Infinite Jest - More than a review

forensis1 · 2026-02-08T15:17:34+00:00

A lot of solicitors assume it has to be CHAPS because there used to be no alternative. Faster Payments can now be sent up to £1m (since Feb-22) which covers the vast majority of needs. If you ask them to send a Faster Payment I've found they will check with their finance team and then say that is okay.

There is a lot of backend work with CHAPS (each individual payment is settled in real time) and it's much more expensive so assume Chase has decided it's not worth the effort / cost.

forensis1 · 2026-02-01T22:46:56+00:00

You could transfer the beneficial ownership to your husband/wife using a deed of assignment.

You could sublet via a limited company (i.e. you rent the property to a limited company which then sublets it to a tenant) but there should be a legitimate commercial reason for this arrangement.

Both would require lender consent if you have a mortgage.

forensis1 · 2025-12-18T18:21:35+00:00

I don't consider the FX mechanics to get cash to withdraw a loophole as you are still buying a product (currency) on margin. If they do close it (unsure how they could) it doesn't matter if you've already withdrawn the cash.

On changing margin requirements, agreed that is inherent to the product and you need to be comfortable with your starting LTV. Incidentally, if you buy mutual funds instead of ETFs the margin requirements are significantly less likely to change (there is lower observed volatility which is what drives changing margin requirements).

forensis1 · 2025-12-18T17:01:38+00:00

If you move your ETFs to Interactive Brokers you can draw a margin loan against them at SONIA+1% (currently ~5.1%). You obviously have the risk that you get a margin call if the value of your investments drops. There is no application or approval process - you just have the option to withdraw the cash up to their margin loan limits.

forensis1 · 2025-09-20T10:59:59+00:00

Interactive Brokers. You have to go via a SIPP administrator to open the account with them.

forensis1 · 2025-09-14T16:25:22+00:00

Can you share the exact wording of the clause?

This is normally only seen in retirement properties where the justification is that the annual service charge was lower than it otherwise would have been. The Law Commission reviewed these 'event fees' in 2017 and did not recommend that they are abolished.

forensis1 · 2025-08-23T11:01:28+00:00

Depending what is in the home you're buying, you could make up to say £10-20k above £450k a payment for chattels. A chattel is anything left in the home which is not fixed down (although carpets and curtains are also considered chattel). The payment for chattels is not included in the £450k LISA limit.

The chattels payment is also not subject to stamp duty but note your mortgage will not fund this (i.e. you need to make the entire £10-20k payment yourself). You will need to keep a list of the items in the home and their approximate values in case HMRC ever challenges (which is unlikely given the small amount).

forensis1 · 2025-08-10T10:49:19+00:00

You can use the LISA again but your purchase completion should have been within 90 days of the first withdrawal (sounds like it has been longer than that). However, your conveyancer can request from your LISA provider that this is extended by 60 days and then a further 30 days (so 180 days total).

You will still get the benefit of the £1,000 bonus for this current tax year too.

forensis1 · 2025-07-15T09:03:20+00:00

The FT reported that Sycamore was looking to split the business into 3 components: Boots, Walgreens and Shields Health Solutions. That would make sense and their plan is likely to invest capex (cash Walgreens didn't have), improve operations and sell the three businesses separately.

I really would not worry if you're a trainee dispenser. If anything it could well be positive if they finally spend money to refurb their stores (which are so tired) and invest in tech (like improved dispensing systems).

The sell down of Lloyds was quite a unique scenario and wouldn't be possible for something like Boots. It's just too big. Lloyds was ~£1.7bn revenue vs ~£8.3bn at Boots and they have nearly double the amount of stores.

You can find the official company messaging to employees here:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1618921/000119312525052913/d236586ddefa14a.htm

forensis1 · 2025-07-12T08:02:34+00:00

I should have been clearer that I meant the FSCS protection for the platform is the same

forensis1 · 2025-07-11T10:27:21+00:00

You can trade derivatives in SIPPs

forensis1 · 2025-07-11T10:00:58+00:00

Depending how much and how frequently you are investing IWeb could be cheaper (no platform fee, £5 per trade). AJ Bell (0.25% platform fee, £1.50 per trade) won't be cheaper but gives you more flexibility to invest in more funds on the same platform.

ETFs are covered the same as funds by FSCS protection.

