Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Options

Punters edging away from the LDs in Mid Beds – politicalbetting.com

2

Comments

  • Options
    stodgestodge Posts: 12,895

    Is the car insurance industry involved in cartel behaviour? Seems that so many people regardless of what they drive and how they drive it are being hit with huge increases.

    My own renewal is a mere 57% increase. The annoying thing is that having shopped around, that appears to be the cheapest!

    Two things appear to have sent my quotes into the stratosphere. One, its a company car (though I own the company). Two, I had a not my fault accident with a scrote nearly 4 years ago. So far that has been an annoyance rather than an outrage, but this year it is sending quotes crazy. I took it off a comparison website to compare. On the same insurer (and others copied the behaviour:

    No accident: £960
    Accident other driver's fault: £2,700

    Have they all forgotten how to manage risk?

    It's a no claims bonus, not a no fault bonus.
    Indeed - and I now have 8 years of no claims. Not that it makes a difference. Pay to protect NCD and pay lots extra anyway.
    These companies rely on auto-renew - they don't think people have the time or the inclination to look at alternatives and just take what's given.

    My provider's premium went from £529 to £610 so I went looking and got the same level of cover for just £485. It's all very useful the Martin Lewises of this world telling us all the scams on offer and all the dodgy tricks but people have to be self aware enough not to accept inflated premiums.

    If any group needs a windfall tax, it's insuarance companies.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,555
    To add to the statistical debate, I had drinks with an old pal last night (trendy hotel, Borough)

    We had this whole argument about polling and data and then we got down to real numbers. At which point he revealed he’s slept with 300+ women

    Now, he’s charming. And he’s a Brit with a British accent in slutty New Orleans. But he’s not tall or particularly good looking

    I know he’s active on the kink and sex party scene so I was expecting something north of 50. Maybe even near to 100

    300+!!!

    Has any other PB-er had a similar “muffinphany” with a friend, who turns out to be much more of a ho than anticipated?
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 28,016
    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Wigton pub, not Carlisle. BTW his recent memoir on his early life, 'Back in the Day' is a classic, among the finest things he has ever written. Anyone reading it will discern how and why north Cumberland, outside Carlisle and the lake district, is quite special even though it remains almost entirely unknown in the wider world.
    Thanks. I'll check that out.
    My patrilineal line is from Brampton.
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,593

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    The two commonest things in the universe - hydrogen and arseholes. I am worried about running out of hydrogen.
  • Options
    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I feel the 'like' I just gave for that anecdote requires some clarification (or maybe it doesn't and I am being over sensitive)

    The like is of course for you posting the anecdote and its reminder to us that there are some very strange views out there in the wild. It was not a like for the actions of the individual. That to me is almost beyond comprehension.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413
    dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    Nor could I.
    He seemed to think it was only right and proper. I did try to probe if she had done anything else, or reacted really abusively or violently. But it seems not.
    Folk, eh?
    I saw this article last year, shortly after my father died.

    I thought of sending it to my sister with a suitably jocular comment - but then I thought she might misunderstand it, so I desisted.

    https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/dec/03/why-inheritance-is-the-dirty-secret-of-the-middle-classes-harder-to-talk-about-than-sex
  • Options
    dixiedean said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    Nor could I.
    He seemed to think it was only right and proper. I did try to probe if she had done anything else, or reacted really abusively or violently. But it seems not.
    Folk, eh?
    I would like your comment but I don't nor do I understand how any parent can feel that way
  • Options
    state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,422
    stodge said:

    Is the car insurance industry involved in cartel behaviour? Seems that so many people regardless of what they drive and how they drive it are being hit with huge increases.

    My own renewal is a mere 57% increase. The annoying thing is that having shopped around, that appears to be the cheapest!

    Two things appear to have sent my quotes into the stratosphere. One, its a company car (though I own the company). Two, I had a not my fault accident with a scrote nearly 4 years ago. So far that has been an annoyance rather than an outrage, but this year it is sending quotes crazy. I took it off a comparison website to compare. On the same insurer (and others copied the behaviour:

    No accident: £960
    Accident other driver's fault: £2,700

    Have they all forgotten how to manage risk?

    It's a no claims bonus, not a no fault bonus.
    Indeed - and I now have 8 years of no claims. Not that it makes a difference. Pay to protect NCD and pay lots extra anyway.
    These companies rely on auto-renew - they don't think people have the time or the inclination to look at alternatives and just take what's given.

    My provider's premium went from £529 to £610 so I went looking and got the same level of cover for just £485. It's all very useful the Martin Lewises of this world telling us all the scams on offer and all the dodgy tricks but people have to be self aware enough not to accept inflated premiums.

    If any group needs a windfall tax, it's insuarance companies.
    except direct line made a loss this year as did most car insurance companies -
  • Options
    PhilPhil Posts: 1,943

    Is the car insurance industry involved in cartel behaviour? Seems that so many people regardless of what they drive and how they drive it are being hit with huge increases.

    My own renewal is a mere 57% increase. The annoying thing is that having shopped around, that appears to be the cheapest!

    Two things appear to have sent my quotes into the stratosphere. One, its a company car (though I own the company). Two, I had a not my fault accident with a scrote nearly 4 years ago. So far that has been an annoyance rather than an outrage, but this year it is sending quotes crazy. I took it off a comparison website to compare. On the same insurer (and others copied the behaviour:

    No accident: £960
    Accident other driver's fault: £2,700

    Have they all forgotten how to manage risk?

    My son, no points, 9 year NCB on a 1.0 Skoda Fabia (one of the lowest groups available) went from just over £300 in 2022 to over £500 this year with Admiral. He checked out the Meerkats and it was no better with them. A genuine p*** take.

    Director bonuses don't pay for themselves.
    According to https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/jul/22/uk-drivers-car-insurance-costs-price-petrol-diesel there are a few factors at play. The government banned the practice of advertising low prices to new customers & walking up the price of existing ones, so if you were in the habit of shopping around you won’t see much benefit any more & your car insurance will no longer be being subsidised by lazy customers. The insurers all made a loss in 2022, so have to put their prices up this year.

    I’ve also read elsewhere that the price of repairing modern vehicles is going through the roof, especially electric cars which can be written off by relatively small bumps that would have been fixable with a sport of welding in the past. So costs are going up there as well.

    The combination of all of the above, plus inflationary wage increases, has led to some shocking price increases.
  • Options
    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,622
    Carnyx said:

    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Wigton pub, not Carlisle. BTW his recent memoir on his early life, 'Back in the Day' is a classic, among the finest things he has ever written. Anyone reading it will discern how and why north Cumberland, outside Carlisle and the lake district, is quite special even though it remains almost entirely unknown in the wider world.
    Is that Brampton and the western Wall country?
    Brampton is 'go to Carlisle and turn right' (St Martin's Brampton has about the best Victorian stained glass set of windows around). Wigton is 'go to Carlisle and turn left'. North Cumberland east of Carlisle is better known because of the wall, with many of the best bits. West of Carlisle is less well known - no wall much to be seen. But God's own country still.
  • Options
    Leon said:

    To add to the statistical debate, I had drinks with an old pal last night (trendy hotel, Borough)

    We had this whole argument about polling and data and then we got down to real numbers. At which point he revealed he’s slept with 300+ women

    Now, he’s charming. And he’s a Brit with a British accent in slutty New Orleans. But he’s not tall or particularly good looking

    I know he’s active on the kink and sex party scene so I was expecting something north of 50. Maybe even near to 100

    300+!!!

