MrBen

I'm guessing the escrow would be applied after survey but before exchange. Asking for it before survey would kill it's effectiveness as the buyer is already laying out survey fees etc and deserves to be able to check it out first.

SteveUK - I think you're right in this market which is driven by desperation and fear. People are trampling over each other to buy now in case prices rise further. Supply of stock coming onto the market is also low increasing demand. It's already horrible for buyers. But in a buyers market it all swings the other way and whilst rather unconventional I see nothing wrong at all with Worldwisers escrow suggestion to weed out the serious from the timewasters. It's commercially creative and reduces risk. It would cost under ?500 for a conveyancing lawyer to draft a letter of terms and hold funds.

You have a point though poppet27. It's all relative - to someone struggling on benefits or off radar completely and unemployed, anyone on ?100k plus IS super rich.

I once left East Dulwich for LCY at 8.50am and was still early at the gate for a flight at 9.45am.

gsirett Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I fly a couple times per month and will go for: > LCY, LGW , LHR in that order Spot on. The choice of a true pro. :-)

Me too. Not many oligarchs buying 3 bed terraces on Fellbrigg Road. BUT...at ?1M you're looking at incomers spending with a joint income of at least ?200K (+ carried fwd equity). In banker led London it can be easy to forget that less than 1% of the UK population actually earns this kind of money.

The rest of the menu for lunch and dinner - see above on this thread is actually very reasonable. I wouldnt get too hung up on the fact they've gone off whack on this breakfast option. Also it seems they dropped their main menu prices in November after getting initial feedback. As many others have said its only in line with ToasteED, Franklins and Palmerston. I'm with NewWave that its boring hearing the same old negative moaners complaining about prices. A few have had it in for this place from the start for no obvious reason apart from it not being the bygone era of strippers and warm pints of bitter for ?2.50 like it did back in the 1980's. Jah has given a fairly balanced view thus far - and if he likes the wine list that scores serious points with me. The food is also fantastic - why not try it rather than moan?

MrBen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Stamp collecting. oops. Sorry about that. Any switch to an IT related career is a good play generally. Its very possible for averagely talented people to earn ?100k+ with 1 years training , 3-4 years permie employee experience under your belt and then go contracting for ?450-?600 per day. They'll also go through their own personal Ltd co and so probably pay less tax.

Stamp collecting.

ok. But at 1.5-2% in annual charges for a lot of funds plus inflation (2.5-3%) you really need to be getting 8%+ pa to make it worthwhile. Sticking a lump sum in to get a sub 5% return annually is like watching paint dry don't you find Mick?

Havent people, especially at 40+ been moaning about the price of a pint since before the dawn of time itself? Inflation happens and someone has to go first. Even if a pint is 30p more expensive. Then after six pints that's only ?1.80 a night extra. If thats once a week then thats an extra ?7.20 a month. Less than a packet of fags. If you're on low income and want to drink that much then surely a CostCo carry out at home is the way forward.

For any fund, try to work out the true total cost of charges/fee's over time. Merryn Somerset Webb has rightfully been challenging in her columns for ages.... This article gives you a quick laymans feel: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fee13228-51e3-11de-b986-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2pLOH7nL7

Looking at the higher risk end and not for the faint hearted, investment in a start up via the new SEIS scheme is very attractive. You can offset your income tax and get a substantial capital gains break. See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/seedeis/background.htm Not one for the layman though?.

