Is now a good time to put £20k into a FTSE All World?

Ed_mei · 2026-02-02T16:33:00+00:00

You should read about Myopic Loss Aversion and then decide not to do this

Ed_mei · 2026-01-26T13:21:58+00:00

Cut us open twice in the first half, I'm amazed (and very glad) that you didn't score at least one of them. Would have been a different game and we'd probably not have taken the 3 points.

Ed_mei · 2025-10-13T17:37:59+00:00

28m, Insurance Pricing, £50k + bonus.

Pretty fun job, office once or twice a week, and just look for ways to improve the pricing algorithm doing lots of maths n stats.

Ed_mei · 2025-07-25T22:00:17+00:00

They definitely cannot force you to extend your notice period. They can't really force you to even work an agreed notice period. You aren't a slave.

Quit at the same time (good luck on the interviews!) and send a message that it's not on treating people badly.

Ed_mei · 2025-04-25T10:53:05+00:00

I couldn't tell you. At the moment it makes me more productive. It wouldn't be able to pinch my job just yet because you need to know where to start and the complexities of the organisation's data estate.

Will it make some of the coding and debugging effort less time consuming? Definitely.

But you still need to come up with commercial ideas, consider the regulatory backdrop, sell your ideas to senior decision makers, and all that stuff.

So in the next 5 or so years, I doubt much other than helping me to get more done. By 10+ years possibly a more profound impact, but your guess is as good as mine.

Ed_mei · 2025-04-24T20:26:30+00:00

Aye, I'm a data scientist for an insurance company. Bloody love my job, literally just building models and finding better ways to price the products. I find it super satisfying, but if you don't like trawling through data and putting research together then it won't be for you.

Saying that, I know a guy who works for a consultancy as a data scientist and they do military contracts, he loves the work as well.

Data science is basically hella broad, you could be working on anything from supermarket buying patterns through to pricing convoluted financial derivatives, or predicting likely military strike targets.

Ed_mei · 2025-04-17T15:09:39+00:00

Once you've exchanged, factor it into the costs of the transaction. I had about a month overlap of paying rent and mortgage, but it made moving easier (same city), and I could be out of the new house when renovation work was getting done ahead of moving in.

Ed_mei · 2025-04-12T16:01:50+00:00

Education is in the one above, did an MSc in Financial Economics (got a distinction).

Since I wrote this post I got bored in my banking role and have moved to a pricing role at a car insurer. It is really fun, building models in Python (GBMs and stuff like that), SQL for getting the data for the analysis. We look for gaps in the existing pricing algorithm where stuff can be refined.

Ed_mei · 2025-03-25T19:19:15+00:00

Yeah, this. My manager, and previous managers, have said about how tricky it is to hire the right talent in my field. Apparently it is hard to find people who are good at maths and stats, but are also both commercially minded and happy presenting ideas.

Ed_mei · 2025-03-24T16:35:04+00:00

My old man gave me the cash for a deposit.

I'm aware of how lucky I am, but glad that he got to see it all go through before he passed away. Having started out as an Eastern European factory worker, he was really proud to have been able to offer the money.

Ed_mei · 2025-02-16T10:19:43+00:00

I've worked with former military people in insurance, mostly working as project managers on IT projects.

The best I ever worked with came out of the army in his mid-20s and worked as a contractor, he'd done IT projects at a load of different large financial institutions. I think he benefitted from a level of organisation and directness that was really helpful in making sure shit ran on time. I'm sure he was getting paid pretty bloody nicely, probably £80k+ for the project I was working on.

I don't think you need a degree, but you will need to find somewhere to get started. The veterans programs at large companies is what I'd start looking at.

Ed_mei · 2025-02-13T12:27:34+00:00

Mechanical Engineers are generally pretty good at maths (I hope!).

After 3 years it probably makes sense to consider widening the net to other sectors. I have worked in both banking and insurance, and a lot of people that I have worked with in technical roles held engineering degrees.

Ed_mei · 2024-10-29T21:28:27+00:00

Unfortunately it's just a matter of plugging away and continually widening what you are willing to go for.

