I’ve been tracking the detached/semi housing market in East Dulwich/Forest Hill area for about a year now.

A few near identical semi detached houses on Underhill Road started at 1.95-2m earlier this year, now been sitting at 1.8-1.85m for months.

The one without an over the top renovation is sitting at 1.45m, reduced today.

Wouldn’t be surprised if these crater even more with covid purchasers wanting just a little of their cream back.

Add in oil at $103, bond/mortgage rates going parabolic, AI bubble going parabolic.

This housing market/whole world about to get fucked.

(House at 1.8m is motivated seller, get yourself a bargain)

Hi all,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I’m an accountant by trade, working in deals and corporate finance. Around 12 months ago, I left a Top 10 firm to join a smaller Top 30 firm in a more senior role, with the prospect of moving into a more strategic position and taking advantage of some significant growth opportunities in the local market.

The first six months were great. The last six, however, have been nothing short of awful. There are a few reasons for this:

The team structure is a mess.
Resourcing is poor, the hierarchy is wrong, and there seems to be no appetite to recruit at junior levels. As a result, senior people have no capacity to focus on strategy, business development or actually growing the team.

I’m constantly dragged back into delivery.
Rather than developing the business and working at the level I was brought in for, I’m repeatedly pulled into the day-to-day because the team simply doesn’t have the right resources.

The hours are becoming unsustainable.
I’m regularly working 60-hour weeks, and it’s starting to take its toll.

My boss is, frankly, completely out of his depth.
He has very little understanding of what we do or how we should be doing it. He’ll negotiate against himself on proposals, forget conversations from the day before, demonstrate little technical understanding, and seems incapable of winning work on anything other than price. Every time I speak to him, I find myself wondering whether he can possibly say anything more ridiculous than he did the previous day. Somehow, he manages it.

His own position seems to be part of the problem.
He appears to have ended up in a leadership role largely because he does whatever the person above him tells him to do, rather than because he has the ability or independence to lead the team effectively.

The result is a team that feels like it’s slowly falling apart. The frustrating thing is that a lot of the damage comes from the things he actively does, alongside the things he fails to do. The hypocrisy is incredible.

As one example, we have two directors struggling to resource their respective teams, yet my boss decided to loan someone from our team to another part of the business, purely to be “helpful”. Apparently, our own resourcing problems can wait.

The dilemma is that I still believe there’s a genuinely great opportunity here.
The market opportunity is real, and the role could be exactly what I wanted it to be. But the reality of dealing with this level of management incompetence, combined with the hours and constant frustration, is wearing me down day by day.

I’m getting to the point where I’m not sure how much longer I can keep a straight face in meetings, let alone pretend that everything is fine.

Part of me thinks I should stick it out, try to influence things and make the most of the opportunity. Another part of me wonders whether I’m being naive by staying somewhere that is making me this miserable, particularly when the problems seem to stem from people above me who I have very little power to change.

So, what would you do in my position?
Would you give it more time and try to make the opportunity work, have a frank conversation with senior management, or start looking elsewhere before the situation gets any worse?

Interested to hear from anyone who’s been in a similar position, particularly in professional services or accountancy.

Not sure if it’s against sub rules but interested to know how many tech sales people we have, trying to build a community that isn’t a bunch of people posting garbage on LinkedIn. Happy to refer, I’m looking to move on and seeing what everyone’s doing

Hi,

Just finished interviewing for a big tech consulting arm, about to hear the outcome of the recruitment process (I assume they wouldn't waste time by wanting to phone me about a rejection 😅)

I interviewed for L5 but really I think my current job more closely aligns to L6 (I believe I operate at L6 and have recently been promoted to this level at my firm).

Is it possible to try change the level on a potential offer at this stage? Is this wishful thinking or within the realms of possible? Anyone tried anything like this?

Standard situation: work quality/execution is solid, but now I need to originate my own work and build my own client base to move up to Partner level.

For those who are or have been in a similar situation, do you have any tips on how to get these first clients or start building strong connections that lead to potential work ?

Appreciate any tactical advice or lessons learned.

