As you will doubtless know, yesterday the Chancellor delivered his 2023 Autumn Statement. This included various economic measures, which you can read about on the Moneysaving Expert website (among other places).
I thought today I would highlight one particular change to the rules about tax-free ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts) which caught my eye. From April 2024, you will be allowed to open more than one of any particular type of ISA in a single tax year. This is a change I was particularly pleased to see, and have in fact been advocating on Pounds and Sense for some time.
As you may know, there are various types of ISA, including the stocks and shares ISA, cash ISA and IFISA. The latter stands for Innovative Finance ISA and allows people to save tax-free with peer-to-peer lending and similar platforms. Everyone has an annual tax-free ISA allowance, which currently stands at £20,000. Despite rumours to the contrary, this limit was not changed in the Autumn Statement.
So why do I think the change in the rules announced yesterday is so important? Well, for one thing, it brings about much greater flexibility in ISA transfers. Investors will now be able to transfer funds freely between different types of ISA without jeopardizing their tax-free status. They will also be able to transfer just part of a holding to a different provider, regardless of when they paid in the money.
This will empower investors to optimize their investment strategy by making it easy to move money between cash, stocks and shares, and Innovative Finance ISAs. This enhanced transfer flexibility should enable investors to adapt to changing market conditions, seize new opportunities, and align their portfolios with their evolving financial goals.
A further benefit of the rule change is that it will make it easier for investors to build a well-diversified portfolio. Rather than having to put all their money into just one stocks and shares ISA per year (for example) they can divide it among a range of providers. Regular readers will know that I am a big fan of diversifying your portfolio as much as possible to help manage risk, and this rule change certainly facilitates that.
The change will also make it easier for investors to try out new platforms with relatively small investments initially. Previously they may have been deterred from doing this by the realization that once they had committed to one particular provider, they would have to stick with that provider for the rest of the financial year. FOMO (fear of missing out) may even have inhibited some people from investing at all.
This is certainly something I’ve experienced myself. At the start of a new financial year, I was wary of investing in any type of ISA, because I knew that once I did so, I would then have to stick with that provider for that type of ISA for the rest of the financial year.
So those are just some reasons I particularly welcome this rule change. From a broader perspective, I think it will also encourage more people to start investing, which has to be good for UK PLC in general. Apart from a few admin costs, it seems to me this measure will cost the government nothing, while bringing major benefits to the economy and individual investors. Really, the only thing I don’t understand is why it wasn’t done sooner!
So those are my thoughts anyway. But what do you think? Will the new rule encourage you to make more use of ISAs in future? I’d be interested to hear any views.
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
For the second winter in a row, some energy companies are offering incentives to customers to reduce their electricity use during periods of peak demand. Payments are made to those who succeed in doing this.
Most large energy companies – and some smaller ones – are running schemes, though some by invitation only. At the time of writing they include British Gas, EDF, Octopus Energy, E-on, OvoEnergy, Shell Energy, Scottish Power and Utilita. You can see a regularly updated list on this page of the Moneysavingexpert website.
If you aren’t with one of these companies, however, you may still be able to benefit by signing up with an app-based service such as Loop Energy or Power Rewards.
Don’t, though, be tempted to sign up for more than one scheme at a time. That is against National Grid’s rules and could see you being banned from receiving ANY payments.
This programme is part of a broader initiative from the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), the organization responsible for transporting electricity around England, Scotland and Wales and keeping homes and businesses powered. The aim is to balance supply and demand, thus reducing the need to fire-up fossil-fuel plants and (in the worst case) avoiding power cuts.
During cost-cutting events, National Grid ESO pays participating suppliers a certain amount for each unit (kWh) of electricity saved by any of their users signed up to schemes. Suppliers then pass some or all of this payment on to customers.
One thing all schemes have in common is you must have a smart meter capable of sending half-hourly readings. Smart meters are of course somewhat controversial, and for various reasons not everybody wants one. If you wish to benefit from this particular opportunity, however, having a smart meter is essential. For the record I do have a smart meter and believe it has saved me money. But I do of course respect those who have differing views about this.
How It Works
To make money from these schemes you will be asked to reduce your electricity (not gas) consumption during certain periods. This is most commonly around the evening peak time of 4 pm to 7 pm, but exact times vary depending on the supplier concerned and the needs of National Grid.
The duration of events varies but in my experience is typically an hour or 90 minutes. But I understand they could be anywhere between 30 minutes and three hours.
You are unlikely to make a fortune from these schemes, but could earn up to £100 (or more) over the course of the winter. Payments vary from around £2.50 to £4.50 per unit (kWh) saved, the rate depending on what National Grid is paying. The actual rate you receive will also depend on how much of the payments from National Grid your supplier chooses to pass on.
One other important point is that you may be expected to reduce your usage by a certain minimum amount (e.g. 40%) from your average in order to receive a payment. If you cut your usage by less than this, unfortunately you may not qualify for any payment on that occasion.
You will be required to opt in to the scheme run by your energy supplier (or other provider). You will likely also have to opt in to specific energy-saving events, with advance notifications sent via email and mobile phones.
How to Maximize Your Returns
Here are a few tips and ideas for cutting your electricity use during power-saving events and maximizing the returns you receive…
Turn off as many lights as possible, including outside lights (easily forgotten).
Turn off all mains-powered computers, printers and other electronic devices (again, easily forgotten).
Avoid cooking with electricity during events.
Avoid using other high-energy-consumption devices such as dishwashers and washing machines.
Obviously, avoid using electric heating if possible. If there’s no alternative, heat up the room/s you will be in beforehand and close all doors, windows and curtains to keep the warmth in.
Avoid taking electric showers while events are in progress.
Be sure no electrical devices have been left on to charge.
Switch off the TV and watch instead on your laptop/tablet using its internal battery.
Avoid boiling the kettle as this uses a lot of electricity (albeit for a short period). Make a flask of coffee/tea beforehand and drink from that during the event.
Avoid opening fridge/freezer doors during events. But you can also switch off fridges and freezers entirely to save more. This should be perfectly safe for up to three hours.
If it’s feasible, arrange to go out during some or all of the power-saving event. This is the easiest way to save as much electricity as possible!
Create a checklist of things to do at each event to save power. You can also use this after the event to ensure you remember to turn things like fridges and freezers back on again.
One other slightly left-field idea is to use high-energy devices such as washing machines and electric cookers MORE during evening peak times when there isn’t a power-saving event happening. That will boost your average energy consumption at this time, giving you the opportunity to save more when a power-saving event comes along. Obviously you shouldn’t use high-energy devices more than you would overall. But if you can shift your usage to peak times when power-saving events are typically scheduled, this should help you save more when events occur.
I hope this post has given you some ideas for how to maximize your returns from these schemes. As always, if you have any comments or questions, please do leave them below. I’d also be very pleased to receive any other tips for making more money from power-saving events.
Don’t forget, you can also get a FREE £50 credited to your energy account when you switch to EDF Energy via my affiliate link. Terms and conditions apply.
This is a fully updated version of my original 2022 post on this subject.
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
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 £20,214. Last month it stood at £20,945 so that is a fall of £731.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,183 compared with £3,295 a month ago, a fall of £112. Here is a screen capture showing performance since the start of this year.
The net value of all my Nutmeg investments has fallen this month by £843 or 3.47% month on month. That’s obviously disappointing, but both pots are still up on where they were at the start of the year. Their total value has risen by £476 (2.08%) since 1st January 2023. I’m not saying that’s anything to cheer about, but due to world events nearly all stock market investments have taken a hit in the last few weeks, and Nutmeg is no exception.
As I always say, 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.
As you may know, I recently revised and updated my full Nutmeg review. This was mainly to incorporate details of their new thematic investment option, but I took the opportunity to update some other information and performance stats as well.
As it says in the updated review, the new thematic style provides a globally diversified, risk adjusted portfolio with a tilt (up to 20% of equity exposure) towards your chosen theme. The majority of the portfolio will be actively managed by Nutmeg’s investment team, whilst the ’tilted’ part of the portfolio will be made up of ETFs that their investment team believes will deliver the best returns from the trend in question (to be reviewed annually).
Currently three themes are available, these being Technical Innovation, Resource Transformation and Evolving Consumer. For more details about what each of these comprises, check out the Nutmeg website.
Nutmeg thematic portfolios are only available on Risk Level 5 or above. There’s a minimum investment of £100 for Junior ISAs and Lifetime ISAs or £500 for stocks and shares ISAs and pensions. There is a 0.75% management fee.
I do quite like the new thematic styles on Nutmeg and may well be investing in one myself. They are similar in concept to the so-called smart portfolios on eToro, which I discussed in this recent blog post. Nutmeg’s thematic styles appear to be more broadly diversified, however, so may be a good choice for those who are new to thematic investing and want to dip a cautious toe in the water first.
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), Lifetime ISAs and Junior ISAs as well.
I also have investments with the property crowdlending platform Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching every week. I currently have around £1,400 invested with them in 12 different projects paying interest rates typically around 7%. I also have just over £600 in my cash account after several loans were recently repaid.
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.
As mentioned last time, Kuflink recently changed their terms and conditions. There is now an initial minimum investment of £1,000 and a minimum investment per project of £500.
Kuflink say they are doing this to streamline their operation and minimize costs. I can understand that, though it does mean the option to ‘test the water’ with a small first investment has been removed. It will also make it harder for small investors (like myself) to build a well-diversified portfolio on a limited budget.
One possible way around this is to invest using Kuflink’s Auto/IFISA facility. Your money here is automatically invested across a basket of loans over a period from one to three years. The rates currently on offer are shown in the graphic below.
As you may gather, you can invest tax-free in a Kuflink Auto IFISA. Or if you have already used your annual iFISA allowance elsewhere, you can invest via a taxable Auto account. You can read my full Kuflink review here if you wish.
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 £145.22 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, 2 are breaking even, and the remaining 16 are showing losses. My portfolio is currently showing a net decrease in value of £37.80, meaning that overall (rental income minus capital value decrease) I am up by £107.42. That’s still a decent 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 disappointing. But it’s important to remember that until/unless I choose to sell the investments in question, it is largely theoretical, based on the most recent price at which shares in the property concerned have changed hands. 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 (especially now that Kuflink have raised their minimum investment per project to £500). You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
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, Oil Worldwide. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares.
As you can see from the screen captures below, my original investment totalling $1,022.26 is today worth $1,151.38, an overall increase of $129.12 or 12.63%. in these turbulent times I am happy enough with that.
Incidentally, if you’re wondering what the bottom item in the list is (PRX.NV), it’s a partial share in Dutch internet company Prosus NV. I don’t honestly know where this has come from – it’s not something I deliberately bought. I assume it may be some sort of bonus from eToro, or maybe it’s connected with my copy trading account with Dutch investor Mike Moest. But I’m happy to have it in my portfolio, obviously!
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 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 October on the excellent Mouthy Money website. The first was How to Make Money From Retail Deal Arbitrage. This is a relatively under-used approach to online auction trading (though you don’t necessarily have to use online auctions at all). It normally proceeds one item at a time, so you don’t need large amounts of space (or capital) for stock. You can ramp it up to multiple items later if you like, though.
I also wrote Could You Make Money as a Freelance Proofreader and Editor. This can be a great sideline, or even a full-time business, for anyone who enjoys working with words. No special tools or equipment are required, so it’s quick, cheap and easy to get started. It’s reasonably paid, and you can work from home at hours to suit yourself. It’s also suitable for older people and people with disabilities (with the one proviso that it becomes harder if – as in my own case – your eyesight isn’t as good as it once was).
I also updated my article published last month titled Will a Heat Pump Save You Money? This is obviously a hot topic and one where policy is constantly changing. I thought I should update it with the latest information about government bribes – sorry, incentives – to get one. Do take a look if you haven’t already!
As I’ve said before, Mouthy Money is a great resource for anyone interested in money-making and money-saving. I particularly like the ‘Deals of the Week’ feature compiled by Jordon Cox (‘Britain’s Coupon Kid’) which lists all the best current money-saving offers for savvy shoppers. Check out the latest edition here
I am also a fan of my fellow MM contributor and money blogger Shoestring Jane. She writes mainly about money saving and frugal living. Her articles – such as this one on Frugal Swaps to Save You Money – are always worth a read. You can see all her articles for Mouthy Money via this web page.
I also published various posts on Pounds and Sense in October. I won’t bother to mention those that are out of date now, but the rest are listed below.
Exploring the Potential of Investing in Alternative Rental Properties was a guest post by my colleague Jackie Edwards. Jackie is a semi-retired property developer and restorer. In her article she presents the case for businesses and individuals to invest in rental properties for the growing over-50s market. At the end of the article I also suggest an alternative method for those whose pockets may not be as deep to invest in this field.
I also published Will You Get the Warm Home Discount? The 2023/24 WHD scheme opened in October. As last year, those eligible will receive a £150 discount off their energy bills. Most people no longer have to apply for WHD and should receive it automatically. Read the article to learn more, along with other support towards the cost of your energy bills that you may also qualify for.
Finally, I published a short post about Over 60s Discounts, a new website dedicated to helping older people save money. It’s free to sign up, and there are loads of savings, discounts and concessions on offer. Read my blog post for more info, and check out the website yourself!
On other matters, the opportunity to Get a Free ETF Share Worth up to £200 with Wealthyhood is still open. This DIY wealth-building app is aimed especially at people new to stock market investing. The minimum investment to qualify for the free share offer was raised recently from £20 to £50 – but on the plus side, they now guarantee that your free ETF share will be worth at least £10. What’s more, for the next two months Wealthyhood say they will plant a tree for every new account opened, so what’s not to like 🙂 🏝
Another thing that happened in October is that I finally got some of my money back from the Bricklane property REIT. I invested several thousand pounds in this a few years ago. At first all went well, but then came the Grenfell Tower tragedy followed by the cladding scandal.
Bricklane (or more precisely investors such as me) owned a number of properties which required (expensive) remedial work. Bricklane didn’t go into liquidation, but they felt they had no option but to sell their entire property portfolio and distribute whatever funds were generated (after all costs had been covered) to investors.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, investors in the Bricklane London fund (including me) should all now have been repaid. I got about £880 of my £1,000 investment back, which I suppose isn’t too bad considering. The Bricklane Regional Capitals fund, in which I also invested, is taking a bit longer to wind up, and I am not expecting to see any return from this until some time next year.
Finally, a quick reminder that you can also follow Pounds and Sense on Facebook or Twitter (or X as we have to learn to call it now). Twitter/X is my number one social media platform these days and I post regularly there. I share the latest news and information on financial (and other) matters, and other things that interest, amuse or concern me. So if you aren’t following my PAS account, you are definitely missing out!
That’s all for today. 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!
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
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 £20,945. Last month it stood at £21,188 so that is a fall of £243.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,295 compared with £3,325 a month ago, a fall of £30. Here is a screen capture showing performance since the start of this year.
The net value of all my Nutmeg investments has fallen this month by £273 or 1.11% month on month. That’s obviously a bit disappointing, but both pots are still comfortably up on where they were at the start of the year. Their total value has risen by £1,320 (5.76%) since 1st January 2023.
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) and Junior ISAs as well.
I also have investments with the property crowdlending platform Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching every week. I currently have around £2,000 invested with them in 15 different projects paying interest rates typically around 7%. I also have just over £100 in my cash account after another loan was recently repaid.
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.
As mentioned last time, Kuflink recently changed their terms and conditions. As from Monday 21st August there is an initial minimum investment of £1,000 and a minimum investment per project of £500.
Kuflink say they are doing this to streamline their operation and minimize costs. I can understand that, though it does mean the option to ‘test the water’ with a small first investment has been removed. It will also make it harder for small investors (like myself) to build a well-diversified portfolio on a limited budget. As mentioned, my current portfolio of £2,145 comprises 17 different investments ranging from £50 to £200. If I was starting out again now, that same amount of money would only stretch to four deals!
One possible way around this is to invest using Kuflink’s Auto/IFISA facility. Your money here is automatically invested across a basket of loans over a period from one to three years. The rates on offer from August 1 2023 are shown in the graphic below.
As you may gather, you can invest tax-free in a Kuflink Auto IFISA. Or if you have already used your annual iFISA allowance elsewhere, you can invest via a taxable Auto account. You can read my full Kuflink review here if you wish.
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 £141.06 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, 2 are breaking even, and the remaining 16 are showing losses. My portfolio is currently showing a net decrease in value of £31.41, meaning that overall (rental income minus capital value decrease) I am up by £109.65. That’s still a decent 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 disappointing. But it’s important to remember that until/unless I choose to sell the investments in question, it is largely theoretical, based on the most recent price at which shares in the property concerned have changed hands. 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 (especially now that Kuflink have raised their minimum investment per project to £500). You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
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, Oil Worldwide. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares.
My original investment totalling $1,022.26 is today worth $1,193.36, an overall increase of $171.10 or 16.73%. in these turbulent times I am quite happy with that.
I thought it might also be interesting to update you on how my eToro virtual portfolio is faring (I wrote about my virtual portfolio a few weeks ago in this blog post). Overall, this is down by $2558 in value, largely due to some big losses experimenting with commodity trading (I decided this wasn’t for me). It is very interesting to see which investments in my virtual portfolio have been doing well and which poorly, though.
I can’t get all of the investments in this port into a single screen capture, but here are the top performers…
And here are the worst-performing ones…
As you can see, the best performing investment in my virtual portfolio is Oil Worldwide. This continues to forge ahead since it was rebalanced in July by eToro. The second best is my copy trading portfolio with Aukie2008. I am obviously glad I have both of these in my real money portfolio as well!
By contrast, the two renewables smart portfolios I hold, Golden Energy and Renewable Energy, are currently showing substantial (thankfully virtual) losses.
