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My Coronavirus Crisis Experience: July Update

My Coronavirus Crisis Experience: July Update

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Regular readers will know that I have been posting about my personal experience of the coronavirus crisis since lockdown started (you can read my June update here if you like).

In what I hope will be my final update, I thought I would discuss what has been happening with my finances and my life generally over the last few weeks. As previously, I will start with the money-related stuff…

Financial

Overall things haven’t changed dramatically since my update last month. Here’s the latest chart showing how my Nutmeg stocks and shares ISA is faring…

Nutmeg july 2020

As you can see, my ISA made a good recovery after losing over a third of its value in March (admittedly I helped things along by investing another £1,000 when the markets were near their lowest point). In the last few weeks things have plateaued somewhat, though the overall trend is still upward. Allowing for the extra £1,000 invested in March, my portfolio is now back at the level where it was before the crisis started.

Assuming there is no major second wave of the virus – and there has been little sign of that so far – I am hopeful the recovery will continue over the longer term. Of course, there are likely to be bumps along the way, and in the short term at least we face the likelihood of a recession. Even so, I am keeping my fingers crossed for a recovery over the next year or so, and am continuing to invest cautiously where I see value. I haven’t put any more money into my Nutmeg ISA yet but definitely plan to. I may, though, take the opportunity to reduce my risk level (which is easy to do from the Nutmeg dashboard). Do take a look at my in-depth Nutmeg review if you haven’t already.

My monthly payments from my two Buy2LetCars investments (totalling around £420) continue to appear in my bank account every month like clockwork. I was initially wary about this, as it is obviously a bit outside the usual range of investments. However, I have had no issues at all, and am glad also to be supporting key workers by providing reasonably priced transport for them.

Again, if you’d like to learn more, you can read my review of Buy2LetCars here and my more recent article about the company here. Obviously the minimum investment is £7,000 so this opportunity isn’t going to be for everyone – but if I had that sort of money burning a hole in my pocket right now, I wouldn’t hesitate to invest through them again. Each car generates a monthly income, with a large lump sum at the end of the three-year term. Interest rates range from 7 to 12 percent per year.

My other equity-based investments generally are doing about as well as could be expected in the circumstances and in some cases better. In particular, my Bestinvest SIPP hasn’t lost any significant value when you allow for the fact that it’s in drawdown and I am currently withdrawing £200 a month from it. I’m not claiming any special skills as a stock picker, but having a broad range of funds in my portfolio has undoubtedly served me well. Years ago, also, I decided to invest some of my pension money in specialist healthcare funds, and these have done better than average over the last few months 🙂

On the property crowdfunding side, the picture isn’t so rosy. A number of my property investments still seem to be stuck in limbo, though I did hear from The House Crowd that they had received an offer for a house in Liverpool in which I invested £1,000 six years ago (pictured below).

THC Property

The offer was for slightly less than the original purchase amount, but nonetheless the investors (including me) voted by a clear majority to accept it. So I will get a bit less than my original £1,000 back, though when you add in the dividend payments (from rent) since I first invested, I should be slightly up overall. But that’s before you allow for inflation, of course!

I am hoping that the Stamp Duty holiday announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak this week will help get the housing market moving and maybe ‘unstick’ some of my other property crowdfunding investments that have been on hold for a while. In retrospect I probably let my enthusiasm for the property crowdfunding concept run away with me a bit in the past. Overall I have still made some money from these investments, but not as much as I hoped or expected. And I still have a fair-sized sum tied up in properties I really expected to be sold by now. I do still think property crowdfunding can merit a place in people’s portfolios, but would advise diversifying as much as possible across platforms and properties. And definitely don’t invest money you might need any time soon!

Finally on this subject, I would just say that I exclude property loan investment platform Kuflink from the criticisms above. All of my investments with them have been doing well. Although there was a short delay with one loan, it has now been repaid (with added interest). Kuflink are adding new investment opportunities to the platform most days and I have been investing modestly in them, along with loan portions that have just a few months left to run via the Kuflink Marketplace. See my Kuflink review here for more information. Their up-to-£4,000 cashback offer for new investors is still open, incidentally.

  • One other thing I have mentioned before is that I have a few invitations available for an unusual sideline-earning opportunity based on matched betting. I have been asked not to divulge too many details about it on the blog for very good reasons I will explain privately to anyone who may be interested (and no, it’s not illegal!). What I can say is that it doesn’t require any financial outlay, is entirely hands-off, and will provide an income of £50 a month. No knowledge of betting is required, and you won’t have to place any bets yourself. Just note that the opportunity is only open to people who haven’t done matched betting before and have no more than two accounts already with online bookmakers. For more info (and receive a no-obligation invitation) drop me a line including your email address via my Contact Me page 🙂

Personal

As I’ve said before, I live on my own since my partner, Jayne, passed away a few years ago. I am lucky to live in a fairly large house with a good-sized garden, so being mostly confined to home hasn’t been as big a challenge for me as I’m sure it has for some. Also, I am well used to working from home, having done this for the last 30 years or so.

Nonetheless, the ongoing nature of the crisis is undoubtedly taking its toll on me. Every day seems so similar it is starting to feel like Groundhog Day. And while that is one of my all-time favourite movies, I definitely don’t want to live in it myself. Mind you, I saw someone on Twitter compare their experience of lockdown at home with the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. At least I wouldn’t claim it’s as bad as that!

So far as work is concerned, as you may know I’m a semi-retired freelance writer and editor (age 64). I’ve had very little work since the lockdown started, and was duly grateful to receive some financial support from the government’s SEISS scheme. I have, though, been keeping myself busy (and sane) with this blog and – as you may have noticed – have enjoyed quite a productive period. I ran out of inspiration a bit this week, but hopefully that is just a temporary blip.

I am still available for freelance writing, editing or proofreading work, although I am not taking on book-length projects any more. Feel free to drop me a line if you think my services might be of interest to you 🙂

Life generally is changing now as – touch wood – the worst of the pandemic appears to be behind us. The experience of shopping is still evolving and I guess it will be many months before it is entirely back to normal. I haven’t yet been to any ‘non-essential’ shops, but at my local Morrisons supermarket it feels a bit more relaxed. I would say only about a quarter of people are wearing masks or other face coverings now. I was wearing a bandana over my nose and mouth but have mostly stopped that unless I find myself surrounded by other shoppers. Of course, in England face coverings are now compulsory on public transport, so I will be keeping my bandanas washed and ready for that.

UPDATE: Just heard that the government is considering making the wearing of face-masks in shops in England compulsory. I find that bizarre at a time when – apart from a few local outbreaks – the virus is waning rapidly. It also sends out a mixed message at a time when the government is encouraging people to eat out, obviously not wearing masks. And the evidence in favour of wearing masks in public is weak anyway. Personally I really hope.the government refrains from doing this.

