The totally off-topic thread

[drron]

I remember the days when bank managers actually had the authority to manage.In 1975 we moved to the Hunter Valley.I banked with NAB at the time.The manager was 2 years from retirement and a gentleman.When we wanted to purchase a house I made an appointment to see him.He started asking questions to which my response was-well banks make money by lending it.So will we get the loan or not.He replied of course you've got the loan but I have to humour head office so unfortunately I still have to ask the questions.
That's how it should be done.
After he retired he was replaced by a young gung ho manager.I moved to the CBA.

 

[juddles]

....The manager was ... a gentleman.....

such a rare thing now.

 

[JohnK]

Why do some parents let their 7 year old kids loose on Qantas Club buffets? Just told same child to use the tongs after he’d grabbed a few slices of bread with his hands and then he put them back. I chucked away the ‘used’ bits. Parents nowhere in sight. In J lounge in Mel.

SYD VA lounge last Sunday. 2 kids wandering around the food buffet on their own. The boy thought it was ok to get the cheese from the cheese stavk with his fingers. Not good.

I said nothing. Not good.

 

[juddles]

Just remembering a flight I did a thousand years ago. Was in economy SCL-IPC (back then the Chile Australia route in a 707 required stops in Easter Island, Tahiti, New Zealand). The gentleman next to me had clearly never flown international before. And in those "good old days" the staff were just too happy to ply you with alcohol. When the first drinks trolley came past, and offered wine, spirits, or Baileys, the man asked how much each would cost. The stewardess replied "free". The man then said "you mean a whisky is free?" She said yes. He said " and the wine, and the Baileys?" She assured him that everything was free. His eyes lit up, and he asked "but can I get all of them?" She said yes, and placed in front of him a whisky, a glass of wine, and a Baileys. He was ecstatic. He drank quite a bit that flight (we all did), and he was the happiest, nicest, seat companion you could have. God I miss the good old days. Now they just try to get you to sleep with a milo

 

[drron]

 

[juddles]

I had dementia at 10 years old??!!! :O

 

[Flying mermaid]

So should we buy shares in AMP now?

Only an idiot bought AMP anything . Some of my contractors used to have AMP super. I used to wince and give them links to industry funds, although of course I couldn’t say anything as that would be advice....

 

[Flying mermaid]

I remember the days when bank managers actually had the authority to manage.In 1975 we moved to the Hunter Valley.I banked with NAB at the time.The manager was 2 years from retirement and a gentleman.When we wanted to purchase a house I made an appointment to see him.He started asking questions to which my response was-well banks make money by lending it.So will we get the loan or not.He replied of course you've got the loan but I have to humour head office so unfortunately I still have to ask the questions.
That's how it should be done.
After he retired he was replaced by a young gung ho manager.I moved to the CBA.

we had the most amazing bank manger when we started the business in 1985. He gave us so much help and assistance (we were so ignorant!). I can remember going up to the counter and asking if there was an envelope for us from the manager. I explained that he was doing a cash flow analysis of the business for us. I got a rather strange look and you could almost see the assistant thinking - isn’t that supposed to be the other way round?

He died unfortunately about 5 years after we started, but I still remember him!

Some of our other relationship managers were quite astute as well, but no one like him. Now we are retired and don’t have access to the better cadre of people it is really hard .

 

[Flying mermaid]

Must admit I was very happy when our investment properties stood on their own and the farm was once again mortgage free. I like collecting deeds and keeping them in MY safe - not the banks.

totally agree - unfortunately we seem to keep putting up our house as security for the kids. We have owned it outright for years but the banks still have their sticky paws on it.

The banks are getting a knocking (and deservedly so), but when we were helping Ms FM get her loan and the bank checked that we were happy to put our house up as security the bank guy did say were we sure we wanted to do that as it entailed a risk for us. So he was either a very ethical person, or their procedures are already improving. (This was about 2 months ago).

 

[Pushka]

totally agree - unfortunately we seem to keep putting up our house as security for the kids. We have owned it outright for years but the banks still have their sticky paws on it.

The banks are getting a knocking (and deservedly so), but when we were helping Ms FM get her loan and the bank checked that we were happy to put our house up as security the bank guy did say were we sure we wanted to do that as it entailed a risk for us. So he was either a very ethical person, or their procedures are already improving. (This was about 2 months ago).

Not sure about interstate but in SA there are no paper land titles anymore. Its all digital.

With NAB we had Business Managers. The last one I had was GOLD. Then she left to have a baby. She was not replaced. Then a couple of months later NAB did away with all the SA based Business Managers. Typical enhancement and "for your convenience you can email the folk in Melbourne". Fat lot of good that did me. Within a couple of weeks I had an issue. Months later and several phone calls and sent emails later I am still waiting for a response. It would be a huge issue to change all our accounts to somewhere else but by gosh I'm tempted. But suspect they are all cut from the same cloth now anyway.

I get you, but maybe they were simply overcome with the child glee of being loose somewhere where you did not have to ask nor pay? I have seen adults do similar so many times when in a free-alcohol environment. But no excuse really - if kids are like that the parents should be keeping them in check.

I am just lucky that my two darling daughters are so well behaved. I am always proud of their behavior in lounges, etc. But I should not be proud - it is their mothers influence that brought them up so well

Sure, but these kids didnt look excited. Just hanging around the food area, poking here and there. Later I saw he and his brother hanging around the sandwich toaster. He jammed the lid down, really hard. I didnt look to see what his pancake may have looked like. Again no parents were around him, just a bunch of other adults, just, well, looking at them.

 

[JohnK]

Oh dear. Dementia must be unavoidable for me.

 

[RooFlyer]

It would be a huge issue to change all our accounts to somewhere else but by gosh I'm tempted.

Never done it before? The first time I did it (personal accounts and cards, 2 properties, small business account and cards, super account) was years ago and it was a bit daunting. Two subsequent times was dead easy, and it has been made easier these days the first time by legislation.

So I know I can walk anytime now, and I'm much more assertive with the bank. Give it a go!

 

[Pushka]

Never done it before? The first time I did it (personal accounts and cards, 2 properties, small business account and cards, super account) was years ago and it was a bit daunting. Two subsequent times was dead easy, and it has been made easier these days the first time by legislation.

So I know I can walk anytime now, and I'm much more assertive with the bank. Give it a go!

Tempted but who is better? It’s our business account. Our super cash and share trading account. And personal accounts.

 

[tgh]

Banks are composed of people and I have seen some good results from "fraternisation"
In it's most basic form it is treating the front desk folks with friendship and humour.
A more sophisticated (and more productive) process is to befriend a decision maker.
I have seen some pretty flash results from the latter…..

 

[GarrettM]

Update: got an email from a branch manager - not in Perth but nearby down south - asking if I'd like to get in touch so she can see if there's anything she can do to assist me getting the loan. That's a bit different.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Only an idiot bought AMP anything . Some of my contractors used to have AMP super. I used to wince and give them links to industry funds, although of course I couldn’t say anything as that would be advice....

Oh I agree. Would never touch an AMP policy but the shares are different.

 

[VPS]

Problem is they dont have 1 or 2 pound notes anymore, just coins. 5 pounds is too much but coins is weird to tip with.

Brad the valet guy is pretty good - would it be really bad of me to explain that I cant exchange my old 10 pound notes but he can mail them locally to exchange and give him 40 pounds? Because at this point, they have zero value to me and I cant use them

He may not even have to mail him - if he has a good relationship with his local bank sometimes they will take them. Do whatever you feel comfortable with. If I was you I'd still go into another couple of banks and explain the situation and see if they will swap them

 

[Denali]

FYI, Swaziland has changed its name

The King of Swaziland suddenly decided to change his country’s name

 

[Pushka]

Well, I think I need some self flagellation. plus I’m a bit miffed. We have an old super policy set up through the company that we only use as a shelf to provide Life and disability insurance when we set up our SMSF. It only has just enough in it to cover premiums and all those pesky admin costs. But it always seemed to be like a dripping tap and we have to keep topping up faster than I thought. For some reason I finally got my act together and really looked at all the transactions. Every time we made a contribution, we could see that an amount of $58 approx was deducted. We calculated this to be about 5.5% of the amount we had just contributed. Phoned the company today and while they called it something different, it’s a trailing commision of 5.5% on every contribution, paid to our accountant who set it up, I reckon 25 years ago. I have no recollection of this, he never squeaked a word in recent years he was still getting it and he does not provide any advice on this product. It seems he could revoke his commission at any time but didn’t. So I have just put in the application to do so. He has to agree but I’m pretty much over him. It’s my fault for not knowing but I did expect better from him. I’m really disappointed in him.

 

[Bindibuys]

Not sure about interstate but in SA there are no paper land titles anymore. Its all digital.

Mine are all paper, but they are older properties. Perhaps new land releases are now digital in NSW.

FM - we have 2 homes on this property, my son lives in the other house about 1/2km down the road. Daughters partners family is very well off, so not expecting them to come to us for backing on their first home.
Borrowing QF points from us is a completely different matter, still owed 100,000 points from her last trip.