Renewable Energy has actually lost over 35% in value since I notionally invested in it. This certainly does seem to confirm that investing in renewables is risky and by no means a guaranteed route to profit, despite all the green energy hype at the moment. I am tempted to suggest that Just Buy Oil might be a better strategy 😉
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 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 September on the excellent Mouthy Money website. The first was Will a Heat Pump Save You Money? The government is pushing heat pumps hard as a method for achieving its Net Zero target, but do the sums add up for hard-pressed consumers? In this article I took a ‘deep dive’ into the pros and cons of heat pumps and set out my personal views on whether or not they represent good value for money.
I also wrote Get Your Will Written Free of Charge in October. For those who may not know, October is Free Wills Month, when some solicitors in England and Scotland offer members of the public aged 55 and over the chance to have their wills written or updated free of charge. In my article I explain how the scheme works, and also explain why I believe everyone should have their will drawn up by a qualified solicitor.
As I’ve said before, Mouthy Money is a great resource for anyone interested in money-making and money-saving. I particularly like the ‘Deals of the Week’ feature compiled by Jordon Cox (‘Britain’s Coupon Kid’) which lists all the best current money-saving offers for savvy shoppers. Check out the latest edition here
I also published two new posts on Pounds and Sense in September (I was away quite a lot last month, which didn’t leave much time for blogging!).
The first was a revised and updated guest post by my friend and near-neighbour Sally Jenkins titled Make Money From Public Speaking.
Sally is a successful author and makes a steady sideline income speaking about writing and related subjects (including a little while ago to my local U3A group!). I added a few thoughts of my own at the end of the article. There is definitely money to be made in this field; so if it’s something that might appeal to you, do check it out.
My other post last month was a review of a new money-saving shopping app called JamDoughnut. This app lets you earn cashback on gift vouchers from over 150 shops and restaurants, for which you get up to 20% cashback. You can then use the gift vouchers as money at the retailer concerned and pocket the cashback. Read Save Money on Your Shopping With JamDoughnut for more info (and a special bonus offer!).
The opportunity to get a free share worth up to £100 by signing up Trading 212 is now closed (for the time being anyway). I hope you took advantage if eligible and your free share is doing well. The opportunity to Get a Free ETF Share Worth up to £200 with Wealthyhood is still open. This DIY wealth-building app is aimed especially at people new to stock market investing. The minimum investment to qualify for the free share offer was raised recently from £20 to £50 – but on the plus side, they now guarantee that your free ETF share will be worth at least £10.
Finally, a quick reminder that you can also follow Pounds and Sense on Facebook or Twitter (or X as we have to learn to call it now). Twitter/X is my number one social media platform these days and I post regularly there. I share the latest news and information on financial (and other) matters, and other things that interest, amuse or concern me. So if you aren’t following my PAS account, you are definitely missing out!
That’s all for today. 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!
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
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 £21,188. Last month it stood at £21,548 so that is a fall of £360.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,325 compared with £3,383 a month ago, a fall of £58. Here is a screen capture showing performance since the start of this year.
The net value of all my Nutmeg investments has fallen this month by £418 or 1.68% month on month. That’s obviously a bit disappointing, but both pots are still comfortably up on where they were at the start of the year. Their total value has risen by £1,592 (6.95%) since 1st January 2023.
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) and Junior ISAs as well.
I also have investments with the property crowdlending platform Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching every week. I currently have £2,145 invested with them in 17 different projects paying interest rates typically around 7%. I also have just over £100 in my cash account after another loan was repaid. I am currently considering whether to withdraw this money or (in due course) reinvest it.
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.
As mentioned last time, Kuflink recently changed their terms and conditions. As from Monday 21st August there is an initial minimum investment of £1,000 and a minimum investment per project of £500. I wondered if this would also apply to their secondary market and this does indeed seem to be the case. When I checked just now, there was only one loan on offer for under £500 (£413) and all the others were £500 or more.
Kuflink say they are doing this to streamline their operation and minimize costs. I can understand that, though it does mean the option to ‘test the water’ with a small first investment has been removed. It will also make it harder for small investors (like myself) to build a well-diversified portfolio on a limited budget. As mentioned, my current portfolio of £2,145 comprises 17 different investments ranging from £50 to £200. If I was starting out again now, that same amount of money would only stretch to four deals!
One possible way around this is to invest using Kuflink’s Auto/IFISA facility. Your money here is automatically invested across a basket of loans over a period from one to three years. The rates on offer from August 1 2023 are shown in the graphic below.
As you may gather, you can invest tax-free in a Kuflink Auto IFISA. Or if you have already used your annual iFISA allowance elsewhere, you can invest via a taxable Auto account. You can read my full Kuflink review here if you wish.
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 £134.95 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, 9 of ‘my’ properties are showing gains, 1 is breaking even, and the remaining 16 are showing losses. My portfolio is currently showing a net decrease in value of £28.83, meaning that overall (rental income minus capital value decrease) I am up by £106.12. That’s still a decent 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 disappointing. But it’s important to remember that until/unless I choose to sell the investments in question, it is largely theoretical, based on the most recent price at which shares in the property concerned have changed hands. 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).
Also, as I noted last time, the recent high inflation rate has actually been beneficial for Assetz Exchange investors. That is because properties on the platform generally have an annual review when rentals are increased in line with inflation. That means from the end of the financial year in April, rentals have increased in most cases by around 10%. Assetz Exchange recently published a blog post about this which is worth a read.
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 (especially now that Kuflink have raised their minimum investment per project to £500). You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
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, Oil Worldwide. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares.
As you can see from the screen capture below, my original investment of $1,022.26 is today worth $1,198.50, an overall increase of $176.24 or 15.05%. in these turbulent times I am very happy with that.
In the last month my copy trading portfolio with Aukie2008 has fallen in value, though I am not too concerned about this as the investment is still well up overall. My Tesla shares have again done well (thank you, Elon Musk). I am also pleased that Oil Worldwide continues to forge ahead since it was rebalanced in July by eToro. Looking at my eToro virtual portfolio, I can see that Oil Worldwide is still doing much better than the two renewables smart portfolios I hold, which are currently showing substantial (thankfully virtual) losses. Make of this what you will!
