Today I have a guest post for you from James Mackay, a certified financial planner and regular reader of Pounds and Sense 🙂
In his article below, James addresses an issue that will be real and pressing for many readers of this blog – how to prepare for retirement and enter it successfully.
Over to James then…
If you’re starting to think about your retirement, these are three important questions that you need to ask.
1. Have You Had Enough?
It’s Sunday evening and you’re winding down after a busy weekend with friends and family. As you sit back in your favourite chair and think about the week ahead, you can’t quite get comfortable.
The thought of going back to work on Monday morning makes you feel a bit uneasy. In fact, the thought of doing it for another 5–10 years makes you feel sick!
If you’ve ever experienced this, you might be approaching the point where you’ve had enough (that’s a technical term).
The question you need to ask yourself is whether the pain of going to work outweighs the benefit. If you find yourself in this situation; where you’re emotionally, physically and mentally drained and no longer excited to perform at the highest level, it’s time to do something about it.
Having had enough doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily time to retire. It simply means that you need to change the status quo.
Maybe you’ve had enough of your current role, but you’ve got more to give in another capacity. Your years of wisdom could be very valuable in a different guise. Perhaps you’ve had enough of having a boss and are ready to go it alone. With the years of experience, it’s no surprise that over 50s are the best entrepreneurs. Or maybe you’re happy to carry on but just want a little bit more flexibility around what you do and when you do it.
These are all useful options to explore, particularly if you haven’t got enough to hang your boots up yet. Sometimes, the benefit of working for “just one more year” can make a real difference to your financial situation.
2. Do You Have Enough?
If you’ve had enough, and are ready to move onto pastures new, the next question is do you have enough?
Whenever I ask this question, people start telling me how much they’ve got saved up. But they’ve got it all wrong. It’s like trying to build a house without the seeing the floor plans. You need to start with the end goal and work back from there.
Working out if you have enough requires knowing:
Your monthly number – this is how much a comfortable lifestyle is going to cost.
The gap – this is the difference between the two, and where your savings come in. Broadly speaking, if you’ve got 20x the gap in savings, you should be fine. Any less and you might not be quite there yet.
But, there’s more to retirement planning than just simply figuring out your ‘number’. Finding your purpose in retirement sounds wishy-washy, but without a clear purpose you’re likely to be one of the 25% of retirees who return to work.
3. Will You Have Enough to Do?
You need to ask yourself what you are going to do when you wake up on that Monday morning, free from the ties of work, and how are you going to fill your time.
If for the last 40 years you’ve been busy being busy – chances are you’re going to get pretty bored sitting around the house for 40 hours a week. I’ve seen many successful individuals retire, only to get bored and return to work within five years. The newly-found free time that retirement provides can be overwhelming for some.
Retirement is about having enough money to sleep at night and enough purpose to get up in the morning. It’s not just about the numbers, it’s about how you’re going to spend your time. Purpose will drive you in retirement, money will fund you. Try not to get those two mixed up.
The bottom line is this… retirement is the biggest transition you’re ever going to make. It’s not the sort of thing you do regularly and not the sort of thing you want to get wrong. By asking yourself these three questions, you’ll improve your chances of achieving a successful retirement.
Byline: James Mackay is a Certified Financial Planner at Frazer James. He has helped hundreds of clients to achieve financial independence and retire with confidence, clarity and purpose.
Many thanks to James (pictured above) for a valuable and thought-provoking post. As a semi-retired 63-year-old myself, I can identify with all of the points he raises.
Actually I think there is a strong case for phasing your retirement if possible, maybe reducing the number of days per week you work initially and/or moving to a less pressured role. This can make retirement feel more like going on an interesting journey rather than driving over a cliff!
I also think there’s a good case for continuing to do some work you enjoy during the early years of retirement at least, to boost your income, provide social interaction, and keep your mental and physical faculties sharp. Of course, voluntary work can do this as well (apart from boosting your income, which may or may not matter to you).
If you have any comments or questions about this article – for me or for James – as always, do feel free to post them below.
