Today I wanted to share with you a clever money-saving idea I came across on the excellent Wow Free Stuff website.
The Penny Challenge offers a painless way to save money every day – so in a year’s time you will have the substantial sum of £667.95 stashed away. That’s money you could spend on anything you like.
How It Works
The challenge itself is very simple.
On the first day you put aside one penny. Each day after that you add another penny to the amount you save. So on the second day you save 2p, on the third day 3p, and so on.
Over the course of a year (365 days) the amount you have to save each day is shown in the grid below.
As you will see, by the last day of the challenge you will have to find £3.65 – still an easily affordable sum. And once you have done that, you will have a total savings pot of £667.95.
This would be a great way to get your money-saving started painlessly in 2024. It will ensure that by January 2025 you have a handy sum set aside to pay for any large purchase you have set your heart on, and maybe treat yourself to a post-Christmas holiday as well!
Please let me know if you decide to take the Penny Challenge by posting a comment below. And, of course, if you have any other comments or queries about it, feel free to post them also.
Note: This is an updated version of a sponsored post for which I received a fee.
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As is customary for bloggers at this time of year, here are the top twenty posts on Pounds and Sense in 2023, based on comments, page-views and social media shares. They are in no particular order. I have excluded any posts that are no longer relevant.
I hope you will enjoy revisiting these posts, or seeing them for the first time if you are new to PAS.
All posts in the list below should open in a new tab/window when you click on the link concerned.
I’ll be taking a break from blogging over the festive period (though I’ll still be around on X/Twitter and Facebook). I’ll therefore close by wishing you a Very Merry Christmas (strikes and cost-of-living crisis permitting) and for all of us a brighter, more prosperous new year 🍾
If you have any comments or questions, of course, feel free to leave them below as usual.
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Christmas is coming, so here’s a chance to make it extra special for one lucky winner! I’ve joined forces with some of my fellow UK bloggers in this festive giveaway with prizes valued at over£700 in total.
Entering the giveaway is free of charge and full instructions can be found below. There are multiple ways to enter, and the more you do, the better your chances of winning.
But note that where an entry requires following a social media account, you will need to continue following this account until the winner has been drawn on 19 December 2023. Before the winner is announced the organisers will check that they are still following the account in question. If not, they will be disqualified and another winner drawn.
This giveaway has been organised by my fellow blogger Rowena Becker, who blogs at My Balancing Act. Please check out her blog and those of the other talented bloggers taking part (listed below). And read on for full details from Rowena of all the prizes on offer and how you could win this mammoth bundle!
The Great Bloggers Holiday Giveaway and Gift Guide
We are back for another Christmas Holiday Giveaway and Gift Guide! Some of the UK’s top bloggers have united to bring you the most incredible holiday bundle of prizes.
Last year’s giveaway proved to be very popular and this year is just as exciting, with so many prizes for one lucky winner to make their family’s Christmas dreams come true. In fact, we have hundreds of pounds worth of holiday goodies and gifts!
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 them all! The bloggers taking part are:
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 1 i5-10210U [Quad] 1.60GHz 13.3″ FHD IPS TOUCH HDMI USB-C 16GB DDR4 256GB NVMe from Tier1
You have a chance to win the powerful Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 1, featuring an i5-10210U [Quad] 1.60GHz processor, a stunning 13.3″ FHD IPS TOUCH screen, HDMI and USB-C ports, a whopping 16GB DDR4 RAM, and a speedy 256GB NVMe storage. This premium laptop is all you need for your work or play!
This prize is brought to you by Tier1, your destination for affordable and eco-friendly tech gifts. Why are Tier1 gifts perfect for Christmas? It’s simple – they’re good for your pocket and good for our planet. With Tier1, you get top-notch tech without breaking the bank, contributing to a more sustainable future. Their products are professionally refurbished, assuring quality and reliability while reducing electronic waste. So if you thought you couldn’t afford to buy tech gifts for your loved ones, head on over to Tier1 for affordable gifts with the wow factor to make your holidays bright and green!
Hairy Biker’s Family-Sized Soup Maker
Get ready for a festive feast with our Christmas Giveaway! Enter now for a chance to win the Hairy Biker’s 1.6L Family Sized Soup Maker with Integrated Scales. This 1000W powerhouse is all you need to whip up delicious, heartwarming soups this holiday season.
Why is this soup maker a must-have in your kitchen? It’s not just about the delicious soups you can create. It’s also about saving time and money. With its integrated scales, you can easily measure ingredients directly into the soup maker – no need for extra dishes. Plus, it cooks up soups quickly and efficiently, giving you more time to enjoy with your loved ones. But that’s not all. Making homemade soup means you control what goes in, helping you avoid the high salt and sugar content often found in canned soups. You can use up leftovers, reducing waste and saving money.
So don’t miss out on this opportunity to make your Christmas cooking easier and healthier. Enter our Christmas Giveaway today and bring home the Hairy Biker’s 1.6L Family Sized Soup Maker as part of your prize!
Life Coaching Sessions Worth £200!
Start the New Year on a high with two life coaching sessions from Lauren Jane Coaching. Lauren helps women invest in themselves, find clarity and balance in their lives, and be at ease with themselves at home and in their careers. She coaches from the inside and allows her clients the space to get truly honest with themselves, helping them to hit the pause button, get more clarity in their lives, move forward with purpose – and feel really good about it! What better way to start 2024?!
Being stressed out, overwhelmed, out of balance, anxious or stuck in any area of your personal, business, or career world can make life feel like hard work, especially following the busy holiday season! Lauren is offering two free sessions to help our winner build on their inner belief, confidence and sense of self-worth until they shift and tune into a new perspective for themselves and their life.
Liiton The Peaks Whiskey Glasses
When you join our special Christmas Giveaway, you will have a chance to win an elegant Set of 4 Liiton The Peaks Whiskey Glasses. This is an incredible gift that’s perfect for the festive season.
The Peaks Whiskey Glasses Set is a dream come true for any whiskey lover. Each glass is crafted using X1 Crystalline and features a true precision glass sculpture of iconic mountains Denali, Mont Blanc, K2 and Mt. Fuji. Weighing in at 1lb each, the glasses have the Patented Chill-Charge System™ which chills down your drink in just 18 seconds. They not only look stunning, but if you swirl the spirits gently around the faces of the Peaks, you will unlock the beautiful whiskey aromas.
This set of 4 glasses ensures you’re always ready to share a toast with friends or family during the holiday season. Made from high-quality materials, these glasses are durable and beautifully crafted, making them a standout addition to any home bar or drinkware collection.
FinaMill
Join our exciting Christmas Giveaway and stand a chance to win a FinaMill! This unique gift is an excellent addition to any kitchen, especially during the festive season.
A FinaMill is more than just a kitchen tool. It’s a game-changer for any home cook or chef. With a Sleek, minimalist design, this mill effortlessly grinds spices and herbs at just a touch of a button, releasing their full flavour and aroma right when you need them. Whether you’re preparing a holiday feast or baking Christmas cookies, this Finamill can help elevate your dishes, making every meal more memorable. Plus, its stylish design adds a touch of sophistication to your kitchen decor.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enhance your cooking experience this Christmas. Enter our giveaway now for a chance to win this Finamill in Stone along with other amazing prizes!
Rectangle 3-D Crystal Photo Gift from Forever-Always
Get into the festive spirit with our Christmas Giveaway and stand a chance to win a truly unique gift – the Rectangle 3-D Crystal Photo Gift from Forever-Always in size medium (9cm W x 6cm H x 6cm). This is a special present that’s perfect for capturing cherished memories.
The Rectangle 3-D Crystal Photo Gift is a stunning piece of personalised decor. Your chosen photo is created into a beautiful 3-D image that seems to float inside. It’s a wonderful way to immortalise a precious moment or loved one, making it an exceptionally thoughtful gift. Whether it’s a picture of a family gathering, a beloved pet, or a memorable holiday, this crystal photo gift brings your memories to life in an artistic and beautiful way. Displayed on a mantelpiece, bookshelf, or desk, it adds a touch of elegance and personal touch to any space.
Opinel Folding Saw
As part of our giveaway, we’ve got a prize from Opinel that will delight any outdoor enthusiast. The Opinel Folding Saw is an essential tool for every nature lover. Whether you need to cut firewood for a cosy campfire or prune branches for a clearer path during your forest adventures, this folding saw is your perfect companion. Crafted with Opinel’s signature commitment to quality, it offers durability, precision, and ease of use that makes it stand out in its category.
