May 1, 2019

My Weekend at Lake Vyrnwy

Nick Everything Else reviews, travel, food 2 Comments

I recently spent a weekend at Lake Vyrnwy, a few miles over the border from Shropshire into Wales. I had wanted to visit the area since watching a TV programme a few months ago about the history of the lake.

Lake Vyrnwy is actually a man-made lake (or reservoir if you prefer). It was created to provide a water supply for Liverpool in the 19th century. It’s about 25 miles from Oswestry. I’ve embedded a Google Map below showing the area.

Table of Contents

My Hotel

I stayed at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa (pictured below), which is near the dam at the western end of the lake. I booked on the Booking.com website.

The hotel dates back to 1890 – it was originally built to accommodate senior managers and engineers on the construction project. Since then it has been extended several times, although as recently as the 1970s it was still owned by the water company (it’s now in private hands). The hotel doesn’t make as much of its interesting history as it could, in my opinion.

Anyway, I pushed the metaphorical boat out and booked a Premier Lake View Room via Booking.com. The view certainly didn’t disappoint, as the cover photo (taken from my balcony) indicates.

My room was on the top floor, up various flights of stairs. One thing to bear in mind if you plan to stay here is that there is no lift in the main hotel, though I was told there is one in the spa (which I didn’t go in, partly because you have to pay extra – see below).

My room was spacious and comfortable, with all the features you might expect from a four-star hotel, including tea and coffee-making equipment, flat-screen TV, refrigerator, walk-in shower, and so forth. There was also good free wifi in the room, and in the public areas of the hotel too (just as well, as there was no mobile phone signal!).

I had my breakfast and evening meals in the hotel. Breakfast was included in the fee I paid. Evening meals were extra, though to be honest there isn’t really anywhere else to eat in the vicinity (apart from a couple of cafes that aren’t open in the evening anyway).

A lot of people rave about the food at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel. Personally I thought it was good but not exceptional. It was let down by little things, e.g. at breakfast on the first day the muffin with my Eggs Benedict was burnt. I went for the full Welsh breakfast the next day, and on my final day decided to chance the Eggs Benedict again. This time the muffin wasn’t burnt but dense and tasteless – I’m guessing it had come straight out of the freezer. I’ve had much better Eggs Benedicts at my local Wetherspoons. For the money I was paying I’d have expected better really.

You have two dining options at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel: the restaurant and ‘less formal’ brasserie. My top tip would be to stick to the restaurant and give the brasserie a miss. On my second night I tried it and found it crowded (it’s in a small room and the tables are pushed close together) and noisy. There were also young children running around apparently unsupervised. Okay, the brasserie might be a bit cheaper, but the main restaurant offers a much more relaxed, civilised dining experience, and much better views across the lake as well.

Financials

As Pounds and Sense is primarily a money blog, I should say a few words about this.

For my Premier Lake View Room (with single occupancy) I was charged £589 including VAT for three nights. Obviously I could have booked a cheaper room without the lake view, but in my opinion it would be a shame to stay at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and not have this.

Evening meals in the restaurant were charged at £27 for two courses or £35 for three (there were supplements for certain dishes such as sirloin steak). You do also get a complimentary ‘taster’ of fresh soup with home-made focaccia bread, which I enjoyed and recommend.

At the brasserie you order from an A La Carte menu, so the price depends on what you choose.

As mentioned earlier, the hotel also has a spa, for which you have to pay an extra £10 a day admission charge. The spa has a thermal suite, including a sauna, steam room, ice fountain, whirlpool, and tepidarium (no swimming pool though). It offers various treatments at extra cost, including massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, and so on..

Activities

One thing I should mention before describing what I did is that when I visited – the weekend before Easter – it was bitterly cold. The temperatures typically didn’t rise above 4 or 5 degrees, and when you factor in the wind chill as well, it was probably around freezing. I was very glad I remembered to take my quilted winter coat, gloves, scarf and woolly hat!

First Day

On my first day I walked to the dam down the precipitous bridle path from the hotel (I asked the receptionists how many guests they lost on this – they laughed but didn’t reply).

The dam is undoubtedly impressive and leads to a small tourist area with a visitor centre; this is a good place to start your exploration. A short film plays constantly inside with alternating English and Welsh narration. It tells you about the history of the lake, and the various plants and animals that live around (and on) it today. Nature conservation is quite a major theme around the lake.