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Today I have a guest post for you by a fellow money blogger who goes by the name of The Reverend.
I’ve wanted to publish a post about video gaming for older people for a while but faced the obstacle of knowing very little about it (my experience of video games doesn’t go much beyond Space Invaders). Still, I know a growing number of older people are interested in this subject, and there are undoubted benefits, not least in terms of sharpening (or preserving) your wits and reflexes.
Anyway, that explains why I was delighted when The Reverend – a London-based video gaming enthusiast (and talented writer and blogger) – volunteered to write an introduction to the subject for Pounds and Sense. Without further ado, here it is…
I turn 40 this year and am not sure if I’m classed as an ‘older’ gamer or not, but one thing is sure, I can see myself gaming forever, regardless of whether I’m ‘too old’ or not. Its important that you do the things you want to, whether it is writing a book, going to the cinema or even playing video games.
The World of Video Game Consoles
When you think of Video Games, what companies do you think of? The gamers of today will be playing on a Switch, or a Samsung, maybe a Steambox. When I grew up there was Atari, Spectrum or Commodore. This then moved onto NES and Master Systems before going to SuperNES and Megadrive. Everyone remembers Sega and Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega no longer make games consoles, but Nintendo have had recent successes with the DS (in various versions) and the more recent Switch.
One thing you might be surprised by is that many people nowadays are also playing video games on mobile phones and tablets.
Games for Older Gamers
I’d like to start by saying that games are for everyone – your age doesn’t stop you from enjoying the latest titles. We are also at a point where the block-buster video games are making more money than the block-buster movies! It is worth thinking about what you’d like from a game.
Gaming Hardware
To play games you have a few options, but the main choices are:
Most people do have a mobile phone, so this is a good way to start gaming. The Apple App Store and Google Play Store have hundreds of ‘free’ games you can download and try out. It’s a good way to judge whether you’d like a particular type of game – and if the game isn’t for you, you can delete the app and you’ve spent no money.
If you are looking to get a games console it’s best to go to a shop and try one out. Although the controllers all look fairly similar, you might find that the grip to ‘hold’ the controller isn’t comfortable or (for example) you aren’t able to see the smaller screens of the Nintendo 2DS. Most game stores will be happy to talk through the options with you, let you try things out, and maybe even suggest some games based on your interests. These people know their games inside out, so do ask for help!
A gaming home computer can set you back thousands if you want to play the latest games in the highest image quality. If you already have a home computer then a chat with your local game store will help identify which game you’ll be able to play without having to spend any more money.
Gaming Options
What do you like to do to relax? Do you enjoy reading books, watching movies, or sitting down with the Sudoku page of the newspaper? No matter what you enjoy doing, there is a game to suit you.
Love A Good Story?
If you enjoy in-depth story-lines in books, TV or film, then you may enjoy an RPG (or Role-Playing Game). Like books, there are plenty of genres for RPG games. I enjoy the Post-Nuclear-Alternative-Timeline story of the Fallout series of games. These are set in a future where technology didn’t move to the microprocessor and stayed with transistor valves. Imagine 1950s Americana with lasers! Death, destruction, cannibalism, nuclear bombs and drugs – not something you’ll be able to share with younger family members! The Fallout series of games are available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC.
At the other end of the spectrum there is Cat Quest. Of course, not every game has to be about lasers and robots. Imagine a medieval adventure game but feline themed! It is also a PEGI 3 rated game and this means it is suitable for all ages – no swearing or nudity in your cat-adventure – so you can play along with nieces/nephews or grandchildren. Cat Quest is available on the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch.
The premise is that you collect Pokémon. You do this by exploring the real world and when you are notified a Pokémon is in the area, you throw a Poké-ball at it to try to catch it. To make the game more interesting you have Points-Of-Interest called ‘Poké-Stops’ and ‘Poké-Gym’. The Poké-Stops help you lure special Pokémon for you to catch, and the Poké-Gym allow you to battle other players to take control of the ‘Gym’.
Part of the success of Pokémon Go is that it is a ‘Freemium’ game available on both iOS and Android, so most smart mobile phones will be able to play it. The fact it is Freemium means that the game is free to download; however, there are In-App Purchases (IAPs) that will allow you to progress faster.
LIKE Life Simulations?
The big name in this genre is The Sims. This is a game where you control a person and all aspects of their life. Imagine the board-game The Game of Life but with interactive graphics and almost infinite possibilities. You can choose the life you want, build the house you want, get the job you want, have children, get married, cook dinner and live out all sorts of dreams that perhaps you didn’t manage in your real life! The Sims is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. There is a basic version also available for the Nintendo DS.
If you want to try running a hospital then there is Two Point Hospital for the PC (pictured above), with console versions appearing in time for Christmas. Maybe you want to become your own dictator – Tropico 5 is on the PlayStation 4 and XBox. Has your life-long dream been to drive a big rig? Then check out Truck Driver, also for the Xbox and PlayStation 4. You can even be a goat in the obviously named Goat Simulator!
There are a number of farming-simulations which don’t focus on the farming and do have a story-line. Available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox and Switch is Stardew Valley. You can also get this on the various App Stores as well as for the PC. There are quests in the game and these are designed to help you get more money so you can develop your farm. [Nick writes: My teenage nephews are keen Stardew Valley players – my brother-in-law once told me he wished they were half as keen on helping with the real garden as opposed to tending their virtual ones!].
ENJOY Building?
The classic building game is Minecraft. It’s available across pretty much any platform or device you can imagine. There is a ‘story mode’ for Minecraft but it also gives you a complete open-world building experience for you to create anything you want. The graphics may remind you of a much earlier generation of gaming, but don’t be fooled – this is a serious game that has a massive number of followers.
If you enjoy solving the Sudoku in the paper every day, did you know you can play these for free on your mobile phone? Go to your App Store and search for ‘Free Sudoku’. There are plenty of versions out there for you to choose from. Just make sure you don’t need to share your camera/photos/contact list/etc with the app – they don’t need this data.
Another well-known series of brain training games is from Dr Kawashima. These games are designed to challenge your brain and keep you thinking. They are only available for the Nintendo 3DS, but the series has been running for over 10 years.
Recommendations
Think about what you want from your gaming. If you want to play with family members then get whatever console they have. There is no point having a PlayStation if the people you want to play with have xBoxes.
If you want to just play something quickly while you have a spare five minutes then check out the free games on the app stores for your mobile phone – there are plenty of games like Candy Crush which you can start/stop with no impact to the game-play. If you want to do some more serious gaming on the move then the Nintendo Switch has a large portable display AND can connect to your TV at home.
Remember you don’t have to buy your games machine brand new. The current RRP of the Nintendo Switch is £279.99; however, you can find it much cheaper if you are willing to buy second hand. You could buy from eBay or Facebook selling groups. Another option is to buy it 2nd hand from CEX, where you will get 12 months’ warranty but you will probably pay more than the eBay price.
I have a PlayStation 4 and an iPhone. The iPhone covers my ‘casual’ gaming when I have a spare 5-10 minutes while I’m out and about. On my phone I have Tetris, Countdown, Scrabble, and Candy Crush. My PlayStation has first-person shooters like Call of Duty, RPGs from the Fallout Series, historical stealth exploration from the Assassin’s Creed series, and various games I can play with my nieces and nephews. They enjoy playing Lego Avengers with me, but I must say I’m much better than they are! (well, that’s what they tell me, but they might just be saving my feelings!)
Final Thoughts
Gaming is for everyone. Whatever you are interested in, there will be a video game for you. Don’t be ashamed if you want to go on a Cat Quest, or you are interested in running your own farm. You might even want to build in the Minecraft world and see where your creativity takes you.
If you have friends/family who play video games then ask them for advice. Most gamers are happy to talk games, explain what they are playing and make suggestions of what you may want to play. It doesn’t have to be only Fortnite and flossing!
Many video games have online/social components and this means you should be careful with any personal information and not give away too much. Treat these networks/messages/etc the same you would with any other online activity. Microsoft has some good advice that is worth following. Stay safe, as you would with any online activity.
Video games can help keep you active, keep your brain engaged, make new friends and keep you connected with your family, especially the younger generation. With all this available to you, why wouldn’t you want to get into gaming?
Many thanks to The Reverend for an eye-opening article. If you’ve been considering trying video gaming – or even if you haven’t – I hope this article might inspire you to get started.
As The Reverend says, gaming can be great for keeping mentally and physically sharp, and engaging with friends and family. You could start with games on your mobile or your computer, and maybe move on to consoles if you really get the bug.
As for me, I’ve decided to make a start in video gaming and have downloaded a couple of games to my smartphone. I’m already looking forward to planting, tending and expanding my first farm 🙂
Do check out The Reverend’s excellent blog at https://thereverend.co.uk. As well as some great posts about saving money and making money, there are enjoyable and informative posts about travel, food and entertainment as well.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this article, for me or The Reverend, please do post them below. And if you are an older video gamer yourself, I’d love to hear any advice, tips or recommendations you may have!
Disclosure: This post includes Amazon affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I will receive a modest commission. This will not affect the price you pay or the product/service you receive.
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Today I have a guest post for you by my fellow money blogger Simon from Financial Expert.
In his post, Simon examines the pros and cons of investing in active versus passive funds. This is (of course) a subject of much debate among both pundits and investors. I will share a few thoughts of my own about it at the end.
Over to Simon, then…
For people who are enjoying their retirement or approaching it, choosing the right investments is clearly crucial.
With less time to correct mistakes, a bad investment choice is likely to have a major impact on quality of life in retirement. Many older people therefore struggle to make decisions given the number of investment choices available.
But before picking any particular trust or fund, all investors must first navigate a fork in the road. They must decide whether to follow an active or passive investment strategy.
Active Versus Passive
A fund manager following an active strategy has the discretion to hand-pick shares that they believe represent a superior investment opportunity. They do so in an attempt to deliver a return higher than the market average – for example, the return on the FTSE 100 index of large companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Funds that follow a passive strategy, on the other hand, use a mechanical approach of buying most of the shares which form indexes such as the FTSE 100. The objective of replicating the index is to provide a return which mirrors it as closely as possible.
Of these two approaches, which is the more successful? There are many arguments on each side of the debate. Below, I pull out the key pros and cons to help you decide.
In Support of Active Investing
Detailed research is valuable in opaque markets
In emerging markets and other less developed economies, quality financial information is a scarce resource. For example, emerging-market companies are less covered by investment analysts, and the quality of their financial reporting may be lower.
This creates a research deficiency which can be exploited by any active fund with a research team. Any insights generated by the boffins can be used to guide trades and improve the performance of the fund.
This is one of the key reasons why investors opt for active funds over passive funds in the emerging market equities asset class.
Moreover, the higher returns of high-risk markets such as emerging markets helps to cover the premium fees charged by active funds.
Absolute return strategies
Active funds are free to engage in investment strategies which seek to provide a positive absolute return regardless of whether the market is rising or falling.
They can do so by either short selling a company, by switching between asset classes, or by investing for relative value. Relative value investing is where fund managers seek out under-priced securities. They buy under-priced securities and sell over-priced peers. In theory this strategy will deliver a profit regardless of the overall direction of the market, as long as the pricing anomaly corrects itself over time.
These funds seek to provide a lower level of volatility compared to an ordinary equity investment, and similar returns over the long term.
However, the recent performance of large absolute return funds has been underwhelming. In the three years to the end of November 2018, the flagship absolute return fund managed by Standard Aberdeen’s has returned only -6.6% compared to 42% for an average investment trust.
In fact, only 12 of 102 similar funds reported a positive return over the same period. This implies that while active strategies might work on paper, they are difficult to execute in practice, particularly when so much money is chasing the same strategy.
The Drawback of Active Investing
Active managers are losers… most of the time
The track record of active funds highlights their biggest drawback: after fees, active funds tend to under-perform the market average.
