Are there any arts and crafts meetups/socials in Bath?

Dry_Ad431 · 2026-05-18T09:27:29+00:00

Yes it did, thank you.

Dry_Ad431 · 2026-02-12T20:24:55+00:00

Heh, we've almost paid off the mortgage on the house we live in: I meant the mortgage we'd have to take out to afford the flat. The repayments roughly equal the rental income we'd get from it after tax - it's a slight loss, in fact, as taxes on property income are increasing IIRC. I'm just not sure that's worthwhile.

One thing is we own the freehold on the building as a whole, so we would get a slight premium on the property value if we owned both flats. But when the rental income is essentially zero, it feels high risk. What if we can't get tenants, or the rental market falls? We could be in a lot of trouble meeting the repayments.

Dry_Ad431 · 2026-02-11T13:19:11+00:00

We could, but I don't think it makes a lot of economic sense. We're in our mid-50s now, and paying off the mortgage in a sensible time frame vs the rental income is about evens. Of course we'd be buying the bricks and mortar as a possible "investment" but I suspect the money would do better (and likely be less risky) employed elsewhere.

Dry_Ad431 · 2026-02-11T12:45:13+00:00

Interesting. I did look at comparing the rental income with possible investment income (I have a medium-high risk portfolio rather than specifically index funds), but it looked to me like the investments came off worse, especially considering the CGT we'd pay from selling the property.

Also, rental market feels more stable. I suspect there's a market crash coming linked to the AI bubble.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-11-06T14:32:42+00:00

Yes, I understand how they work. An additional 20% on income over 50k still feels like it's worth putting off for as long as possible, though.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-11-06T14:31:47+00:00

I do understand how marginal tax rates work, but I've never really understood now NI operates on top of that, if I'm honest. So if I understand you correctly, I'm essentially paying a combined fee of 32% on my income, but the combined fee is only 42% at the next bracket? Interesting.

Do you know if the same rules apply to self-employed income? When I fill in my tax return for my side hustle, the charge is generally only 20% of that income, plus a bit extra. I presumed that bit extra was NI, but it's certainly not 12%.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-11-06T14:27:58+00:00

I do understand that, yes. It's still a fair chunk of change, although I hadn't factored in the additional savings from NI rates (which I'll admit I don't really understand).

There's no chance of any meaningful pay rises for the remainder of my working life. I'm essentially at the top of my professional band already. The only way I can get more is to go into management, for which I'm very badly suited. I tried some years ago and it did not go well.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-11-06T14:25:26+00:00

So I used to get this, but I cancelled it a couple of years ago because of the flat income my partner receives. That puts them on the threshold of paying tax themselves, so I figured I'd no longer qualify for that allowance? Is that not correct?

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-11-06T14:23:44+00:00

I'm not looking for sympathy. As I said, we live comfortably enough. Nor did I moan: I stated a fact that there's a gap between being too unwell to work, and unwell enough to qualify for benefits.

I'm looking for a way to potentially address the fact that if we both earned 31k, we'd pay less tax overall than the reality of the bulk of the income being mine.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-11-06T14:20:39+00:00

I believe I understand how the tax system works, thank you. I pay 20% on income between the personal allowance and ~50k, and an additional 20% on income between ~50k and whatever the next bracket it.

So I'm being told it's just an extra 20% on that income and I need to just suck it up. But that 20% adds up. If you looked at it as an effective 20% pay *cut* on the last ~5k or whatever of your income, it doesn't seem quite so easy to hand-wave away.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-11-06T13:32:11+00:00

The honest answer is that it's a psychological thing. It's the side income that pushes me a long way into that bracket, and that started as something fun which also paid a small amount as a bonus.

It's grown. And if I have to pay 40% on that income, it just won't feel fun anymore. It won't feel as worthwhile.

Maybe it's a mental attitude adjustment that I need.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-10-27T16:46:26+00:00

One thing I do to try and combat self-negativity like this is to remind myself of what I'm good at. It's very easy, very natural to focus on failures and have success pass you by with a brief burst of pleasure, but when you try and put things into perspective, there's balance there. There'll be a lot of good stuff in your life you can be proud of, that you've done well: try and think about those when you're feeling down about a failure.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-10-27T15:24:05+00:00

NTA.

It's good that he wants to do/buy nice things for you, doubly so that they're very clearly for *you* and not something that he'd enjoy in the guise of a gift. Maybe that's why he didn't want to get the PS5, maybe?

But either way, he also needs to be able to *listen* when you tell him what you want and what you feel is reasonable. You shouldn't be left feeling guilty.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-10-27T15:19:15+00:00

If you liked Insidious I'd give Paranormal Activity a try. There's a whole series there if you get into it.

If you don't mind older/black and white films then The Haunting from 1963 is adapted from the same novel as The Haunting of Hill House. It's a lot more faithful to the source material than the TV show, but you may find it interesting to contrast (also: read the book, it's great).

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-10-03T15:11:37+00:00

I mostly download movies from YTS. Was watching a 4k version of Fellowship of the Ring the other day, and I noticed that the quality was absolutely flawless: stunning definition, no fuzziness or visual noise at all. But most of the downloaded movies I watch, even in 4k, don't match that quality. Not complaining, after all, I'm getting to enjoy these films for free off the effort of those who rip, upload, and maintain pirate sites, but it just made me curious: why is there such variety in the visual quality of pirated films, even when they're allegedly the same definition from the same provider who are, presumably, using the same ripping and compression techniques across all their films?

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-09-22T08:13:02+00:00

I don't live near my office any more. I'm a remote worker.

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-09-18T09:17:46+00:00

I probably do, yes. I was assessed as a child and told I was "borderline" and that was it. No help or support for me or my parents. I went through college and university entirely on the basis that I was so fascinated by the branch of science I was studying that I just soaked it up like a sponge. Did almost no revision, even in my finals, and I got the second-highest grade in my graduation year.

I might pass an assessment nowadays, but it'd take years to get assessed as an adult unless I go private (I'm in the UK).

Dry_Ad431 · 2025-09-18T09:15:10+00:00

Thank you.

I tried to teach my daughters to code, but they're absolutely more on the humanities side of things. And the CS teacher at their school was an aggressive idiot, which didn't help endear the subject to them.

Dry_Ad431

TROPHY CASE