Many pubs are open again now. I walked past my nearest, The Drill, on Sunday afternoon. It all looked quite continental, with people sitting at tables outside and waitresses going in and out with trays of beer and other drinks. There was a happy buzz of conversation and laughter. The only less cheerful note was struck by the manager standing by the door with a clipboard, presumably taking the contact details of people as they arrived for contact-tracing purposes. I wasn’t tempted to go in myself, though I don’t rule out going for a drink and a meal soon, maybe taking advantage of the government’s £10 off vouchers 🙂

I am still looking forward to my short break in Minehead in September, which I booked before this crisis happened. I am also mulling over whether to try to book a couple of days away in August. I worked out the other day that I have been to Wales every year for over 30 years, and it would be a shame to break that long run in 2020. Llandudno or Aberystwyth could both be contenders.

I am still working my way through my box sets of Deep Space Nine and Bergerac. With the latter, it’s quite interesting to see how mobile phones evolved as the series was made. In the earliest episodes I guess they didn’t exist at all, and Bergerac’s office generally seemed to know telepathically where he was and phoned him at his father-in-law’s or wherever. Later on car phones make an appearance, and then house-brick-sized mobiles with aerials sticking out of them. Ah, the nostalgia!

I am trying not to spend too much time on social media as I know it’s bad for my mental health. There are a few people I follow regularly on Twitter and and enjoy hearing from, though. Last time I mentioned Professor Karol Sikora, a well-respected cancer specialist with a doctorate in immunology. Many people, including me, have found him a beacon of hope amid all the negativity, with his  generally positive and optimistic view (though still informed by science and statistics). He doesn’t have a political axe to grind and is willing to give the government credit for things they have done well and criticize things they have done badly. If you want one person to follow for unbiased news about the pandemic with a measure of hope for the future, I highly recommend checking out his Twitter page.

Lately I’ve also been enjoying reading the posts of Scottish blogger Effie Deans (who blogs as Lily of St Leonards). She is a Scottish academic who has a lot of interesting things to say about nationalism, education, culture, and more. You may or may not agree with all her views; but if you want an interesting and genuinely thought-provoking perspective on events from someone who isn’t afraid to challenge current orthodoxies, I highly recommend checking out her Twitter page and blog.

To end on a positive note, I am looking forward to having my hair cut for the first time in four months next week. I’ve actually quite enjoyed revisiting my long-haired student days, but enough is definitely enough! I am also looking forward to going swimming again after it was announced that outdoor pools can reopen from tomorrow and indoor pools a fortnight later. The David Lloyd Leisure club I belong to has both indoor and outdoor pools, so I am waiting to hear whether they will be opening the outdoor pool immediately or whether I will have to wait a bit longer till both pools can reopen. (UPDATE – Now heard I have to wait another fortnight 🙁 )

So that has been my experience of the coronavirus crisis to date. I do of course appreciate that I am in a fortunate position compared with many others, and hope you and your family are coping in these strange and worrying times. Here’s hoping that things continue to improve and we can all return in due course to something approximating normal life.

As ever, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. If you have any comments or questions, as always, please do post them below.

Disclaimer: I am not a registered 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 financial adviser/planner if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investments carry a risk of loss.

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Crisis Thoughts June 2020

My Coronavirus Crisis Experience – June Update

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A couple of months ago I wrote this blog post about my experience of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. Two months on, I thought it was time I provided another update.

As I said before, I live on my own since my partner, Jayne, passed away a few years ago. I am lucky to live in a fairly large house with a good-sized garden, so being mostly confined to home hasn’t been as big a challenge for me as I’m sure it has for some. Also, I am well used to working from home, having done this for the last 30 years or so.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the crisis hasn’t affected me in a variety of ways. As Pounds and Sense is primarily a money blog, I will (again) start off with that…

Financial

At the time I wrote my last update, world stock markets were in free fall. I was naturally concerned to see my equity-based investments – and in particular my pension fund – tumbling in value. Being 64 and semi-retired with my SIPP in drawdown, this was particularly worrying for me. But I tried to follow my own advice and avoid panicking and selling up.

Thankfully, in recent weeks stock markets have made an astonishing recovery. I am pleased to say that my pension fund and other equity-based investments are mostly back to near pre-Covid levels (and even in some cases above them).

Below is a copy of the six-month chart for my Nutmeg stocks and shares ISA. At one point this was down to just over £10,000 in value, but in just a few weeks it has climbed back to over £15,000. Admittedly I did put in an extra £1,000 when the markets were (as things stand now) close to their lowest point. Even so, it’s been an impressive rally.

Nutmeg chart June 2020

Assuming there is no major second wave of the virus – and world-wide there has been no sign of that so far – I am hopeful that the recovery will continue over the longer term. Of course, there are likely to be bumps along the way, and in the short term at least we face the likelihood of an economic recession. Even so, I am keeping my fingers crossed for a recovery over the next year or so, and am continuing to invest cautiously where I see value.

As mentioned in this recent post, I did also decide to invest £7,000 – the proceeds of another maturing investment – in another vehicle for Buy2LetCars. As regular readers will know, I’ve had one (new) car with this car loan investment platform for about two years now, and the monthly repayments have been coming through like clockwork. So I decided to invest my £7,000 (the minimum investment with Buy2LetCars) in another car – a pre-owned one this time, of course.

I particularly liked the idea of investing again with Buy2LetCars, as they lease vehicles to key workers such as nurses and other NHS staff (along with teachers, prison officers, police, and so on). These people all need cars for their (essential) work. They are responsible individuals, and have every incentive to look after the vehicles (though as they are fully insured, investors don’t bear any risk from accidents themselves).

Unfortunately Buy2LetCars don’t tell you who has leased ‘your’ car, but I like to think the ones I have bought are providing transport and security for two hard-working NHS nurses at this moment 🙂

In May I received a modest but nonetheless welcome payment from the government’s Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). I was pleased to hear recently that the government is extending this for a further three months, albeit at a slightly lower rate. It does help a lot at this uncertain time, and I know for many self-employed people it has provided a lifeline.

Personal

Thankfully I have managed to avoid contracting the virus so far. I know a local family who probably all had it, but they are thankfully well recovered now.

I also know people who have been badly affected by the lockdown. One young man of my acquaintance was furloughed from his job and became depressed alone in his bedsit. He started drinking excessively and wound up in hospital, where he spent several days being detoxed and having his liver checked out. Thankfully he doesn’t appear to have suffered any long-term damage, but it does demonstrate the stress many people are under right now. As I’ve said before on PAS, it’s more important than ever to keep in regular touch with friends, relatives and neighbours, especially if they live on their own.

As for myself, I am doing my best to keep on an even psychological keel. Like everyone else, there are things I am missing. Top of the list is seeing friends and relatives, going for days out, pub lunches, and so forth. I am also missing swimming (which is probably affecting my fitness as well). And I am really missing seeing my hairdresser. For the first time in my life, I have been wishing that, like many men of my age, I had gone bald 😉

At least two concerts I booked tickets for were cancelled. I have also had to cancel two holidays this year (so far). I have just one other holiday arranged, a short break in Minehead in September. I am optimistic that this will still go ahead, though how exactly it will be affected by social distancing and other anti-virus measures remains to be seen.

I am very glad that the panic buying has stopped now, though certain things can still be difficult to buy locally. Supplies of flour, eggs and rice are still variable, and I found it more difficult than expected to get a bag of compost for the garden. Supermarket shopping – as I’m sure you know – is a very different experience these days. You have to allow time for queuing outside beforehand, and expect to be marshalled inside the store as well. But things generally are far better than they were, so I’m certainly not complaining.

I still take daily walks – sometimes even two now as the rules about that have eased. I particularly enjoy going out in the (fairly) early morning. The air seems fresher and there are fewer people about, so less need for zig-zagging to preserve social distancing. I also find it sounds more natural to say ‘Good morning’ or just ‘Morning’ to people I pass. ‘Good afternoon’ is a mouthful and makes me sound like the village policeman, while ‘Hello’ just sounds lame. It’s a shame English doesn’t have an equivalent all-purpose expression to the French ‘Bonjour’!

As the crisis has continued, I have been watching less and less TV. Partly there hasn’t been much that has captured my interest, and my attention span for things like films has reduced. In addition, I have found the endless debate about the virus – and especially the negative tone of much of it – depressing and demoralizing. Instead I have been watching a lot of catch-up comedy and drama, and DVD box-sets.

Among the latter, I am enjoying Deep Space Nine, a Star Trek spin-off series (actually seven series) that I mostly missed first time round. And for light relief, I am watching The Brittas Empire, a 1990s sitcom with Chris Barrie set in a leisure centre. I highly recommend this for a bit of undemanding, escapist fun!

I have also just finished re-watching The Singing Detective by Dennis Potter, again on DVD. If you haven’t seen this, it’s a brilliant, multi-layered, musical drama serial, superbly written and acted. Since I first watched it I have acquired a lot more experience of hospitals (where much of the action takes place) so that has given me a new perspective on the show. I was also struck that in the days when it was made, there was clearly nothing unusual about patients being allowed to smoke in their hospital beds. How times have changed!

Finally on the subject of media, as I indicated above, I have become disillusioned with much of the reporting around the pandemic, which has become increasingly negative and politicized. But I do enjoy following Professor Karol Sikora on Twitter. Professor Sikora is a well-respected cancer specialist with a doctorate in immunology. He offers a positive and generally optimistic view, informed by science and statistics. He doesn’t have a political axe to grind and is willing to give the government credit for things they have done well and criticize things they have done badly. If you want one person to follow for unbiased news about the pandemic with a measure of cautious hope for the future, I highly recommend checking out his Twitter page.

Moving on, one other thing I’ve noticed in recent weeks is that I’m not spending as much money as I did before. Obviously I’m paying less for stuff like petrol, public transport, meals and drinks out, and so on. But I have also become more miserly about buying other things, even online. I’ve cancelled all my magazine subscriptions, and also been actively looking for other opportunities to save money. From what I have seen and heard, I am not alone in this. I guess it comes down to the strange and uncertain times we are living through. I think that, both consciously and unconsciously, I am trying to save as much as I can to try to ensure that I have a decent financial cushion whatever the future holds.

And finally, I realized the other day I haven’t spent any actual cash since the lockdown began! Payment by card is preferred everywhere and in some places is the only payment option accepted. The pandemic has probably accelerated our progress towards becoming a cashless society.

So that has been my experience of the coronavirus crisis to date. I do of course appreciate that I am in a fortunate position compared with many other people. I hope you and your family are coping in these strange and worrying times as well. I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. If you have any comments or questions, as always, please do post them below.

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Bricklane review

Bricklane: My Review of This Property Investment Platform

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Please be aware that this is a historical post. Bricklane is now closed to new investors and is winding down. Please see the comments below for the latest updates about it.

Today I am looking at another property investment platform, Bricklane.

Unlike Kuflink and Ratesetter, both of which I have discussed previously on this blog, Bricklane is not a platform for peer-to-peer loans. Neither does it arrange crowdfunded investments in specific properties like Crowdlords and Property Partner.

Bricklane is structured as a Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT for short. For those who don’t know, REITs are property funds that use investors’ money to buy (and manage) property and provide returns in the form of rental income plus capital appreciation.

In order to qualify as a REIT in the UK, companies have to meet certain requirements. The most important are as follows:

  • At least 75% of their profits must come from property rental.
  • At least 75% of the company’s assets must be involved in the property rental business.
  • They must pay out 90% of their rental income to investors.

In exchange for operating within these rules – and to encourage investment in UK real estate – REITs are not required to pay corporation or capital gains tax on their property investments. That helps make REITs profitable for the companies running them, and is how they are able to generate attractive returns for investors.

Normally rental income from REITs is treated as taxable income and taxed at your highest marginal rate. However, if you invest through an ISA or SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension) no tax is due. You therefore get the best of both worlds – your money isn’t subject to taxation while invested in the REIT, and when it comes back to you in the form of income distributions and profits on sales of shares, you don’t have to pay tax on these either.

Types of Investment

You can invest in Bricklane as a stocks and shares ISA or a SIPP, or failing that in a standard investment account, where you will be liable for tax.

To maximize the benefits from investing in a REIT, I highly recommend going down the SIPP or ISA route, if you haven’t already used up this year’s allowance. As a reminder, everyone has a £20,000 annual ISA allowance (for 2019/20) and you are also only allowed to invest in one cash ISA, one stocks and shares ISA and one Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) in any one tax year. I invested in a stocks and shares ISA with Bricklane myself.

Bricklane has two property portfolios you can invest in. These are Regional Capitals, which includes properties in Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. and London, with a portfolio of properties in the capital. The Regional Capitals portfolio has generated a return of 19.3% since it was launched in September 2016 and the London portfolio 8.9% since its launch in July 2017 (figures from the Bricklane website).

As a Bricklane investor, you can choose to invest in either or both portfolios, in any proportion you choose. I opted to put all my money into Regional Capitals, as I believe this is where the biggest growth potential lies. In addition, rental income in this portfolio is higher, and I am also concerned about the possible impact of Brexit on London. You might see this differently, of course!

Bricklane Pros and Cons

Based on my experiences so far – and some online research – here is my list of pros and cons for the Bricklane property investment platform.

Pros

1. Fast, easy sign-up.

2. Well-designed, intuitive website.

3. Low minimum investment of £100.

4. Bricklane take care of all the work involved in buying and managing properties. You just choose which portfolio/s to invest in.

5. REIT structure offers significant tax advantages.

6. Tax-free ISA and SIPP options are available.

7. Possibility to access your money at any time (though this does depend on another investor being willing to buy your shares).

8. Customer service (in my experience anyway) is fast, friendly and helpful.

9. Charges are reasonable, comprising an initial 2% fee (though see my comment below on how you may be able to offset this) and 0.85% annual management fee.