    Has any other PB-er had a similar “muffinphany” with a friend, who turns out to be much more of a ho than anticipated?

    Well there's my friend John, his todger is nicknamed the Titanic because at least 1,500 people have gone down on it.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413
    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    To add to the statistical debate, I had drinks with an old pal last night (trendy hotel, Borough)

    We had this whole argument about polling and data and then we got down to real numbers. At which point he revealed he’s slept with 300+ women

    Now, he’s charming. And he’s a Brit with a British accent in slutty New Orleans. But he’s not tall or particularly good looking

    I know he’s active on the kink and sex party scene so I was expecting something north of 50. Maybe even near to 100

    300+!!!

    Has any other PB-er had a similar “muffinphany” with a friend, who turns out to be much more of a ho than anticipated?

    You're back.
    And frankly we'd have known whatsoever name you'd used.
    Turned out he was just taking a short knap?

    (And by the way, surely the answer to his question is the great Nick Palmer?)
  • Options
    Leon said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    To add to the statistical debate, I had drinks with an old pal last night (trendy hotel, Borough)

    We had this whole argument about polling and data and then we got down to real numbers. At which point he revealed he’s slept with 300+ women

    Now, he’s charming. And he’s a Brit with a British accent in slutty New Orleans. But he’s not tall or particularly good looking

    I know he’s active on the kink and sex party scene so I was expecting something north of 50. Maybe even near to 100

    300+!!!

    Has any other PB-er had a similar “muffinphany” with a friend, who turns out to be much more of a ho than anticipated?

    You're back.
    And frankly we'd have known whatsoever name you'd used.
    I was trying to return with the most obviously Leon remark in history

    Drink reference - tick
    “Trendy” London reference - tick
    Totally off topic - tick
    Weirdly sexual/sleazy - tick
    Obliquely boastful - tick

    Etc
    Hit the target. All that was missing was a photo of the drink itself. :)
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413

    Leon said:

    To add to the statistical debate, I had drinks with an old pal last night (trendy hotel, Borough)

    We had this whole argument about polling and data and then we got down to real numbers. At which point he revealed he’s slept with 300+ women

    Now, he’s charming. And he’s a Brit with a British accent in slutty New Orleans. But he’s not tall or particularly good looking

    I know he’s active on the kink and sex party scene so I was expecting something north of 50. Maybe even near to 100

    300+!!!

    Has any other PB-er had a similar “muffinphany” with a friend, who turns out to be much more of a ho than anticipated?

    Well there's my friend John, his todger is nicknamed the Titanic because at least 1,500 people have gone down on it.
    Does finding out that a former principal of mine was a child pornographer count?

    (That was a genuine surprise because he spent most of his time sexually harassing the female members of staff.)
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,555
    edited August 2023
    ydoethur said:

    dixiedean said:

    Leon said:

    To add to the statistical debate, I had drinks with an old pal last night (trendy hotel, Borough)

    We had this whole argument about polling and data and then we got down to real numbers. At which point he revealed he’s slept with 300+ women

    Now, he’s charming. And he’s a Brit with a British accent in slutty New Orleans. But he’s not tall or particularly good looking

    I know he’s active on the kink and sex party scene so I was expecting something north of 50. Maybe even near to 100

    300+!!!

    Has any other PB-er had a similar “muffinphany” with a friend, who turns out to be much more of a ho than anticipated?

    You're back.
    And frankly we'd have known whatsoever name you'd used.
    Turned out he was just taking a short knap?

    (And by the way, surely the answer to his question is the great Nick Palmer?)
    The whole conversation had a very Nick-Palmer-in-Switzerland vibe
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    It happens. People get crotchety and slightly paranoid and react to the smallest things and minor misunderstandings even if they don't develop some form of dementia. I've known even the most financially aware 70-something end up with a big IHT bill on his estate partly because he was not willing to transfer some of his money to his children/grandchildren eg for school/uni fees.

    But it has to be said it's not an easy judgement, esp. if one is on one's own and fretting about paying for care later on . Especially as part of that report cited earlier was to show that despite whan our tame village Tory implies, being the bank of mum and dad does actually damage quite a lot of people's finances.

    IN Scotland there wouldn't be such an issue - the children automatically get something even when omitted from a will. In the case cited, of one widower with one child (presumably), she'd get half the assets other than real estate. But that excludes real estate because of (it seems) the historic heritable/moveable division, though. So it's not great. Better to be dealing with intestacy.
  • Options
    stodgestodge Posts: 12,895
    edited August 2023
    Evening all :)

    I see after thirteen and a quarter years of Conservative-led Governments, we finally have a "tough" Home Secretary (apparently) who tells is life will mean life for the most serious offencers (I thought it did) and no crime will be considered "minor".

    Much though I'd love to agree with the increasingly demented Suella Braverman, the stealing of my front gate for the scrap metal isn't the same as a murder or a stabbing and iI wouldn't exect the sweeney to be diverted from nicking a gang of villains in a shed up at Heathrow to investigate the theft of my gate.

    Indeed, much as I might think in my darker moments we need more severe punishments for fare evasion, fly tipping and walking around with an IPhone13, there's this old adage not only the punishment needs to fit the crime but so should the amount of resources spent.

    A more relevant question might be to ask why most of London has bare minimum police cover this weekend with most of the Met at the Notting Hill Carnival.
  • Options
    Phil said:

    Is the car insurance industry involved in cartel behaviour? Seems that so many people regardless of what they drive and how they drive it are being hit with huge increases.

    My own renewal is a mere 57% increase. The annoying thing is that having shopped around, that appears to be the cheapest!

    Two things appear to have sent my quotes into the stratosphere. One, its a company car (though I own the company). Two, I had a not my fault accident with a scrote nearly 4 years ago. So far that has been an annoyance rather than an outrage, but this year it is sending quotes crazy. I took it off a comparison website to compare. On the same insurer (and others copied the behaviour:

    No accident: £960
    Accident other driver's fault: £2,700

    Have they all forgotten how to manage risk?

    My son, no points, 9 year NCB on a 1.0 Skoda Fabia (one of the lowest groups available) went from just over £300 in 2022 to over £500 this year with Admiral. He checked out the Meerkats and it was no better with them. A genuine p*** take.

    Director bonuses don't pay for themselves.
    According to https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/jul/22/uk-drivers-car-insurance-costs-price-petrol-diesel there are a few factors at play. The government banned the practice of advertising low prices to new customers & walking up the price of existing ones, so if you were in the habit of shopping around you won’t see much benefit any more & your car insurance will no longer be being subsidised by lazy customers. The insurers all made a loss in 2022, so have to put their prices up this year.

    I’ve also read elsewhere that the price of repairing modern vehicles is going through the roof, especially electric cars which can be written off by relatively small bumps that would have been fixable with a sport of welding in the past. So costs are going up there as well.

    The combination of all of the above, plus inflationary wage increases, has led to some shocking price increases.
    Yep. My sister had someone throw a wheelie bin into the bumper/radiator of her parked car a couple of years ago and the insurance company wrote it off. I cannot begin to describe how pissed off she was about it.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413

    In other news, the Saudis have announced the collapse of their new Super Politics Debating League after the loss of star signing Leon.

    They have lost their Seat?
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I turn 45 in a few weeks time and my parents still think it is their obligation to fund my life.