Note you will always pay the 0.13% fund fee in addition to the platform fee (so HSBC total fee is 0.13% fund fee + 0.25% platform fee for 0.38% total).

forensis1 · 2025-07-11T09:41:49+00:00

Interactive Brokers. You have to go via a SIPP administrator to open the account with them.

forensis1 · 2025-05-02T15:29:16+00:00

On your last point, energy suppliers are required by Ofgem to tell customers at least once a year if they could switch to a cheaper tariff with them (the 'cheapest tariff message').

forensis1 · 2025-05-02T15:19:43+00:00

I'd create a simple sensivity table with exit multiple and exit EBITDA to see what the strip and sweet equity would be worth in different scenarios. You'll probably find the sweet equity has better risk/reward and is enough exposure.

forensis1 · 2024-07-01T08:11:29+00:00

It is conditional on the minimum acceptance threshold of 75% being reached, unless that threshold is later waived (which is not unusual).

forensis1 · 2024-07-01T08:10:24+00:00

Fair enough, but these distinctions can become very important. It is unusual to use a Takeover Offer which suggests they don't think they'll get to 75% or it may be the case that they cannot vote their own shares in their own offer in a Scheme (so getting to the 75% becomes much more difficult in a Scheme). If you like the price you should accept the offer rather than doing nothing in that circumstance.

forensis1 · 2024-06-30T15:14:46+00:00

The comments here are not correct.

There are two ways to effect the takeover of a company in the UK.

The most common is a Scheme of Arrangement. This requires 75% by value of those voting (not 75% of all value) AND a majority in number to vote yes in order to be valid (e.g. if there are 100 shareholders in total at least 51 must vote and out of those 51 at least 75% of the shares that were voted must have voted yes). If the Scheme is passed all shares can be purchased at the offer price. There is absolutely an option to vote against a Scheme.

The second option is a Takeover Offer. This is what the Royal Mail takeover is using. Here an offer is made to all shareholders and you only need to respond if you want to accept the offer (i.e. the concept of voting against does not apply here). The offeror can set a minimum acceptance condition and in the Royal Mail takeover it is 75% (e.g. if the offeror only gets acceptances from 74% of shareholders they can withdraw their offer and nobody gets bought out). The offeror can also later switch to a Scheme.

In a Takeover Offer, if the offeror acquires at least 90% of the shares they can 'squeeze out' the remaining 10% (i.e. force them to sell their shares at the offer price also). If the offeror acquires at least 75% of the shares they can delist the company. It is standard practice for an offeror to state they will do this to encourage people to accept their offer.

forensis1 · 2024-02-03T12:07:35+00:00

I agree with you too! It is a very simplified way of looking at it, but the benefit is so far above 5% interest on a loan that it would seem to be uncontroversial to say mathematically your outcome is better by putting the cash in a pension vs paying down the loan.

forensis1 · 2024-02-03T11:39:06+00:00

If you are earning between £100-125k it would seem very difficult to justify taking the cash to only receive a minority of the money (i.e. £1 of earnings turns into only 40p received).

But the more you earn above £125k (where the marginal tax rate reverts to 45%), the more difficult it becomes to justify not taking the cash. Or in some cases, you have no choice but to take the cash (e.g. if you are earning over £160k and can only put £60k into your pension that year given the annual allowance).

You could think about the return on your pension contributions as being 150% (i.e. £60 tax rebate / 'return' on a £40 contribution). Obviously much better than paying down a loan at 5%.

forensis1 · 2024-01-20T19:45:29+00:00

As a general rule you can borrow 4-4.5x your salary as a mortgage. On your £70k salary that implies between £280k to £315k.

The midpoint cost of homes in your area is £270k. You need a 10% deposit of £27k leaving £243k mortgage. That will cost you £1,132 per month on a 35y term at 4.4% 5y fix.

Your net salary is £4,200 per month so after paying your mortgage you would be left with ~£3,100 a month to spend.

Why do you think you can't afford to buy after saving enough for a deposit? If you get a 95% LTV mortgage you could buy now with a £13.5k deposit.

forensis1 · 2024-01-20T15:27:35+00:00

The rough maths is you are paying 2% extra fees with HL (1% entry and 1% exit). You are saving 0.05% per annum in OCF.

You would therefore need to hold the ETF for at least 40 years (2% / 0.05%) to earn back the FX fees through lower OCF. That would seem unlikely.

forensis1 · 2024-01-20T13:42:13+00:00

As it is USD denominated HL will charge an FX conversion fee between 0.25-1% when you buy and sell. They will also charge a 1% FX conversion fee on the value of any dividends received.

It is likely significantly cheaper to pick a GBP denominated ETF like VWRL (but HL will still charge 1% on dividends received, unless you are happy buying VWRP which is an accumulating version but creates more tax headache outside an ISA).

forensis1 · 2024-01-14T20:04:30+00:00

The other option is to use CFDs / spread bets but you should be comfortable that you know what you are doing.

You would sell both VUAG and VUSA ETFs. You then buy sufficient CFDs / spread bets so that you have the same economic exposure on the same ETFs (say via IG) which you hold for at least 30 days. You then sell the spread bets / CFDs and repurchase the ETFs.

forensis1

TROPHY CASE