May 25, 2023

Get a Free ETF Share Worth Up To £200 with Wealthyhood!

Updated 29 February 2024

Today I’m featuring a way you can get a free ETF share worth up to £200 by signing up for a DIY wealth-building app for investors called Wealthyhood.

Wealthyhood offers a quick and easy method for even complete beginners to start investing in stocks and shares. And currently if you’re new to the platform you can get a free ETF share worth up to £200 just by signing up via any of the referral links in this post and investing at least £50. The ETF share you will get is chosen at random, but could be worth up to £200 (with a minimum value of £10). You can either keep this share or sell it (after 60 days).

For those who don’t know, ETF stands for Exchange Traded Fund. ETFs are a package of shares from a particular section of the stock market. For example, an ‘Asia Pacific ETF’ is a collection of shares from the Asia-Pacific region. ETFs are different to most investment funds in that they don’t usually have a manager running them. Instead, most ETFs are run by computers that regularly balance their portfolios automatically. This helps keep costs low, while still producing respectable returns in most cases. You can learn more about ETFs here if you wish.

How to Sign Up

Signing up with Wealthyhood is pretty straightforward. Just visit the Wealthyhood website via any of the (referral) links in this post and follow the on-screen instructions to register.

You will need to indicate the type (or types) of investment you are interested in. Four broad options are available: stocks, bonds, commodities and real estate. You can choose one or more of these (personally I chose stocks). You will also be invited to indicate whether you want your investments to be global or US only (I opted for global).

You can then choose the actual stocks you want or have this done automatically for you, and indicate the level of risk you are comfortable with. I chose ‘Optimized for Portfolio Weighting’ and then clicked on ‘Create my Portfolio’.

You will then be required to provide various items of personal information, including your address, date of birth, UK National Insurance number, and so on. Once you have entered all the required details, click on ‘Complete Verification’. After a few moments your account should be verified.

In some circumstances the process may take longer. If that happens, Wealthyhood will email you once you’ve been verified.

The next (and final) step will be to deposit a minimum of £100 into your Wealthyhood account and make a minimum £100 investment within seven days. You must do this within seven days of opening your account to qualify for the free ETF share. (If for some reason you’re not bothered about the free share, you can start investing with a minimum of £20.)

Within five days you should receive your free ETF share worth up to £200 (Wealthyhood say that 95% of users get their free ETF share within 1-2 days). You should receive notification about this in the My Account section of the Wealthyhood website when you log in.

You may wish to set a calendar reminder for 60 days, since (as mentioned above) you have to leave your free ETF share in your account for this long before you can sell it and withdraw the proceeds. You can, of course, leave it invested for longer if you wish, but bear in mind that fees may be applied (see below).

What Are The Fees?

Wealthyhood compares favourably with many other share-trading and investment platforms. Deposits and withdrawals are free, and other costs are kept to a minimum.

Until recently Wealthyhood charged all investors a platform fee of £1 a month. That wasn’t excessive (in my view) but for small investors (including those just wanting to take advantage of the free share offer) it was a bit of a deterrent.

As from 1st June 2023, however, the monthly platform charge was scrapped. Instead investors in Beginner accounts (everyone starts off with one of these) pay a small ‘custody fee’ of 0.18% per annum (or 0.015% per month). That works out as an annual custody fee of £1.80 for a £1,000 investment, or just 15p a month. In addition, they have introduced an acquisition charge of 0.45% per order (e.g. £4.50 for £1,000).

These new charges work out much cheaper for investors starting with small amounts and those just signing up for the free share. If you decide to stick with the platform, however, you might in due course want to consider upgrading to the new Wealthyhood Plus plan. This offers fully commission-free investing with no charges per order and no custody fees for £2.99 a month or £35.88 a year. This is obviously not worthwhile for very-small-scale investors, but once your portfolio gets up to around £6,000 (by my calculation) you should save money this way.

How Safe is Wealthyhood?

Wealthyhood is registered in England and Wales and authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. In addition, all clients’ funds are kept separately in segregated bank accounts which are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. So even if the company itself were to go broke, any cash in your account would be protected up to a value of £85,000.

Of course, the FSCS guarantee doesn’t apply to the value of your stocks, which can go down as well as up. All investments carry a risk of loss, although in the case of your free ETF share you can never lose any more than the original cost, which was of course zero!

Referral Scheme

Any Wealthyhood member can also refer new members. All you have to do is send them your unique referral link which can be copied from your dashboard. If they join via your link and invest a minimum of £100 (as above), both you and they will then receive one free ETF share worth up to £200 (minimum £5). There is no limit to the number of friends you can refer by this means or the number of free ETF shares you can receive.

Don’t Miss Out!

I do just want to emphasize that in order to qualify for the free ETF share, you MUST click through a special referral link such as those in this article. If you simply go straight to the Wealthyhood website and join there, you won’t receive one.

What’s more, when I was researching this article I found that several other websites who were advertising this offer didn’t have the correct, up-to-date referral links. So even if you had clicked through them and signed up, you wouldn’t have qualified for a free share. To be safe, I strongly recommend clicking through my Wealthyhood referral link. You should then see a banner like this near the top of the page.

If you don’t see this banner, you haven’t clicked through a genuine, working referral link, and sadly will not receive a free ETF share.

Bear in mind also that this offer may be withdrawn any time. If and when I hear of that I will of course amend this post. But I do therefore strongly recommend taking advantage of this offer while you can.

Final Thoughts

Although in this post I have focused mainly on the free ETF share offer, Wealthyhood is also worth considering as an investment platform for the longer term.

Its low charges (especially from 1st June 2023) mean it is well suited for people who are dipping a toe into stock market investing for the first time. By contrast, the dealing fees and commissions charged by some other platforms can make small investments prohibitively expensive.

While you can’t invest in individual company shares through Wealthyhood, a wide range of ETFs is available via the platform. If you have a particular interest in an area such as video games, healthcare or clean energy (for example) you can invest in specific ETFs that track those sectors. This facility for thematic investing is not currently available through most other robo-adviser platforms, including Nutmeg.

I also like the simple, user-friendly Wealthyhood website. This allows you to easily build a balanced portfolio covering the investment types that interest you and reflecting the level of risk you are comfortable with. You can log in to your account at any time to see how your investments are performing and make any changes you wish to your portfolio, including investing more money or withdrawing.

In conclusion, I hope this post has inspired you to consider registering with Wealthyhood to claim your free ETF share. If you do, I hope you get a valuable one! Please let me know what share you receive in a comment below. And if you like Wealthyhood you may of course wish to consider investing long term via the platform as well.

As always, any comments or questions are very welcome.

Disclosure: Posts on Pounds and Sense may include my referral links. If you click on one of these and make a purchase or perform some other defined action on the website in question, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the price you pay or the product or service you receive. Please note also that I am not a registered financial adviser and nothing in this post should be construed as individual financial advice. Everyone should do their own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek advice from a professional financial adviser if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investment carries a risk of loss. Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Capital is at risk.

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May 17, 2023

Nibble Launches New Legal Strategy for Investors

Nick Saving Money, Investing reviews 0 Comments

Regular readers of PAS will know I have a particular interest in P2P/crowdlending investment. Such platforms offer the opportunity to invest in loans to businesses or individuals and profit from the interest charged to borrowers.

With savings account interest rates still quite low, many investors are looking for better returns on their savings and investments. If that applies to you, European crowdlending platform Nibble is worth a look.

What is Nibble?

Nibble is a crowdlending platform launched in 2020 by IT Smart Finance, a company with over five years’ experience developing innovative products in financial technology. They offer a range of investment products which you can read about on the Nibble website. Today I am focusing on their latest offering, called the Legal Strategy.

What is the Legal Strategy?

The Legal Strategy offers the highest potential return of all the investment options on Nibble. The loans in question are in default and facing legal action (hence the name, of course).

For investment portfolios offered through the Nibble Legal Strategy, collection and litigation management are performed by Boostr. This is a company that buys overdue loans from banks and MFOs (Multiple Facility Organizations) at auctions at a typical discount of 85%, and automates the process of extra-judicial and legal recovery.

Nibble say that thanks to the deep experience and technologies developed by Boostr, it is possible to achieve a high percentage of capital return. The company draws on more than five years of successful experience in the area of debt recovery.

The Legal Strategy terms for investors, copied from the Nibble website, are shown below.

As you can see, the Legal Strategy comes with a deposit back guarantee. This is a guarantee to return the full investment amount at the end of the investment period and a minimum yield of 8% per year. The actual yield paid will depend on how successful recovery efforts prove, so you may end up with an annual return of anywhere between 8% and 14.5%. As you will probably know, this is above the average in the collective financing industry.

The minimum investment in Nibble’s Legal Strategy is €10 (about £8.70 at current exchange rates) and the maximum is €10,000. The platform has an auto-investment tool, allowing trading to be fast and straightforward. You aren’t required to choose individual loan portions, as this is all handled by the company. You simply choose your investment strategy based on the timescale over which you wish to invest and the level of risk you are comfortable with.

What Are the Risks?