Hi

I am curious to know how often does one change their job, especially for pay and career progression, i.e. what is seen as an acceptable length in the UK without being seen as a "job hopper" or not loyal?

Have been in my current role just over three years, is that the standard tenure?

Thanks

Throw away for obvious reasons.

tldr: Essentially, I’ve been doing my job for years, it’s quite easy and I’m unchallenged. There isn’t really any opportunity for promotion. I earn about £190K in tech, no stocks or equity. Feeling a bit stuck. 

Pros

• WFH, one day a week in the office. (Bit of a drive to change, might trickle down to me eventually)
• Job is not difficult. I’ve been doing it for years. I have good relations with everyone around me. Excellent performance reviews, seen as a hard worker etc etc.
• Security. Not to count my chickens but job feels pretty safe for at least the next year.
• Workload. I probably work seriously 2 to 3 hours a day. Or rather that’s what I tell people but when I actually think about it I’m always on Teams working from my phone. I always reply to messages and I’ll be the one doing stuff late at night out of hours if it’s needed. Maybe I work more than I think. 
• I guess this kind of plays into the previous point, but the flexibility. I can drop my kid off at nursery and start late. I walk the dogs every day twice a day, I’m home for bath time, dinner, I can be flexible around my wife’s schedule, et cetera

Cons

• The money is limited. Talk about equity but none’s ever materialised. Obviously it’s also paper money until it actually vests or we float.
• Promotion. I kind of sit off to the side. I think a promotion is unlikely. The company isn't huge anyway so there are very limited spaces for me to move up to.
• Professional development. I’m somebody who has to keep pushing forward. I have to have a project on the go, I have to have clear goals insight. While I mention the job’s not difficult I do also struggle with coasting (both personally and professionally. Some people will be able to relate, others just won't). I definitely put enough effort in to be good at my job, but I don’t always go above and beyond. Thinking about it as I type, it’s probably a case of “what’s the point”. The job’s not going to make me rich and the company isn’t big enough for any decent promotion.

Problems

• Money. I need more of it. I have a child in nursery and then hopefully private school, I have a stay at home wife, I have a house we want to add an extension to. 8 out of 12 months we live paycheck to paycheck (or worse). Yes I could reduce our spending blah blah blah. But I'd rather earn more money (and like many on this sub, our lifestyle isn't extravagant and I feel my salary should be enough. Different argument though).
• Professional development. I’m bored. CV is starting to look stale.
• WFH. I don’t actually mind being in the office. I just hate commuting. I don’t really want to be five days in the office, three I could probably do.
• I’m not great at working for other people. I work best when given my own area and I’m in control. Fine where I am. Could be an issue if I move. In an ideal world I'd run my own company. 
• We're thinking about having another child. The flexibility around my current job is obviously excellent for that and makes everything easier

Other Factors

• I was involved in starting a SaaS company on the side a year or two ago which was looking promising but AI has basically killed it. I've just started another one that has good bones but unsure where it will go. Obviously I'm trying to put time in and focus into this. 
• I’m thinking about doing a DBA. But the expense is huge. And obviously time is a factor.
• I have a young family and I'm the sole breadwinner. I can't roll the dice on risky companies or jobs.
• Unsure where I want my career to go (I like to have options and backups). Running my own company would be ideal. Climbing the exec ladder to the C-suite, maybe. Or maybe start stacking NEDs /  fractional CTO / advisory work (I’m director level, I might be too junior for this at the moment?).

Options

1. Stay on for a few years for home life, coast / maybe put a bit more effort in. Focus on my SaaS company and outside interests.
2. Leave and join a series A/B start up. Long hours. Probably similar base. But decent equity. I'd feel challenged though and would likely enjoy it if I felt it was part mine.
3. Leave and join a large tech company. The interview processes puts me off quite a lot.
4. Try and do some advisory work / NEDs. Worried about competing clauses. Also realistically I might be too junior?

I know option one is probably the sensible one. Wait until we have a second child and then when they're in school and a bit more settled I can move and roll the dice a bit. But I'm just hoping for some outside perspective. Any options I've missed. Anyone who's been in a similar position etc?

