Not how much you bought it for what you reckon it’s worth today

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The clock is ticking and I can’t decide… what would you do?

In England.
Being made redundant from a Big 4 firm. The offer in the SA is statutory plus 20%.

I would sign however, they haven’t met their legal obligations to offer or even discuss suitable alternative roles that I could do. There was an open role, almost identical to mine - so as close as suitable gets. They didn’t even interview me for it.

There is also some slightly more debatable stuff about how they have pooled me and others, and misrepresented our actual role activity.

A solicitor I spoke to said you can try and negotiate but that my particular firm almost certainly won’t budge. In which case I’d have to sign anyway or go to the tribunal. I could use my insurance, as this is very expensive - and I waive the 20% bump which is like £8k

I’m posting this half as a way of getting thoughts down and half to see if people have gone through similar and can relate, because I haven’t found anybody who has gone through something similar.

We often talk on here about how you can’t PAYE yourself to wealth. Well, I had been contracting for several years on good money, but the market was slowing down and my highest paid contract was ending with no prospects of a replacement, so I decided to bite the bullet and set up a business.

I set up a company because I had an idea, and I believed it was a good one. I built a product that worked and got good feedback. But I struggled with selling because I spent what I had building the company, and had little money to market.

It did however make waves in the industry, so I had a few prospects of investment but one after the other they didn't work out for one reason or another. I was still burning through finances because I wasn’t making money. It got almost comical at how many deals fell through and why. Finally, as I was getting ready to give up, a very well-funded giant in the field approached regarding an acquisition.

I then spent months going back and forth and how the acquisition would look, answering their calls morning, noon and night about intricacies of agreements. We had an NDA and non-circumvent, and without giving too much info in spite of how it may sound it really wouldn't have been possible in any way for them to "copy" me (think my having exclusivity in suppliers, IP, etc). The offer they made in the end was insulting, not even close to recouping my initial investment, and required me to continue to work for them indefinitely, basically for free. Of course that was a starting point in a negotiation, but they said not to expect much more. I declined. They tried to come crawling back a few times but without more money. Eventually they decided they weren't interested. They aren't active in the space at all any longer almost a year later, so I know they haven't copied me or stolen anything.

Even though I still constantly had interest from other businesses about acquisition it never, ever amounted to actual commitment. So this year I stopped selling, informed the suppliers and closed that chapter entirely.

In a pivot to try to make any money I could, I had also started consulting in the same field. It's now going decently well and I'm slowly on my way to recouping my initial investment. That sounds good, and on paper I guess it's an impressive story. But in my head it's also like I've wasted two years without a salary and have much less money than I started with, even if future prospects are OK. I started the company to become rich, to be completely frank about it. I wouldn't have started it if I didn't think it could happen. And I came close. And that feels like a failure.

I try to keep positive about the whole thing. I don’t really regret trying. But I feel guilt from spending so much money. I have a loving, supportive spouse and being a consultant now means I don’t need to work for someone else. But I need to constantly battle to keep money coming in. 

I haven’t really found people in the outside world who can relate to this feeling, since I’m earning OK money now. But it was a stressful and disappointing road to get there. 

37F, £330k mortgage (4.18% tracker), no kids.

I’m a recent and quite sudden HENRY on the lower end and I want to start securing my future, and am now very grateful to have a £300k inheritance to decide what to do with. I’m a creative freelancer so whilst I’m established, it’s not the most secure pathway and I don’t want to lock everything away in property and pension. I have a good appetite for risk and do want to maximise this opportunity. Should I:

Pay £100k off mortgage, £100k into a pension, £100k into a more high risk GIA, whilst maxing out a s&s ISA yearly out of my take-home and additionally overpaying mortgage where I can

or

£150k into a pension and £150k into a more high risk GIA, keeping the mortgage as is? Plus max out my s&s ISA and overpay the mortgage out of my take-home as well where I can. I can afford my mortgage fine but it’s a decent chunk of my monthly take-home and reducing it is somewhat appealing from a security sense (probably as much psychological as practical). I plan to start paying into my pension regularly from now on top of this whatever happens.

One factor is that I expect an inheritance from my dad in my 50s or so that would probably be a comfortable but not lavish amount to retire on. However, I don’t want to bet on this too heavily as you never know what could happen (what if he has to go into care? etc). But it’s maybe a factor in not just sticking the whole £300k in a sensible pension right now and using some of it to grow more.

Any thoughts? Should I focus on maximising investments right now so they have maximum time to compound or would it be sensible to also knock a chunk off my mortgage and spread everything evenly? Some other plan? £200k high risk GIA £100k more stable pension and keep the mortgage, and up my pension contributions out of my take-home?

