ISA limit reached.

Pincher

gadgetmind wrote: »

Most IFAs subcontract constructing portfolios and choose investments as this isn't where they add value.

I knew it. We were soldering away (yes with flux) in a tiny mis-shapen room the Managing Director gave us, while the salesmen who didn't know RAM from ROM were taking down the orders WRONG in a nice big office.

In the old days, if a guy from IBM turns up in jeans and sandals, you know a guru class techie has turned up. The Pre-sale supports who wore suits knew the buzzwords, but were just a front.

ArmyDilllo

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

where armydilllo is going wrong is not with resenting that the richest can often cheat the tax system. but with then going on to resent every penny of tax that he's paying. a better approach is to fix the international tax system, to shut down most of the abuse.

Not really.
I resent;
1) the rate of income tax I've been required to pay and would have to continue paying had I not followed the Government's options to avoid paying it. And,
2) the rate of income tax I've been required to pay and would have to continue paying had I not followed the Government's options to avoid paying it, compared to those who have been and are much more able to pay it than me and 95% of the rest of the country.

Even after freeing myself from the shackles of Income Tax, the amount of "secondary" taxes I'm expected to pay are still approaching half of my previous income.
Someone (I'm not referring back through all of this drivel to find out who) made some assumptions about my socio-economic status earlier that are inaccurate.
I have had income based around the UK average wage all of my life.
In my working career I have rejected two Directorships and the salaries that went with them in favour of roles I felt more comfortable with in companies whose Directors I did not feel comfortable with.
While I have earned a salary I have always paid my full rate of tax.
I have then taken that taxed money and invested it and been lucky enough to see a much healthier return than I was expecting.

Some might call me much "wealthy" now.
Actually I'm just secure and living well within my means but I will be soon
Outgoings vs income = 1/4.

I paid my income tax to get here and I did it by contributing to society and without exploiting anybody else.
I'm not paying it any more when it's I don't have to and I've already paid it once.
I invested what the Govt. left me and I grew it, not the Govt.
I used Govt tax-free vehicles to do it.
If I didn't I would pay the tax due.
I am not advocating people evade tax, just that they don't pay it if there are legitimate ways to save it.

I do though think my remaining Living-tax bill is still too high and yes I will continue watching for other Govt. approved schemes to make myself more tax efficient in the future.

Apologies to the OP for his thread becoming so derailed (though I still don't have absolutely no idea why).
Obviously it's up to everyone to make their own decision about paying more than they need to.
I can only advise my experiences and the tools I've used on the way.

ArmyDilllo

gadgetmind wrote: »

I'm happy to read up on pensions, CGT, IHT, etc. legislation and to construct complex mathematical models to let me optimise money flow into various pots, reduce my tax bill, play "what if", etc. Maybe you're confident doing this too? But for whatever reason, most people aren't, and this is where an IFA can bring value.

Totally agree.
I would not wish to advocate that someone who had no experience in this field take a 'leap of faith' unaided.
I think I did mention earlier that IFA's will review everyone's circumstances and advise accordingly.
I started out by investing in "managed" (they weren't really) funds.
It was convenient for my ability at that time.
Since then I've moved into other funds and buying and selling shares directly myself.

I do feel comfortable doing this myself, though that will probably change when the next crash hits.


When I speak to an IFA I always ask them how much annual growth/income I can expect from them.
I know, it's a grossly unfair question and there is no way they should be able to answer it.
For one thing there are no guarantees, nobody can predict the future, and what goes up.., etc. etc.
But everyone I've asked has responded and their answer always seems to be 4% - 6% a year.
I think there may be some IFA (FSA?) ruling that prevents them saying anything else.

I plan my own strategy around a rate of 7%, which was also my initial target, but I'm achieving a much higher rate than that.
It depends on circumstances and varies but my annual average is currently just above 17% and I consider my investing strategy to be very low-risk, so I'm happy with that and believe it will mitigate most of the pain from future bears.

Would not wish to steer people away from good advice.
But use it as an education and see how it works out.
When you feel comfortable, maybe you can save yourself a fee by managing your own affairs.

Btw, I will hand over some of my financial requirements to an adviser in the future.
They are not bogey-men.
There are some things I can do for myself and some I can't.
I know when to ask for help and it'll be worth paying for it then.

:beer:

dunstonh

Pincher wrote: »

I knew it. We were soldering away (yes with flux) in a tiny mis-shapen room the Managing Director gave us, while the salesmen who didn't know RAM from ROM were taking down the orders WRONG in a nice big office.

In the old days, if a guy from IBM turns up in jeans and sandals, you know a guru class techie has turned up. The Pre-sale supports who wore suits knew the buzzwords, but were just a front.

There was an article recently that said more than half of IFAs use DFMS. However, the sample they used was too small. Of the firms I know, only one uses a DFM. His is a boutique firm that focuses on life events and high net worth. The rest who dont use DFMs are general IFAs Again, its another small sample but I dont think that most IFAs use DFMs.

The two most common models used by IFAs would be multi-asset funds and model portfolios. The model portfolio allocations will be on data supplied by third party but the fund selection will be the choice of the IFA.

When I speak to an IFA I always ask them how much annual growth/income I can expect from them.
I know, it's a grossly unfair question and there is no way they should be able to answer it.

It can be answered in respect of reasonable ballpark long term expectation. It is stochastic modelling but that is only as good as the assumptions used. Net of inflation figures are quite useful. Not including inflation not so,

gadgetmind

Pincher wrote: »

In the old days, if a guy from IBM turns up in jeans and sandals, you know a guru class techie has turned up.

