Preparedness for when

Frugalsod

Need that seat upgrade on a flight? It helps if you are a Koala.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-32283439

boultdj

Frugalsod wrote: »

I think it all depends on your local circumstances. I do not live particularly close to the countryside and what is close is open meadow, with few hedgerows. Much of what might be edible will be in peoples gardens or allotments and "harvesting" those would be theft. If you have such resources locally it makes plenty of sense to make a note of its locations and abundance. What would be interesting to note is how much is harvested during a crisis. You might find that you will have a lot of competition for it or none at all.

2 of the trees I found are in the town centre, council owned public walk way's, picked some pear's last year, the people on the fag break straight facing the tree asked me what were they, and when told said how can you, it's not come from a shop!


The apple tree was a different matter, got people asking me what I was doing, so told them, some joined in picking some for themself's and a elderly gentleman walking past told us his wife alway's use to get them off that tree and the apple's make a nice pie, said it was a shame he had arthuritus in his hands other wise he would get some to take home as his wife was now in a wheelchair, so the younger men picked some for him and I found a spare carrier bag out for him, we all had a nice time picking,talking and swapping recipe's.

VJsmum

Hello all

re the pension lump sum thing - I have made no secret that we used a loophole to liberate a pension of OH's when he turned 50. At that point he had nearly 30 years into a public sector pension and, apart from a tiny personal pension of mine, we had no other pension provision - it had all gone into that one. with the lump sum, we bought a student buy to let and have continued to invest the income from that and the monthly pension (both of which are taxed) to invest in another buy to let.

Friends and family seem to think we are loaded but can't see it is just us taking our own decisions about our pension, rather than leaving it where it was. After taking it out, we discovered that we would never have got any more from it - even if we'd left it in the pension fund for 10 or more years!

Mind you - at the moment there are no students going into our first BTL for next year, and we are going to have to spend fairly heavily to entice someone in so it isn't just sitting and watching the money roll in (not cause we've let it go, but because students are much fussier than in my day - they want a plasma tv, a new bathroom, and the kitchen redone. there's nothing wrong with any of the existing stuff other than it's a bit basic).

moneyistooshorttomention

VJs Mum

I "retired" at age 50 from a private firm I had worked for rather briefly at one point and took the miniscule pension I had accumulated with them in a lump sum at that time. Not even sure if that's still possible now...

If I had waited until my retirement age and taken it in instalments then it would have been an absolutely negligible amount paid to me each month. Whereas, taking it at that point as a lump sum meant I had a 4 figure amount of money that I could actually do something with iyswim (not very much into 4 figures - but still.....).

The firm had proven untrustworthy anyway, as there were some years during which they weren't compelled by law to give an inflation rise on it each year - so they didn't do so:eek: - and I had lost money correspondingly each of those years basically. There was some other thing that seemed possible/likely in the future (cant recall what....).

I took a bit of a gamble, as I recall, on taking that money then and have taken another pension gamble subsequently in a different scheme of a different nature. I based my decisions on what the law would be - rather than what the law was/showed any sign of ever being at that time.

It all worked out as per plan. The law changed as envisaged too.

Very hazy on the details all these years later...but it was the right decision to take in the event based on the way things have been between then and now.

I honestly couldn't say what I think about this present idea.

EDIT: I know what you mean by students expectations. During the time I took them in as lodgers I could see the standards they expected were rising and had gone higher than I actually had myself.

thriftwizard

Blimey, you must have a different breed of students up there - if up there is where you are! DS3's second house had rising damp, dripping damp, fizzing light fittings, peeling wallpaper, broken fridges, saggy sofas & not a TV in sight! The third wasn't so bad; at least it was dry, but certainly no luxuries; one bathroom between 6 of them, and a second loo downstairs.

jk0

It always tickles me with tenants who claim to have very high standards when they move in, how low they actually turn out to be when they have moved out.

One, (a Swiss banker) told my agent he wanted a lot of furniture installed which I refused. When he moved in, he complained about the height of the grass, and was forever laying down the law to my agents and tradesmen.

When he moved out, the garden hadn't been weeded for about a year, and the carpets had moth holes.

jk0

This is another article by Karl Denninger about America that I think has parallels here in the UK:

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=230012

There are plenty of people who can do these jobs in the US; the simple fact of the matter is that this entire program is simply one of wage suppression. Were it to be eliminated wages for those "specialized" and "skilled" positions would rise until demand met supply.

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

This is another article by Karl Denninger about America that I think has parallels here in the UK:

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=230012

In some sectors the locals do not want the jobs that are offered especially at the rate of pay offered. This would mainly be the hotel and agricultural sectors. That applies in the US as well.

One factor that is causing problems here is that with higher student debts and the ridiculous nature of housing prices for buyers and renters it acts as a higher tax on all concerned and so you know that on a set wage so much will be going on high rents and student debts that there is little else for discretionary spending which is why deflation is now almost on us. It irritates me when you here commentators quoting on the BBC news or another channel that deflation causes people to hold off and wait for better prices.

What they and nearly the vast majority of economists are missing is that deflation is a signal from the public that they do not have the money to go out and buy stuff. In the USA the retail sales have fallen for three months running. What the commentators will say is that they are waiting for better prices. When in reality is that the prices need to fall to a level that the public can now afford. Deflation in TV's and computers has been the norm for decades but have we stopped buying TV's and computers? No we usually rush out and get the best TV we can when we can and when we need one.

VJsmum

thriftwizard wrote: »

Blimey, you must have a different breed of students up there - if up there is where you are! DS3's second house had rising damp, dripping damp, fizzing light fittings, peeling wallpaper, broken fridges, saggy sofas & not a TV in sight! The third wasn't so bad; at least it was dry, but certainly no luxuries; one bathroom between 6 of them, and a second loo downstairs.

Isn't everywhere "up there" from you

Sounds a bit like houses I had as a student, but it's rather differnt there - and there is a lot of competition for the properties. We are disadvantaged by only having four bedrooms, many look for 6 or more - even though it's well located.

We should be able to let it on a room by room basis,so aren't too worried but didn't wantto have to do the extra work In what is, in fact, a decent house. But so be it.

Frugalsod

First read this.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-12/bundesbank-warns-german-banks-expect-least-50-losses-austrian-black-swan

especially the last paragraph, and then wonder how accurate the list for the safest banks is?