Also in the village is an RSPB shop and a bird hide that is well worth a visit (see picture below). There is also a friendly cafe called The Old Barn, and Artisans, a cafe and shop where you can also hire bicycles. I had planned to do this myself, but the very cold weather dissuaded me. I did see quite a few – admittedly much younger – people cycling around the lake, though.

A short distance away is a sculpture park, and I recommend this if you fancy an enjoyable walk that isn’t too taxing. The sculptures are all made of wood, and some are quite striking. This one is called Mother Earth, for example.

In the afternoon I walked the opposite way from the hotel to the Victorian Straining Tower (picture below). This Gothic-style building filters the lake water through mesh before it starts its journey to Liverpool. Unfortunately it’s not open to the public, but you can admire it from the road. It’s a pity there isn’t an explanation board, just a forbidding ‘Keep Out’ notice.

Second Day

On my second day I decided to drive around the lake, stopping at points of interest along the way. There is a good (if narrow) road all round the lake, about 12 miles in total.

I had picked up a leaflet from the hotel reception about walks in the area, and decided to do the two-mile round trip to Rhiwargor Falls. This walk starts near the east end of the lake at a convenient car park. Despite the cold I enjoyed this. I didn’t see another soul on foot the whole time, although I did come eye to eye with a few sheep…

The waterfall is pretty impressive, and I imagine if it has rained recently it is even more so. Here is a video I recorded.

On the way back I stopped at another bird hide on the side of the lake, but there wasn’t a lot to see. I spotted a Canada goose and three mandarin ducks and duly logged them on the whiteboard. I erased the previous recorded sighting of six pterodactyls, as I suspected this wasn’t entirely genuine.

In the afternoon I took a short walk from the hotel to visit a church I had noticed before. This turned out to be St Wddyn’s (pictured below).

St Wddyn’s was built in 1880 to replace the original church of that name that was flooded (along with the rest of the old village of Llanwddyn) when the lake was filled. It is a quiet, peaceful place with some beautiful stained glass windows. It is well worth a visit if you are staying at the hotel, as it’s barely 10 minutes’ walk away. Again, I didn’t see another living soul while I was there.

Closing Thoughts

So that was my visit to Lake Vyrnwy. I didn’t hang about on my last day, as it was still very cold, and the wind was getting up as well.

I thought the area was beautiful and unspoiled (if you can say that about a man-made reservoir) and the hotel itself very good despite my minor reservations.

It’s probably not a place to take young children as there wouldn’t be a great deal to occupy them. But if you enjoy beautiful scenery and (especially) if you like walking, running or cycling, it would make a great short break destination. The Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa is also a popular venue for people celebrating their honeymoon or anniversary, or wanting some serious pampering in the Spa. In view of the many steps and lack of lifts it’s probably not ideal if you’re physically infirm, though.

If you like the idea of visiting the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel and Spa, if you follow any of the links in this article you can get a £15 discount via the Booking.com website. This is credited to your card once you have completed your break. I will also receive £15 as a reward for introducing you 🙂

As always, if you have any comments or questions about Lake Vyrnwy or the hotel, please do post them below.

Note: You can get the £15 discount on Booking.com wherever you go on your next visit, be it Lake Vyrnwy or elsewhere. Just click on my link and follow the instructions!

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April 19, 2019

Review: RING RTC1000 Rapid Digital Tyre Inflator

Nick Everything Else reviews, sponsored post 0 Comments

I was gifted this automatic tyre inflator from RING Automotive – a company specializing in this type of product – in exchange for publishing an honest review. So here are my thoughts about it.

The RING RTC1000 is not the first automatic tyre inflator I have ever used, but overall it is the best I have tried to date. It certainly beats the old foot-pump I used in bygone days, and is a lot more convenient (and probably more accurate) than the machines on garage forecourts. And once you’ve bought it, of course, it’s free to use!

The RING RTC1000 Rapid Digital Tyre Inflator is undoubtedly smart looking. I like the round, flat design, which makes it very stable.

It comes with a range of accessories, including adaptors for bicycle tyres, balls and other inflatables, and even a set of plastic gloves for keeping your hands clean. There are also some spare valve dust caps and a spare fuse. These are all useful, thoughtful additions, though it would be nice if there was a compartment somewhere within the device in which to keep them.

Using the RTC1000 is simple and intuitive. You plug it in to your car’s cigarette lighter socket (it was quite a tight fit in my Vauxhall Corsa) and turn on the ignition. You can then set the target pressure you want by turning the small dial under the display (see photo below).

If you prefer, you can change from the default PSI to Bars or kPA by pressing down the dial (see below). This will cycle through the pressure measurement options available.

Once you have attached the air hose to your tyre using the brass valve connector, the device then operates to inflate it to your target pressure. I found this quick and surprisingly quiet. I did, though, find that it stopped inflating just below the selected target figure. I would guess that this is a safety feature to allow for any possible margin of error in the measurement, but it is still a little frustrating. Of course, you can get around it by setting a target pressure slightly above what you actually want, but I don’t really see why you should have to do this.

On the plus side, the device has a small recessed area on top in which to put the valve dust cap while inflating the tyre. This avoids the scenario of putting a cap on the ground and having it roll away and vanish (we’ve all been there). There is also a built-in LED light, which is great if you need to check your tyre pressures in poor lighting conditions.

Another welcome feature is the long power lead, which winds up inside the unit. There is also a recess on the side in which the air hose fits, so everything is neatly out of the way when not in use. And it comes with a zipped grey carrying case as well.

Overall, I think the RING RTC1000 is a great piece of kit to have in your car, with some excellent features and accessories. It is also by a distance the most user-friendly tyre inflator I have tried. It is a pity about the minor niggles mentioned above, but they don’t seriously detract from the quality of the product. If you need an automatic tyre inflator that is quick and easy to use (and reasonably priced), it is well worth your consideration.

The RING RTC1000 Rapid Digital Tyre Inflator is available from all good motor accessory stores and online suppliers including Amazon.

If you want to know the many reasons correct tyre inflation is so important, check out this eye-opening article.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this review, please do leave them below.

Disclosure: As stated above, this is a sponsored post. I was gifted a RING RTC1000 tyre inflator in exchange for publishing a review of it here. This has not affected my review in any way. All comments and opinions set out in this post are mine and mine alone.

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April 18, 2019

Guest Post: You Must Claim PPI before August 2019

Nick Saving Money events, sponsored post, insurance 0 Comments

There are under five months left for consumers to reclaim Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). 29th August 2019 is the official cut-off date for all people to submit PPI claims to their banks. This date was chosen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to encourage those who have not yet made claims to do so.

Since the announcement of the deadline nearly two years ago, thousands of people have made successful PPI claims. With the deadline approaching, if you haven’t yet submitted a claim, you must act now before August.

Do You Have a PPI policy?

The first thing to establish is whether you had a PPI policy. Most PPI policies were sold in the 1990s alongside mortgages, loans and credit cards, but some successful cases date back to the 1980s. As a general rule, the older the policy, the harder it can be to prove you were mis-sold PPI.

You may remember being mis-sold a policy. If this is the case, you will need to find the old paperwork with evidence of this. If you can’t remember whether you had a policy, old statements and documents should be able to highlight if this is the case.

On the paperwork, PPI may be listed under a few different names. Here are just a selection of the other names for PPI (this list is not exhaustive):

Accident, Sickness and Unemployment (ASU)
Account cover
Loan protection
Payment cover

If you can’t remember whether you had a PPI policy or you can’t locate the paperwork, there are a couple of ways to find out. You can either contact the bank or lender and ask if they have a record of any PPI policies attached to your previous accounts, or you can use the services of a PPI claims company.

There is no guarantee that the bank will have a record of previous PPI policies, but if they do confirm a policy, you can then submit a PPI claim. Alternatively, a claims company can investigate any old accounts and seek to identify policies on your behalf.

Claim PPI before August

Once you find evidence of your PPI policy, it’s time to make a claim. Again, there are two different ways to submit a PPI claim. You can make a claim yourself by contacting the bank or lender that mis-sold you the policy or ask a reputable PPI claims company to do it for you.

Whether you submit a claim yourself or use a PPI claims company, you must explain how the policy was mis-sold to you. Here are just a few ways that policies were mis-sold to customers:

You were told it was compulsory with your credit card, loan or mortgage purchase
You weren’t told about the policy — it was added automatically and without your knowledge and consent
The terms and conditions were not explained — this includes not being asked about medical conditions and employment
You were promised a lower price if you bought the PPI policy

If any of these apply to you, you could be eligible for a refund. You may also be eligible for a refund if you were charged a high level of commission. Due to a landmark PPI case, individuals can claim PPI if a policy had over 50% commission and this was not disclosed — even if you knowingly bought a PPI policy. This is known as the Plevin rule and means thousands’ more people can make PPI claims.

Some banks allow you to claim PPI online by submitting a form (though you may need to also send evidence with your application). For others, you will need to write a letter and complete any relevant paperwork. Once the bank has acknowledged your claim, it should respond with an outcome within eight weeks. However, be aware that some cases can take longer, especially if they’re older or more complex.

The alternative option is to use the services of a PPI claims company. Some essential details will be required for them to act on your behalf, but they will handle all communication with the bank. If you don’t have the time or don’t want to deal with the process yourself, it can be beneficial using a claims company. Always check the fees involved and read the terms and conditions.

What if Your Claim Is Rejected?

If your claim is successful, you’ll receive notification from the bank and receive the payment shortly afterwards. If, however, the bank rejects your claim, but you think that the decision is wrong, you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The FOS will independently review your PPI case and either uphold the decision made by the bank or decide that you are due the PPI refund. It’s important to be aware that PPI claims at the FOS can take up to two years to be resolved due to a severe backlog.

Whether you remember having PPI or not, now is the time to check. In four months, you will no longer have the chance to reclaim PPI. Act now before it’s too late.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored guest post on behalf of Canary Claims.

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April 10, 2019

Make Money and Help University Researchers with Prolific Academic

Nick Making Money 4 Comments

Today I’m sharing a sideline-earning opportunity that will give your brain cells a workout as well 🙂

Prolific Academic is a website that provides a platform for academic researchers across the world to conduct online studies of all types. And the best thing is that participants get paid for taking part.

Anyone is welcome to sign up, and you are then shown studies you are eligible for. They are typically in the fields of business, science, psychology, and social science. Payments range from a few pence to £5.00 or more. Obviously, the longer the study, the higher the payment tends to be.

I guess for most people the money will be the chief attraction, but the studies themselves are interesting and varied. One I did involved injecting virtual mice with a virtual chemical, and then using a virtual loupe (magnifying glass) to see which ones “expressed a gene” (or more prosaically changed colour). You then had to answer some questions about what conclusions you could draw from each experiment.

Another one I enjoyed involved reading a transcript of an unfair dismissal hearing (I assume an imaginary one). You then had to decide whether the complainant had indeed been unfairly dismissed, based on legal information provided. This one took me back to the long-ago days when I worked for a while in a Citizens Advice Bureau and represented several people at tribunals myself.

Payment is made via the online payment PayPal. There is a low withdrawal threshold of just £5. At one time if you wanted to withdraw less than £20 they charged a fee, but you can now withdraw any amount from £5 upwards free of charge. As a matter of interest, I have just reached £350 in total earnings from Prolific.

Prolific Academic is based in Oxford, England, but as far as I know anyone from anywhere in the world is welcome to join.

Top Tips for Making the Most of Prolific Academic

Here are a few top tips based on my experiences as a PA participant…

Select and copy your PA identity code at the start of the study. You can then simply paste it into the box at the end, to ensure you get paid.
Watch out for attention-checkers. Many studies include these to ensure that you read the instructions carefully. Typically, the instructions may tell you to answer a question in a certain way and ignore the other options.
Unlike consumer surveys, PA studies do generally require your undivided attention. Doing one while watching TV isn’t the best idea.
Studies fill up quickly, so check on the site regularly throughout the day. Sometimes you will receive an email notifying you of a new study for which you are eligible, but by no means always.
The box at the start tells you how long on average people take to complete a study (and how much this is as an hourly rate). This is important information, as you aren’t allowed to break off in the middle of a study and return to it later.
Sometimes when you log in you will be asked questions on subjects such as your health, hobbies, beliefs, and so on. Although you won’t be paid for these, it’s always worth taking a moment to answer them, as they may qualify you to participate in additional studies.

If you have any questions or comments about Prolific Academic, please do post them below.

Note: This is a fully updated version of my original article about Prolific Academic dated December 2016.

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April 8, 2019

Get All the Latest Free Offers From Gratisfaction UK!

Nick Saving Money sponsored post, competitions 0 Comments

Today I wanted to let you know about a free website where you can discover all the latest free offers, voucher codes and flash bargains.

Gratisfaction UK is updated daily, every day, with all the latest UK offers, contests and giveaways. The main menu at the top of the screen has five tabs titled Home, Freebies, Flash Bargains, Voucher Codes and Hot. These are pretty self-explanatory, but here is a screen capture of the Freebies section at the time of writing.

As you can see, items are added on an hourly basis. If a particular offer appeals to you, clicking on Get Freebie will take you to a web page where you can apply for the deal in question.

If you don’t want to miss anything, you can also sign up to a free daily email newsletter. Just enter your first name and email address in the box at the top left of the screen. You can, of course, cancel at any time if you decide it’s not for you.

There are lots of great freebies at Gratisfaction UK. Some that particularly caught my eye included a free McDonalds activity pack for kids (perfect with the Easter holidays fast approaching!), a competition to win one of 20 free jars of the new Marmite Peanut Butter, and another competition to win one of five luxury Belazu food hampers. Just be sure to check they are still open, as many of the offers are time-limited and may close suddenly or expire. You snooze, you lose, as the expression goes!

In summary, if you like saving money and getting freebies, do check out Gratisfaction UK – and if you like what you see, sign up for their free email newsletter as well.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Gratisfaction UK.

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April 3, 2019

How I Saved £179.43 on my Home Emergency Cover

Nick Saving Money property, insurance 0 Comments

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I just realised that I have been paying well over the odds for another of my home insurance policies. This time it is my Home Emergency Cover.

To put you in the picture, soon after I moved into my current home with my now-deceased partner Jayne in March 1995, we decided to take out emergency plumbing and drainage insurance with a company called Homeserve.

We were strongly influenced at the time by a promotional leaflet enclosed with the water bill which indicated that if there was a problem with the water supply pipe from the mains, the water company wouldn’t be responsible and we could face a large bill to have it fixed.

Homeserve were offering a policy that would cover us in these circumstances and for other plumbing-related emergencies. Rightly or wrongly, we felt at the time it made sense to pay for this, especially as the company seemed to be endorsed by our water supply company (South Staffs Water).

We paid for the policy by quarterly direct debit and each year it rolled over, generally with a small increase. I looked after our household finances but never really thought much about this. The sums involved weren’t huge, and I assumed it was worth paying them for the peace of mind. As far as I can remember, we never actually made a claim on the policy.

Fast forward to 2019, and after taking stock of my buildings and contents insurance (and saving over £500 on it), I decided the time had come to put my home emergency cover under the microscope as well and see if there were any savings I could make. And again, there certainly were!

Doing the Sums

In December 2018 Homeserve said my insurance would be going up from £198 to £222 per year, working out as £55.50 per quarter (to be fair to Homeserve there was no extra charge for payment by instalments).

So I went online to see what alternatives there were for plumbing and drainage insurance. I did a search for home emergency cover providers on Top Cashback (a website that provides money back to people buying via merchants listed on the site – see this post for more details).

I could immediately see a few possibilities for saving money. Even allowing for the cashback on offer with TCB, though, the best deal I found was with another company called Home Emergency Assist. HEA offer a wide range of policies, some of which also include gas and electrics, pest removal, boiler servicing, and so on.

Obviously you have to be sure you are comparing like with like. With Homeserve I was on their Plumbing and Drainage Plus policy, which covered me for emergencies with the internal plumbing and external water supply pipes. There was a maximum limit of £4,000 per claim.

With HEA I could have bought water supply pipe and stop cock cover only, for a price (according to their website) from £1.49 a month or just under £18.00 a year. For a policy similar to Homeserve’s which also covered me for internal plumbing problems, I was quoted £42.57 a year. This is obviously a lot less than Homeserve’s price, and there was also a higher maximum limit of £5,000 per claim.