Or basically pay off my whole mortgage (no overpayment penalties), save the interest and start investments from scratch with almost no financial burdens and max flexibility in my work? This is new territory for me so the options are spinning around in my head a bit. Thanks in advance!

I work in life sciences and currently live in Glasgow. I’m mostly remote with teams scattered all over Europe and the US. Total comp is just North of £150k. Living in Glasgow this is a very decent salary. Important to mention that I’m already 50 years old and have only been earning at this level for four years after a long career in academia.

I’ve now received an offer from an American pharmaceutical company. Director-level job. $300k base around $420k total comp. LA area.

I’m really tempted by the science and environment, but it’s a major move. I’ve lived in the US 20 years ago during my PhD, and I kind of know what to expect, but the US has definitely changed since then. I also have family, two primary school age kids, and that obviously plays into the equation.

Worthwhile to mention that my current employer is struggling. My section is working well and making money, but the overall company is losing money, bonuses are unlikely to appear in future years and it’s even possible that we may be sold / split up / worst case insolvent. This is what triggered me to activate my network in the first instance, which led to this job offer.

If I lose my current job then we’d likely have to leave Glasgow to find a similarly well paying job, likely in a hurry. Remote work is not as easy to come by these days.

Anyone have any experience moving to / from California? Does the salary just look good on paper, but once you factor everything in it’s actually not that great? Anything I should consider / ask for before accepting? I come from
academia, so my corporate experience is limited. TIA

Currently negotiating a settlement agreement, on garden leave for the next few months. Obviously, I am searching for a new role. I’m in a few live processes but market is slow. I am concerned about how to explain this situation to a new employer once GL ends and I am no longer ‘employed’.

Would appreciate any advice on navigating this, wording for prospective employers/interviews. Thanks!

ETA: To be clear; I’m not looking for advice on the job hunt itself, I have that covered. My question is, how do you explain this situation (being terminated) to prospective employers.

A recruiter has approached me about a job with a 1 hour commute (one way) 3x per week, and site visits (to different parts of the country - Portsmouth, Manchester, Dublin, Leicester) every 2 weeks.

There is also a quarterly visit to every site once per quarter, so a 5 stop tour.

Is it too much? I'm mindful that I'm currently in the office 3x a week, but with no further travel, and the commute is a manageable 40 mins to 1 hour. I'm also in multiple other interview processes, none with a worse travel arrangement.

I have a 2.5 year old daughter in nursery and we share pick-up and drop-off. My wife's company are flexible, but I feel like I would be missing out on a lot of parent time.

Edit: thanks for your opinion, the majority are thinking the same as me that the travelling isn’t worth it.

The total comp uplift would be about 12.5% (£19k) so nothing spectacular. I did query if there was scope to move on that and was told that it’s a no-go from the outset.

Hi all,

I’m a director at a company. There is an owner/chairman, MD and 3 other directors including myself.

I get paid 6 figures but probably sliding out of Henry territory these days due to stagnant wages/growth in our sector.

Today I just found out how much our MD gets paid and it’s so bloody mental I’m still processing it.

He’s not even an owner and he takes home more every month than some of our employees take home in a year.

Makes me question that I’m being underpaid.

That’s all - just wanted to share!

Hey guys, new to this subreddit and looking to speak with anyone who works within private equity

I’ve been a management accountant for around 8-9 years but my dream has always been to switch over to private equity.

Has anyone on here done anything similar or have any advice maybe ie qualifications that could help me in the job market?

Thank you for any comments in advance

Context 30yo , 160k income, 6 months emergency fund, good pension, house 60% equity, married, no kids yet.

Ive always loved cars and ive always been fortunate enough to have a company car, but I really want a fun second car "for my wife" (myself).

Is getting a 30k loan to buy a 981 S a really bad idea or should I accept ive been frugal enough all my life I should now be able to treat myself?

A girl I know became partner at a well know US law firm in London in 2015. I think she was 31. She has since moved to another American law firm as, I assume, an equity partner. PEP at her firm was around $4m last year.

Her husband is a managing director at a bulge bracket bank but she still out earns him by a good margin.

I know there are massive salaries in a range of other fields but I don't think they come close to the sheer number of people that are making high salaries working in corporate law; there are 1000s of trainees each year joining the industry.

My RSUs right now are worth anywhere between 50k and 300k. No matter what they end up being worth in case of a liquidity event, I'm going to get absolutely f*cked by tax.

I'm in Scotland so my effective tax rate is 67%. The government will take the vast majority of money that would allow me to get out of the permanent underclass and leave me behind with nothing.