10. Potential to profit through both capital appreciation and rental income.

11. Rental income is paid into your account every three months. You can either withdraw it or reinvest it to compound your returns.

12. Up to £1,500 cashback is available for new investors of £5,000 or more via my referral link (see below).

Cons

1. No detailed information provided about the properties your money is invested in.

2. Can’t invest in an ISA if you have already put money into another stocks and shares ISA this year.

3. 20% tax deduction from rental income at source if you don’t invest via a SIPP or ISA (and additional liability if you are a higher rate taxpayer).

4. Minimum £10,000 investment for a SIPP.

5. Returns over the last few months have been disappointing (see below)

6. No absolute guarantee you will be able to sell your shares when the time comes.

My Experiences

I put £5,000 into a Bricklane Stocks and Shares ISA in October 2018. As mentioned above, I chose to invest in the Regional Capitals rather than the London portfolio. The graph below – taken from my member’s page – shows the earnings generated since I opened my account.

My Bricklane Profits

As you will see, initially my investment performed pretty well. In the first nine months I made about £150, which equates to an annual interest rate of 4% (tax-free). That’s not spectacular, but it still beats most bank and building society accounts by a considerable margin. It is similar to the top rate currently on offer with P2P platform RateSetter in their Max account, although in their case you have to pay a fee equivalent to 90 days’ interest if you wish to withdraw. There is no withdrawal fee with Bricklane.

Since July/August 2019, however, returns have diminished considerably. My earnings between August 2019 and February 2020 were only just over £7, which is clearly a very low percentage rate. Of course, a large part of this is down to the depressed state of the property market caused by uncertainty over Brexit. I am hoping that now this is definitely happening – for better or for worse – my investment will get back on an upward trajectory again. Although recent results have been disappointing, at least the overall value of my portfolio hasn’t gone down (which has happened with some of my other property-related investments).

One other thing I should mention is that in October 2019 I withdrew £1,000 from my account to help fund a new central heating boiler after the old one packed in. This has therefore also reduced my returns a little. Although even if I still had the full £5,000 invested, earnings over the last few months would still have been nothing to write home about.

  • I should add that the withdrawal in question proved straightforward, although it wasn’t instant. I received the money in my bank account about a fortnight after putting in my request.

Conclusion

Clearly the performance of my Bricklane portfolio since last August has been disappointing, though overall I am still better off than I would have been if I had kept my money in a bank or building society.

I am hoping that things will start to improve in the property markets now that the Brexit issue has been resolved. There are some signs of this, although it remains to be seen whether the recovery in property prices will be sustained. For the time being, then, I am sticking with what I have in Bricklane, though I am not planning to top up my investment with them currently.

More generally, my experiences with Bricklane have been good. The sign-up process was fast and simple, and my £125 referral bonus (see below) was credited to my account instantly, completely offsetting (with a bit to spare) the initial 2% charge.

I also like the fact that any investment with Bricklane is automatically diversified across a range of properties, thus reducing volatility and risk. By contrast, with many P2P loan and property crowdfunding platforms, you invest in one loan or property at a time.

It’s also reassuring that you can ask to withdraw your money at any time – this can be an issue with property crowdfunding platforms in particular. As mentioned earlier, this does depend on someone else being willing to buy your shares, but Bricklane say that to date there hasn’t been a problem for anyone wanting to sell. As I said above, I had no issues when I wanted to release £1,000 from my own investment with them.

It is important to note that this is an investment rather than a savings account, and it does not therefore enjoy the same level of protection as bank and building society savings, which are covered (up to £85,000) by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

Clearly, no-one should put all their spare cash into Bricklane (or any other investment platform). Nonetheless, in my view it is worth considering as part of a diversified portfolio. Not only are the rates of return (other than the last few months) higher than those offered by most banks and building societies, they are less affected than shares by ups and downs in the stock market. Property investments aren’t a way of hedging your equity-based investments directly, but they do help spread the risk.

In addition, the tax treatment of REITs make them a highly tax-efficient investment, especially if you can invest in the form of a SIPP or an ISA.

Welcome Offer

As an existing Bricklane investor, I can offer a special cashback deal for anyone signing up and investing on the platform via my link. If you click through this special invitation link, sign up and invest a minimum of £5,000, you will receive £125 in cashback (and I will get £100). With a £5,000 investment this bonus will cover your initial 2% charge and still leave you £25 in profit 🙂

If you invest more, you will get even more cashback, as follows:

Over £10,000 – £250

Over £20,000 – £500

Over £50,000 – £800

Over £100,000 – £1,500

Not only that, once you are an investor with Bricklane, even if you only start with £100, you will be able to offer the same cashback bonus to your friends and relatives and earn commission yourself as well. There is no limit to the number of people you can introduce through this scheme.

Obviously, this is a generous promotional offer by Bricklane and I assume it won’t be available forever. If you want to take advantage, therefore, don’t wait too long. I will remove this information if/when I hear the offer is no longer valid.

If you have any comments or questions about this Bricklane review, as always, please do leave them below.

Disclosure: this post includes affiliate links. If you click through and make an investment at the website in question, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This has no effect on the terms or benefits you will receive. Please note also that I am not a professional financial adviser. 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.

Note: This is a fully revised and updated version of my original Bricklane review from October 2018

UPDATE 15 March 2020: Having said that my earnings from my Bricklane ISA over the last 6-8 months were disappointing, since the start of February they have shot up by over 100% (see below).

Bricklane March 2020

This doesn’t exactly cancel out the recent falls in my equity-based investments due to the coronavirus, but it does demonstrate the value of having a well-diversified portfolio. And I am obviously feeling more positive about Bricklane as an investment platform now 🙂

One other thing to note is that until the end of April 2020 Bricklane are waiving all investment fees for both new and existing investors. Visit the Bricklane website for more information.

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My best investments of 2019

My Best Investments of 2019

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One question I get asked fairly frequently as a money blogger is what I think are the best current investment opportunities.

I have to be very careful when responding to this sort of question (and always tell people this). For one thing, I am not a qualified financial adviser, so it would be against the law for me to offer personalized investment advice. And even if I were, I still wouldn’t be allowed to give one-to-one advice without first doing an in-depth fact-find on the person in question.

Of course, this is exactly as it should be. For one thing, everyone’s circumstances are different, and what represents a good investment for me might not be the same for you. It depends on a wide range of factors, including your income and expenditure, your family responsibilities, how much you want to invest, the timescale (and purpose) you are investing for, your age and health, and so forth.

Another important consideration is your attitude to risk. Other things being equal, higher returns come with higher risks. If you’re comfortable with this and willing to accept it in exchange for the chance of better returns, that is of course your decision. On the other hand, if riskier investments would cause you sleepless nights, you are probably better off seeking a safer – if possibly less exciting – home for your money.

In addition, anything I say here is inevitably based on my own experience, and there is no guarantee yours will be the same as mine. I might, for example, have great success with one platform and suffer losses on another. But there is no way of knowing whether your experiences if you invest will be the same as mine. This applies especially if you have to choose specific investments on the platform (as with many P2P/property crowdfunding platforms) rather than putting your money into a pooled fund of some kind.

And, of course – as the financial services ads always say in the small print – past results are no guarantee of future performance…

I don’t want to come across as too negative. I am, after all, a money blogger and investor myself. So what I can – and will – do is talk about my own investing experiences and share information about what has worked well for me this year. It’s then up to you to decide if you want to investigate these opportunities any further. If so, you will need to do your own ‘due diligence’ before deciding how to proceed, perhaps taking professional advice from a qualified financial adviser as well (which I strongly recommend if you are new to investing or at all uncertain).

  • Although I count myself as a reasonably experienced investor, I do still have an independent financial adviser (Mike from Integrity Wealth Solutions). He oversees about half my investments, while the other half I look after myself. He also advises me on my financial situation more generally and answers any questions I can’t answer satisfactorily myself. i will talk more about this in another post. But I wanted to mention it here to show that I am not at all opposed to using a financial adviser and in general recommend it, particularly when starting out in investing.

My Best Investments of 2019

Below I have listed some of my investments that have performed best this year and/or caused me the least stress and hassle! I have included a few lines about each one, and links to any blog posts I have written about them for further info.

(1) Nutmeg

Nutmeg is a robo-advisory platform. I have used it for my Stocks and Shares ISA investments over the last three years. My investment pot has grown steadily, albeit with a few ups and downs, as is to be expected with equity-based investments. At the time of writing my Nutmeg pot has grown by about 40% since i started investing in April 2016, which is certainly a lot better than I could have achieved with a bank savings account. Of course, you shouldn’t normally invest in any equity-based product with anything less than a five-year timescale.

Nutmeg use exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as their investment vehicle. These are discussed in more detail in my in-depth Nutmeg review, which also includes details of what I invested with them and when. Note that my investment has grown by a further £1,100 since that article was published.

(2) Ratesetter

Ratesetter is a P2P lending platform. They don’t pay the highest rates, currently ranging from 3% for instant access to 4% for their Max account (where you pay a release fee of 90 days’ interest if you wish to withdraw). Though better than most bank savings accounts, those rates are clearly nothing spectacular.

One thing I particularly like about Ratesetter, though, is that they have a provision fund that effectively covers investors against defaults. That means you don’t have to worry about diversifying your investments across a range of loans, as is the case with some other P2P lending platforms. Of course, if the whole platform were to collapse the provision fund wouldn’t necessarily save you, but Ratesetter has been going for ten years now and appears professionally and competently run. It has delivered the promised returns to me with no stress or hassle, and I am happy to recommend it based on my experience.

In addition, if you check out my Ratesetter review you can discover how to get a free £20 bonus if you invest a mere £10 with them.

(3) Buy2Let Cars

I took a long time before deciding whether to invest with Buy2Let Cars, as it is quite an unusual investment. Basically what you are doing is putting up the money to buy a car for someone in a responsible job who can’t afford to buy one outright themselves. You then receive monthly repayments over a three-year period, and a final repayment of capital plus interest at the end of the loan. The minimum investment is £7,000, so this is obviously not going to work for everyone. Personally I bought one new car at a price of £14,000 in March 2018. Since then I have been receiving £250 per month in repayments, with a final payment of £8,429 due in month 37. That will give me a total net profit of £3,429 based on an annual interest rate of 10% (the rates on offer can vary but once you have signed an agreement the rate is fixed for the duration of the contract).

There are – of course – various safeguards and protections in place, fully discussed in my Buy2Let Cars review. Buy2Let Cars say that to date they have a 100% repayment record to investors, which appears to be confirmed by their Trust Pilot reviews. This investment has been working very well for me, with payments turning up in my bank account every month like clockwork. I am currently semi-retired, so it is providing a useful extra monthly income for me, with a large lump sum due in 2021, just a few months before I qualify for the state pension 🙂 If you think it might work for you, I recommend checking out my Buy2Let Cars review and speaking to my contact there, Brett Cheeseman, who helpfully answered all the questions I had at the time I invested.

(4) Kuflink

Kuflink offer the opportunity to invest in loans secured against property. These loans are typically made to developers who require short- to medium-term bridging finance, e.g. to complete a major property renovation project, before refinancing with a commercial mortgage.

Kuflink don’t pay the highest rates in this field – their loans are typically at an interest rate of around 7% – but in my view they offer a fair balance between risks and rewards. One thing I like about them is that interest is paid into your account monthly on all loans. I only have a relatively small amount invested, but so far everything has been going well with just the occasional short delay in repayment of capital.

Kuflink currently have a generous welcome offer, with cashback of up to £4,000 for new investors. Take a look at my Kuflink review for more information about this.

(5) Crowdlords

Crowdlords is a property crowdfunding platform. I have been investing with them almost since their launch and have made a good overall profit. Crowdlords pay competitive interest rates (over 20% in some cases) and offer a choice of equity and debt investments. Equity investments are higher risk than debt ones, but offer the potential for bigger returns if all goes well.

My only reservation about Crowdlords is that I currently have two overdue investments with them. In both cases, though, I have received full and reasonable explanations for the delays, and have been told that the money should be in my account within the next few months. Obviously, if that doesn’t happen, I will let Pounds and Sense readers know.

Crowdlords doesn’t have a welcome offer as such, but they do have a Refer a Friend scheme. If you sign up quoting my code, I will share the commission I receive 50:50 with you. Please see my Crowdlords review for more information about this.

So those are the investments that have given me the best returns and/or least stress during 2019. I do have others as well, including Primestox, ZOPA, Bricklane, The Lending Crowd, The House Crowd and Property Partner. Most of these have still made some money but none has really set the world alight.

Only Primestox actually lost me money. This is (or was) a premium food investment platform. They started promisingly and I made good returns on my early investments, but then they were hit by a series of delays and defaults. This happened with three projects I invested in. In the case of two I have received partial repayments with more promised, but in the third I have probably lost my £500. Primestox are no longer advertising investment opportunities, and I assume are re-evaluating their business model.

Property Partner is an interesting case. I have made modest returns on my portfolio this year, partly due to the fact that the property market in general has been in a slump. That said, there haven’t been any issues with delays or defaults, and dividends have been credited to my account every month as promised. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2020 as properties come up to their five-year anniversary and investors have the opportunity to exit at the current market price. As I noted in this recent blog post, this has the potential to create opportunities for both buyers and sellers.

I haven’t included certain other investments in this article. These include my Bestinvest SIPP, which is now in drawdown and holding up well in value. Neither have I included money invested via my financial adviser. This is mostly in funds from Prudential, which again are doing pretty well.

Lastly, I haven’t included the money I ‘invested’ in Football Index. My portfolio has more than doubled in value over 18 months, so in some ways it is my most successful investment of 2019! I am sure luck has played a significant part in this. Nonetheless, if you want to know more about Football Index – and read how you can get a risk-free £50 when signing up – you might like to check out this recent blog post.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article, which has run on a bit longer than I expected. I hope also it may have given you a few ideas to investigate further if you are in the fortunate position of having money to invest.

