I’ll begin as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension), from which I recently started withdrawing again.
As the screenshot below of performance over the last year shows, my main Nutmeg portfolio is currently valued at £20,817. Last month it stood at £19,898 so that is a rise of £919.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,175 compared with £3,023 a month ago, a rise of £152.
Here is a screen capture showing performance over the last year. As you can see from the ochre line, I topped up this account in February 2022.
Clearly 2023 has started well, with the total value of my Nutmeg investments increasing by over £1,000. The strong start for equities in general in 2023 is due to various factors, including inflation rates world-wide starting to fall, the ending of most Covid restrictions in China, and a growing belief that any post-pandemic recession may not be as severe as was once thought. Of course, the war in Ukraine is still a major concern, but if that is resolved in the coming year it should give markets a further boost.
2023 is still likely to be an uncertain year for investors, with more ups and downs very much on the cards. Nonetheless, with share prices generally still below where they were a year ago, there are likely to be opportunities for investors to capitalize in the months ahead. I shall definitely be looking to invest more in Nutmeg and other equity-based platforms in the coming year.
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 six years, they are certainly worth considering. They offer self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) as well.
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 very respectable £96.79 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. Even so, it’s not all bad news. At the time of writing 16 of ‘my’ properties are showing gains, 7 are showing losses, and two are breaking even. My portfolio is currently showing a small net increase in value of £13.36, meaning that overall (rental income plus capital gains) I am up by £110.15. That is still a very decent rate of 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.
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. You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
Another property platform I have investments with is Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching almost every day. I currently have around £2,400 invested with them in 18 different projects (I withdrew £200 in December to help pay for Christmas). 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.
My loans with Kuflink pay annual interest rates of 6 to 7.5 percent. These days I invest no more than £200 per loan (and often less). That is not because of any issues with Kuflink but more to do with losses of larger amounts on other P2P property platforms in the past. My days of putting four-figure sums into any single property investment are behind me now!
Nowadays I mainly opt to reinvest the monthly repayments I receive from Kuflink, which has the effect of boosting the percentage rate of return on the projects in question
Obviously a possible drawback with Kuflink and similar platforms is that your money is tied up in bricks and mortar, so not as easily accessible as cash savings or even (to some extent) shares. They do, however, have a secondary market on which you can offer any loan part for sale (as long as the loan in question is performing and not in arrears). Clearly that does depend on someone else wanting to buy it, but my experience has been that any loan parts offered are typically snapped up very quickly. So if an urgent need arises, withdrawing your money (or part of it) is unlikely to be an issue.
You can read my full Kuflink review here. They offer a variety of investment options, including a tax-free IFISA paying up to 7% interest per year with built-in automatic diversification. Alternatively you can now build your own IFISA, with most loans on the platform (including the one shown above) being IFISA-eligible.
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 I added to this with another $500 investment in one of their thematic portfolios. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares. My original investment of $1,022.26 is today worth $1,118.62, an increase of $96.36 or 9.63%. in these turbulent times I am very happy with that.
In any event, I’m looking on this as a long-term investment so won’t be judging it yet. You can read my full review of eToro here. You may also like to check out my recent more in-depth look at eToro copy trading. I shall be publishing a post about my latest investment in an eToro thematic portfolio soon.
eToro also recently introduced the eToro Money app. This allows you to deposit money to your eToro account without paying any currency conversion fees, saving you up to £5 for every £1,000 you deposit. You can also use the app to withdraw funds from your eToro account instantly to your bank account. I tried this myself recently and was impressed with how quickly and seamlessly it worked. You can read my blog post about eToro Money here.
I had two more articles published in January on the always-excellent Mouthy Money website. One is A Three-Step Plan to Help Boost Your Finances in 2023. This article actually came out of an online presentation I did a few months ago to a club for older people. I hope you will find the ideas and advice it contains useful.
My other piece was Switch to Profit – How to Make Money Moving Your Bank Account. With the banks now starting to offer switching bonuses again to attract new customers, there are hundreds of pounds to be made by doing this. The article quotes my sister Annie, who is a serial switcher and shares some top tips based on her experiences. Many thanks, Annie!
That’s all for today. I hope you and your family are coping in these undoubtedly challenging times. Don’t forget to check out the government’s Help for Households website, which sets out various types of financial assistance you may be entitled to and is regularly updated.
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 begin as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension), from which I recently started withdrawing again.
As the screenshot below of performance over the last year shows, my main Nutmeg portfolio is currently valued at £19,898. Last month it stood at £20,391 so that is a fall of £493.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,023 compared with £3,114 a month ago, a decrease of £91.
Here is a screen capture showing performance over the last year. As you can see from the ochre line, I topped up this account in February 2022.
That is a net month-on-month decrease of £584. That is obviously disappointing, but needs to be set against an increase of £785 the month before.
As the charts above clearly illustrate, 2022 was a volatile year for stock market investments generally. The outlook is still uncertain, but according to this article in the Financial Times the majority view is that stock markets overall will remain flat or see a very modest recovery in 2023. But obviously a lot depends on world events. If the war in Ukraine ends and/or China makes a reasonably smooth recovery from the pandemic, things could improve faster. Probably the best strategy, as this article from Forbes puts it, is to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst!
Overall, my Nutmeg investments are down £2,191 or about 8.7% since the start of 2022. To put this in context, though, in 2021 they rose in value by £3,552. And I am still more than £5,600 ahead since I started investing with Nutmeg in 2016. For my main portfolio that represents a return on capital of 39.01% or 57.13% time-weighted. My Smart Alpha portfolio hasn’t been going as long, but it is at least showing a small profit on the total I have put into it 🙂
Of course, the main lesson from all this is that 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 six years, they are certainly worth considering.
Moving on, my Assetz Exchange investments continue to generate good 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 very respectable £91.61 in revenue from rental income. Capital growth has stalled, though, in line with what is happening in housing markets more generally. While some of ‘my’ properties are still showing gains, others are showing losses on capital. Overall my portfolio is currently showing a small net decrease in value of £7.88.
The latter is obviously a little disappointing, although of course capital values are largely academic unless and until you want to sell. The rental income is still coming in steadily without any issues or dramas. As I’ve said before, £91.61 is a decent rate of return on my £1,000 and does illustrate the value of P2P property investments for diversifying your portfolio when equity markets are volatile. And it doesn’t hurt that with Assetz Exchange most projects are socially beneficial as well.
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. You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
Another property platform I have investments with is Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching almost every day. I currently have around £2,400 invested with them in 18 different projects (I withdrew £200 in December to help pay for Christmas). 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.
My loans with Kuflink pay annual interest rates of 6 to 7.5 percent. These days I invest no more than £200 per loan (and often less). That is not because of any issues with Kuflink but more to do with losses of larger amounts on other P2P property platforms in the past. My days of putting four-figure sums into any single property investment are behind me now!