    I am glad the only arguments I've ever had with my parents over money is when they yell at me for spending money on them.
    I keep telling my Mum I want her to spend her last penny skydiving in New Zealand - or drinking the most enormous G&T watchig the sun go down over the pyramids. Or even just sat at home with a Rich T biscuit and a cuppa. The important bit is she enjoys it rather than this strange idea of 'leaving something for us'.
    I know exactly what you mean - have had to reassure an elderly relative that she does not need to buy the cheapest bread just for the sake of her grandchild ...
  • Options
    I mentioned old school rap in Camden, and Leon returned
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,847

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I turn 45 in a few weeks time and my parents still think it is their obligation to fund my life.

    I am glad the only arguments I've ever had with my parents over money is when they yell at me for spending money on them.
    I keep telling my Mum I want her to spend her last penny skydiving in New Zealand - or drinking the most enormous G&T watchig the sun go down over the pyramids. Or even just sat at home with a Rich T biscuit and a cuppa. The important bit is she enjoys it rather than this strange idea of 'leaving something for us'.
    Are you confident you will follow your own advice when the time comes?
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941
    algarkirk said:

    Carnyx said:

    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Wigton pub, not Carlisle. BTW his recent memoir on his early life, 'Back in the Day' is a classic, among the finest things he has ever written. Anyone reading it will discern how and why north Cumberland, outside Carlisle and the lake district, is quite special even though it remains almost entirely unknown in the wider world.
    Is that Brampton and the western Wall country?
    Brampton is 'go to Carlisle and turn right' (St Martin's Brampton has about the best Victorian stained glass set of windows around). Wigton is 'go to Carlisle and turn left'. North Cumberland east of Carlisle is better known because of the wall, with many of the best bits. West of Carlisle is less well known - no wall much to be seen. But God's own country still.
    Ah, thanks. Been around the Wall - Birdoswald, the Irthing crossing area, and so on. But Silloth and Maryport and the wall on the coast are places still to tick off.
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 28,016

    In other news, the Saudis have announced the collapse of their new Super Politics Debating League after the loss of star signing Leon.

    Was it his views on Islam?
  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 27,009

    If the Conservatives win in Mid-Beds after Dorries' tenure, they're blooming miracle workers.

    edit: and first. And they won't win.

    The can win with around 38% if the opposition is split, which seems quite likely.
  • Options
    Carnyx said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    It happens. People get crotchety and slightly paranoid and react to the smallest things and minor misunderstandings even if they don't develop some form of dementia. I've known even the most financially aware 70-something end up with a big IHT bill on his estate partly because he was not willing to transfer some of his money to his children/grandchildren eg for school/uni fees.

    But it has to be said it's not an easy judgement, esp. if one is on one's own and fretting about paying for care later on . Especially as part of that report cited earlier was to show that despite whan our tame village Tory implies, being the bank of mum and dad does actually damage quite a lot of people's finances.

    IN Scotland there wouldn't be such an issue - the children automatically get something even when omitted from a will. In the case cited, of one widower with one child (presumably), she'd get half the assets other than real estate. But that excludes real estate because of (it seems) the historic heritable/moveable division, though. So it's not great. Better to be dealing with intestacy.
    I do accept other factors may be at play, but any child asking a parent for a deposit for a house would normally do whatever possible to fulfil that dream
  • Options

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I turn 45 in a few weeks time and my parents still think it is their obligation to fund my life.

    I am glad the only arguments I've ever had with my parents over money is when they yell at me for spending money on them.
    I keep telling my Mum I want her to spend her last penny skydiving in New Zealand - or drinking the most enormous G&T watchig the sun go down over the pyramids. Or even just sat at home with a Rich T biscuit and a cuppa. The important bit is she enjoys it rather than this strange idea of 'leaving something for us'.
    Are you confident you will follow your own advice when the time comes?
    In all honesty we don't have that much. The main asset will be the house and of course you can't really spend that whilst you are living in it. My one weakness is that I never want to leave here. I want to be taken out horizontally and buried in the meadow. As I say on here regularly, a house is a home, not an asset.

    But although being self employed I keep a rainy day fund for when I have no work, in reality we tend to spend most of our spare income if we have any on improving things for the kids where we can. Such as savings for uni or deposits.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,880
    edited August 2023
    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,847
    edited August 2023
    Andy_JS said:

    Nice to see Leon back again.

    Yes indeed, welcome back Leon.

    Although... what's with the private profile? How are we meant to remind ourselves of the incredible accuracy of your predictions if we can't see your past comments?
  • Options
    Carnyx said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I turn 45 in a few weeks time and my parents still think it is their obligation to fund my life.

    I am glad the only arguments I've ever had with my parents over money is when they yell at me for spending money on them.
    I keep telling my Mum I want her to spend her last penny skydiving in New Zealand - or drinking the most enormous G&T watchig the sun go down over the pyramids. Or even just sat at home with a Rich T biscuit and a cuppa. The important bit is she enjoys it rather than this strange idea of 'leaving something for us'.
    I know exactly what you mean - have had to reassure an elderly relative that she does not need to buy the cheapest bread just for the sake of her grandchild ...
    They will still do it though
  • Options
    stodgestodge Posts: 12,895
    edited August 2023

    stodge said:

    Is the car insurance industry involved in cartel behaviour? Seems that so many people regardless of what they drive and how they drive it are being hit with huge increases.

    My own renewal is a mere 57% increase. The annoying thing is that having shopped around, that appears to be the cheapest!

    Two things appear to have sent my quotes into the stratosphere. One, its a company car (though I own the company). Two, I had a not my fault accident with a scrote nearly 4 years ago. So far that has been an annoyance rather than an outrage, but this year it is sending quotes crazy. I took it off a comparison website to compare. On the same insurer (and others copied the behaviour:

    No accident: £960
    Accident other driver's fault: £2,700

    Have they all forgotten how to manage risk?

    It's a no claims bonus, not a no fault bonus.
    Indeed - and I now have 8 years of no claims. Not that it makes a difference. Pay to protect NCD and pay lots extra anyway.
    These companies rely on auto-renew - they don't think people have the time or the inclination to look at alternatives and just take what's given.

    My provider's premium went from £529 to £610 so I went looking and got the same level of cover for just £485. It's all very useful the Martin Lewises of this world telling us all the scams on offer and all the dodgy tricks but people have to be self aware enough not to accept inflated premiums.

    If any group needs a windfall tax, it's insuarance companies.
    except direct line made a loss this year as did most car insurance companies -
    I honestly wasn't aware of that but many of the players in the car insurance industry are either banks or are in general insurance so perhaps losses in the car insurance sectior can be offset in other areas of the business.
  • Options
    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,622
    rkrkrk said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    Arguing about inheritances is sadly very common I think. Money + grief makes it a tough subject to handle well I guess.
    This one, from the Chancery Division 2022, is a classic. All about wills. Lasted 3 weeks with 49 witnesses. All the really tough stuff happens in families.


    https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2022/159.html

  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,168
    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Add - or rather deduct - student tuition fees and maintenance grants, and the problem is worsened.

    Of course, some of us on PB think that that's just dandy and right and proper, maintainiong and worsening educational inequality for a particular political party's benefit.
    Who was it who introduced tuition fees? New Labour and without them out universities are hardly going to be able to compete with the top US colleges
  • Options
    kjhkjh Posts: 10,678

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I turn 45 in a few weeks time and my parents still think it is their obligation to fund my life.