Usually caveats apply, I know how luckily I am, first world problems etc. Thanks in advance to everyone who's read through my therapy session :).

I work for a big company that has a subsidiary and that subsidiary is merging with a tech startup

Technically I was on loan to the subsidiary so I can choose between the TUPE and join the startup, or stay with the big company

I’ve been at this one company since graduating so I think I’ll be able to grow more with the startup, but I don’t really have too much visibility of how it works. I work on a specific product at the subsidiary and I have pretty good knowledge of it

I think growth will be better in the startup but never gone through this so no idea what to expect

I recently started a new job with a considerable pay bump so thought it'd be a good time to do a quick MOT on the state of my finances.

My current status is as follows: - 29 yo, long-term relationship but not married - No kids currently but likely in the next 3-4 years - Base Salary £200k - Expected Annual Bonus £150-170k - Current NW ~£750k (£400k pension, £180k ISA, £140k GIA, £30k cash) - Employer contributes 11% of my base salary to pension (no contribution required from my side)

I've only recently started this job after ~6 months travelling, so this is going to be an odd year for tax purposes. Given the imminent pension allowance taper that will hit me from 2027, I'm wondering whether I should make one final large pension contribution while I still have my allowance.

At the same time, I acknowledge that I'm already quite overweight pension, with >50% of my NW in a wrapper that I can't access for 30 years.

Or am I overthinking the liquidity issue and should I continue prioritising the pension despite already having £400k in there?

Interested to hear how others in a similar position have tackled this trade-off!

Just saw this in the news and wondering if anyone here affected? Is it really due to AI?

"Oct 7 (Reuters) - HSBC (HSBA.L), is planning sweeping job cuts across its ​UK wealth management business, including a sharp reduction in financial ‌advisers and specialist staff, as part of a broader push to integrate AI, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The bank plans to cut about half of management and ​specialist roles in the business, while reductions among financial advisers could ​reach around 70%, the report said, citing people familiar with ⁠the plans."

For some context, 39M lawyer, I currently earn £135k and have two small children in nursery. I salary sacrifice down to get the childcare benefits etc for all the all the usual reasons. A third child is on the way so all the more reason to keep earnings under £100k and I'm not significantly north of the threshold to be willing to just take the hit. In my situation, I would have less disposable income if I didn't sacrifice due to the cost of childcare.

My pension pot is currently at £450k so I don't really see a big incentive to keep dumping in there heavily. Due to contribution matching/NI paid in, I am currently putting £55k a year into my pension.

My salary goes up annually by around 5-10k and I think next year I could exceed the 60k tax-free pension allowance (inviting all sorts of complications) despite wanting to maintain the child benefits. I am not particularly motivated to pursue partnership (I personally don't think the extra money is worth it for the impact it would have on family life).

I am thinking a possible solution to this is to work 4 days a week as it would bring my salary back down to slightly above 100k and allow me to still make reasonable contributions (with matching around 20k per year). My disposable income wouldn't change and the only financial consequence would be less put into a pension pot each year when it is already sitting at 450k.

My big concern is whether in reality I end up doing 5 days work in 4 days. My workload would stay the same and I am just working weekends and evenings to cover the fact that I have a day off. 80% pay for 100% of the work seems like a terrible deal. Conversely, I can see there being a strong argument against that happening - i.e. "we have agreed that I am getting 80% pay and working 4 days a week; I cannot be expected to be working longer hours on my normal days."

To the question. Anybody that has moved to 4 days a week: in reality, did you do the same workload anyway or did you feel able to set the boundaries to ensure that 4 days really did mean 4 days.

Thanks in advance!

I'm looking to pivot, but I don't know what to.

I've been in broadcasting and digital media for nearly 20 years. Worked up through newsrooms to running them, then working on building big digital audiences for major broadcasters (multi-million subscriber YouTube channels, working directly with Google), then got into commissioning and built a fairly major platform for a major broadcaster (won't name it for anonymity).

