Are the eternal optimists on here still feeling optimistic?

wotsthat

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Does cheap = good value though. Sometimes things become cheap for good reason. The art is to reason out the value.

I'm hoping this dip will scare a few yield hunters away so I can mop up some cheap dividends. They'll be back when the markets start rising again.

Unless this is a slump from which there is no return it'll be fine.

System

Whatever happens I imagine the "eternal optimists" will do what they did last time and find a way of making the best of the situation, while the doomorons will do what they did last time and sit with their thumbs up their bum complaining that it isn't fair.

wotsthat

I loved the recession. In 2008 I was looking at state retirement age but, six years later, 55 is a real possibility.

The recovery doesn't seem to have floated the doom mongers boats. If they don't like it I'm more than happy to go back to where we were. Cheap houses, cheap yield, free mortgages, secure job, 30 years of more than inflationary pay rises.

Bring it on!

chucknorris

wotsthat wrote: »

I loved the recession. In 2008 I was looking at state retirement age but, six years later, 55 is a real possibility.

The recovery doesn't seem to have floated the doom mongers boats. If they don't like it I'm more than happy to go back to where we were. Cheap houses, cheap yield, free mortgages, secure job, 30 years of more than inflationary pay rises.

Bring it on!

I messed up badly in the recession, I only invested about £20-25k in shares at or near the bottom and I didn't buy any houses. The one thing that I really benefitted from was the ultra low base rate, but obviously I can't take any credit for that.


We were looking to buy 1 or 2 houses, but we were a bit too fussy about what we wanted and ended up missing out when prices surged. I've no excuses over not investing in shares, in fact I really don't know why I didn't invest 10 times what I actually did.

padington

I would love house prices to slowly and reliably sink for a sustained period so I could sell high and buy low, I would love to go travelling without having to worry about renting my place out.

I can't see it happening though, not in London anyway.

shortchanged_2

wotsthat wrote: »

I loved the recession. In 2008 I was looking at state retirement age but, six years later, 55 is a real possibility.

The recovery doesn't seem to have floated the doom mongers boats. If they don't like it I'm more than happy to go back to where we were. Cheap houses, cheap yield, free mortgages, secure job, 30 years of more than inflationary pay rises.

Bring it on!

Maybe because the recovery isn't all it was made out to be. The fact that we continue to have rock bottom interest rates proves this. There is no real recovery.
This government have pinned their hopes on propping up the housing market to give the illusion of an improving economy which of course does give some people the feel good factor as is evident on here. I suppose if house prices did start to fall even the people who pin their hopes on rising prices would also be bricking it.
This unfortunately is the UK's problem, it's economy is far too dependent on the housing market.

kabayiri

It should be obvious that how optimistic you feel depends on your own personal circumstances.

There are so many variations; there can't be one valid answer.

I take the view that you have to look for opportunities elsewhere. We are so fortunate in the UK that we have an extended contact network throughout the world.

Just look at how many people have relatives or friends in Canada or Australia or the far East. Even Europe for that matter.

I'll explore work or property or investment opportunity wherever I can find it. Just don't rely on our government to fix our problems. They are pretty limited when it comes down to it.

MFW_ASAP

chucknorris wrote: »

I messed up badly in the recession, I only invested about £20-25k in shares at or near the bottom and I didn't buy any houses. The one thing that I really benefitted from was the ultra low base rate, but obviously I can't take any credit for that.

At the start of the recession, I said on here that it was a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' and that I was going to make the most of it. I had about £70k in my SIPP which I have now grown to £125k and we bought a 5 bed farmhouse With a 5x salary mortgage. Since then we have used cheap credit to pay for the conversion of an outbuilding into a 1 bed apartment and we have had new, high performance windows and a 'warm' roof fitted (our energy bills go down year on year as we improve our thermal envelope).

We are now moving back into 'recession mode', just as we did in 2007. Our pensions are back in cash, we are building up our savings and we will be paying down debt. Another recession will be an opportunity for us to buy cheaper shares and to continue to enjoy cheap credit.

Once we are finally out of this global downturn we will have an energy efficient dream house with a small mortgage and a comfortable retirement income. Better than I could ever have hoped for before the GFC.

kabayiri

benb76 wrote: »

I'm not a doom monger, but am a realist and accept the the economy can go down every now and then. However, I'm a fully functioning adult, who is responsible for my own choices and making sure that I earn as much as possible.

I have an option of either taking on as much work as possible when times are good and making hay while the sun shines, or moaning about my bad luck in an Internet forum 8 hours a day and then blaming someone else - the government, bankers, landlords, boomers etc. - when I'm struggling to find a new contract, have been sacked or got no pay rise (probably because I spend the entire working day moaning about house prices and the economy on a Internet forum).

The internet forum is just the modern version of the garden fence. A place to vent off steam; exercise your frustrations.

It's obviously something people take satisfaction from; just like how they like to criticise that weird girl on X factor last night.

In America they have therapists; here we moan! Different strokes....

chucknorris

MFW_ASAP wrote: »

At the start of the recession, I said on here that it was a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' and that I was going to make the most of it.

It wasn't a once in a lifetime opportunity, there was an equally good one in the early 90's (although you might have been too young to take advantage) and I'm confident that there will be another one around the mid to late 20's. It was the 90's recession that I made the most of. To make the most of the next one I will need to be out of property, which more or less suits my age anyway, as I think I'll be in my late 60's or even 70's when the next recession arrives.