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Bathing boxes around here seem to be more like luxury units rather than more practical beach shacks. Recall seeing one advertised for $73k last year. One advertised this week is asking about $55k. I'd imagine this would be the first thing people in trouble would offload.

Do Dutch achievers interpret this as pressure to be 'normal' and thus stifling? And is this egalitarianism much different to aspects of the old Anglo-Australian working class culture? This includes things like (i) the 'tall poppy syndrome', (ii) an 'I don't wanna know' suspicion of...

That sounds a lot like a genuine meritocracy - something the USA aspires to be but isn't. The American ideal of meritocracy is low taxes, few business regulations and few social services, so that individuals 'have room to succeed'. The European ideal requires state schooling and...

Thanks for the insight eastside. I suppose in societies where (i) home ownership is less there than here, (ii) private schooling isn't that big, and (iii) private health insurance is less prominent, they 'need' something else to differentiate the well off from the plebs. And it sounds...

I think you've hit on the main reason why investing in newly launched managed funds covering a particular asset class is inherently risky and will likely produce below average results, even though there's nothing wrong with the underlying asset. Supposing that an asset class needs to...

All valid points, though some surveys still claim most Germans prefer to own http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2155971,00.html I'd also add that settler societies (eg USA and us) have a squatter or prospector mindset all about staking claim on a patch of land, and preferably owning it...

This is one thing I can't understand about the Europeans. Many (especially the wealthier continental countries, eg Germany) prefer to rent rather than own their own home that they might live in for 330+ days per year. Yet they may own their own holiday home at which they might stay for a...