This Christmas, one lucky winner will have the chance to claim this fantastic tool as their own. So why wait? Enter our Christmas Giveaway now and make this festive season truly unforgettable. With the Opinel Folding Saw, you’ll be fully equipped for your next outdoor adventure. Let the festivities begin!
Graco’s FoldLite LX
As part of our festive Christmas Giveaway, you have a chance to win the perfect item for families on the go – the Graco FoldLite™ LX travel cot.
This travel cot with basinet is perfect for those with little ones, from birth to approx. 3 years (max. 15kg) and the Bassinet from birth to approx. 6 months (max. 9kg).Graco’s FoldLite LX travel cot offers a comfy space for your baby to sleep or play, no matter where your adventures take you. Lightweight and easily foldable, it’s designed for maximum portability for when you are away from home.
Don’t miss this opportunity to win a gift that brings convenience and comfort to the little ones. Enter our Christmas Giveaway now for a chance to win Graco’s FoldLite LX travel cot, among other fantastic prizes!
French Navy Patent Chelsea Boot from Start-Rite
Start-Rite is a British heritage brand that specialises in children’s footwear that enables healthy development whilst creating stylish designs that appeal to parents and children. The French Navy patent Chelsea boot is no exception, and it’s the perfect footwear for your kids over the holiday season.
Whatever the adventure, this stylish boot from Start-Rite will carry little feet through any day in comfort. The inside zip fastening is useful for getting boots on and off quickly and with ease, and the durable sole is ready for any adventure. Crafted in elegant French navy patent with check elastic, the Chelsea French navy patent boots will make any outfit complete. Our winner can choose the size and receive this as part of their prize!
Learning Resources Brainbolt® Genius
Get ready to supercharge your memory this holiday season with our Christmas Giveaway! This year, we’re excited to include the Learning Resources Brainbolt® Genius in our prize bundle. Brainbolt® Genius is a mind-challenging game that tests your memory skills to the max. It lights up different sequences, and your job is to remember and replicate them.
It’s a fun and exciting way to keep your brain active and sharp. Whether you’re playing alone or with friends and family, Brainbolt® Genius keeps the competition lively and the fun rolling. It’s compact and portable, perfect for on-the-go entertainment during holiday travels. So why not give your memory a festive boost? Enter our Christmas Giveaway now and stand a chance to win the Brainbolt® Genius, along with other fantastic prizes. It’s the perfect gift for keeping minds active and engaged over the holiday season!
SAVEUR Selects® Artisan Non-Stick Loaf Pan
Get ready to add a dash of elegance and convenience to your holiday baking with our exciting Christmas Giveaway! This festive season, you stand a chance to win the exquisite SAVEUR Selects® Artisan Non-Stick Loaf Pan – 10″ as part of the prize bundle. This isn’t just a baking essential, it’s a gift that promises to make your kitchen experiences more delightful and your festive goodies more delicious.
The SAVEUR Selects® Artisan Non-Stick Loaf Pan is a coveted item for any home baker. It’s not just a baking tool; it’s a craft of art and functionality combined. This pan, crafted from high-quality, durable materials, boasts a non-stick surface that means your baked loaves slide out perfectly every single time. No more worries about your bread sticking or crumbling!
Whether you’re planning to bake a traditional Christmas fruitcake filled with rich, dried fruits and nuts, a moist and luscious banana bread, or perhaps you’re in the mood to experiment with some new, creative recipes, this loaf pan is your perfect partner. Its generous 10-inch size ensures you can create substantial loaves to share and spread the festive cheer among family and friends.
So why wait? Enter our Christmas Giveaway now for a chance to win this premium Loaf Pan, along with other fantastic prizes! This could be the perfect opportunity to elevate your baking game this festive season. Let the aroma of freshly baked loaves fill your home and hearts this Christmas.
Little Brian’s Paint Sticks Christmas Window Kit
Light up your holiday season with our Christmas Giveaway! This year, we’re thrilled to include Little Brian’s Paint Sticks Christmas Window Kit in our prize bundle. This fantastic kit lets your little ones bring the magic of Christmas right into your home. It includes a range of vibrant, mess-free paint sticks and stencils that make it easy for kids to create festive window decorations. Whether it’s snowflakes, reindeer, or Santa himself, your kids can paint their favourite Christmas motifs directly onto the windows.
The paint sticks are incredibly easy to use and dry quickly, leaving no mess behind. So why not add a dash of creativity to your Christmas celebrations? Enter our Christmas giveaway now for a chance to win the Little Brian’s Paint Sticks Christmas Window Kit [affiliate], along with other exciting prizes. Unleash your child’s artistic talent and fill your home with festive cheer this holiday season!
EUGY Christmas Elf
We’re thrilled to announce that a charming EUGY Christmas Elf is part of our prize bundle. This delightful elf, brought to life by EUGY, is more than just a cute decoration. It’s a symbol of EUGY’s commitment to protecting the planet. Made from recyclable card and printed with natural eco-friendly ink, this little elf is as green as it is adorable. What’s more, it’s assembled with non-toxic glue, making it safe for kids and adults alike. It’s a fun, creative, and sustainable way to add a touch of magic to your holiday celebrations.
So why wait? Enter our Christmas giveaway now for a chance to bring home this eco-friendly EUGY Christmas Elf [affiliate] along with other exciting prizes.
Elf Toy from Elf for Christmas
We’re excited to announce that a delightful Elf Toy from Elf for Christmas is part of our prize bundle.
But here’s the best part – the winner gets to choose their very own elf! These charming elves are not just toys but a wonderful addition to your family’s Christmas celebrations, bringing joy, wonder, and a touch of elfin magic to your home.
So don’t miss out – enter our Christmas Giveaway now for a chance to welcome a new elf friend into your home this holiday season!
Gold Star Costume ‘Shining Light in the Night’
We’re thrilled to include Pretend to Bee’s enchanting Gold Star Costume ‘Shining Light in the Night’ in our prize bundle.
This twinkling costume is perfect for your little star to shine bright during the festive season. It’s more than just a costume; it’s a ticket to a world of imagination where your child can become a shining beacon.
Don’t miss this chance to make your child’s Christmas extra special. Enter our Christmas Giveaway now for a chance to win this magical Gold Star Costume along with other fantastic prizes. Let’s light up this Christmas with joy and imagination!
Family First Aid Kit from LittleLife
The Family First Aid Kit from LittleLife is your must-have companion and proudly a Silver award winner, voted for parents as Best Travel Product for Under £30, in the prestigious Mother & Baby Awards 2024. Whether at home or away, this compact kit ensures peace of mind for you and your loved ones. With everything from Sudocrem, scissors, and tweezers to bandages, dressings, and antiseptic wipes, it’s the ultimate solution for any minor accidents. The Family First Aid Kit is great to take with you for any days out or travelling you do over the holiday season and we have one to give away as part of our prize bundle.
Every Piece of You Puzzle from Gibson Games
The Gibson Games Puzzle, “Every Piece of You,’’ is a captivating 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle that reminds us to celebrate the weird and wonderful pieces of ourselves in a fun and colourful style. Created by Katie Abey, this is not your ordinary jigsaw puzzle.The illustrations of the puzzle represent real people and their stories. Made from 100% recycled puzzle board and with vegetable based inks, this is the perfect gift for any jigsaw lover.
Play-Doh Air Clay Super Colour Bucket
The Play-Doh Air Clay Super Colour Bucket is a fun and colourful part of our Christmas Prize Bundle. Packed with 15 vibrant colours, ten cutter moulds, two handy tools, and an inspirational sculpting guide, it’s perfect for unleashing your kid’s creativity with modelling clay this festive season!
How to Enter:
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 via Rafflecopter. Good luck!
The giveaway will run from 7 pm 9th December 2023 to 11.59 pm 19th December 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, X, 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.
Some or all of the prizes may arrive after Christmas and may take a few weeks to arrive. We will do our best to get them to you before Christmas but this is not guaranteed.
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 that 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 and other social media channels. It will also be displayed on the Rafflecopter entry form. 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!
Disclosure: This post includes some affiliate links.
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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 £21,282. Last month it stood at £20,214 so that is a welcome increase of £1,068.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,351 compared with £3,183 a month ago, a rise of £168. Here is a screen capture showing performance since the start of this year.
November was obviously a good month for my Nutmeg investments after a disappointing previous three months. Their total net value rose by £1,236 or 5.28% month on month – a rise of £1,712 (7.47%) since 1st January 2023. This has obviously been another roller-coaster year, but as things stand I think that’s a pretty decent annual return. I am hoping the trend will continue with the traditional Santa Rally in December!
Of course, as I always have to 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 styles, 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. 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. For more details about what each of the themes comprise, check out the Nutmeg website.
I like the new thematic styles on Nutmeg and have just invested a modest amount in one myself (I opted for Resource Transformation). I will talk more about this in my next monthly update in January, and will obviously keep PAS readers informed as to how it fares.
Nutmeg’s thematic styles are similar in concept to the so-called smart portfolios on eToro, which I discussed in this recent blog post. They 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 £2,100 invested with them in 12 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.
As mentioned last time, 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. Interest rates currently range from 7% for one year to 9.83% gross for a three-year term.
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 £149.50 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, 3 are breaking even, and the remaining 18 are showing losses. My portfolio is currently showing a net decrease in value of £42.37, meaning that overall (rental income minus capital value decrease) I am up by £107.13. 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.
As a matter of interest, I recently reinvested £40 of my rental income from Assetz Exchange in a house for asylum seekers in Sunderland. This property is being managed by Mears on behalf of the Home Office, so I think the chances of them going into default are pretty remote!
The fall in capital value of my AE investments is obviously a little 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’ve reinvested 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 $1,203.02, an overall increase of $180.76 or 17.68%. In these turbulent times I am very happy with that.
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 another article published in November on the excellent Mouthy Money website. This explains how you may be able to Write and Publish Kindle e-Books for Profit. This is something I have done myself in the past, and when I was researching this article I was impressed to discover it’s easier than ever now. It’s a competitive field, but definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for an extra string to your sideline-earning bow.
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
You might also like to know that Mouthy Money are currently running a competition to win one of five free copies of Freedom: Earn It, Keep It, Grow It by Robert Gardner (see Amazon image link below). Visit this page of the Mouthy Money website for further info and to enter.
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.
Key Things to Consider When Making a Gift or Loan to Married Children was an eye-opening guest post by Joanna Toloczko, a partner, family law solicitor and mediator at UK law firm RWK Goodman. Joanna’s article discusses what can become a major issue for parents when making gifts or loans to their married children. Specifically, it looks at what you can do to ensure that your wishes are respected should the worst happen and the marriage fails.
I also published (or more accurately republished) How to Make More Money From National Grid Powersaving Events. 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, with payments made to those who succeed in doing this. In this article I explained how these schemes work and what you can do to maximize your earnings from them.
Also in November I published an article about a survey from HSBC regarding how British people choose life insurance. There were some interesting findings in this, including the growing numbers of people deciding against getting life insurance due to the cost-of-living crisis. As I note in this article, this could sadly prove to be a false economy.
Next up, I published a short post about an important (in my view) change to the tax-free ISA rules in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. This is a rule change I warmly welcome and have in fact been advocating on PAS (and elsewhere) for some time.
Finally, I published a fully updated post on the subject What Are the Best Video Calling Tools for Older People? This is particularly relevant in the run-up to Christmas. Video calling can provide an invaluable means for older people (and others) to keep in touch with far-flung friends and family. In this post I set out a wide range of options you can use.
On other matters, the opportunity to get a free share worth up to £100 with Trading 212 has now closed, but you can still Get a Free ETF Share Worth up to £200 with Wealthyhood. 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 has been raised from £20 to £50 – but on the plus side, they now guarantee your free ETF share will be worth at least £10. What’s more, for the next month Wealthyhood say they will plant a tree for every new account opened
I did just want to mention as well that I am still using and getting good results from the cashback app JamDoughnut. You can see my review of JamDoughnut here, along with a referral code that will get you a £2 bonus when you sign up. To be honest I’m a bit surprised more PAS readers haven’t taken advantage of this opportunity. Not only can you get discounts of up to 20% using the app, they also hold regular contests and promotions offering additional bonuses and discounts.
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. Do hope you are keeping safe and warm in the current Arctic spell. As always, if you have any comments or queries, feel free to leave them below. I am always delighted to hear from PAS readers
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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.