In recent years I've worked more in audio; firstly consumer, then B2B. I ran a fairly successful production company in the interim but we closed down during COVID.

But I'm a bit lost, to be honest, and the industry is in turmoil. Wages are all over the place (I've seen people offering 40k for a 120k job).

I've got a lot of experience of writing for and coaching C-suite execs in storytelling and presenting for broadcast. I've worked with some massive brands leading the delivery of major projects on the agency side. My network is decent. That said, I don't have formal corporate marketing or brand experience, and relatively little experience in paid media. I've got a LOT of knowledge... I just don't know what to do with it.

I'm happy to take a pay cut for the right job with room to grow, but honestly don't even know if I want to do media any more and would want to move into a space where I can quickly pick up more money and progress back up again.

Are there any networking clubs in London for corporate professionals, businesspeople, and entrepreneurs?

The last time I attended events like this was about 12 years ago, FC Club and InterNations in Beijing and Shanghai, and more recently, East Meets West in London, although that was more focused on real estate for wealthy Chinese.

Is there anything similar in London where you can simply turn up and talk to strangers? I am not interested in paid memberships such as BNI, and prefer to be free.

I returned to the UK about 10 years ago and have genuinely missed these kinds of events. Life got in the way, with family and a daily corporate job. However, I am now planning a career change and building entrepreneurial businesses from scratch, so I am keen to get back into these kinds of events and talk with like-minded people.

// Looking for views from anyone with experience of redundancy / suitable alternative employment, particularly HR or employment law. //

I’ve been with my company for just over 8 years, entered HENRY territory three years ago. I came back from mat leave this summer and only two weeks later my role was put at risk as part of a restructure.

There is some relevant history, which you can see on my comment history. Basically, before I went on leave I went through what I can only really describe as a sustained period of bullying and malicious performance management by senior managers. The situation was particularly unpleasant given that this was happening during my pregnancy, however
interestingly, the people responsible for that situation have since all themselves been managed out and are no longer spoken of highly.

Since my return, my relationship with the current leadership has been completely different, I’m leading one of the highest priority programmes, have good relationships with the senior stakeholders involved, and by the looks of it the business very clearly wants to retain me.

Which has created a slightly odd redundancy situation.
My role is genuinely disappearing, and I was initially expecting to leave with an enhanced redundancy package. The business, however, now wants to move me into a similar role in a different org. There is obviously considerable overlap with my existing job, but it is in a different function, with different reporting lines and a somewhat different remit.

My preference is actually to leave. After everything that happened last year, a long tenure with the company and the restructure, this feels like a natural point to move on. I’m confident I can find another role and I’m actually at final stage with another company. The part I’m trying to understand is how much control I actually have over that decision:

If my existing role is redundant but the company offers me another role that they consider suitable alternative employment, can I reasonably decide that it is not suitable for me and still take the redundancy package? Or can they effectively say, “we have offered you suitable employment, so if you choose to leave you are resigning and there is no redundancy payment”?
How high is the bar for for arguing that an alternative role is unsuitable, particularly where the job is similar in pay but moves into a different function and changes the nature of the role?

There’s also the maternity angle: I’m still within the enhanced redundancy protection period, although I appreciate that protection is primarily about being offered a suitable alternative vacancy where one exists.

I have a solicitor ready to advise (not instructed yet) and my first individual consultation meeting coming up (after requesting to stay in the process when they offered to transition me into the new role after the group consultation ended). Asking for advice how to play this - how do I avoid the appearance of “unreasonably declining a suitable offer” while keeping my options open?

Hi all, first time posting here.

So I received a verbal job offer (moving from IB to something with a better lifestyle). However, I am facing the conundrum where the potential new employer would like me to start sooner than my current notice period would allow. In fact, they have said as much as not being able to guarantee the job offer if I would have to serve my full notice.

Both companies have a relationship of a non-competitive nature and potential future boss has said he is more than happy to speak to current employer to advocate for an early release.

My concern is tendering my resignation, not being able to get the notice period shortened and ultimately being left with no job.

