Posts

It's OK. 

You are right it's very relative. This purely my opinion, my own take on my own situation, and just in life in general, I think after I have the basics, I don't need a huge amount of money to survive as I don't have an extravagant lifestyle. Also, I have seen my previous generations spend all their life trying to accumulate wealth for the sake of it - without really enjoying. For me, money gives me the freedom. That's the main thing it does for me. I suppose it's true for a lot of people whether they realise it or not.

I am going to play devils advocate here. I know if I am truly honest with myself, if I could avoid paying less tax "legally" then I probably would. That probably makes me sound greedy or unethical. I believe in helping good causes, and helping others. However, I do not believe in how half the charities operate, and I also believe the people at the top, the so called friends of the MP's and the so called "connected" get away without paying millions and sometimes billions - and all legally. I really resent paying quite a lot of tax. That's not to say I would do something illegal to avoid paying tax, but I would want my accountant to give me the best tax saving advice possible. 

One other thing. I found through recent research, that if you are in the middle, like most of self employed guys or business owners, you are neither here nor there. Basically what I am trying to say is, to get the really good tax advice, or really benefit from the really big tax savings you often need to be in the millionaires league. Then it makes financial sense to employ such a professional, and the savings make sense. When you are in our leagues, you get taxed properly, and there are only limited options available to you. That's why the majority of tax in the UK are paid by the people in the middle - you and I. 

That's my opinion anyway. 

When I wrote this reply, I had already been smoking for a week or two. I was going through a bad patch - a bit directionless, too many things to get into here. I am just at a point in my life where I am floating. I went out of my way to start smoking because I thought it's the less evil than some of the other things I could be doing. So, I smoke for a week or two, or even a month if it lasts that long. Then I stop. I do believe it's extremely bad for you. It's toxic. I go out of my way, so that my 6 year old daughter has never seen me smoke in my life. I don't want to OK smoking by her seeing her dad smoke. It's a bit of a hypocrisy, but it is what it is.

Otherwise, I would say I lead a relatively healthy life. Go for walks daily, twice with the wife. We eat lots of fruit.So does our daughter. We don't really have fizzy drinks in this house. I love chocolate so much, that I don't allow my wife to buy them in the weekly shop. She normally used to buy them from me. So, I suppose on some level I am probably trying to justifying it to myself. I know it's not good, and it's not right. However, even when was a non-smoker I was always OK with others smoking around me. It did not effect me. And I did not also want to be that ex-smoker who always has a go at smokers. 

Oh by the way, we don't hardly watch telly in my house. I wish we did because, my daughter really needs to learn to watch regular telly, like saturday programmes so she can talk about it in school. 

Based on the description above, you guys will probably think we are Amish or something  - not to say it's a bad thing to be Amish. 

@Steve, your mate is a good example. I don't know if he is rich or not. Nevertheless, his example shows that you don't really need to be rich to live a "good life". As we have said, it's all relative. To the person who is living day to day, that £60K is huge amount of money.

I know all I need to earn is probably around £1,500 a month, and I can go travelling around the world and live from country to country, comfortably, and that's with a family. I don't consider earning £1,500 a month a huge amount of money. So you really don't need a huge amount of money, once you have the essentials. That's just my opinion.

Good on you. Once you do it once, you will find it easy. I hope you never go back.

I just started smoking 2 weeks ago from 2 years of not smoking. The funny thing is intended to start smoking. It's not like I was in a social situation or a club or pub and felt any pressure. No one around me smokes.

I stop and start. The last 6 years has been majority non-smoking. However, I do plan to quit again. For now it's giving me something to do  , sad but true. 

All I know is that there is a lot of people with serious silly amounts of money. It's becoming a "p*ssing contest".

However, living in London most of life, and I live almost in the City, which has allowed me to observe how the other half of the world live, what I have come to realise is that, even if you forget the billionaires and the millionaires, even without them, there are a lot of people in London (South East) with serious amount of money and income. I say this because I look at the lettings market in the City, and they rent out these places for what I call silly amounts of money. For them to rent these places at say even £3,000 or £5,000 a month, their income must be pretty big to sustain it! 

The only other thing is that the disparity between the rich and poor are getting bigger, and the number of people on the poverty line is also increasing. Sad but true.

Hi Steve,

Age has a funny way of creeping up on you. Someone once told me that after 21, the years go very fast. They were very right. I don't want to be 60 and look back with regrets and wish I had done this and that. I have been told that most men at their deathbed don't look back and wish they had made more money. If so many people say that, then there must be some truth to that.

My main aim over the next 2 years is to generate a regular income (has to be online) that allows me to do the work and travel for a few years.

I am floating at the moment. A bit aimlessly. I have one online business which is not going as well as I had hoped. I strongly feel that there is definite market and a need. I just need to get some advice or feedback on fine tuning it and taking it to the next level. I will ask for you take on it next time.

However, coming back to this post. The property market is huge. I feel there is a potential market for a no frills place that lets potential buyers meet potential sellers. So would be tenants would have a direct contact with would be landlords, and taking out a large chunk of the expense of an estate agent. Also places like Right Move and Zoopla cater Estate Agents (mainly) and connect tenants and buyers to Estate Agents. That's my view on it. And places like Rentify are trying to be online Estate Agents.

Now, if you had a site, that initially let landlords advertise their property to sell or let for free, and also let the tenant/buyer contact the seller/letter without charging them, then I would hope the word would spread. It would need to obviously charge at some point, but something small and reasonable. It would not be looking to become an estate agent. Just stay simple, and offer mainly an online service. I would go as far as booking appointments for landlords in their diaries, and taking calls and chats and vetting tenants. But even that would not be the primary aim. It would be an extension of a service. But anything or everything that can be done from one place centrally. I also don't see the need to get in the "hassle" side of it. 

My main issue with this idea is that although we are not intending to, it would still be coming up against the "big boys" on the search. By the big boys, I mean Right Move, and Zoopla and the like. Not worth thinking about, in terms of trying to compete with them on search. On the flip side, if the site can't rank on search then it won't work.

So that's why I am not so sure.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who thinks there is potential in this. I am also interested in talking to people who want to get involved, and who feels they can bring something to the table.

I have other small businesses which are my main focus. But I would be interested in this as a potential project. I have always done business on my own, without any partners. However, in the future, where possible, I would like to work with others where possible.

As usual, I would welcome criticism, so long as it is constructive.

One other thing I just wanted to add to the last comment. I post such questions because I am going to be 40 in a couple of years. And I am thinking of what I want to do with my future. I love online business. I have always done OK out of it. Nothing to shout about. I am not also greedy (I think), meaning money is not the most important thing in my life. I don't need to be rich or prove myself to be "successful". I hope to be travelling for a few years, in the next few years with my family. However, I have online business already, and I was looking at other online opportunities that I could maintain while travelling.

Without intending to, I have acquired reasonably good online business knowledge over the last 7 or 8 years, just by doing business. Anyway, that's all.

Thank you both for your comments.

@Barney, one of my properties is mortgage free, however, I do want to get the most money like any business person. However, I also balance that out with the fact that I would rather have a tenant who pays slightly less, and is less headache. I believe I am undercharging by about £150 a month on that property that I don't have a mortgage on.

@Shakey, what makes you think I am not common folk. I grew up on a council estate, I also did what I did through old fashioned hard work. Until recently, I made most of what little I have through IT support/repair type of work. I had a small team. Although I am not actually in that business any longer. I just keep the sites going. However, I am as common as they come.