    I am glad the only arguments I've ever had with my parents over money is when they yell at me for spending money on them.
    I keep telling my Mum I want her to spend her last penny skydiving in New Zealand - or drinking the most enormous G&T watchig the sun go down over the pyramids. Or even just sat at home with a Rich T biscuit and a cuppa. The important bit is she enjoys it rather than this strange idea of 'leaving something for us'.
    I had that conversation with my dad umpteen times. He was determined to leave stuff to his children even though we were both considerably more well of than him and didn't need it, but he sacrificed his own final years to leave money we don't need and which is a pitance compared to what we own.
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,593
    ydoethur said:

    In other news, the Saudis have announced the collapse of their new Super Politics Debating League after the loss of star signing Leon.

    They have lost their Seat?
    A decision by Fiat
  • Options

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    I had a bit of money from mine when I went to uni and paid it back within a year of graduating. But nothing else as they never really had much to help with. My (then) partner and I saved for the small deposit for our first house (95% mortage). She got that when we split up as it was in negative equity. My wife and I then saved for our deposit for our first house mostly through both of us working away on the rigs for most of 2 years.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,168

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    I count my lucky stars that I was raised by parents who were prepared to make sacrifices for my benefits.

    The thing that keeps me awake at night is that this generation of young people will be faced with the prospect of having to work until they die in their 80s to keep paying their rent as they could never afford to get on to the property ladder.
    Without inheritances if they live in London and the Home counties and are only on an average salary maybe
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Add - or rather deduct - student tuition fees and maintenance grants, and the problem is worsened.

    Of course, some of us on PB think that that's just dandy and right and proper, maintainiong and worsening educational inequality for a particular political party's benefit.
    Who was it who introduced tuition fees? New Labour and without them out universities are hardly going to be able to compete with the top US colleges
    Introduced, not raised. And the Tory changes to the student loan system risk creating a major economic crisis, as much rehearsed here.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,880
    edited August 2023

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    I had a bit of money from mine when I went to uni and paid it back within a year of graduating. But nothing else as they never really had much to help with. My (then) partner and I saved for the small deposit for our first house (95% mortage). She got that when we split up as it was in negative equity. My wife and I then saved for our deposit for our first house mostly through both of us working away on the rigs for most of 2 years.
    I have a lot of admiration for people who have come back from a forced realisation of negative equity. Hats off to you.
  • Options
    TresTres Posts: 2,241

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    I was 'fortunate' enough to get a redundancy payment from my first job after university which was enough for a deposit on 1 bed flat in 2006.
  • Options
    pingping Posts: 3,733
    Carnyx said:

    ping said:

    Is the car insurance industry involved in cartel behaviour? Seems that so many people regardless of what they drive and how they drive it are being hit with huge increases.

    My own renewal is a mere 57% increase. The annoying thing is that having shopped around, that appears to be the cheapest!

    Two things appear to have sent my quotes into the stratosphere. One, its a company car (though I own the company). Two, I had a not my fault accident with a scrote nearly 4 years ago. So far that has been an annoyance rather than an outrage, but this year it is sending quotes crazy. I took it off a comparison website to compare. On the same insurer (and others copied the behaviour:

    No accident: £960
    Accident other driver's fault: £2,700

    Have they all forgotten how to manage risk?

    My son, no points, 9 year NCB on a 1.0 Skoda Fabia (one of the lowest groups available) went from just over £300 in 2022 to over £500 this year with Admiral. He checked out the Meerkats and it was no better with them. A genuine p*** take.

    Director bonuses don't pay for themselves.
    As I posted before, I’m pretty sure the main factor is the rise in interest rates.

    Blame Truss/Sunak/Covid/Central Banks (delete as appropriate).
    Er, why would it be? It's car insurance, not life assurance?
    Because in the zero interest rate world, there was a wall of money desperate to buy the risk in the hope of generating a return, depressing insurance premiums.

    That world is gone.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941
    ping said:

    Carnyx said:

    ping said:

    Is the car insurance industry involved in cartel behaviour? Seems that so many people regardless of what they drive and how they drive it are being hit with huge increases.

    My own renewal is a mere 57% increase. The annoying thing is that having shopped around, that appears to be the cheapest!

    Two things appear to have sent my quotes into the stratosphere. One, its a company car (though I own the company). Two, I had a not my fault accident with a scrote nearly 4 years ago. So far that has been an annoyance rather than an outrage, but this year it is sending quotes crazy. I took it off a comparison website to compare. On the same insurer (and others copied the behaviour:

    No accident: £960
    Accident other driver's fault: £2,700

    Have they all forgotten how to manage risk?

    My son, no points, 9 year NCB on a 1.0 Skoda Fabia (one of the lowest groups available) went from just over £300 in 2022 to over £500 this year with Admiral. He checked out the Meerkats and it was no better with them. A genuine p*** take.

    Director bonuses don't pay for themselves.
    As I posted before, I’m pretty sure the main factor is the rise in interest rates.

    Blame Truss/Sunak/Covid/Central Banks (delete as appropriate).
    Er, why would it be? It's car insurance, not life assurance?
    Because in the zero interest rate world, there was a wall of money desperate to buy the risk in the hope of generating a return, depressing insurance premiums.

    That world is gone.
    Ah, thanks!
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,168
    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    Missing the point. Where's your inheritance going to come from, then? You can't have it both ways as that study shows.
    If you get a deposit gifted you have already effectively had a significant inheritance. Of course in London and the Home counties that partly comes from the vastly increased house prices home owning parents and grandparents have benefited from.

    They are not gifting their pensions
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,072

    Is the car insurance industry involved in cartel behaviour? Seems that so many people regardless of what they drive and how they drive it are being hit with huge increases.

    My own renewal is a mere 57% increase. The annoying thing is that having shopped around, that appears to be the cheapest!

    Two things appear to have sent my quotes into the stratosphere. One, its a company car (though I own the company). Two, I had a not my fault accident with a scrote nearly 4 years ago. So far that has been an annoyance rather than an outrage, but this year it is sending quotes crazy. I took it off a comparison website to compare. On the same insurer (and others copied the behaviour:

    No accident: £960
    Accident other driver's fault: £2,700

    Have they all forgotten how to manage risk?

    I can't speak to the UK, but in the US it's been a disastrous year for auto insurers who aren't called Just.

    Basically, the cost of repairing vehicles has gone through the roof. There are shortages of parts, and shortages of labour. As an auto insurer, you are also usually providing rental car reimbursement, and instead of you paying for seven days after a ding, you are now paying for two months because the body shop is backed up. Not only that, but the cost of a rental car has also shot up.

    The consequence of this is that auto insurance rates have gone through the roof.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,880
    Here’s a random humblebrag.
    My daughter’s new class list has been published.
    Appears she will be at school with the daughter of a well known billionaire.

    I wonder if she will get help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
  • Options

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    I had a bit of money from mine when I went to uni and paid it back within a year of graduating. But nothing else as they never really had much to help with. My (then) partner and I saved for the small deposit for our first house (95% mortage). She got that when we split up as it was in negative equity. My wife and I then saved for our deposit for our first house mostly through both of us working away on the rigs for most of 2 years.
    I have a lot of admiration for people who have come back from a forced realisation of negative equity. Hats off to you.
    Cheers sir. To be fair I suppose it was a bit of a cheat on my part though it didn't seem like it at the time.

    We could not continue to live together and the only solution given we would both lose massively if we sold was for me to sign the house over to her and walk away. I had the opportnity to work overseas in North Africa and the Middle East for a few years so it was the easiest way out.

    She made a tidy packet on the house in the end but for all the things I hate about her that was probably the least hurtful.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    Missing the point. Where's your inheritance going to come from, then? You can't have it both ways as that study shows.
    If you get a deposit gifted you have already effectively had a significant inheritance. Of course in London and the Home counties that partly comes from the vastly increased house prices home owning parents and grandparents have benefited from.

