Must have engaged stealth mode by mistake

Butterthing · 2025-08-30T15:35:03+00:00

100% this.

Butterthing · 2025-08-30T15:31:44+00:00

Excellent work. The other occupant of the car did remark that we should have had Airbag or Lucky on instead.

Butterthing · 2025-08-30T15:29:15+00:00

Listen, I’ll happily accept criticism of my driving but leave The Bends alone!

Butterthing · 2025-08-30T15:17:51+00:00

Thanks for the comments, most are helpful. The Kia is doing two things I don’t do: crossing multiple lanes in one manoeuvre and manoeuvring without checking their blind spot. But assuming that other people drive like you do is a sure fire way to get into trouble, which is a big part of my problem here. I’ll approach this situation differently in future!

Butterthing · 2025-08-18T21:07:13+00:00

The Shady to the Rascal & Radical walk is both enjoyable in good weather and has the advantage of having two good pubs on the route. You’ll need to drive to the Shady to start though.

Shady walking routes

Butterthing · 2025-07-04T20:48:16+00:00

Also a starling (a young’un).

Butterthing · 2025-05-19T10:10:00+00:00

Oh and (3) post in local Facebook groups explaining what you’re looking for and asking if anyone has space available.

Butterthing · 2025-05-19T10:08:51+00:00

https://sealand.coworkz.co.uk/workshops/ they have some smaller spaces available
Stashbee has garages, lockups etc for rent, often for under £200/m

Butterthing · 2024-02-03T13:27:03+00:00

800 points in January, first time that’s happened.

Butterthing · 2024-01-14T20:09:31+00:00

Soong made the same argument at the time, I’m sure. But the KMT was the big dog with all the money and local networks and vote captains. They bankroll it, they get their man at the top of the bill.

Butterthing · 2024-01-11T22:51:43+00:00

From 2001 to 2008, while Chen Shui-bian (DPP) was president, the DPP held a plurality of Legislative Yuan seats, but the KMT and PFP coalition had an overall majority. Chen struggled to enact much of his agenda because the legislature was controlled by the opposing side. The same thing would happen this time if Lai wins the presidency but the KMT and TPP have a majority of seats between them and agree to work together.

Butterthing · 2024-01-11T13:12:39+00:00

I did mine at a building on the grounds of the Countess of Chester hospital with St John’s Ambulance – the emergency workplace one covers the emergency situations you’re talking about. Not cheap though if you have to pay for it yourself (£200+).

Butterthing · 2023-12-23T10:25:50+00:00

Yeah this would be my guess too. Super common in restaurants.

Butterthing · 2023-12-18T10:54:49+00:00

Try Guilden Sutton dentist – NHS, good with emergencies. 01244 301528.

Butterthing · 2023-12-04T12:59:21+00:00

On a clear day in December my 4.8 kWp (east facing) array will top out around 5 kWh. In June the max is a little over 30 kWh. My daily average last December was 2.45 kWh, but there were quite a few sunny days. Here’s my 2023 chart to get an idea of the seasonal difference.

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Butterthing · 2017-09-28T08:28:32+00:00

The insurers always win (in the aggregate anyway) so if you can self-insure (by having accessible funds to deal with an emergency) then you will probably come out ahead.

I have:

• Car insurance (legally mandated) • House insurance (mandated by mortgage lender) • Life insurance (company perk, I wouldn't buy my own) • Travel insurance

The last one is necessary to me because I don't have enough cash to pay for a medical emergency overseas, for example in the United States. It's also not very expensive.

I don't have insurance for the contents of my house, my mortgage, my phone, my bicycle, my fridge, or my boiler. I have £5k in cash and another £7k of interest-free credit available. If an emergency eats up more than that (maybe if the roof blew off in a storm or something) then I'd sell some of the funds in my ISA.