Admittedly Homeserve’s policy included zero excess, whereas the HEA quote mentioned had a £95 excess per claim. I was happy to accept that, but for the purposes of a fair comparison I checked their price for a policy with zero excess as well and this was £87.89 a year – still £134.11 cheaper than Homeserve quoted (and with a larger maximum claim limit).

So I cancelled my Homeserve policy, and (after a few more checks including reading their Trust Pilot reviews) have signed up with Home Emergency Assist instead. As I accepted the £95 excess, I shall be paying £42.57 a year, which as stated above is £179.43 less than I would have been charged by Homeserve.

I have, incidentally, nothing against Homeserve, but for me anyway their offer no longer represented value for money. Neither am I especially endorsing Home Emergency Assist. Although they offered the best price I could find for my needs, you might of course do even better by shopping around.

In any event, the real moral of this story (as I’ve said before) is not to let laziness and inertia ever stop you looking for better deals. Even with something as mundane and relatively cheap as home insurance, you may be as surprised as I was by how much money you can save.

You can search on Top Cashback for home insurance providers (all offering cashback) by clicking on this link (affiliate). If you aren’t already a member you will need to register to get cashback, but this is free and only takes a few moments.

As ever, if you have any comments or questions on this post, please do leave them below.

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April 1, 2019

Win a Marks & Spencer Easter Hamper in the UKMB Easter Giveaway!

Nick Everything Else events, competitions

Today I have another great giveaway to share with you. I’ve joined forces with some of my fellow UK Money Bloggers to put together a giveaway of not one, not two, but three Marks & Spencer Easter Hampers.

These hampers sell for £50 apiece on the M&S website. They contain an assortment of Easter goodies, beautifully presented in a stylish dark brown hamper. The full contents are as follows:

Assam tea (25g/10 bags)
Caramel eggs (120g)
Simnel cake bar (400g)
Cheeky chicks (120g/pack of 6)
Mini luxury hot cross buns (325g/pack of 9)
Hide and seek egg hunt bag (135g)
British strawberry soft set jam (113g)
Chicky choccy speckled eggs (100g)
8 Easter biscuits (200g)
Bubbly bunny (23g) x 4
Presented in a dark-stained wicker hamper with brown faux-leather handle and straps

In the event of supply difficulties, or with discontinued products, M&S say they reserve the right to offer alternative goods or packaging of equal quality and value. If you need to know about any possible allergens in the contents, full information can be found on the M&S website.

Here then are all the details you need to enter, provided by my colleague Emma Drew (who is co-ordinating this event). Good luck! It would be great if a Pounds and Sense reader wins one (or more) of the prizes 🙂

This Easter, some of the UK Money Bloggers have come together to offer you the chance to win one of three M&S Easter hampers. Three lucky winners will win an Easter hamper delivered before Easter. Keep reading to find out how you can enter.

Table of Contents

Who are the bloggers behind the giveaway?

The UK Money Bloggers are a group of bloggers, podcasters, and influencers in the UK who are passionate about helping you to improve your finances. Whether you want to make more money, spend less, understand investing or pay off debts, we all contribute something unique to the community. Here’s who we are:

The prizes

You can win one of three Easter Family Hampers from M&S.

The rules

The giveaway is open until midnight on 14th April 2019, when the winners will be chosen.

The giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Winners will be contacted by email from hello@emmadrew.info

Should the Easter hampers be out of stock then a suitable replacement will be found.

How to enter

You can enter by completing as many of the Rafflecopter widget entry options below as you would like. You can also enter daily by tweeting from the Rafflecopter widget.

Comment with your best money saving tip to unlock more entry options.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Listed on Loquax.

Comments are now closed on this post.

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March 29, 2019

SnapIt Glasses Repair Kit Review and Giveaway

Nick Everything Else competitions, events, sponsored post 0 Comments

All of us who wear glasses know how annoying it is when one of the small screws that hold the frames or arms in place comes loose and falls out.

Even assuming you can find the tiny screw, reinserting it is no joke, especially if your eyesight isn’t great (which of course is likely to be the case if you need glasses!).

So I was delighted to receive a free review copy of the SnapIt Glasses Repair Kit, pictured below.

The clever thing about this inexpensive kit is that it includes screws with a long ‘tail’ that are easy to insert into the spectacle frame. You then tighten the screw and snap off the protruding tail (hence the name, of course) for a perfect quick repair.

