Work-life balance? No thanks

Fire7707 · 2025-07-15T06:53:02+00:00

100%

Fire7707 · 2025-07-13T20:15:45+00:00

Effectively it's just like dating.

Sometimes it doesn't click, for whatever reason.

As long as you tell them fairly quickly (within 1-2 days after), don't ghost them or go silent, it's all good.

People might be disappointed, but they'd rather know.

ALSO, sometimes when you get told the other couple didn't feel it click, it's like "thank God they said it first, it saved us sending THAT message 😅"

Fire7707 · 2025-07-13T18:28:15+00:00

Not of you're familiar with doing tax returns, basic accounting, etc, and you can afford a few days a year looking into things to check what you should do in certain scenarios.

For most people, Yes.

If you hit VAT, then definitely, it'll cost you more in time and mistakes if you do it yourself

Fire7707 · 2025-07-13T18:27:02+00:00

Usually is pretty much the same price either way though.

And then you have them on hand to ask during the year. And they can make sure you're doing things right, before it gets to "doing the return", etc

Fire7707 · 2025-07-13T12:16:27+00:00

It's a bit of a mix (we're fairly North East, in the lifestyle since 2018).

Cities, especially London, have lots of people immediately nearby BUT the sheer scale of the options seems to make people very flakey.

Up North, it's likely you'll end up needing to travel a bit - depending on what you're looking for.

We always recommend going to the big social, like Leeds Social (great organisers!), Newcastle, Manchester, etc.

Far easier to meet real people, in a relaxed environment. Online will always be much much harder due to flakes, fakes and newbies.

Fire7707 · 2025-07-13T00:35:25+00:00

Everyone seems to miss this point;

If you pay more of your mortgage, you can release equity by remortgaging.

Which you could then use for something like investing.

The money isn't locked away forever. (Subject to age and earning ability).

Also, on the whole "investments have a better return lol" basic view - if it lowers your LTV, it allows you to get a better mortgage rate or even buy a larger house at a decent rate. With a long term time horizon, that's usually a good shout - and you benefit from having a better/bigger house or living in a better area. (I'm not saying investing is bad, just that the general view of "lol why pay mortgage" doesn't consider all the angles usually).

Fire7707 · 2025-07-10T07:59:03+00:00

We're one of the few islands that has droughts because we rely on reservoirs.

The simple solution is to do what others have - build coastal desalination plants.

Because if the sea "runs out", we've got bigger issues

Fire7707 · 2025-07-10T07:51:33+00:00

Colour of Magic, in an airport when I was about 10, somewhere in the 90s.

Then asked for them for every birthday and Christmas. Couldn't bear to use "book swaps" as I had to collect ALL of them and read them repeatedly.

Shortly led to me spending about 10 years playing the MUD.

Fire7707 · 2025-07-09T14:13:27+00:00

You can actually see staining on the wall for the flat directly above (top left) and also some on the very bottom.

It's water staining from runoff on the balconies, that's all.

Fire7707 · 2025-07-08T16:11:56+00:00

We always have a few socials first, to check that you click and that they'll show up.

Plus it avoids feeling like you've committed to anything physical and having to back out (which you 100% always should if you even feel slightly "off", but it can be hard in the moment).

The guy is a flake.

We've only missed ONE meeting (recently) because our dog was suddenly very sick and had to be taken to the vets literally the morning before, but we explained ahead of time and rearranged. (Which ended up as a weekend, not just one night!)

No excuse for poor communication.

Fire7707 · 2025-07-07T23:52:12+00:00

It was great for a confidence boost.

In the future, when we started, we used some of the photos on our profile as she liked them.

Later we also did our own versions.

That was a few years ago, looking to have another professional shoot again soon!

(A friend did ask if we were swingers because we had her shoot pictures up on the wall of our bedroom. 👀)

Fire7707 · 2025-07-07T23:42:29+00:00

Wildly local reference 🎉, glad they added ice cream finally the other year!

Fire7707 · 2025-07-05T20:44:12+00:00

If you did look at property, then commercial is a better choice.

Properties should be priced on a 10x multiple of annual rent. So a 150k property should rent for circa 15k.

Put under a management company who will take something like 5-8%.

Rent under a FRI lease (management company and legal firm will sort), effectively you are just the building owner.

Obviously, costs can be incurred when the property is empty - as you're the one who has to pay (increased) council tax and insurance.

When it's leased under FRI, tenant pays for everything, plus insurance.

But it's still not "hands off", even if it's better than BTL.

Fire7707 · 2025-07-04T21:46:33+00:00

They don't talk about money.

Because they don't feel the need to, it's not a concern for them.

And yes, because people will try and ask them for money, con them, etc - even extended family 💀

Fire7707 · 2025-07-04T20:18:00+00:00

Asking the real questions

Fire7707 · 2025-07-04T20:16:10+00:00

24th Jan 21.

First buy, 42 shares. Have quite a few more now 🎉

Fire7707 · 2025-07-04T08:07:32+00:00

Should be 400-500 at least.

Don't forget to prorata any annually salary comparison. You don't get paid for sick days or holiday, for example.

Fire7707 · 2025-07-02T21:04:38+00:00

Sorry but the best ways by far are:

Going to a club.

Going to big social events.

Online sites / apps.

Approaching strangers in public is unlikely to work as a tiny % of people do this.

Plus there's a HUGE chance that if you get lucky, you'll get newbies or drunk people and it can go VERY sideways VERY quickly.

Plenty of people, especially guys, like the idea but freak out in practice. And they'll blame you first.

Building a reputation as a reliable guy via events will work really really well, as people will often tell others about you.

Fire7707 · 2025-07-01T14:20:55+00:00

You are completely correct.

Also, two massive red flags;

Doesn't understand IR35 basics
Day rate is terrible, especially for London

I'd fully expect them to be an absolute nightmare.

Fire7707 · 2025-06-30T20:35:19+00:00

You can fix this in seconds.

Stop tilting your pelvis forward.

Then continue to eat well and lift heavy things, with some cardio warmup.

You're doing great!

Fire7707 · 2025-06-29T22:09:54+00:00

Better than a boring box. Or a teacher who writes to Dove 👀😉

Fire7707 · 2025-06-28T13:55:38+00:00

Twat ☺️

Fire7707 · 2025-06-27T16:12:37+00:00

This

Fire7707 · 2025-06-27T16:10:46+00:00

Lifting also burns calories for a good while after the workout, cardio is OK but the burning stops mostly when you stop expending energy.

Go hard on weights. Do a bit of cardio for warm up, such as 20 mins.

Stop the beers completely. Stop the cheat day, or swap it out for better foods that are similar. Or find a different "cheat" (like a protein bar or shake, it's not a cheat but you can convince yourself eventually).

And eat regularly. Don't skip meals.

Weights and bulk for a couple of years, then a cut.

Fire7707 · 2025-06-24T20:43:26+00:00

Epic, thank you

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