₦airaland Forum

But what

Shadomaan7:
Reno's ex wife must be a troublesome woman.

Crap

opeoyek:
We got the keys to our new home on Friday. The process took over five months. Thanks to @lexus, jedisco, solumtoya and every other person who contributes to this thread. My wife and I got almost £7000 from LISA (bonus and interest).

Big congrats... well deserved. You don league of folks wey deh 'take our houses'.
LISA's for many is a no-brainer

Yorubastardz:
Ajuri is half caste
He has some white man DNA inside him

White people have more integrity than the whole black race. So it's not new for white man to resign if his integrity is affected.

If Ajuri was 100% black man.....FORGET IT!!
He will rather die than to resign office.

Why do you have such self-deprecating views about yourself?

Hope you know the term half caste is considered derogatory.

It's absurd you attach things like integrity to a race. This would get you into serious issues outside this country. They have integrity but yet enslaved you forefathers on a pack of lies for centuries. They have integrity but some have continued to wreck havoc on different nation states. I hope you leave the shores of this country one day to see that humans world over have similar basic traits and people who see themselves as less because of their skin colour never amount to anything.

This post would have earned you a ban on a lot of international fora but remains on nairaland cos of what @Seun has let this place be

tushqueen:
Hi, can anyone please recommend a tax accountant, these ones I got through to wants monthly charges, is that what they do?

For most you can either choose pay monthly or yearly. To me, the total yearly sum is what counts. If it's for individual tax returns, then usually a one-off fee is what they take. That said, many PAYE employers can sort their tax returns themselves. For more complex endeavours like or ltd co accountancy, estate planning e.t.c its sensible to get help. Also there are niche ones e.g for medical accountants

What monthly cost are you being quoted and is it as an individual?

edmasta01:
I see that you are stating your experience as a greenhorn who is new to properties. I state my own from my own experience as well.

That is fine. You can focus on your index funds. I'll focus on what I know best. Wishing you best of luck.

Hope you know you've not said anything enlightening in this exchange?

The certainty with which you type despite making basic mistakes is worrying. e.g house prices doubling every 10yrs
There's only so much YouTube/Tiktok 'property experts' with little practical experience can teach. I'd be careful investing my hard earned money on the advise of such 'experts' whose main income source is tiktok views

What is the source of this based on?

gmacnoms:
Shey na this uk driving test una say e hard?

After A for Apple, it is the next easiest thing I’ve seen For anyone coming from Nigerian roads

Hehe it can be tricky but overall straightforward. Just like IELTS, attitude towards it matters.

Haven taking quite a few tests/exams, I have come to see exams here are largely straightforward. There's hardly a catch. There'd be clear instructions on what's needed to pass. You do them and that's it.

edmasta01:
I repeat, property investment will give you way more return than the S&P 500. Property prices if purchased properly doubles every 10 years. If I lie, go and check property price history on land registry.

If you and I were given £100,000 for investment each and you invest yours into S&p 500 and I invest mine into properties, i will make more money than you within 2 years - 10 years.

No property investment that does not use leverage. If not, why do we have mortgage companies in the UK? Even the direct tax exposure you are highlighting is not a big deal.

What matters is diversification.

Actually it used to be 14 yrs in the UK but that has not held thru since the global crises of 2008 and are not even close to doubling.
Usually, I wouldn't indulge but you make some very troubling statements

I'm worried about how you speak in absolutes. In investing, nothing is certain. I just detailed how UK real property prices are where they were in 2004 yet the stock market historically returns 5-7% pa on average after inflation.

Secondly, I worry about your 2yr timeframe moreso with property. Have you considered costs of conveyancing both for both buying and selling, void periods before sell and risk of defaults? With investing in either of the two, I would not even go close if I'm not looking at a 5-10yr frame at least. When I was looking to buy my place which was within a 2yr timeframe, I remained in a cash isa following advise of a financial advisor.

