Interest rates

[Amarillo]

Within my inner circle of friends. Two were privately educated. One now owns a strip club and the other is a teacher at a private school.
I think the education was lost on these two…

Another close couple, both of whom were state educated, and ended up with doctorates in their fields of study, Have sent their boys private. So far the eldest has his leg broken in two places in a friendly game of lunchtime football (it’s complete changed the poor kid)and their youngest has behavioural problems.
It will be interesting to see how our boys turn out in years to come, as we’ve sent ours to the local state school and happy with his progress, learning and maturity.

I’m convinced, parental guidance/support is a much higher factor than what school they attend. Hence why I work part-time and believe being around to support them will pay dividends in the long run…

My two elder brothers each have four children.

The eldest sent all four of his to private school - much of it paid by his employer, and most of the rest by his wife on salary sacrifice as she was a teacher at the same school.

The second brother sent his to grammar schools.

Not all my nieces and nephews have finished full time education, but going on academic achievement alone, it looks like the grammar school cohort will outperform the private school cohort.

My younger brother’s two first went to private elementary school in China (Chinese language not international), then private schools in Kent. Their otherwise mediocre results have each been boosted by an A* in Mandarin.

 

[soulstyledevon]

My younger brother’s two first went to private elementary school in China (Chinese language not international), then private schools in Kent. Their otherwise mediocre results have each been boosted by an A* in Mandarin.

If he gets them into writing computer code and they’ll be set for a pretty good future…

 

[willwander]

If he gets them into writing computer code and they’ll be set for a pretty good future…

Code gets written by Copilot (ChatGPT), these days.
Ironically, the profession of coding may be one of the first to be replaced by AI.

Hopefully, I'll have retired by then.

 

[Amarillo]

Code is written by Copilot (ChatGPT), these days.
Ironically, the profession of coding may be one of the first to be replaced by AI.

Hopefully, I'll have retired by then.

I gave up learning Commodore PET Basic in 1982.

Syntax error at 1010.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Code gets written by Copilot (ChatGPT), these days.
Ironically, the profession of coding may be one of the first to be replaced by AI.

Hopefully, I'll have retired by then.

If thats your field Will.
I listened to a fascinating podcast a couple of week ago.
AI the biggest issue to face mankind…

 

[NessL]

And come out of it street wise having learnt about the real world, where people don't get houses bought for them & live off trust funds.

If the schools are so bad take your £18k per year in fees and spend it mortgage payments on a house where schools are better, there's no point owning 15 buy to lets and a semi in London if it means its not safe to go to school.

You clearly haven’t been paying attention to @Amarillo ‘s many financial posts.
His sons will be given enough money to buy a house and will no doubt have trust funds.
Seems like they’d be in their natural environment.

 

[NessL]

Grammar schools might only accept the top 20%.

The main criteria for acceptance into a private school is the parents’ ability to afford the fees. (They may reject the bottom 20%, and accept free-of-charge the top 5%).

We have a lot of private schools in the area where we live. The main criteria is not who can afford the fees, as there are plenty of people in the queue.
If your child has any barrier to learning e.g. dyslexia, you won’t get them into most private schools even if they have siblings already there.
We know this is fact, as friends experienced it.

 

[The Merle]

Code gets written by Copilot (ChatGPT), these days.
Ironically, the profession of coding may be one of the first to be replaced by AI.

Hopefully, I'll have retired by then.

Hope not as that’s my daughter job and she only went to public school. I’m a great believer in if your kid wants to learn they will do good whatever school they go to.

 

[66tim99]

I wasn’t doubting your returns. Mine would have been positive if I’d not been in an ethical fund.
I just wonder when, as interest rates rise, certainty is better. Nutmeg will offer base minus 0.75% on cash isa holdings

 

[OooOooTheMonkey]

How is “success” measured though? What does a good outcome look like? Do people really think a high salary is a measure of success? I used to think so but I don’t now. I think success comes from finding a place in life where you feel absolute content and fulfilled with who you are, what you do and you feel you are completely at one with your life. I don’t think you necessarily need to be well paid to find that. A good friend of mine who is a nurse on average pay I’d have to rate as one of the most content people I know. Another I know who is a solicitor is permanently burnt out through long hours and it’s pretty obvious from my perspective that money does not equal happiness. Private education might give you a better chance of a high salary but does it really give you a better chance of true happiness? I would love to know that.

 

[Shuftie]

Code gets written by Copilot (ChatGPT), these days.
Ironically, the profession of coding may be one of the first to be replaced by AI.

Hopefully, I'll have retired by then.

Not sure what language or field you're working in, but frankly - it's got a loooooong way to go before it's going to be useful for a serious enterprise.

 

[vmaxkiddy]

Eton and around half of the independent schools in this country are registered charities and have to generate a meaningful public benefit, not just a benefit for the fee payers. How they do this is up to them, bursaries being the main way, along with tie ups with local state schools.

 

[willwander]

Not sure what language or field you're working in, but frankly - it's got a loooooong way to go before it's going to be useful for a serious enterprise.

My team use copilot every day. It’s not writing all our code yet but it’s already a very useful tool.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Totally crazy.

These are the choices:
1. Intensive tutoring and hope to get into one of the neighbouring borough’s grammar schools.
2. Pay fees of ~£9,000 per year per child for seven years.
3. Go to the local school where children spit at their teachers and stab each other.

You might want to consider option 3 if your children want to go to Oxbridge though.

 

[andyinluton]

A member of our family went to Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, ended up as a Fellow there, didn't do him any good though, he didn't choose his friends very well & had all his property confiscated. His mate lost his head over it in 1649 so it could have been worse.

We have avoided the place ever since....

 

[Lambeth Cali]

An interesting article in The Economist.

https://www.economist.com/international/2023/06/08/should-you-send-your-children-to-private-school Should you send your children to private school? from TheEconomist

You might not be able to view unless you subscribe to the paper, so here are a few key points.

6.5% of British pupils attend private school.

By age 25 Britons with a private education earn 17% more.

By age 42 this has widened to 21% for women and 42% for men.

This might be partly to do with professions entered, eg finance, for private schoolers, alumni networks and parental expectations.

Private scooters get more and better qualifications, but one study suggests it is only equivalent to moving from AAB to AAA at A level.

20% of privately educated pupils go to one of the 24 “Russell group” universities (a group that includes most of the best ones). But by age 16-19 private schoolers make up 18% of pupils.

4% of Oxbridge entrants are private schoolers compared to around 70% of state schoolers (the remaining 26% are, presumably, overseas students). This suggests that a student is more likely to get into Oxford or Cambridge if they attend state school.

Yes it’s the AAB state school head boy route that we’re clinging to.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Not sure what language or field you're working in, but frankly - it's got a loooooong way to go before it's going to be useful for a serious enterprise.

You should have a listen to the podcast…

 

[Lambeth Cali]

How is “success” measured though? What does a good outcome look like? Do people really think a high salary is a measure of success? I used to think so but I don’t now. I think success comes from finding a place in life where you feel absolute content and fulfilled with who you are, what you do and you feel you are completely at one with your life. I don’t think you necessarily need to be well paid to find that. A good friend of mine who is a nurse on average pay I’d have to rate as one of the most content people I know. Another I know who is a solicitor is permanently burnt out through long hours and it’s pretty obvious from my perspective that money does not equal happiness. Private education might give you a better chance of a high salary but does it really give you a better chance of true happiness? I would love to know that.

I think the way UK is going income is also becoming less of a way up. If you or your family don’t have a fair chunk of capital you’re going to struggle to buy a family home in an ok part of the country.
I agree that a job you like or love is a better way to happiness. But everyone wants choices and having a home you can afford and some money in the bank is vital. Hence my earlier post on this thread about having to save a chunk to help my kids get a home. The help on to the property ladder I now see as an essential helping hand onto the ladder of life.
The sheer inequalities in the UK, in particular the inequality of capital, make it difficult to imagine a happy life without family money.

 

[Amarillo]

I think the way UK is going income is also becoming less of a way up. If you or your family don’t have a fair chunk of capital you’re going to struggle to buy a family home in an ok part of the country.
I agree that a job you like or love is a better way to happiness. But everyone wants choices and having a home you can afford and some money in the bank is vital. Hence my earlier post on this thread about having to save a chunk to help my kids get a home. The help on to the property ladder I now see as an essential helping hand onto the ladder of life.
The sheer inequalities in the UK, in particular the inequality of capital, make it difficult to imagine a happy life without family money.

I think that is all so true, unfortunately for the unfortunates.

That first leg up into home ownership will be so important for so many. And with that, a way out of the black hole of student debt. That shall be a burden on so many graduates for so many years to come.

But of course there will be exceptions. School dropouts who go on to become tycoons, but, sadly, they will be the exception, not the norm.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

My 3 private/state experiences.

