UK inflation in shock jump to 4.4pc and borrowing rises
Discussion
allgonepetetong said:
You must look really look the part in business meetings and job interviews!
As I mentioned elsewhere, there is nothing vaguely resembling an office dress code here and much to my shock that even includes when customers are present.As it happens my office attire is £5 and £10 Van Hoosen shirts I acquired in their firesale when they left the UK in Jan, various dark trousers and usually my pair of Chenney shoes which as they havent been polished in about 6 months look as if they did cost £10. If I wanted to I could easily wear a grands worth of clothing at work and nobody would bat an eyelid, notice or care a damn. And Im working in a place that makes the vast majority of London inc the City look like a paupers rat run.
Its a funny old world.
DJC said:
As I mentioned elsewhere, there is nothing vaguely resembling an office dress code here and much to my shock that even includes when customers are present.
As it happens my office attire is £5 and £10 Van Hoosen shirts I acquired in their firesale when they left the UK in Jan, various dark trousers and usually my pair of Chenney shoes which as they havent been polished in about 6 months look as if they did cost £10. If I wanted to I could easily wear a grands worth of clothing at work and nobody would bat an eyelid, notice or care a damn. And Im working in a place that makes the vast majority of London inc the City look like a paupers rat run.
Its a funny old world.
Van Hoosen shirts and Chenney shoes; you've been shopping down the market haven't you. As it happens my office attire is £5 and £10 Van Hoosen shirts I acquired in their firesale when they left the UK in Jan, various dark trousers and usually my pair of Chenney shoes which as they havent been polished in about 6 months look as if they did cost £10. If I wanted to I could easily wear a grands worth of clothing at work and nobody would bat an eyelid, notice or care a damn. And Im working in a place that makes the vast majority of London inc the City look like a paupers rat run.
Its a funny old world.
allgonepetetong said:
I don't think there are any cash ISAs paying more that 3.5% currently.
I know. I was inferring that some people would rather a reasonable return without the risk. Well done you for earning 12% on your stocks and shares ISA (a genuine well done - FWIW I also have one) but some people are more risk-averse but are getting raped by the measily rates offered on cash.
I guess historically putting your money in a bank was "investing" it.
Manks said:
Van Hoosen shirts and Chenney shoes; you've been shopping down the market haven't you.
For a fiver and tenner a shirt who cares?!I love my Chenneys though. Mahooooosively comfy and if I ever bothered to polish them they would still look good. Someone else said in a different thread they had bought themselves out of from under Churches as they felt Churches had gone downhill in the quality stakes.
DJC said:
As I mentioned elsewhere, there is nothing vaguely resembling an office dress code here and much to my shock that even includes when customers are present.
As it happens my office attire is £5 and £10 Van Hoosen shirts I acquired in their firesale when they left the UK in Jan, various dark trousers and usually my pair of Chenney shoes which as they havent been polished in about 6 months look as if they did cost £10. If I wanted to I could easily wear a grands worth of clothing at work and nobody would bat an eyelid, notice or care a damn. And Im working in a place that makes the vast majority of London inc the City look like a paupers rat run.
Its a funny old world.
So because you can look like a tramp at work and no-one cares, essential items like shoes should be classed as a luxury.As it happens my office attire is £5 and £10 Van Hoosen shirts I acquired in their firesale when they left the UK in Jan, various dark trousers and usually my pair of Chenney shoes which as they havent been polished in about 6 months look as if they did cost £10. If I wanted to I could easily wear a grands worth of clothing at work and nobody would bat an eyelid, notice or care a damn. And Im working in a place that makes the vast majority of London inc the City look like a paupers rat run.
Its a funny old world.
Have you stopped to think about anyone else's situation before making your assertions or just your own?
Legend83 said:
I know. I was inferring that some people would rather a reasonable return without the risk.
And therein lies the rub. Higher risk achieves a higer return, low risk receives a lower return, that's basic economics. I would love a reasonable return without any risk but it simply does not exist - that would be like free money. Investing cash is virtually zero risk and therefore receives almost zero return. I agree that historically you would have got more of a return than you do now, but in knowing this why not invest elsewhere?
It seems strange to complain that investing cash is not very rewarding, although I agree that with real interest rates in the negative it's especially poor. But with the current economic circumstances, ie zero growth what do you realistically expect?
FWIW the market is pricing in the first rate increases in August, if that helps to comfort at all.
Edited by allgonepetetong on Thursday 24th March 09:57
allgonepetetong said:
And therein lies the rub. Higher risk achieves a higer return, low risk receives a lower return, that's basic economics. I would love a reasonable return without any risk but it simply does not exist - that would be like free money.
Investing cash is virtually zero risk and therefore receives almost zero return. I agree that historically you would have got more of a return than you do now, but in knowing this why not invest elsewhere?
It seems strange to complain that investing cash is not very rewarding, although I agree that with real interest rates in the negative it's especially poor. But with the current economic circumstances, ie zero growth what do you realistically expect?
FWIW the market is pricing in the first rate increases in August, if that helps to comfort at all.
As I said before, negative real interest rates are not normal. So in normal times it should be possible to earn in excess of inflation "risk free"Investing cash is virtually zero risk and therefore receives almost zero return. I agree that historically you would have got more of a return than you do now, but in knowing this why not invest elsewhere?
It seems strange to complain that investing cash is not very rewarding, although I agree that with real interest rates in the negative it's especially poor. But with the current economic circumstances, ie zero growth what do you realistically expect?
FWIW the market is pricing in the first rate increases in August, if that helps to comfort at all.
Edited by allgonepetetong on Thursday 24th March 09:57
Don't worry, MPC will only lose public confidence slowly
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Slow-loss-credibi...
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Slow-loss-credibi...
NoelWatson said:
Don't worry, MPC will only lose public confidence slowly
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Slow-loss-credibi...
I think the BoE's mandate should be amended so that instead of solely being responsible for controlling inflation it is also responsible for helping to create conditions to assist with the recovery.http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Slow-loss-credibi...
At the momnet they are torn between these two objectives, although they are only mandated to control inflation they are clearly looking at the danger of stifling a very weak recovery should they exercise tighter monetry policy.
They are damned if they do and damned if they don't quite frankly.
allgonepetetong said:
NoelWatson said:
Don't worry, MPC will only lose public confidence slowly
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Slow-loss-credibi...
I think the BoE's mandate should be amended so that instead of solely being responsible for controlling inflation it is also responsible for helping to create conditions to assist with the recovery.http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Slow-loss-credibi...
At the momnet they are torn between these two objectives, although they are only mandated to control inflation they are clearly looking at the danger of stifling a very weak recovery should they exercise tighter monetry policy.
They are damned if they do and damned if they don't quite frankly.
allgonepetetong said:
NoelWatson said:
By recovery do you mean blowing ever bigger bubbles/delaying the inevitable, or something else?
It's always a question with you Noel, isn't it?I think you know what I mean, and to be clear, it isn't the first 2!
NoelWatson said:
ringram said:
Are you suggesting they are fully hedged against inflation!? Surely the cost would be prohibitive?
History suggests nothing is fully hedged.
I don't see how inflation comes into it. Indeed, they cannot be fully hedged, the money markets may not lend to them.History suggests nothing is fully hedged.
http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/commentary/20...
"Perhaps most importantly, we find that inflation has a dramatic negative impact on the profitability of banks. Various measures of bank profitability—net interest margins, net profits, rate of return on equity, and value added by the banking sector—all decline in real terms as inflation rises, after controlling for other variables. Figure 2 plots banks’ real net interest margins against the inflation quartiles to give one example. (The real net interest margin is a measure of the inflation-adjusted spread between a bank’s lending rate and its cost of obtaining funds.) We see that even at fairly modest inflation rates of between 5.1 percent and 9.1 percent, the real net interest margin turns negative. Such low real rates of return suggest that the incentives to expand bank operations simply are not as strong as inflation
rises."
ringram said:
NoelWatson said:
ringram said:
Are you suggesting they are fully hedged against inflation!? Surely the cost would be prohibitive?
History suggests nothing is fully hedged.
I don't see how inflation comes into it. Indeed, they cannot be fully hedged, the money markets may not lend to them.History suggests nothing is fully hedged.
http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/commentary/20...
"Perhaps most importantly, we find that inflation has a dramatic negative impact on the profitability of banks. Various measures of bank profitability—net interest margins, net profits, rate of return on equity, and value added by the banking sector—all decline in real terms as inflation rises, after controlling for other variables. Figure 2 plots banks’ real net interest margins against the inflation quartiles to give one example. (The real net interest margin is a measure of the inflation-adjusted spread between a bank’s lending rate and its cost of obtaining funds.) We see that even at fairly modest inflation rates of between 5.1 percent and 9.1 percent, the real net interest margin turns negative. Such low real rates of return suggest that the incentives to expand bank operations simply are not as strong as inflation
rises."
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