Fund managers and research staff are expensive. This translates into higher annual ongoing charges. The higher the fees, the higher the bar is lifted on the returns needed to meet investor expectations.
Simple logic can provide a hint at why active funds disappoint:
Worldwide, the lion’s share of assets are still owned by active funds.
By definition, only half of the market participants can perform ‘better than the average’.
Of the winning half, some of these winners will have significantly outperformed, while many will have only incrementally outperformed.
Because of the premium fees they charge, any active fund that beats the benchmark only slightly will still come out as a loser after fees are taken into account.
Therefore we can conclude that theoretically, only a small proportion of fund managers (those that beat the benchmark by a good margin) can deliver the return that investors expect.
The second issue that plagues active managers is the difficulty of repeating the performance in subsequent years.
A fund manager may have enjoyed a particularly strong year because of sheer luck alone. Perhaps the fund happened to simply be in the right asset at the right time. This doesn’t guarantee that the fund will enjoy remarkable success in the future.
The temporary and unrepeatable nature of fund success explains why the fraction of fund managers that fail to meet their benchmark rises to the ‘Nine out of Ten’ statistic reported by the Financial Times when their performance is measured over a long time frame.
In Support of Passive Investing
Passive strategies deliver what they promise
Followers of passive investment strategies understand this logic and are prepared to accept an ‘average’ market return, in exchange for the assurance that they will not under-perform it.
Passive funds, which create portfolios which closely resemble the indexes they track, carry much lower fees as no research analysts or star fund managers are needed on the payroll.
With fees as low as 0.06%*, trackers give investors the best chance to achieve as close to the ‘average market return’ as possible. As stated above, this will beat active funds, which typically trail behind the same benchmark.
* Vanguard FTSE 100 Index Trust
The Drawback of Passive Investing
An unhealthy concentration
Indexes are created mechanically by companies such as FTSE and Standard & Poor’s. Each company in the index is weighted by its size, among other factors.
This formulaic approach has the unintended side effect of creating unhealthy levels of concentration.
Vanguard’s Emerging Market Stock fund is a good example. 31% of the fund value is invested in a single country; China. In contrast; India, Brazil and Russia take up just 8%, 8% and 4% of the fund respectively.
Indexes can also be skewed by industry. Financial companies form 24% of the same fund. This vastly outstrips banking’s share of the global economy. Even in the UK, which of course contains London, a global financial capital, banking and finance only contribute 6.9% of economic output.
The result of these distortions is that ‘diversified’ passive investors can find themselves exposed to country-specific, sector-specific or even company-specific risks. They may have no clue that such a large proportion of their portfolio is invested in such specific areas, given the global nature of the fund.
Therefore, while passive funds appear to give retirees the best opportunity to achieve average market returns over the long term, investors should be wary. Any potential index fund should be reviewed to discover whether they have an unintended concentration in a particular region or sector.
Many thanks to Simon for an illuminating article on an important topic for all investors.
Anyone who is considering investing in funds or trusts needs to bear in mind the distinction between passive and active management . For new investors, low-cost passive tracker funds, such as those run by Vanguard and mentioned by Simon above, could certainly be worth considering. But bear in mind the point Simon raises about the risk of unintentionally creating unhealthy levels of concentration in a single country, sector or even company.
Personally I have some money in tracker funds, but quite a lot more in funds that are actively managed. This is partly due to the fact that having no living dependants I can afford to take a slightly more adventurous approach in pursuit of better returns. Nonetheless, I do of course aim to diversify my investments as widely as possible, so that a downturn in one particular market or sector doesn’t impact too badly on the value of my overall portfolio.
I would also comment that most investment funds and trusts incorporate quite a bit of diversification already due to the range of investments they hold. Although they do of course come with a degree of risk, other things being equal this is likely to be a lot less than investing in individual company shares. And for older investors, careful risk management is key to ensuring a comfortable retirement, no matter how long this may prove to be 🙂
As always, if you have any comments or questions on this article, for me or for Simon, please do post them below.