AnotherEDer- all good sensible advice above. Short of doing something high risk/exotic like sticking it all on an obscure mining stock, or investing in a start up, it doesn't get much more exciting than either a safe-ish savings /investment route or taking more risk with property. Couple of observations: 1. Risk - all true above re. understanding your risk profile. Risk and return broadly correlate and if I could offer some advice it would be that the vast majority of people don't take enough risk. One way to look at it is to think about how much worse your life really would be if you were to lose that ?40k tomorrow? Weren't you doing ok before? I would argue that 27 is a great age to take risk because you don't have family commitments of the 30/40 something bracket or the pensions/retirement concerns of the 50+ bracket. Both demographics in my experience are more likely to be risk averse. At 27 you can make a play, lose and still have plenty recovery time. Think about it - when else can you do that? 2. Your future earnings potential his likely to increase - I don't know what you do (are you able to say?) but at 27 years old it's likely your earnings are on the up and that you'll hit your maximum earning potential in your late 30's or 40's. If you plot that trajectory ahead for your job/profession, what would your likely earnings be in say 5 years time? This might better inform your appetite for risk now e.g. if you expect a steady increase then you can arguably take more risk now. If you're earnings have peaked then you might wish to be more cautious. 3. Property - Mick is right. The huge advantage of property is that it is a leveraged investment and tax efficient. I can't think of any other way that a man with ?40k income and ?40k in the bank can borrow ?200,000 to invest in something that, if its his main home, doesn't get taxed on any uplift (stamp duty at purchase aside). That said?.. my personal belief (my opinion only) is that the underlying fundamentals for property are still hugely problematic. Household debt from the past 15 years binge still hasn't unwound. In "sub prime" London, earnings to houseprice ratios are still way out of whack. Whilst the economy is improving and the headlines are more optimistic, we need a very slow de-leveraging process to get out of the underlying household debt mess. This will take a long time (5-10 years) and will require rate rises that are nicely in step with rising salaries (which we've yet to see). Lots of people know that interest rates have to (and will) rise but their spending behaviour still doesn't correlate ( an "ostrich" effect). The Help to Buy has artificially created a price spike in London that's already fizzling out. I challenge anyone to say the current London market isn't overvalued. So what would I do? Without knowing anymore about you, I would take more risk than a mortgage pay down or saving. I would probably go down the BTL route and use your 40K to get a decent-ish deposit on say a ?200k purchase to cushion you against any decline in capital value. I would be looking in fringe areas of SE London which offer a gross yield > 5% OR more likely I would be looking outside of London where prices are still sluggish, there's a high rental demand (students, a hospital whatever) and where you'll find more value. Perhaps you have a hometown in Kent/Scotland/Wales that you know well and so could research easily to find how that local market has performed? There is lots you can do to make being a landlord easy but it does require some thought and effort. Get it right and it can be relatively hassle free. Good luck. I'd then look to sell your BTL in 4-5 years time depending on the market and use the proceeds (CGT applies to any profit) to help fund your house purchase with any uplift/equity you carry forward from your own flat + future salary rise.

Ditto. See you all there.

Is that you just back from L.A. again Mick?

The Patch thread I found pretty tedious. Interesting that now it has actually opened and serving good food nobodies much commenting.

In 2006 a really clever guy with a 1st class honours degree came to the company do after being in the job for 1 month, got totally pi$$ed and for some reason dropped his boxers in the foyer of the hotel. In front of the female COO. He got fired the next morning.

Nothing worse than enforced fun. But here's another perspective - if you're the boss and don't organise anything you get accused of being tight/miserable. So you can't win.

Possibly one of the contenders for dullest thread on the forum, but Virgin Medias service just seems to get worse. Our TV and broadband are now out again for the second time this year and wont be fixed until Friday. A note through the door says we need a "noise limiter" fitted and to call their call centre. They have one of the worst overseas call centres I've encountered....I cant understand them, they cant understand me and in the background you've got the constant yelling of the other operators. They will credit you for loss of service - four days broadband outage gets me ?5.37. You then have to speak to a different dept to get compensated for loss of TV service. But all this doesnt start to make up for the inconvenience if you work from home. With this outage we'll have been 16 days out this year - I make that a 95% availability of service annually which falls well below most acceptable SLA's for basic IT/comms service. I'm now officially looking at a dedicated line in via BT for serious home office use.

sunbob Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > MrBen Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > There were some cool elderly bearded people > > playing a weird english folk/sea shanty music. > > They were really good but struggled to get the > > mainly white, affluent middle class crowd to > get > > dancing > > Well, it was fun joining in with the dancing (at > last I discover the true advantage of being stoney > broke!) Nice one Sunbob. When you next get some decent cash burn it and free your soul. Soweto has hundreds dancing in the street. New Orleans has the Second Line tradition. East Dulwich has....the Shoulder Shuffle....

There were some cool elderly bearded people playing a weird english folk/sea shanty music. They were really good but struggled to get the mainly white, affluent middle class crowd to get dancing. I reckon if I'd had some more of that plum cider I would have been up for busting some moves.

I read there used to be a communist bookshop in Brixton. If that helps.

Thirded. I'm not sure that this thread is the best place to recommend specific books, more that the shops themselves are worth a visit. They'll have a much smaller stock on the premises than an Amazon warehouse but that's the point. It's all thoughtfully curated. They've picked some highlights and some rarities of interest to most. And if thats not enough they'll order stuff in quickly. Actually going, browsing,leafing through a nice selection of books. The smell even. I happen to like the experience.

Latvian slave droids.