Pension Man

Stuart Trow, columnist, writer and personal financial coach

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

London flat prices have fallen 22% in real terms since 2016. That doesn’t mean they’re cheap. It’s the capitalisation of a significant increase in ownership costs and the risk that your leasehold property might suddenly become unmortgageable.

https://t.co/nQdKlQqZs4

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Property portals are groaning under the weight of unsold homes, yet homelessness, already at record levels, is rising fast and the most vulnerable are increasingly being excluded from even social housing on affordability grounds.

https://t.co/5XbNKaON7b

[Beau Geste @thedecentthing]

Britain is experiencing a collapse in housing investment. A perfect storm of government austerity, toxic regulation and private capital flight has left housing in the same parlous state as energy, water, healthcare and education.

https://t.co/MqV1AhYqWd

[Beau Geste @thedecentthing]

Dismantling Britain’s almost feudal system of amateur landlordism, without supplying a viable alternative, has come at a huge social, political and financial cost.

The UK has grown by 2 mln people, but has lost 290k homes, mostly at the cheaper end.

https://t.co/GFqkkxyrvM

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Brits have fallen out of love with property with devastating consequences. Prices have lagged inflation, not due to the deflation of a housing bubble, but because ownership costs have spiked. This has consequences for homeowners and the homeless alike.

https://t.co/YrynmC2CX3

[Beau Geste @thedecentthing]

Ordinarily rising rents would draw capital into London’s stressed lettings market. Instead house prices are lagging behind inflation, as both private and, most damagingly public, sector landlords exit. Lopsided energy efficiency policies are to blame.

https://t.co/NF1tOEJZDj

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

With more than half of owner-occupied homes having two or more spare bedrooms, while the housing crisis escalates, today’s stamp duty increase can only make things worse.

https://t.co/B0TfuMyM9Z

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Don’t worry about missing the rush to beat the stamp duty deadline. The UK’s property market is a treacherous place and it’s far better to take the time to do your homework.

https://t.co/3Y1H5yYEfv

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Pensions are changing and so must you! Retired Roman soldiers were rewarded with annuities two thousand years ago. Are they set for a comeback (annuities, not the Romans!)?

https://t.co/XJmdY82YJW

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Welcome to the final Friendly Money Newsletter for 2024. So much has changed both globally and in terms of finance that it’s almost impossible to keep up.

Take care out there,

Stuart & Vicky

https://t.co/jG3kKWiEXZ

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Pensions are set to become materially less attractive with investor behaviour likely to change in profound and unhelpful ways. This goes well beyond simply incentivising the wealthy to become economically inactive by retiring early.

https://t.co/xf3TexoH70

[Beau Geste @thedecentthing]

Pension fun! Interviewed on pension drawdown in light of budget https://t.co/CwOUB39e3p

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Last week’s UK budget has profound implications, not just for non doms and the super rich, but for many with just a house and pension! Literally the only winners were people who drink life-threateningly large quantities of draft beer!

https://t.co/4v6q0mIJ8Y

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Keir Starmer has pledged to tackle “worklessness” by squeezing benefits. However, in-work benefits are actually too stingy, not too generous. Most claimants lose at least 60p of each £1 earned and some more than 70p. For them, work literally doesn’t pay.

https://t.co/qdqffqZPBs

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

It’s been a while, but here’s my latest Friendly Money Newsletter which covers how the forthcoming budget might influence your retirement decision (and it’s not how you might think!) https://t.co/14mZWccrRe

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Hemmed in by promises not to raise mainstream taxes and faced with a £22 billion black hole, Labour is set to attack wealth. Yet if it taxes injudiciously, Britain will be “closed for business” and both growth and the deficit will suffer.

https://t.co/5bEmKXKtHH

[Bloomberg @business]

Can Britain's fiscal hole be filled by a wealth tax? The Labour Party would need to carefully calibrate a levy on society's richest members, @PensionmanUK writes https://t.co/u04DkNc3te via @opinion

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Labour’s work on pensions is only half done. The welcome decision not to reinstate the lifetime allowance leaves pensions still open to being abused as tax incentivised, estate planning vehicles. Ending this could raise revenue and stimulate the economy.

https://t.co/ONEQVLwAt0?

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Hamstrung by the Conservative stealth tax poison pill, funding Labour’s spending pledges favours populism over reform.

https://t.co/iA1Xs0fTs8

[Pension Man @PensionmanUK]

Capital gains tax is a powerful fiscal lever for achieving investment goals and social objectives - but not if it’s used for populist, political point scoring.

Here’s a way to make it both fair and effective.

https://t.co/1x7b4iLks0