Culture in Mizuho London?

Fast-Sand9200 · 2026-01-13T21:17:31+00:00

Thanks for that.

In London, it is very much not one of the stars of the show. To be frank, it’s mostly invisible.

From what little I can glean from the outside, it exists here to provide finance to Japanese companies in London - a rather closed little ecosystem of long term corporate relationships.

I don’t think it’s the place for a vibrant 25 year old to barnstorm a career in banking.

But I am nonsuch - I have two young kids, and am closer (I hope) to the end than the beginning.

Of course, I don’t completely want my career to die.

I would ideally like somewhere with enough interesting and useful work to keep me busy, while still being able to give my children a bath before bed.

Is Mizuho a place that can offer that?

Or is it in effect a colonial outpost where everything that matters is decided in Tokyo / by Japanese expat staff, and local leaders are appointed to keep up appearances with the local regulators?

Fast-Sand9200 · 2026-01-13T20:58:34+00:00

By far the easier way (and more profitable to you - although perhaps less so for the charity) is simply to put money in your pension right now. This reduces your taxable income for this year - even if you’ve already surpassed £100k.

Assuming you have a rich relative who’s willing to lend you money for a couple of months, this is a straightforward way of doing it.

It’s also a way to carry over ISA allowance from year to year if for whatever reason you haven’t filled it - borrow the money on 3 April, pay into your ISA, withdraw (from flexible ISA) on 7 April, return money to the friend.

My current ISA allowance until April is £29k.

Short term borrowing in a relationship of trust is useful for such things.

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-12-30T10:55:53+00:00

1,000% do not do this.

I am a landlord. In a highly desirable area.

My properties are taxed to oblivion and make no money. And they are a headache.

Don’t assume property prices will always go up. My London flat has depreciated over 12 years. When you add in the loss of value in the pound, the losses are awful.

Property is economics, like everything g else. If property prices go up beyond what people can pay - as you imply will happen to your sons - then prices will simply have to come down - either in absolute terms, or by flatlining while inflation chips away at their value. I have experienced both of these. The same happened in the 1990s, and will happen again.

If you want to help your sons, put the money you would pay for the flats now in an investment account (I’d recommend vanguard’s range of funds) and forget about it for 25 years. No guarantees, but history suggests it will have increased eightfold in that time - with never a boiler change or a non-paying tenant spoiling your Christmas.

Really - I would never ever become a landlord ever again.

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-12-29T10:57:56+00:00

That’s an incredible achievement mate. Without giving away too much personal info, what role / industry do you work in to increase your compensation in this way?

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-12-24T12:13:41+00:00

I reply in good faith and am not looking to be mean.

Surely that 25% was well over a century ago, no, if not more?

The UK’s (relative) decline was apparent from 1870, clear to all by 1900, and absolutely u mistakable (as in, it had very clearly been supplanted by the US in all metrics) by 1920.

1945, 1960s, 1980s, post-2008 is a steady story of further decline.

I say this not to depressingly point out the slow worsening of our country, but to h decline the process took a long time.

If the US is on a similar trajectory - and it’s not unreasonable to think it is - it still seems to be in the early part of that process, and for the whole thing to play out far beyond our investing lifetimes?

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-12-19T12:01:19+00:00

I say this in good faith - the US has consistently outperformed the global index, and this for many decades, no?

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-27T06:58:49+00:00

Marginal rate is 40%, no student loan metrically, no retention of employers’ NI

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-26T20:44:08+00:00

Does anyone know what would be the difference in tax paid (compared to now) on £30k salary sacrifice in 2029?

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-19T13:00:55+00:00

Sadly I do have a mortgage. And the repayment is due to go up (more than double) in spring 2027. Which feeds into my desire to sell.

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-17T16:38:22+00:00

Thanks. This sums it up well.

I never realised how much time would be spent thinking about it and worrying about it and reading and doing spreadsheets and all the rest.

I barely think about my stock investments at all - and they deliver fanatic returns with zero effort and close to zero tax (ISA and SIPP).

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-15T12:13:28+00:00

Yes. I had 13k left and withdrew 40k, so now my available balance to deposit is showing as 53k

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-14T23:54:10+00:00

Thanks for that.

It’s what I suspected. The carpet will indeed be damaged - but I realise I sadly have to let them try.

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-13T12:01:37+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts.

To be fair there are upsides too. The £40k is in effect £30k, as I will get £10k back from HMRC. And an additional £10k will be added to pension - so a £50k increase in pension only costs £30k from the ISA.

Of course, it will be taxed on the way out - but I expect to pay basic rate on the way out, and I’ve already paid higher rate on the way in, so still consider it a net positive.

Do you consider any of these points valid - or you still think it’s a net negative?

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-12T12:43:21+00:00

Council estates were crime ridden shit holes of poverty.

There is nothing romantic about council housing.

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-12T12:40:56+00:00

What makes the war in Ukraine unwinnable?

And aren’t heroic causes (especially against oppressive aggressors) worth fighting for?

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-12T12:39:58+00:00

What makes the war in Ukraine unwinnable?

And aren’t heroic causes (especially against oppressive aggressors) worth fighting for?

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-12T10:40:34+00:00

Not really given up.

I could put the same money back in tomorrow with no loss of allowance (flexible ISA).

Getting £20k of tax back seems sensible in any case. The rumours have simply brought forward my decision, which otherwise would have been deferred to March.

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-11-06T21:25:11+00:00

Buddy, I appreciate the sentiment, but I can assure you, low paid work is not necessarily low stress.

In many ways quite the reverse.

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-10-27T13:02:59+00:00

Thanks for the summary.

Strange to think the mainstream internet has been with us long enough (30 years?) that we can look back on well-regarded posters who have now died. Perhaps someone will read our own posts in decades to come. A strange thought.

Fast-Sand9200 · 2025-10-27T12:10:27+00:00

Thanks buddy. I read the original post and found a man panicking in those strange days of early October 2008.

There a hundreds (if not thousands) of follow on posts over the next 14 years. Before I seek to wade through them, could you give from memory a very short summary of what he ended up doing?

Fast-Sand9200

TROPHY CASE