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 and was impressed with how quickly and seamlessly it worked. You can read my blog post about eToro Money here.
I had three more articles published in August on the excellent Mouthy Money website. The first was Can You Make Money From Holiday Lets? This is a dream for many people, and there is no doubt you can make a valuable extra income this way (not to mention the opportunity to enjoy cheap holidays at the property yourself!). In my article I set out some key things you need to be aware of.
I also wrote How to Become an Amazon Vine Reviewer. This is a subject close to my heart. I’ve been an Amazon Vine reviewer for over ten years and in some ways it’s been the most profitable sideline I’ve ever had. You don’t get paid for Amazon Vine reviews, but you do get to keep the items concerned (my most valuable so far being a £1200 gaming laptop). In my article I spill the beans on how the scheme works and suggest how you might get an invitation to become a ‘Vine Voice’ yourself.
My third article was Play Your Supermarket Loyalty Cards Right. In this article I explained why stores use loyalty cards and their pros and cons for customers. I also described the leading loyalty cards in the UK (including Tesco Clubcard, Nectar, Morrisons, Boots, and so on), covering how they work in practice and how to get the most from them.
As I’ve said before, Mouthy Money is a great resource for anyone interested in money-making and money-saving. I particularly like the ‘Deals of the Week’ feature compiled by Jordon Cox (‘Britain’s Coupon Kid’) which lists all the best current money-saving offers for savvy shoppers. Check out the latest edition here
I also published several new posts on Pounds and Sense in August. The deadlines on some of these have now passed, so I hope you took advantage at the time! You might, however, still want to check out What is U3A and Is It For You?
U3A stands for University of the Third Age. It is a non-profit organization offering a range of leisure activities for retired and semi-retired people. I recently joined my local U3A myself, and in this post set out my experiences and impressions, for the benefit of anyone else who might be interested in joining now or in future.
In other news, the Trading 212 free share offer is back. If you haven’t done this before, you can get a free share worth up to £100. You just have to sign up on the website and deposit a minimum of £1 into your account. This offer is running till 27 September 2023. See Get a Free Share Worth up to £100 with Trading 212 for more info.
The opportunity to Get a Free ETF Share Worth up to £200 with Wealthyhood is also still open. Wealthyhood is a DIY wealth-building app aimed especially at people new to stock market investing. As from June 2023 they changed their fee structure to make it (even) more attractive to small investors. They have increased the minimum investment to qualify for the free share offer from £20 to £50 – but on the plus side, they guarantee that your free ETF share will be worth at least £10.
Finally, a quick reminder that you can also follow Pounds and Sense on Facebook or Twitter (or X as we have to learn to call it now). Twitter/X is my number one social media platform these days and I post regularly there. I share the latest news and information on financial (and other) matters, and other things that interest, amuse or concern me. So if you aren’t following my PAS account, you are definitely missing out!
As a matter of interest, I recently paid £100 for Twitter/X premium membership. Although I do like the snazzy blue tick, my main reason was to get continued access to the scheduling tool Tweetdeck (now called X-pro) which became subscriber-only last month. I was accused the other day of ‘selling out’ to Elon Musk for doing this. But personally I don’t begrudge the money, as the extra tools and features make working with Twitter much easier and more enjoyable. And if my money helps keep the platform afloat, that’s an additional benefit in my book.
That’s all for today. 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!
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
Yes, it’ s time for another exciting giveaway on Pounds and Sense. This one has a ‘back to school’ theme. In most parts of the UK, of course, this occurs in early September. Scottish schools generally return a little earlier, around mid-August.
Again I have clubbed together with some of my fellow UK bloggers to provide a smorgasbord of great prizes. And the best news is, it’s entirely free to enter. The giveaway is open now and will close on August 30 2023.
The prizes have been hand-picked for children and young people returning to school this autumn, so they should be ideal for your children or grandchildren. But if you want to keep any for yourself, we promise we won’t tell!
This event has (again) been organized by Rowena Becker, who blogs at My Balancing Act. No small amount of effort has been involved in arranging and co-ordinating it, so many thanks again to Rowena for her hard work and dedication.
Without further ado, then, I’ll hand you over to Rowena to introduce the giveaway…
Back to School Giveaway
With only a couple of weeks left until the start of the new school year, some of the top UK bloggers have come together to offer one lucky winner an amazing bundle of prizes to send their kids back to school in style. This is not only a giveaway but also a great Back to School Guide to help you get ideas and inspiration for your kid’s new school year.
The Prizes
Microsoft Surface Go 2 Intel Pentium Gold from Tier1
Tier1, refurbishers of laptops, desktops and tablets and more, are the perfect solution for parents looking to equip their kids with great but affordable technology as they head back to school. Tier1 take pre-owned devices and put them through a rigorous process of testing, cleaning, and repairing to ensure they are in excellent working condition. Not only do these devices offer significant savings compared to buying brand new, but they also provide a reliable and efficient way for students to engage in online learning, complete assignments, and explore educational resources.
With Tier1, parents can find high-quality laptops and tablets that meet their children’s needs without breaking the bank, allowing them to invest in their education without compromising on affordability. We have the Microsoft Surface Go 2 Intel Pentium Gold from Tier1 for our lucky winner. Right now, Tier1 have their summer sale on, making those back to school savings even greater!
Futliit LED Backpack
Introducing the Futliit LED Backpack, the perfect accessory for those walking or cycling home after school. Safety is paramount, especially when it comes to being visible in the dark. Are you worried about your kids walking home in the dark? Don’t worry! The Futliit LED backpack is here to keep them visible to passing traffic, ensuring their safety.
Equipped with two strands of LED lights and reflective panels, the backpack guarantees maximum visibility on your journey. But that’s not all – the backpacks come loaded with features. With a spacious main compartment, a padded device sleeve, and ample storage space, your kids can keep all their school essentials secure.
Don’t miss out on this chance! Enter our giveaway for an opportunity to win the Futliit LED Backpack. Ensure your kid’s safety and embrace the #BeFutliit movement!
