As is customary for bloggers at this time of year, here are the top twenty posts on Pounds and Sense in 2019, 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. Don’t forget, you can always subscribe using the box on the right to be notified of new posts as soon as they appear.
All posts in the list below should open in a new tab when you click on the link concerned.
Thank you very much for your interest in Pounds and Sense. I hope 2019 has been a good year for you.
I’ll be taking a break from blogging over the festive period (though I’ll still be around on Twitter and Facebook). I’ll therefore close by wishing you a very happy and peaceful Christmas, and a prosperous and fulfilling new year. See you again in 2020 🙂
If you have any comments or questions, of course, feel free to leave them below as usual.
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One question I get asked fairly frequently as a money blogger is what I think are the best current investment opportunities.
I have to be very careful when responding to this sort of question (and always tell people this). For one thing, I am not a qualified financial adviser, so it would be against the law for me to offer personalized investment advice. And even if I were, I still wouldn’t be allowed to give one-to-one advice without first doing an in-depth fact-find on the person in question.
Of course, this is exactly as it should be. For one thing, everyone’s circumstances are different, and what represents a good investment for me might not be the same for you. It depends on a wide range of factors, including your income and expenditure, your family responsibilities, how much you want to invest, the timescale (and purpose) you are investing for, your age and health, and so forth.
Another important consideration is your attitude to risk. Other things being equal, higher returns come with higher risks. If you’re comfortable with this and willing to accept it in exchange for the chance of better returns, that is of course your decision. On the other hand, if riskier investments would cause you sleepless nights, you are probably better off seeking a safer – if possibly less exciting – home for your money.
In addition, anything I say here is inevitably based on my own experience, and there is no guarantee yours will be the same as mine. I might, for example, have great success with one platform and suffer losses on another. But there is no way of knowing whether your experiences if you invest will be the same as mine. This applies especially if you have to choose specific investments on the platform (as with many P2P/property crowdfunding platforms) rather than putting your money into a pooled fund of some kind.
And, of course – as the financial services ads always say in the small print – past results are no guarantee of future performance…
I don’t want to come across as too negative. I am, after all, a money blogger and investor myself. So what I can – and will – do is talk about my own investing experiences and share information about what has worked well for me this year. It’s then up to you to decide if you want to investigate these opportunities any further. If so, you will need to do your own ‘due diligence’ before deciding how to proceed, perhaps taking professional advice from a qualified financial adviser as well (which I strongly recommend if you are new to investing or at all uncertain).
Although I count myself as a reasonably experienced investor, I do still have an independent financial adviser (Mike from Integrity Wealth Solutions). He oversees about half my investments, while the other half I look after myself. He also advises me on my financial situation more generally and answers any questions I can’t answer satisfactorily myself. i will talk more about this in another post. But I wanted to mention it here to show that I am not at all opposed to using a financial adviser and in general recommend it, particularly when starting out in investing.
My Best Investments of 2019
Below I have listed some of my investments that have performed best this year and/or caused me the least stress and hassle! I have included a few lines about each one, and links to any blog posts I have written about them for further info.
(1) Nutmeg
Nutmeg is a robo-advisory platform. I have used it for my Stocks and Shares ISA investments over the last three years. My investment pot has grown steadily, albeit with a few ups and downs, as is to be expected with equity-based investments. At the time of writing my Nutmeg pot has grown by about 40% since i started investing in April 2016, which is certainly a lot better than I could have achieved with a bank savings account. Of course, you shouldn’t normally invest in any equity-based product with anything less than a five-year timescale.
Nutmeg use exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as their investment vehicle. These are discussed in more detail in my in-depth Nutmeg review, which also includes details of what I invested with them and when. Note that my investment has grown by a further £1,100 since that article was published.
(2) Ratesetter
Ratesetter is a P2P lending platform. They don’t pay the highest rates, currently ranging from 3% for instant access to 4% for their Max account (where you pay a release fee of 90 days’ interest if you wish to withdraw). Though better than most bank savings accounts, those rates are clearly nothing spectacular.
One thing I particularly like about Ratesetter, though, is that they have a provision fund that effectively covers investors against defaults. That means you don’t have to worry about diversifying your investments across a range of loans, as is the case with some other P2P lending platforms. Of course, if the whole platform were to collapse the provision fund wouldn’t necessarily save you, but Ratesetter has been going for ten years now and appears professionally and competently run. It has delivered the promised returns to me with no stress or hassle, and I am happy to recommend it based on my experience.
In addition, if you check out my Ratesetter review you can discover how to get a free £20 bonus if you invest a mere £10 with them.