No investment is without risk, but Nibble have gone to some lengths to keep this as low as possible. You can read a detailed article on this page of the Nibble website (warning: it is quite long!).

For investors in the new Legal Strategy, your money is invested in a portfolio comprising a large number of loans. The risk is therefore controlled and managed, as if any loans prove irrecoverable they will normally be offset by others that are successfully recovered (with interest and penalties).

As stated above, the risk is shared between the investor and the platform in the form of a variable interest rate. The rate paid is calculated automatically by Nibble every 90 days based on how the loan portfolio in question is performing. So every 90 days investors receive interest of between 8% (the guaranteed minimum) and 14.5% (the maximum). The actual rates paid can therefore vary from one quarter to another. Nibble say that average payouts currently are around 12.5% (this corresponds with my own experiences to date as a Legal Strategy investor).

If, for example, you invested €1000 in the Legal Strategy over 12 months, you could expect to receive anywhere between €80 and €145 in interest over the 12 month period, along with the return of your initial capital.

This is a fixed term investment, so it may be best to avoid if you think you might need the money back urgently before the end date. However, Nibble do say that if you change your mind, you can withdraw money from your portfolio ahead of schedule. They say they will find a new investor for your portfolio for a small commission fee.

The other risk, obviously, is that the platform itself will go bust. For various reasons set out on the Nibble website this appears unlikely, but of course it’s not impossible. If that were to happen, you would not be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which covers deposits in registered UK savings institutions up to £85,000. Nibble say that in the worst case scenario ‘a management company will be assigned to help the investor to recover funds in accordance with the rights of claim against the borrower. In addition, there is always a reserve fund which serves as an additional “safety airbag” for the investor.’

Finally, as loans are currently all in euro, UK investors will of course have to contend with exchange rate fluctuations. These could work for you or against you.

How Do You Get Started?

If you wish to invest via Nibble, the first thing you will need to do is set up an account via the Nibble website.

As Nibble is a European operation, you will need to invest in euro and your returns will be paid in this currency. That obviously adds a layer of complication for UK residents, but there are various ways around this. If you have a UK bank account you will normally be able to make (and receive) payments in euro, but may be charged a NSTF (Non-Sterling Transaction Fee).

You could use your own bank to fund your account initially, but if you become a regular investor with Nibble you might want to use a service/account that charges lower fees. You could use a money transfer service such as Paysera or Wise (formally TransferWise). These will enable you to transfer funds between Nibble and your own bank account with (potentially) lower charges and a more favourable exchange rate.

Another option would be to open a euro account with a provider such as Starling. This will allow you to receive and make payments in both sterling and euro, again at a lower overall cost.

My Experience

I wanted to try out Nibble myself,so I set up an account with them a while ago. The process was quick and straightforward. You just click on Create Account at the top of the Nibble homepage and follow the online instructions.

You are required to complete a short verification process before opening your account. This involves taking a photo of your passport, driving licence or some other form of ID, along with a selfie. You may use your mobile phone camera for this. It all worked smoothly and seamlessly in my case, and within a couple of minutes my application had been verified and approved.

After that, it is just a matter of making your initial deposit and deciding which of the strategies you want to use. Initially I chose their Classic Strategy as a low-risk test and everything went as promised. More recently I invested €100 in the Legal Strategy. This has also been running smoothly, with interest payments credited quarterly as promised.

Closing Thoughts

If you are looking for a more exciting home for some of your cash that allows you to take advantage of the higher interest rates on offer in continental Europe, Nibble is worth checking out.

The new Legal Strategy offers the highest rate of return of all their strategies. Of course, with higher returns typically come higher risks, and you do need to be comfortable with this. It is also important to note that with the Legal Strategy rates paid may vary over the period of your investment (though with an 8% guaranteed minimum).

The website’s ease of use is another attraction, as is the fact that Nibble doesn’t impose any fees or charges on investors. You do just need to bear in mind the need to switch between pounds and euro and the importance of minimizing the costs associated with this.

As a company based in Spain, NIbble doesn’t have too many UK reviews, but those that I have seen are generally positive. On the popular independent Trustpilot website, they have 11 reviews in total, six with 5 stars (‘Great’) and three with 4 stars (‘Very Good’). There are two 1-star reviews which reduce their average somewhat. These relate to difficulties withdrawing money. Nibble have replied to both and it appears that the problems arose due to the way the banks operate rather than being any fault of Nibble themselves. It also appears that the issues were satisfactorily resolved.

Obviously, nobody should put all their money into Nibble’s Legal Strategy, but it is worth considering within a diversified savings and investments portfolio. You should also bear in mind that your money won’t be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which protects deposits of up to £85,000 in most UK bank accounts. Of course, P2P/crowdlending platforms in the UK are not generally covered by the FSCS either.

I will continue to report on Pounds and Sense about how my Nibble investments fare.

New! Cashback Bonus. Until 31 July 2023 Nibble are offering a 2% cashback bonus for all new investments in their Legal Strategy. Visit their website for more info.

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

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified independent financial adviser and nothing in this post should be construed as personal financial advice. You should always do your own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek professional advice if unsure how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss. Note also that this review includes my affiliate (referral) links, so if you click through and end up investing with Nibble, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the price you pay or the product/service you receive.

This is a sponsored post.

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May 1, 2023

My Investments Update – May 2023

Nick Investing 0 Comments

Here is my latest monthly update about my investments. You can read my April 2023 Investments Update here if you like

I’ll start as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension).

As the screenshot below for the year to date shows, my main Nutmeg portfolio is currently valued at £20,740. Last month it stood at £20,632 so that is a modest (but welcome) rise of £108.

Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,201 (rounded up to the nearest pound) compared with £3,170 a month ago, a small increase of £31. Here is a screen capture showing performance since the start of this year.

As you can see, this has been another up-and-down month for both my Nutmeg pots. Overall, though, the value of my investments rose by £139 or 0.58% month on month.

Of course, all investing is (or should be) a long-term endeavour. Over a period of years stock market investments such as those used by Nutmeg typically produce better returns than cash accounts, often by substantial margins. But there are never any guarantees, and in in the short to medium term at least, losses are always possible.

Also, as you may know, both my Nutmeg pots have quite high risk levels (9/10 main, 5/5 Smart Alpha). If you haven’t yet seen it, you might like to check out my blog post in which I looked at the performance over time of Nutmeg fully managed portfolios at every risk level from 1 to 10 . I was pretty amazed by the difference risk level makes, with higher-risk ports over almost any period of three or more years in the last ten generating significantly better overall returns. If you are investing for the long term (and you almost certainly should be) choosing a hyper-cautious low-risk level might not therefore be the smartest strategy. The one exception is if you plan to withdraw your money soon and don’t want to risk losing too much if there is a sudden downturn.

You can read my full Nutmeg review here (including a special offer at the end for PAS readers). If you are looking for a home for your annual ISA allowance, based on my overall experience over the last seven years, they are certainly worth considering. They offer self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) and Junior ISAs as well.

Moving on, my Assetz Exchange investments continue to generate steady returns. Regular readers will know that this is a P2P property investment platform focusing on lower-risk properties (e.g. sheltered housing). I put an initial £100 into this in mid-February 2021 and another £400 in April. In June 2021 I added another £500, bringing my total investment up to £1,000.

Since I opened my account, my AE portfolio has generated a respectable £110.99 in revenue from rental income. As I said in last month’s update, capital growth has slowed, though, in line with UK property values generally.

At the time of writing, 8 of ‘my’ properties are showing gains, 3 are breaking even, and the remaining 15 are showing (small) losses. My portfolio is currently showing a net decrease in value of £23.65, meaning that overall (rental income minus capital value decrease) I am up by £87.34. That’s still a reasonable rate of return on my £1,000 and does illustrate the value of P2P property investments for diversifying your portfolio. And it doesn’t hurt that with Assetz Exchange most projects are socially beneficial as well.

Obviously the fall in capital value of my AE investments is a bit disappointing. But it’s important to bear in mind that unless and until I choose to sell the investments in question, it is largely theoretical. The rental income, on the other hand, is real money (which in my case I have chosen to reinvest in other AE projects to further diversify my portfolio).

To control risk with all my property crowdfunding investments nowadays, I invest relatively modest amounts in individual projects. This is a particular attraction of AE as far as i am concerned. You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.

My investment on Assetz Exchange is in the form of an IFISA so there won’t be any tax to pay on profits, dividends or capital gains. I’ve been impressed by my experiences with Assetz Exchange and the returns generated so far, and intend to continue investing with them. You can read my full review of Assetz Exchange here. You can also sign up for an account on Assetz Exchange directly via this link [affiliate].

Another property platform I have investments with is Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching almost every day. I currently have around £2,500 invested with them in 18 different projects. To date I have never lost any money with Kuflink, though some loan terms have been extended once or twice. On the plus side, when this happens additional interest is paid for the period in question.