Nowadays I mainly opt to reinvest the monthly repayments I receive from Kuflink, which has the effect of boosting the percentage rate of return on the projects in question
Obviously a possible drawback with Kuflink and similar platforms is that your money is tied up in bricks and mortar, so not as easily accessible as cash savings or even (to some extent) shares. They do, however, have a secondary market on which you can offer any loan part for sale (as long as the loan in question is performing and not in arrears). Clearly that does depend on someone else wanting to buy it, but my experience has been that any loan parts offered are typically snapped up very quickly. So if an urgent need arises, withdrawing your money (or part of it) is unlikely to be an issue.
You can read my full Kuflink review here. They offer a variety of investment options, including a tax-free IFISA paying up to 7% interest per year with built-in automatic diversification. Alternatively you can now build your own IFISA, with most loans on the platform (including the one shown above) being IFISA-eligible.
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). My investment has been up and down in the last few months, but it is currently $33 (about £27) in profit. In these turbulent times I am quite happy with that.
In any event, I’m looking on this as a long-term investment so won’t be judging it yet. I am also considering a further investment with eToro, probably in one of their themed portfolios. You can read my full review of eToro here. You may also like to check out my recent more in-depth look at eToro copy trading.
You might also like to know that eToro recently introduced the eToro Money app. This allows you to deposit money to your eToro account without paying any currency conversion fees, saving you up to £5 for every £1,000 you deposit. You can also use the app to withdraw funds from your eToro account instantly to your bank account. I tried this myself recently and was impressed with how quickly and seamlessly it worked. You can read my more in-depth article about eToro Money here.
I had two more articles published in December on the always-excellent Mouthy Money website. One addressed the question of whether you can Save Money by Cancelling Your TV Licence. I looked at what this entails and what TV you are still permitted to watch without a licence. I also set out some ways you may be able to save money on your TV licence if cancelling altogether is a bridge too far for you.
My other piece was Why We All Need to Be a Bit More Branson! The title is obviously tongue-in-cheek. But the article sets out my strongly held view that – in these challenging times especially – we can all benefit from being a bit more entrepreneurial. I really enjoyed writing this one, I must admit!
Last month I updated my post about the Warm Home Discount, which this year is being increased from £140 to £150. The eligibility rules are changing somewhat, and I shall probably be one of the people who misses out, which is clearly disappointing. But on the plus side, most people won’t now have to apply for this benefit – if you are eligible, the grant should be applied automatically to your bill by your energy company.
The government’s Help for Households website has a helpful summary of all the financial assistance currently available and is regularly updated.
That’s all for today. I hope you and your family are coping in these undoubtedly challenging times, and wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023.
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:
As is customary for bloggers at this time of year, here are the top twenty posts on Pounds and Sense in 2022, 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 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 much better new year 🍾
If you have any comments or questions, of course, feel free to leave them below as usual.
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
I’ll begin as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension). I will discuss the latter a bit further down.
As the screenshot below of performance last month shows, my main Nutmeg portfolio is currently valued at £20,391. Last month it stood at £19,733 so that is a rise of £658.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,114 compared with £2,987 a month ago, an increase of £127.
Here is a screen capture showing performance since January 2022. As you can see, I topped up this account in February this year.
That is an overall month-on-month increase of £785. Furthermore since mid-October the total value of my Nutmeg investments has risen by £2,007 or around 8%. Anyone who was brave enough to invest in Nutmeg around the middle of October will therefore be looking at a substantial profit now. Of course, it’s always easy to spot an investment opportunity with 20/20 hindsight!
In my case, while the recent rises are very welcome, my Nutmeg investments are still down £1,607 or about 6.5% since the start of the year. To put this in context, though, in 2021 they rose by £3,552 (over 21%). And overall, I am still over £6,000 ahead since I started investing with Nutmeg in 2016. For my main portfolio that represents a return on capital of 42% or 51.03% time-weighted.
Of course, the real point of this is that 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 experience over the last six years, they are certainly worth considering.
Moving on, my Assetz Exchange investments continue to perform well. 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 £88.30 in revenue from rental and £17.59 in capital growth, a total of £105.89. That’s a decent rate of return on my £1,000 investment and does illustrate the value of P2P property investment for diversifying your portfolio when equity markets are volatile.
I now have investments in 23 different projects and all are performing as expected, generating rental income and in most cases showing a profit on capital as well. So I am very happy with how this investment has been doing. And it doesn’t hurt that most projects are socially beneficial as well.
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. You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
Another property platform I have investments with is Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching almost every day. I currently have around £2,600 invested with them in 14 different projects. 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. At present most of my Kuflink loans are performing to schedule, though two recently had their repayment dates put back by three months.
My loans with Kuflink pay annual interest rates of 6 to 7.5 percent. These days I invest no more than £200 per loan (and often less). That is not because of any issues with Kuflink but more to do with losses of larger amounts on other P2P property platforms in the past. My days of putting four-figure sums into any single property investment are behind me now!
Nowadays I mainly opt to reinvest the monthly repayments I receive from Kuflink, which has the effect of boosting the percentage rate of return on the projects in question
Obviously a possible drawback with Kuflink and similar platforms is that your money is tied up in bricks and mortar, so not as easily accessible as cash savings or even (to some extent) shares. They do, however, have a secondary market on which you can offer any loan part for sale (as long as the loan in question is performing and not in arrears). Clearly that does depend on someone else wanting to buy it, but my experience has been that any loan parts offered are typically snapped up very quickly. So if an urgent need arises, withdrawing your money (or part of it) is unlikely to be an issue.
You can read my full Kuflink review here. They offer a variety of investment options, including a tax-free IFISA paying up to 7% interest per year with built-in automatic diversification. Alternatively you can now build your own IFISA, with most loans on the platform (including the one shown above) being IFISA-eligible.
My investment in European crowdlending platform Nibble continues to perform as advertised. My latest investment was in their Legal Strategy. These are loans that are in default and facing legal action. Nibble buy these loans at a heavily discounted rate and then seek to recover as much as possible of the money owed. The minimum investment is 10 euros and the minimum period is six months. I invested 100 euros for 12 months initially at a target annual interest rate of 12.5%.
The Legal Strategy comes with a deposit-back guarantee. This is a guarantee to return the full investment amount at the end of the investment period and a minimum yield of 9% per year. The actual yield depends on how successful recovery efforts prove, so in practice you may end up with a return of anywhere between 9% and 14.5%. All has gone to plan so far, but I will obviously continue to report on this in the months ahead.
Earlier this 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). My investment has been up and down in the last few months, but it is currently $38 (about £31) in profit. In these turbulent times I am quite happy with that.
In any event, I’m looking on this as a long-term investment so won’t be judging it yet. I am also considering a further investment with eToro, possibly in one of their themed portfolios. You can read my full review of eToro here. You may also like to check out my recent more in-depth look at eToro copy trading.
Moving on, earlier I mentioned my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension). This is now in drawdown, but regular readers will know that I suspended withdrawals from it in May this year to reduce the risk of pound-cost ravaging. I was able to do this because since December 2021 I have been receiving the state pension. And in association with my other income streams this has given me enough to live on (though by no means in luxury).
Anyway, with the cost of living crisis starting to bite, and energy bills shooting up at an alarming rate, I decided the time had come to resume taking payments from my SIPP. Plus, with the markets seemingly on an upward trajectory, the risk of pound-cost ravaging appeared to have receded.
I therefore asked Bestinvest to reinstate my payments from this month, though at a lower rate of £100 a month. One of the attractions of flexible drawdown pensions such as those from Bestinvest is that you can increase or decrease withdrawals at any time or even (as I did) suspend them completely. Obviously if you draw an excessive amount there is a risk of depleting your fund too quickly, so it runs out before you do. But Bestinvest sent me some reassuring projections that in any feasible scenario this was unlikely to happen in my case even if I live to the age of 99 (as I fully intend to 😀 ).
One other consideration I had with my SIPP is that withdrawals from it are taxable, whereas withdrawals from some of my other investments (e.g. Nutmeg ISA) are not. With the state pension also being taxable, this means withdrawing larger amounts from my SIPP would result in a portion of the money being grabbed by the taxman, which seems a waste. While I do of course accept that taxes have to be paid, I prefer to minimize my liability as much as possible (which we are all perfectly entitled to do).
I had two more articles published in November on the always-excellent Mouthy Money website. One of them was Win Fame and (Maybe) Fortune as a Quiz Show Contestant. This is something I have done myself in the past and enjoyed writing about again for MM. It can be a lot of fun, and any prizes you win are tax-free under UK law.
My other article was How to Cash in on Your Old Tech. Most of us have old technology we no longer use gathering dust in cupboards and drawers. This articles sets out ways you can make some much-needed cash out of this.
Obviously energy bills are a particular concern for many people at the moment, so I hope you are getting all the help you are entitled to. Everyone should be receiving a monthly rebate of £66 on their energy bill (going up to £67 in the new year). If you’re not, chase it up with your energy supplier.
I also recently updated my post about the Warm Home Discount, which this year is being increased from £140 to £150. The eligibility rules are changing somewhat, and I shall probably be one of the people who misses out, which is clearly disappointing. But on the plus side, most people won’t now have to apply for this benefit – if you are eligible, it should be applied automatically to your bill by your energy company.
The government’s Help for Households website has a helpful summary of all the financial assistance currently available and is regularly updated.
Please do check out as well some of the other posts on Pounds and Sense for advice and resources, especially in the Making Money and Saving Money categories.
Don’t forget, also, that there are currently two opportunities to claim a free share available. One is with Wealthyhood and the other with Trading 212 (the links will take you to the relevant blog posts). The current Trading 212 offer closes on 29 December 2022, so don’t delay if you want to take advantage of this one. As far as I know the Wealthyhood offer is open indefinitely, but that could always change, of course
That’s all for today. I hope you and your family are coping in these challenging times and wish you the happiest Christmas possible. I shall of course continue to update this blog over the coming weeks, and will return with a further update about my investments at the start of January.
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:
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£800 in total. You can read about all the amazing prizes below and see photos as well!
Entering the giveaway is free of charge and full instructions can be found below the list of prizes. There are multiple ways to enter, and the more you do, the better will be 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 20 December 2022 (or as soon after that as practicable). Before the winner is announced the organiser will check that they are still following the account in question. If not, they will be disqualified and another winner drawn.
2022 has undoubtedly been another challenging year. Although we are (touch wood) emerging from the pandemic now, the cost of living crisis is hitting many families hard. Whether you win this giveaway or not, I wish you and yours a very happy and peaceful Christmas 2022. Here’s hoping that 2023 is a brighter and more prosperous year for all of us 🙂
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 UK bloggers taking part (listed further down the page). And read on for full details from Rowena of all the prizes on offer and how you could win this mammoth bundle!
The Great Festive Gift Guide Giveaway 2022
We are back for another Festive Giveaway! Some of the UK’s top bloggers have united to bring you the most amazing holiday bundle of prizes. Last year’s giveaway proved to be very popular and this year’s is just as exciting, with so many prizes for one lucky winner to make their family Christmas dreams come true. In fact, we have over £800 worth of festive goodies and gifts!
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN TO ENTER AND FOR THE FULL LIST OF AMAZING PRIZES – We’ve saved some of the best till last! This is not only a giveaway but also a great holiday gift guide with ideas for the whole family this festive season.
The Prizes
PAJ GPS ALLROUND Finder 4G, a GPS Tracker for vehicles, cars, people and objects
The PAJ GPS ALLROUND Finder 4G will help our lucky winner protect what they love! The small and handy device has an SOS emergency button and alarm. Splashproof, it offers flexible use with a battery that lasts about 20 days with an active tracking time of approximately 1h/day and up to 40 days in standby mode!
The Online Tracking Advantages include:
Real-time location and live tracking. Its location will be updated every 30 seconds (even sooner if the tracker is changing direction)
365 days’ route information
SIM card will always search for the best available network
Tracking in over 100 countries
Built-in vibration sensor. As soon as the tracker is moved, an alarm will be sent via email or as push notifications via the app
We have a PAJ GPS ALLROUND Finder 4G as part of our prize bundle.
Jurassic World REAL FX Baby Blue Dinosaur Toy
This is the must have Christmas Toy this year for any dinosaur fans and we have one Jurassic World REAL FX Baby Blue Dinosaur Toy from WOW! STUFF for our lucky winner! The hyper-realistic Real FX Baby Blue makes genuine Velociraptor life-like roars, chatters, snarls and purrs, just like in the Jurassic World Dominion movie. She also replicates the actual size from the Jurassic World movies. You can hold and control Baby Blue and activate protect, lunge, battle and bite actions. Simple to operate Real FX Baby Blue makes an incredible gift for Jurassic World fans of all ages, from kids to adults!
Merlin Theme Parks Anytime Choice Voucher from Red Letter Days
Get set for an exhilarating day to remember! Our winner can spend a fun-filled day out for two people with anytime entry to a Merlin theme park with a Merlin Theme Parks Anytime Choice Voucher from Red Letter Days. The prize includes entry to either: Alton Towers Resort, Chessington World of Adventures Resort, LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort or THORPE PARK Resort.
Snuggle Slipper: Navy blue suede NSPCC rainbow slip-on slippers from Start-Rite
To mark Start-Rite’s 230th birthday, they’ve partnered with the UK’s leading children’s charity, the NSPCC to create an exclusive Snuggle slipper with a joyful rainbow design. The traditional moccasin style slipper, Snuggle, can now help to support thousands of children across the country and for every pair of Rainbow slippers sold, Start-Rite will make a donation to the NSPCC.
Crafted from a navy blue suede upper, with a bright rainbow motif and lined with snuggly faux fur, these slip-ons are sure to keep your little ones’ feet comfy and warm around the house. Our lucky winner can choose a Snuggle Slipper in the available size of their choice and you can check out the full range of slippers here.
A Swimsuit and Goggles from Halocline
You’re going to love the new styles from Halocline Swimwear! You can get your New Year off to a fresh start by winning a swimsuit and goggles of your choice. Pick your favourite design from their new range of ladies’ swimsuits at Halocline and team with a pair of goggles.
Many styles in Halocline’s collection are made from Econyl® recycled nylon yarn, which is created using waste plastics that would have otherwise ended up in the ocean.
You’ll love the fit of a Halocline swimsuit – there are styles for all shapes and sizes. There are longer length styles for the taller swimmer, swimwear with bust support, plus size swimwear and, for those looking for a bit more coverage, they even have legsuit and kneesuit swimsuits.
Not only that but the lovely people at Snow Windows are also giving our lucky winner their new One Snowy Night Scented Candle. The candle has a delightful scent of myrrh and tonka bean. Tom at Snow Windows designed the beautiful imagery . And there’s even a QR code in the candle box so you can see a video of him hand spraying the design in snow spray! Keri at Snow Windows worked with the fabulous team at Molecule to create the fragrances to stimulate your senses, create a festive mood and provoke festive memories for years to come.
Individually hand poured with love and care in a farmhouse workshop using a blend of coconut and rapeseed wax, essential oils and botanical perfume oils. They contain absolutely NO nasty phthalates, paraffin, palm , beeswax or artificial additives. The slowly burning candle features a crackling wood wick.
Milk and White Chocolate Christmas Jumpers from choconchoc
The clever folk at choconchoc have managed to combine two of our favourite Christmas traditions – the Christmas jumper and chocolate! The artisan chocolatiers have combined the two to bring you their festive Chocolate Christmas Jumpers Gift Box. These festive treats are made from a blend of the finest dark, milk and white Belgian chocolate. Each box contains four chocolate jumpers featuring Christmas reindeer and penguins and we have one box for our winner to enjoy.
Personalised Fleece Blanket from VistaPrint
Our lucky winner has the chance to get cosy with their own unique personalised fleece blanket, worth £45.00. Whether you’re looking for a fun yet practical gift or just want to add something new to your home design, personalised fleece blankets are a memorable keepsake and VistaPrint has a wonderful selection to choose from, all of which can be easily customised with your own personal messages and photos of your friends, family or even your pets!
NEW LIFE PRO Frying Pan 20cm
This is the perfect gift for any kitchen lover. It will also help you make the Christmas dinner in style! The NEW LIFE PRO frying pan is more environmentally friendly than most frying pans. It’s made of high quality 100% recycled aluminium from Europe and is produced with up to 95% less energy than conventional aluminium pans.
Produced in Switzerland, the thick base stores and distributes heat perfectly. The durable 3-layer non-stick coating reinforced with ceramic particles, is ideal for low-fat frying. It has an ergonomic stainless steel stay-cool handle and it is suitable for all hobs, including induction.
The easy cleaning saves time and water. The packaging is made of 100% recycled paper. NEW LIFE PRO from Kuhn Rikon is a range of pans produced with the aim of creating a greatly reduced impact on the environment.
Utensil Set from Mason Cash
Another wonderful gift for anyone who loves cooking, the gorgeous range of kitchen utensils from Mason Cash will put a smile on any home baker’s and cook’s face! The winner will receive the following from the set:
Innovative Kitchen Turner & Rack Grabber: Ideal for turning meat and vegetables in pans or oven trays, the slots allow liquid and oils to run free when stirring or lifting food. The handle is specially designed to pull out and push in oven racks when checking on bakes.
Innovative Kitchen Solid Spoon & Jar Scraper: The Baker’s Spoon with Jar Scraper is ideal for beating, stirring and blending. This 3-in-1 utensil features measurements for 1 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon on the spoon head and a silicone jar scraper and spatula on the handle.
Innovative Kitchen Slotted Spoon: The Slotted Spoon with Egg Separator is a specially designed 2-in-1 utensil. The spoon is ideal for stirring and draining food in water, sauces or oils and the slots on the spoon head are designed to separate egg whites from yolks. The grooves on the back of the spoon handle allows the spoon to sit on a Mason Cash Mixing Bowl or Pudding Basin, making separating your eggs easy.
Innovative Kitchen Spatula: The Spatula is perfect for stirring mixes and scraping bowls and pans clean. The head can be removed and used as a bowl scraper and the small spatula is perfect for spreading frosting onto cakes and scraping the inside of jars.
Innovative Kitchen Whisk & Reamer: The Whisk and Reamer is a specially designed 2-in-1 Utensil. The stainless steel balloon whisk is perfect for whisking eggs, cream and cake mixtures and the reamer handle is perfect for juicing lemons and limes.
NORDIC WARE Cosy Village Pan
This lovely cast aluminium non stick cake tin features six unique cottages. The intricate cosy village cake pan detailing makes them fun and easy to decorate so your guests and family will love having their own mini cottage cake. The cast aluminium non stick cake tin is made to last so you can use time-after-time. The interior non-stick coating on the muffin moulds pan makes for easy release and quick clean up time after baking.
Opinel Gardeners Gift Set
This 3pc Opinel Gardening Set makes a beautiful Christmas gift for any garden lover. Presented in an attractive wooden display box, the set includes a folding saw, garden knife and pruning knife, all with beautiful beech handles and VIROBLOC safety locking ring.
Kids Against Maturity Card Game
Are you ready to laugh out loud with your kids this Christmas? Good, because this game will have the whole family in stitches! Kids Against Maturity is the perfect way to spend quality family time together. Made and played by parents, the game includes age-appropriate toilet humour and funny innuendos for the adults. It can be enjoyed by the whole family and is the ideal game to keep everyone entertained on Boxing Day!
The Fuzzies Game
The Fuzzies is the must have game this Christmas! Create gravity-defying towers out of the fuzzy little balls. The aim of the game is to not knock over the tower as you skilfully remove the colour of fuzzy that you’ve drawn from the cards using either tweezers or your fingers. Sounds simple right?! Wrong! The rules state you can not get out of your seat! Once you’ve removed your fuzzy you can stick it anywhere higher on the tower. The Fuzzies is so much fun for all ages.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
Another fantastic game for the whole family to enjoy, Mickey’s Christmas Carol is both festive and fun! Focusing on simple gameplay and collaboration, players work together to complete their story tableau – Christmas Past, Present and Future from this timeless classic. Puzzle tableaus depict iconic moments from the story, and players must complete them in order before Scrooge wakes on Christmas morning. The game includes a wooden Scrooge mover to track your progress and six beautifully illustrated scenes inspired by the Disney classic.
RAINBOW Notebook from Belly Button Designs
This lovely RAINBOW notebook is perfect for writing down all your dreams and ambitions for 2023. With a gorgeous rainbow on the front cover and the words Dream Big, it makes a lovely gift for Christmas.
Christmas Robins China Mug
This beautiful new bone china Robins Mug from Belly Button Designs is perfect for Christmas. The lovely robins will get you in the festive spirit. We have one gorgeous mug for our lucky winner as part of the prize bundle.
Magic and Cheer Luxury Scented Christmas Candle
You will be transported to a festive wonderland with this lovely citrus led scented Magic and Cheer Candle in a tin from The Copenhagen Company. The fragrance is entwined with a blend of delicious Christmas spices including cinnamon and cloves, sweetened with a touch of vanilla and held together with the warm and woody notes of sandalwood and cedar.
