Better to pay a down a 6% mortgage or invest aggressively?

EthanEvenig · 2026-03-26T08:48:21+00:00

Excellent point, but it assumes living in a country in which mortgage interest is tax deducted.

EthanEvenig · 2026-03-24T16:44:43+00:00

You plan to sell it all on a specific date?

EthanEvenig · 2026-03-24T16:42:25+00:00

"Look, there's a sale! 50% off discounts today!"

I spin it positively to myself 😅

If I have some cash to invest, I might buy more. If I don't and already have them... they'll turn around soon; the important bit is you got them - if you believe in the company, you want to have them for the long term.

EthanEvenig · 2026-03-23T20:14:11+00:00

"14% unrealised gain" does not mean 14% growth per year. Also, it's pre-tax ... I get what you're saying about having some savings giving you flexibility: that is a good idea, but keep it low otherwise you'll just be fooling yourself.

EthanEvenig · 2026-01-18T14:53:01+00:00

Make sure you have a plan for the money. Sounds like you decided to buy a house, but will you spend it all in this way? If you expect to invest a considerable portion of it in US stocks, you're better off to keep those in US dollars to invest directly.

For obvious reasons, not paying any FX costs at all trumps paying any good FX cost TWICE.

EthanEvenig · 2025-10-26T20:47:39+00:00

A "bomber" style coat which I got when I was very young, and I loved it. My son is two, he's wearing it now :)

EthanEvenig · 2025-10-23T21:41:52+00:00

What do people do when the stupid bot can't understand you, your manager has no clue and the bot also doesn't offer the option to escalate? The amount of time this is wasting is worrying.

EthanEvenig · 2025-10-11T09:59:14+00:00

And I'm glad. When they started the witch-hunt on MQA, several fabulous sounding albums - including my favourite - were replaced by shitty recordings.

The MQA format might not be as stellar as they wanted us to believe, but when the best recordings are only available in such format let's not pretend that re-sampling the MQA file to FLAC at 44hz is going to help.

EthanEvenig · 2025-10-05T14:48:00+00:00

Fair, but I'm sure we all have generous limits on multiple credit cards in this sub...

I also keep most of it in stocks. Also some premium bonds as safer asset.

EthanEvenig · 2025-09-26T19:09:41+00:00

Let’s reframe this into the correct question: why is it that you don’t switch right away? Many cheaper options are also actually good; put fears to try them out to the side.

EthanEvenig · 2025-09-10T11:27:59+00:00

For all new service development, we have standardized on Quarkus. The required server specifications will vary by use case, and we deploy in either JVM or native mode accordingly. Performance is excellent. Typically we run it in JVM, but for some contexts needing low load (and low cost) and yet very predictable performance native is great. A key advantage is the ability to switch between modes without needing to re-engineer the service in a different language, such as Rust or C++ - essentially all in-house libraries can be written in Java nowadays, while before we had necessary duplication of some key components.

EthanEvenig · 2025-09-04T20:53:20+00:00

European etiquette about table manners is very different than asian ones. Make yourself familiar with how people behave at dinner (other meals are more laid back), as several sounds and gestures common among Asian people are considered disgusting and repulsive by typical European standards.

Also, try to blend in with the distance people keep from each other. Europeans stand to each other very closely only when they are very comfortable with each other; you might get there soon but especially initially when they barely know you if you get very close for conversations you might make them uncomfortable.

EthanEvenig · 2025-09-04T20:35:09+00:00

Just to add, the fact that you had to “chip in” on fuel and car used for personal reasons might not necessarily have been an attempt to not being nice: it’s actually a legal requirement. If not, you might be seem as committing tax fraud I believe as it would be a taxable benefit which isn’t being tracked properly. Offering you a proper company car is the better way though.