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

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

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Elderly People and Scams Infographic

Elderly People and Scams (Infographic)

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Today I’m sharing another eye-opening infographic from my friends at the credit reference agency Equifax.

It’s an unfortunate fact that older people with vulnerabilities can be targeted by scammers. Older people often fear being mugged or burgled – but 90% of all crimes committed against the over 65s are actually fraud.

Scammers don’t always come across as aggressive or pushy – they can often appear very polite and friendly, which is how they win people over and gain their trust. They use several methods to commit identity theft and steal money, which include:

Age UK has reported that almost 5 million people over the age of 65 believe they have been targeted by scammers. People living on their own, or suffering with dementia, are especially vulnerable.

The same study revealed that 27% of single people were duped by a scam when they were targeted, compared with less than a tenth of people who lived with someone else.

The cost of fraud – in terms of money, time and individuals’ health – is massive.

  • In 2017, victims suffered an average loss of £29,000 due to investment fraud
  • On average, pension scam victims lose £91,000
  • It can take weeks to sort out the aftermath of a scam

The infographic below sets out some ways to help elderly people protect themselves against scammers – and warning signs that might suggest they’ve been targeted..

Thank you to Equifax for an eye-opening graphic. If you help look after an older person – whether it’s a friend or a family member – it’s important to keep an eye out for this and offer advice and support when appropriate. This applies especially if they live on their own.

The infographic includes some excellent advice on ways to reduce the likelihood of being scammed online. But, of course – as mentioned at the start of the article – scammers operate in other ways as well.

An increasingly popular method is scam phone calls, e.g. this one where the victim receives what appears to be a genuine phone call from HMRC telling them that they are being prosecuted for tax evasion. Of course it’s a lie, the purpose of which is to get the victim to make payments into the scammer’s bank account and/or hand over their bank details. If you know any older people who may be vulnerable to telephone scams, it’s important to warn them about this and tell them always to contact you for advice before they respond.

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

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Could you benefit from the tax-free trading allowance?

Could You Benefit from the Tax-Free Trading Allowance?

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Today I want to share some information about the trading allowance, a modest but useful tax-free allowance.

The trading allowance doesn’t appear to be widely known about, but can be particularly relevant for retired and semi-retired people. Though those in full-time work may also be able to benefit from it.

This allowance was introduced in the Finance Act (No. 2) 2017, which from April 2017 brought in a £1,000 trading allowance and £1,000 rental allowance. The trading allowance is likely to be the more beneficial of the two (at least, unless or until the much more generous £7,500 Rent-a-Room allowance is abolished) so in this post I will focus on that.

The trading allowance means that from April 2017 individuals with a trading income of £1,000 or less in a tax year do not need to declare or pay tax on this money. Trading income can include money from online activities such as auction trading, blogging, completing online surveys, and so on. It would also include casual work such as gardening or DIY.

So long as you earn under £1,000 a year from these activities, the good news is you don’t have to declare it to HMRC or pay income tax on it. For people who only earn small amounts of income from trading – perhaps on an ad hoc basis – that means there is no more worry about if, how or when to declare it to the authorities. I know many older people worry about whether they will get into trouble if, for example, they do a small DIY job for a neighbour and are paid £50 for it. The trading allowance can remove this source of concern.

An important point to note is that the £1,000 refers to gross income. If you intend to claim the trading allowance, you aren’t allowed to deduct any costs incurred (as of course you would in a normal self-employed business).

If you earn over £1,000 gross from trading you can still use the trading allowance if you wish. You then simply deduct £1,000 from your gross income and that will give your taxable income. Alternatively, you can choose the traditional method of deducting all business-related expenses from your gross income and paying tax (if due) on the balance. Clearly if you have a high level of expenses, the latter is likely to be the more cost-effective choice. Here are a few examples that may help make this clearer.

1. Graham is retired and supplements his pension doing part-time gardening for his neighbours, for which he earns £900 a year. This is under £1,000, so he does not have to declare this money to HMRC or pay any tax on it.

2. Jill has a part-time job working for an employer and in her spare time runs a blog, from which she makes a gross income of £1,500 a year. She has £600 of blog-related expenses. Although her net income from her blog is under £1,000, because the gross income is over this figure she is obliged to register as self-employed with HMRC. She then has the option of deducting the £1,000 trading allowance from her £1,500 gross income, giving her a taxable income of £500. Alternatively she can choose to deduct her £600 of expenses from her gross income of £1,500, leaving her with a taxable income of £900. Clearly, in this case she is better off claiming the trading allowance.

3. Mary works full-time as a shop assistant but also has a sideline buying and selling collectibles on eBay. Her gross income from her eBay trading is £2,500 and she has trading costs of £1,250. Again, as her gross income is over £1,000, she has to register with HMRC. She then has the choice of deducting the £1,000 trading allowance from her gross trading income of £2,500, giving her a taxable income of £1,500. Alternatively she can deduct the £1,250 of expenses from her £2,500 gross income, leaving her with a taxable income of £1,250. Clearly, in this case, not claiming the trading allowance is the better option.

You are allowed to decide for yourself which option is more beneficial to you each year, so it is very important to keep careful records of all your trading income and expenditure.

Note also that everyone is entitled to claim the trading allowance however much they earn as an employee (if you are already self-employed you will probably be unable to claim it, though – see below).

Bear in mind also that everyone has a tax-free annual income allowance anyway – the basic personal allowance is £11,850 in the current tax year, going up to £12,500 in 2019/20. The trading allowance is only therefore likely to be relevant in financial terms if your total taxable income from all sources exceeds this. But you will of course still have the benefit of not needing to worry about notifying HMRC or registering with them if your gross trading income is under £1,000..

As ever, there are a few other complications…

  1. You can claim the trading allowance if you have another paid job for an employer, full-time or part-time. You can’t, however, claim it if you also do freelance work for your employer.
  2. In addition, if you run a separate self-employed business, it is unlikely you will be able to claim the trading allowance as well (your accountant should be able to advise you about this – see also this useful article from Accountancy Age).
  3. There is only one trading allowance per person. Even if you have two separate sources of income from trading, for the purposes of claiming the allowance the total income from them must be lumped together. However, you can allocate the £1,000 allowance across both activities in whatever proportion you wish.
  4. Although you don’t have to declare trading income below £1,000 per tax year to HMRC, you may still have to declare it if you are receiving other welfare benefits such as Universal Credit.
  5. Only individuals can claim this allowance, not partnerships or limited companies.

Further Reading

Here are a few additional resources you may find helpful, starting with the government’s own website devoted to this allowance.

Tax-free allowances on property and trading income (HMRC)

Q&A – How trading allowance tax exemption works (FT Adviser)

What is the Trading Allowance? (Low Incomes Tax Reform Group)

Trading Allowance (Tax Aid)

A Little Boost (Tax Adviser magazine)

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below (although bear in mind that I am not a qualified financial adviser or tax expert and cannot provide personal financial advice).

