(Part 2) Top products from r/UKPersonalFinance

I'm sure Lurklurk will be along with a more comprehensive reply, but a civil service pension is very safe.

I would guess that, once it starts paying out, it does so for the rest of your life, which no contribution-based pension or other savings will do. With them, you have money in the pot, and if it runs out you're screwed.

You wrote that "changes to the pension scheme have made it less desirable in recent times", but you still have a very good pension scheme - I don't think there are many better.

50 years ago, all pension schemes were defined benefit - in recent decades it has been realised that this is unsustainable, and now practically all are contribution-based. The civil service are one of the last holdouts giving these gold-plated pensions.

You should read these previous threads, especially /u/pflurklurk's extensive comments n them:

• Defined benefit pension
  
  
• Should I top up my Civil Service pension?
  
  
• Need help to figure out how my pension works
  
  I think that, at your age, you should probably be trying to make some separate retirement provision (pension or ISA or whatever) - even if you don't manage to keep it up (perhaps when you later have the expenses of children, for example) then your long horizon does indeed give you the maximum benefit of compounding.
  
  Read Tim Hale's Smarter Investing, which should address all immediate questions regarding your longterm investing plans. I got a brand new copy of the blue-covered edition for £3 a few weeks ago, but prices have been fluctuating since - compare [Amazon] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0273708007) and Abe.

Yes. You'll be way better off. I wrote a short guide about setting up a contracting company, it sounds like it'd be quite relevant to your situation: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NS2YNP7/

I dare say as a contracting company, you can easily make twice as much, and if you know you don't make use of the various free benefits then you're not getting the full value out of employment, plus a lot of the benefits you can provide for yourself from your own company.

Market values of shares would become dislocated from intrinsic value of shares.

This would make value investing an enticing prospect, passive investors would reach for the top shelf of their bookcase and dust off their old copy of Security Analysis by Ben Graham , and go back to work picking undervalued stocks.

It will never happen though, there will always be active investors.

First off starting with some non financial advice stuff

It seems you have things sorted from a technical ability perspective but when it comes down to requirements and understanding what is needed that is something you might fall down on.

This happens a fair bit to be honest with you as systems can get a lot more complex and you are at the mercy of any business analysis which might be done, so as you say you can deliver "it" if you know what "it" is, that comes from experience but can be learnt in other ways.

Couple of book links:

• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clean-Coder-Conduct-Professional-Programmers/dp/0137081073
  
• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pragmatic-Programmer-Andrew-Hunt/dp/020161622X/
  
  Now financial questions, I would adjust your salary expectations, but it might not be out of the question for you to find something in that area especially depending on how commutable Manchester is, but there are places everywhere which do this kind of work, just might find competition is different.

I totally understand this feeling too - been there!

I found the book What Colour is your Parachute really helpful for this - when you have a few ideas of things you might like to do and why but also feel like you need a life overhaul/plan.

here’s the book it’s a workbook and so takes some time, as it’ll only be useful if you do the exercises etc

I think the main PF ones will be recommended well, and lots of the same approaches apply on both sides. Tax treatment is probably the key difference, which might not be best learned through a book.

So aside I'm going to recommend one book I adore that I think is hugely applicable through life (has probably changed my view upon the world more than almost anything else) and one that I've just started but is so far fascinating.

Thinking, fast and slow: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0141033576

Nobel prize winner, talking about how humans think weirdly. I challenge anyone to read this and not find something they think is applicable to their own life or how they view the world.

How to Be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Be-Miserable-Strategies-Already/dp/B01HH0BC70

A guide to being miserable. A self help book effectively written from the other side. I detest saccharine self help things, this is captivating and I think a great way of viewing problems.

Not as relevant, but The Evolution of Cooperation: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evolution-Co-Operation-Penguin-Press-Science/dp/0140124950

A simple and perhaps laboured point but something that has stuck with me over the past 10 years.

Two of these, the first and last, are ones I've finished and lent out to others as much as I can possibly do so. I expect that how to be miserable will fall under these ranks but I've not finished it yet.

Got a book recommendation for you: https://www.amazon.com/Defining-Decade-Your-Twenties-Matter/dp/0446561754 from your post it sounds like this might help you clarify your thinking. I hope you find a path you’re happy with.

This is a good book to read.

How To Be A Landlord: The Definitive Guide to Letting and Managing Your Rental Property https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993497225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Wm7QCb2TZWJZZ

Good luck!

Simple Not Easy is one of the few great investing books by a UK author.

Though the books of James Montier are excellent too.

Here's my list of top 30 books.

Thanks!
During his degree, my friend who is currently in the machine learning engineer role had only studied one or two modules (out of 6 per year) of machine learning but still got the job. I believe they start with even more training than the software development grad scheme I'm on. I think it's 1-2 months of training before you start doing proper work.

The textbook was this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Growing-Object-Oriented-Software-Guided-Signature/dp/0321503627/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1VLKSUNCURZGL&keywords=test+driven+development&qid=1555061804&s=gateway&sprefix=test+driven+%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-5

I'll PM you the company

• Cost to list 1200+ items on Amazon per month = £30
  
  https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/sell-online/pricing.html
  
  
• Cost to list 1200 items on eBay per month = £60
  
  https://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/Which-eBay-Shop-is-Best-For-You-/10000000011296774/g.html
  
  

go look how many stories there were in the past week alone of university sexual encounters ending up in court.

Go read up on title xi in the USA and the backlash against restoring due process to students accused of sexual offences, this book is a good read

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unwanted-Advances-Sexual-Paranoia-Campus/dp/0062657860

Then consider how many universities think consent classes should be mandatory.

The reality is if I had a son going to university I'd be advising him to be very careful about drunk encounters and to make sure there's zero doubt in his mind about what's taking place