A new Redundancy board on MSE?

Pobby

With due respect DD there are also some sensible and sympathatic posters. Having run a small business during the last recession, having a mortgage reaching sky high proportions and my shop landlord ramming my with a vast increase in rent it was worrying indeed. On top of this I had illness within my family and it was deeply distressing.

Please don`t think that I take any joy in peoples misfortunes when it comes to a recession because I don`t. I saw enough misery last time around and I shudder to think of that happening again. Perhaps my experience has turned me into a raving old bear, it certainly must have a bearing on it. Some of us were warning about all this many, many years ago and we were told we were wrong. Wish I had a quid for each time I was told " It`s different this time " Yea, right!

I already know of of a couple who have only had a mortgage for a few months. Already they are struggling. Knowing the details on how the mortgage was set up I was pretty horrified. A sub prime beauty if I ever saw one. I know of some who were earning amounts I could only dream of, and for a number of years this decade I have been blessed to earn over double the national average. And what do they have to show for it, diddly sqat apart from far eastern gee gaws along with many past holidays.

We have been fed a false dream, lied to and so many have gone along with it and heck, not everyone is financially savvy. Some will have thought that house prices would go ever skyward. Goodness me, it was looking that way for over 10 years.

All of us are now suffering in one form or another. Jobs, mortgage and debt repayment to say nothing of that little knot in your tummy that is called uncertainty. In my case I worry about my little business, contract based. I have seen my savings interest rate smashed. My pensions and investments are on the floor.

I will repeat what I posted some months ago. I do wish everyone here, whether I disagree with them or not the very best and hope you all come out of this relatively unscathed.

Dithering_Dad

Pobby wrote: »

Please don`t think that I take any joy in peoples misfortunes when it comes to a recession because I don`t. I saw enough misery last time around and I shudder to think of that happening again. Perhaps my experience has turned me into a raving old bear, it certainly must have a bearing on it. Some of us were warning about all this many, many years ago and we were told we were wrong. Wish I had a quid for each time I was told " It`s different this time " Yea, right!

So because you and some others (actually myself included) thought that the good times couldn't roll on forever and that the amount of personal and mortgage debt was getting out of control and that house prices were fast outstripping people's abilities to afford them, gives you the right to then look down on people who weren't 'bright' or 'savvy' enough to see this mess coming and then to mock them or tell them (with the wonderful benefit of hind sight) where they went wrong and what they should have done in the past?

Strange, because I "saw all this coming" too but instead of ranting on and pouting when "no one would believe me" and bearing a grudge about it long after I was proven right, I simply sorted out my own finances and encouraged others to do the same (i.e. like the MFi3 challenge on the MFW board). Now that the brown stuff has hit the fan, I'm simply relieved that I did as much as I could, within the means at my disposal, to protect myself and my family.

If I see posts on here where people are struggling, or indeed speak to colleagues or friends who may be struggling, I don't feel resentful that "they didn't listen to me" and I certainly don't feel resentful at one set of people because a totally different set of people "mocked my cautionary messages". I simply do my best to help them, without having to put them down or make them feel stupid.

Why is that so hard for some people on this board?

carolt

I think you've misunderstood the point of Pobby's post - he's not trying to claim he's superior because he saw it all coming - he's saying he feels deep sympathy for all those needlessly going through this, as he's been through similar himself.

And that times are hard now - for everyone. However much they saw it coming.

WTF?_2

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

The schadenfreunde community from here could post remarks about how the redundantee's should have put money away from cover themselves or should have stayed in rented accomodation or any other such poorly disguised, gleeful remarks.

Perhaps you can cheer them up by bragging how well you did on your pension fund? I seem to recall you cheering on stock prices to fall some time back as it would help your pension. Yes, plunging stock prices would really help companies keep jobs :rolleyes2

Dithering_Dad

carolt wrote: »

I think you've misunderstood the point of Pobby's post - he's not trying to claim he's superior because he saw it all coming

If that's the case, then why did he mention it at all? What relevence does it have?