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Guest Post: How to Guarantee Financial Security Whenever You Retire

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Today I am pleased to bring you a guest post from my money blogging colleague Jennifer Kempson. Jennifer blogs at https://mamafurfur.com.

In her article Jennifer sets out some strategies to ensure you have enough money to enjoy your retirement, even if it’s not too far away!

Over to Jennifer, then…

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing, and truly as we reach the later years of working life and approach retirement, we may secretly wish we had made our retirement resources a priority and regarded them as a key resource to help fulfil our passions and achieve our long-term ambitions.

Money, much like health and energy, is one resource that we will look back on and wish we had taken better care of during our younger days, so we can look forward with pleasure and excitement to when the time-freedom of retirement allows us to do whatever we dream of.

Reading this right now you may feel that it is too late for you to recover your potential financial security for your retirement, but I’m excited to share with you a few ways that you can invest in your future even when retirement is on the horizon in the next 10-15 years.

Make a plan and start seeing it happen!

Firstly, I will say that I am a firm believer in “putting your own oxygen mask on before anyone else”. And the very best investment financially or otherwise you can make for your future is to sort your own financial security as a top priority.

You absolutely need to write down your financial goals and desired experiences for your retirement, and start getting excited about this and be as specific as possible, so that you know exactly how much money you will require to make it happen.

Like time spent with our children and loved ones, if we master our relationship with money and the way we feel about it today, this will have a huge compounding effect on our short- and long-term happiness in future. I talk more about the habits and thoughts that can reshape your relationship with money in my new book, The Master Money Blueprint, which sets out the 26 timeless money principles and habits that I believe can change your financial future.

Pay off your liabilities as soon as possible

One of the most beneficial things you can do for your financial future is to become as debt-free as possible.

Make better money relationship habits starting today and commit to overpaying on everything you have as a liability against your name.

This could include your mortgage or car payments, and is especially crucial if you have credit card debts or loans. Commit to paying these down as quickly as possible and never returning to debt again.

A home with its mortgage completely paid off will provide you with safety and security in future, and when the time comes can be left to loved ones. But more important than that would be the mindset that your home is secure and safe for your happiness both now and in the future.

I like to use a great principle called The 10% Rule, mentioned in more detail in my book and on my blog at www.mamafurfur.com. This can and should be applied to every debt you have – any outstanding mortgage, car payments, loans, etc.

Commit to paying 10% over the monthly repayment required each month as a default. That small action will do two things. Firstly, you will not really notice too much discomfort. For a mortgage of, say, £400 a month, finding a further £40 could be as simple as giving up that gym membership and going for walk with friends, getting some free weights in the house, learning yoga from YouTube, and so on. It could be giving up all the unused packages from cable TV for a few months to see if you really miss it. It could be starting a small sideline business at home to make some extra money, or saving on your food and shopping purchases by eating one less takeaway a week. The choices are limitless.

That action of paying 10% more each month means you will make the equivalent of 1.2 extra payments towards reducing your debts per year. For a 25-year mortgage, for example, this could result in the debt being fully paid off in just over 22 years instead. That is a nearly three years off your home loan from a small change without causing too much stress to your day-to-day living. The second benefit is to your mindset, which is priceless – you will quickly see that money really is a resource to deploy based on your goals and long-term plans. Overpaying then becomes a joy, as much as it might be difficult to see that at the start, but the smallest actions usually do change us for the better when we let them.

You can find out more about how to pay off your mortgage and large loans quickly using my blog post and videos dedicated to the topic here.

Invest using an investment ISA

An investment ISA (Individual Savings Account) allows you to save up to £20k tax free in stocks and shares every year. This type of savings account could allow you to create a passive income to supplement a pension. You can have a cash ISA and an investment ISA if you wish, as long as you don’t exceed the £20k annual total contributions allowance.

Investments in ISAs are not liable for income tax or dividends tax. Neither do you have to pay capital gains tax when you sell them. They are available from most banks and investment companies.

Like any type of investing, we need to purchase funds based on our goals, requirements for the money long term, and our tolerance for risk.

Investment returns are not guaranteed. However, generally you can expect to see a 4% return on your investments if you pick solid mutual funds (collections of stocks purchased together, spreading your money across a wide range of similar companies) such as Vanguard’s LifeStrategy 100% Equity Fund or reliable low-cost index funds such as the S&P 500. It is also not uncommon to see growth rates of an average of 9.5-10%.

At the later part of your life, if you are hoping to use the power of compound interest and the stock market to gain higher returns than a normal savings account, then I strongly advise doing as much research as you can into the funds you decide to pick.

With investments, we need to assume we are leaving them a minimum of 5-10 years before withdrawing the money, and must not let the ups and downs of the stock market test our emotions.

The value of the stocks once we purchase them is only relevant once we need to sell them, so best mindset practices say to ignore the current day value until you absolutely need them.

Another benefit of using an investment ISA is that you will have access within a few days to your money should your circumstances change and you find you need the money sooner.

I strongly recommend every adult has an investment ISA, as it is currently one of the few ways to get high-interest returns on your long-term savings. It could even allow you to build a substantial ‘pot’ that allows you to achieve complete financial freedom for you and your family in future.

I call an investment ISA a passive income source, as the money generated is created by companies returning some of their profits in dividends, and/or the value of the stocks and shares purchased going up.

We do not have to exchange our time for this income, therefore it is completely passive and grows without any effort from ourselves. The beauty of the stock market is that our money will remain active until we choose to sell our stocks, so it will continue to create more income for us in the background. We can simply withdraw a small portion of it each year to live off, and some of the increase will still remain, adding to our wealth total despite the withdrawn money.

Let’s look at some examples of what we could potentially end up with if we took out an investment ISA even with a short-term goal of accessing the money within 10 years. I will use a withdrawal rate (how much we draw from our account every year as a source of income) of 3.75%. This is regarded as a good average by most financial advisors and institutions.

Starting with no savings at all at age 50, if we contributed the maximum of £20k a year to an Investment ISA with a withdrawal rate of 3.75% a year on average and saw only a 4% return on investment, then using the power of compound interest and reinvesting any dividends or growth, we would have at age 60 a total investment pot of around £246k. If we withdraw 3.75% of this a year, as stated above, after 10 years we could withdraw £9.2k a year of interest (tax free). That would mean an extra £800+ in your pocket every month through your investment ISA savings alone.

Leave the amount until you are officially retiring at age 65, after 15 years of consistent effort and contributions, we could see approximately £411k with an income of £15k a year or £1200 in our pocket every month.

If we were to see a 10% return on investment each year, the total fund within 15 years of maxing out our contributions would be approximately £696k and an income of £65k a year tax free! That is probably more than any retirement could use up, and of course this is purely using our investments as a source of income and not including a state or employer pension. That means you could end up being able to use the interest generated from your investments each year to live off indefinitely!