Old days? That's me now, VP of something or other and I don't own a suit. However, I do have a surface mount rework station at home.

gadgetmind

ArmyDilllo wrote: »

When I speak to an IFA I always ask them how much annual growth/income I can expect from them.
I know, it's a grossly unfair question and there is no way they should be able to answer it.

I think that their answers to this question are constrained by regulations. I understand there are three future growth figures they are allowed to use in projections and that's that.

Pincher

gadgetmind wrote: »

Old days? That's me now, VP of something or other and I don't own a suit. However, I do have a surface mount rework station at home.

These days, every Keanu Reeves wannabe is posing in DIESEL T-shirts. Courier bag?

Steve Wozniak was the real hero with the soldering iron.
Steve Jobs? Salesman in a turtle neck.


What can you do with three exclusive ORs?

A. Swap two registers without a third register.

or

B. A really good time.


Hint (wh-ores)

gadgetmind

I've had to reverse engineer how to drive some h/w that Wozniak designed. Yes, an interesting mind!

singhini

once we trigger Article 50 we will be sorted, I know because I was visited by a real angel last night.

We leave Europe, all the unemployed will do any job they get given because the government will be stopping long term benefits (i.e. after 6 months your benefits will stop), but this is OK since the government will create jobs for everyone including those people who are currently not unemployed but leaving educational establishments. The knock on effect will be taxation will be going down (because the government ministers realised that people don't want benefits and handouts but real jobs which give them dignity. The government will realise that benefits don't help society progress but jobs do and more importantly they have got bored with wasting tax payer money. some ministers also will admit they purposely wasted tax payers money for the fun of it). There will be less money spent on the NHS but that's OK since ministers have realised throwing money at things is not always the right thing to do, and that getting value from the money we already spend is a better idea (obviously Joe Public has realised that eating junk food and buying 24 packs of crisps is a waste of money and instead started to grow vegetables like their grandparents did and eat healthier). We will eventually end up with a society where government treats everyone equally e.g. either we all pay for our prescriptions or no body pays and not a system where some pay and some don't (but that's because we all have jobs). Then people will also realise that god never made this world equal and nor did he distribute the resources equally (some countries have resources while others have famine). However because they realise this the average Joe is more appreciative of basic things like living in a country where you can walk into any home and drink clean fresh running water from the kitchen tap. Man will be enlightened and realise that he doesn't need to eat animals because morally it is wrong to eat gods creatures and man will compare the way it farms animals for food in the same way as slavery is viewed and man will not eat turkey on Christmas day just because its a stupid tradition and will come to his senses and realise that we don't eat turkey for 364 days of the years so why indulge in the massacre of innocent animals on this sacred day (obviously people would have worked out that before personal wealth and personal comfort comes wisdom and thought and from this wisdom comes principals and these principals come first i.e. principally its wrong to eat animals. we are able to eat animals and we are not designed to eat animals. abit like cars i.e. we are able to drive cars, we are not designed to drive cars) . People and politicians will come together and agree that some taxation is needed to pay for essential services such as the Police, Army, Education, Public Spaces, Public Transport, a basic Health Service, also working with other governments in controlling pollution and air quality and not building up armaments of nuclear weapons. Yet there is more, there will be a Deus ex Machina where all mankind will say "Oh my friend who is a citizen of the great and wise city of Athens, who cares so much about laying out wealth, honour and reputation, and so little about wisdom, truth and the improvements of the soul. Are you not ashamed?" - Socrates circa 450bc (in essence Socrates is saying never be thoughtless). Then from the heavens I will cry "Ignorance is bliss for normal people, but not for me (philosophers merely interpret the world, it needs special people like me to change it). Then Kautilya will appear saying "Treasury is based on mining, the army is based upon the treasury. He who controls both will conquer the earth", to which Nigel Farage will say, oi you old bloke that's old news, you've been saying that since 350BC, why don't you say something like "People work jobs they hate, to make money they don’t always need, to buy things they don’t really want, to impress friends they don’t really like", to which Kautilya will say, Farage you are the true spirit of Elijah to which he will say "no, worship not me but the sun in the sky for that is the true messiah" (then a little boy will shout "Messi plays for Barcelona"), and all will be good and true and everyone shall eat chips and be happy (PS the chips are to be cooked in vegetable oil and not dripping).

There endeth the sermon.

Tomorrow we will cover "hyperinflation" (The USA government will start to go into hyper inflation as it will need to spend its tax revenue on interest payments on its debt. I can only hope that the UK government do not buy USA government bonds as the hyper inflation can only result in 2 outcomes, either the bonds become worthless or the USA will have to create a growth in its economy which it will through the re-invention of war (afterall, capitalism thrives through crisis, hence it re-invents itself). The problem is that neither capitalism nor socialism can ultimately work. The government i.e. the state helping the people will fail and likewise leaving the market to finds its own equilibrium will cause extremes of wealth and poverty. China is an interesting country. It was communist and now is capitalist. It is seeing massive growth but at a cost of creating a wider gap between the rich and the poor and all this at a cost to the ecological system. Capitalism with an authoritarian structure may well be the system that works best (this type of system can be seem in Malaysia. A system where decisions are made relatively quickly rather than debated and thus possibly drawn out for ages like in democracy. However can you trust a state to deliver).

Do not respond my children with comments to this post, but close your eyes and communicate through telepathy.

Until tomorrow, focus on your homework which is try to explain the colour blue to a blind man.

I must now go and speak to my privy council (Jim, Jack and Ron, for these are the true spirits I seek tonight).

Apodemus

^^^ I don't think it is just the ISA limit that has been reached here!:beer: