French Election

[Rhodes]

France have made a grave mistake in electing the inexperienced and uncharismatic Francois Hollande who, incredibly, has never held Ministerial office and is the first Socialist to win the French Presidency since the controversial Francois Mitterand in 1988. Hollande is quoted as saying he dislikes the rich and has singled out the World of finance as his principal enemy, whatever that means, he wants to slap a 75% tax rate on those earning more than a million Euros a year. As for Mr Hollande's personal life, I would rather not go there, his partner, Valerie Trierweller, is the very first unmarried 'Premier Dame' in French history and was embarrassingly revealed as Hollande's lover when he coldly seperated from the loyal Mother of his four children whom he was with for thirty years, this says everything about the man who became the French President yesterday. Twice, yes twice, divorced Ms Trierweller is nicknamed 'the rottweller', after she slapped a colleague at Paris Match magazine and it is felt that former Premier Dame Carla Bruni will seem like low maintenance in future compared to her. The French people are no fools but it's hard to see what on earth they were thinking in electing Hollande and not sticking with Nicolas Sarkozy who was an excellent and innovative President during his tenure and of course married Carla Bruni during his eventful Presidency in what was a fairy tale story, their baby was the first ever child born to a sitting French President.

[Big J R]

All I can say is, that both the elctions, France & Greece, throw the whole European Union thing into complete chaos.

 

Thanks Gawd we NEVER went into the Euro.

 

Then there's Eire - I see they have another referendum coming up, and it was suggested on French TV news, (via BBC), yesterday, they meay even vote to come out of the Euro and reinstitute the punt !

 

It gets more interesting by the day !

[Rhodes]

Big JR - Mark my words, France’s economy will make Greece’s look like Switzerland’s in two years under Hollande’s leadership

[missunderstood]

Good luck to the our French and Greek comrades who will hopefully show the rest of the world that austerity measures aimed almost exclusively at the working class are immoral and pointless.

[Rhodes]

Hypocritical Francois Hollande, who supposedly 'dislikes' the rich, owns three plush homes in Cannes on the French Riviera and has total assets approaching £1 million. Hollande rents a luxury Paris apartment, which he shares with lover Valerie Trierweller, and owns a palatial villa in Mougins, a short drive from where his two sons live in flats purchased by him. Hollande was forced to declare his worth to France's Constitutional Council following his recent election victory, unsurprisingly he valued his entire fortune at a modest £940,000, just under the £1 million ceiling at which France's wealth tax is levied.

[missunderstood]

Hypocritical Francois Hollande, who supposedly 'dislikes' the rich, owns three plush homes in Cannes on the French Riviera and has total assets approaching £1 million. Hollande rents a luxury Paris apartment, which he shares with lover Valerie Trierweller, and owns a palatial villa in Mougins, a short drive from where his two sons live in flats purchased by him. Hollande was forced to declare his worth to France's Constitutional Council following his recent election victory, unsurprisingly he valued his entire fortune at a modest £940,000, just under the £1 million ceiling at which France's wealth tax is levied.

 

I would imagine that the average pen pusher thats had a career in the MOD and owns their own property has assets in that region if you include the value of their pension pot and their property. Could this be a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

[Rhodes]

Missunderstood - That post made me laugh seeing how I'm only on about 24k a year and don't own my own home, I'm not a Mandarin of Whitehall by any means.

[Eastside Urchin]

Missunderstood assumes you are though

[missunderstood]

Missunderstood - That post made me laugh seeing how I'm only on about 24k a year and don't own my own home, I'm not a Mandarin of Whitehall by any means.

 

Someone earning a slightly below average salary of £24K with 40 years pensionable service, in a 1/60 per year of service final salary pension scheme, would have an LTA (pension pot) of £320,000, the price of an average three bed house in London is about £400,000, so added together even that makes a not inconsiderable sum of £720,000. For people on higher salaries who have been sensible enough to put money into AVCs the LTA and total sum would be considerably higher.

 

Even the most humble of worker can have financial assets of sums approaching £1000,000, and I don't think that makes them hypocrites if they want to live in a fairer society.

Edited May 13, 2012 by missunderstood

[Loose]

Missunderstood - That post made me laugh seeing how I'm only on about 24k a year and don't own my own home, I'm not a Mandarin of Whitehall by any means.

 

Someone earning a slightly below average salary of £24K with 40 years pensionable service, in a 1/60 per year of service final salary pension scheme, would have an LTA (pension pot) of £320,000, the price of an average three bed house in London is about £400,000, so added together even that makes a not inconsiderable sum of £720,000. For people on higher salaries who have been sensible enough to put money into AVCs the LTA and total sum would be considerably higher.

 

Even the most humble of worker can have financial assets of sums approaching £1000,000, and I don't think that makes them hypocrites if they want to live in a fairer society.

 

Point well made Missunderstood.

[Rhodes]

Missunderstood - I only joined the MoD in 1986 and anyway the pension scheme will have been plundered, Robert Maxwell style, by the time I, and many Civil Servants like me, retire so I'm expecting to get very little if anything to live on by the time I'm 65. We can't all be like Loosely can we who is no doubt enjoying his shrewdly planned retirement nest egg to the full.

[Loose]

Rhodesy what are you talking about? My retirement plan has been a huge failure, I always planned to retire at 54, here I am at 49 and I retired in April this year. That is piss poor planning and btw I can't even get at my company pensions for at least 10 years! I'm quite annoyed I can tell you.

[missunderstood]

Missunderstood - That post made me laugh seeing how I'm only on about 24k a year and don't own my own home, I'm not a Mandarin of Whitehall by any means.

 

Someone earning a slightly below average salary of £24K with 40 years pensionable service, in a 1/60 per year of service final salary pension scheme, would have an LTA (pension pot) of £320,000, the price of an average three bed house in London is about £400,000, so added together even that makes a not inconsiderable sum of £720,000. For people on higher salaries who have been sensible enough to put money into AVCs the LTA and total sum would be considerably higher.

 

Even the most humble of worker can have financial assets of sums approaching £1000,000, and I don't think that makes them hypocrites if they want to live in a fairer society.

 

Point well made Missunderstood.

 

 

Missunderstood - I only joined the MoD in 1986 and anyway the pension scheme will have been plundered, Robert Maxwell style, by the time I, and many Civil Servants like me, retire so I'm expecting to get very little if anything to live on by the time I'm 65. We can't all be like Loosely can we who is no doubt enjoying his shrewdly planned retirement nest egg to the full.

 

The only way your pension pot will be plundered is if you allow it to happen by refusing to fight for what is rightfully yours.

 

The problem is that very few people understand how much money has to be invested into having a dignified retirement, and most people seem to think their property is their most valuable asset, when in fact their annuity is very often worth far more. If Loose, like me, is enjoying his "shrewdly planned retirement nest egg" good luck to him, because we read the small print, and acted accordingly.

Edited May 14, 2012 by missunderstood

[spotteddog]

I live in France and I have no problem with the decision of the French people.

Sarko changed very little. He was primarily Merkel's poodle.

 

As always, austerity seems to only apply to the silent majority. Tax avoidance, off shore companies and dishonesty is rife here as it is in the UK.

 

A different approach might work.

 

On a sad note, I hear Johnny Depp is moving out of France due to high taxes. Good news is that he is not a brain surgeon.

 

FIFO (Fit in or F*** off)

[missunderstood]

Rhodesy what are you talking about? My retirement plan has been a huge failure, I always planned to retire at 54, here I am at 49 and I retired in April this year. That is piss poor planning and btw I can't even get at my company pensions for at least 10 years! I'm quite annoyed I can tell you.

 

Enjoy your retirement Gordon, and if your anything like myself and most of the early retirees that I know you will wonder where you found the time to ever go to work, and any ability to time manage will quickly disappear.