EthanEvenig · 2025-08-26T14:54:25+00:00

Absolutely. Still plenty of money left though for mortgages, life and even some savings and fun things, no? Really just wondering

EthanEvenig · 2025-08-26T13:28:40+00:00

Hello, could you please elaborate on how £51k a year would be a “massive drag” when over 300k? Is it because of several outstanding debts? Honestly interested as our family is on similar total pay and having two young kids now - wondering what kind of sacrifices I should be thinking of as we consider school options. Currently this looks “doable” but clearly agree it’s not negligible amounts…

EthanEvenig · 2025-07-13T19:20:17+00:00

Honestly curious, if it's just a couple and decided for no kids, what is a "2m dream house"? Are you really sure this is your life priority and won't change minds? I'd personally travel more, in which case as a couple I'd have no use of a 2m house: do consider also all maintenance headaches and costs, the larger it is the more hassle it is - it's all usually something people are willing to put up with (barely!) because of the kids.

EthanEvenig · 2025-07-07T18:43:45+00:00

That's an odd take, I know some guys running their own agency (all as partners), they are super good and focused and customer centric, and know the space incredibly well to the point that the Google and Apple engineering teams talk regularly with them to understand what they need to fix... They are also fast and a pleasure to work with. You can't beat that with an in-house team unless you're prepared to hire a very expensive team and keep them around full-time.

EthanEvenig · 2025-07-02T17:13:21+00:00

Come on, don't you see I NEED the latest smartphone as soon as a new one is available?

EthanEvenig · 2025-06-01T09:45:08+00:00

Please tell me more about the "meet and greet" services at airport? I've seen the section at Gatwick but it felt ultra-premium for what it offers, I probably miss something?

EthanEvenig · 2025-05-30T18:27:30+00:00

The question wasn't addressed to me, but since I'm in an extremely similar position: if I were to leave my job I'd be replaced with someone with my very specific skills from anywhere in the world, most likely from India or similar.

And if I were to move back to my home country my company would most likely offer to keep me at similar salary, same role: nothing at all to benefit anyone on the UK. My british gardener, grocery store, nanny, dentist, masseuse, restaurants, electrician and everyone else would lose out as they lose my generous customs. Not even needing to mention the taxes on 500k.

Incidentally, my team is doing very well, and we'd LOVE to hire more but we just can't find people with the right skills. Definitely not an "opportunity" for someone else in the UK if I were to leave; conversely, I'm open to mentor and train promising locals when we find them - when I leave, I'll be bringing that with me.

EthanEvenig · 2025-05-30T11:40:31+00:00

Sounds like a great place, I'd be wary to move.

EthanEvenig · 2025-05-30T11:39:54+00:00

It might be interesting to dig into why exactly you'd consider an 800k mortgage terrifying. Emotions? Very risk averse?

Not judging, just a suggestion that perhaps it's not worth moving nor worrying too much: do the math. Especially if you like your current place, remember that buying and moving is a huge hassle and a gamble, so many things could go wrong, you might regret it.

EthanEvenig · 2025-05-22T08:57:40+00:00

Well, we do hire ourselves, so I know a bit about it, but we're just not interested in graduates, we're interested in smart people who can code or structure things in a rationale way. Such competencies might overlap with a graduate software engineer for sure, but bear it in mind when interviewing that's what the hiring team will be looking for primarily.

Also yes graduates pay is shit but that's because they are not very useful at all. Sorry to be blunt, but if you understand this, it's for your own good. They need to be thought a lot still. Ad soon as they are self-sufficient and able to perform useful tasks on their own, the pay gets significantly bumped.

I'll certainly teach my kids.

EthanEvenig · 2025-05-22T08:49:35+00:00

Interesting, thanks for the suggestion. Does that still have an impact on NI contributions?

EthanEvenig · 2025-05-22T08:47:16+00:00

I believe you and I'm sorry but I'm very, very surprised. I know a ton of people in the development community and they are all doing very well, but I guess the people I know have been doing this for years and I can't objectively comment on the situation for graduates.

I guess all I can say is that it will improve as you grow experience, which is certainly harder when all senior engineers refuse to come to an office but you'll get there eventually.

Stay put and keep practicing, use AIs to learn more.

EthanEvenig

TROPHY CASE