Hawk

Hi Ive not frequented this forum for many many months, if not years...! I think years! I check-in now and again. I used to religiously read every post word for word. It saved me many years ago from spunking all my hard-earned on a shoe-box that would have caused me untold financial damage. In hindsight I would have been stuck with it and never been able to pass it on; knowing now I would have wanted to move out! This forum got me interested in the stock-market and wider economy! - Investing; boringly enough is now my main hobby (Party-animal you're thinking I know) -- My current situation: I saved up like an absolute ******* over the past few years and bought a place outright! I'm really happy here (just over 1 year now). Having bought it outright I'm can safely sustain any market dips, slumps or crashes. It was hard! - I had to live at home until I was 31 to save the money, but it was ok. -- In short this forum saved me so much stress, worry and financial losses and I really thank it for that! Even though I don't come on here anymore I still monitor the Housing Market via local listings in Rightmove. I still monitor the market because its a constant wonder to me wether I bought too soon etc! -- I see many of the original posters have gone! have they just got bored of the forum? Did they find and buy a place like me? Did they make that move to Australia that everyone keeps going on about to get away from the immigrants and chavs? -- Are most of you on here still adamant that there will be a massive HPC? During the Financial meltdown I was convinced 'THIS IS IT'... Yeah! it helped me buy a place for good value but it was by no means the crash I was hoping for! Baring any Europe wide meltdown, the UK seems to be bumbling along nicely... Lloyds and Barclays seem to be coming back in to profit based on recent results! -- I can see the housing Market continue on a slow trajectory downwards for a good number of years! but can you wait that long to make it finically profitable too wait? I'm in that camp at the moment.. the more I look at house prices the more I'm convinced I bought at an OK time! Since moving in to my place, only 1 property has come up on rightmove that Ive thought would have been worth waiting for! -- A couple I know have been renting for years as they wanted to move in together. They're now stuck renting as they can't save a big enough deposit to make buying a house financially safe. They look at my situation and wish they'd saved more before moving out! (They could afford a mortgage BTW it would just be for a place on the wrong side of the tracks should we say) they have now resigned themselves to be renting for the forceable future, if not forever! Its not a worry to them, I'm more interest in their predicament than they are! Are you in that situation or similar? I see some old faces on here that I recognise... I just can't imagine still pondering over each new post like I did in the past! Some of you on here deserve a medal for time-served! -- Bit of a ramble I know! I just haven't been regular here in a while... reading some of the posts from new members seems like deja vu! Same old arguments and opinions being quoted, like they have haven't already been discussed to death! So I figured i'd put down some of my thoughts and questions.... pity it turned in to such a ramble of crap! HAWK

How do you fail to pay a tax bill?

You're ignoring what I said before. Yes as it stands on face value I'm looking at a 10k loss on the purchase price. But I haven't calculated dividend payments or sold stock that could offset the 10k loss and ultimately justify me selling it. At one point about 10 months ago I was looking at a 6k profit on my portfolio (thats a guess I can't remember actually gain). You don't 'have to take a 25% loss' - it's not compulsory. What is compulsory is to take the ups and down until you see fit to sell. Normally when I buy stock, I just 'buy, hold and forget'. Unless I want to take an educated flutter like with the OILW ETF.. one of my few trades I'm not stubenly holding on too until I see a profit. If the fact share prices go up and down worries you I would advise you not to partake. It's the nature of it. Or in answer to the OPs question I think it's hard to justify an equity holding in any house deposit saving strategy. There is no doubt in my mind, in the future I will see a handsome return on my current holding. But I will have bought a load more before that time. I'll get back to you in ten years.

You win some you lose some... It's not really a loss until I sell which is why I'm glad I never had too and realise the acctual loss. I see it as a long term gain. The money I have in shares is ultimately for my pension. As I stated before if you buy any risky asset class you have to be prepared to take a hit without loosing any sleep. The only worry for me was if I found my dream home for 200k and had to debate wether to take the hit and sell. In three months it might be back up 10k

When I signed the solicitors terms and conditions - I signed to agree that at some point I may have to prove where the money came from resulting in a delay in the conveyancing prossess. Nothing so far but I wouldent be supprised if I get asked questions. I'm a bit ******** with record keeping so I'm not too worried; just a formality if they come a knocking.

Sorry didn't make myself clear -- Holding 160k cash - steadily build up from savings, interest and stock market trades. -- Holding 40k shares - current holding probably down 10k from original deposit but really hard to calculate total loss/gain as I've cashed short trades and most dividend payments in to my main bank savings. Most of the loss was made buying lloyds & bank of Ireland. Buying these bad banks was always meant to be a long term holding. I just figured they'd hit bottomed and wanted to Profit on the eventual recovery. risk-reward and all that shizzz -- What I meant by discounting 40k from my deposit fund was that it would be stupid to buy these type of shares then sell with in a few years. Some profit would be wiped out in trading fees alone. My own fault for diverisying so much. I still own the 40k in shares they're just devalued. -- I'm glad I found a place with in my cash budget as I dont have to bight the bullet and suffer the loss from buying high and selling low... Or have to consider leaving the money in shares and get a mortgage.

Thanks for the financial advice Grandad.

Why are you here... You should be out buying gold. If you don't hurry it will run out.

I've battled with this question for years now! Luckily - I have the ability to save money in large sums fast. Unluckily - It's caused me an amount of frustration over the last few years since saving rates bottomed out. At present I've got £200K total Since 0.5% base rate I, like a lot of people branched out in to equity to try and find some return on my hard earned. . . I wanted to keep the majority of my money in cash so I could move fast if a property came along which caught my eye. I split the money 160K cash 40K equity -- Cash: 40K in ISA 120K moved around seeking best saving rate - occasionally locked in to fixed term bonds; never for more than 6 months. Equity: The 40K is spread across various single equities and the rest in a HSBC FTSE100 ETF ----- The problem I found splitting my money like this is you never quite know how much you have as a deposit. The cash isn't a problem; you can predict that as far as the introductory saving rate lasts. With the shares on the other hand I shot myself in the foot slightly. If a house came along that I was interested in. I've had to discount my cash held in equity as part of the deposit. Reason being the value of my equity has dropped quite a degree since I bought them, thus making me reluctant to sell. They're still earning me approx 5-6% In dividends. I don't want to incur the trading costs or the loss in value. So when I get my calculator out to work out my current 'vulture' fund it's actually 160k not 200k - a risk that was always there when I branched out in to the unknown. Saying that... some of the £160k cash is completed trades which I took profit on a few years back. -- I've never entertained buying gold ... I really don't want to be stuck holding the parcel when the music stops. Saying that I held an oil EFT (OILW i think it was called) for a short amount of time when oil sank to 25$ a barrel. That was a quick trade. I don't like holding things that dont pay interest or dividends.... Any profits I made on my OILW trade are currently being offset by my small holding I have with NGAS (a natural gas ETF) ... Why I invested in a massive FART I will never know. -- I'm currently in the process of buying a place cash for 150K approx 20% discount... Worst case I see it dropping to 120-130k over the next few years - either way I'm not bothered I'm willing to take the hit just to move on with my life. Althought it's daunting spunking most of my available readies, I will be glad to get rid of it and not worry about where I'm going to move it next to obtain 0.25% more interest than the other ******* bank it's currently in. -- As for the next few years I'm going to risk my income on buying more equity. Try and catch some of them falling knives. -- As for the advice to other people facing the same dilemma, depends I suppose on the amount you have as a deposit. Id say the number one goal is to protect capital. Any money you want to lay down on a risky assets class; make sure your happy to see it get reduced by 50% without feeling the urge to put a revolver in your mouth. Disclaimer* I'm dyslexic... Hope that made sense.

I didn't mention formby (for those of you that don't know the area, formby has that type of middle class that give middle class the bad name) Crosby/Blundellsands is well within Liverpool. You need a map. Even says it on the address of that WAG pad Since when has Southport been a nice area... Oh the 1930s maybe... It's full of filthy crack-heads. Crack-heads and biddies. People go there to die either from old age or heroin addiction. You need to get out the south more. P.s take an anti viral of you go to southport what with all the hypodermic needles n all.

Hahaha I've just looked at the pictures of the inside actually : defiantly decorated by a retarded WAG!!!

Your right North Liverpool is to blame - here's an example of the shit you can buy in the crappy North. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29292217.html Doleight scum !!!!

I'm truly amazed !!!!! What's happening has the HPC forum gone back to the days of intelligent debate. When the DM run a 'House Prices are going to the moon - quick buy' headline we all laugh at their sensational liers... Normally when the DM runs a 'Liverpool is scum' headline it's followed by the usual selective HPC hater comments - are all the hypocritical *****ers on holiday or somthing?

Deffo a knocking shop.

.... and I thought I was diplexic! :/ Wow.... You didn't happen to score some weed on the way back did you?