I agree with his view that there are great posters on this board, that's why I used the words 'some posters' instead of 'all posters' in my original post

Dithering_Dad

!!!!!!? wrote: »

Perhaps you can cheer them up by bragging how well you did on your pension fund? I seem to recall you cheering on stock prices to fall some time back as it would help your pension. Yes, plunging stock prices would really help companies keep jobs :rolleyes2

I was providing financial information on a financial website, so it made sense to provide all the information I could, including the details of my pension pot. I also mentioned (in advance) that I thought the stock market would fall and that I had put my pension into a cash fund and I advised other to do the same. Incidently, I don't believe that being in my late 30's and having an £80k pension pot is doing that well. Most of my peers seem to have a lot more in there's and several have cast iron final salary pensions. I'm therefore hardly 'bragging' when I personally think my pension is pretty average.

When the stock market did indeed plunge, I was happy that I had listened to my misgivings and avoided losing money in the drop. I didn't make money in the fall because I wasn't shorting shares, so the fall didn't "help" my pension at all.

I seem to recall that you tried to troll that thread and we gave you short shrift, mainly because you had no interest in and no knowledge of the stockmarket. Your statement that I was cheering on a stockmarket drop to "help your pension" proves this. My pension increases when the stock market increases, not when it falls. :rolleyes: Silly boy.

I would also point out that I have been sympathetic to other posters on here (and other financial forums I contribute to) and with colleagues and friends who didn't move their money out of stocks in time. I do not post self-agrandizing posts where I say that "I saw it all coming but no one would listen" and go on to say how silly other people have been who didn;t see it all coming, unlike yourself. I simply said I thought it was going to happen, provided details of what I was doing to protect myself and advised others to do similar. If some chose not to, then that's their perogative and I certainly would not chatise them for their decisions. Our choices are half guesses at best and I could have put my money in cash, just as the market took off.

carolt

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

If that's the case, then why did he mention it at all? What relevence does it have?

I agree with his view that there are great posters on this board, that's why I used the words 'some posters' instead of 'all posters' in my original post

Obviously, Pobby will speak better for himself when he's around.

I read his post as stressing the fact that there were some lovely posters too!

Not that you deny their existence - but do seem to be focussing on the negative on this thread.

If I thought everyone on mse was so awful, I wouldn't post here.

There are some dreadful posters and some more who occasionally post awful posts, but generally I find it a helpful, informative place - and, to return from the ad hominem attacks on this thread to the original subject of this thread - am sure that a Redundancy Board will provide important and useful advice and support.

Dithering_Dad

carolt wrote: »

There are some dreadful posters and some more who occasionally post awful posts.

I agree, and said as much.

WTF?_2

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

I seem to recall that you tried to troll that thread and we gave you short shrift, mainly because you had no interest in and no knowledge of the stockmarket. Your statement that I was cheering on a stockmarket drop to "help your pension" proves this. My pension increases when the stock market increases, not when it falls. :rolleyes: Silly boy.

You cashed out when the market was higher and were cheering on falls in the hope that you could buy back in at a lower price, thus boosting your pension.

Nothing wrong with that of course, you are free to play the markets with your money as you choose - I just find it interesting that in the light of your past position on your personal pension and urging on the fall of stock values (which are a sure trigger for job losses), you yet again go on about the 'Schadenfreude community' on this group as you put it.

Presumably because the so-called 'Schadenfreude community' on this group warned others of lower prices and would quite like to pay/borrow less for a house, then it is somehow responsible for others losing their jobs? :rolleyes:

carolt

Surely this spat is irrelevant, as whilst in house prices there are 2 sides to the coin, ie one man's loss is genuinely another man's gain, (it's not schadenfreude when some cheer house prices getting cheaper - they're cheering because it means they can now afford to buy, not just because the other guy's lost some equity), there is no equivalent I can think of in redundancy.

In fact, the reverse, as not only does another man losing his job not benefit anyone else, it impacts negatively on others as they now have to pay for him through benefits and lost tax contributions, plus lost spending generally in the economy.

So I think DD's scenario, however witty, is actually highly unlikely to occur.