Premium Start-Rite School Shoes
‘Motivate‘ and ‘Encourage‘ deliver the very best protection Start-Rite has to offer, and here’s your chance to win either style of your choice! These robust shoes are packed with the best Start-Rite intelligence, from Air Rite technology to biomechanical soles, reflective tabs, toe and heel bumpers, padded ankles, dyed through leather and adjustable rip-tape fastenings.
The durable designs of these two new styles launched by Start-Rite, in collaboration with ‘The Daily Mile’, strengthen the joint ambition to support healthy development and physical activity for all school children.
‘Motivate’ – available size S10 – L4 (Standard and Wide width fitting)
‘Encourage’ – available size S9 – L2 (Standard and Wide width fitting)
Keep your kid’s art and crafts supplies organised when they go back to school with the Create-A-Space™ See-Thru Storage Caddy from Learning Resources. The set comes with 4 very handy see-through storage bins on a portable base with a carry handle. It’s the perfect caddy for creative kids, and we have one to give to our lucky winner!
SMASH Lunchbags and Water Bottles
Going back to school with SMASH means you’re going back in style! Our lucky winner can grab their kids the following lunchtime accessories:
The water bottles have an easy carry handle and a fast-flow straw sipper. The lunch bags are not only super cool and super stylish but they are also fully insulated with an anti-bacterial lining. Oh, and super easy to clean too! If you can’t wait to see if you’re a winner, these affordable lunch bags and water bottles are all available from Dunelm.
Brainstorm Toys E2001 Light Up 2 in 1 Globe Earth & Constellations, Multicolour
Help your kids learn when they go back to school with Brainstorm Toys Light Up 2 in 1 Globe of the Earth and constellations. The Earth and Constellation Globe is two globes in one with a day-time and night-time view. In the daylight, the 22.8 cm diameter globe shows political boundaries, oceans, equator, longitude and latitude lines, country names, capital cities and other major cities for each country in the world. By night the illuminated star map shows constellations with their common names. The globe is at a scale of 1:55,900,00, and it sits on a sturdy, stylish silver stand with a matching graduated meridian.
The Earth and Constellation Globe has an automatic light sensor, so when the globe is turned on and the surrounding area is dark, the globe will transform into a beautiful glowing globe showing the star constellations. It is a great learning tool for geographers and astronomers, but also a great feature for your child’s bedroom. And we have one for our lucky winner!
The Bloggers
In order to be able to bring you this incredible giveaway, some of the UK’s top bloggers got together and contributed. A massive thank you to our bloggers! The bloggers taking part are:
You can enter the Giveaway by completing as many Rafflecopter widget entry options below as you like. All entries will be collected and one winner will be randomly chosen. Good luck!
The giveaway will run from 7 pm 20th August 2023 to 11.59 am 30th August 2023.
The winners will be notified by email from rowena@mybalancingact.co.uk
The winner will have 7 days to respond after which time we reserve the right to select an alternative winner.
This prize draw is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, BlogLovin or Pinterest or any other social media platform.
Prize open to over 18s only. Age verification may be required to receive some prizes.
If any prizes are out of stock then we will do our best to find a suitable replacement but cannot guarantee it.
Anyone who unfollows before the giveaway ends or doesn’t complete the required entry action will be disqualified.
The prize is non-transferable, non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for monetary value.
We may be using a parcel service or Royal Mail for some of the prizes and their standard compensation will apply in the event of loss or damage.
Some items may be sent directly by the supplier and we do not have responsibility if these go missing and we cannot replace these.
In the unlikely event one of the companies withdraws a prize, we cannot offer an alternative.
The winner’s name will be stated on some or all of our bloggers’ websites and announced on Twitter/X and other social media channels. It will also be displayed on the Rafflecopter Entry. By entering this prize draw, you give your permission for this.
Please note the winner may have the same name as you, so if you see your name displayed, be aware that you are not the winner unless you have been notified by us. There may be some delays in receiving prizes.
Good luck, and I hope a Pounds and Sense reader wins this fabulous prize bundle!
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
Today I’m spotlighting Mintos, a European crowdlending platform based in Latvia but open to people in the UK. You may have seen my earlier post on Investing Basics for Beginners, which was sponsored by MIntos.
With Mintos, your money is invested in loans to businesses and private individuals arranged by Mintos’s partner lending companies around the world. Mintos act as intermediaries between lenders and borrowers. They aim to ensure that both groups act responsibly and loans are repaid in a timely way.
Currently Mintos offer the opportunity to invest in agricultural loans, business loans, car loans, car rentals, invoice financing, mortgage loans, personal loans, pawnbroking loans and short-term loans.
You can begin investing with just €50 (around £43). Since 2015, investors with Mintos have earned a 9.54% net return per year on average. Of course, past performance is no guarantee of how any investment platform will do in future. Currently, however, interest rates on the platform are averaging around 12.50%.
What Guarantees Are There?
To ensure security, Mintos provides a return-on-investment guarantee. If a loan instalment remains unpaid 60 days after becoming due, Mintos say they will repay the investment at face value with any accrued interest.
Mintos further insist that all lenders on their platform maintain 5-10% of any loan on the platform themselves. This means that in the event of a default, the lender will lose some of their own money also. So they have ‘skin in the game’, as the expression goes 🙂
The other main risk, of course, is the collapse of the platform itself. While this could happen, it’s worth noting that Mintos is licensed and supervised by Latvijas Banka, the central bank of Latvia, and a member of the Latvian national InvestorCompensation Scheme. If Mintos fails to provide investment services, retail investors are entitled to compensation of 90% of the irrevocable loss resulting from the non-provision, up to a limit of €20 000.
In addition, as is generally the case with crowdlending/P2P platforms, your assets are held quite separately from Mintos’s assets.
Investing in Euro
As Mintos 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 round 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 transaction fee.
You could use your own bank to fund your account initially, but if you become a regular investor with Mintos 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 Mintos 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.
Opening an Account
To open a Mintos account, your first step will be to click on Create Account at the top of the Mintos homepage. There are then certain preliminary steps you will need to take…
Verify your identity and answer some questions about yourself
This is necessary to comply with anti-money laundering laws and KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements.
