u/fotfddtodairsizr

I’m doing some financial planning for next year and based on my calculations (and my extreme budgeting) I’ll be able to max out my stocks and shares isa, contribute 10K to my pension annually including salary sacrifice tax relief and employer contributions. And I’ll be able to put 20K in my GIA annually.

Total invested will be 50K in 2027 and I guess I could maintain this investment rate of 50K annually for a few years until I settle down and have children.

I am a single person, no children (yet!) and I will have a lodger (over £1000 a month in profit after tax and higher bills). My mortgage and bills and lifestyle will total £3300 a month. But this is possible by living quite frugally and not socialising much (which I am mostly content with).

Other HENRYS, where do you draw the line between quality of life vs need to grow investments?

Are you guys as aggressive as me when it comes to investing? Are you following other movements such as FIRE?

Edit: not sure if it is unclear in my post but I am maxing out my S&S ISA already.

The flat is lovely and spacious, but overpriced by around 100K in this current market imo.

Any thoughts and comments?

This has been an experience I’ve had since I was about 18.

I’ve been told that I’m conventionally attractive and it is also clear in my experiences that it is true. I experience special treatment sometimes because of this but I’ve realised that amongst white people or in non black environments I don’t experience pretty privilege much.

When it comes to dating my experiences; early dates with black guys is them being very vocal about their attraction to me whereas that’s not the case when I’ve dated white guys, though obviously there was a level of attraction to be on the date in the first place, but it seems the level of attraction is much more mellow.

I promise I’m not overstating my looks, I am very attractive but for some reason it doesn’t translate *as much* across races in professional or casual environments. I wanted to post to see if anyone has experienced this as well or if there are any interesting articles to read on the topic.

I don’t believe pretty privilege should exist and I believe in meritocracy, so I’m not necessarily complaining, just processing some of my experiences and generally curious about the topic.

Tv shows and movies often have a lot of diversity and interracial relationships. I wonder what racists feel like when watching these shows.

For example I’m currently watching The Great North and the son has a black fiancé.
House of dragon has black Velaryons.

Hi,
I’m just doing some financial planning for this new tax year.

I expect to max out my stocks and shares ISA and I’ll a 6 month emergency fund in a high yield savings account.

After this I will have around 5K available to invest in a GIA or potentially government bonds (though I have never invested in government bonds and would have to figure out how to go about it).

I’m also considering premium bonds as it’s like a fun game to see what you get each month though I know it is a low return, at least it’s easy access (though I don’t need that money to be easy to access as I’ll have my emergency fund for that).

Any suggestions? Would you recommend something other than what has been mentioned above?

I read that the north facing flats will have an obstruction when eventual works are completed and I read that the south facing flats are difficult to live in due to the smell of smoke coming from a downstairs restaurant?

I also read that is is smoke friendly so you can smell smoke through the walls and also that the smell from the bin room affects the flats.

Is this all true? Any further info you can share?

I saw a flat for sale in the building and I’m considering viewing it but just trying to figure out if the building is actually good to live in.

Thanks!

Hi, I’m a bit of a picky eater and I’m somewhat of a bad cook, though I’m learning and improving.

In an effort to avoid slipping back into old habits of ordering constantly on Deliveroo, I decided to really focus on my food shop and cooking tasty meals.

This is going well but the issue is I’m spending like £400 a month which includes ingredients for 3 meals a day plus a snack or two a day.

Some meals are expensive like duck or steak but some meals are cheap like sausage and mash, pasta tuna bake, etc.

I’m not overweight, I’m actually on the skinny side and I’m a short woman who doesn’t have a majorly active lifestyle so I don’t know why I spend so much on food.

I am a bit of a picky eater so I can’t eat certain things. I also have intolerances to almost fruits so they can’t be my snacks unfortunately.

Please give me advice and help.
I see some people spend £100-200 a month so I must be doing something wrong.

I have to do online food delivery as I don’t drive. I usually use Ocado but I honestly get very cheap items and filter by cost per unit.

Hi all,
I’m in a position to buy a flat or a house in my chosen borough.
Can you help me decide which one is best for me?

Flat:
Over 1000sqf
Share of freehold
£65 a month service charge (barely any increases for 5 years)
2 bed 2 bath
Good area
Top floor
My dream property
It has a reserve/sinking fund
I would probably stay here for 5-7 years.
Potentially harder to sell as it’s a similar price to small 2 bed houses that need a little bit of work.

I’m a solo female buyer so living alone in a flat would be fun and comfortable and dreamy. I would feel safe and more secure than a house and I’d be shielded from pests like mice which I understand are common in london.
The typical issues with flats such as leasehold concerns or service charges don’t really exist for my property. It’s also a small development so it would be easy to get right to manage if we wanted it.

House:
800sqf
3 bed (one box room)
1 bath (I’d need to add an Ensuite)
Assume survey comes back with no issues
HUGE garden for my dog!!
Due to the number of rooms it’ll suit me for 7-10 years easily.
Likely easier to sell and will increase in value over the next decade.

Feels overwhelming and like too much to handle myself.
Any repairs on me alone.
Living alone as a woman in a house feels vulnerable.
Property at higher risk of break in compared to flat.
Risk of rodents and pests is high
(I’m a bit traumatised as every house I have lived in in london has had a rodent problem - varying degrees of severity), whereas every flat I have lived in, even on a low floor has never had this issue.

Mice are a problem all over london and genuinely I’d be terrified if they were in my house and I had to deal with it. At least when I’m married and have a partner in the house there is a level of help that will be there.

Is it silly that this is taking up so much of my thought process? Is my concern excessive? Any stories or advice?

Should I pick the flat or house at this stage of my life?

PS - please don’t comment on cleanliness. I am a clean freak. That is not the problem.

Edit - I have rented mainly in flats with my dog and she obviously has a better quality of life when we have had access to a garden. But living in a flat has also been nice with no real issues for my dog.

I updated my prices on the app a few weeks ago, and it shows on the booking page, but when people actually book I get paid my old rates! It even shows my old rates in the details section of the booking.

Anyone else having this glitch?

I’m trying to gauge what people’s maximum is and why, so I can make informed decisions.

I dog sit as a hobby infrequently but I recently got multiple bookings for the same dates and not sure how to proceed. All dogs are friendly with other dogs and by coincidence already know each other as they were boarded together before.

I’m planning on buying soon and I realise this whole process has made me extremely anxious and I’m eager to get everything right.

One thing that makes me uncomfortable is that fact that between exchange and completion you are legally bound to buy the property but don’t officially have it until completion.

I have an irrational fear that my mortgage offer will be pulled during that small window. My situation is unique as I’m going for a special mortgage product that gives me higher multiples than normal. As a result, I only have 1 mortgage product available if I buy on the top end of my budget. So if my lender pulls out after exchange, I’d be royally screwed.

(Please don’t advise me on this, I will get a 5 year term and make substantial overpayments. I also expect my salary to increase in those 5 years so it should be easy to remortgage with another lender. Also the lender I’m going with is a massive bank so they’ll likely have competitive rates and lots of product options in 5 years anyway).

Because of this, I want to insist on same day exchange and completion just to completely remove that risk.

I’m sure it’s a bit extra on my part but it would make me feel most comfortable so I want to insist on this during conveyancing.

The property I have my eye on is chain free so I think they’ll be fine with it, I’m more concerned about if conveyancers actually execute it well/comfortably without a hitch.

My question is:

Has anyone done same day exchange and completion as a seller or a buyer? How was it? What issues typically arrive? Can conveyancers do it comfortably or is is a massive issue?

Is there anything I need to be aware of?