Lastly, I like limiting my talk to things I have some knowledge on. I've been in the market for a BTL for over 6m now. As I was not in a hurry and still weighing options, I put the money in an index fund. I've been to view a number of properties many of which are from landlords selling as they did not find it profitable. Discussing with some others gave more insight. When I considered fees, tied down funds and the fact that a spoilt boiler or an entitled tenant in rent arrears (trust me there are loads) can wipe out your annual profit, not considering accounting fees if looking to incorporate, the remaining advantage of BTL becomes leverage which is only appreciable longterm. My capital in index funds currently has gains of 15% in just under a year (was almost 20% at a point). Granted, this has been a particularly good yr. However that gain is tax free (if in an ISA), can be withdrawn at the touch of a button with no lawyer or estate fee e.t.c.

Overall, I appreciate the pros and cons of both and see room for property investing in a diversified portfolio but it should be done out of knowledge and not building butterflies.

Cyberknight:
You're right. We're stressing different points.
My first comment was about the fact that minority politicians are still seen as just that - minority politicians. Echoes of Michelle Obama's "we have to work twice as hard to get half as far".

As a black person, I'm happy to see Badenoch and other people aspiring and reaching wherever they want to go. I don't mind if aspiring leaders play politics, speak from both sides of their mouth, talk up all the rightwing talking points, that's the game... But only up to a point.

I see.. The demography of western societies + others are changing and with it racial tensions too. It's still a tricky path for minority politicians in the West as democracy is a game of numbers and humans would vote in what they consider their self interest.

Two issues I notice is that countries and nationals (back home) from the global south want to 'join body' with such western minority politicians forgetting that those folks would only act in the best interests of their new nation. They are not Indian, Nigerian or Kenyan. Rishi being PM does not help the average Indian on the streets of Delhi and manytimes due to different life experiences would see things differently. Kemi for e.g hardly says praiseworthy things about Nigeria. Sometimes, it's largely optics but should result in a changing narrative

Another one is that in the west today, it's much more difficult for a minority politician to push policies in favour of minorities. Even in Nigeria with our more powerful executives, most major controversial constitutional ammendments have been done by politicians from the other side of the divide e.g Lagos and it's LG issues, Sharia, and resource control.

stevolinkon40:
Thanks for the detailed response.
Yes I was asking if the delivery of the PR card by courier won’t require a signature.
From your explanation i guess someone in the address can collect on one’s behalf. But if you leave before the card arrives, your colleague will probably have to send it by courier to UK for you to reenter canada again when you want to finally move since the visa given with COPr is single entry. Thanks for the other advice.
Though for my drivers license I haven’t had the Uk own for upto 2years, it’s just 1year 4months now and the requirements says you must have held the license for up to 2years for a direct exchange.

Yeah. He would send it to me together with my bank card and other correspondence.
Didn't know abt the 2yr criteria. Would they give you a provisional licence at least?
8 months still far small

stevolinkon40:
Nice, since you won’t be staying for long. How do you intend to get your PR card. The address you filled, will someone receive it on your behalf? I was thinking it will be signature required. I am also in the Uk and don’t want to leave just yet, want to stay till end of the year to get my annual bonus especially since most people say it take months before most people get a job. If they will be able to deliver to the address filled without requiring signature perhaps I could just go and return to the uk within a week as well and I keep applying for job from here.

I used the address of a colleague which was same thing that same colleague also did when he arrived. Not aware of a signature part. Is to sign for courier delivery? Also got a prepaid sim card, social insurance number and opened a bank account. Folks generously gave me a 2k credit card. Main thing left is to get a driving licence (have to submit my UK licence hence had to wait) and decide what province I want to stay which is partly dependent on job.

Urgency of arrival all depends on when your COPR is due.
Regarding jobs, it's largely field specific. Being a PR holder + UK experience should count if you're looking at same field of pactice. You could consider starting your job search now. One way could be to touch base, get a few bits sorted, visit recruiters (if need be) return to the UK and them come when ready hopefully to resume a role

Just touched down calgary. Should be staying a few days before return. With my COPR set to expire in Feb, didn't want to come in winter.

One striking difference when compared to the UK is the little cloud cover. Nice blue skies with little cloud cover. Also roads, houses and cars are much bigger with loads being dual-carriage. Roads are straight with the city compartmentalised- similar to abuja. Theres no 'high street' perse but rather an area zoned to retail outlets in each locality. Driving here is essential as just getting across a road might mean long waka. Much different from UK cities where roads are narrower (some A-roads are not dual carriage), windy and towns much more connected - one could walk everywhere and go 'people watching' on the highstreet.

Hung out at 360 grill and lounge- nice vibes. Had live music and food was tasty

Cyberknight:
\

Lol. Your assertion that becoming an MP is not a walk in the park logically implies that MP are some form of "creme de la creme" or the best society has to offer. If you think so, allow me to disabuse you of that notion. Nowhere in the world is that the case, and it is certainly not the case here. The entry barrier to politics in this country is low, way lower than it now is in the place we came from, where you have to amass a war chest or swear fealty to someone who's already amassed one, and generally sign away all or the greater part of your soul and freedom of action. Which is a very good thing. Here you turn up, and your local party association put you forward. Sometimes, they are looking for specific demographics to run, like minorities or specific genders. You pay a negligible deposit. You put your ideas forward if any, do your flyering and doorstepping. And the people in the constituency choose. That's all. This is a process that some schoolleavers and university students have successfully followed to win seats. Try to see it for what it is - a really quite levelled process.
.....

Interesting.. not to belabour issues. But we're stressing different points. The argument is not an MP being the creme of the society or the mythical best but rather the effort taken to achieve that.

That 'low' criteria is the reason why election results not being written in people's homes and why there's 'some merit' in the system. Laods of people aim to be MPs, very few actually succeed. Even fewer go on to stand out among peers and only a handful eventually become party leaders or the PM. I'm not a fan of Trump or Nigel but I appreciate certain skills they have. Just like success in most endeavours of life more so an for a public facing role, some might have struggled less but it's not an easy job. I would personally not take it up even if it was handed on a platter.

After the recent terrible riots which I was very vocal about, there's no denying racism or the existence of glass ceilings. I have pointed out how years of biased reporting, microagrressions e.t.c led to rifrafs targeting productive members of the society. I have also been quite vocal about the huge sums immigrants have to pay for study, visa and settlement fees and how these in addition to visa restrictions ultimately lead to restricted financial outcomes and relative deprivation with its attendant effects (crime, health, life expectancy e.t.c). This still spills to the second generations. Acknowledging the existence of such is different from sitting back, doing nothing and blaming racism for poor outcomes while not even trying. We as immigrants need to understand the pathway to deprivation so we can try doubly hard to escape it. It's also the reason why when I see minorities who have poked through the glass ceiling, I recognise the work they've done and want to know how.

solveabode:
Good day all
Please I need urgent advise on this issue. Does it worth doing admin. Review?

What's the background story. Should get more input if the underlying story is clear

lavida001:
In summary they are giving these aid to show their poor people that, look you are better than this people we are giving aids 🤣

Some politicians rhetoric is they give these aid so Africans can in turn buy what the west sells.

Still don’t make sense to me. If we don’t wake up as Africans we will continue be toss around by the west.

There are many reasons why countries like the U.S cannot stop giving aid. If they do, recipient nations would start asking troubling questions e.g why do we trade in the dollar. People mention billions of usd thevUS gives- that billions of usd are numbers magicked out of thin air on a computer. They should reflect economic output but trillions printed during covid taught us different. The US is only able to do that cos they own the world reserve currency. Any money spent to cement that position (e.g on aid, military e.t.c) is 'justifiable'. If the global south moves to doing trade/storing reserves outside the usd, it would wreck significant havoc to the US.

Except in times of war or special situations which shouldn't be everyday, aid hardly helps. That aid would do us better if it's instead used to fund investigation of stolen wealth, prosecution and repatriation back based on certain criteria or if its instead help with setting up the right technological, agricultural infrastructure. A functional refinery would do us significantly more good than billions of aid. Ultimately our leaders need to understand there's no free lunch and start building too.

Move in the right direction but much more should be done

He should only come to the media to inform citizens by how much food production in Kogi has improved. Records which should be verifiable by independent agencies

lavida001:
Make sense. What’s your take about banning of cigarettes

Cautiously in support

lavida001:
Can you give a reason why these wealthy countries send billions of £ aids to third world nations, when they know the moneys will be looted.

Aid goes beyond the desire to help and manytimes is used to achieve soft power, regime change and mostly brings more benefit to the giver than the receiver. There'd always be some focused, tokenised projects used as a wallpaper to sell it. Aid is like giving someone just enough to keep them alive and see you as their saviour but never enough to do anything useful. There is a reason why virtually no country in the global south has made any progress with aid received. Most are structured in a way to make looting them back to lending nations the end goal. American help to the Europe and Japan after the world wars was structured very differently. Caveat: this is not absolving developing nations of certain responsibilities.

Another question is to ask what happens when the West stop giving aid? Recipient nations begin to seek options elsewhere prompting the West to come running back. Good example are with recent Chinese loans which the EU and the US are now mimicking after years of criticising them.

Another example are the recent cocoa wars between West African nations and global beverage or chocolate companies. Despite rising prices of end goods, only a tiny sum of money in the sector (5% or less) got to the farmers and growing nations. Their governments had been pushing to raise the floor price of cocoa beans so farmers and local economies could benefit. Nestle e.t.c though being able to afford this were vehemently opposed. They instead opted to give aid i.e plaster the pictures of hapless African children over the Internet.
Most of our recent major infrastructure have been thanks to Chinese loans. Ask yourself how much the UK has done to support former colonies like Nigeria to achieve economy-changing infrastructure projects over the last few decades. Rather, it's about tokenised bits called aid.
That is why countries like the U.S cannot stop giving aid. If they do, countries would start asking troubling questions e.g why do we use the dollar

P.s, the term 'third world' can be many times be considered derogatory. I'd rather global south.

danny34:
I am appalled with paying 8400 for IHS and visa application fee for me, my wife and son, for the post Study Visa in January. I don't even have it. I have justed finished paying 14k for my program. Is there anything you can suggest to me ?

Thanks

Sad to read. It seems this would be the rising trend among many masters students especially those in non-healthcare roles.
Aside seeking sponsorship roles that meet the salary threshold, you can seek out roles in sectors that are exempt e.g the NHS. Also gather the prison service offer sponsorship. If you can't, then paying your PSW fee might be the only way to get 2 further years of stay, garner experience, income and keep pushing.
Also worth looking at the Canada healthcare draws. I have stumbled upon a few who have applied for their healthcare draw successfully the basis of being a carer or HCA so I'm guessing your role in youth residential care might count if you've achieved required hours. Hopefully, others would shed more light. Good luck as you navigate this

Cyberknight:
Badenoch is just another politician - empty words, no proven competence, no policies to offer other than endless culture wars and identity politics.

Drearily, she's just another one in a long line of minority politicians who feel they can achieve something beyond the colour of their skin - her loud silence and eventual parroting of the party line during the recent race riots a case in point. As the race riots showed, no matter how much you try to form oyibo, no matter how much you claim to say the things they want to hear, no matter how many fake accents you assume, the day jungle mature, someone somewhere will stand at a checkpoint and profile you by skin colour and ask you : "Are you English? Are you white?"

It's easy to dismiss people's achievements until we understand that becoming an MP is not a walk in the park. It's easy to join the popular voice of painting all politicians with same brush until you ask yourself why those 'bright heads' abusing politicians are not running for office. I might not agree with all her politics but I recognise her brilliance.

I am wondering why you should elevate the thought of 'someone somewhere' to such pedestal allowing it to have an outsized impact over your psyche. It leans into the self-deprecating views I spoke about. Many people including Trump believed Obama was not American enough to be president. I guess he should have dropped out of the race. In Nigeria, we had religious riots fermented by almajiris- having witnessed same, should I think any different of myself because an almajiri somewhere thinks I'm an infidel and the cause of his ruin?

We live in a changing world. We are not English or white same as we're not Zulus e.t.c . However, being British goes beyond that. Many of us here have/would earn the right to call ourselves British. If we allow the opinion of someone somewhere (e.g recently convicted rioting criminals) to limit our thought process and achievement of we and our kids, then we'd have no one to blame but ourselves.

Disgraceful! He should show us what impact he made to the lives of Nigerians.

How many political leaders of wealthy nations run off to other countries after their tenure displaying such extreme opulence? How much more Nigeria riddled with significant poverty brought on by his likes. The respect he seeks can only be had by moving Nigeria forward.

What difference does being black American make?
@Seun. Such should not be elevated to front page

edmasta01:
I can 100% tell you that investing in properties in the UK will give you more returns than S&P 500. What determines which one you do is based on (a) Do you want to own properties and manage it (b) Do you prefer hands free investment etc.

Hmm... 100% is a bold thing to say especially in investment. Looking back, property just about tracks inflation. Adjusted for inflation, property prices are in the UK today similar to what they were 2 decades ago. A global index or the S&P is at an close to an all time high. Property only begins to shine when you factor in leverage i.e using the banks money to achieve profit. But then, one needs to know how to utilise leverage i.e taking a mortgageat for a sum and allowing inflation devalue the sum borrowed. The downside of property us the direct tax exposure. As we've seen over recent years, when the government is set on a group e.g landlords, they can turn a fledged business into a struggling one.

lavida001:
People wey no serious they send billions of £ in to sub Sahara Africa in aid but can afford to keep pensioners winter credit ongoing.

Trying so hard to prove to the world you are a wealthy nation while your elderly die in cold winter.

Will never make sense to me.

Hehe... the dynamics behind aid is far reaching. The US does not have universal healthcare but give billions in aid. China has it's domestic challenges but do same. There's a reason for aid and it goes beyond the surface

edmasta01:
To be honest, it depends on your current situation i.e. I don't know much about your financial and family situation so it's difficult to say.

But for an individual who has a moderate family of wife and two kids (and you have your residence already), I'll try and keep saving until i have about £40,000.

Then I'd find a 2 - 3 bedroom in an area where you can get £120k property that needs refurbishing (e.g. Hull, Stockton on tees, stoke on trent) and get a Buy To let Mortgage on the house and refurb it with £10,000 (I'll do the painting myself, do some of the cleaning and only pay professionals for the bit I can't do) and resell it or refinance it.

If I sell for £140 - 150,000 - I'll cash out my profit and rinse and repeat the process.

I'd usually just (a) Use Youtube to watch how others are doing this type of renovation (b) search rightmove and zoopla for potential properties selling and go from there.

But if you want a totally hands free investment, Vanguardinvestor is still a good place to keep your cash (Please note - investment like this is usually for the long term and investment can go up or down - so please speak to a financial advisor as my content above is just my own experience).

It's worth being careful with such. There are tons of tiktok and YouTube videos of 'property millionaires' discussing how to flip properties. Many of these 'millionaires' might make more money from YouTube than any property (if at all). I considered it but on looking in, got more details.

First, if a property only needed paint to achieve an extra 40k, valuation, the vendors would paint it. Most of the doer uppers I see are already priced in a way that cost of renovations are taken into account and unless you're doing heavy renovations like fitting new kitchens or bathrooms yourself, you might come short. I recently had to cost the price of a new kitchen, bathroom and other bits on a property I was looking at and saw it'd only work at 40k below asking which vendors were unwilling to consider

Looking at your examples, take a few costs into consideration. That of conveyancing (solicitors e.t.c) is in the thousands. Also, once you get a BTL mortgage, you start paying monthly for an empty while you're doing renovations. Putting a property back on the market withing a short period can raise suspicions with some lenders declining to mortgage it without a good reason. Overall, you're looking at 6 months at least of mortgage payments on an empty house. When you sell, there's capital gains tax to pay on profits. If one is not seeing a good uptick in value which simple repainting would hardly achieve then it's worth threading with caution. Reason why for such endeavours people use cash or bridging loans which are more expensive than mortgages.

If you decide to rent, it's worth taking into consideration the recent tax changes if the property is owned in your name. If one decides to incorporate, it's worth being clear-headed on the numbers it takes to make things work. Overall, property can be a good invested but it's for many a longterm game and important to consider changing rules.

Goodenoch:
Thanks! Yes it's not for first time house purchase - it's for later life. You can also invest your LISA in specific funds/bonds, etc (using Moneybox - not sure about other platforms or whether you buy specific stocks, although I have no interest in picking stocks anyway).

My issue is that it appears that the ability to get 40% tax relief plus being able to access it at 55 (57 from 2028) instead of 60 for the LISA makes it a much better option than the LISA's 25% bonus but I'm trying to balance that against the tax downside (it has withdrawal tax unlike the LISA).

LISA vs Pension
There's no hard and fast rule. Recently found myself in a similar situation but this time considering whether to only use a S&S ISA or also use a LISA. LISA has the 25% bonus on entry but for a higher rate tax payer. The rebate on a SIPP is 40% at that rate. I stumbled on some independent analysis of both and it seems most people would turn out better with a SIPP. Another consideration is the ISA vs SIPP. As an ISA gives the added flexibility of withdrawing at anytime e.g to fund early retirement until other pensions kick in.

BondRiv:
Who said anything about homophobia saving Nigeria? Lost interest in whatever she had to say. All these LGBTQ...XYZ advocates. Nonsense.

If we don't move our country forward and attain economic power so we can determine how our country is run,, then just the way we now speak English and are Christians/Muslims despite many of our forefathers not agreeing to such, we would eventually have no choice but to align to the rules of powerful nations we go borrowing from. That's how power works

Interesting take. I agree with most of what she said asides billionaires being evil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTmXlNHheXo?si=pxc-5UtG_0eD4Iij

Came upon this interview with Kemi and interestingly watched it all. I may not agree with all her points but my God, she's impressive! For someone who spent most of her first 2 decades in Nigeria and describes herself as a 'first-generation immigrant', it makes her current achievement and being the frontrunner to become the Tory party leader (irrespective of outcome) all the more impressive. Respect to her parents who molded a black Nigerian lady giving her the confidence to aspire to the top.
Across the pond we have Kamela- a lady born to both immigrant parents now in prime position to be the president of the U.S. It's no coincidence that the profile of her parents are equally impressive.

Overnight the discussions here around Chidinma flashed back. It's interesting some Nigerians see a lady who is South African by birth as mistepping for contesting to be Miss SA. No doubt that feeds into some on the self-deprecating views which some of us share about ourselves. The issue with believing such is that it would show when one interract with others as you would kowtow believing yourself to be inferior. Your kids viewing would pick up on that and may tow the path of violence or bottom scrapping as they never experienced better. Imagine Kemi or Kamala approaching Nigel and Trump respectively seeking permission to run for office. Hehe. You don't take permission to aim higher.

Many of us can today excuse ourselves for not heading to the top by being a recent immigrant and all the constraints attached. But let's be well aware that our kids (irrespective of their determinant socioeconomic background) would have no excuse if they find themselves languishing at the bottom. If they blame their skin colour, others will say but we had a PM of Indian origin decades ago. Recently, the GCSEs were released and I mainly got to know about it via colleagues sharing on groups I belong to what uni and couses their kids got. Those kids would have been trained to take no permission to succeed. Also recently bumped into an Indian health care assistant (on near minimum wage) putting in extra hours so they can purchase a house in the catchment area of a sought after school all so her child can go to a top uni.

I'm not writing this to convince adult folks to unapologetically aim for the top but rather for us to inculcate in our kids (for the sake of the black race if not for anything) the belief that heading for the top is not an exception but rather the expectation and equip them appropriately.

lavida001:
Just curious. What is it you actually do ?

You can choose not to answer.

I'm a GP