My Interest rate gamble pays off again!

chucknorris

lisyloo wrote: »

Not necessarily.
Not everyone wants to stay in one place.
My ideal lifestyle would be quite nomadic.
And not everyone wants the hassle of maintaining a luxury place. I have a hot tub and you are meant to test and maintain the chemical balance every single day. Not so much fun when it's pouring with rain or icy outside.

People are different and I never became a landlord because I see the whole maintenance thing as a massive hassle (I did grow up in an age where girls werent taught any practical skills). I have a newish house and so the maintenance is minimal but we haven't decorated for 14 years becuase I'd rather spend the money on a diving holiday.
The same things don't appeal to everyone.

Read my edit, I would love to travel but can't, my dog is too important to me. Although we will be driving down to spend the winters in Spain and the Algarve, as I can take my dog with me. We are getting him his pet passport this winter, and going to Spain, only for 4 weeks as I am still working. If I really like it, I will reluctantly retire, so that I can spend about 4 months down there.

I think that you are overlooking the situation I cast, which was where you can afford EVERYTHING and still have money left over, that would obviously include diving holidays and redecoration (and a load of other things too, including a luxurious house). There isn't any point in being the richest man in the graveyard (although I now need to get a move on).

lisyloo

Id like to think I'd be more interested in helping some orphans/homeless.

chucknorris

lisyloo wrote: »

Id like to think I'd be more interested in helping some orphans/homeless.

You could do that now, you could sell your house and buy a cheaper one, and donate the equity. I regularly donate by direct debit to both the 'last chance rescue centre' (who I used to do voluntary work for about one day per week before I went back to work) and the Dog's Trust. You might respond by saying that your house is what you want, my response to that would be that mine is not, when my wife and I got married we held off buying the type of house that we wanted so her mother could live in my wife's house.

All I am saying is that after my mother in law died who lived in my wife's house ever since we married 11 years ago, and that house is now sold, we are now in the position to sell my house and buy the one together that we would have liked 11 years ago, but that would have meant my mother in law having to compromise her lifestyle. That was the plan when we got married, and it is still the plan today.

You are of course correct, we could just stay in a house that we are not that happy in and give the excess to orphans, but then, you could also give your diving holiday money to orphans too.

lisyloo

You are absolutely not criticised by me for wanting to spend your money on whatever you want.
No-one should judge anyone else for their spending habits.

I'm just confused about your assertion that everyone MUST want a luxury property - you're chatting with a minimalist.
An alternate viewpoint is why would I tie myself down with hassles and responsibilities when I can afford every night in a luxury hotel and not even having to make the bed? Yes you could employ staff to look after the home but someone needs to manage the staff. I've had domestic help and we've had keys lost/stolen numerous times and had to get the locks changed. I now just do the cleaning myself.

its absolutely fine to want different things, but I can see reasons why some people would see property, dog and even a wife as a tie and would prefer a different life. Surely those people are enetitled to their choices too?

chucknorris

lisyloo wrote: »

I'm just confused about your assertion that everyone MUST want a luxury property - you're chatting with a minimalist.

I think that you might be misinterpreting what I mean by a 'luxury property', a luxury property to me, is one with a new(ish) kitchen and bathroom (both are currently over 20 years old in our house), and a lounge large enough for two large sofas, and an extra downstairs room that we could use for a gym, also (OK this might seem excessive to some) preferably backing onto (means my dog can be off lead and away from traffic) green land (but we would settle for being quite close) where I can go cycling, jogging and walking. That is what we want, and we would prefer it near Ashtead Common, as it is also near the train station (my wife wants to regularly visit her father in London).

Private_Church

chucknorris wrote: »

my alternative is leave it in other assets and give it to the Dog's Trust. It makes more sense to me to live in a nicer house, and leave that to the Dog's Trust, that way I would have enjoyed living in a better house.

I won't give a penny to The Dogs Trust after being signed up a few years ago to donate monthly via Direct Debit . We then found out they employed private companies to fundraise for them, pay them a £million and they sent out chuggers to sign naive people up to donate.

