Labour isn't working - Thread 13

[TheNuthatch]

A chat thread for those who don't like this Labour government.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5423193-labour-isnt-working-thread-12?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Friends son is doing PPE really clever lad. He's stayed friends on Instagram. He now wears the strangest clothes. Think leather and chains, jewellery, full makeup, everything skin tight. He's always at night clubs, bars, cafes. Last minute long weekends abroad with a group of students. I do wonder how much time he has for study.

Yes she is. There's a pattern forming 😂

Cambridge looks far more attractive reading these.

DD is studying Fine Art.
Thankfully, she still dresses normally. Some of her friends though 🤯🤯.
Its quite something 😂

It is precisely what I did - I was not prepared to take the risk.

In addition, if your DH’s fund is currently overweight equities, it might be prudent to reduce some of the exposure there - particularly US stocks. Valuations are looking pretty stretched, and distributions are coming under pressure in some sectors. Just my personal view, of course - not wishing to stray out of my lane.

The little shit looks like he needs a square meal - not sure he would be quite so tough in the real world.

That's awful...allotments take years of careful nurturing...even if you could get new plots (doubtful) you couldn't compensate for the effort and time 😢

@Nolletimiere lots of areas are sounding doom and crash signals .
I hope it doesn't happen obviously because again we will be sabotaged and the situation made worse by our own government !

It's the impervious arrogance of that Oxford union lad and Owen Jones ,reeves and Blair ( was he Oxford ) that gets me
Intelligent thinkers are supposed to always be learning which is why I never thought it was a bad thing actually that boris did his famous pro and con of Brexit

Which famous philosopher said " all I know is that I know nothing ".

I feel for you...absolutely would not want to be making pension decisions within the next couple of years 😞

I know we're generally okay with diversions on this thread and I can't say this anywhere else without getting jumped on...so..

I'm not a big fan of pensions. I freely admit I struggle to keep up with what's going on with them. I have a private pension because I consolidated my employer ones when I started to work for myself

I haven't worried too much about topping it up because I feel like I'm handing over money which could be invested differently, and I'm handing it over to a company who reserves the right to change the rules all the time - and is also forced to change the rules by government.

So I don't see it as a priority.

When I was unwell for a while and not working, one person actually asked me if I was still paying NI contributions.

I was baffled. Not least because I don't think a state pension will exist by the time I get there.

I think people who have public sector pensions, or work with private companies who will give you a huge chunk of cash, all the real target for pension companies. I understand why those people think pensions are really important

But I'm not convinced myself that they're that important. Am I being daft?

I know my finances don't fit with a lot of people because I don't spend a lot of money, don't have kids and have basically been saving for retirement since I was about 25. Possibly earlier!

I don't factor in any possible inheritance from mum because I wouldn't be surprised if whatever government takes it away. So I wonder if I'm missing something here.

But whenever I do estimates, it just doesn't seem like the best way to invest for me.

Never detested a government as much as this shower and I’ve seen a few.

Hopefully they will be decimated and never ever seen again…meanwhile they are causing carnage and trying to destroy hard working people at every turn.

You'd struggle to grow a pot for retirement in savings and investments as big outside of a pension structure j would have thought 🤔 but kudos if you have.

If you have a workplace that contributes for you that's obviously a total win because it's free money. Some will also match your contributions.

But even assuming all contributions are coming from you only...you can invest pre-tax, you don't pay tax on the interest, and you can withdraw a tax free lump sum on maturity. My workplace pensions have averaged about 8-9% returns over the last 15yrs.

If you're managing to better that tax-free compounding interest using post-tax investments then hats off to you!

Obviously Labour may come up with all kinds of fuckwittery to negate many of these tax efficiencies but sounds like you're talking about your views historically prior to the upcoming budget?

Honestly I am baffled by pensions too!
DH is obsessed and panicking that being made redundant at 47 with a pension pot of 400K is a disaster......my pension pot at 47 is 50K. So we represent both ends of the spectrum.

It is only in last 10 years that I've been able to afford to pay into a pension. They baffle me and due to my ADHD money is a trigger for me so I avoid it.

@OnlyOneAdda you're getting 8 to 9% from your pension? That's amazing.

Basically, I don't have much in what most people would consider to be the "retirement pot". I'm obviously not going to talk extensively about my finances here but I might need to get some pension advice.

I don't know what's changed in the last ten years.

Oh okay, I had misunderstood your post - I thought you were saying you didn't want to hand over money to a pension to manage for you and were choosing to invest yourself.

Yes - 4 x workplace pensions (some quite small and been meaning to amalgamate for ages...) and they've all behaved very similarly over time, not from my actively selecting investments - just from a default lifestyle fund in each case. I think that's pretty typical returns - at least based on small sample size of friends and colleagues I've discussed it with.

So you haven't got a private pension, you don't expect there to be a state pension by the time you get there, and you haven't got a diff retirement strategy to speak of...? How are you proposing to fund retirement then?! Maybe you're very young so don't need to worry about these things yet 😂 (I am 42)

Anyways...this is a bit of a tangent so let me bring it back to topic! Bet those arseholes Labour are going to fuck private pensions in November all the while ploughing ooodles of cash into public sector pensions that we already can't afford to fund 🤬

Wow lurking certainly opens your eyes!

Have you considered speaking to an IFA? Sounds like you would benefit from some professional advice if you have some savings sitting around that could be put to better use.

I'm similar to twisty (I'm also 47) in that I'd rather stuff it under the mattress, but luckily my dh is far more sensible in that regard.

Do I want to know where you've been lurking 😂

I was going to ask the same!😂😂

🤣🤣

🤣🤣

Well all's fair......

Oh God 🫣

It was an eye opener for sure

The China Spy question - collapsed court case. One thing is for sure - Starmer is as bent as a boomerang, and cannot be trusted. As KB said ‘Badenoch questioned what the point was of having a lawyer as a leader who “can’t even get the law right on a matter of national security.” ‘ 😂🙈

Is this serious enough to be his final undoing? Let’s see what cones out in the wash in the next few days.

‘The criminal case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, who were accused of spying for Beijing, fell apart last month after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the government provided insufficient evidence proving China was a threat to national security. Both men denied the charges, while Labour and the Tories had a predictable back-and-forth about who held responsibility.’

https://www.politico.eu/article/pmqs-keir-starmer-china-spy-case/