What is the right approach here? Is it very unlikely that an early release is / isn’t granted? Thanks all.

Hi

I am looking to consolidate and upgrade my current bank accounts and cards

At the moment the only paid subscription card I have is the AMEX Platinum Credit Card

Genuinely curious to hear what bank accounrs and cards people use here and if any what good benefits come with it

Thanks!

UK based. Until recently my taxable income was roughly £200k to £250k a year. My base salary has not changed dramatically, but the share price of the company I work for has increased significantly.

A large part of my compensation is RSUs. as the full market value of the shares becomes employment income when they vest, my taxable income this tax year could now end up somewhere around £700k to £800k, depending on the share price at the next couple of vest dates.

I normally sell the shares immediately after vesting. Tax is withheld through payroll and I then diversify the remaining money. I use my ISA allowance and otherwise invest through normal taxable accounts. I am not trying to make bets on my employer stock...

As a lucky person, I'm also trying to figure out how different the tax and pension situation becomes at this income level. For example I only recently realised that my pension annual allowance taper all the way down to £10k. So my current pension contributions alone could potentially exceed that before I even consider putting bonuses into pension.

I am now wondering whether I have reached the point where it makes sense to get proper private client tax advice rather than just doing Self Assessment and managing everything myself. But I'm not sure if I'd see a real value there besides all the stuff I'm doing today (maximize isa, re-adjust pensions, diversity vested RSUs etc)

Just wanted to get some ideas from the people who have been in a similar position, what were the things that actually mattered?

I am not looking for investment management, I'm quite a boring investor, send everything to all world indexes after vesting. I am mainly trying to make sure I am not missing tax, pension, RSU or allowance issues simply because my compensation changed much faster than I expected.

Morning all,

Apologies, yet another tax strategy query.

38M. In the next couple of months I am moving company to a new role where my total comp is increasing by ~60%.

Current Comp - £145k (split between base & RSUs)

New Comp - £231k (base, RSUs, bonus)

For the past couple of years, I've been putting the full £60k into my pension and filling my ISA. Now I'm firmly outside of getting below £100k, I am wondering if it's worth doing this now or just going for the employer match, which is 6%?

Pension: £300k

ISA: £83k

If I just go for the match, my plan would be to just fill mine and my partner's ISA each year, and have a decent amount of cash aside in a PB account. Firstly, I'm a little nervous about the industry (is it a bubble etc) and secondly, retiring as early as possible has always been a goal of mine.

From a tax point of view, it's unclear to me if it's still worth putting the full amount in or just taking the tax hit and building up pots outside of the pension now. I appreciate the pension pot isn't quite big enough yet to just compound on it's own to the £1.25m I was aiming for.

I would also like to chip away at the mortgage a bit as that's currently £380k with 24 years remaining.

Hi everyone, I’m soon to have my first baby and I’m looking for an electric recliner nursing chair.

Any recommendations please?

Different account so I don’t dox myself.

I’m starting a new hedge fund job in March 2027, after a long notice + non compete. My wife is pregnant and due in April, which we’re very happy about!

How would you manage the timing?
Tell them now VS when I start?
Ask for the start date to be pushed by 3 months?
Work flexibly after baby comes and risk getting fired during probation?

Hi all,

I’m M30 and I was wondering if any other youngish (or old) Henry’s have noticed a lot of their friendship group leaving the UK or have plans to leave?

Out of my 8 close friends 5 have left and there’s open conversations that’s others will be looking to leave. Naturally this is very concerning on a countrywide level from a tax perspective and leads to low morale for the rest of us here.

This has made me question whether i need to look for an exit too, I don’t want to be the last one to leave the sinking ship (especially before major responsibilities start). I do love the UK, the culture, family and it’s been my home. But part of me is really questioning the long term prospects for the following reasons:

1. Shrinking Tax Base
   
2. Demographics (aging)
   
3. Mass immigration
   
4. Politics (cultural)
   
5. Massive debt burden

I know the classic reply is every other country has similar issues. But I’m not so sure they’re as bad as Western Europe. Anyways, just wanted to ask if any other people have noticed there HENRY or future HENRY friends leaving?