I went to a private grammar school (I think 7th in the top 100 when I was there) and have a best friend who lives on the same estate who I met at art college in 1988 who went to a state grammar school. He is an architect, I work in TV. I would guess we earn similar amounts. He has an allotment and its a running joke that we are the Leadbetters and they are the Goods. All our kids are in state education. I probably have a ton more capital (and a VW California) mainly because my parents died ten years ago. I walked back from the station with his wife and son (my godson) yesterday. He has got work experience on a BBC comedy show because another neighbour works for the production company. Nepo-kid by proxy. A great start in life. My younger kids are playing in a concert on the South Bank this week all organised by Lambeth education. My wife massively believes music is a great way to instil the principle that hard work and practice gets results. I suppose we are ambitious for our kids as @The Tall Luthier rightly says.

Me and my brothers all went to the same private school. I took 3 attempts to pass the entrance exam and used to describe myself as the intellectual runt of the family. My dad had been head boy there and went to Cambridge. My elder brother attempted to get into Cambridge but failed, and he later failed his degree. After years of unemployment he is now doing okay. My eldest brother is very successful with share options and Porsche. Years ago he mentioned he got a 2:2 in his degree. This amazed me "what? I got the best degree??" I didn't know that. I've done okay but its clear that the 13yr old, 21yr old and 50yr old versions of us 3 don't really show consistent trajectories.

I have had jobs that I loved and work in a creative industry. I recently left a badly paid BBC job after 9 years and due to a lot of luck and a very risky plan, managed to get a much better job that pays twice as much for 4 days a week. My wife, who went to state school and is 5 years younger, used to earn £15k less than me. She did a degree and a masters and now earns 66% more than me. State school, hard work, lots of ambition, now a COO. Ironically her boss of 20 years is very very posh, kids all went to private schools (and have frankly hilarious names) and he thinks she's fantastic and wishes his kids could run his company. They can't, my wife can.

 

[Vagophile]

My boss in my first job (late 60's) was a very posh, privately educated man who used to agonise over the educational aptitude of his son and often opined that spending money on a private education would not yield very satisfactory results. Instead he arranged for him to study groundworks engineering at the local technical college (remember them) and when he was 18 bought him an excavator and low loader, setting up a limited company. With some initial help, his company thrived, eventually employing about 25 people and his son was quite happy with his lot.
My very bright nephew won a scholarship to a top independent day school, had he not, he would have been relegated to the local comprehensive. He achieved a first at Cambridge and now works for a multinational company, mainly in Japan. Who knows what might have happened had he not won the scholarship? I'm always amused by his enigmatic smile when I ask him if he was recruted by MI5 at university.
I have followed this thread with interest, the title belies the content.

 

[66tim99]

Entitlement is taught, privilege is bought.
Both unpleasant side effects of the private system.
I went from state school to UCL with public school boys who didn't know how to treat people with respect. They may have contacts with the upper echelons, but frankly, I'm more content with myself and my place than them, and that's the panacea in my view. They are never content, always looking at those above them and striving for more power and wealth. I don't want that for my daughter. A good state school is the answer, with a range of privilege and real local connections, enabling you to find your own centre.
I could afford a private education for her, but think she'd be missing out, frankly. I object to them being classed as charities, thinking they do harm dividing our society from the early years.

 

[subthree]

Entitlement is taught, privilege is bought.
Both unpleasant side effects of the private system.
I went from state school to UCL with public school boys who didn't know how to treat people with respect. They may have contacts with the upper echelons, but frankly, I'm more content with myself and my place than them, and that's the panacea in my view. They are never content, always looking at those above them and striving for more power and wealth. I don't want that for my daughter. A good state school is the answer, with a range of privilege and real local connections, enabling you to find your own centre.
I could afford a private education for her, but think she'd be missing out, frankly. I object to them being classed as charities, thinking they do harm dividing our society from the early years.

UCL, loved my 4 years there

 

[SamSara]

My youngest got headhunted by a prestigious public school, but is on the autistic spectrum and being sent away from home would have been more harmful than the educational benefit. However saying that she is only 1 of 2 from state school in her year studying composition at conservatoire (actually only 9 in the year in total for composition, but representative of the conservatoire as a whole) The rest went to Purcell, Cheethams, are foreign nationals or went to top schools. There are certain areas that are out of the reach of state educated students unless that have exceptional talent and additional support-both my child and her fellow state student attended school in Hampshire who have an amazing music service and had inspirational teachers. They spent the first few months playing catch up with students who have been composing and playing multiple instruments from 5 years old. Now they are forging the network required to succeed. It is a national tragedy that we miss out on the talent within society and public schools have charity status to educate the offspring of the wealthy, yes I have raised the red flag up my modest pole.

 

[Velma's Dad]

The charitable status of private schools is a scandal that successive governments have chickened out of reforming. It persists through a figleaf interpretation of "public benefit". In my view, aside from providing in effect a tax benefit to well-off parents, it brings the charity sector more widely into disrepute. Will Labour change it? Let's see but I'm not holding my breath.