(3) Buy2Let Cars
I took a long time before deciding whether to invest with Buy2Let Cars, as it is quite an unusual investment. Basically what you are doing is putting up the money to buy a car for someone in a responsible job who can’t afford to buy one outright themselves. You then receive monthly repayments over a three-year period, and a final repayment of capital plus interest at the end of the loan. The minimum investment is £7,000, so this is obviously not going to work for everyone. Personally I bought one new car at a price of £14,000 in March 2018. Since then I have been receiving £250 per month in repayments, with a final payment of £8,429 due in month 37. That will give me a total net profit of £3,429 based on an annual interest rate of 10% (the rates on offer can vary but once you have signed an agreement the rate is fixed for the duration of the contract).
There are – of course – various safeguards and protections in place, fully discussed in my Buy2Let Cars review. Buy2Let Cars say that to date they have a 100% repayment record to investors, which appears to be confirmed by their Trust Pilot reviews. This investment has been working very well for me, with payments turning up in my bank account every month like clockwork. I am currently semi-retired, so it is providing a useful extra monthly income for me, with a large lump sum due in 2021, just a few months before I qualify for the state pension 🙂 If you think it might work for you, I recommend checking out my Buy2Let Cars review and speaking to my contact there, Brett Cheeseman, who helpfully answered all the questions I had at the time I invested.
(4) Kuflink
Kuflink offer the opportunity to invest in loans secured against property. These loans are typically made to developers who require short- to medium-term bridging finance, e.g. to complete a major property renovation project, before refinancing with a commercial mortgage.
Kuflink don’t pay the highest rates in this field – their loans are typically at an interest rate of around 7% – but in my view they offer a fair balance between risks and rewards. One thing I like about them is that interest is paid into your account monthly on all loans. I only have a relatively small amount invested, but so far everything has been going well with just the occasional short delay in repayment of capital.
Kuflink currently have a generous welcome offer, with cashback of up to £4,000 for new investors. Take a look at my Kuflink review for more information about this.
(5) Crowdlords
Crowdlords is a property crowdfunding platform. I have been investing with them almost since their launch and have made a good overall profit. Crowdlords pay competitive interest rates (over 20% in some cases) and offer a choice of equity and debt investments. Equity investments are higher risk than debt ones, but offer the potential for bigger returns if all goes well.
My only reservation about Crowdlords is that I currently have two overdue investments with them. In both cases, though, I have received full and reasonable explanations for the delays, and have been told that the money should be in my account within the next few months. Obviously, if that doesn’t happen, I will let Pounds and Sense readers know.
Crowdlords doesn’t have a welcome offer as such, but they do have a Refer a Friend scheme. If you sign up quoting my code, I will share the commission I receive 50:50 with you. Please see my Crowdlords review for more information about this.
So those are the investments that have given me the best returns and/or least stress during 2019. I do have others as well, including Primestox, ZOPA, Bricklane, The Lending Crowd, The House Crowd and Property Partner. Most of these have still made some money but none has really set the world alight.
Only Primestox actually lost me money. This is (or was) a premium food investment platform. They started promisingly and I made good returns on my early investments, but then they were hit by a series of delays and defaults. This happened with three projects I invested in. In the case of two I have received partial repayments with more promised, but in the third I have probably lost my £500. Primestox are no longer advertising investment opportunities, and I assume are re-evaluating their business model.
Property Partner is an interesting case. I have made modest returns on my portfolio this year, partly due to the fact that the property market in general has been in a slump. That said, there haven’t been any issues with delays or defaults, and dividends have been credited to my account every month as promised. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2020 as properties come up to their five-year anniversary and investors have the opportunity to exit at the current market price. As I noted in this recent blog post, this has the potential to create opportunities for both buyers and sellers.
I haven’t included certain other investments in this article. These include my Bestinvest SIPP, which is now in drawdown and holding up well in value. Neither have I included money invested via my financial adviser. This is mostly in funds from Prudential, which again are doing pretty well.
Lastly, I haven’t included the money I ‘invested’ in Football Index. My portfolio has more than doubled in value over 18 months, so in some ways it is my most successful investment of 2019! I am sure luck has played a significant part in this. Nonetheless, if you want to know more about Football Index – and read how you can get a risk-free £50 when signing up – you might like to check out this recent blog post.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this article, which has run on a bit longer than I expected. I hope also it may have given you a few ideas to investigate further if you are in the fortunate position of having money to invest.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this article, please do post them below.
