Kleptocrats at it again.

[willendure]

Overly negative view of where tech is headed I think. Its a cyclical industry, and doubtless some new hot trend will emerge as the market warms back up again. For example - I am seeing many more AI related contracts now than even at the start of this year....

[willendure]

Dam it, these things never go down do they? Also VAT at 20% as an "emergency" because of the credit crunch back in 2008 and seemingly the emergency has never ended.

Trying to tax the country into wealth is like lifting yourself into the air by pulling on your own boot laces....

[willendure]

I kind of think of LI as an arse covering option. You know first thing people do when you send them your CV is to look you up. I guess just to check that the info you are putting out publicily on LI matches the story your CV is telling.

I got annoyed with LI last year because I could not...

[willendure]

Yeah - I think a career change when the market is slow is likely to be a tough move. Unless you've got some cash and good business idea and can create your own new career? but that is never going to be a low risk option.

I'm just on the bench myself, but have enough cash I can ride things...

[willendure]

Aware of that one. Another historical form of financing a property purchase was a "tontine": an annuity shared by subscribers to a loan or common fund, the shares increasing as subscribers die until the last survivor enjoys the whole income.

There is a hotel in the south of Scotland...

[willendure]

So, a clueless bank clerk.

[willendure]

I suspect that is where things are headed - rules about investing a certain % in UK. Someone has to buy the UKs debt after all, might as well shove it down the throat of us mugs....

[willendure]

BofE puts rates down, but mortgage prices go up (unless you happen to have a base rate tracker). Not what people expect is it? Cost of longer term capital is going to rise even more, in my view....

[willendure]

This time: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gve4d8jljo

Last time: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...on-errors.html

Look at state pensions in the USA and the way Wall Street is taking them for a ride. I would be very sceptical about these mega funds and the dodgy fuind...

[willendure]

The can keep immigration low as long as they like - its a choice, same as it is for us. If the population has wealth and is shrinking that concentrates the wealth into fewer hands, so actually it works out pretty well for the natives to own their own country.

Japan off-shored a lot of manufacturing,...

[willendure]

Been running a little experiment on Jobserve. I have 2 searches for any contract positions in IT, one for inside roles, one for outside. I get these through my RSS reader. Since I last reset the mark as read status about 3 weeks ago, I have had 528 outside, and 105 inside. The classification is not...

[willendure]

On the subject of automation. The Japanese baby boom started 20 years before ours, so their population peeked earlier. Manfacturing was huge in Japan which is why they were so wealthy and powerful up to the 80s. But their country is far more politically unified than the UK, they basically have 1 party...

[willendure]

For sure - but bond investors are saying the same thing about the USA, and most developed economies.

I think rewriting the rules to be able to borrow more is a con. Debt is still debt, no matter how you hide it. Last Labour government gave us PFI for off balance sheet spending, and that...

[willendure]

Sounds like a no brainer - can't find someone for 9 months, they just need to offer you the right amount!...

[willendure]

Could be. Just seen 3 contracts in my area that I can apply for, and I have not seen anything at all in this vicinity for 2 whole months!!

[willendure]

Fair enough. But zoom out to the 1 month chart, and both have risen 40 basis points, so I am counting that as just noise.

Friend of mine applying for a mortgage at the moment, and was surprised when I told him not to expect a better rate even if the BofE puts rates down at the next meeting....

[willendure]

When looking at the 10 year UK chart, always put the 10 year US chart alongside. You can see the rise there is coordinated with a similar sized rise in the US 10 year. In other words, it is not specifically a UK issue. I don't think the markets have quite the negative interpretation of the budget that...

[willendure]

I always think as a contractor, if you ask for a rise you have to be prepared to walk. Like I want 10% more, because I can find 10% more elsewhere, so agree to it or say goodbye kind of thing.

[willendure]

Yeah, even though I ran an AirBnb myself, I still find myself agreeing that it should be taxed and regulated. It paid my mortgage for 10 years, and I recently sold the property and will be claiming BADR on it, so the capital gains is not too nasty. So I cannot gripe really. No doubt AirBnB has significantly...

[willendure]

Exactly. Its easy to be an armchair investor looking back over the last 20 years and pat yourself on the back, even though you did not hold the nasdaq for those 20 years.

The point is, you can get better fixed returns than a savings account, and the risk is likely a lot smaller than you...