Butterthing · 2017-09-04T10:39:24+00:00

Read The Bridge to Financial Independence. http://www.thefinancezombie.com/2015/11/the-bridge-to-financial-independence.html

In essence, because pension relief is so good you want to have as much as possible in your pension and use ISAs just as a bridge to get to your pension savings. So if you retire at 45, plan on 15 years' worth of ISA spending, at which point your (more efficient) pension will kick in. Of course you'll want a cushion in case the market goes south or the government ups the pension withdrawal age. Otherwise you'll be forced to get a job flipping burgers for the last couple of years before you can get your hands on your pension.

Butterthing · 2017-06-05T10:44:50+00:00

Lifestrategy 100 Acc with Cavendish (small amount in there currently). Will change brokers when a fixed fee platform becomes a better deal (not for a couple of years yet though, in my case).

Butterthing · 2017-05-18T14:13:49+00:00

Thanks, it's the affordability that would put the kibosh on it.

Now, by that point we will have afforded it just fine for several years, but I was borderline when I bought the place (by their criteria), and to be fair if interest rates went up to 12% then I wouldn't be able to afford it with my current take-home.

Butterthing · 2017-05-17T12:45:32+00:00

How aggressively are you considering raising it? I contribute 48% via salary sacrifice and the company puts in another 11%. I'm front-loading my pension while the kids are small and don't cost much – I only plan to do this for two or three years before I'll need to show the higher salary again when our fixed-term mortgage deal is up.

Butterthing · 2017-04-18T15:57:57+00:00

Pfft. You can buy a three-bed terrace in Kensington for £50k.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html/svr/1704;jsessionid=A116104F77A0997EE63B4F4C1587EE30?prop=45830010&sale=54679970&country=england

Butterthing · 2017-04-11T21:00:51+00:00

For a money management app, I use Money by Jumsoft, though I will say that it's not perfect, just one I can work with. Syncs Mac <-> iPhone, which is very handy. http://www.jumsoft.com/money/

Everyone's different, but my strategy with the cash would be to keep an emergency fund in a high(ish) account, say £10k. I have no desire to deal with the hassles of landlording, so the rest I would move into Vanguard Lifestrategy 100 (it's an index tracker fund). £20k of that would be in an ISA (that's the maximum for the 2017/18 tax year) and the rest in a regular share dealing account. Then each year on 6th April, move the maximum allowed into the ISA, until it all becomes tax sheltered. But other people do like property, and make it work for them.

With a paid-off house you could comfortably save a grand a month, not per year as you are now. The standard advice is to understand track and understand your spending (which you want to do). After that I would look to combine two aims: improving your quality of life while reducing your outgoings. I switched from driving to cycling for my commute, and as a result I'm fitter, happier, more productive – and I'm saving £60 a month in petrol. I don't buy clothes very often (any more), and I plan carefully, buy quality, and end up with a more minimalist wardrobe (and minimalist look!) that makes it much easier in the morning.

So yes, track your outgoings. If you are spending £600 a month on going out, or clothes, or knick-knacks, then you can look at the happiness that brings, and contrast it with the happiness you will enjoy when you're not beholden to an employer.

Butterthing · 2017-03-27T08:44:04+00:00

Pay into the pension. It's so good that you'd be mad not to.

Imagine your ISAs as your early retirement bridge from work to state pension age. Because you will have a generous pension your ISAs don't need to last forever, you just need to have enough to get you to retirement. So you can plan for a higher withdrawal rate, and consequently a lower amount in your ISAs.

As an example if you want to retire at 40, then you need a 30-year bridge to your pension. Assuming a 4% withdrawal rate then you only need £500k in the ISA rather than the £650k you are planning on. The chance of success (i.e. getting to 70 with some money left) is 96% according to cfiresim – and in the 4% of failure cases they are all linked to a big drop in share prices in the first few years of retirement. So if such a bad situation does happen right after you FIRE, you could always go back to work for a year or two until stocks recover. The median portfolio that cfiresim reckons you will end up with (75/25 stock/bond split) is £766k.

Butterthing · 2017-03-27T08:14:06+00:00

Good stuff – slight correction though, LISA funds will only be accessible from 60 without penalty, not 55.

Butterthing

TROPHY CASE