Disclaimer: Nothing in this article should be construed as individual financial advice. All investments carry a risk of loss. Be sure to do your own ‘due diligence’ before making any investment and consult a qualified independent financial adviser if in any doubt how best to proceed.
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Today I have a guest article for you from my fellow UK blogger Neil Welsh.
Neil has a special interest (and expertise) in diabetes. In this article he talks about prediabetes, a common condition that can lead on to Type 2 diabetes if no action is taken.
Older people – such as many readers of my blog – are particularly prone to this condition. If it develops into full-blown diabetes, it can have life-changing (and potentially life-limiting) consequences. It’s therefore very important to be aware about it and to take action if required. I have a special interest in prediabetes myself, for reasons I will discuss at the end of the article.
Over to Neil then…
Prediabetes is no joke. If left untreated it can develop into full Type 2 diabetes in as little as 3-5 years and lead to complications such as nerve damage, heart disease, increased risk of stroke and potential blindness and amputations.
The tricky part is that it’s not easy to know if you are actually prediabetic or not. According to Diabetes UK, an estimated seven million people in the UK have prediabetes: an under-diagnosed condition that makes them up to 15 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes.
So what are the warning signs and how do you know if you do have prediabetes?
There are four commonly accepted indicators of prediabetes which are:
– Increased thirst
– Frequent urination
– Fatigue
– Blurred vision
Now, on their own, these are not particularly great indicators. I frequently display a number of these symptoms on a regular basis! So, realistically, these indicators need to be considered in conjunction with other risk factors. You are more likely to develop prediabetes if you have any of these risk factors:
– Being overweight
– Being inactive
– Having high blood pressure
– Having high cholesterol
– Having a family history of prediabetes
– Being of South Asian, African-Caribbean or Black African descent.
– Being over 40 years old
The only way to know for sure if you are prediabetic is to have a blood test. This can either be carried out by your medical professional or using a home test kit.
One of the most effective tests is the HbA1c test. HbA1c refers to glycated haemoglobin. This blood test shows how much glucose (sugar) in your body sticks to your red blood cells. The result tells you your average blood sugar level for the past 2-3 months. If your body is not using sugar properly it builds up in your blood and sticks to the cells.
The longer you have had high blood sugar levels, the higher your HbA1C will be. Less than around 40mmol/mol (6%) is considered normal, 40-47mmol/mol (6.0-6.4%) is considered prediabetic, with anything over 48mmol/mol (6.4%) indicating diabetes. It’s different from an FPG (Fasted Plasma Glucose finger-prick test), which is a snapshot of your blood sugar levels at a particular time, on a particular day.
So what should you do if you are concerned that you might have prediabetes? The number one thing is to act now. Take it seriously and avoid the medical complications that may be around
the corner. Prediabetes is totally reversible. Type 2 diabetes is considered reversible only to the extent that you will be in remission and drug free, but the threat of the condition returning will be constant. The sooner you act on prediabetes, the simpler the reversal process will be.
If you are diagnosed with prediabetes or if you are just concerned that it might be on the horizon then the course of action is the same: make changes to your diet and lifestyle.These changes do not have to be dramatic; in fact, you are statistically better off if they are not. An old Chinese proverb says that it is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to take a great leap forwards only to stumble backwards…and in the case of prediabetes this could not be more true.
Making small changes that are appropriate for you and where you are in your journey is the key to success. Work out where you are now and where you want to be and then take small, consistent
steps in the right direction. It could just save your life!
Neil
About the Author: Neil Welsh specialises in helping people reverse prediabetes. He focuses on working with clients to make changes which product remarkable results. Click here to download Neil’s free Prediabetes Reversal Blueprint, a guide to helping you know what to eat and how to live to stop prediabetes.
Many thanks to Neil for an eye-opening article on an important subject that older people (especially) need to be aware about.