My loans with Kuflink pay annual interest rates of 6 to 7.5 percent. These days I invest no more than £200 per loan (and often less). That is not because of any issues with Kuflink but more to do with losses of larger amounts on other P2P property platforms in the past. My days of putting four-figure sums into any single property investment are behind me now! Nowadays I mainly opt to reinvest the monthly repayments I receive from Kuflink, which has the effect of boosting the percentage rate of return on the projects in question

Obviously a possible drawback with Kuflink and similar platforms is that your money is tied up in bricks and mortar, so not as easily accessible as cash savings or even (to some extent) shares. They do, however, have a secondary market on which you can offer any loan part for sale (as long as the loan in question is performing and not in arrears). Clearly that does depend on someone else wanting to buy it, but my experience has been that any loan parts offered are typically snapped up very quickly. So if an urgent need arises, withdrawing your money (or part of it) is unlikely to be an issue.

You can read my full Kuflink review here. They offer a variety of investment options, including a tax-free IFISA paying up to 7% interest per year with built-in automatic diversification. Alternatively you can build your own IFISA, with most loans on the platform being IFISA-eligible.

Until 31 May 2023 Kuflink are offering enhanced promotional rates of up to 9.73% (gross annual interest equivalent rate) for their Auto-Invest products (IFISA-eligible). There is limited availability for this offer and it may be withdrawn any time before 31 May 2023 if the limit is reached. For more information, click here [affiliate link].

Last year I set up an account with investment and trading platform eToro, using their popular ‘copy trader’ facility. I chose to invest $500 (then about £412) copying an experienced eToro trader called Aukie2008 (real name Mike Moest).

In January 2023 I added to this with another $500 investment in one of their thematic portfolios. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares. My original investment of $1,022.26 is today worth $1,121.90, an increase of $99.64 or 9.75%. in these turbulent times I am quite happy with that.

Since last month the price of my Tesla shares has fallen somewhat (though still well in profit). My copy trading portfolio with Aukie2008 continues to perform steadily. And my most recent investment in Oil Worldwide is back into profit again, though – as you can see – not spectacularly so.

You can read my full review of eToro here. You may also like to check out my more in-depth look at eToro copy trading. I also discussed thematic investing with eToro using Smart Portfolios in this recent post. The latter also reveals why I took the somewhat contrarian step of choosing the oil industry for my first thematic investment.

eToro also recently introduced the eToro Money app. This allows you to deposit money to your eToro account without paying any currency conversion fees, saving you up to £5 for every £1,000 you deposit. You can also use the app to withdraw funds from your eToro account instantly to your bank account. I tried this myself recently and was impressed with how quickly and seamlessly it worked. You can read my blog post about eToro Money here.

I had another article published in April on the excellent Mouthy Money website. This was Could You Save Money by Switching to an Electric Vehicle? I found this a very interesting article to research and write, even though there turned out to be no clear answer to the question posed in the title!

As I’ve said before, Mouthy Money is an excellent resource for anyone interested in money-making and money-saving. I always look forward to reading the articles by my fellow contributors. Shoestring Jane is a particular favourite of mine and I enjoyed reading her latest article How to Save Money in the Garden.

I was pleased to be able to publish a couple of interesting guest posts on Pounds and Sense in April. One of these was Investing in Classic Cars from my friends at the popular Car & Classic marketplace.

This is a subject I previously knew very little about and I found it quite an eye-opener. It was interesting (and slightly depressing!) to learn that some of the cars I drove as a young person are now regarded as ‘modern classics’ and fetching premium prices.

There can also be tax advantages to investing in classic cars, as they are generally not liable for capital gains tax (as discussed in this recent blog post).

The other guest post I published in April was Inflation – What Does It Mean for Your Savings or Loans? This one came from my colleagues at Money Marvel. Again it’s thought-provoking stuff, especially the fact that in some cases higher rates of inflation can actually be beneficial for consumers. Have a read and see what you think.

Also in April I published Here’s Why Older Pensioners Especially Should Apply for Pension Credit. I recently helped an elderly friend do this and it has made a big difference to his finances.

Pension credit is a seriously under-claimed benefit. Apart from the (admittedly modest) financial boost, it can act as a passport to a range of other benefits and discounts, including the government’s latest tranche of cost-of-living payments. So if you’re of pensionable age yourself, or have friends/relatives who are, I highly recommend looking into this. You can now apply for it online, which does make the whole process a bit quicker and simpler.

Finally in April I enjoyed a short break in Aberdovey, a charming coastal town in mid-Wales (see photo in cover image). I will be publishing a post on Pounds and Sense about my visit soon. What I will say here is that it’s a great place for a chilled-out seaside break, but you definitely wouldn’t go there for the nightlife 😀

That’s all for today. I hope you enjoy the holiday weekends in May, and in particular the festivities around the coronation. I am by no means an avid royalist, but we all need a bit of fun in these challenging times. So I’m looking forward to watching it on TV and going to a street party with my neighbours afterwards. The bunting will be going up soon!

As always, if you have any comments or queries, feel free to leave them below. I am always delighted to hear from PAS readers

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this blog post should be construed as personal financial advice. Everyone should do their own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek professional advice if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.

Note also that posts may include affiliate links. If you click through and perform a qualifying transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the product or service you receive or the terms you are offered, but it does help support me in publishing PAS and paying my bills. Thank you!

Coronation Vectors by Vecteezy

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April 26, 2023

Guest Post: Investing in Classic Cars

Nick Investing guest post 0 Comments

Today I am pleased to bring you a guest post on investing in classic cars, a subject which I freely admit I previously knew little about. The article comes from my friends at the popular Car & Classic website.

As they say at Car & Classic, not all collectable metal is gold…

More than ever, nowadays, investors may be on the lookout for sensible use of their cash; there are relatively higher interest rate savings accounts, granted, alongside the usual route to gold and fine art. Even wines appreciate in time, if the right bottles are purchased, and kept untouched.

However, unlike paintings, gold and building society accounts, there is an area of investment which can be actively enjoyed whilst the asset keeps increasing in value: classic cars. The drawback? You need to know which ones!

Introduction

Car & Classic’s CEO Tom Wood and Head of Editorial Chris Pollitt explain the company’s perspective on the classic car market at the end of another unusual year. Launched in 2005, Car & Classic is Europe’s largest classic cars marketplace and welcomes around four million visitors every month. With over 30,000 cars listed at any one time and a thriving online auction platform, it’s an excellent barometer of classic car trends.

The Drive Behind the Desire

Purchasing a classic car is never a straightforward, totally rational process. Most people have memories connected to specific cars of the past; and in the recollection process, those memories resurface, drenched in emotive, romanticised aspects.

It could be the old ‘Sweeney’ Granada, as seen on TV and driven by your dad on the school run, or your favourite uncle’s shiny red Capri: moments associated with events and fantasies of our earlier years. It is a fact that prices associated with ‘Young Timers’ (i.e. cars of the ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s, also known as ‘modern classics’) are increasing fast. This is fuelled by a generation coming into the market with money to invest and looking to buy the cars of their childhood, if not the one in the poster on their bedroom wall.

What Are the ‘Modern Classics’?

“The market, both in the UK and abroad, is moving quickly,” says Wood. “Certain vehicles and periods, such as modern classics, are doing well. Recent sales include a Ford Escort RS1600i achieving over £40,000. “We operate in a non-essential sector driven by passion and heritage. Our business is at the intersection of luxury and hobby sectors. We believe that the higher end of our core customer base, vehicles over £100,000, will be lightly affected, if at all, by the downturn. Just last month, we sold an Aston Martin DB2/4 in The Netherlands for 185,000 Euros. ‘Starter classics’ – cars around £5-£10,000 such as MG Midgets, certain Minis or base cars from the ‘70s and ‘80s – may not fetch ridiculous amounts of money, but the interest in them is no less strong.”

Benefits and Advantages

In the current financial climate, the advantages of owning a pre-1983 vehicle are unquestionable: zero cost road fund licence, MOT exemption (though it is advisable to continue testing your vehicle, to avoid safety concerns). In places like London, where Mayor Khan’s proposal to widen the ULEZ out to the M25 is not the most popular of decisions, pre-82 cars are exempt from the charge. Many large cities have a similar scheme and others are following suit. Over-40-year-old classic cars are indeed popular and their values may be increasing, but are they easy to live with?

Cars approaching the 40-year cut-off point, the ‘modern classics’, are in many ways much easier to live with than their older counterparts and accommodating enough to be used as everyday transport if necessary.

1980s and 1990s

The Eighties gave us some great cars that are now as much fun to drive as they were back then; they have a raw energy and connection to the road that modern cars may lack. Some, like this Peugeot 205 CTI [photo in cover image], can be sporty, even with an open top. The Peugeot 205 GTI, Porsche 924/944, VW Golf GTI and Rover SD1 are a few other examples.

Accordingly, auction prices recently fetched reflect their desirability.  “A 1990 Porsche 944 sold at auction for over £10,000 on Car & Classic is a classic (excuse the pun) example,” says Car & Classic Head of Editorial Chris Pollitt. “Want to try your hand at a light restoration, and don’t need the 3-litre engine? Then £5,000 will buy you a shiny red 2.5 2+2 GT 1988 944 Coupé.

“The 944 was considered by many to be a ‘poor man’s Porsche’; however, with fine handling, galvanised body and a reputation for reliability (chrome cylinder bores apart) it is, justifiably, a great entry model for the prestigious marque and a forgiving way into the world of classic cars.”

Brand names that many would assume to be out of their reach, like Rolls-Royce or Bentley, may often be overlooked, as super luxury models fall into disrepair if not properly maintained, and fuel cost may discourage ownership, but good and useable examples can be found for sale. 

“This 1997 Bentley Turbo R [photo below] let its new owner become part of the rarefied community of powerful saloon fans for less than a 2015 BMW 330d M Sport,” says Pollitt. 

Maintenance may be a greater issue for newer cars, counterbalancing some of the potential advantages: 90s’ electronics helped cars become more fuel-efficient and comfortable but upkeep is more onerous if they start to fail and could present owners with hefty garage repair bills, or the home mechanic with the prospect of long, cold days scouring breakers’ yards and internet sites for replacement electronic modules.

The Advice

For Wood, the nature of the hobby is a factor in how it will evolve during what many still expect to be a recession in 2023.

“The good with clear provenance will always attract the best money, but in the year ahead there could be some great bargains to be had too. 

“The best advice is always to buy the best you can afford, no matter what decade the car belongs to. Originality is highly desirable and sells for the highest price, and the same can be said for rarity and a well-documented sales and dealer service history.”

Where Values May Be Going Down

“When talking to owners of older cars; pre-war and up to the early sixties, we are seeing values soften,” says Wood. “From our data, we predict that this will continue through the year ahead as the cost-of-living increases hit home and the impact of increased fuel prices is felt.”

Going Under the Radar

A few cars flying under the buyer’s radar at present come to mind.

As time marches on, specialist cars are becoming affordable and again offer potential investment opportunities. They include later Reliant Scimitars, Lotus Elans and TVR Tasmins [photo below] going for £4,000-8,000.

Humble ‘first’ cars are becoming sought-after too, from the Ford Fiesta, Renault Clio and smaller Peugeots. All are starting to become Cult Classics.

“If you have a big barn, fill it with today’s cars, because as electric vehicles become the norm and Government legislation ostracises combustion engines, today’s bangers could be tomorrow’s classics,” concludes Pollitt. 

A Final Thought

Not unlike fine wines, classic cars (the right ones at any rate) are appreciating over time. Unlike vintage wines, though, they don’t need to be kept locked up in dark cellars and enjoyed just the once!

Thanks again to my friends at Car & Classic for an eye-opening and informative article. Do check out their site and the links to the cars in the article for further ideas and information.

One thing not mentioned above is that, as well as their potential as money-makers, investing in classic cars can offer tax advantages as well. As discussed in this guest article on PAS a few weeks ago, private cars can be sold for any price without attracting a charge to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and that includes vintage and classic cars. This is particularly significant with CGT tax-free allowances due to be slashed in the coming years. Obviously tax laws may change in future – but according to the author of the article mentioned (an associate in the private client team at law firm RWK Goodman ) that is how the law stands currently.

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

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this post should be construed as personal financial advice. You should always do your own ‘due diligence’ before investing and take professional advice if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:

April 14, 2023

Guest Post: Inflation – What Does It Mean for Your Savings or Loans?

Nick Saving Money, Investing guest post, borrowing 0 Comments

Today I have a guest post for you from my friends at Money Marvel about the effects of inflation on savings and loans.

With inflation currently over 10 percent and prices seemingly rising by the day, this is clearly a big concern for many people right now. It’s not always such a bad thing if you’re paying off debts, though. And if you’re saving for the longer term, higher rates of inflation can actually provide an extra incentive to invest. Learn more in the article below…

If you’ve been following the news at all in the UK over the past year you’ll have no doubt heard about inflation – it has been almost impossible to avoid it in the press. But what actually is inflation? And, more importantly, what does it mean for your savings and loans? Read on for my thoughts.

What is Inflation?

Simply put, inflation is the economic force that drives prices to change over time. Everyone has an item from their childhood that always surprises them with how much more it costs now (for me it’s the Freddo! I remember them being 10p each, now they’re almost 40p). That’s a great example of inflation in action: the gradual increase of prices over time.

Month to month the impact of inflation is generally very small – usually only a couple of percent each year. However, that can add up over time. For example, in the UK, £1,000 in the year 1980 would have the same value as over £4,000 today.

Over the last year, the impact has been even more dramatic. Inflation rates in the UK are now at the highest they’ve been for over 40 years, with the CPI measure of inflation now running above 10%.

It has never been more important to consider inflation when planning your savings or loans.

What Impact Does Inflation Have on Savings?

Unfortunately, inflation is not good news for savers. It means that the cash you’ve built up and set aside will be worth less when you eventually spend it than it was when you first saved it.

In part, that’s why you’ll receive interest as a return on your savings. Savings are a mechanism for you to lend your money to banks and financial institutions, and the interest you get is your compensation for doing so.

You can straightforwardly compare the interest rate on your savings and the current UK inflation rate to see if your money is overall worth less or more over time. For example, if the headline inflation rate is 10% and you’re being offered 5% interest then you know you’re effectively losing 5% in value each year.

Sadly in the current economic reality, it’s almost impossible to find a savings interest rate higher than inflation, so most savers will have to accept the reality that they’ll be losing value year-on-year.

What Can Savers Do About It?

For those that need the security or guaranteed access that comes with a savings account, the unfortunate answer is that there isn’t much you can do about inflation. It’s important to be aware of it so that you can plan your future considering its impact, but sadly there’s nothing you can do to avoid it.

If your time horizons are a bit longer and you’re comfortable with a level of risk, then there are a variety of other investments that promise returns higher than the rate of inflation (for example, by investing in stocks and shares, or physical assets like gold). By their nature, they do come with a significantly higher level of risk and volatility than a savings account does. They may be suitable if you’re planning to save for a long time period (5 years+) and are willing to ride some ups and downs in the meantime.

Inflation alone shouldn’t lead you to take on risks with your savings that you otherwise wouldn’t, but it should help you understand the real returns that different savings products might offer. And if you’re determined to outpace inflation in the long run then savings accounts are likely not to be the best place for your money.

What About Debt?

High levels of inflation are much better news if you’re already holding significant debt. The force of inflation will gradually erode the value of the debt you have outstanding so that you end up effectively owing less money to the bank (or other lending institution). The £ value amount will stay the same, but the value of the money you use to pay off the debt will decline.

You’ll be paying interest to the bank to compensate them for their loss of value, but if you manage to get an interest rate lower than the inflation rate then you’ll be doing well overall. This is the case for many UK residents who took out long-term loans before the recent surge of inflation.

Inflation alone is not a reason to get yourself in debt (the banks will almost certainly have a better projection of future inflation rates than you do!), but it’s one to keep an eye on when thinking about the debt you already have.

Planning for the Future

Inflation is critically important when you’re planning for your financial future. This is most obviously the case when thinking about retirement. If you have more than a few years of working life remaining then money will almost certainly be worth less when you do come to retire.

When looking at retirement planners or pension benefits make sure you keep track of whether the numbers have been adjusted for inflation or not. If they haven’t, then keep that in mind and adjust your plans accordingly.

Many thanks to my friends at Money Marvel for an interesting and eye-opening article. Do check out the Money Marvel website for a wide range of personal finance information, advice and resources.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this article, or the effects of inflation more generally, please leave them below.

This is a sponsored guest post.

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this post should be construed as personal financial advice. You should always do your own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek advice from a qualified professional if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:

April 3, 2023

My Investments Update – April 2023

Nick Making Money, Investing events, reviews, crowdfunding 1 Comment

Here is my latest monthly update about my investments. You can read my March 2023 Investments Update here if you like

I’ll begin as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension), from which I recently started withdrawing again.

As the screenshot below for the year to date shows, my main Nutmeg portfolio is currently valued at £20,632. Last month it stood at £20,680 so that is a modest fall of £48.

Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,170 compared with £3,162 a month ago, a (very) small increase of £8. Here is a screen capture showing performance since the start of this year.

As you can see, this has been a roller-coaster month for both my Nutmeg pots, though overall the dial hasn’t moved very much. My Smart Alpha portfolio has done a bit better than my main portfolio and I might be tempted to switch more of my money into it, though there clearly isn’t a massive difference in performance between them.

The net value of all my Nutmeg investments has fallen this month by £40 or 0.17% month on month. That is obviously a little disappointing, but both pots are still comfortably up on where they were at the start of the year. And their total value has risen by £1,890 (7.77%) since mid-October last year.

Of course, all investing is (or should be) a long-term endeavour. Over a period of years stock market investments such as those used by Nutmeg typically produce better returns than cash accounts, often by substantial margins. But there are never any guarantees, and in in the short to medium term at least, losses are always possible.

Also, as you may know, both my Nutmeg pots have quite high risk levels (9/10 main, 5/5 Smart Alpha). If you haven’t yet seen it, you might like to check out my blog post in which I looked at the performance over time of Nutmeg fully managed portfolios at every risk level from 1 to 10 . I was pretty amazed by the difference risk level makes, with higher-risk ports over almost any period of three or more years in the last ten generating significantly better overall returns. If you are investing for the long term (and you almost certainly should be) choosing a hyper-cautious low-risk level might not be the smartest strategy. The one exception is if you plan to withdraw your money shortly and don’t want to risk losing too much if there is a sudden downturn.

You can read my full Nutmeg review here (including a special offer at the end for PAS readers). If you are looking for a home for your annual ISA allowance, based on my overall experience over the last seven years, they are certainly worth considering. They offer self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) and Junior ISAs as well.

Moving on, my Assetz Exchange investments continue to generate steady returns. Regular readers will know that this is a P2P property investment platform focusing on lower-risk properties (e.g. sheltered housing). I put an initial £100 into this in mid-February 2021 and another £400 in April. In June 2021 I added another £500, bringing my total investment up to £1,000.

Since I opened my account, my AE portfolio has generated a respectable £108.37 in revenue from rental income. As I said in last month’s update, capital growth has slowed, though, in line with UK property values generally.

At the time of writing, 6 of ‘my’ properties are showing gains, 4 are breaking even, and the remaining 16 are showing (small) losses. My portfolio is currently showing a net decrease in value of £26.97, meaning that overall (rental income minus capital value decrease) I am up by £81.40. That’s still a reasonable rate of return on my £1,000 and does illustrate the value of P2P property investments for diversifying your portfolio. And it doesn’t hurt that with Assetz Exchange most projects are socially beneficial as well.

Obviously the fall in capital value of my AE investments is a little disappointing. But it’s important to bear in mind that unless and until I choose to sell the investments in question, it is largely theoretical. The rental income, on the other hand, is real money (which in my case I have chosen to reinvest in other AE projects to further diversify my portfolio).

To control risk with all my property crowdfunding investments nowadays, I invest relatively modest amounts in individual projects. This is a particular attraction of AE as far as i am concerned. You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.

My investment on Assetz Exchange is in the form of an IFISA so there won’t be any tax to pay on profits, dividends or capital gains. I’ve been impressed by my experiences with Assetz Exchange and the returns generated so far, and intend to continue investing with them. You can read my full review of Assetz Exchange here. You can also sign up for an account on Assetz Exchange directly via this link [affiliate].

Another property platform I have investments with is Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching almost every day. I currently have around £2,500 invested with them in 18 different projects. To date I have never lost any money with Kuflink, though some loan terms have been extended once or twice. On the plus side, when this happens additional interest is paid for the period in question.

My loans with Kuflink pay annual interest rates of 6 to 7.5 percent. These days I invest no more than £200 per loan (and often less). That is not because of any issues with Kuflink but more to do with losses of larger amounts on other P2P property platforms in the past. My days of putting four-figure sums into any single property investment are behind me now! Nowadays I mainly opt to reinvest the monthly repayments I receive from Kuflink, which has the effect of boosting the percentage rate of return on the projects in question

Obviously a possible drawback with Kuflink and similar platforms is that your money is tied up in bricks and mortar, so not as easily accessible as cash savings or even (to some extent) shares. They do, however, have a secondary market on which you can offer any loan part for sale (as long as the loan in question is performing and not in arrears). Clearly that does depend on someone else wanting to buy it, but my experience has been that any loan parts offered are typically snapped up very quickly. So if an urgent need arises, withdrawing your money (or part of it) is unlikely to be an issue.

You can read my full Kuflink review here. They offer a variety of investment options, including a tax-free IFISA paying up to 7% interest per year with built-in automatic diversification. Alternatively you can build your own IFISA, with most loans on the platform being IFISA-eligible.

Until 31 May 2023 Kuflink are offering enhanced promotional rates of up to 9.73% (gross annual interest equivalent rate) for their Auto-Invest products (IFISA-eligible). There is limited availability for this offer and it may be withdrawn any time before 31 May 2023 if the limit is reached. For more information, click here [affiliate link].

Last year I set up an account with investment and trading platform eToro, using their popular ‘copy trader’ facility. I chose to invest $500 (then about £412) copying an experienced eToro trader called Aukie2008 (real name Mike Moest).

In January 2023 I added to this with another $500 investment in one of their thematic portfolios. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares. My original investment of $1,022.26 is today worth $1,113.72, an increase of $91.46 or 8.95%. in these turbulent times I am very happy with that.

As I said last time, my big success was investing in Tesla at the right time, as their share price has risen by over 86%. If only I had put more than $19 into this!

My copy trading portfolio with Aukie2008 is well in profit. My most recent investment in Oil Worldwide, having started well, is still down fractionally (some might say this serves me right for investing in fossil fuels!). But I am certainly not going to worry about that at the moment.

You can read my full review of eToro here. You may also like to check out my more in-depth look at eToro copy trading. I also discussed thematic investing with eToro using Smart Portfolios in this recent post. The latter also reveals why I took the somewhat contrarian step of choosing the oil industry for my first thematic investment.

eToro also recently introduced the eToro Money app. This allows you to deposit money to your eToro account without paying any currency conversion fees, saving you up to £5 for every £1,000 you deposit. You can also use the app to withdraw funds from your eToro account instantly to your bank account. I tried this myself recently and was impressed with how quickly and seamlessly it worked. You can read my blog post about eToro Money here.

I had two more articles published in March on the always-excellent Mouthy Money website. One is Some Ways to Save Money on Council Tax. Along with fuel bills and mortgages, council tax is many families’ single largest item of expenditure. There are various ways you may be able to reduce this bill (or even avoid it altogether), though. In this article I go through a range of methods, including household-based, income-based and property-based.

My other piece was Always Wanted to be in the Movies? Let TV Studios Use Your Home for Money. Clearly this opportunity won’t work for everyone. But if you live in a place with features that might be in demand by a TV or film production company, you can potentially make hundreds or even thousands of pounds. And as I say in the article, you definitely don’t need to live in a stately home. Studios need all types of properties – from two-bed terraces to penthouse flats, country cottages to 1970s-style bachelor pads!

Speaking of Mouthy Money, you might also like to read my in-depth blog post about this personal finance website which I wrote in March. It’s called (without any great originality, I know) Have You Seen Mouthy Money?

As you may know, I am nowadays contributing two articles a month to Mouthy Money, so you’ll understand that I have good reason for wanting to promote it 🙂 But that aside, it is an excellent resource for anyone interested in money-making and money-saving. I always look forward to reading the articles by my fellow contributors. Shoestring Jane is a particular favourite of mine. With Easter on the horizon, I highly recommend her latest article, How to Have a Frugal Family Easter.

Several of my other Pounds and Sense blog posts from March are no longer relevant due to deadlines passing so I won’t bother listing them here. You might perhaps like to read Two Places You Really Shouldn’t Turn for Tax Advice (and One You Definitely Should), though. This is an update of an article I wrote a while back, but it’s on a subject I feel quite strongly about and is still 100 percent relevant.

Finally, as I write this update there are just two days left to the end of the financial year on 5 April 2023. That means you have just two days remaining to make use of your 2022/23 tax-free ISA allowance before it is gone forever. With other tax-free allowances already set to be slashed in the years ahead, it’s more important than ever to make the most of this one while you can. Here’s a link to my recent blog post on this subject.

That’s all for today. I hope you and your family are coping in these challenging times. Don’t forget to check out the government’s Help for Households website, which sets out various types of financial assistance you may be entitled to and is regularly updated.

As always, if you have any comments or queries, feel free to leave them below. I am always delighted to hear from PAS readers

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this blog post should be construed as personal financial advice. Everyone should do their own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek professional advice if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.

Note also that posts may include affiliate links. If you click through and perform a qualifying transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the product or service you receive or the terms you are offered, but it does help support me in publishing PAS and paying my bills. Thank you!

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Win £250 when you open a Plum Stocks & Shares ISA

March 17, 2023

Win £250 When You Open a Plum Stocks and Shares ISA!

Nick Investing events, reviews, competitions 0 Comments

Updated 19 April 2023

If you’re looking for a home for your 2023/24 Stocks and Shares ISA allowance, this special promotion from money-management app Plum could provide a solution, with a chance of winning a £250 prize as well!

Plum is designed to help you set money aside painlessly for any purpose – from holidays to major purchases or simply for a ‘rainy day’ fund. It is one of a range of apps that make use of so-called Open Banking. This allows third-party apps to access your financial information (read only) – so long as you provide the necessary authorization, of course – and perform certain transactions on your behalf, if you choose to set up a direct debit.

Plum offers four levels of account. These are the free Plum Basic and the paid-for Pro, Ultra and Premium. The Basic account is (as stated) free of charges. Plum Pro costs £2.99 a month, Ultra costs £4.99 a month, and Premium costs £9.99 a month. The Pro, Ultra and Premium accounts offer a wider range of features and higher interest rates in interest-bearing ‘Pockets’. This is further discussed on the main Plum website.

The current promotion is specifically for people who open a Stocks and Shares ISA with Plum, so in this post I will be focusing on that. But first I should answer the most basic question…

Capital at risk if you invest

What is a Stocks and Shares ISA?

The term ISA is short for Individual Savings Account. ISAs are savings and investment products where you aren’t taxed on the interest you earn or any dividends you receive or capital gains you make, in accordance with ISA rules. An ISA is basically a tax-free ‘wrapper’ that can be applied to a huge range of financial products.

With ISAs you don’t get any extra contribution from the government in the form of tax relief as you do with pensions. But – except in the case of the Lifetime ISA – you can withdraw your money at any time (subject to any provider rules about the term and notice period required) and you won’t be taxed on any earnings.

All adults aged +18 who are registered for tax in the UK have an annual ISA allowance, which is the maximum amount you can invest in ISAs in the year concerned. In the current financial year (2023/24) this is a generous £20,000. But you cannot carry over this allowance into a new tax year, so it really is a case of use it or lose it!

There are four main ISA categories: Cash ISA, Stocks and Shares ISA, Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) and Lifetime ISA (LISA). You can divide your £20,000 ISA allowance among these in any way you choose, though the most you can invest in a Lifetime ISA in a year is £4,000. Note also that you are only allowed to invest in one ISA in each category per year.

The Plum Stocks and Shares ISA

Investing in a single company can be risky, so if you have a Plum Pro account (or higher), the app enables you to invest your money across a range of well-diversified funds. These contain a mixture of shares from thousands of different companies, plus other assets like bonds. So if one investment doesn’t perform well, it should only affect a small portion of your overall portfolio.

Some examples of the themed funds on offer to Plum investors include:

Tech Giants – Allows you to invest in technology shares like Facebook and Apple.

Balanced Bundle – With 60% shares and 40% bonds, this fund offers a balanced combination of shares and bonds.

Future Planet – Invests in shares of companies within an index which is weighted towards companies that meet positive carbon and environmental levels.

Retirement 2050 – Investments that will pay out money for investors planning to retire in or within approximately five years after 2050.

The Medic – Shares of healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Once you have deposited your money with Plum, you can choose which funds to invest in from the range available. There are up to 21 funds on offer, though some are only available to customers with a Plum Premium account.

You can start investing with as little as £1, up to the annual ISA maximum of £20,000 (in the current tax year). Subject to these limits, you can deposit or withdraw as often as you like, with no hidden fees or charges. If you have already invested your £20,000 maximum ISA allowance, or have invested in another S&S ISA in the current tax year, you can still invest with Plum in a GIA (general investment account) but obviously this will be liable for tax charges.

Plum also offer personal pensions. A Plum Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) lets you consolidate existing pension policies and invest in risk managed or other well diversified global funds. Capital at risk. Pension and tax rules apply.

£250 Prize Promotion

As an additional incentive to start investing with Plum, anyone opening a Plum Stocks & Shares ISA before 12 noon on 30th April 2023 will be entered into a prize draw to win £250.

Any existing customers who already have an active Stocks & Shares ISA with Plum will also be automatically entered into the draw. An active Plum Stocks & Shares ISA is defined as a customer account with a current subscription to Plum Pro (or above) at the time of competition close, and where no fees or ID verification remain outstanding at that time. Note also that to open a Plum Stocks and Shares ISA you must be over 18 years old and tax-registered in the UK.

No purchase is necessary to enter this prize draw, but to finish opening your Plum Stocks & Shares ISA, the company may need to perform a KYC (Know Your Customer) check. Note that all outstanding checks must be completed before the competition’s end date (see above) for your entry to be included. So if you are going to do this, it is probably best to apply sooner rather than later.

One lucky winner will be selected at random and notified within five working days of the competition close date (see above). The prize of £250 will be paid into the winner’s Primary Plum Pocket within 10 working days of the competition close.

Closing Thoughts

If you are looking for a home for your 2023/24 Stocks and Shares ISA allowance, a Plum S&S ISA is certainly worth considering. It offers a simple, straightforward method for investing in a range of themed and well-diversified funds. As such, it may be particularly suited to people who are new to investing and/or those who don’t want to spend many hours researching specific investments themselves.

Furthermore, as stated above, you can start with as little as a pound and withdraw your money at any time without giving notice or paying extra fees (as with all stock market investments, some fees and charges are payable).

In addition, as a Plum account holder you will enjoy all the other features and benefits of the app too, including interest-paying ‘pockets’ you can use to set money aside for specific purposes such as holidays. See the main Plum website for full details.

And, of course, there is that potential £250 prize to be won as well!

Capital at risk. The value of your investments can go down as well as up.

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

Important note: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this post should be construed as personal financial advice. You should always do your own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek advice from a qualified professional if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.

Disclosure: This post and others on Pounds and Sense includes affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase or perform some other qualifying transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect in any way any fees you are charged or the product or service you receive.

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:

March 2, 2023

My Investments Update – March 2023

Nick Investing reviews, events 4 Comments

Here is my latest monthly update about my investments. You can read my February 2023 Investments Update here if you like

I’ll begin as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension), from which I recently started withdrawing again.

As the screenshot below of performance for the year to date shows, my main Nutmeg portfolio is currently valued at £20,680. Last month it stood at £20,817 so that is a fall of £137.

Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,162 compared with £3,174 a month ago, a small drop of £12.

Here is a screen capture showing performance since the start of this year.

The general profile for both portfolios is similar, with rises in the first half of February followed by falls in the last fortnight or so. The total value of both portfolios has fallen by £149 or 0.62% month on month. That is obviously a little disappointing, but both are still comfortably up on where they were at the start of the year. And their total value has risen by almost £2,000 (8.61%) since mid-October last year.

Of course, all investing is (or should be) a long-term endeavour. Over a period of years stock market investments such as those used by Nutmeg typically produce better returns than cash accounts, often by substantial margins. But there are never any guarantees, and in in the short to medium term at least, losses are always possible.

You can read my full Nutmeg review here (including a special offer at the end for PAS readers). If you are looking for a home for your annual ISA allowance, based on my overall experience over the last seven years, they are certainly worth considering. They offer self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) as well.

Moving on, my Assetz Exchange investments continue to generate steady returns. Regular readers will know that this is a P2P property investment platform focusing on lower-risk properties (e.g. sheltered housing). I put an initial £100 into this in mid-February 2021 and another £400 in April. In June 2021 I added another £500, bringing my total investment up to £1,000.

Since I opened my account, my AE portfolio has generated a respectable £103.38 in revenue from rental income. As I said in last month’s update, capital growth has slowed, though, in line with UK property values generally.

Even so, it’s not all bad news. At the time of writing 15 of ‘my’ properties are showing gains, 2 are breaking even, and 8 are showing losses (two fairly substantial). My portfolio is currently showing a very small net increase in value of £0.31, meaning that overall (rental income plus capital gains) I am up by £103.69. That is still a decent rate of return on my £1,000 and does illustrate the value of P2P property investments for diversifying your portfolio. And it doesn’t hurt that with Assetz Exchange most projects are socially beneficial as well.

To control risk with all my property crowdfunding investments nowadays, I invest relatively modest amounts in individual projects. This is a particular attraction of AE as far as i am concerned. You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.

My investment on Assetz Exchange is in the form of an IFISA so there won’t be any tax to pay on profits, dividends or capital gains. I’ve been impressed by my experiences with Assetz Exchange and the returns generated so far, and intend to continue investing with them. You can read my full review of Assetz Exchange here. You can also sign up for an account on Assetz Exchange directly via this link [affiliate].

Another property platform I have investments with is Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching almost every day. I currently have around £2,500 invested with them in 18 different projects. To date I have never lost any money with Kuflink, though some loan terms have been extended once or twice. On the plus side, when this happens additional interest is paid for the period in question.

My loans with Kuflink pay annual interest rates of 6 to 7.5 percent. These days I invest no more than £200 per loan (and often less). That is not because of any issues with Kuflink but more to do with losses of larger amounts on other P2P property platforms in the past. My days of putting four-figure sums into any single property investment are behind me now! Nowadays I mainly opt to reinvest the monthly repayments I receive from Kuflink, which has the effect of boosting the percentage rate of return on the projects in question

Obviously a possible drawback with Kuflink and similar platforms is that your money is tied up in bricks and mortar, so not as easily accessible as cash savings or even (to some extent) shares. They do, however, have a secondary market on which you can offer any loan part for sale (as long as the loan in question is performing and not in arrears). Clearly that does depend on someone else wanting to buy it, but my experience has been that any loan parts offered are typically snapped up very quickly. So if an urgent need arises, withdrawing your money (or part of it) is unlikely to be an issue.

You can read my full Kuflink review here. They offer a variety of investment options, including a tax-free IFISA paying up to 7% interest per year with built-in automatic diversification. Alternatively you can now build your own IFISA, with most loans on the platform (including the one shown above) being IFISA-eligible.

You may like to know that until 31 May 2023 Kuflink are offering enhanced promotional rates of up to 9.73% (gross annual interest equivalent rate) for their Auto-Invest products (IFISA-eligible). There is limited availability for this offer and it may be withdrawn any time before 31 May 2023 if the limit is reached. For more information, click here [affiliate link].

Last year I set up an account with investment and trading platform eToro, using their popular ‘copy trader’ facility. I chose to invest $500 (then about £412) copying an experienced eToro trader called Aukie2008 (real name Mike Moest).

In January I added to this with another $500 investment in one of their thematic portfolios. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares. My original investment of $1,022.26 is today worth $1,102.18, an increase of $79.92 or 9.43%. in these turbulent times I am very happy with that.

As you can see, my big success has been investing in Tesla at the right time, as their share price has risen by over 85%. If only I had put more than $19 into this!

My copy trading portfolio with Aukie2008 is still well in profit, though it has fallen a bit in the last week or two. My most recent investment in Oil Worldwide, having started well, is now down fractionally. But I’m certainly not going to worry about that at the moment.

You can read my full review of eToro here. You may also like to check out my more in-depth look at eToro copy trading. I also discussed thematic investing with eToro using Smart Portfolios in this recent post. The latter also reveals why I took the somewhat contrarian step of choosing the oil industry for my first thematic investment.

eToro also recently introduced the eToro Money app. This allows you to deposit money to your eToro account without paying any currency conversion fees, saving you up to £5 for every £1,000 you deposit. You can also use the app to withdraw funds from your eToro account instantly to your bank account. I tried this myself recently and was impressed with how quickly and seamlessly it worked. You can read my blog post about eToro Money here.

I had two more articles published in February on the always-excellent Mouthy Money website. One is Make Extra Money Renting a Room. This is an ‘old school’ method for making some extra cash, but none the worse for that. If you have a spare room (or rooms) in your home that you don’t mind letting out, you can generate a steady income by doing this. And under the government’s Rent a Room Scheme, you can make up to £7,500 a year tax-free.

My other piece was How to Become a TV or Movie Extra. This opportunity won’t make you rich but can certainly generate a useful sideline income and provide a lot of fun into the bargain (as I can testify from personal experience!).

My other Pounds and Sense blog posts from February include How to Make More Money From National Grid Powersaving Events. This opportunity is only open to you if you have a smart meter – but if so, you definitely need to see this 🙂

I also recommend reading (if you haven’t already) Are You Making the Most of Your Annual ISA Allowance? With the 2022/23 tax year ending in just a few weeks, it really is a case of ‘Use it or lose it’ now for your £20,000 tax-free ISA allowance. With other tax-free allowances already set to be slashed in the years ahead, it’s more important than ever to make the most of this one while you can.

Also in February I revealed how you can Get Your Will Written Free of Charge in March. And finally, do see as well Keep in Touch With Pounds and Sense, as this explains how to ensure you never miss another PAS blog post in future!

That’s all for today. I hope you and your family are coping in these challenging times. Don’t forget to check out the government’s Help for Households website, which sets out various types of financial assistance you may be entitled to and is regularly updated.

As always, if you have any comments or queries, feel free to leave them below. I am always delighted to hear from PAS readers

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this blog post should be construed as personal financial advice. Everyone should do their own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek professional advice if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.

Note also that posts may include affiliate links. If you click through and perform a qualifying transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the product or service you receive or the terms you are offered, but it does help support me in publishing PAS and paying my bills. Thank you!

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February 20, 2023

Are You Making the Most of Your Annual ISA Allowance?

Nick Saving Money, Investing events, Tax 12 Comments

In just a few weeks (5th April 2023) it will be the end of the financial year. And that means if you want to make the most of your 2022/23 ISA allowance, you will need to take action soon.

As you may know, ISA stands for Individual Savings Account. ISAs are saving and investment products where you aren’t taxed on the interest you earn or any dividends you receive or capital gains you make. An ISA is basically a tax-free ‘wrapper’ that can be applied to a huge range of financial products.

With ISAs you don’t get any extra contribution from the government in the form of tax relief as you do with pensions. But – except in the case of the Lifetime ISA – you can withdraw your money at any time (subject to any rules about the term and notice period required) and you won’t be taxed on it.

Everyone has an annual ISA allowance, which is the maximum amount you can invest in ISAs in the year concerned. In the current financial year (2022/23) this is a generous £20,000.

There are four main ISA categories: Cash ISA, Stocks and Shares ISA, Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) and Lifetime ISA (LISA). You can divide your £20,000 ISA allowance among these in any way you choose, though the most you can invest in a Lifetime ISA in a year is £4,000. Note also that you are only allowed to invest in one ISA in each category per year.

Let’s look at each ISA type in a bit more detail…

Cash ISA

Cash ISAs are like standard savings accounts, except the interest you receive doesn’t incur tax.

While interest rates for cash ISAs have been rising over the last few months, they are still pretty unexciting. According to the Money Saving Expert website, the best rate for an instant-access cash ISA is 2.91% with Shawbrook Bank. With inflation currently running at 10.1% that means even in the best-paying cash ISA your money will still be losing spending power when invested this way.

What’s more, the Personal Savings Allowance (PSA) means that basic-rate taxpayers can earn up to £1000 in savings interest without paying tax anyway (higher-rate taxpayers get a £500 tax-free allowance and additional-rate taxpayers earning over £150,000 a year nothing at all).

And as if that wasn’t enough, you can actually get higher rates of return from instant-access accounts that are NOT cash ISAs. For example, at the time of writing Money Saving Expert say the best rate on offer for an instant-access savings account is 3.11% from Cynergy Bank.

As a result of these things, cash ISAs have lost much of their appeal, unless perhaps you’re in the relatively small group of people who have to pay interest on their savings. But if interest rates continue to rise, they may of course become more attractive again. In addition, money invested in a cash ISA remains tax-free year after year, so if in years to come interest rates on cash ISAs rise, the benefit of having money in one will increase as well.

Nonetheless, I decided not to invest any of my ISA allowance in a cash ISA this year, as I have (in my view) better uses for my money. You might see this differently, of course 🙂

Stocks and Shares ISA

Stocks and shares ISAs are a good choice for many people saving long term. Over a longer period the stock market has outperformed bank savings accounts, often by a considerable margin. You do, though, have to expect some ups and downs in the value of your investments in the short to medium term.

You can opt for a standard stocks and shares ISA offered by a wide range of financial institutions and let them choose your investments for you. Alternatively you can use self-investment platforms such as Hargreaves Lansdown to choose your own investments from the wide range of shares and funds available.

In recent years I have invested much of my own annual ISA allowance in a stocks and shares ISA with Nutmeg, a robo-manager service that has produced very good returns for me. You can read my in-depth review and article about Nutmeg here.

Innovative Finance ISA

IFISAs are on offer from a growing range of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms. P2P platforms allow people to lend money to businesses and private individuals and get their money back with interest as the loans are repaid. If you invest in the form of an IFISA all the interest you receive from P2P lending is paid tax-free, otherwise it is taxed as income (though interest from P2P lending does qualify for the Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 a year, mentioned above).

Peer-to-peer platforms generally offer more attractive interest rates than bank and building saving accounts (or cash ISAs) – from around 3% to 12% or more. They aren’t covered by the same guarantees as the banks and are therefore riskier, though. And if you need your money back urgently there may be delays and/or extra charges to pay.

Nonetheless, in the current climate of low-interest savings accounts and volatile stock markets, growing numbers of people are looking to IFISAs as a home for at least some of their savings.

One such option I have used myself is Kuflink, a P2P property investment platform. They offer an IFISA with automatic diversification over a 1, 3 or 5 year term (you can also choose your own self-select loans within an IFISA wrapper). Note that until 30 May 2023 Kuflink are offering an enhanced promotional rate of up to 9.73% a year (gross annual interest equivalent rate) for their Auto-Invest offers. You can read my full review of Kuflink here..

Another potential IFISA option (which I am using myself this year) is Assetz Exchange. They prioritize lower-risk property investments, which you can invest in through a self-select IFISA. You can read my full review of Assetz Exchange here.

You can also read about a range of IFISAs on this website.

Lifetime ISA

Lifetime ISAs or LISAs are a new-ish initiative from the government to encourage younger people to save. They do have one big drawback for many readers of this blog – you have to be under the age of 40 (though over 18) to open one.

LISAs are designed for two specific purposes: buying your first home and saving for retirement. How they work is that you can pay in up to £4,000 a year (lump sums or regular contributions) and the government will top this up with another 25%. As long as you open your LISA before the age of 40 you will continue to receive the bonuses on your contributions until you reach 50.

So if you pay in the maximum £4,000 in a year, the government will top this up to £5,000. If you pay in the full £4,000 every year from the age of 18 to the upper limit of 50, you will therefore get a maximum possible bonus from the government of £32,000.

LISAs are therefore somewhat different from the other types of ISA mentioned above, but nonetheless any money you invest in one comes out of your annual ISA allowance (currently £20,000). So if you pay the maximum £4,000 into a LISA this year, that comes out of your £20,000 ISA allowance, leaving you with ‘just’ £16,000 to invest in other sorts of ISA.

Your money will grow without any tax deductions in a LISA, and you can also withdraw without having to pay tax. However, there are certain restrictions. In particular, you can only use the money in your LISA for one of two purposes: paying a deposit on your first home or saving for retirement. While you can access your money for other reasons, you will then lose 25% of the total, including your own contribution and the government bonus along with any investment growth. That means in many cases you will get back less money than you put in.

Please see this blog post for more information about Lifetime ISAs.

Summing Up

The 2022/23 ISA allowance is a generous £20,000 and offers the potential to save a lot of money on tax, assuming you are lucky enough to have this amount to save or invest. But, very importantly, it cannot be rolled over. So if you don’t use your 2022/23 ISA allowance by 5th April 2023 at the latest, it will be gone forever. It is therefore important to attend to this now and ensure you get as much benefit as possible from this valuable tax-saving concession.

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

This is a fully updated post from last year.

Disclaimer: Please note that I am not a professional financial adviser and cannot give personal financial advice. You should do your own ‘due diligence’ before making any investment, and seek professional advice from a qualified financial adviser if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investments carry a risk of loss.

Note, also, that posts on Pounds and Sense may include affiliate links. If you click through one of these and go on to perform a qualifying transaction at the website in question, I may receive a fee for introducing you. This will not affect any fees you may be charged or the product or service you receive.

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February 9, 2023

What Are Smart Portfolios on eToro?

Nick Investing reviews 2 Comments

In my post today I’m focusing on the trading and investment platform eToro. I originally reviewed eToro in this post.

eToro is a Israeli fintech company based in Cyprus. The company also has registered offices in the UK, US and Australia. It is a hugely popular platform with 25 million customers from over 140 countries across the world.

eToro is regulated and authorised in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). That means if eToro were to go bust any deposits with them up to £85,000 would be protected. Of course, the FSCS doesn’t protect you if you lose money simply due to your investments performing poorly.

eToro offers a wide range of investment products, from individual shares to cryptocurrencies, commodities to ETFs, currency pairs to copy trading. Today, though, I’m focusing on investing in thematic portfolios (referred to on eToro as Smart Portfolios). I recently invested in one of these myself and will talk more about this later. But before that, let’s start by answering the most basic question…

What Is Thematic Investing?

Thematic investing is a term you are likely to hear a lot more in the coming months. I know for a fact that at least one other major investment platform is planning to roll out this option soon.

There is no generally accepted official definition of thematic investing. It has some similarities with sector investing, but is more wide-ranging. To quote Wikipedia, ‘Thematic investing is a form of investment which aims to identify macro-level trends, and the underlying investments that stand to benefit from the materialisation of those trends.’ Thematic funds and portfolios tend to span a variety of sectors and pick companies within those sectors that are relevant to the chosen theme.

Thus, a healthcare-themed fund might invest in pharmaceutical companies, hospital companies, health insurance companies, nursing homes, surgical equipment manufacturers and other high-tech and information technology companies operating in the healthcare field.

Thematic investing involves assembling a collection of companies in an area you predict will generate above-average returns over the long term. Themes can be based on a concept such as ageing populations or the switch to renewables, or a narrower sub-sector such as robotics or driverless cars. Obviously, if the trend in question continues, a fund or portfolio based on it is likely to do well.

Thematic Investing on eToro

eToro offers a growing range of thematic portfolios you can invest in. As mentioned above, they are referred to on the platform as Smart Portfolios.

Most Smart Portfolios are created and managed by experts on the eToro investment team, taking into account factors such as balance, exposure, potential yield, risk and so on. In addition, there are some created and managed by eToro’s partners, including specialist investment firms and high-profile investors such as Warren Buffet.

An important question for investors is whether these portfolios are actively managed or passive. In fact, eToro say it’s a mixture of both. On the one hand, Smart Portfolios are not generally updated on a daily basis. However, they are regularly rebalanced and fine-tuned by the eToro investment team. Rebalancing is a means of ensuring that each portfolio is regularly realigned to match the original asset allocation plan and optimized for best results. Rebalancing periods differ from portfolio to portfolio, with details about this on each portfolio’s info page.

Some examples of eToro Smart Portfolios are listed below:

Cloud Computing
Crypto Portfolio
Renewable Energy
Dividend Growth – high-dividend-yielding companies
Cannabis Care – medical marijuana
Metaverse Life – virtual worlds
China Tech – technology leaders in China
Diabetes-Med – diabetes care stocks
Oil World Wide – long oil industry
Travel Kit – travel and leisure

The minimum investment in an eToro Smart Portfolio is $500 (about £416 at the time of writing). The reason for this is that when you invest in a Smart Portfolio, eToro automatically duplicates all trades in proportion to the size of your investment. eToro has a minimum investment size of $1 and if a trade would work out less than that pro rata it will not be executed. Setting a minimum investment of $500 therefore ensures that there are enough funds to open all the positions needed for the investment.

When assets that are eligible for dividend payments are held via a Smart Portfolio, these dividends are added to the portfolio’s cash balance. When the portfolio is rebalanced, these sums are then reinvested in the portfolio’s holdings.

How to Invest in an eToro Smart Portfolio

Before you can start investing, you will of course need to register for an account with eToro and deposit some funds with them. I talked about this in my original eToro review. I also recommend opening an eToro Money account (as discussed in this blog post), as this will speed up the process and ensure any costs are kept to a minimum).

Once you have done this, you can check out eToro’s range of Smart Portfolios by clicking on Discover in the left-hand menu of your dashboard when logged on. When you do this and scroll down a bit, you should see a section like the one below…

Click on View All and you will be taken to a page listing Smart Portfolios in various categories. The top one is Most Popular. When I tried this today, the section concerned looked like this…

Again, you can see all the portfolios in this category by clicking on View All. Further down the page are sections for other categories, including Tech Focused, Crypto Based and Created by Partners. There is also a filter tool allowing you to search for Smart Portfolios covering particular interests – from utilities to medical technology, cryptocurrencies to media services.

Once you have found a Smart Portfolio you want to invest in, all you need to do is go to the page for the SP in question and click on Invest in the top-right-hand corner. A pop-up box should then appear…

You can of course change the amount in the top box if you want to invest more than the minimum $500.

One other choice you have to make here concerns the Stop Loss figure. If the value of your portfolio falls below this, the Stop Loss will automatically close your investment and return the remaining money to your eToro balance. You can set this figure anywhere between 5% and 95%. My top tip is not to set this figure too high, as even a brief ‘wobble’ will then trigger the stop loss and crystallize your losses. Personally I wouldn’t set this figure any higher than 70% ($350 with a $500 investment). But it’s your decision, of course, based on your tolerance for risk.

Once you are happy with the settings, click on Deposit Now and your investment in the Smart Portfolio in question will be made.

If any of the above sounds at all daunting, don’t forget that everyone on eToro also gets a $100,000 virtual portfolio to practise with. You can invest using this virtual money to see how the process works and what returns you make.

My Experience with eToro Smart Portfolios

On 4th January this year (2023) I invested $500 in the Oil Worldwide smart portfolio. This SP focuses on the world’s leading oil-related companies, oil-related ETFs (exchange traded funds) and direct oil price derivatives.

I know this might seem rather a contrarian choice in these eco-aware times, but it seems to me that oil will still have a vital role to play in the world economy for many years to come. Plus the big oil companies are making huge profits at the moment, so I figured I might as well grab a share of that!

In addition, with oil companies currently out of favour with (some) investors, I thought there might be value to be found investing in this sector. These are large, successful companies, and they are increasingly diversifying from ‘black gold’ to renewables as well. And finally, this particular SP has a good recent profit record on eToro (much better than most crypto portfolios, for instance).

Obviously I have only been invested for just over a month to date. Even so, the value of my SP has risen to $513.62 at the time of writing, an increase of 2.66 percent. I am quite happy with that. In any event, I’m looking on this as a long-term investment so won’t be judging it yet.

Closing Thoughts

If you are looking for an interesting – and rather different – investment opportunity, thematic investing with eToro Smart Portfolios is certainly worth considering. They allow you to back your opinions on probable trends in the years ahead, and profit if the trends in question do indeed come to pass.

Of course, as with all investing, there is never any guarantee you will make money. And you could lose money if trends falter or go into reverse. In addition, unexpected events can torpedo any trend – just look what happened to the leisure and tourism industry in 2020 when the pandemic struck. It’s therefore essential to diversify your investments as much as possible and avoid the cardinal sin of putting all your investment eggs in one basket.

Remember, also, that investing is (or should be) a long-term exercise. The value of your investments can go down as well as up, and in the short- to medium-term at least you could end up getting back less than you put in. Ideally you should have a time-frame of five years or longer for any equity-based investment. In any event, you should avoid investing money you may need at short notice in the next year or two.

Nonetheless, eToro Smart Portfolios are a welcome addition to the platform’s range of investment products. And with eToro’s low fees, easy-to-use website and good social investing features, it’s a site all investors should at least check out.

For more information about eToro, please see my original eToro review and also my posts about copy trading on eToro and the eToro Money app. You can also if you wish sign up directly on the eToro website via this link [affiliate].

I will continue to update Pounds and Sense readers about the performance of my eToro investments in my monthly updates (such as this one).

As always, if you have any questions or comments about this post or eToro more generally, please do post them below.

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this blog post should be construed as personal financial advice. Everyone should do their own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek professional advice if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.

Note also that this post includes affiliate links. If you click through and perform a qualifying transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the product or service you receive or the terms you are offered.

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media: