Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.
My Helium One shares have more than doubled in the last month - if the drilling proves successful there is huge potential in this. There is a massive worldwide demand for helium and signs so far are promising.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.
It was 6/7 years ago but the report (about 40 pages!) cost me less than £2k I think, although it was advisors via work so may have been a bit cheaper/discounted than normal.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
Of course, not everyone has a commission-hungry crook for an IFA like I did! (Though I didn't realise at the time!). Even if I had the more stable investments I have in my pot now, I still think it'd be the wrong move for me but each case is different, as you rightly said.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
Of course, not everyone has a commission-hungry crook for an IFA like I did! (Though I didn't realise at the time!). Even if I had the more stable investments I have in my pot now, I still think it'd be the wrong move for me but each case is different, as you rightly said.
I think its mainly to do with "commission hungry crooks" that the FCA have stamped down on DB transfers. A lot of them are not IFA's and look to put the money into some really dodgy stuff.
Fwiw - I dont have the "permissions" to transact DB transfers - never have done.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
Of course, not everyone has a commission-hungry crook for an IFA like I did! (Though I didn't realise at the time!). Even if I had the more stable investments I have in my pot now, I still think it'd be the wrong move for me but each case is different, as you rightly said.
I think its mainly to do with "commission hungry crooks" that the FCA have stamped down on DB transfers. A lot of them are not IFA's and look to put the money into some really dodgy stuff.
Fwiw - I dont have the "permissions" to transact DB transfers - never have done.
Unfortunately no crackdown on such sheisters in many countries. There are still "boiler room" gangs out there and I get the occasional phone call, though I recognise the style straight away. Never been tempted by these guys.
Also you can go an a two day course here and call yourself a financial advisor! Nothing more than an insurance salesperson in reality, one that has no idea what he or she is actually selling! Scary, but for the sellers it's just a way of making a quick baht and not a career as such. Most give up after a few weeks.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
Of course, not everyone has a commission-hungry crook for an IFA like I did! (Though I didn't realise at the time!). Even if I had the more stable investments I have in my pot now, I still think it'd be the wrong move for me but each case is different, as you rightly said.
I think its mainly to do with "commission hungry crooks" that the FCA have stamped down on DB transfers. A lot of them are not IFA's and look to put the money into some really dodgy stuff.
Fwiw - I dont have the "permissions" to transact DB transfers - never have done.
Unfortunately no crackdown on such sheisters in many countries. There are still "boiler room" gangs out there and I get the occasional phone call, though I recognise the style straight away. Never been tempted by these guys.
Also you can go an a two day course here and call yourself a financial advisor! Nothing more than an insurance salesperson in reality, one that has no idea what he or she is actually selling! Scary, but for the sellers it's just a way of making a quick baht and not a career as such. Most give up after a few weeks.
Sounds like the UK 30 years ago !! I lost my job in the City in the early 90's and after failing to get a job in the industry I knew for 3 months I decided to divert into "selling insurance". The people who were being recruited at that time appalled me. At least i had a modicum of knowledge of endowments, PEPS & other "investment" products, but many of my colleagues were ex-car mechanics, roofers etc who had fallen on hard times & took anything that would bring in a wage. You can see how people mis-sold various insurance & pension policies when it was mostly commission only & these guys had to put bread on the table at the end of the week.
Thankfully over the years the "financial advice" community has got its house in order & the testing/exams that have been brought in has weeded all of these people out.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.
It was 6/7 years ago but the report (about 40 pages!) cost me less than £2k I think, although it was advisors via work so may have been a bit cheaper/discounted than normal.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!
the wife's just transferring hers into an Aviva SIPP, value about 196k, advisor charge £3k.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.
It was 6/7 years ago but the report (about 40 pages!) cost me less than £2k I think, although it was advisors via work so may have been a bit cheaper/discounted than normal.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!
the wife's just transferring hers into an Aviva SIPP, value about 196k, advisor charge £3k.
Sounds good, fingers crossed the Aviva SIPP performs well. Think their platform charges are quite high, any reason you went with them?
My Helium One shares have more than doubled in the last month - if the drilling proves successful there is huge potential in this. There is a massive worldwide demand for helium and signs so far are promising.
My Helium One shares have more than doubled in the last month - if the drilling proves successful there is huge potential in this. There is a massive worldwide demand for helium and signs so far are promising.
Are you saying this in a squeaky voice......
Not yet. Surprising how much demand there is for Helium.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.
It was 6/7 years ago but the report (about 40 pages!) cost me less than £2k I think, although it was advisors via work so may have been a bit cheaper/discounted than normal.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!
the wife's just transferring hers into an Aviva SIPP, value about 196k, advisor charge £3k.
Sounds good, fingers crossed the Aviva SIPP performs well. Think their platform charges are quite high, any reason you went with them?
Probably down to his advisor........which wasnt me I hasten to add. Can't afford my fees.......😁
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.