CARDOLOGY Peter Rabbit Christmas card
This lovely Peter Rabbit keepsake Christmas gift from the iconic Beatrix Potter stories will make Christmas extra special for your little ones. This officially licensed handmade 3D pop up Peter Rabbit Christmas Card brings to life, all of the characters, like Peter Rabbit, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, Jemima Puddleduck and Mrs Tiggywinkle as they decorate the Christmas tree.
This is a beautiful Christmas card that can be kept on display long after the event and can be brought out year after year as a Christmas decoration. A keepsake Christmas gift for the memory box, especially with the addition of a pull out notecard insert so your message won’t be on show when the card is displayed. The packaging cleverly reverses to become a beautifully designed gifting envelope, making it a lovely gift and card for a loved one.
This card is produced under licence from Penguin Ventures.
Forever Living – Smoothing Exfoliator
This smoothing exfoliator won the Woman & Home Beauty Award 2021 in the Best Exfoliator category. It is eco-friendly using natural jojoba and bamboo – no nasty plastic microbeads. It combines ingredients that gently reveal healthy, glowing skin. Round jojoba beads massage the skin and penetrate hard-to-reach places for ultimate cleansing while sustainably sourced granules of bamboo delicately remove dead skin cells.
Natural extracts including bromelain, papain and lemon essential oil help regenerate the skin. Bromelain, an enzyme obtained from pineapple, destroys keratin, a protein in dead skin cells. Papain from papaya is rich in vitamins A, C, E as well as pantothenic acid, better known as B5—a water-soluble vitamin crucial for healthy skin. Lemon essential oil then richly moisturises and hydrates the skin for a youthful glow.
Grape juice extract and other antioxidants ensure effective and gentle exfoliation to reveal glowing skin. Designed to be used 2-3 times a week, exfoliated skin feels silky and smooth and is primed for better absorption of subsequent skincare products.
This stylish pink handbag from Amazon Fashion makes a beautiful gift for someone this Christmas. Amazon Fashion have the perfect present, whatever your budget.
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 for making someone’s Christmas extra special! The bloggers taking part are:
You can enter the Christmas 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 11:59 am 3rd December 2022 to 11.59 pm 19th December 2022.
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.
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. The prize for the Innovative Utensils only includes what is listed and not the full set in the picture.
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 blogger’s websites and announced on Twitter 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. We cannot guarantee the prizes will arrive in time for Christmas and there may be some delays in receiving prizes.
Good luck, and I hope that a Pounds and Sense reader wins this amazing giveaway!
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
I’ll begin as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. As I only updated my full review of Nutmeg last week, however, I will keep it fairly brief today.
Nutmeg is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension). Withdrawals from the latter are still on hold to avert the risk of pound-cost ravaging.
My main Nutmeg portfolio, which I opened back in 2016, is currently valued at £19,733. Last month it stood at £19,292 so that is a rise of £441. My smaller Smart Alpha investment (opened in 2020) is currently valued at £2,987. Last month it stood at £2,921, so that is a rise of £66. My total Nutmeg investments have therefore increased by £507 month on month.
While the rise in October is of course welcome, my Nutmeg investments are still down by about 11% in value since the start of the year. As I said in my recent Nutmeg review, that’s clearly disappointing, but it’s still a lot less than the amount by which they went up in 2021 alone. And I am still over £5,400 in profit overall. I am therefore philosophical about this, recognising that all investments have their ups and downs and Nutmeg is hardly alone in seeing a drop in values this year. But I do understand why people who started investing with them in the last twelve months or so may be feeling disappointed. You might like to read this recent article on the Nutmeg blog where they discuss the performance of Nutmeg portfolios in 2022 and examine the outlook going forward.
There is actually an argument that now may be a good opportunity to invest while asset values are depressed. At some point we will see a recovery and people who invest at the present time will be well placed to benefit from this. Of course, nobody knows for sure when the recovery will happen or how much further asset values might fall first. Nonetheless, I am certainly considering adding further to my Nutmeg investments in the coming months.
Moving on, my Assetz Exchange investments continue to perform well. 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 £81.40 in revenue from rental and £30.80 in capital growth, a total of £112.20. That’s a decent rate of return on my £1,000 investment and does illustrate the value of P2P property investment for diversifying your portfolio when equity markets are volatile.
I now have investments in 23 different projects and all are performing as expected, generating rental income and in most cases showing a profit on capital as well. So I am very happy with how this investment has been doing. And it doesn’t hurt that most projects are socially beneficial as well.
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. You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
Another property platform I have investments with is Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching almost every day. I currently have around £2,600 invested with them in 17 different projects. 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. At present most of my Kuflink loans are performing to schedule, though five have had their repayment dates put back.
My loans with Kuflink pay annual interest rates of 6 to 7.5 percent. These days I invest no more than £200 per loan (and often less). That is not because of any issues with Kuflink but more to do with losses of larger amounts on other P2P property platforms in the past. My days of putting four-figure sums into any single property investment are behind me now!
Nowadays I mainly opt to reinvest the monthly repayments I receive from Kuflink, which has the effect of boosting the percentage rate of return on the projects in question
Obviously a possible drawback with Kuflink and similar platforms is that your money is tied up in bricks and mortar, so not as easily accessible as cash savings or even (to some extent) shares. They do, however, have a secondary market on which you can offer any loan part for sale (as long as the loan in question is performing and not in arrears). Clearly that does depend on someone else wanting to buy it, but my experience has been that any loan parts offered are typically snapped up very quickly. So if an urgent need arises, withdrawing your money (or part of it) is unlikely to be an issue.
You can read my full Kuflink review here. They offer a variety of investment options, including a tax-free IFISA paying up to 7% interest per year with built-in automatic diversification. Alternatively you can now build your own IFISA, with most loans on the platform (including the one shown above) being IFISA-eligible.
My investment in European crowdlending platform Nibble continues to perform as advertised. My latest investment was in their Legal Strategy. These are loans that are in default and facing legal action. Nibble buy these loans at a heavily discounted rate and then seek to recover as much as possible of the money owed. The minimum investment is 10 euros and the minimum period is six months. I invested 100 euros for 12 months initially at a target annual interest rate of 12.5%.
The Legal Strategy comes with a deposit-back guarantee. This is a guarantee to return the full investment amount at the end of the investment period and a minimum yield of 9% per year. The actual yield depends on how successful recovery efforts prove, so in practice you may end up with a return of anywhere between 9% and 14.5%. All has gone to plan so far, but I will obviously continue to report on this in the months ahead.
Earlier this 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 Aukie. Unsurprisingly my investment has been up and down in the last few months, but it is currently about $8 in profit. In these turbulent times I am quite happy with that.
In addition, since I started on eToro, the pound has weakened against the US dollar, so my investment has benefited from this. My $508 US is now worth around £440 in UK pounds, so I am effectively £28 up overall. I am not claiming this as a particular benefit of eToro, but it does demonstrate how exchange rate fluctuations can sometimes work in your favour!