Take the Suitability & Appropriateness assessment
As a licensed investment firm, Mintos are required to ensure that the products they offer are suitable and appropriate for investors. Based on your answers, they will make certain methods of investing available to you and set a responsible investment limit for your account. You can retake the assessment at any time if your situation changes.
Transfer funds to your Mintos account (see above)
Once this has been done, you can start investing. You have various options here. The simplest is to use one of Mintos’s automated strategies. These work as follows:
Choose a strategy that matches your preference: Diversified, Conservative, or High-yield.
Your strategy will buy small fractions of many different loans or Sets of Notes from different lending companies around the world.
You will be shown the weighted average interest rate of available investments before you invest.
Mintos can (if you wish) reinvest your returns so your money can work continuously and earn even more interest.
You can get your investment back any time by cashing out funds from your Mintos strategy.
You can start or stop your strategy at any time.
Your exposure is capped at 15% per lending company.
Alternatively, you can use a custom strategy, where you choose from a huge range of available investments yourself. You can filter by more than 20 different investing criteria and diversify your portfolio according to your preferences. You can do this entirely manually or create a custom automated investing strategy based on the rules you set.
When you want to withdraw money, your Mintos Core portfolio will automatically sell investments in your portfolio to other investors. Selling may take from a couple of minutes to a few days, depending on demand from other investors at the time. Note that loans which are in default cannot be cashed out this way, and you will have to wait until the loan in question is back in good stead or the 60-day guarantee (see above) kicks in. In some circumstances you may be able to sell loans which are unavailable for cashing out on Mintos’s secondary market, for which a 0.85% fee will be charged. This article on the MIntos website has more information about the cashing out rules and restrictions.
Special Bonus!
Until 30 November 2023, if you click through any link to Mintos in this article and invest €1000 or more, you will get a €50 instant bonus and a 1% bonus of your average investment in the first 90 days.
If you invest €5000, for example, in addition to the returns advertised (currently averaging 12.5%), you will also receive a €50 instant bonus and a further 1% bonus of €50 after 90 days. Effectively that’s an extra 2% bonus. Remember, this special offer closes on 30 November 2023.
If you have any comments or questions, as always, please do leave them below.
Disclosure: I am not a registered 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 if in any doubt seek advice from a registered financial adviser before proceeding. All investing carries a risk of loss.
This post includes affiliate links. If you click through and make an investment (or perform some other designated action) I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the product or service you receive or any charges you may pay. Note also that the special bonus referred to in this article is only available if you click through one of my links. It will not apply if you go to the Mintos website directly.
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
A quickie today to let you know that until the end of August 2023, you can get a massive 25 percent off the cost of a new English Heritage membership if you pay by annual direct debit. This applies to all types of membership, including Over-65s (which is already discounted).
English Heritage looks after nearly 400 historic sites and buildings across England, including Stonehenge, Hadrian’s Wall, Dover Castle, the Iron Bridge in Telford (see cover photo), and more. Members get free admission to all properties. Other benefits include free parking in car parks owned by English Heritage, free or reduced-price admission to hundreds of special events, and free entry to properties for up to six children per member. You also receive a free members’ handbook and a magazine (published three times a year).
A further attraction of joining English Heritage is that they have reciprocal arrangements with Scottish Heritage and CADW in Wales. Members therefore get reduced or free admission to most properties owned by these organizations as well.
You can get current membership prices from the English Heritage website. Family, Joint, Individual and Lifetime memberships are available. To claim the current special offer discount, you have to enter the code IMAGINE50 on the online form when applying.
In my case I qualified for Over-65 membership. This would normally cost £63 a year, but with my 25% discount it was reduced to £47.25. Of course, the discount price is for one year only, but you can always cancel the direct debit before it’s due to renew if you wish.
There are various English Heritage sites near where I live. Later this week I am planning to visit Boscobel House in Staffordshire, which is only around 30 minutes’ drive from where I live. Although I have only just joined, I received a temporary membership card by email prior to my full membership pack arriving in the post. So I will be saving at least £11 straight away!
I duly visited Boscobel House on Thursday 18 August. My temporary membership was accepted without quibble, so I saved £11 on admission and also £3 on parking. I also discovered another benefit of English Heritage membership which I couldn’t see mentioned on the website. Once you have been a member for a year or more, you qualify for a 10% discount on any purchases in their shops or tea rooms.
English Heritage obviously has some similarities with the National Trust, but it’s an entirely separate organization and only operates in England (though see my comments above about reciprocal arrangements with organizations in Wales and Scotland).
I know from messages on social media that some people have been deterred from joining or rejoining the National Trust due to their controversial stance on some current issues (see this article, for example). So far anyway, English Heritage seem to have stuck to their core remit of looking after heritage sites and properties and avoided divisive political messaging. For those who have resigned from the National Trust or no longer wish to join, English Heritage may therefore offer an attractive alternative. Of course, there is nothing to stop you joining both if you wish!
As always, if you have any questions or comments about this post, please do leave them below.
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
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 £21,548. Last month it stood at £21,044 so that is a rise of £504.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,383 compared with £3,293 a month ago, an increase of £90. Here is a screen capture showing performance since the start of this year.
This has clearly been another good month for both my Nutmeg pots. Their total value has risen by £594 or 2.44% month on month. Since the start of 2023 the net value of my Nutmeg investments has grown by £2,010 or 8.78%. Compared with mid-October last year that’s an impressive rise of £3,118 or 14.29%.
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.
I also have investments with the property crowdlending platform Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching every week. I currently have £2,185 invested with them in 18 different projects paying interest rates typically around 7%. 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.
Last month a couple of my Kuflink loans were repaid, so I got my capital back with interest. I decided to withdraw about half of the proceeds to help pay for a couple of big purchases. The other half I reinvested in short-term loans on Kuflink’s secondary marketplace.
I heard this month that Kuflink are changing their terms and conditions. Specifically, from Monday 21st August there will be an initial minimum investment of £1,000 and a minimum investment per project of £500.