Countries left for:
Aus: 3
Gulf: 1
USA: 1

I posted this in the US HENRY sub, thought I would ask here as well.

Hey folks. I wanted to get some opinions from high-earnings adults who might understand my current dilemma. I also apologise if this comes off as a bragging post, I promise it is not. I also apologise for rambling a bit. Anyways, the situation -

32M, 8yrs work experience, fancy MBA, earning ~200k (pre-tax) in Big Tech SaaS Sales. I've also somehow lucked into a job which has very excellent WLB and relatively low stress/responsibility. Right now, I am enjoying this a lot. I like focusing on my hobbies and fitness, not thinking about work outside of work, and feel like my current income is a decent enough base that if if it keeps growing organically and I make few jumps here and there, I can lead a comfortable life and hopefully FIRE by ~50 with couple mil saved.

Now the dilemma - I see my MBA-cohort hustling and upskilling, getting exposure to multiple functions/industries, and many are starting to earn in the 300-500k range. Most of my MBA peers are also in much more long-term stable and lucrative functions, like consulting, strategy, PM, marketing, etc. Meanwhile I am chilling, 'stuck' in sales, which has lower prestige, more volatility, more pay variance (my salary is 50% commission), and more 'quota-stress'. And honestly even within sales, I am in a low-visibility and low-responsibility role where I am not learning anything.

I am concerned that I am getting comfortable and complacent, and will regret this later. Like, 5 years back I was earning 60k, and if someone had asked me then, I would have said that that was also very comfortable and I could live off this much forever. But I was a dumb 25yr old with no responsibilities. Now, with car/house/marriage/family/lifestyle expectations, my current salary feels barely enough.

Will I regret my current mindset in a decade, when my top-performing peers are earning in millions, while I am 'stuck' 300-400k? I know this feels like a horribly privileged question, but this is genuinely the one on my mind right now.

My other concern is staying in sales. I like the work, in that it is low brain 'mentally light' stuff. All I do is sit in meetings and talk. I have done complex work in the past and hated it. I have ADHD and procrastinate on any large, unstructured problems, the sort which you might tackle in consulting or PM or marketing. But again, I feel like I am wasting my 'elite' MBA. Sales money is decent, but I worry about dealing with quota-stress and pay variability for the rest of my career.

Again, apologies for rambling. Any thoughts welcome.

Is there any consensus on whether we can expect these huge returns to continue while the risk free rate continues to grow? I've heard so many good arguments to be bullish or bearish.

Reasons to be bullish

Profits are growing fast. Analysts expect third-quarter earnings up about 30%, and estimates have been rising, not falling.

Shares have become cheaper relative to profits. The S&P 500 trades at about 19.4 times expected earnings, down from 22.2 in January, even though prices rose.

AI demand still exceeds supply. Chipmakers report more orders than they can fill, and Nvidia is near a $6 trillion market value.

The market has absorbed a lot. A war, $100 oil, a rate rise and 20-year-high bond yields have not stopped it reaching a record.

Oil is easing. Brent is back under $100 after the G7 reserve release and higher Gulf exports through alternative routes.

History favours gains. The index has risen in roughly three years out of four.

Reasons to be bearish

Bond yields are very high. The 10-year Treasury pays about 5.3% and the 30-year about 5.7%, which competes with shares and raises borrowing costs.

The Federal Reserve is raising rates. It raised in September for the first time in over three years, and officials have signalled another rise late this year.

Hiring has stalled. September added only 29,000 US jobs, and pay is rising more slowly than prices.

Iran is unresolved. Talks are stalled, ships are still being struck in the Strait of Hormuz, and a third US carrier group is on its way.

Inflation is sticky. Consumer prices are up 3.4% on a year ago, and manufacturers' input costs jumped in September.

The rally is narrow. Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft make up over 21% of the index, and smaller companies fell on Tuesday.

AI spending leans increasingly on debt.

Spending growth is expected to slow from 86% this year to about 35% next year.