Even if I end up sacrificing a huge part of my salary and living on savings for a year, it'll still be a huge step back.

1. My financial safety net will be gone
2. I'm going to have to save up even more until the liquidity event happens

It just feels very unfair and it's just one more reason to move out of the country permanently.

We’d love some recommendations for where to buy in London to raise a family. We have a budget of around £1.3-1.5m and are looking for a spacious 3+ bedroom house, ideally Victorian or Edwardian, with a garden.

One slightly unusual requirement is that we’re planning on having an intergenerational home, with my parents-in-law living on the ground floor while my partner and I have the upper floors. So a house with a sensible layout and good-sized rooms is particularly important to us.

Our other priorities are:

• Good, accessible transport. My partner may work in East London in the future, although hopefully won’t be commuting every day, and I work remotely.
• Being close to a park, green space or river
• Good state schools
• A strong sense of community and somewhere that feels family-friendly
• Nice independent shops, cafés, markets etc. would be a bonus
• We’re an East Asian+British interracial couple, so we’d also really value somewhere diverse and welcoming. Sadly, this isn't something we can take for granted everywhere in the UK.
• We still want to feel connected to London rather than feeling like we’ve moved completely out of the city.

The areas we’ve particularly liked so far are Crouch End, Muswell Hill, Chiswick and Ealing, but we’re finding that our budget is a bit stretched for the sort of house we’d ideally want there.

We’re therefore starting to wonder whether we need to look a little further out, or perhaps at areas that are less buzzy/less fashionable but offer much more house for the money.

We’ve come to the realisation that we might be looking for a bit of a unicorn and are feeling quite lost about where to focus our search!

If you had £1.3-1.5m and these were your priorities, where would you look? Particularly interested in areas that might not immediately be on our radar.

Thanks!

Hi all

I have a potential opportunity to relocate to Norway with work. Been there lots of times so know what the country is like, how cold it will get and how social life might differ to living in London.

But I am still tempted. Main reason being we have a 4 month old and I genuinely believe he will have a better quality of life there. My wife is also tempted.

I have two main questions for those who have lived/worked in Norway:

1. What kind of salary should I be expecting to be comparable with UK? My TC is 260k which allows me a very comfortable life in London. As per Google, anything above 1m NOK is a high salary in Norway. A straight conversion means I should be on over 3.3m NOK - is that reasonable taking into account potentially higher living costs?

2. Apart from the cold and quieter social life, are there any other pros/cons we should be considering?

I’m not HENRY. I work as an actuary, so it’s decent but not “high”.

I’ve recently seen roles that I’d be qualified to do at places like Apollo which do pay HENRY salaries. Thing is, I work 35 hours on a bad week, I’m intellectually stimulated by my job, like my colleagues and boss, and am generally content.

On the other hand , I feel I don’t want to become complacent in a role that pays modestly and is easy.

Hey all,

I am 32M, I've been in the same tech company since graduating and I have been coasting in the last 2-3 years, not getting promoted and I think my boss is aware I'm not trying too hard.

I got promoted from the grade above graduate (I didn't start as a graduate as that didn't exist in Product Management roles at the time in my company) to the top non "Senior" role which leaves me one step below a big bump in TC (more RSUs).

However, despite this, my company has been riding the AI wave (semiconductors) and thanks to that my TC / taxable income went from 90ish in 2022 before the AI wave to near 400k in 2024, the RSUs have since been priced in at a higher level so I've been on ~200k TC (90k base) last year, and expected to continue this FYE2027. However, at some point the stock will stop going up and then my TC will be 90-100k base + 50-60k RSUs (if I don't get fired before that :D)

This has brought me to this financial position:

• 400k flat (not in London but South England) bought last year with my non-henry GF (she owns a small percentage). I've been overpaying the mortgage to the max allowed (10% of balance). We have 190k left to pay off.

Cash:

• 50k in NS&I Premium Bonds

• 30k just hanging out in a T212 GIA account

• 25k in my T212 S&S ISA which I am investing slowly (DCA).

Investments:

• 150k of a global index fund (HSBC FTSE All world) in a GIA.

• 80k in my T212 S&S ISA on a low-fee global ETF.

• 120k of my company's Stock (Vested RSUs). I have been selling 80% of each vest, and keeping 20% as a strategy to still benefit if the stock truly goes to the moon thanks to AI, without being completely irresponsible and regretting it if (when) it goes back to 0 / what my company should be valued at.

• 90k in my company pension also in a global fund. I just put in the minimum to get the employer contribution each month. Because my compensation is so linked to RSUs, I can't go to minimum wage and get below 100k.