In any event, I’m looking on this as a long-term investment so won’t be judging it yet. I am also considering a further investment with eToro, possibly in one of their themed portfolios. You can read my full in-depth review of eToro here. I am also planning to publish a more in-depth look at eToro copy trading on the blog soon.
Moving on, I had another article published on the always-excellent Mouthy Money website. This one is entitled How to Save Money on Petrol. I was actually commissioned to write this when petrol prices were peaking. Since then they have fallen back somewhat, but with no end in sight to the war in Ukraine prices could easily shoot back up again. In the article I discuss my favourite website for monitoring petrol prices locally and also set out my top tips for cutting your petrol (or diesel) consumption.
As a matter of interest, Mouthy Money recently asked if I could increase the number of articles I write for them (so I guess I must be doing something right!). From November they will be publishing two articles a month from me. While they don’t pay me a fortune, the extra cash will undoubtedly help a lot in the cold winter months ahead.
Obviously energy bills are a particular concern for many people at the moment, so I hope you are getting all the help you are entitled to. By now everyone should have received the first instalment (£66) of the £400 rebate all UK residents are due on their energy bills for the next six months. If not, chase it up with your energy supplier.
I am with EDF, and they are crediting the rebate payments to my bank account once my monthly direct debit has been taken. Other energy suppliers are doing it differently, e.g. deducting the rebate from monthly direct debits before they are taken. This article from the popular Moneysavingexpert website explains how different energy suppliers are applying the rebate.
I also received a letter last week confirming that, as I receive the state pension, I shall be getting an enhanced Winter Fuel Payment of £500 in November or December this year, which will be very welcome as well 🙏
In the last few years I also qualified for the Warm Home Discount, which this year is being increased from £140 to £150. The rules are changing, however, and I suspect I shall be one of the people who misses out. The full new rules still haven’t been announced, but I will update my blog post about WHD as soon as I know more.
As I’ve said previously, the government’s Help for Households website has a helpful summary of all the financial assistance currently available and is regularly updated.
Please do check out as well some of the other posts on Pounds and Sense for advice and resources, especially in the Making Money and Saving Money categories.
Don’t forget, also, that there are currently two opportunities to claim a free share available. One is with Wealthyhood and the other with Trading 212 (the links will take you to the relevant blog posts). The Trading 212 offer closes on 8 November 2022, so don’t delay if you want to take advantage of this one. As far as I know the Wealthyhood offer is open indefinitely, but that could always change, of course 🙂
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 begin as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension). Withdrawals from the latter are still on hold, incidentally, to avert the risk of pound-cost ravaging.
As the screenshot below of performance last month shows, my main portfolio is currently valued at £19,292. Last month it stood at £20,344 so that is a fall of £1,052.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £2,921 compared with £3,091 a month ago, another fall of £170.
Here is a screen capture showing performance since January 2022. As you can see, I topped up this account in February this year.
There is no denying that these falls are disappointing, especially with my Smart Alpha portfolio now worth less in total than I have contributed to it. As I’ve noted previously on PAS, however, you do have to expect ups and downs with equity-based investments. And this year there has been no lack of volatility, caused by rising inflation, the war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the pandemic (among other things).
About my only consolation is that things could have been even worse if – paradoxically – I’d opted for a lower-risk level with my investments. In their latest blog update, Nutmeg reveal that low and medium-risk portfolios actually performed worse overall last month than high-risk ones. I have copied below their explanation for this:
By design, Nutmeg’s low- and medium-risk portfolios have more exposure through ETFs to assets that are priced in sterling and with limited foreign currency exposure. As you will have seen in the headlines this week, the pound hit an all-time low against the dollar with markets initially placing little faith in the chancellor’s tax-cutting and pro-growth agenda.
This year it has been rewarding to hold foreign currency with sterling particularly weak versus the dollar. Some of our high-risk portfolios have benefited from currency moves, while low- and medium-risk portfolios have not. They haven’t lost money from having low foreign currency exposure, they just haven’t benefited from it.
Secondly, low- and medium-risk portfolios by design have more exposure – again through ETFs – to government bonds, which in ‘normal’ times are considered something of a safe haven and have much lower volatility than equities. After all, it is still highly unlikely that the UK government would default on its debts.
In a nutshell (no pun intended) low- and medium-risk Nutmeg portfolios hold a higher proportion of investments in pounds sterling and UK government bonds. These are normally regarded as lower risk, but last month both took a particular hammering. So in comparison nominally higher-risk portfolios like mine actually performed somewhat better.
This is one more reason I’m glad I opted for higher risk levels with my Nutmeg portfolios (9/10 for my main one and 5/5 for my Smart Alpha). If you haven’t yet seen it, you might also like to check out my blog post in which I looked at the performance over time of Nutmeg fully managed portfolios at every risk level from 1 to 10 . I was actually pretty amazed by the difference risk level makes, with higher-risk ports over almost any period of three or more years in the last ten generating significantly better overall returns. If you are investing for the long term (and you almost certainly should) opting for a hyper-cautious low-risk strategy may not be the smartest thing to do.
Since I started investing with Nutmeg in 2016 – and despite everything that has happened this year – I have still made a total net return on capital of £4,977 (35% or 52.35% time-weighted) on my main portfolio. So I can afford to be philosophical about the recent falls. Indeed, I am considering topping up my Nutmeg investments again now while asset values are depressed.
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 experience over the last six years, they are certainly worth considering.
Moving on, my Assetz Exchange investments continue to perform well. 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 £76.51 in revenue from rental and £63.58 in capital growth, a total of £140.09. That’s a decent rate of return on my £1,000 investment and does illustrate the value of P2P property investment for diversifying your portfolio when equity markets are volatile.
I now have investments in 23 different projects and all are performing as expected, generating rental income and in most cases showing a profit on capital as well. So I am very happy with how this investment has been doing. And it doesn’t hurt that most projects are socially beneficial as well.
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. You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
Another property platform I have investments with is Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching almost every day. I currently have around £2,500 invested with them in 14 different projects. 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. At present most of my Kuflink loans are performing to schedule, though two recently had their repayment dates put back by three months.
My loans with Kuflink pay annual interest rates of 6 to 7.5 percent. These days I invest no more than £200 per loan (and often less). That is not because of any issues with Kuflink but more to do with losses of larger amounts on other P2P property platforms in the past. My days of putting four-figure sums into any single property investment are behind me now!
Nowadays I mainly opt to reinvest the monthly repayments I receive from Kuflink, which has the effect of boosting the percentage rate of return on the projects in question
Obviously a possible drawback with Kuflink and similar platforms is that your money is tied up in bricks and mortar, so not as easily accessible as cash savings or even (to some extent) shares. They do, however, have a secondary market on which you can offer any loan part for sale (as long as the loan in question is performing and not in arrears). Clearly that does depend on someone else wanting to buy it, but my experience has been that any loan parts offered are typically snapped up very quickly. So if an urgent need arises, withdrawing your money (or part of it) is unlikely to be an issue.
