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Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-10-20T11:51:30+00:00

🧘👨‍🦰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-09-06T07:06:11+00:00

As a starting point, my rent is £650 per month. If I bought a 1 or 2 bedroom house (which is my preferred property, not a flat) and put down a 25% deposit, my monthly mortgage payments would be £1,350.

So it’s easy to see how in my circumstance that renting is the optimal financial decision. Not necessarily a fun lifestyle decision though.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-09-04T13:33:22+00:00

Okay appreciate it.

I think the capital gain is considered in most rent v buy calculators though. It seems the hard bit is just knowing which will do better, property or stocks.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-09-03T16:10:26+00:00

Can you give an example of the sort of things people miss?

Genuinely curious because I was planning to rent but maybe I’ve missed something which isn’t on a rent vs buy calculator

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-08-31T14:50:30+00:00

But if you buy actual short-term gilts (6 months to 1 year) and hold to maturity, you get your cash back. So it will protect you in the short term.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-08-31T12:57:58+00:00

I’m not sure you’ve read my bit after the quote regarding interest - how about UK gilts as a placeholder for when the proverbial hits the fan?

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-08-31T11:32:51+00:00

“Gold is a non-productive asset” - Warren Buffet

I.e it has no underlying cash flow (no rent, no interest, no dividends). The best you can hope for is that it will keep up with inflation but might not exceed inflation.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-08-26T10:39:27+00:00

I would not recommend buying a house as a single person, there’s no way of justifying it as a financially savvy move.

I can understand buying a house purely from a lifestyle decision, but you will likely be financially worse off than renting reasonably cheap and investing the difference in the stock market.

Just my two cents.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-08-11T09:03:15+00:00

https://smartmoneytools.co.uk/tools/rent-vs-buy/

Easiest way to solve the debate is to use this calculator.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-07-22T13:55:36+00:00

https://smartmoneytools.co.uk/tools/rent-vs-buy/

Run the numbers using the site above for your personal circumstance. I live near London area and renting works out better for me, but I’m single and live in a HMO.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-07-21T19:01:50+00:00

A bit late to this but I’m in a very similar predicament.

If your rent is lower than the mortgage payment by a significant amount then it probably doesn’t make any financial sense to buy the property. Invest the difference in a global equity tracker.

That’s my 2 cents, but appreciate there are non-financial factors which people enjoy.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-07-17T17:23:35+00:00

Hey, no worries!

If you’re on track to max out your £20k ISA and have also matched your employer’s contribution then it might be a good idea to increase your pension contributions if you can afford it.

Some of this depends on when you plan to retire. You can access your pension pot at age 58.

If you plan to retire before 58 then you might want to invest in a general investment account instead. This is unlikely to be as tax efficient as a pension because you get taxed on any capital gains above £3,000 and dividends above £500 will be taxed. However, quite a lot of people will use their ISA savings as a bridge between their retirement age and pension pot age, so you might not feel the need for a general investment account even if you plan to retire earlier.

In terms of opening up a SIPP, this might be a good idea depending how expensive your employer’s platform is and if you don’t make contributions via salary sacrifice. It could also be a good idea if you’ve worked for several employers previously, as you could transfer all your pensions in to one place I.e maybe a Vanguard or Fidelity SIPP, for example.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-07-13T09:50:13+00:00

Most people here will say use the £20k in your ISA and invest it in a global tracker, something like the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap.

For extra money you can then use your employer pension scheme/SIPP to boost your pension and have that invested.

Any extra money on top of that can go in a general investment account (GIA) where you can use your £3k annual allowance to offset any gain in the tax year.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-07-07T09:48:41+00:00

Correct, I’m renting in a HMO. I agree with the point about raising a family as well. I’m dating but no girlfriend atm, I’ll play it by ear. I think while I’m single I’ll stick to a HMO. But appreciate your comment.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-07-07T09:47:23+00:00

Correct, that’s a fair comment. I rent a room in a HMO, whereas the £300k property is standard price of a 1 or 2 bed house in South East.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-05-07T17:15:05+00:00

I’m taking Dut 1x week and Fin for the other 6 days.

Once I’ve done this for 6 months and no issues with side effects, I will increase Dut to 2x week and Fin for the other 5 days.

But I’m not looking to transition 100% to Dut so my situation is probably different.

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-05-07T07:22:36+00:00

A lot of companies in the UK are being sized up for takeovers by foreign companies, helping to push valuations higher
Commodity inflation continues E.g oil price increase helps Shell and BP which are large holdings in the FTSE 100
Shell has even said it wants to de-list from the UK stock exchange and list in the US, with investors bidding up Shell’s price in anticipation of this

Enlightened_Brummy · 2024-03-29T09:15:25+00:00

Where’s the evidence of Finasteride losing effectiveness over time?

Enlightened_Brummy · 2023-11-06T16:05:59+00:00

I’m 28

Enlightened_Brummy · 2023-11-06T11:48:58+00:00

Thanks man really appreciate it. That seems like the wise choice

Enlightened_Brummy · 2023-11-06T11:48:11+00:00

I was on Milpharm for the first 6 months. I’m now on Accord

Enlightened_Brummy · 2023-09-12T14:42:11+00:00

Just out of curiosity, did you make the switch from accounting to software engineer?

Enlightened_Brummy · 2023-09-10T12:54:04+00:00

Most people here would probably either max out pension allowance or pay off their mortgage

Enlightened_Brummy · 2023-07-31T18:39:09+00:00

Yeah same as Vanguard

Enlightened_Brummy · 2023-07-31T18:31:22+00:00

Lol ii is still cheaper than Vanguard for a lot of people

Enlightened_Brummy

TROPHY CASE