I currently feel trapped in my job as I make a very very comfortable living without doing much at all... I wonder what kind of options are available if and when I leave / get kicked out.

I can try to voice this to my boss and look for other within company opportunities, but I think that leaves getting to the next grade for a while. I can apply to other tech companies and hope that those new jobs motivate me, but I am scared as I have pretty much never interviewed in my life (got the job from an internship, so the last interview I did was my internship ITW).

I also am having dreams of just deciding an office job is not for me and to move somewhere and start my own business (but the ideas are not coming to me lol) with my savings.

Anyways, not sure what I'm looking for here apart from ideas, comments on my situation, I feel trapped in my somewhat niche job, where I don't do much / coast, but make money so it would feel extremely stupid to leave now.

Just curious about what we are doing about the tax trap to be honest. Want to know how wide spread it is. Do u actually salary sacrifice to below 100k? Have you always done so?
For the past two annual tax periods, I haven’t salary sacrificed to below £100k as I need the funds for a property purchase.

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Hey folks. Posted a few months back and the replies were super helpful and suggested a bunch of areas to go and visit which I did. I've narrowed down my search slightly now.

I'm still on the house hunt and looking for a 4-5 bed to upsize for future family. I've been looking for a place that is near good schools and near greenery and a reasonable commute to Bank station (or Liverpool St). I also like the idea of being in a semi-detached or detached house vs. a 3 floor terrace house (which there seems to be many of in the areas I've been looking).

After visiting a bunch of areas, I quite like the look of Kingston Hill and Norbiton, because it seems like I can get a decent size house for my budget (£1.5m - 2.3m) and there's good schools nearby. The commute seems fine to Waterloo and then a quick hop over to Bank.

Does anybody live in this area and if you do, what is it like living day to day for you? I've visited a bunch of times but I feel like it's very different visiting somewhere and living there and would love to hear from anyone who lives in the area or nearby.

I had a look at a few other areas but ultimately ruled them out (I tried Harpenden as a wild card but it was a bit too quiet for me, I looked at North / East Sheen but didn't like the plane noise, directly in Richmond is too expensive, I did like Teddington but the commute may be a little further and it felt more expensive which then bought me down to Kingston / Norbiton and New Malden).

Any thoughts of people who live in the area will be appreciated i.e. what you like / don't like about it.

Hello. I’m 31 earning 113 in cash and about 40 in stock per year depending on stock performance. I do expect a promotion this year which may take me to 170 or higher total.

I’m considering whether I should lower my pension contribution and save money outside of ISA. Currently I have no savings outside of isa.

Current financials:

1. pension 125k ish and contributing 20% of base this includes my employers contribution
2. stocks isa 110k
3. cash isa 40k - this is kinda my free cash emergency fund
4. liability: mortgage with 500k (slightly less) remaining on it with mortgage payment 2.6k of which I pay half

I’m considering if it’s worth it to lower pension contribution to consider if I could retire earlier in the future

I currently don’t have kids but likely will.

Other than the 20 percent a year in the pension which is about 22k and 20k a year in the ISA im basically paycheck to paycheck otherwise

I do realise I’m spending a bit too much but life is also for living!

Advice welcome. Should I leave it as is, change pension or something else?

Context: early 30s on 160k/£170k, work in O&G, vastly overpaid for my role and find the work easy. Very little stress day to day and most days are 9-5pm. Bumper years come when oil spikes, hard layoffs when they are lower.

I’ve been very tax efficient and worked FT since 21 so have c: £600k across SIPP/ISA/GIA, around £120k in equity. I feel very fortunate to be in this position as I grew up in a poor northern seaside town

I’m starting to wonder is this it? I’m a bit lost on what the next step is. Sure I could eventually get an internal promotion to c: £200k but that doesn’t really change my life, doesn’t change the house am able to live in (London based), doesn’t really change the holidays I go on, if anything it’s just more investing or fun money.

Sure I could get a new role but taking a 20-40% pay hit isn’t for me at this point in life.

Im unsure if this is a temporary loss of motivation as I hit the mid career grind, but it’s got me thinking is this the whole game? Get into a decent paid, low stress role and then place your bets career wise and ride the wave for as long as possible? The way my share schemes are set up I’d leave with £70-£80k if they wanted to let me go.

If I sound confused, it’s because I am. I’ve been pushing all my career but the last 24months I’ve just floated by and had my best earning years. I’ve been applying elsewhere to no success. Recruiters slide in my LI dm’s with max £100k packages. So it seems staying put is the best option

Apologies bit of a ramble, but does anyone have any advice? Gone through something similar?