It was 6/7 years ago but the report (about 40 pages!) cost me less than £2k I think, although it was advisors via work so may have been a bit cheaper/discounted than normal.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!
the wife's just transferring hers into an Aviva SIPP, value about 196k, advisor charge £3k.
Sounds good, fingers crossed the Aviva SIPP performs well. Think their platform charges are quite high, any reason you went with them?
That’s what our advisor suggested after scouring the market. Funds being managed by Square Mike, wouldn’t dare do it ourselves.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.
It was 6/7 years ago but the report (about 40 pages!) cost me less than £2k I think, although it was advisors via work so may have been a bit cheaper/discounted than normal.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!
the wife's just transferring hers into an Aviva SIPP, value about 196k, advisor charge £3k.
Sounds good, fingers crossed the Aviva SIPP performs well. Think their platform charges are quite high, any reason you went with them?
Probably down to his advisor........which wasnt me I hasten to add. Can't afford my fees.......😁
No, only down to the fact if it went tits up we wouldn’t want to be blaming you.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.
It was 6/7 years ago but the report (about 40 pages!) cost me less than £2k I think, although it was advisors via work so may have been a bit cheaper/discounted than normal.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!
the wife's just transferring hers into an Aviva SIPP, value about 196k, advisor charge £3k.
Sounds good, fingers crossed the Aviva SIPP performs well. Think their platform charges are quite high, any reason you went with them?
That’s what our advisor suggested after scouring the market. Funds being managed by Square Mike, wouldn’t dare do it ourselves.
Sounds expensive! (assume you mean square mile, not Mike!)
Considering buying a small e-commerce business as an active investment I guess, with the possibility of it (or another business) becoming a full time thing if it took off.
My dream is to have a portfolio of companies as a venture or vulture capitalist. The last company I worked at were bought by vulture capitalists and it was amazing. I know it's a derogatory term to many but the act of taking a failing company and managing to turn around it's fortunes is amazing (although obviously not always done in the nicest way).
Considering buying a small e-commerce business as an active investment I guess, with the possibility of it (or another business) becoming a full time thing if it took off.
My dream is to have a portfolio of companies as a venture or vulture capitalist. The last company I worked at were bought by vulture capitalists and it was amazing. I know it's a derogatory term to many but the act of taking a failing company and managing to turn around it's fortunes is amazing (although obviously not always done in the nicest way).
Considering buying a small e-commerce business as an active investment I guess, with the possibility of it (or another business) becoming a full time thing if it took off.
My dream is to have a portfolio of companies as a venture or vulture capitalist. The last company I worked at were bought by vulture capitalists and it was amazing. I know it's a derogatory term to many but the act of taking a failing company and managing to turn around it's fortunes is amazing (although obviously not always done in the nicest way).
What sort of business?
Don't really want to say the name but one that I'm considering is producing merchandise all around one TV show and also comes with a following of over 100,000 on social media.
The other sells some nice coffee based products, grinders and stuff like that.
Margins are very good on both including the online social media ads, the margins stack up and you get to do proper due diligence, a process I have been involved in, in my professional life.
I understand finance, operations, know not a lot about marketing but a huge proportion of it in e-commerce is numbers and I want to learn that.
The important thing is that it is for a very low cost, very low, so it's not like I'm staking a huge amount on it, there's no big stock holdings or premises so worst case scenario is losing the initial investment.
It's more of a test run for the first one or two as a learning process, and then would try and create something of my own.
Yes thanks, I have decided to keep the final salary pension separate from the sipp for now anyway and not cash in.
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
There's a lot of variables as to if it's right or not. For me when I transferred mine what made it for me a no brainer was they were a) paying a good multiple (nearly 40x) and b) I was just over 40 so still had best part of 25 years to go to grow it. It's worked very well for me, my sub £3k PA pension as at 2014 I transferred into a SIPP just shy of £110k from memory, that's more than tripled now to circa £350k. Whereas the annual pension would have grown to around £3,250. So my relevant pot currently is over 100x that amount! So I've probably safely trippled my annual pension amount and also have much more flexibility and it won't die with me/my wife.
And to think the FCA's starting point is to not transfer out. And if you did go ahead it would probably cost you around £5k.
It was 6/7 years ago but the report (about 40 pages!) cost me less than £2k I think, although it was advisors via work so may have been a bit cheaper/discounted than normal.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!
the wife's just transferring hers into an Aviva SIPP, value about 196k, advisor charge £3k.
Sounds good, fingers crossed the Aviva SIPP performs well. Think their platform charges are quite high, any reason you went with them?
That’s what our advisor suggested after scouring the market. Funds being managed by Square Mike, wouldn’t dare do it ourselves.
Sounds expensive! (assume you mean square mile, not Mike!)
And all I have to do is send £500 to a bank account in the Cayman Islands.