Here’s a step by step illustration of the process. Please excuse the fact that I used an old pair of glasses for this demonstration, so they aren’t exactly in pristine condition!

As you can see, I’m repairing an arm which has come loose. The first step is to insert the screw into the appropriate hole in the frame. You get five different screw sizes to choose from. The long tail on the screw makes doing this a doddle.

Next you use the little screwdriver provided in the kit to screw it in. Here’s a picture with a 20p coin beside it to give you an idea of the size.

It takes just a few moments to tighten the screw, so it looks like this.

Finally you just snap off the tail (easy again). Hey presto, a perfect repair!

Giveaway

As you can tell, I was very impressed with the SnapIt Glasses Repair Kit, so I was delighted to be offered one to give away to my readers. To enter the competition, just follow the steps on the Gleam form below. The more ways you enter, the better your chances of winning!

Win A Snapit Glasses Repair Kit #17

Terms and Conditions

Competition ends on 18th April 2019
All entrants must be over the age of 18 years
The prize will be sent directly to the winner
No cash alternative will be offered
Open to UK residents only
One random winner will be chosen
If your entries are found to be false all of your entries will be void and deleted
Your details will be used to contact you if you are the winner of the competition
The prize winner’s details will be passed on to the prize provider in order for your prize to be sent

Good luck in the giveaway. If you have any comments or questions about this article, as always, please post them below.

And if you are a company or agency interested in running a giveaway like this on Pounds and Sense, please do drop me a line.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf on SnapIt, who were kind enough to provide a kit to me free of charge and are also providing the prize in my giveaway.

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March 26, 2019

Make Money From Precious Metal Mining With the Raptor IFISA

Nick Making Money, Investing sponsored post 0 Comments

On Pounds and Sense I often talk about the importance of having a diversified investment strategy. And the investment opportunity I am spotlighting today will certainly help you towards achieving that aim!

Raptor is a platform that provides ordinary individuals with the opportunity to invest in the production of gold and precious metal mining. The product on offer is a three-year mini-bond with a tax-free IFISA wrapping. Raptor are currently offering a return of 8 percent per year on a minimum £2,000 investment.

Table of Contents

What Is An IFISA?

For those who may not know, IFISA is short for Innovative Finance ISA. IFISAs allow anyone to invest tax-free in authorized ‘innovative finance’ platforms, including P2P lending and mini-bonds.

You can put any amount into an IFISA up to your annual ISA allowance. In the current 2018/19 tax year this is £20,000, which can be divided however you choose between a cash ISA, a stocks and shares ISA and an IFISA. So, for example, you could invest £10,000 in a cash ISA, £6,000 in a stocks and shares ISA and £4,000 in an IFISA. The ISA allowance for 2019/20 will be £20,000 as well, though after that it could change.

Note that under current rules you are only allowed to invest new money in one of each type of ISA in a tax year. It is though generally possible to transfer money from one type of ISA to another without it affecting your annual entitlement (although there may be platform fees to pay).

How Is Your Money Invested?

The money raised from Raptor IFISA investors is used to provide ‘Stream and Royalty’ finance for mining companies. This is explained in detail in the Raptor IFISA brochure, but briefly Raptor’s investment arm (Raptor Capital International, or RCI for short) makes payments to carefully selected development-stage mining companies to purchase part of their future production at a price below the market level.

The mining company therefore receives much-needed capital through immediately monetizing part of its future production, and investors get the opportunity to make a good return on their investment. Stream and Royalty Finance is still relatively new, and with many high-quality mining projects requiring financing there is an opportunity for investors to capitalize on this.

What Are The Returns?

The Raptor IFISA pays 8% interest per year for the three-year term of each bond, with a minimum investment of £2,000. As it’s an IFISA, all profits are paid without any deductions for tax. There is also no charge for investing in the Raptor IFISA.

Returns are paid as simple interest, as shown in the diagram below, which has been copied from the Raptor IFISA brochure. All capital and interest is returned at the end of the three-year term (or earlier if the bond is repurchased/redeemed by Raptor before this point).

What Are The Risks?

