there are approximately 1,013,913 words in the english language but i could never string any of them together to explain how much i want to hit you with a chair
Reading the recent telegraph article about a couple who won’t have more than 2 kids, I think my next election vote will be for whichever party gets rid of the 100k tax cliff edge which will probably unlock a disproportionate amount of economic growth…
Higher taxes that most people will pay? Or spending cuts that most people will feel?
That's it. Pick one.
If your answer is "government waste" or "tax the rich", then you're part of the problem.
The strategy of taxing "other people" has run out of road.
@cowboy_investor@londonHenryGB I was 17 when I signed up for the loan and went to uni. I don’t think that makes a difference. It’s not exactly well communicated how the interest works or that the rules can change at anytime per gov policy based on how much you earn. And at 17/18, who could understand it anyway
Student loans are going to cause a huge productivity issue for successive governments unless addressed.
They are regressive and unfairly target those from poorer socio-economic areas who do not have the financial support to study without a loan. [6/7].
sat next to a guy on a flight who smelled like old money
rolex. tailored suit. reading a physical newspaper like it was 1987.
figured he was some finance executive or inherited wealth.
we got talking. I mentioned I sell stuff online.
he put down his newspaper.
"what kind of stuff?"
digital products. courses. ebooks. that kind of thing.
he smiled weird.
"I made $4 million last year selling a PDF about aquariums."
I thought he was messing with me.
he wasn't.
this guy is 61 years old. spent 30 years as an accountant. hated every second of it. retired at 55 with decent savings but nothing crazy.
his hobby was aquariums. had been keeping fish tanks since he was 12.
"my wife told me to start a blog so I'd stop boring her with fish facts."
so he did. wrote about aquarium stuff 3 times a week. water chemistry. tank setups. fish compatibility.
for 2 years nobody read it.
"I had maybe 50 visitors a month. all probably bots."
but he kept going because he had nothing else to do.
year 3, one article ranked on google. then another. then another.
suddenly he was getting 100K visitors a month. all people searching for aquarium help.
"I realized these people would probably pay for a complete guide. so I wrote one."
147 pages. everything about setting up and maintaining an aquarium.
priced it at $47.
first month: $6K
first year: $340K
last year: $4.2 million
from a PDF about fish tanks.
I asked about his marketing strategy.
"I don't have one. google sends people to my blog. blog mentions the guide. people buy it. I go play golf."
no email sequence?
"I have a newsletter. I send fish tips once a week. sometimes I mention the guide at the bottom. that's it."
no upsells?
"I made a second guide about saltwater tanks specifically. $67. people who bought the first one usually buy the second. that's my whole business."
no team?
"my wife helps with customer service. we get maybe 10 emails a day. most are just people showing us their tanks."
this 61 year old retiree built a bigger business than most "entrepreneurs" I know.
no ads. no funnel hacks. no growth strategies. no personal brand.
just mass expertise in one weird niche and patience to let it compound.
before we landed he gave me advice I didn't ask for:
"everyone your age wants to get rich fast. that's why most of you stay broke. I wrote about fish for 2 years before making a dollar. now I make more than I did in 30 years of accounting. speed is overrated. patience pays."
the plane landed. he grabbed his newspaper and walked off.
probably went home to feed his fish.
EXCLUSIVE from me @theipaper - Labour's leasehold reform could be watered down due to Treasury nervousness
So, why does it matter?
This is about whether or not to cap ground rents
It affects nearly 5 million leasehold homeowners
And the housing market in a BIG way
@daveinnorfolk19@michaelgove 100% agree, I’d rather have metrics on specific issues like the number of children without stable accommodation etc. It’s all just political rhetoric the way they talk about it rn
As I understand it, child poverty is worked out against the median wage of the country. As such, when will someone point out that it is logically impossible to eradicate it, as the median will rise too? #reeves#bbclaurak#trevorphillips#budget2025
@lukas_ohl@DanNeidle I don’t think they even realise they’re hitting their new voter base so hard tbh. In their minds they’re still the party of “working people” being people on £40k or less according to them…
I'm hoping to unite Left and Right - they'll all hate my piece in today's Sunday Times, saying that successive Budgets have overtaxed the highest-earning 20%, and under-taxed both the median earner and the richest 0.1%.https://t.co/2UBeLykUdo
@the_wise_party@albieamankona They’ve now changed the terms of said loan we apparently knew the terms of when we took out. Your response literally misses the whole point…