You can read my full Kuflink review here. They offer a variety of investment options, including a tax-free IFISA paying up to 7% interest per year with built-in automatic diversification. Alternatively you can now build your own IFISA, with most loans on the platform (including the one shown above) being IFISA-eligible.
My investment in European crowdlending platform Nibble continues to perform as advertised. My latest investment was in their Legal Strategy. These are loans that are in default and facing legal action. Nibble buy these loans at a heavily discounted rate and then seek to recover as much as possible of the money owed. The minimum investment is 10 euros and the minimum period is six months. I invested 100 euros for 12 months initially at a target annual interest rate of 12.5%.
The Legal Strategy comes with a deposit-back guarantee. This is a guarantee to return the full investment amount at the end of the investment period and a minimum yield of 9% per year. The actual yield depends on how successful recovery efforts prove, so in practice you may end up with a return of anywhere between 9% and 14.5%. All has gone to plan so far, but I will obviously continue to report on this in the months ahead.
Moving on, I had another article published on the always-excellent Mouthy Money website. This one is entitled My Odd Smart Meter Story and Why Despite This I Still Recommend Them. In the article I discuss my rather strange experiences with a smart meter, which stopped working after I switched supplier and then rather mysteriously started again two years later! As per the article title, I do still recommend getting a smart meter, especially in these times of soaring energy bills.
Also in September I enjoyed a final (probably) short break of the year in Barmouth in Wales. I stayed at a Victorian Gothic hotel called Tyr Graig Castle. I was lucky with the weather, and enjoyed visiting nearby Harlech and Portmeirion (see cover image) as well as Barmouth itself.
I shall be publishing a full review of my short break in Barmouth soon. In the meantime, here is a photo of a rather splendid sunset taken from the hotel restaurant…
Finally, I know a lot of people are extremely anxious about the cost-of-living crisis. As I said last time, though, it’s important not to panic. I recommend a three pronged-approach of maximizing your income, minimizing your expenditure, and budgeting carefully (using your resources as effectively as possible, in other words).
Bear in mind, also, that a range of government support measures have been announced to mitigate the worst effects of the crisis. This government Help for Households website has a useful summary of all the help available and is regularly updated.
In the meantime, please do check out some of the other posts on Pounds and Sense for additional advice and resources, especially in the Making Money and Saving Money categories.
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:
Free Wills Month brings together a group of well-respected charities to offer members of the public aged 55 and over the opportunity to have their wills written or updated free using participating solicitors in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Free Wills Month happens twice a year, in March and October.
The scheme covers simple wills only, including ‘mirror wills’ for couples. In the latter case, only one member of the couple has to be 55 or over. If you need a complicated will (most people don’t) you can still have this done but may have to pay a top-up fee.
I have talked about the importance of creating a will and why you should get it done by a properly qualified solicitor previously on PAS. An up-to-date will written by a solicitor will ensure that your wishes are respected and will avoid causing legal complications for your loved ones after you are gone.
Free Wills Month means what it says. There are no catches, although the organizers hope that you will choose to leave a donation to charity in your will. There is no obligation to do this, however.
To take part in Free Wills Month click through to the website during October and fill in your details. You can then pick a solicitor from the list of companies taking part and contact them to book an appointment. Appointments are limited and on a first come, first served basis, so it’s best to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
You can also download a free Will Planner PDF, to help you plan your will prior to your appointment.
Free Wills Month October 2022 starts officially on Monday 3 October 2022 but you can sign up on the FWM website to be notified when when the campaign starts in your area.
If you have any comments or questions about this subject, as ever, please do post them below.
Note: This is a revised and updated version of my original post on this subject.
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I recently returned from a four-night break in Lavenham in Suffolk.
Lavenham is said to be England’s best-preserved medieval town, with over 300 listed, timber-framed houses (see cover image). But I must admit I had never heard of it until I read that my favourite Pink Floyd tribute band, Darkside, were performing there in August. It seemed a great opportunity to see the band and visit somewhere new at the same time. As I live in Staffordshire I normally head west towards Wales for my UK short breaks, so it felt quite strange to be driving east on the A14 instead!
I stayed in a beautiful, self-contained cottage in the heart of Lavenham, which I booked through Airbnb. I’ll say more about the accommodation below.
Lavenham is around five miles north-east of Sudbury. The nearest large town is Bury St Edmunds. Here is a map of the area from Google Maps.
Accommodation
I stayed in a charming, self-catering cottage called The Hay Loft in the centre of Lavenham. It had two bedrooms and bathrooms, so was actually larger than I needed.
I originally booked it so my sister Annie could join me for some of the time. Sadly she broke her wrist in a fall the day before, however, which meant she couldn’t come after all. So I had plenty of room to spread myself out!
This being an Airbnb property, I am not supposed to say exactly where it is, but I guess I can reveal that it’s in a very convenient, central location. There was plenty of free parking on the road outside and in the village itself. The location was quiet and peaceful (in the evenings especially) and I slept well throughout my stay. You can see a photo of the front of the cottage below.
You can read more about the accommodation on this page of the Airbnb website. It had an open-plan lounge/kitchen/dining room on the first floor, and two bedrooms and bathrooms (one ensuite) downstairs. That’s a slightly unusual configuration, but I was actually very grateful for it as my visit coincided with a four-day heatwave. Being downstairs, the bedrooms stayed comfortably cool. Electric fans were thoughtfully provided, though.
The cottage had all the facilities you could want for a short (or longer) stay. The kitchen area was well equipped with a gas cooker, microwave, fridge/freezer, dishwasher, toaster, sink, and so forth.
The cottage had free wifi which worked perfectly during my stay (not always the case in my experience). There was also a small garden at the front, down some steps from the gate. This was well tended and pleasant to sit out in (when it wasn’t too hot!).
Financials
As Pounds and Sense is primarily a money blog, I should say a word about this.
I paid £550 for my four-night stay, which works out to £137.50 per day. I thought that was very reasonable bearing in mind the size and standard of the accommodation and the convenience of the location. Obviously as this was self-catering no meals were included, but there was more space and better facilities than you would get in any comparable hotel or B&B.
Things to Do
I won’t give you a blow-by-blow account of what I did while I was there, but here are a few highlights.
The Guildhall
Lavenham Guildhall is an impressive timber-framed building. It was originally built in the early 16th century for the Guild of Corpus Christi, an alliance of wealthy local merchant families. In later years, as Lavenham’s wool trade declined, it served as a bridewell (prison) and workhouse. More recently in WW2 it housed a social club for American troops and also served as a restaurant around that time.
The Guildhall became the property of the National Trust in 1951 and it was subsequently opened to the public as a local history museum. It has a range of interesting exhibits, though I did find some of the material about the building’s use as a prison and workhouse a little depressing. My favourite room housed an exhibition dedicated to Lavenham in WW2, including posters and other interesting documents from that period.
At one end of The Guildhall, with its own entry from the square, is the National Trust tea-room. This serves the usual range of snacks and light lunches. It also has a very pleasant garden outside. You don’t need to pay for admission to the Guildhall to use the tea room or sit in its garden.