Great, my broker gave you my details then
Really do find it all exciting, will hopefully be able to learn with the first 1-2 and then really go for something bigger.
It helps that I am the head of finance for an ecommerce company that was turning over £70k 5 years ago and is about to do £2.8m this financial year.
I can really learn on the job here, and ask all the questions I need to.
Good luck with it, it's likely though you'll need to spend more time on them than you think with may effect the day job.
I very nearly bought a small business like that last year, golf glove's (and gold accessories) of all thinks, mainly sold via amazon so very little work required. But two problems, dishonest seller (he had other websites he didn't disclose) and wanted too much money!
And all I have to do is send £500 to a bank account in the Cayman Islands.
Great, my broker gave you my details then
Really do find it all exciting, will hopefully be able to learn with the first 1-2 and then really go for something bigger.
It helps that I am the head of finance for an ecommerce company that was turning over £70k 5 years ago and is about to do £2.8m this financial year.
I can really learn on the job here, and ask all the questions I need to.
Good luck with it, it's likely though you'll need to spend more time on them than you think with may effect the day job.
I very nearly bought a small business like that last year, golf glove's (and gold accessories) of all thinks, mainly sold via amazon so very little work required. But two problems, dishonest seller (he had other websites he didn't disclose) and wanted too much money!
Yeah I agree with you on the time, but hoping that between me and my partner we can make it work. It's something we both want to do as a (possible) stepping stone to being able to do it full time in the distant future, so both would be happy to use our personal time, especially as it's something we would be doing together.
We will probably break up within a week of working together though.
Nothing really that surprising on housing. It's on the back of two years+ of little growth or some reductions plus stamp duty holiday which has increased prices (temporarily).
London stagnated, with pretty much a house being worth the same in Dec 2019 as it was in Jan 2016. Although other areas of the UK did a lot better, average overall was up about 8% in those 4 years plus another 7-8% in the last 2.
The housing market is crazy. We accepted an offer on ours 3 months ago (Hove) wanting to live back to Devon, turns out loads of other folk want to move to Devon too. Market there has gone super crazy.
Agent called us to say if we re-marketed the house we will probably get an extra £30k.
It’s pointless as there’s no where to buy.
Wonder how long it will all last.
We do have an option of selling our house and moving to our flat and hoping the market re-corrects.
My experience of trying to time that market isn’t easy.
Does seem to be a lot of people moving outwards from the cities. I guess after the working from home, space, surroundings etc becomes ever more important and commuting less so.
Comments
Good choice. I was talked into moving all my pensions into my QROPS (overeas tax-free fund) despite originally wanting to keep my final salary scheme separate and it was the wrong thing to do. I'd have been better off even with paying UK tax on that amount.
It's definitely not right for everyone, but with the multiple they were paying combined with my age and time to retirement and comfort of investing myself it really was a no brainer, one of my best financial decisions ever!
Of course, not everyone has a commission-hungry crook for an IFA like I did! (Though I didn't realise at the time!). Even if I had the more stable investments I have in my pot now, I still think it'd be the wrong move for me but each case is different, as you rightly said.
Fwiw - I dont have the "permissions" to transact DB transfers - never have done.
Thankfully over the years the "financial advice" community has got its house in order & the testing/exams that have been brought in has weeded all of these people out.
My dream is to have a portfolio of companies as a venture or vulture capitalist. The last company I worked at were bought by vulture capitalists and it was amazing. I know it's a derogatory term to many but the act of taking a failing company and managing to turn around it's fortunes is amazing (although obviously not always done in the nicest way).
The other sells some nice coffee based products, grinders and stuff like that.
Margins are very good on both including the online social media ads, the margins stack up and you get to do proper due diligence, a process I have been involved in, in my professional life.
I understand finance, operations, know not a lot about marketing but a huge proportion of it in e-commerce is numbers and I want to learn that.
The important thing is that it is for a very low cost, very low, so it's not like I'm staking a huge amount on it, there's no big stock holdings or premises so worst case scenario is losing the initial investment.
It's more of a test run for the first one or two as a learning process, and then would try and create something of my own.
Really do find it all exciting, will hopefully be able to learn with the first 1-2 and then really go for something bigger.
It helps that I am the head of finance for an ecommerce company that was turning over £70k 5 years ago and is about to do £2.8m this financial year.
I can really learn on the job here, and ask all the questions I need to.
I very nearly bought a small business like that last year, golf glove's (and gold accessories) of all thinks, mainly sold via amazon so very little work required. But two problems, dishonest seller (he had other websites he didn't disclose) and wanted too much money!
We will probably break up within a week of working together though.
the housing market totally isn't in a bubble...
London stagnated, with pretty much a house being worth the same in Dec 2019 as it was in Jan 2016. Although other areas of the UK did a lot better, average overall was up about 8% in those 4 years plus another 7-8% in the last 2.