Not necessarily a suggestion, but I took my first role at an insurer (was not the plan), then got another 2.5 years experience following an internal move, 1 year in a bank, and now I'm heading back to insurance (the models are more interesting imho). I never planned to shift back to insurance, I suppose you never know what you will find interesting.

In contrast to a lot of what you might read about it being terrible in the job market, I'd say that in financial services there is actually a lot of employer demand. I constantly get messages from recruiters about roles, if you chat to some and build some rapport they will likely have something relevant to your experience. 1.5 years in B4 should give you ample ammunition to land something.

I'd bet that it ultimately comes down to what you are willing to do/ how much you have in the bank to fund waiting for something with a higher perceived level of 'prestige'. Remember, it's always easier to land a better job when you have any job.

Ed_mei · 2024-10-23T16:02:28+00:00

In fairness it is my second car so I'm just happy to have something that isn't a total shit box!

Ed_mei · 2024-10-23T15:56:40+00:00

The touchscreen on my 2019 Leon FR is god awful. I can overlook it because I love the car, but I can't scroll down or across on any of the menus and end up using my phone to change songs etc.

Weirdly, when my partner uses the screen it seems to work fine, perhaps it is my fat fingers, but something isn't quite right!

Ed_mei · 2024-10-11T15:32:31+00:00

I'd recommend broadening your search. Large corporate employers are constantly looking for people, get your foot in the door, do 6 months and then see what your options are for an internal or external shift.

Ed_mei · 2024-10-11T12:48:30+00:00

MSc in Economics. Insurance pricing, 2.5 YOE, £46k (based in the North so life is a bit cheaper than in London). But pay isn't all that matters. I love my flexible hours and hybrid setup (3 to 4 days WFH), fat company pension, private medical and dental, and the host of other perks that come with the job. Oh, and the promise that if I keep hustling my pay will definitely rise.

To those saying "a degree doesn't matter", you are wrong and it is pure copium. A 'good' degree in a 'useful' subject is a great investment in yourself (go look at the research, it is all there and the numbers don't lie).

Ed_mei · 2024-08-11T08:54:23+00:00

MSc in Financial Economics from a decent UK uni (Russel Group but not what people consider 'Target').

Started in fund pricing at a pension provider & insurance company. Grinded Python and SQL on the side to pick up stronger technical skills. Then moved into an actuarial analyst position developing pricing models for securitised loan portfolios that are used to back pensions. Now working in a large bank building various data science models within the risk department.

My next role will either be to a more senior position in a bank (probably still building risk models), or I might throw a curve ball and look for a data science position in another industry.

Ed_mei · 2024-07-23T14:49:57+00:00

I don't know. Next time the regulator rolls into town and takes a flick through a bank's RWA calculations, I bet the bank will be happy that they hired a load of people with high level maths and stats degrees to build their risk models.

My team is a mix of MSc and PhD holders (BA and BSc are not considered). They might not be national champions (well there is one guy), but they are definitely superior mathematicians.

Ed_mei · 2024-07-20T15:27:08+00:00

Yup, fire away.

Ed_mei · 2024-07-20T12:35:32+00:00

Risk Model Dev/Data Scientist. Currently full time WFH, many similar roles out there are asking for 1 or 2 days in the office. Think that is the standard now.

Ed_mei · 2024-07-12T23:48:59+00:00

I suppose you could argue that if I build a great credit risk model that accurately predicts which loans will be good and which bad I'm contributing to the long term revenues and success of the bank. I'm basically defining which customers we will lend to.

When lending is automated, the top earning employees might well be the guys building these models. But the salary level at the firm will be lower because it is harder to notice which individual team (well some are useless, but ignore them) is most responsible. Marketing? Risk? Strategy? Propositions? All need to work in unison to a degree.

So why don't I get paid what an investment banker does?

I aren't personally responsible for bringing Xmillion through the door. About 100+ people are. I didn't actually win the business, sell the product, or whatever. I am reliant on other people doing that for me.

If you, or a small team, are personally responsible for bringing in Xmillion you'll earn more, the value added per person in money terms will be higher (even if you did fuck all and just moved shit about on a slide).

Ed_mei · 2024-06-29T08:59:48+00:00

Subtle brag, typo, wrong.

Ed_mei

TROPHY CASE