Another great point to remember is that an ISA is per individual, so if you are a couple you can open one each and double your achievements together.

What better gift than your time and freedom back to use as you wish could you give yourself and your loved ones?!

If you would like to know more about the basics of the stock market, or how to use an investment ISA to retire earlier than planned, please check out my blog posts here:

https://mamafurfur.com/blog/investing-beginnersuk/

https://mamafurfur.com/investing/

Master your money and create your best life – your greatest investment in your future!

Make it a priority to learn how to master your money and use it to direct and create your best life.

Successful people in every walk of life leave clues along the way, so however you feel inspired to live your life, do it with style and use money as the tool to get there, taking your loved ones along with you for the ride.

Think of your upcoming retirement as an opportunity to explore new opportunities and even business ideas. Learn as many new skills as you can in areas that make your future life seem exciting, and watch as the world really opens up to you to design the life you always wanted in your retirement.

Here’s to a great future ahead on your terms, with money as an abundant resource to fuel it!

About the author

Jennifer Kempson, aka Mamafurfur, is a 30-something Scottish working mum with a passion to help others create the work-life balance and lifestyle they desire with time and financial freedom, sharing smarter spending, saving and lifestyle strategies.

Outside of her blog, she recently released her first book titled The Master Money Mindset: How to Master Your Money and Create a Powerful Money Mindset, sharing 26 timeless money principles that will allow you to design and shape your future using money as the resource it should be. The book is available on Amazon Kindle and as a paperback now.

Currently voted UK Money Vlogger (Youtube Creator) 2018, and finalist for the UK Blog Awards Finance Blog of the Year 2019.

Jennifer Kempson

 

Many thanks to Jennifer (right) for a valuable and thought-provoking guest post. Please do check out her blog at www.mamafurfur.com and her YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/mamafurfur.

I do agree with Jennifer about the value and importance of paying down your debts. Not only will this reduce the capital outstanding, even more importantly it will reduce the interest you have to pay on that capital in future. Other things being equal it’s best to pay off high-interest loans first (though check whether there are any penalties for doing this). Mortgage rates are historically low at the moment so paying extra every month won’t have as big a benefit, but of course there is still much to be said for going mortgage-free as early as possible.

I also agree with Jennifer about the value of saving as much as possible using ISAs. And for long-term saving especially, you are likely to get much better returns from investment (stocks and shares) ISAs than cash ISAs. Do just bear in mind that pension contributions are another great way of saving for retirement, and you get tax relief from the government up front on them.

Finally, I do of course appreciate that not everyone is going to be able to save £20,000 a year into their ISAs. Whatever you can find, however, putting it into ISAs (and pensions) will ensure you get the maximum benefit in years to come. And the earlier you start, the more time your savings and investments will have to weather any ups and downs in the financial markets and grow. You can read some ideas for boosting your income so you can afford to save more for retirement in the Making Money category on my blog.

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

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Six Ways to Make Money with Cashback Sites

Six Ways to Make Money with Cashback Sites

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In this post last year I discussed cashback sites and how you can save money on your shopping by using them. Today I want to go a step further and show how you can make money from them too.

I’ll be revealing six different strategies you can use to make money via cashback sites, and specifically Quidco and Top Cashback, the Big Two in the UK.  Do just bear in mind that offers on these sites change frequently, so I can’t promise that all those mentioned below will still be available when you read this – but others (possibly even better) will undoubtedly have appeared as well.

Let’s get started then…

(1) Free Offers

Both Quidco and Top Cashback list offers where you can make money simply by asking for a quote or performing some other action.

For example, on Quidco you can get 50p at the time of writing just for ordering a free SIM card from GiffGaff and £6 for activating it – while on Top Cashback you can get £2.30 by requesting a quote for your car insurance from Confused.com.

To find free offers on Quidco, click on Offers in the main menu, then click on the Free Cashback tab. On Top Cashback free offers can be accessed on the right of the main menu, under the Free Money tab.

(2) Cashback Arbitrage

This is my name for offers where you get more cashback than you actually spend with the retailer, giving a guaranteed profit overall.

This type of offer is mainly the province of online bingo and gambling sites. They clearly hope that once you’ve joined you’ll carry on playing even after you have met the minimum requirement for cashback. So if you think you might be drawn into gambling, you may prefer to give these offers a miss.

Nonetheless, there are some great, guaranteed money-making opportunities out there if you apply them correctly. For example, if you join Gala Bingo via Quidco and deposit and wager £10, you will get £60 cashback. That’s £50 clear profit, and more if you make any money from your wagering.

Top Cashback have a range of offers, including £20 cashback if you deposit and bet £10 on the Betfair betting exchange (new customers only).

(3) Utilities and Comparison Sites

If you’re thinking of switching your energy or telecoms supplier, there is free money to be made on cashback sites.

Both Quidco and Top Cashback list comparison services who will pay cashback if you switch suppliers through them. For example, if you join uSwitch via Quidco and change energy supplier through them, you will currently get £15 cashback for a single fuel and £36 (recently increased from £30) for duel fuel.

Alternatively, if you know the supplier you want to switch to, you may be able to get cashback from them. On Top Cashback you can get up to £100 if you switch to a duel fuel deal with npower, or £68.25 with British Gas.

There are also some great cashback offers if you want to switch telecoms/broadband provider. For example, on Top Cashback, BT Broadband are currently offering new customers up to £175 cashback if they sign up for their broadband, phone and TV service.

(4) Financial Services

You can also get free money by applying for a credit card through a cashback site or starting an ISA or pension through them.

On Top Cashback you can currently get £52.50 cashback if you apply for a Tesco Premium credit card (and are accepted). Also on Top Cashback you can get up to £255 cashback if you sign up for an ISA (Individual Savings Account) with Scottish Friendly.

And on Quidco you can get £55 cashback if you transfer a pension of £2,000 or over to PensionBee, an online pension management service.

Clearly before applying for any financial product or service you should research it carefully and ensure it will meet your needs. Nobody should make financial decisions based solely on the cashback available. Nonetheless, if this is a service that meets your needs, you may as well grab the cashback too.

(5) Events and Promotions

Both Quidco and Top Cashback regularly run special events and promotions to encourage people to check out their offers, with prizes including cash and free draw entries.

The promotions typically tie in with times of year, e.g. Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas. These are basically a bit of fun, but worth doing if you have the time, as they are free to enter.

(6) Introducing Others

Finally, you can make money by introducing friends and family to these sites. Offers change from time to time, but typically you are paid between £5 and £15 when someone joins via your link and earns cashback themselves. You may get more commission if you are a premium member. Disclosure: The links in this post are affiliate links, so if you click through and sign up with Quidco or Top Cashback, I will get a small commission.

In conclusion, I hope this post and my previous one have opened your eyes to the money-saving and money-making potential of cashback sites. Sign up to both sites today and start building your cashback over the coming weeks and months!



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