[Loose]

Rhodesy what are you talking about? My retirement plan has been a huge failure, I always planned to retire at 54, here I am at 49 and I retired in April this year. That is piss poor planning and btw I can't even get at my company pensions for at least 10 years! I'm quite annoyed I can tell you.

 

Enjoy your retirement Gordon, and if your anything like myself and most of the early retirees that I know you will wonder where you found the time to ever go to work, and any ability to time manage will quickly disappear.

 

Cheers Alan, well I don't feel like I've stopped yet since we've been packing up the house now for what seems ages! We're going to divide our time between our home here and in Italy (we're about 30 miles from Perugia Rhodesy so I'll keep an eye out on the appeal for you!). I might start another business out there if I get bored but I'll always be around!

[missunderstood]

Rhodesy what are you talking about? My retirement plan has been a huge failure, I always planned to retire at 54, here I am at 49 and I retired in April this year. That is piss poor planning and btw I can't even get at my company pensions for at least 10 years! I'm quite annoyed I can tell you.

 

Enjoy your retirement Gordon, and if your anything like myself and most of the early retirees that I know you will wonder where you found the time to ever go to work, and any ability to time manage will quickly disappear.

 

Cheers Alan, well I don't feel like I've stopped yet since we've been packing up the house now for what seems ages! We're going to divide our time between our home here and in Italy (we're about 30 miles from Perugia Rhodesy so I'll keep an eye out on the appeal for you!). I might start another business out there if I get bored but I'll always be around!

 

Grandchildren put a stop to our dream of a home abroad, and I wouldn't have it any other way, but the thought of gardening in Italy, plus the food, wine,and climate is making me green with envy. Any decent football clubs close by?

[Loose]

Rhodesy what are you talking about? My retirement plan has been a huge failure, I always planned to retire at 54, here I am at 49 and I retired in April this year. That is piss poor planning and btw I can't even get at my company pensions for at least 10 years! I'm quite annoyed I can tell you.

 

Enjoy your retirement Gordon, and if your anything like myself and most of the early retirees that I know you will wonder where you found the time to ever go to work, and any ability to time manage will quickly disappear.

 

Cheers Alan, well I don't feel like I've stopped yet since we've been packing up the house now for what seems ages! We're going to divide our time between our home here and in Italy (we're about 30 miles from Perugia Rhodesy so I'll keep an eye out on the appeal for you!). I might start another business out there if I get bored but I'll always be around!

 

Grandchildren put a stop to our dream of a home abroad, and I wouldn't have it any other way, but the thought of gardening in Italy, plus the food, wine,and climate is making me green with envy. Any decent football clubs close by?

 

Sell the grandchildren it's not too late! I think you'd love it Alan, we've got plum trees, an apple, a fig, a couple of olive trees and a vine. Plan to put in a couple of palms and plant out the terraces. You get a little light rain every evening around 6pm for half an hour apart from that it's blue skies from May to November. The weather system is ideal between the mountains and the sea. Football clubs, well you've got your choice from Serie A, Serie B up to a couple of hours away to Serie D which is Non League Ryman/BSS standard, we've adopted Civitonese in Serie D 50 minutes away, club is 100 yards from the Adriatic. Shots of espresso at half time and sitting across from the ultras during the game. They just lost out in the playoffs but in truth they aren't big enough to sustain promotion at the moment.

[Rhodes]

The only way your pension pot will be plundered is if you allow it to happen by refusing to fight for what is rightfully yours

Missunderstood – What’s the point, striking won’t change anything will it

[Rhodes]

On a sad note, I hear Johnny Depp is moving out of France due to high taxes. Good news is that he is not a brain surgeon

It’s nice to have new blood on a topic, a Clapton supporter living in France must be quite rare. I thought Johnny Depp was leaving France because he and Vanessa Paradis will be divorcing soon, I’ve never been able to understand what Depp saw in her have you.