Little Hall
Little Hall is a late 14th century hall house on Lavenham main square. First built in the 1390s as a family house and workplace, it was enlarged, improved and modernised in the mid-1550s, and greatly extended later. By the 1700s it was giving homes to six families. It was restored in the 1920s/30s.
Little Hall was restored by the Gayer-Anderson brothers, who were both soldiers. They filled the house with art and artefacts collected during their extensive travels, many of which can still be seen there. It is privately owned – by a trust, I believe – and open to the public most afternoons for an entry fee of about £5.
I enjoyed visiting Little Hall and hearing about its long and varied history from the volunteer guide. It also has an attractive walled garden. It doesn’t have any refreshment facilities, but then again the Guildhall tea-room is just a stone’s thrown away!
The Church of St Peter and St Paul
My Airbnb hostess Sheila told me that the Church of St Peter and St Paul was a ‘must see’ in Lavenham and she wasn’t wrong. To quote from the Wikipedia article about it, ‘It is a notable wool church and regarded as one of the finest examples of Late Perpendicular Gothic architecture in England.’
When I arrived a service was just ending and there were quite a few people milling around. While it’s obviously a beautiful building, it is also a busy parish church. I enjoyed browsing in the second-hand bookshop and spent some time admiring pictures by local artists in an exhibition by the main door. But what really impressed me most were the magnificent stained glass windows, such as the one below.
Final Thoughts
As you may gather, I enjoyed my short break in Lavenham and am happy to recommend both the village and the accommodation where I stayed for a short break.
Lavenham is a lovely place to relax and chill out. It is full of beautiful, historic buildings to admire (and photograph) and several you can visit to get a sense of the village’s long history.
Of course, my initial reason for going was to see Darkside (pictured at the foot of this post), and that was inevitably a highlight for me. The concert took place in a large marquee (‘Lavenham Air Theatre’) in a field between the church and the local tennis club. It was a magical setting as the sun went down and a full moon appeared in the clear summer sky. And yes, the band did perform the classic Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon!
Although I didn’t eat out in the evenings, there are some highly regarded pubs and restaurants which if I hadn’t been on my own (and staying in a self-catering cottage) I would certainly have tried. I had lunch at the National Trust tea-room at The Guildhall on two days. Another day I had a delicious light lunch at The Nook, a cosy bookshop-cum-cafe just down the road from the church.
There are also some lovely circular walks from Lavenham (ask at the tourist information office near the Guildhall for more details). And a bit further afield there are other National Trust properties such as Melford Hall and Ickworth, and the historic village of Long Melford. Because it was so hot during my stay I didn’t really want to go out in my car (which doesn’t have working aircon). But if – or more likely when – I return, I will certainly explore this beautiful area a little more widely.
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Today I am sharing some information and advice from my friends at Smart Money People, the UK’s largest financial services review site
With UK inflation now running at around 10 percent (and forecast to go even higher), many people are feeling the pinch right now. For the large number who have little or no savings to fall back on, borrowing may be their only option to make ends meet.
Research on Borrowing
New research undertaken by YouGov on behalf of Smart Money People shows that the UK’s adults will borrow £101.1 bn on new credit cards, loans, overdrafts and other forms of new credit arrangements in the next 12 months.
The company found that 71% of people currently have less disposable income than they would usually have on average per month due to the current rise in the cost of living. This is leading people to consider other ways to make ends meet:
Two-fifths (40%) of UK adults will have some form of credit over the next year due to the cost of living crisis (i.e. rising prices for fuel, energy and food).
Borrowers predicted they would look to borrow an average of £5,259 each.
43% of people who will take out new credit are already worried about how they are going to meet the terms of their repayments.
A fifth (21%) of the adults who say they expect to take out a new form of borrowing in the next 12 months, will do so to cover day-to-day expenses. This is equivalent to 8% of the adult population as a whole, or 5.5 million people.
One in ten (10%) people borrowing over the next 12 months will do so to consolidate existing debts.
The bulk of this new borrowing is predicted to occur during autumn (15%) and winter (32%). A further 13% were unsure exactly when they would borrow but expect it to be when energy price rises affect them.
Smart Money People’s survey also revealed that the most popular type of credit in the next 12 months will be a credit card: 34% of expected borrowers say this will be their preferred method of credit.
Based on the survey, the other most popular types of borrowing in the next year are expected to be an agreed overdraft (17%) and Buy-Now-Pay-Later (15%), a relatively new form of credit where the method of payment is in instalments with low or no interest rates.
Twelve percent of people stated they would borrow from family and friends.
Other Findings
Other findings from the survey include:
68% of people are more worried about their finances now than during the pandemic.
36% of people are unsure whether they have the best financial products for the current situation.
Jacqueline Dewey, CEO of Smart Money People said: “We know that many people have very little, if any, savings to help them get through this period of high inflation, and if they have already made cutbacks, they have almost no choice but to turn to credit.
“Providers will do credit checks for some forms of lending but Buy-Now-Pay-Later schemes do not apply the same rules, and of course, family and friends don’t either, so it is entirely possible to accumulate a worrying level of debt very quickly.
“Anyone who needs to take out a new credit card or another form of credit would be wise to check out the company and the contract and not simply jump at the first provider who will lend to them. Take time to understand if they have good customer service and offer channels that suit your style of managing money.”
Guidance for Borrowers
Smart Money People offers the following guidance for people who are considering taking out a new form of credit:
Borrow responsibly: if you miss a repayment your credit score will be affected for six years.
Don’t simply borrow from the provider who will lend you the highest amount.
Check you understand the product: what you will owe and by when.
Does the interest rate look reasonable compared to other lenders?
You may be penalised if you pay back the debt early – understand the T&Cs.
Find out if the lender has a reputation for good customer service by checking ratings on a financial review site.
When borrowing from family and friends, make sure both parties agree on how and when monies will be repaid.
If you are struggling to make repayments, speak to the credit provider as early as possible to avoid defaulting on a payment. They should work with you to find an affordable means to repay.
My Thoughts
Thank you to Smart Money People for their help in compiling this article, and in particular for their valuable tips and advice about borrowing sensibly.
I would say, though, that borrowing to pay bills should only ever be a last resort. At the risk of stating the obvious, any money you borrow will sooner or later have to be repaid, probably with interest. And credit card borrowing, once the interest-free period has elapsed, is one of the most expensive ways there is to borrow money.
if you’re worried about your finances, before taking on any type of credit, my top tip is to ensure you’ve done everything possible to maximize your income, minimize your expenditure, and budget smartly (using your existing resources to best effect, in other words). These are all subjects I cover regularly on Pounds and Sense, especially in the Making Money and Saving Money categories. By doing these things you may be able to reduce the amount of money you need to borrow, or even avoid the need entirely.
Remember, also, that the government has already set out a range of financial support measures, with more promised when a new prime minister is (finally!) in post. You can find a useful summary of support currently on offer from the government and local authorities on this official web page.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.
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