Then it turns out that the Dogs Trust paid between £120-180 to these companies for each memebr of the public they get signed up but no one tells the public they will be contributing monthly for up to 18 months before a single penny gets to help the dogs. There was a Dogs Trust representative on the forum a few years ago who justified the practice by saying they need to employ these companies because other charities do the same and they need to compete.

Personlly I will stick to donating monthly to small local charities including a Dog re-homing charity and wouldn't give The Dog Trust a penny. Like most large Charities they pay some staff at the top stupid money for doing a job many would do for free. When I looked a few years ago at their accounts they were paying 5 members of staff £120k a year and thats another reason why I donate locally to small charities.

With larger Charities there is far too much business going on and not enough Charity work.

re: Travelling the world , have you got any family/trusted friends that could look after your dog for say 3 week stints every couple of years?. We went to Borneo a few years ago and hope to go to Vientnam and Thailand for a few weeks in a couple of years time and have family who will look after our 2 Border Terriers.

chucknorris

Private_Church wrote: »

I won't give a penny to The Dogs Trust after being signed up a few years ago to donate monthly via Direct Debit . We then found out they employed private companies to fundraise for them, pay them a £million and they sent out chuggers to sign naive people up to donate.

Then it turns out that the Dogs Trust paid between £120-180 to these companies for each memebr of the public they get signed up but no one tells the public they will be contributing monthly for up to 18 months before a single penny gets to help the dogs. There was a Dogs Trust representative on the forum a few years ago who justified the practice by saying they need to employ these companies because other charities do the same and they need to compete.

Personlly I will stick to donating monthly to small local charities including a Dog re-homing charity and wouldn't give The Dog Trust a penny. Like most large Charities they pay some staff at the top stupid money for doing a job many would do for free. When I looked a few years ago at their accounts they were paying 5 members of staff £120k a year and thats another reason why I donate locally to small charities.

With larger Charities there is far too much business going on and not enough Charity work.

The Dog's Trust never puts a healthy dog to sleep (unlike some others), and the last chance rescue centre makes a special effort to rescue dogs due to be put to sleep at council pounds. I'll support them until I die, and they will also be left something in my will too (I must get around to organising my will).

Thrugelmir

chucknorris wrote: »

That seems a very strange thing to say, if you won the lottery (or similar) would you not upsize?

What's similar to the lottery? Not that I do the lottery. Given the choice I own shares in it. As that's the only guaranteed return.

Spent 20 years living in a large detached property in a rural area. As one gets older we have found that material things become far less important and location instead takes its place. We've a property that has more space than we actually use. Substantial garden which was a buying criteria. In quiet town backwater location. Which means we can walk everywhere. Cinema, restaurants, main line railway station, doctors etc etc. Had enough years of driving 11 miles to the nearest supermarket!

economic

im 34 and own a modest flat in a nice area of london (highgate). i dont plan on having family and even if i had a few million i wouldnt want to move (i rather invest the millions for better quality of life). if i had much more and could comfortably buy a bigger place with cash so it doesnt effect my living standard then i would do so.

its all about balance. im clearly unusual in that i have never owned a car and i dont spend on material items for my age, but i rather that money go towards holidays and my financial freedom.

chucknorris

Thrugelmir wrote: »

What's similar to the lottery? Not that I do the lottery. Given the choice I own shares in it. As that's the only guaranteed return.

Spent 20 years living in a large property in a rural area. As one gets older we have found that material things become far less important. We've a property that has more space than we actually use. Substantial garden which was a buying criteria. In quiet town backwater location. Which means we can walk everywhere. Cinema, restaurants, main line railway station, doctors etc etc. Had enough years of driving 11 miles to the nearest supermarket!

Similar to the lottery? Anything that produces a large windfall, off the top of my head:

- An unexpected huge inheritance
- A rare find in the garage/attic/loft (Del boys nautical watch or rare oil painting etc)
- A racehorse accumulator (£1m max payout at Ladbrokes)
- The £1m premium bond prize
- Large pools win

You have just described what I would call a luxury property, I can only guess that you don't have a nice bathroom and kitchen, and make a point of having awful ones. Otherwise I have some bad news for you, you are already living in a luxury property.