    They are not gifting their pensions
    On the latter point, some are at risk of doing that, effectively. Given he pension freedoms.
  • Options

    Leon said:

    To add to the statistical debate, I had drinks with an old pal last night (trendy hotel, Borough)

    We had this whole argument about polling and data and then we got down to real numbers. At which point he revealed he’s slept with 300+ women

    Now, he’s charming. And he’s a Brit with a British accent in slutty New Orleans. But he’s not tall or particularly good looking

    I know he’s active on the kink and sex party scene so I was expecting something north of 50. Maybe even near to 100

    300+!!!

    Has any other PB-er had a similar “muffinphany” with a friend, who turns out to be much more of a ho than anticipated?

    Well there's my friend John, his todger is nicknamed the Titanic because at least 1,500 people have gone down on it.
    Please tell me his surname is Thomas.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,075
    On inheritance:

    A farming family of my acquaintance has been ripped apart by inheritance issues. Five kids, most involved in farming directly or indirectly. The parents wrote a rather voluminous will designed to be both fair, and keep the family together. Unfortunately this leads to situations like the one who gets the farmhouse and half the land does not get any of the contents of the farmhouse, which included lots of valuable stuff (some later sold at London auction houses).

    Tax doesn't matter: even if the everything had to be sold and given to the government, the *split* itself caused the rift by exposing long-standing grievances. Mine is worth more than yours! They valued you more than me!

    The mum and dad would be turning in their graves to see the way some of them have behaved and, years later, lawyers are still involved. None of the ones arguing particularly needed the money, either, and the ones who were content with the will have got dragged into it as well.

    Families. Who'd 'ave 'em?
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,847
    algarkirk said:

    rkrkrk said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    Arguing about inheritances is sadly very common I think. Money + grief makes it a tough subject to handle well I guess.
    This one, from the Chancery Division 2022, is a classic. All about wills. Lasted 3 weeks with 49 witnesses. All the really tough stuff happens in families.

    https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2022/159.html
    Jeez, someone could write a novel based on that case.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413
    edited August 2023
    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Add - or rather deduct - student tuition fees and maintenance grants, and the problem is worsened.

    Of course, some of us on PB think that that's just dandy and right and proper, maintainiong and worsening educational inequality for a particular political party's benefit.
    Who was it who introduced tuition fees? New Labour and without them out universities are hardly going to be able to compete with the top US colleges
    Introduced, not raised. And the Tory changes to the student loan system risk creating a major economic crisis, as much rehearsed here.
    I am surprised to find myself siding with Hyufd, but Labour did raise tuition fees in 2003, having promised they wouldn't in the 2001 manifesto, and they were the ones who appointed that crook Lord Browne to write the Browne Report that is largely responsible for the current disaster even if the implementation was an error by the Coalition.
  • Options

    Leon said:

    To add to the statistical debate, I had drinks with an old pal last night (trendy hotel, Borough)

    We had this whole argument about polling and data and then we got down to real numbers. At which point he revealed he’s slept with 300+ women

    Now, he’s charming. And he’s a Brit with a British accent in slutty New Orleans. But he’s not tall or particularly good looking

    I know he’s active on the kink and sex party scene so I was expecting something north of 50. Maybe even near to 100

    300+!!!

    Has any other PB-er had a similar “muffinphany” with a friend, who turns out to be much more of a ho than anticipated?

    Well there's my friend John, his todger is nicknamed the Titanic because at least 1,500 people have gone down on it.
    Please tell me his surname is Thomas.
    One of his middle names is.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,168
    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    Missing the point. Where's your inheritance going to come from, then? You can't have it both ways as that study shows.
    If you get a deposit gifted you have already effectively had a significant inheritance. Of course in London and the Home counties that partly comes from the vastly increased house prices home owning parents and grandparents have benefited from.

    They are not gifting their pensions
    On the latter point, some are at risk of doing that, effectively. Given he pension freedoms.
    Most of it if not savings comes through home equity release
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,075
    Tres said:

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    I was 'fortunate' enough to get a redundancy payment from my first job after university which was enough for a deposit on 1 bed flat in 2006.
    My redundancy from one job paid for me to buy a motorhome and walk the coast. Which was good, as I was going to resign and do it anyway...

    I might have been better off investing in a house... :)
  • Options
    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,622
    Carnyx said:

    algarkirk said:

    Carnyx said:

    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Wigton pub, not Carlisle. BTW his recent memoir on his early life, 'Back in the Day' is a classic, among the finest things he has ever written. Anyone reading it will discern how and why north Cumberland, outside Carlisle and the lake district, is quite special even though it remains almost entirely unknown in the wider world.
    Is that Brampton and the western Wall country?
    Brampton is 'go to Carlisle and turn right' (St Martin's Brampton has about the best Victorian stained glass set of windows around). Wigton is 'go to Carlisle and turn left'. North Cumberland east of Carlisle is better known because of the wall, with many of the best bits. West of Carlisle is less well known - no wall much to be seen. But God's own country still.
    Ah, thanks. Been around the Wall - Birdoswald, the Irthing crossing area, and so on. But Silloth and Maryport and the wall on the coast are places still to tick off.
    Silloth and Allonby are still there as really old style holiday destinations, and slightly increasing in popularity. Magaluf they are not, but ice creams can be bought for cash and there is a swing for children. Silloth still has cobbled streets.

    I like Maryport, and parts of it have charm. In my experience I am alone in this opinion.

    Don't miss the abbey at Abbeytown or Holme Cultram, which must be about the least visited abbey of them all, being the jewel of an unknown region. (But if you go on strawberry tea weekend it's packed out with local people.)
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413
    edited August 2023

    Leon said:

    To add to the statistical debate, I had drinks with an old pal last night (trendy hotel, Borough)

    We had this whole argument about polling and data and then we got down to real numbers. At which point he revealed he’s slept with 300+ women

    Now, he’s charming. And he’s a Brit with a British accent in slutty New Orleans. But he’s not tall or particularly good looking

    I know he’s active on the kink and sex party scene so I was expecting something north of 50. Maybe even near to 100

    300+!!!

    Has any other PB-er had a similar “muffinphany” with a friend, who turns out to be much more of a ho than anticipated?

    Well there's my friend John, his todger is nicknamed the Titanic because at least 1,500 people have gone down on it.
    Please tell me his surname is Thomas.
    One of his middle names is.
    If only his surname was Head...

    Or even Wood!
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,054

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    Money that was supposed to be set aside for me was misappropriated by the person responsible for looking after it, does that count?
  • Options
    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,622

    algarkirk said:

    rkrkrk said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    Arguing about inheritances is sadly very common I think. Money + grief makes it a tough subject to handle well I guess.
    This one, from the Chancery Division 2022, is a classic. All about wills. Lasted 3 weeks with 49 witnesses. All the really tough stuff happens in families.

    https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2022/159.html
    Jeez, someone could write a novel based on that case.
    Already done in Bleak House. Dickens's finest.

  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,847

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    Same here (no help, not gifted a £3m house).

    Great sense of satisfaction in knowing our present comfortable life is all through our own endeavours*.

    (*Ok, and being born in a wealthy country of opportunities.)
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    Same here (no help, not gifted a £3m house).

    Great sense of satisfaction in knowing our present comfortable life is all through our own endeavours*.

    (*Ok, and being born in a wealthy country of opportunities.)
    Donald Trump, of course, was famously faced with many difficult times as a young man. Before he made his fortune, all he had to survive on was a small loan from his father of a million dollars.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941
    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Add - or rather deduct - student tuition fees and maintenance grants, and the problem is worsened.