Disclaimer: As stated above, I am not a professional financial adviser, and nothing in this article should be construed as personal financial advice. You should always do your own ‘due diligence’ before investing, and seek advice from a qualified financial adviser if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investment carries a risk of loss.
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With Christmas almost upon us, I thought I’d take a look today at how the cost of Christmas has changed over the years. I’ll also be suggesting some things you can do to keep the cost of the festive season under control.
Of course, Christmas has always been relatively expensive, as it’s one time of year nearly all of us push the boat out, buying gifts for friends and family, and generally spending more on food and drink and entertainment.
But all the usual bills still have to be paid at this time, including gas and electricity. For those of us in the UK, our energy use rises during the cold winter months anyway. And that effect is magnified over Christmas, when we may have extra guests visiting (and perhaps staying) as well. This all adds to our bills, and hence the total cost of Christmas.
The Cost of Christmas Past
So how much is your energy actually costing you, and are you paying more than you did ten or twenty years ago?
Take a look at the interacfive house graphic below – kindly provided by my friends at Energyhelpline.com – to see how average energy bills (along with our tastes in home decor and TV viewing!) have changed between 1970 and today.
As you can see from the graphic, average energy bills have fluctuated over the years, with the 1980s in particular being surprisingly expensive. In recent years the trend has been broadly upwards again, though this has been countered to some extent by the arrival of more energy-efficient appliances, from LED bulbs to condensing boilers.
Nonetheless, Christmas today is a very expensive time for many people. One reason is – of course – inflation. The cost of everything has risen over the years, so it makes sense that Christmas is all the more pricey too. But inflation aside, for many people today Christmas is a much bigger (and costlier) affair than it used to be.
Christmas in the 1960s wasn’t the long drawn out holiday we know now. As many readers of this blog will remember, most people only celebrated on the day itself, with Christmas Eve used for buying any gifts or food needed (unheard of today) and Boxing Day spent visiting family. With only two TV channels to choose from – BBC and ITV – everyone watched the same things, so there was no squabbling between Doctor Who and Die Hard!
The 1970s wasn’t much better on the TV channel front (the Christmas movie was a big highlight in the days before streaming and rentals) – though it did see a big surge in how much we spend on presents, with toys like Action Man and Evel Knievel making their debut during this period.
The 1980s saw an even bigger increase in the amount the UK would spend over the season, though you were more likely to sip a Babycham or eggnog in the days before you could get decent wine inexpensively. Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ was the biggest festive hit. And the whole family would probably sit down together to watch Noel Edmonds on Christmas morning (hard to imagine in today’s multichannel, multimedia world).
The commercialization of Christmas took a new leap in the ‘90s, with toys like the Tamagotchi, Furby and Game Boy being huge sellers across the decade. Christmas TV might include Mr Bean, The Muppets Christmas Carol or even The Simpsons. It was also probably the last decade where the Christmas Number One was truly important – the Spice Girls dominating with three in a row.
Since then, the cost of Christmas has gone on increasing, as we spend ever more on gifts, decorations and events. And Christmas itself has spread ever wider as well, with festivities beginning weeks before the big day and continuing on into early January.
How to Keep Costs Down at Christmas
With the cost of Christmas (for many at least) having climbed alarmingly, here are some tips and suggestions for keeping your costs – and especially energy bills – down at this time.
Have your boiler serviced regularly, to ensure it is operating at peak efficiency.
If you have an old boiler that keeps breaking down, the time may have come to replace it. The Energy Saving Trust say that you could save up to up to 40 percent on your gas bill by installing a new ‘A’ rated condensing boiler with a programmer, room thermostat and thermostatic radiator controls.
If your radiators aren’t heating up properly at the top, you may need to bleed them to release air in the pipes. Depending on the radiator, you may need a special key to do this or a flat-bladed screwdriver.
Turn down your thermostat by one degree - this can reduce your heating bill by 10%.
Replace old light-bulbs with new energy-saving bulbs. The latest LED bulbs are just as bright as old incandescent bulbs and use a tenth of the energy. They last longer too.
Exclude draughts with heavy curtains and draught excluders by doors.
Turn off heaters in rooms you aren’t using and close the doors.
Don’t leave electrical appliances on standby.
Wash clothes at 30 degrees (or lower) and avoid using tumble driers whenever possible.
Get a smart meter installed if you haven’t already. The energy companies are fitting these free. They can help you see when and where you are spending money on energy and identify ways you could save money as a result.
