UK economy comes to a standstill

RichOneday_2

Sapphire wrote: »

Oh, OK. :rotfl:

What about culling politicians? Would that help?

Sapphire

RichOneday wrote: »

What about culling politicians? Would that help?

Absolutely!

Just don't get me started on politicians now. You'll get a massively vitriolic rant. The bunch Britain currently has is the worst there has ever been. They are liars and scamsters who get away with murder, and who are just feathering their own personal nests, rather than working for the 'good' of the country. The really bad thing is that they are not controlled in any way (they are obviously incapable of controlling themselves).

Must stop now…

Generali

fc123 wrote: »

:wave: :wave: Generali. It will be great for your wife as she will get some time with her family plus they will get to know the grandchildren too.

My stepbrother is a dentist and had quite a 'big' lifestyle in Woking, private schools , big house, own practice bla bla. They all upped and went to Townsville a few yrs back (no family connections at all) and he is cleaning up; in terms of career and more balanced lifestyle.

Townsville! Mrs Generali's Grandmother lives in Townsville. She's easily in her 80s and last time I saw her she was still doing the census on Magnetic Island and delivering meals on wheels to people 20 yrs younger than her.

It's an amazing town. The people that live there seem to think that it should be the capital of QLD as Brisbane is pretty much in NSW.

The all you can eat buffet in the casino is appalling apart from the seafood which is the best I've had outside Brittany.

fc123 wrote: »

I feel that there are lots of Generali families who are either leaving, or planning to soon, and where will this country be without a varied spread of people?? Used to be called the Brain Drain...is it happening again? Will we end up a country full of Clampets families only?

I know a lot of people that have done well for themselves (better than me!) over the past 5 or 10 years in the UK that are thinking of getting out. There also seem to be a lot less people living in Central Europe that want to come over here to make a living. Maybe it's a new Brain Drain (they seem to happen when the socialists are in power).

fc123 wrote: »

I haven't got time to post all details (nor the emotional energy) right now but we are now being battered (like an old rusty nail with a big hammer) by big, greedy property company (desperately trying to hold onto their boom times) who have decided to try and increase our shop rent by 70%.

We have lost before we even start this rent review process (takes around 2 yrs and costs several thousand) so we are being driven out of business by rising property prices too.

There is survival scheme in place..........in fact I will have to post it on here soon just for the therapy, but it shouldn't need to be like this.
How long will it take for these property guys to suss out that the 'Money from Nothing' business model is running out of time?

If your LL is trying to up the rent on your premises then he really should take a look at the FT first. It's clear where the retail industry is going right now and it ain't pretty. In a year or so he's going to be glad to have someone paying the rates rather than getting the bulldozers in as seems to be likely under the new rules.

fc123 wrote: »

When are you leaving?
It's going to be an adventure for the kids too.
Am off line for a few days...got to go to S London to sort out house....going to try and sell it :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: . If you don't laugh, you just end up sobbing!

Not sure when we're off. Maybe 6 weeks or maybe next May. It depends on the immigration chappies I guess. Migrating should be straight forward but then again a rent review on a shop should be simple right now.

fc123

Generali wrote: »

If your LL is trying to up the rent on your premises then he really should take a look at the FT first. It's clear where the retail industry is going right now and it ain't pretty. In a year or so he's going to be glad to have someone paying the rates rather than getting the bulldozers in as seems to be likely under the new rules.



Not sure when we're off. Maybe 6 weeks or maybe next May. It depends on the immigration chappies I guess. Migrating should be straight forward but then again a rent review on a shop should be simple right now.

LL is too busy admiring his Big Glass Tower and counting the noughts that value his portfolio at zillions of £££.
It will be straightforward IF we do our secret groundwork. My newfound skills in research are being put to the test.
We have 2 years to play the 'Valuation Game'. I pay my surveyor to say 'No it's worth X and they pay their surveyor to say ' Oh No it's worth Y'.

They are using us (well...bullying really) as we have personal guarantees on the lease so they can push us to the max.....and then our new high rent is used to increase the 5 chains whose review come 4 months after us (at the same time).
Their surveyor has personally apologised to me for what he has been asked to do.
Their new property management company sent 2 reps down to look over the portfolio and one of them ended up buying a frock and saying,'It's a shame there aren't shops like this anymore....??!!'....mind you she got me monthly rent agreement....good enough for Philip Green and all that.