    Of course, some of us on PB think that that's just dandy and right and proper, maintainiong and worsening educational inequality for a particular political party's benefit.
    Who was it who introduced tuition fees? New Labour and without them out universities are hardly going to be able to compete with the top US colleges
    Introduced, not raised. And the Tory changes to the student loan system risk creating a major economic crisis, as much rehearsed here.
    I am surprised to find myself siding with Hyufd, but Labour did raise tuition fees in 2003, having promised they wouldn't in the 2001 manifesto, and they were the ones who appointed that crook Lord Browne to write the Browne Report that is largely responsible for the current disaster even if the implementation was an error by the Coalition.
    THanks - I stand corrected. Still think the current loans system is unsound.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413
    Carnyx said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Add - or rather deduct - student tuition fees and maintenance grants, and the problem is worsened.

    Of course, some of us on PB think that that's just dandy and right and proper, maintainiong and worsening educational inequality for a particular political party's benefit.
    Who was it who introduced tuition fees? New Labour and without them out universities are hardly going to be able to compete with the top US colleges
    Introduced, not raised. And the Tory changes to the student loan system risk creating a major economic crisis, as much rehearsed here.
    I am surprised to find myself siding with Hyufd, but Labour did raise tuition fees in 2003, having promised they wouldn't in the 2001 manifesto, and they were the ones who appointed that crook Lord Browne to write the Browne Report that is largely responsible for the current disaster even if the implementation was an error by the Coalition.
    THanks - I stand corrected. Still think the current loans system is unsound.
    Unsound? That's very generous. It's bloody awful and a disaster looking for somewhere to happen.

    But it is not only, or even primarily, the fault of the Tories.

    That also, worryingly, means it is unlikely a Labour government will be able to fix it.
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 28,016
    algarkirk said:

    Carnyx said:

    algarkirk said:

    Carnyx said:

    algarkirk said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Wigton pub, not Carlisle. BTW his recent memoir on his early life, 'Back in the Day' is a classic, among the finest things he has ever written. Anyone reading it will discern how and why north Cumberland, outside Carlisle and the lake district, is quite special even though it remains almost entirely unknown in the wider world.
    Is that Brampton and the western Wall country?
    Brampton is 'go to Carlisle and turn right' (St Martin's Brampton has about the best Victorian stained glass set of windows around). Wigton is 'go to Carlisle and turn left'. North Cumberland east of Carlisle is better known because of the wall, with many of the best bits. West of Carlisle is less well known - no wall much to be seen. But God's own country still.
    Ah, thanks. Been around the Wall - Birdoswald, the Irthing crossing area, and so on. But Silloth and Maryport and the wall on the coast are places still to tick off.
    Silloth and Allonby are still there as really old style holiday destinations, and slightly increasing in popularity. Magaluf they are not, but ice creams can be bought for cash and there is a swing for children. Silloth still has cobbled streets.

    I like Maryport, and parts of it have charm. In my experience I am alone in this opinion.

    Don't miss the abbey at Abbeytown or Holme Cultram, which must be about the least visited abbey of them all, being the jewel of an unknown region. (But if you go on strawberry tea weekend it's packed out with local people.)
    Maryport has no fewer than three Rugby League clubs.
    None of them are for the faint hearted.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941
    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Add - or rather deduct - student tuition fees and maintenance grants, and the problem is worsened.

    Of course, some of us on PB think that that's just dandy and right and proper, maintainiong and worsening educational inequality for a particular political party's benefit.
    Who was it who introduced tuition fees? New Labour and without them out universities are hardly going to be able to compete with the top US colleges
    Introduced, not raised. And the Tory changes to the student loan system risk creating a major economic crisis, as much rehearsed here.
    I am surprised to find myself siding with Hyufd, but Labour did raise tuition fees in 2003, having promised they wouldn't in the 2001 manifesto, and they were the ones who appointed that crook Lord Browne to write the Browne Report that is largely responsible for the current disaster even if the implementation was an error by the Coalition.
    THanks - I stand corrected. Still think the current loans system is unsound.
    Unsound? That's very generous. It's bloody awful and a disaster looking for somewhere to happen.

    But it is not only, or even primarily, the fault of the Tories.

    That also, worryingly, means it is unlikely a Labour government will be able to fix it.
    Indeed. But that policy is one thing I didn't like about Mr Blair, anyway.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413
    Carnyx said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Add - or rather deduct - student tuition fees and maintenance grants, and the problem is worsened.

    Of course, some of us on PB think that that's just dandy and right and proper, maintainiong and worsening educational inequality for a particular political party's benefit.
    Who was it who introduced tuition fees? New Labour and without them out universities are hardly going to be able to compete with the top US colleges
    Introduced, not raised. And the Tory changes to the student loan system risk creating a major economic crisis, as much rehearsed here.
    I am surprised to find myself siding with Hyufd, but Labour did raise tuition fees in 2003, having promised they wouldn't in the 2001 manifesto, and they were the ones who appointed that crook Lord Browne to write the Browne Report that is largely responsible for the current disaster even if the implementation was an error by the Coalition.
    THanks - I stand corrected. Still think the current loans system is unsound.
    Unsound? That's very generous. It's bloody awful and a disaster looking for somewhere to happen.

    But it is not only, or even primarily, the fault of the Tories.

    That also, worryingly, means it is unlikely a Labour government will be able to fix it.
    Indeed. But that policy is one thing I didn't like about Mr Blair, anyway.
    Again, I am surprised that you can single out one thing you disliked about Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair.

    I can think of six without even making an effort.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941
    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    ydoethur said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    In terms of actions, I'm fully with you.

    But.

    We're heading for a country where access to family wealth basically decides whether you can begin to buy a home in parts of the country. And without a place to live near London, you can forget a career in some of the more interesting and powerful professions.

    I caught a bit of an interview with Melvin Bragg on Saturday. Could someone have his life path (Carlisle pub to Oxford to the BBC) now? I'm pretty sure that it would be much less likely, and Britain in 2050 will be worse for that.
    Add - or rather deduct - student tuition fees and maintenance grants, and the problem is worsened.

    Of course, some of us on PB think that that's just dandy and right and proper, maintainiong and worsening educational inequality for a particular political party's benefit.
    Who was it who introduced tuition fees? New Labour and without them out universities are hardly going to be able to compete with the top US colleges
    Introduced, not raised. And the Tory changes to the student loan system risk creating a major economic crisis, as much rehearsed here.
    I am surprised to find myself siding with Hyufd, but Labour did raise tuition fees in 2003, having promised they wouldn't in the 2001 manifesto, and they were the ones who appointed that crook Lord Browne to write the Browne Report that is largely responsible for the current disaster even if the implementation was an error by the Coalition.
    THanks - I stand corrected. Still think the current loans system is unsound.
    Unsound? That's very generous. It's bloody awful and a disaster looking for somewhere to happen.

    But it is not only, or even primarily, the fault of the Tories.

    That also, worryingly, means it is unlikely a Labour government will be able to fix it.
    Indeed. But that policy is one thing I didn't like about Mr Blair, anyway.
    Again, I am surprised that you can single out one thing you disliked about Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair.

    I can think of six without even making an effort.
    Well, it particularly upset me - that generation did so well out of maintenance fees and tuition fees paid for them, and look what they did. I do have a rather absurdly sentimental attachment to the idea of education and going to university (oir college, or whatever) and just getting on with the work without having to pay interest rates more reminiscent of Mafia vigorish, certainly in the sense that simply disappearing seems to be the only way to deal with them for many people.
  • Options
    Completely OT there is a new group on Facebook I have discovered and would heartily recommend to anyone with an interest in proper archaeology.

