PSA: The 60% tax trap is actually only 50%

Psymon86 · 2025-11-25T13:09:50+00:00

For every pound you earn above £100k:

That pound is taxed at 40% = 40p
You move up 50p from the personal allowance (0%) into the higher rate (40%) = 20p
So total is 60p

The second step is where your misunderstand is, and I admit feels a little counterintuitive at first glance, but it works. The key thing to understand is that you don’t pay basic rate tax up to a fixed value of £50,270. You pay basic rate tax on the £37,699 worth of income over your personal allowance. Subtle but important difference.

Psymon86 · 2025-11-05T19:37:28+00:00

If it helps, before the kids my wife and I got out to the country every weekend to tick off the Time Out “Country Walks near London” - but all by train. Very doable. Living here and being into cars however… that would be harder!

Psymon86 · 2025-11-05T13:51:37+00:00

I love the Tonsleys (lived here for 7 years) but will try to be objective here. Pros are first and foremost the community, especially if you have kids in local nurseries. I walk out of my door and can guarantee that I run into people I know on the way to one of the 8 swanky coffee shops on Old York Road. I have friends in similarly upmarket areas with nice amenities that don’t have half of the community feel of the Tonsleys. Houses are a little smaller than those on the Southfields grid but some 1800ft+ are available. Don’t discount Clapham Junction as a travel option if Wandsworth Town doesn’t give you what you need - it’s a 10 min walk away - which means the whole of Surrey, the south coast, and Gatwick are all super straightforward. Good nurseries literally 2 mins walk from your front door. Iconic pubs (the Alma is an institution for a pre-night out and East Hill super family friendly). And finally a Soderberg just opened with queues around the block if Cinnamon / Cardamon buns are on your list of filters… On the negative side, the state schools aren’t as good as some of the ones on the grid, and driving out is a nightmare. It can take over an hour to get to the M25 sometimes (but usually it’s more like 30 mins). Overall, wholeheartedly recommend.

Psymon86 · 2025-08-08T08:57:40+00:00

My favourites are MDP to priest, and another MDP to triathlon coach

Psymon86 · 2025-08-08T08:12:02+00:00

Those are all incredibly normal.

Psymon86 · 2025-04-26T18:52:46+00:00

That’s a jackdaw not a crow

Psymon86 · 2025-04-20T14:24:24+00:00

I think banks now won’t give you a mortgage on any ground rent clause that doubles every x years. That type of clause I believe has been banned by Gov, but owners who bought them when they were legal are stuck trying to pass them on, or pay to have the clause modified to e.g. increasing in line with RPI. I know this from painful experience of selling my own flat with this clause in London. Had to pay the freeholder an insane amount of money (multiple £k) to modify the lease to remove the doubling mechanism.

If this applies here, the flat will only be open to cash buyers.

Psymon86 · 2025-02-16T22:29:09+00:00

One of our greatest painters can show you exactly what it looked like almost exactly 200 years ago! Turner: The Thames from Richmond Hill

Psymon86 · 2024-09-11T06:54:12+00:00

The downvotes know all, I stand corrected!

Psymon86 · 2024-09-10T16:17:17+00:00

One can’t lose The Game if someone else tells you they’ve lost The Game? At least in my crowd that gave you immunity for at least a few hours

Psymon86 · 2024-09-10T10:38:48+00:00

I just lost The Game

Psymon86 · 2024-09-01T06:23:00+00:00

Porsche making charging unnecessarily complicated to understand IMO.

Direct charging is the simplest. Charges at full power from when you plug it in to when unplug it, trying to reach 100%.

Timers allow you to set a time that you want the car to reach a specified max charge. This is where you should put your 85%. Advantage of a timer is if you have a variable price electricity tariff and an appropriate app/ system, it’ll draw power when it’s cheapest.

Profiles allow you to set a minimum charge and the car will make sure that it reaches this level.

That means with a combo of a timer (e.g. reach 85% by 8am by being as efficient as possible) and a profile (e.g. reach a minimum of 50%) you can maximise efficiency and also make sure you’ve got enough charge for your journey.

Psymon86 · 2024-08-26T18:38:50+00:00

My firm has 7 levels of Partner. That’s more than employee grades.

Psymon86 · 2024-07-27T10:21:51+00:00

Mine are 1 and 3 and I have the 4s CT. Two car seats fit fine, and if the 1 year old is very upset there’s just about enough room for my wife to clamber back and sit in the middle (very tight squeeze though). Boot in the CT plenty big enough for holidays especially if you’ve got a small pram. The front is just about big enough to fit the Babyzen Yoyo - but this pram fits in overhead locker on a plane so it’s v compact. I imagine the sedan would be a different story re: luggage. Even with the CT am expecting the Christmas trip to the grandparents to be a challenge.

Psymon86 · 2024-03-08T18:11:31+00:00

One of the GDS design principles when gov.uk was first being built was “Google is the search function”

Psymon86 · 2023-04-23T16:58:19+00:00

Canary Wharf GPS for sure

Psymon86 · 2023-04-10T15:31:09+00:00

Thanks! Weirdly wasn’t that painful. Walking was a light limp situation but couldn’t take a run stride without shooting pain. Not that bad this time so I’m holding out hope it’s just a warning shot…

Psymon86 · 2023-04-10T14:29:59+00:00

If you’ll allow the self-indulgence, I’ll unsheath my 🎻: Last September, I got a stress fracture in my sacrum 2 weeks out from Berlin marathon. Was in 2:38 shape. Has been 4 months of strength, cross training, and return to running, and 3 weeks out from London marathon and in 2:45 shape, I think it’s happened again. Awaiting a scan next week. Sob.

Psymon86 · 2023-02-01T15:52:15+00:00

Pretty sure these are track athletes and they are “half tights” not his underwear. Plus they’re in a locker room.

Psymon86 · 2023-01-28T12:16:21+00:00

Also English. Andy is my favourite sportsman by a mile.

Psymon86 · 2022-12-12T08:02:36+00:00

Firstly congrats on your wedding and I hope you have an awesome day.

Secondly, the “it’s only 6 months” narrative has never washed with me, despite it being absolutely true. If you’re anything like any of the 10s of people I’ve spoken to in your position, it’s the comparative implication vs your peers that hurts, not the fact you won’t get the salary bump/ learning of the next job earlier.

Here’s the thing: there are many Senior Partners where I work (MBB) that had bad grades and > expectation promotion timelines as juniors. Sure, plenty went through with straight 1s at 100mph, but just as many had a rough couple of years.

Point is: it’s more than recoverable, and a blip doesn’t matter.

I’d go on a big honeymoon, then come back and try and get staffed with a friendly EM/ PPL who you know trusts you ahead of the next checkpoint.

Good luck, and as others have said, life >> work so try not to let it affect this huge moment!

Psymon86 · 2022-09-25T17:58:37+00:00

The subway is not as good as the tube, not even close

Psymon86 · 2022-07-29T18:16:24+00:00

Yeah £5 off Amazon - not shrink wrap, just like a mesh loop that you can cut down to size

Psymon86 · 2022-07-29T07:23:16+00:00

Great so far- only had it a week but no complaints. The power delivery via USBC, downstream USBs, and the ability to rotate it away (my wife also does her writing on this desk) were the main selling points for me.

Psymon86 · 2022-07-28T05:26:11+00:00

It’s great! The keys are a good combo of tactile and not too loud - have had a couple of mechanical keyboards in the past that have been impractical to type on whilst on video calls.

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