel much blame towards, say, a young couple with a child on the way, who were not prepared to tolerate the insecurity of UK rental contracts, and whose bank, newspaper, TV, friends and parents all assured them that house purchase was a one way bet. -
I've not been able to find details of the original research, which (according to the article) compares Rightmove asking prices with LR sales prices. But I strongly suspect that it's not been carried out on a house-by-house basis; instead I think someone's just said: Overall average London asking price on RM is 400k, overall average London LR sold price is, 320k so the gap is 79k. Fine, but that gap could, for instance, simply mean that only cheaper houses are selling, and that they are selling for 100% of asking price. So, as usual, we can't conclude anything without more information on the
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But it's more likely laziness than incompetence [edit: I mean "conspiracy"]: I would imagine that when the figures are negative for any of these indices, the press release is written to sound as non-newsworthy as possible; when the figure is positive, I guess it gets a big attention-grabbing headline etc in the press release. So reporters naturally notice the positive ones more.