    It is called Fraudulent Archaeology Wall of Shame and does pretty much what is wrtten on the tin. Unsurprisingly Graham Hancock features regularly.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,941
    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    Carnyx said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    Missing the point. Where's your inheritance going to come from, then? You can't have it both ways as that study shows.
    If you get a deposit gifted you have already effectively had a significant inheritance. Of course in London and the Home counties that partly comes from the vastly increased house prices home owning parents and grandparents have benefited from.

    They are not gifting their pensions
    On the latter point, some are at risk of doing that, effectively. Given he pension freedoms.
    Most of it if not savings comes through home equity release
    But that's a dreadful way of raising money, as I understand it. Big drop in inheritance.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,829
    algarkirk said:

    algarkirk said:

    rkrkrk said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    Arguing about inheritances is sadly very common I think. Money + grief makes it a tough subject to handle well I guess.
    This one, from the Chancery Division 2022, is a classic. All about wills. Lasted 3 weeks with 49 witnesses. All the really tough stuff happens in families.

    https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2022/159.html
    Jeez, someone could write a novel based on that case.
    Already done in Bleak House. Dickens's finest.

    Dickens’ account was somewhat deficient in the dialogue stakes, though.

    … His language was rough and, like the rest of the family, laden with expletives, particularly using the c-word incessantly and indiscriminately to describe any person, whether in or outside of the family. The texts and WhatsApp messages that I have seen from other members of the family, (the deceased did not send texts, presumably because of his literacy problems) constantly used that language the whole time. That was the way they conversed...
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,075

    Completely OT there is a new group on Facebook I have discovered and would heartily recommend to anyone with an interest in proper archaeology.

    It is called Fraudulent Archaeology Wall of Shame and does pretty much what is wrtten on the tin. Unsurprisingly Graham Hancock features regularly.

    Have Graham Hancock and Leon ever been in the same room?
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,880
    Nigelb said:

    algarkirk said:

    algarkirk said:

    rkrkrk said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    Arguing about inheritances is sadly very common I think. Money + grief makes it a tough subject to handle well I guess.
    This one, from the Chancery Division 2022, is a classic. All about wills. Lasted 3 weeks with 49 witnesses. All the really tough stuff happens in families.

    https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2022/159.html
    Jeez, someone could write a novel based on that case.
    Already done in Bleak House. Dickens's finest.

    Dickens’ account was somewhat deficient in the dialogue stakes, though.

    … His language was rough and, like the rest of the family, laden with expletives, particularly using the c-word incessantly and indiscriminately to describe any person, whether in or outside of the family. The texts and WhatsApp messages that I have seen from other members of the family, (the deceased did not send texts, presumably because of his literacy problems) constantly used that language the whole time. That was the way they conversed...
    I must admit I read that bit and wondered what relevance the “c-word” had to the actual case or judgment.
  • Options

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    No help from parents. Deposit came from share options in a dot com era startup and the mortgage was paid off with an accidentally overstaked trixie.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,227
    For @jamesdoyle - from previous threads.

    If your friend has made a £17k p.a. profit for 3 years after paying herself a wage why on earth is she selling the business for only £35K?

    That feels a little too good to be true to me.
  • Options

    Completely OT there is a new group on Facebook I have discovered and would heartily recommend to anyone with an interest in proper archaeology.

    It is called Fraudulent Archaeology Wall of Shame and does pretty much what is wrtten on the tin. Unsurprisingly Graham Hancock features regularly.

    Unfair, I'm actually quite a fan of his work.
  • Options
    Looks like planes are landing at the usual frequency at LHR now.

    https://www.flightradar24.com/airport/lhr
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,880
    edited August 2023

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    No help from parents. Deposit came from share options in a dot com era startup and the mortgage was paid off with an accidentally overstaked trixie.
    Good story though.
    I could do with an accidentally overstaked trixie.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,168
    edited August 2023

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    Same here (no help, not gifted a £3m house).

    Great sense of satisfaction in knowing our present comfortable life is all through our own endeavours*.

    (*Ok, and being born in a wealthy country of opportunities.)
    I however am a Tory and believe in inherited wealth and the family.

    I am not a free market liberal who believes in a pure meritocracy, even if I am more of a free marketeer than a socialist I am not a pure free marketeer
  • Options
    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,723

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    Same here (no help, not gifted a £3m house).

    Great sense of satisfaction in knowing our present comfortable life is all through our own endeavours*.

    (*Ok, and being born in a wealthy country of opportunities.)
    Before buying my first home I spent 5 years living in share houses and not having a car. That helped me save enough to be able to buy with a modest mortgage.

    I didn't buy a coffee from Starbucks every morning or eat avocado toast either.
  • Options
    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,622
    edited August 2023

    Nigelb said:

    algarkirk said:

    algarkirk said:

    rkrkrk said:

    dixiedean said:

    HYUFD said:

    This isn't sustainable.

    Parents and grandparents are facing a retirement cash crunch as they prepare to contribute a record £8.1bn towards younger buyers’ house purchases this year, a report has warned.

    Money from relatives will help fund close to half of all purchases by under-55s in 2023, according to research by Legal & General and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

    It is a significant jump from 35pc in 2020, when the research was last carried out. For under-35s, the share is expected to jump from just under half in 2020 to 57pc this year as rising interest rates push up mortgage payments.

    The Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times since December 2021 to 5.25pc, wiping tens of thousands of pounds off what the average borrower can afford.

    The average amount of financial support from relatives is expected to hit £25,600 this year, L&G’s research found.

    Bernie Hickman, chief executive of Legal & General Retail, which has 12 million policyholders, warned the record sums put many older people at risk of running out of money later in life.

    He said: “Our research clearly shows that gifting or lending money to loved ones to get on the property ladder has noticeably impacted [the givers’] finances.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/families-fund-record-8bn-family-buy-first-time-house/

    Well it helped you get on the property ladder and me
    I repaid my parents their deposit and other support within 5 years.

    The reality was their intervention allowed me to get on the property aged 21 before I had even started work.

    I'm an only child, what do parents do if they have more than one child.
    Save.

    The moment my daughter was born I started putting away £100 a month in an ISA with Skandia (later Old Mutual) . When she turned 18 we gave her the choice of using it for paying her University fees or having it for a deposit on a house. In the end she took out the student loan for the tuition fees but nothing for the additional support/living loan. It means she still has a good deposit on a house left over.

    We have done the same with my son who is 7 years younger. To pay for it we simply didn't have or do a lot of the things other people do. No fancy holidays, always had second hand cars, no expensive habits.
    That's splendid, if you can do that.

    What about people whose parents don't have £100 a month to spare?
    Then they don't do it. Or they do a lesser amount.

    The trouble is that having kids is about making sacrifices and whilst there are many people who are genuinely unable to do that there are also many more who are not willing. They would not sacrifice their holiday in the sun each year or their new car every two years simply to ensure their kids had some support to start them in adult life. And too often these have been people of my age and my 'class' who had all the benefits and are now unwilling to pass them on.