But we have a Plan. Plan G(2)...
Wont be Aus....more like Dorset.

The papers shouldn't be too long? Aus will want you quick as you have savings (!) and UK will note that you are 'temporalily unemployed'...all in your favour.

Generali

Well unfortunately I don't really have anything in the way of savings (thanks to Mrs Generali not working for the past 4 years and having a pretty spotty employment record prior to that) but on the bright side I don't really have any debts either.

The plan is to go over there and give myself 3 months to get something senior in the world of finance. If that doesn't work (quite likely) then I'll go into IT instead.

Dorset is very similar to Australia only with sand lizards instead of salt water crocodiles and with a slightly less comical accent.

lostinrates

Sapphire wrote: »

Isn't that mostly due to much higher expectations, though, rather than house prices? People have vastly higher expectations today than did my parents' and grandparents' generations. We in the UK, despite all the grumbling, have very high living standards compared to most of the world (including ownership of many totally peripheral and unnecessary luxuries).

The trouble is people always want more and more because they think others have more than they have and they are taken in by advertising that seduces them into thinking they 'absolutely must' accumulate an ever-increasing pile of rubbish. :cool:
quote]

Not in all cases...more a meeting in the middle I think.

For example bothe DH and I had one set of 'upper middle' grandparents who had household staff of more than half a dozen, and another set were 'gentleman farmers' and kept a large landbased staff and a couple of 'helps'. Parents...well mine were much less grand...but could afford a large house in West London on decent multiple of one salary and a car and an au pair. DH's both parents worked (for a while-DH's mother only worked part time, but they owned three properties, lived an international lifestyle and had a house keeper and a full time to be abnanny. We (one income) certainly never imagine having 'staff':rotfl: and would really like to be able to buy a home ...smaller than the homes we were born in, on a fair multiple of one salary. We want less (although we would ideally like a london base and a home outside london we would not consider having multiple 'homes' just one home nd somewhere to sleep) than previous generations of our families wanted IMO.

Chris2685

Wow, imagine earning enough through a regular job these days to be able to pay 5 staff to live in your house and do all your work... Even at minimum wage that would cost a bloody fortune! Although I think the minimum wage doesn't apply if you're providing a room and food, etc does it?

Anyway, none of my grandparents ever had any of that. One set lived in a back to back terraced pretty much their whole lives, and the other lived in an average sized 3 bed semi pretty much their whole lives. Now both sets live in residential 'old peoples' bungalows

WTF?_2

Sapphire wrote: »

Isn't that mostly due to much higher expectations, though, rather than house prices? People have vastly higher expectations today than did my parents' and grandparents' generations. We in the UK, despite all the grumbling, have very high living standards compared to most of the world (including ownership of many totally peripheral and unnecessary luxuries).

The trouble is people always want more and more because they think others have more than they have and they are taken in by advertising that seduces them into thinking they 'absolutely must' accumulate an ever-increasing pile of rubbish. :cool:

(Sorry if this is not too clear, !!!!!!, but not thinking too straight because my mind is on other things.)

Well, people do seem to want more these days - expensive designer consumer items, nicer car, two cars, two foreign holidays etc. but I dare say that the massive cost of buying a house and servicing the debt taken on to do so is a major driver behind the need for families to generate income beyond the typical means of a single breadwinner.

There's also the ever increasing level of insidious 'stealth' and 'green' taxation - IMO so called green taxes are stealth taxes - plus stuff like fines and penalties which seem to be becoming more common. I wonder how long before we see speed limits lowered 'to save carbon emissions' combined with even more spy cameras to fine us?

All in all, it adds up to an horrendous burden for the 'typical' family. On the other hand, plenty of scope to cut down and save money without really losing quality of life as you can find out in many parts of MSE. But if you took on a whopping loan to buy a house close to the peak of the bubble there's pretty much nothing you can do about a very significant ongoing expense now.

neverdespairgirl

lostinrates wrote: »

I love britain, and England, with a passion and I feel very English..

I feel exactly the same way.

Pobby

I do these days sit back and wonder what life might have been like had I taken the very well paid job offered me in the USA. I have to say that I have watched the UK slowly sinking.

From Greed is good Thatch through to this bunch of bankers. Just been talking to my wife. Her sisters friend has sold up and moved to Spain. The four of them in the family are living on savings, £8k to £12k a year. Could easily do that ourselves until the pensions kicked out but Mrs. P has said no! Duh! looks like you guys are stuck with me!