All UK IFISA providers have to be authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HMRC. This doesn’t in itself protect investors against the failure of a platform, however. While savers with UK banks and building societies are covered by the government’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which guarantees to reimburse up to £85,000 of losses, this does not apply to IFISA platforms (or stocks and shares ISAs, for that matter).

IFISA investors don’t therefore enjoy the same level of protection in the UK as bank savers. This is, of course, a major reason why the returns on offer are significantly higher. It’s therefore important to be aware of the risks and ensure you are comfortable with them before investing this way. It’s also important to invest across a range of asset classes and sectors, and not make the mistake of putting all your eggs in one investment basket.

In addition, the Raptor IFISA is not a liquid investment. Your money will normally be tied up for three years. Raptor say they will assist investors if they want to sell or transfer their bonds to another investor, but there is no guarantee that a buyer will be found. This opportunity is therefore not suitable for funds you might need back quickly and should be regarded as a medium- to long-term investment.

Finally, there is of course a risk that the underlying mining investments will not pay off. However, Raptor and RCI’s Advisory Committee say they will undertake extensive due diligence and engage third-party providers to assist in determining whether or not projects meet and qualify for financing in accordance with set criteria, for example:

There has to be at least a 200,000 ounce gold resource (or gold equivalent ounces).
Uncomplicated metallurgy, allowing simple, conventional, traditional extraction.
Payback of initial capital and interest within three years of production.
Access to mining company financial records.
Allow an RCI agent on site to oversee operations.

With all that said and done, there is no guarantee that you will receive the advertised returns. It is important that you understand and are comfortable with the risks involved.

Summing Up

If you are looking for a home for some of your money that can offer better interest rates than banks and building societies – and won’t incur any tax charges – the Raptor IFISA is worth considering.

As well as higher interest rates, Raptor bonds can add diversity to your saving and investment portfolio, helping you ride out peaks and troughs in the financial markets. The bonds provide an opportunity to profit directly from the returns to be made in precious metal mining, a sector under-represented in many people’s portfolios. The relatively low minimum investment of £2,000 and absence of any charges are further attractions. Just be sure that you are aware of the risks involved, and that you invest only as part of a diversified portfolio.

For more information, please visit the Raptor IFISA website. You can find out more about the investment opportunity there, and also download an informative 14-page brochure.

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post on behalf of the Raptor IFISA. All investments carry a risk of loss. Be sure to do your own ‘due diligence’ before investing, and speak to a qualified professional financial adviser if in any doubt before proceeding.

If you have any comments or questions about this post, as always, feel free to post them below.

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March 22, 2019

Get Feedback and Advice on Your Writing at Best Writing Forum

Nick Making Money, Everything Else writing 7 Comments

I know quite a few Pounds and Sense readers have an interest in writing, whether for pleasure or profit (or both). So today I thought I would share some information about an invaluable free resource for writers and aspiring writers.

Best Writing Forum is a discussion forum for writers that was set up by my old friend (and former publisher) Karl Moore a year ago. It was created in response to requests from members of My Writers Circle, another online forum I helped set up with Karl and managed for almost ten years.

In the last few years My Writers Circle has changed ownership several times and been rather neglected. So in response to members’ requests, Karl set up the new forum as an alternative place for writers to share their work and get feedback and advice.

Best Writing Forum uses the popular SMF messageboard software. Anyone who was ever a member of My Writers Circle will find it quite familiar, therefore. Of course, the board names and overall design are a bit different, but most people soon get the hang of it. And if you have any problems, there is a dedicated volunteer moderator team on hand to help you out.

If you have any interest in writing, I highly recommend that you check out Best Writing Forum. And if you like what you see, please do sign up. It’s free of charge and only takes a few moments. You will then be able to:

get feedback from fellow writers across the world in Review My Work
Talk about poetry and get comments on your own in Poets Corner
check out the latest writing markets on the Writers’ Opportunities board
ask any writing-related questions you may have on the Ask a Question board
exercise your writing muscles on the Word Play board,
shoot the breeze on any subject at the BWF Bar and Grill
and much more! .

Now is a great time to join Best Writing Forum, as it’s still quite new and you really can play a part in helping guide its future direction. I’ll hope to see you there soon!

Note: this is an updated version of an original article about Best Writing Forum first published on my Entrepreneur Writer blog in December 2017.

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