    As I say this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, or perhaps even the majority. But if you can afford a foreign holiday every year then you can afford to put something by for your kids' future.
    Sadly.
    I was talking last week with someone aged 70 whose daughter asked for help with a deposit a few years ago.
    He refused. So they had a row, he cut her off and is going to leave the house to an animal charity.
    He didn't seem to think that was at all an overreaction to her "cheek".
    I really cannot imagine any parent behaving in such a callous manner against their own daughter
    Arguing about inheritances is sadly very common I think. Money + grief makes it a tough subject to handle well I guess.
    This one, from the Chancery Division 2022, is a classic. All about wills. Lasted 3 weeks with 49 witnesses. All the really tough stuff happens in families.

    https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2022/159.html
    Jeez, someone could write a novel based on that case.
    Already done in Bleak House. Dickens's finest.

    Dickens’ account was somewhat deficient in the dialogue stakes, though.

    … His language was rough and, like the rest of the family, laden with expletives, particularly using the c-word incessantly and indiscriminately to describe any person, whether in or outside of the family. The texts and WhatsApp messages that I have seen from other members of the family, (the deceased did not send texts, presumably because of his literacy problems) constantly used that language the whole time. That was the way they conversed...
    I must admit I read that bit and wondered what relevance the “c-word” had to the actual case or judgment.
    The best judgements not only get the law and facts sorted intelligently, and reach just and clear conclusions, they also tell a story by which you can see how the case itself is an aspect of lives or communities in conflict.

    the first para of Reeves v Drew draws you in:

    Kevin Patrick Reeves (aka Kevin Patrick Frain) (the deceased or Kevin) was an extraordinary man who during his life built a fortune of up to £100 million from nothing. He died, unexpectedly, on 3 February 2019 at the age of 71 although he had been unwell for many years with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, or emphysema. His death has unleashed a bitter feud between his children and grandchildren that culminated in a three week trial during which I heard from 49 witnesses about whether a will made by the deceased on 7 January 2014 (the 2014 will) was his valid last will and testament.



    Your average judgement fails in this regard; taken almost at random this is an opening shot:


    On this application the Claimants, AS LHV Pank[1] (UK Branch) ("LHV") and LHV UK Ltd ("LHV UK") seek an order under s.111(1) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("FSMA") sanctioning a scheme to transfer the deposit-taking, banking and regulated payment services business carried on in the UK by the UK branch of LHV together with the related rights and liabilities ("the Transferring Business") to LHV UK, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of LHV's holding company, AS LHV Group, plus ancillary orders under s.112.


    Which is a bit of a failing.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,880
    I am glad to hear of people’s real stories as I’m fed up with all the twits who inherit.

    (And just a little jealous).

    It’s a massive waste of human potential to reserve our best opportunities to those already monied.
  • Options
    TazTaz Posts: 11,307

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    No, I got no help either.

    But, as someone once said, them’s the breaks.
  • Options
    DougSealDougSeal Posts: 11,277
    edited August 2023

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    I got a 100% mortgage because I was young, reckless, stupid and a City lawyer, and they were throwing money at 28 year olds like me in 2002. Worked out for me personally but I was in some minuscule way a cause of the GFC.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,880

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    Same here (no help, not gifted a £3m house).

    Great sense of satisfaction in knowing our present comfortable life is all through our own endeavours*.

    (*Ok, and being born in a wealthy country of opportunities.)
    Before buying my first home I spent 5 years living in share houses and not having a car. That helped me save enough to be able to buy with a modest mortgage.

    I didn't buy a coffee from Starbucks every morning or eat avocado toast either.
    Didn’t most people live in shared houses?
    I lived in some kind of co-operative squat when I first moved to the UK.
    If you’d said you’d *lived* in a car, I’d have been impressed.

    The coffee and avocado stuff is silly sneering.
  • Options

    Completely OT there is a new group on Facebook I have discovered and would heartily recommend to anyone with an interest in proper archaeology.

    It is called Fraudulent Archaeology Wall of Shame and does pretty much what is wrtten on the tin. Unsurprisingly Graham Hancock features regularly.

    Unfair, I'm actually quite a fan of his work.
    Sad to say I am not. I think he can occasionally have some interesting insights - such as his New Chronology fro the late Bronze Age which I think makes sense. But apart from that I think he is a loon and a fraud.
  • Options
    TazTaz Posts: 11,307
    Leon said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Nice to see Leon back again.

    Yes indeed, welcome back Leon.

    Although... what's with the private profile? How are we meant to remind ourselves of the incredible accuracy of your predictions if we can't see your past comments?
    i didn't want anyone to see how much I was lurking

    Jesus, the fucking boring coversations about bicycling, Nadine Dorries and "light rail networks". When I saw that you had all moved on to "car insurance" this afternoon I could not stand idly by, any longer. So I made an intervention
    Ha.

    So the big money move to Saudi Never came off !!!!
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,555

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    Same here (no help, not gifted a £3m house).

    Great sense of satisfaction in knowing our present comfortable life is all through our own endeavours*.

    (*Ok, and being born in a wealthy country of opportunities.)
    I was NOT given my deposit from the Bank of Mum and Dad. I bought my bijou but beautifully located 1 bed Camden flat (all I have ever wanted, who needs the hassle of a big house?) with my own sweat, by crafting a best-selling flint tickler. It is a pleasing sensation

    However, it is almost certain that in previous years I STOLE the equivalent of a house deposit, from the Bank of Mainly Dad, and spent it on drugs, booze and hookers (squandering the rest, etc)

    Perhaps a unique position
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,413

    I got no help from the “bank of mum and dad”.
    Does that make me unique on here?

    My best friend was gifted a house in London, now worth around £3M, about ten years ago.

    Same here (no help, not gifted a £3m house).

    Great sense of satisfaction in knowing our present comfortable life is all through our own endeavours*.

    (*Ok, and being born in a wealthy country of opportunities.)
    Before buying my first home I spent 5 years living in share houses and not having a car. That helped me save enough to be able to buy with a modest mortgage.

    I didn't buy a coffee from Starbucks every morning or eat avocado toast either.
    House? You were lucky. We used to dream of sharing those. Best we could manage was sharing tent on t'rubbish tip.
  • Options
    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,672
    Slightly depressing weekend for me.

    I facebooked, via an old school acquaintance, my very first girlfriend who I haven't spoken to in over 20+ years. Long story, but she popped up in a vivid dream a week ago, which bothered me, and I recalled I didn't know what happened to her. If she was alive or dead. She disappeared off the face of earth about 2005 and I was worried and not ok with it. We used to be besties and I thought I'd take a chance and reach out, once I found out her name had changed. We went through a lot together.

    My message on Friday was warm. Her response two days later was polite, but content-light, guarded and slightly icy. After a very brief exchange she basically told me to get lost in the politest way possible and she was slightly suspicious about why I'd suddenly reached out - that I was a fond childhood memory, and that's where she preferred to leave it.

    Ouch. I said I respected that but I can't say I wasn't disappointed. Life's too short for sentiment like that, in my view.

    At least I know she's ok though.

  • Options
    algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 10,622

    I am glad to hear of people’s real stories as I’m fed up with all the twits who inherit.

    (And just a little jealous).

    It’s a massive waste of human potential to reserve our best opportunities to those already monied.

    It's a truly tricky question because two fundamentals come into conflict. One is the desire for fairness, and especially the one that the centre right emotionally buys into - equality of opportunity.

    The other is the desire to help the family, and preserve the fruits of work or business building for the next generation.

    It is worth thinking about it from a Rawlsian perspective. If you don't know what place you would have in a society, would you prefer to have or not to have the opportunity to help your children, even if others were less helped?

    It seems to me he first wish is moral, the second is an evolved response, and goes deeper. A lovely example of this is IIRC that Tony Benn left his entire estate, worth some millions, to his children.
This discussion has been closed.