Kuflink say they are doing this to streamline their operation and minimize costs. I can understand their reasoning, though it does mean the option to ‘test the water’ with a small first investment has been removed. It will also make it harder for small investors (like myself) to build a well-diversified portfolio on a limited budget. As mentioned, my current portfolio of £2,185 comprises 18 different investments ranging from £50 to £200. Once the minimum £500 per project limit applies, the same amount of money would only stretch to four!
One possible way around this is to invest using Kuflink’s Auto/IFISA facility. Your money here is automatically invested across a basket of loans over a period from one to three years. The rates on offer from August 1 2023 are shown in the graphic below.
As you may gather, you can invest tax-free in a Kuflink Auto IFISA. Or if you have already used your annual iFISA allowance elsewhere, you can invest via a taxable Auto account.
You can read my full Kuflink review here. Note that I haven’t updated the information there about minimum investments as yet, but will do so shortly. You can of course still invest smaller amounts than £500 until the August 21st deadline.
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 £128.32 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, 12 of ‘my’ properties are showing gains, 1 is breaking even, and the remaining 13 are showing losses. My portfolio is currently showing a net decrease in value of £17.46, meaning that overall (rental income minus capital value decrease) I am up by £110.86. That’s still a decent 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 slightly 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).
I also spoke to the CEO of Assetz Exchange, Peter Read, recently. He made the point that capital values on the platform simply reflect the latest price at which shares in the property concerned have changed hands on their exchange. They do not represent objective or independent valuations of the properties. If you are investing long term with AE, the annual yield from rentals is really a much more important consideration.
Peter also made the point that the current high inflation rate has actually been beneficial for Assetz Exchange investors. That is because properties on the platform generally have an annual review when rentals are increased in line with inflation. That means from the end of the financial year in April, rentals have increased in most cases by around 10%. Assetz Exchange recently published a blog post about this which is worth a read.
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 (especially now that Kuflink have raised their minimum investment per project to £500). You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
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, Oil Worldwide. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares.
As you can see from the screen capture below, my original investment of $1,022.26 is today worth $1,208.40, an overall increase of $186.14 or 18.20%. in these turbulent times I am very happy with that.
In the last month my Tesla shares and my copy trading portfolio with Aukie2008 have both done well. I am also pleased that my investment in Oil Worldwide is back in profit again. This has happened since the Oil Worldwide portfolio was rebalanced by eToro – which is, of course, as I hoped
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.
My other article was How to Find Out What Your State Pension Will Be. The state pension is a very important component of most people’s income in later life (including mine). In this article I discuss changes to the state pension age and explain how to check when you will become eligible and how much you are on track to receive. I also discuss what options you may have if your projected pension is less than you hoped.
As I’ve said before, Mouthy Money is a great resource for anyone interested in money-making and money-saving. I particularly like the ‘Deals of the Week’ feature compiled by Jordon Cox (‘Britain’s Coupon Kid’) which lists all the best current money-saving offers for savvy shoppers. Check out the latest edition here 🙂
I also published several new posts on Pounds and Sense in July. One of these was Make a Sideline Income Renting Out Your Driveway. As I explain in the article, this is a money-making opportunity that – if you’re in a position to do it – can bring you a steady income for very little effort.
Also in July I published an article explaining why it was Time to Use or Exchange Your Old Non-Barcoded Postage Stamps. That deadline has now passed, but if you still have any ordinary non-barcoded stamps lying around, as the article explains, you can still exchange them using Royal Mail’s ‘Swap Out’ scheme.
Investing Basics for Beginners is a collaborative post with my friends at the European crowdlending platform Mintos. The article sets out some basic principles for anyone who may be considering investing for the first time (though it may also be of interest to more experienced investors).
Finally in July I published Five Things I Have Learned from my eToro Virtual Portfolio. Anyone with an eToro account gets a $100,000 virtual account to practise trading and investing with. I have found this interesting and enjoyable, not to mention educational. In the article I set out five lessons learned from my virtual account that have helped inform my real-life investing decisions. I am considering publishing a further update about my virtual portfolio and how it’s doing, if there is sufficient interest in this.
Lastly, I would mention that the opportunity to Get a Free ETF Share Worth up to £200 with Wealthyhood is still open. To remind you, Wealthyhood is a DIY wealth-building app aimed especially at people new to stock market investing. As from June 2023 they changed their fee structure to make it (even) more attractive to small investors. They have now increased the minimum investment to qualify for the free share offer from £20 to £50 – but on the plus side, they guarantee that your free ETF share will be worth at least £10.
That’s all for today. I hope you’re enjoying the summer, even though July has been a damp squib in Britain compared with June. If you’re looking for some ideas for short breaks, don’t forget to check out my blog post listing some of my favourite UK holiday destinations. Here’s hoping the warm, sunny weather makes a reappearance 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!
Cover image courtesy of BingAI.
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
A quickie today to remind you that you have just 10 days left to use or exchange any remaining non-barcoded stamps you may have. The stamps concerned are the plain ones with the late Queen’s head on (all stamps with the new King’s head are barcoded).
Christmas stamps and other ‘special’ stamps with pictures on will continue to be valid for the foreseeable future, but it would still be a good idea to use them up now (or give them to a collector in the family!).
If you can’t use the stamps before the end of July, you can exchange them free of charge using Royal Mail’s Swap Out scheme. You will need to complete a Stamp Swap Out form for stamps worth up to £200, or a Bulk Stamp Swap Out form for stamps worth more than £200. Forms are available from post offices, though note that you cannot exchange the stamps themselves there.
An image from the Royal Mail website showing which stamps can and can’t be swapped is shown below.
The deadline for using plain non-barcoded stamps is 31 July 2023. If you use them after that date, the recipient will have to pay a fee (to be announced) on delivery. That’s assuming they are delivered at all, of course.
As well as post offices, you can print Swap Out forms from the Royal Mail website, or phone their customer services on 03457 740740 to request one. There is currently no deadline for the Swap Out scheme and it will continue after 31 July 2023, though again it may be best to do this sooner rather than later.
