Is the doom just beginning?

[PM-Junkie]

The brightest news in NL right now is that people aren't losing their houses or their business inventories as quickly as was thought because the bailiffs and bankruptcy courts are too busy to handle all the work. One debt collection agency in our town has a 9 month waiting list and is refusing new customers.

Ahaaa...I spy a plan B!

[Andy2]

The brightest news in NL right now is that people aren't losing their houses or their business inventories as quickly as was thought because the bailiffs and bankruptcy courts are too busy to handle all the work. One debt collection agency in our town has a 9 month waiting list and is refusing new customers.

Plan B , open a debt collection agency

[Mich the Tester]

No, I'm still paying off now.

What divides me from people in Bagpuss's original post is not timing, it's prudence. While they seem to have been borrowing willy nilly because "everyone else is doing it so it must be OK", I've been overpaying my mortgage, which is where all my debt was.

I've got a shyte car though, not a proper contractor's conveyance at all.

You have a point, but I really wonder how many people have borrowed to extremes. I used to borrow when I was a poorly paid permie, simply because I couldn’t afford to buy stuff like furniture for the house on my salary, but I never maxed out the credit cards. Once I started contracting and earning good money I immediately started paying it all off, and now only have a relatively small mortgage that doesn’t keep me awake at night. I know one contractor who bought a huge old house, renovated it and now has a 850k mortgage and no contract, but he’s an extreme case. Most people I know are not, as far as I know, big borrowers.

[DieScum]

I have no idea how long the recession will last but what I do know is all the classic stuff about market psychology.

Overoptimism "new paradigm" followed by overpessimism.

I think you have to hold on. Keep your income flowing in, invest in good quality assets when they reach low prices (even if they may go lower), and be prepared to scale back massively if the worst happens and the income dries up.

At a guess I'd say that things will be much better in 1-year, 2-year and 5 years times and I am investing with this in mind. I am fully aware how much of a guess that is though.

[swamp]

I have no idea how long the recession will last but what I do know is all the classic stuff about market psychology.

Overoptimism "new paradigm" followed by overpessimism.

I think you have to hold on. Keep your income flowing in, invest in good quality assets when they reach low prices (even if they may go lower), and be prepared to scale back massively if the worst happens and the income dries up.

At a guess I'd say that things will be much better in 1-year, 2-year and 5 years times and I am investing with this in mind. I am fully aware how much of a guess that is though.

WHS

Next year we will wonder what all the fuss was about. The FTSE will be touching 7000 and we'll be gazumping each other over that 250K buy-to-let bedsit above the kebab shop in Peckham.

[Mich the Tester]

WHS

Next year we will wonder what all the fuss was about. The FTSE will be touching 7000 and we'll be gazumping each other over that 250K buy-to-let bedsit above the kebab shop in Peckham.

I hope you're right.

[Cyberman]

WHS

Next year we will wonder what all the fuss was about. The FTSE will be touching 7000 and we'll be gazumping each other over that 250K buy-to-let bedsit above the kebab shop in Peckham.

Not a hope in hell. The last time we had a major depression like this one it took 25 years for the FTSE to reach its previous peak. We have at least another 18 months to go to hit the bottom, before we see any major improvement IMO.

[BoredBloke]

Not a hope in hell. The last time we had a major depression like this one it took 25 years for the FTSE to reach its previous peak. We have at least another 18 months to go to hit the bottom, before we see any major improvement IMO.

18 Months - Can the FTSE do negative values?

[OwlHoot]

Not a hope in hell. The last time we had a major depression like this one it took 25 years for the FTSE to reach its previous peak. We have at least another 18 months to go to hit the bottom, before we see any major improvement IMO.

WHS

(for further details see my .sig - saves having to keep retyping the same thing)

[swamp]

FTSE has just dipped below 3500

Looks like a good time to buy!