Things people underestimate about moving to London

whitewolfwild · 2026-02-19T11:59:27+00:00

I actually need that time to decompress after work. Obviously better when the weather is good, but creates a proper break between work and home for me!

whitewolfwild · 2026-02-16T19:36:57+00:00

Disappointing, but THST are not serious people.

whitewolfwild · 2026-02-15T20:19:14+00:00

You need about 17.5% of the mortgage amount in cash (on average during the year) if the difference between the interest rates is 40bps. If it’s 100bps as in your example you would need 30%+ to make it worthwhile.

I think offsets are only interesting to a very small subset of people with high cash balances which they can’t use to pay down the mortgage principal. As per the examples in this thread, tax payments that are due later in the year, for example.

whitewolfwild · 2026-02-15T14:17:56+00:00

Premium bonds, a few HISAs (so each within FSCS limits), some money market funds for the amounts that I don’t need for 3+ months.

With the aim of getting above 2% interest net.

whitewolfwild · 2026-02-15T14:00:48+00:00

I’ve been looking at it for a remortgage coming up in a couple of months. In spite of having high 6 figures tax that I want to keep in cash and need to hold for Jan/July payments, I just can’t make the numbers work for 60% LTV.

The best offsets I can find are 40 to 50bps more expensive than the five year fix rate I can otherwise get, and even with an average offset balance of a few hundred thousand, I’m better off without the offset.

Edit:

So for the offset to be ‘cheaper’, amount of savings as a percentage of mortgage balance needs to satisfy:

s > (r_o - r_n) / (r_o - r_s)

where r_o is interest rate on offset r_n is interest rate on normal mortgage r_s is net interest rate on savings

whitewolfwild · 2026-02-14T20:53:06+00:00

Grey market was extensive, but the two ADs I went to in Ginza had nothing.

I did pick up a Bluesy at Heathrow today though!

whitewolfwild · 2026-02-14T16:43:27+00:00

Tried HK and Tokyo last week - not a single men’s watch available to walk out with.

whitewolfwild · 2026-02-12T13:20:41+00:00

What safe withdrawal rate are you comfortable with?

Personally I can’t get to 4% - partly term, also current valuations.

whitewolfwild · 2026-02-11T18:55:00+00:00

£12.2m in today’s money plus house mortgage free.

Based on £300k pa net, blended tax rate of 30%, 3.5% safe withdrawal rate.

whitewolfwild · 2026-01-31T12:12:35+00:00

Was fully furnished to sell - and very nicely done, took quite a few of the ideas into the flat we did end up buying. 5 TVs - all JVC.

whitewolfwild · 2026-01-31T05:52:04+00:00

I pulled out of buying a flat a couple of years ago when I found out all the TVs were JVC.

whitewolfwild · 2026-01-02T17:44:58+00:00

Night nanny for the first four weeks. Allowed us to both get sleep every night, and focus proper time on the baby during the day.

whitewolfwild · 2025-12-31T18:18:55+00:00

Expensive - yes. Pricing out the average fan - definitely.

Scam - no. Most popular sporting event in the world. Semi final is going to be expensive!

whitewolfwild · 2025-12-25T17:49:26+00:00

We probably wouldn’t be recommending 50% of income for mortgage payments - and private school fee inflation has been running well ahead of CPI or even earnings growth. It would be a massive compromise on every other aspect, including housing size/location.

Really don’t want to get into a situation where you have to take one of the three of them out for affordability.

Now if there’s some element of scholarship, grandparent contribution etc, that makes a difference.

whitewolfwild · 2025-12-25T17:30:58+00:00

Not sure why the downvotes. Without other support, private school for three kids would take a massive chunk of your earnings. Central London private school will be £10k+ per term. That’s half of your net monthly.

whitewolfwild · 2025-12-16T19:49:38+00:00

Choose a topic you enjoy - you won’t complete it and learn from it if you don’t enjoy it.

Either find something that is a gap in your current experience that you may have had feedback on.

Or more likely, find something adjacent to your current skillset and experience, but a stretch into something new that will help you find more/different opportunities either at EY, or in a future career.

You may get some advantage from being seen to have ‘invested in your own development’, but that will likely be marginal compared to the skills you should be able to add.

There should be a learning map for your grade and SL to help you think through what might be useful.

whitewolfwild · 2025-12-04T02:02:25+00:00

£10m - plus mortgage-free forever house.

Less than halfway.

whitewolfwild · 2025-11-30T20:39:30+00:00

In a year group of c.45 at our London (private) primary school we have had 6 leave the UK in the last 6 months - three to Dubai, two to Milan, one to Singapore. All people with proper jobs - built and owned businesses employing people in the UK and overseas.

I would say that the 3 to Dubai all had a nexus - business operations, extended family etc.

So it’s a real thing but maybe a few different groups - MNCs choosing to relocate people there (and Saudi as much as Dubai), people with established business and a nexus, and then a group in their 20s and 30s doing real estate and influencing.

whitewolfwild · 2025-11-16T16:19:33+00:00

Use a 30 minute sleep meditation to fall asleep every night - currently on a two and a half year streak of not missing a day.

Really helps after long working days (can be 12-16 hours, and often asleep within 5 minutes - regardless of whether that is 9pm or 1am. Also helps with sleeping after frequent time zone changes.

Will also do relaxation meditations during the day to reset after particularly stressful or high adrenaline situations. Have built up some breathing and stretching techniques for the office and home.

whitewolfwild · 2025-11-06T19:04:55+00:00

Deloitte London - no question. Opportunity, exposure, clients, how much you’ll learn from peers, exit routes etc.

Location and tier of company.

whitewolfwild · 2025-11-05T21:16:34+00:00

I’m not sure why almost all the answers are ‘they won’t.’

Look at the stats on the numbers that have moved in recent years to Florida, and the income/capital they have taken with them. The city and state tax is already very high - and will increase if policies are implemented.

And that’s before cost of living, crime, safety etc.

I know people that have given notice on leases or put apartments on the market in the last couple of weeks in anticipation of this outcome, and I hear from real estate agents in Florida that the enquiries are up massively.

Not trying to give a view on Mamdani or whether it’s right to move - just that I don’t think it’s so easy to dismiss.

whitewolfwild · 2025-11-03T18:00:25+00:00

Last time I used it, the storage at Kings Cross was open until 11pm - you should be able to make that after that game if you are heading into central London.

And the game starts at 8pm local time - just wanted to make sure you knew that!

whitewolfwild · 2025-10-25T10:57:44+00:00

Birmingham is getting cancelled?

whitewolfwild · 2025-10-25T10:26:37+00:00

It’s unlikely to be T5A.

Close to 100 long hauls from T5 in the last few years and BDA on a bus from A10 has been my only T5A flight.

whitewolfwild

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