My Coronavirus Crisis Experience: August Update

Nick Investing, Everything Else events 8 Comments

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

I said I hoped that update might be my final one, but in light of events over the last few weeks that may have been a bit optimistic. So I have decided to continue publishing monthly updates for a while longer.

As previously I will discuss what has been happening with my finances and my life generally over the last few weeks. As always, I will start with the money side of things.

Financial

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

Through July there have been ups and downs, but as of today my Nutmeg ISA is £400 up compared with my last update in early July. This represents a good overall recovery after it lost over a third of its value early in the pandemic (admittedly I helped things along by investing another £1,000 when the markets were near their lowest point). Even allowing for this extra £1,000, my portfolio is now a little above where it was before the crisis started.

I remain cautiously optimistic that the recovery will continue over the longer term. Obviously, if there is a big ‘second wave’ of the virus all bets are off, but personally I think this is unlikely. And even if it does happen, the NHS is much better placed to cope. So I plan to stay in the markets and continue to invest cautiously where I see value. I haven’t put any more money into my Nutmeg ISA just yet but will probably do so soon. Do take a look at my in-depth Nutmeg review if you haven’t already.

My monthly payments from my two Buy2LetCars investments (totalling around £420) continue to appear in my bank account every month like clockwork. I have had no issues at all with this platform, and am glad also to be supporting key workers by providing reasonably priced transport for them. Again, if you’d like to learn more, you can read my review of Buy2LetCars here and my more recent article about the company here. The minimum investment is £7,000 so this opportunity isn’t going to be for everyone – but if I had that sort of money burning a hole in my pocket right now, I wouldn’t hesitate to invest through them again. Each car generates a monthly income, with a large lump sum at the end of the three-year term. Interest rates range from 7 to 12 percent per year.

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

My property crowdfunding investments are still sluggish, though I was pleased to hear that Property Partner are recommencing the five-year anniversary process, starting on 1st October 2020. They also intend to start paying out dividends again on some properties from 30 September 2020 (though only those with strong enough financial reserves to justify this). Properties on their resale market are currently selling at up to 20% below the independent pre-Covid valuations, so theoretically there could be short-term profit opportunities here. But of course, there is no guarantee that properties will still sell at pre-Covid prices. I am not intending to invest any more on the PP resale market at this time, though I might review that if the initial five-year sales pass off successfully.

My Kuflink investments are still ticking along nicely, and it has been reassuring to see a steady stream of new loans going live on the platform over the last few weeks. I have been investing modestly in them, along with loan portions that have just a few months left to run via the Kuflink Marketplace. See my Kuflink review here for more information. Their up-to-£4,000 cashback offer for new investors is still open, incidentally.

I also have property crowdfunding investments with The House Crowd and Crowdlords. As mentioned last time, one of my House Crowd properties is in the process of being sold, so I should get around £1,000 from that. Checking on the THC website today, I see the buyer has now requested vacant possession, meaning the tenant has to be given notice to leave. So I am not expecting the sale to go through any time soon, especially as tenants have been given additional protection due to the pandemic (quite rightly, of course). They are continuing to pay rent, so this should at least help to defray some of the sale costs.

I received an email from Crowdlords a couple of weeks ago which came as a shock. It said that, ‘following recent announcements by the FCA to propose permanent changes of the mass-marketing of speculative illiquid securities, Crowdlords is ceasing all FCA regulated activity with immediate effect.’ The message went on to say that they are ‘currently exploring our options regarding the types of investments we will offer in the future and we will be in touch very soon with more details as appropriate.’

As regards existing CL investments – of which I have two – these will continue to be managed by Crowdlords. It is, though, disappointing that there have been no updates about either of my CL investments since before the pandemic, either on the website or by email. My investments are in bricks and mortar so I have no doubt I will get my money back eventually, hopefully with profits. But again, I’m not holding my breath. I will be writing to Crowdlords to see if any further information is available and will add an update here or in next month’s update as seems appropriate.

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

Personal

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

As you may know, I am a semi-retired freelance writer and editor (age 64). I’ve had very little work since the lockdown started, and was duly grateful to receive some financial support from the government’s SEISS scheme. I also intend to apply for the second tranche of SEISS payments when applications open on August 17th.

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

Last time I said it appeared the worst of the pandemic was behind us and things were starting to feel more normal again. I do still believe this, but of course in recent weeks there have been local ‘spikes’ leading to restrictions being reimposed in the areas concerned (including Leicester, my old university city). This has led to media scare stories about an imminent ‘second wave’ of the virus, for which there is still no actual evidence. I prefer to believe Professor Karol Sikora about this. He says such local upticks are entirely to be expected at this stage of the pandemic and should be controllable with the aid of track and trace and other suitable measures in affected areas.

One thing that has happened nationally in England since my last update is that face coverings have been made mandatory in shops and supermarkets. As you may know, I am very dubious about this. The evidence that masks offer any real benefit in this setting is weak at best. What’s more, many people misuse them, typically fiddling with them and re-using them without washing them (if that’s possible). Doing this can actually increase the risk of transmitting the virus. In addition, there are growing reports about people contracting other serious lung conditions through long-term use of masks.

What’s more, the imposition of mandatory masks has changed the atmosphere in shops and supermarkets, which had been starting to feel more relaxed. The tension in the air when shopping is palpable now. Although shop staff have generally displayed commonsense and tact when enforcing the rules, that hasn’t stopped some self-appointed ‘mask police’ from harassing people they think are breaking the rules.

I witnessed a particularly unsavoury incident in my local Morrisons, when a man confronted a woman who was shopping without a mask. He screamed insults at her, removing his own mask to do so – whether to berate her more effectively or (heaven forbid) ‘to see how she liked it’. The woman’s child was clearly distressed by the incident, and it left a bad taste in my mouth too.

For the record, while face coverings are now mandatory in shops, people with medical or psychological conditions that are exacerbated by masks don’t have to wear them (neither do they have to provide proof of this). My own suggestion, FWIW, would be for supermarkets to have a designated hour that is strictly ‘masks only’, so that people whose sensibilities are offended by others not wearing masks don’t have to see this. The rest of the time commonsense can be applied and people who can’t wear masks can be left to get on with their shopping without fear of being harangued by staff or other customers.

Personally I have a mild lung condition which means it is inadvisable for me to wear a tight face covering for more than a few minutes. I can be in the supermarket for over an hour when shopping for elderly friends as well as myself, and I’m not willing to put my health at risk for no good reason by wearing a mask for that long. So I am now wearing a clear plastic face shield/visor, which allows me to breathe but still provides a physical barrier. I think that’s a reasonable compromise personally. As a matter of interest, here is a link to the ones I ordered from Amazon, which I highly recommend [affiliate link].

You can also buy badges and lanyards from the Disability Horizons online shop which clearly show your mask exempt status (see picture below). There is no requirement to wear anything like this, but some people may wish to do so to reduce the likelihood of being challenged.

I understand the government hoped that making masks mandatory in shops would encourage more people to go, but I don’t see that myself, and evidence appears to confirm that the opposite is the case. Personally I have found shopping a far less enjoyable experience since this measure was introduced, and am now going to the shops as little as possible. Their loss is Amazon’s gain, I’m afraid.

Moving on, I just had my first haircut since March, which was very much needed and appreciated. I have also been enjoying swimming again at my local David Lloyd club. It’s been great to be doing something normal again, and staff and management there have been doing a brilliant job. They are taking mitigation measures to protect against the virus, but these are generally unobtrusive and sensible (no mandatory masks for members or staff anywhere). The last time I went I also enjoyed a half-price cappuccino and cake in their coffee shop, by courtesy of the government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

I am looking forward to my short break in Minehead at the start of September, which I booked before this crisis happened. I am also still mulling over whether to try to book a couple of days away in Wales. August is filling up now, including meeting friends I haven’t seen for ages, so this may have to wait till later in September. A weekend in Llandudno or Aberystwyth could definitely be on the cards.

Finally, I’m sure you’re dying to know, so I’m on the ninth and final season of Bergerac now. Jim has left the Jersey police and is living in France with new squeeze Danielle. The show did lose something when it moved away from Jersey, though of course the writers found plenty of opportunities to bring our hero back to the island. Some good new characters were introduced in the final series, notably the inimitable Roger Sloman playing Jim’s replacement, Inspector Deffand, with lip-curling disdain. I shall be sorry when I finish this box set. I do have others lined up, and am also mulling over subscribing to Britbox, mainly so I can relive my childhood with all the classic Doctor Who episodes there!

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

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

My Coronavirus Crisis Experience: July Update

Nick Investing, Everything Else events 4 Comments

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

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

Financial

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Personal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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