If you’re an older person and/or on a low income, you may be able to get a discount of £140 on your winter energy bills through the Warm Home Discount scheme. The scheme for 2019/20 is currently open for applications, and most larger energy suppliers are offering it. But be aware that they only have a limited quota of discounts to give out, so you need to apply asap before applications close. My blog post about the Warm Home Discount scheme has more information about this.
Most older people who receive the state pension should get a Winter Fuel Payment from £100 to £300 in cash, based on their age and circumstances. Those in receipt of Pension Credit and some others on low incomes may also be eligible for a Cold Weather Payment of £25 if the average temperature in their area is at or below zero for seven days consecutively during the winter months.
Last but not least, the energy market is more competitive than ever these days, meaning you should be able to find a better deal pretty easily by shopping around. Energy Helpline can help you save up to £461 on your annual bills. Simply enter details of your current supplier on their website and they will handle the entire switching process for you. It’s that easy!
Christmas Prize Quiz
Here’s one more way you may be able to save some money this Christmas. Energy Helpline are currently running a Christmas-themed prize quiz on their website. Just click through here and scroll down to the quiz, where you can put your Christmas knowledge to the test! One lucky person will win a £100 M&S voucher. But don’t delay, as the winner will be drawn on Monday 23rd December 2019.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this article, please do post them below.
Disclosure: this post is sponsored by Energy Helpline, an independent price comparison website.
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A few weeks ago I published this post about how to get a postal vote. If you did this, I hope you have sent it off by now. If not, you will need to send it (or take it in) as soon as possible.
If you have been given a postal vote you won’t be able to vote in a polling station, although you can take your postal vote there in person if it’s too late to post it.
Today I want to talk about how to ensure you are able to vote on the day if you don’t have a postal vote. I am particularly addressing older individuals today, since they are the people for whom this blog is primarily intended.
The bad news if you have to cast your vote in person on Thursday is that the weather forecast is pretty dire, with heavy rain and even snow forecast in some areas. So I thought it might be useful to share a few thoughts on how best you can go to vote, while minimizing the risk and inconvenience.
The name and address of your local polling station will be on your poll card, which you should have received by now. This is the only place you can go to vote. It’s a good idea to take the card with you so that the clerks can find you on the register. But it’s not compulsory to take it if you have misplaced it. In that case you will simply need to provide your name and address. There is no need to bring proof of ID with you in England, Wales or Scotland, although this is a requirement in Northern Ireland.
Here then are some top tips for getting safely to and from the polling station on Thursday…
Going to Vote
At this time of year it gets dark very early – sunset on Thursday 12th December will be at about 3.50 pm – so try to get to the polling station earlier in the day, while it is still light.
Plan your journey in advance. If you know the best route to the polling station, this will make your journey less stressful, especially if the weather is bad.
Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance. See if a friend, relative or neighbour can accompany you to the polling station or give you a lift.
You could also get a group of friends and neighbours together for the journey. If the weather is bad you could share a taxi together.
If you are going in a car, plan where you will park in advance. If you have a Blue Badge, you can of course park on yellow lines for up to 3 hours, so long as there are no other restrictions. But it is better to park in designated disabled bays if these are available.
Otherwise you may be able to take advantage of the Just Park and Vote promotion that is being run by the company JustPark in association with former MP Alan Johnson. This allows anyone using the JustPark app to find a parking space near their local polling station and park there free of charge for up to 30 minutes. More information can be found here.
If you are stuck for a way of getting to the polling station, you could contact the local office of the party you intend to vote for. They are all keen to get their voters out and will help you if they can, perhaps by putting you in touch with a volunteer who can give you a lift. The Conservatives have a dedicated website for this purpose at https://action.conservatives.com/vote/. The other parties don’t appear to have equivalent sites, but the national websites of Labour and the Liberal Democrats (and the other political parties) will try to help if you get in touch using their contact forms or phone numbers.
Finally, at the risk of stating the obvious, wrap up warm and take an umbrella with you. Casting your vote is important, but so too is staying healthy.
Helping Older People to Vote
If you have older (and/or disabled) friends, relatives or neighbours, it is a good idea to check if they wish to vote, and if so to offer your assistance.
A lift to the polling station may be appreciated. Or you could simply offer to accompany them on the journey there and back. This applies especially if they have mobility difficulties, as the roads and pavements may be wet and slippery, increasing the risk of falls.
Whatever your political preference, I urge you to express this by voting on Thursday. As I said in my earlier post, it is important that the voices of older people are heard by law-makers, and that their views are given due weight.
I hope that by following the tips and advice above you are able to cast your vote safely and with a minimum of hassle on Thursday.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.
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Today I am sharing another great sideline-earning opportunity.
Crowdville started in 2014 in Italy, where they built up a thriving online community of over 30,000 members. In the last year or two they have launched in the UK and other countries as well.
Crowdville pay members to test digital products (both existing and upcoming) and report back on what they find. Members are paid for their feedback, their opinions about the user experience, and their bug-finding skills. The YouTube video below provides a quick introduction to the platform.
Joining Crowdville
Joining Crowdville is free of charge. All you need is a smartphone and an email account. Click through any link in this post to Crowdville and you will be presented with a registration form. This should only take a minute or so to fill in. Accept the terms and conditions and click on Register. And that’s it – you’re in!
Once you have joined Crowdville, you can sign up for ‘Missions’. These range from simple surveys to more complex bug-finding challenges. Payment for successfully completing a Mission is guaranteed.
You can also access Crowdville using a laptop, PC or tablet, and provide feedback via the website – but as most Missions involve testing mobile phone apps, you will need a smartphone in order to do this.
Crowders – as the company calls its members – are paid by bank transfer or Amazon vouchers. As long as you successfully complete a Mission – either by submitting a survey, sending screenshots or finding bugs – you are guaranteed to be paid.
Anyone is welcome to join Crowdville. However, it’s an ideal platform for technology enthusiasts, as you are able to test out a range of digital products and services before anyone else. You get an exclusive preview of upcoming app releases, put them through their paces, and then get paid for giving your feedback about them.
The work you are offered will depend on your location and other personal info, but you can always turn down Missions if for some reason they don’t appeal to you.
Community
One big attraction of Crowdville is that – as the name implies – it is community-based.
Through a private social media platform called Otium, you can meet and interact with other Crowders and Crowdville managers. This provides you with an opportunity to learn from others, and as you gain experience to offer support and advice to new Crowders yourself. This social aspect makes working as a Crowder more enjoyable and less stressful, especially when you are first starting out.
Additionally, once you’ve been accepted to a Mission, you are automatically placed in that Mission’s group. You can discuss the Mission here with others who are also doing it, and ask about any problems you may be having. As well as making the process easier and less stressful, this allows the community as a whole to learn from one another and improve.
Finally, there is even a reward for being a helpful Crowder. If you complete Missions and help other members, you can become a SuperCrowder. This allows you to earn more money and access other, higher-paying opportunities.
Summing Up
If you’re looking for a new sideline-earning opportunity – and especially if you enjoy testing and evaluating apps and websites – Crowdville is well worth a try. It’s free to join, and you can earn a steady stream of cash and vouchers. You can also make more money by introducing friends and colleagues and giving them the opportunity to earn from the platform as well. In any event, there really is nothing to lose by signing up for free and trying out Crowdville for yourself.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, or Crowdville in general, please do leave them below.
Disclosure: I am a Crowdville member myself and the links in this post are referral links. If you click through and sign up, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This does not affect in any way the benefits you will enjoy as a Crowdville member.
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These hampers sell for £50 apiece on the M&S website. The full contents are as follows:
Christmas afternoon treats
Swiss chocolate extra smooth milk chocolate truffles (205g)
Pure origin Assam teabags (125g/50 bags)
Classic recipe top iced bar Christmas cake (450g)
The Collection Berry medley soft set jam (42g)
The Collection Bitter Seville orange marmalade (42g)
All butter shortbread fingers (28g) x 3
A beautiful bouquet of flowers
In the event of supply difficulties, or with discontinued products, M&S say they reserve the right to offer alternative goods or packaging of equal quality and value. Full information about the hamper and its contents can be found on the M&S website.
Here then are all the details you need to enter, provided by my colleague Emma Drew (who is co-ordinating this event). Good luck! It would be great if a Pounds and Sense reader wins one (or more) of the prizes 🙂
Meet the Bloggers Taking Part
The bloggers taking part in this festive giveaway are:
If the hamper is no longer available when the winners are drawn then the winners will be offered an alternative hamper from M&S worth £50 each.
Enter to Win
To enter simply complete any or all of the Rafflecopter entry widget options below.
The competition closes at midnight on 14th December 2019. If the hamper selected is sold out then we will offer an alternative M&S hamper worth £50. You can see the widget for the full terms and conditions of this giveaway.
There are plenty of ways to enter this giveaway.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
One small point is that if a winning entry comes from following someone on social media, Emma will check before awarding the prize that the winner is still following the account in question. If they aren’t, they will be disqualified and a new winner drawn. So, please, don’t follow and immediately unfollow, as your entry won’t then count.
Once again, good luck, and I really do hope you win a hamper!
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