I was actually diagnosed prediabetic myself two years ago. How it happened is that on a routine check-up the doctor found I had hypertension (high blood pressure). As I gather is standard in these circumstances, he prescribed various tests to get to the root of the problem. One of these was an ECG – which came out fine – but another was a blood test. My HbA1C result (referred to above by Neil) was in the region defined as prediabetic.
My doctor was actually pretty dismissive about this. He said, “Prediabetes isn’t something we treat.” That wasn’t good enough for me, though, so I researched the topic and read a number of books about it, including the excellent Reverse Your Diabetes by Dr David Cavan. As a result of all this, I made various changes to my diet and lifestyle, in particular cutting down on carbs. To cut a long story short, when I was tested again earlier this year, my blood test results were back in the normal range. My doctor (I have changed to a different one now) said, ‘Whatever you’re doing, keep on doing it!’
I should also add that, probably as a result of losing some excess weight through my diet and exercise regime, my blood pressure has has gone down as well, and I am no longer on any medication for this. Win, win!
Anyway, I hope you will read and note the advice from Neil and download his free Prediabetes Reversal Blueprint. You may also want to check out his Habits for Life programme. By taking action now, you really can reduce the risk of developing full-blown diabetes further down the line. And even if you are already diagnosed with T2 diabetes, both Neil and I believe it is possible to improve your blood sugar control through diet and lifestyle changes and potentially reduce the amount of medication you have to take.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, for me or for Neil, please do leave them below.
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Today I am pleased to bring you a guest post from my fellow UK money blogger Bronni Hughes
In her article below, Bronni sets out a number of mobile phone apps you can download for free that can help you earn a useful sideline income, generally for little or no effort.
Over to Bronni then…
Phones can be expensive. After buying your handset and then forking out for your minutes, texts and data on a monthly basis, it can feel like you’re just throwing money away. This is why I think it’s important to use money-making apps to try and make some of it back.
Unfortunately, you’re not going to pay your rent with the money you’ll make from these apps, but you could get a tidy stack of Amazon vouchers to put towards Christmas. Not bad!
Jobspotter
If you don’t have this app yet, what have you been doing?! I must have made over £100 in Amazon vouchers since I first downloaded it.
When you’re walking around town use the app to snap photos of any job adverts you can see posted outside businesses.
Earn Amazon vouchers.
It really is that easy! You need to take a clear shot of the job advert itself and one where you can clearly see the name of the business.
Jobspotter will then assess the photo and decide how many points it earns. One point equals 1 cent (USD) of an Amazon voucher. All ads earn points, but one for a chain cafe will earn a lot less than an ad in the window of your local takeaway. If someone’s submitted the job before it won’t earn as many points.
The most points I ever earned in one go was 144 from an estate agent in my local town. It honestly takes seconds to submit each one, and the money can rack up pretty quickly.
There’s no minimum you need to cash out, and the Amazon voucher arrives after about 48 hours usually.
Field Agent
Have opinions about what you buy in the supermarket? Who doesn’t!
Field Agent pays you to share that opinion. Download the app here. Jobs usually involve going to the supermarket and photographing certain shelves and saying which product you’d choose to buy. There are ones on the app right now for £10, and they don’t generally take any longer than 20 minutes to complete.
You won’t qualify for every job – sometimes they’re looking for cat owners or people with kids, for example. There are often at home surveys paying £1 or £2 each too.
The app is free to use and download, so it’s worth trying out to see if you like it.
I’ve grouped these two apps together, because I always scan every receipt I get on both apps.
Shoppix is available on Android or iOS – download here. If you use the referral code 3PGPHDNK we both get 200 points.
You’ll get 30 points for a receipt snapped the same day, and 25 points for one submitted any later. You also get good bonuses for using the app every week too, plus extra points for filling out their very short surveys.
You need 3200 points to cash out £5 via iTunes, Amazon or PayPal. It usually only takes me two months of snapping to be able to cash out a full £20.
Receipt Hog is a bit less generous than Shoppix, but as you can scan one receipt on both apps you may as well get it. It’s available for Apple or Android here.
How many points you get depends on how much you spend on the receipt. It’s 1,500 points to cash out £5 via Amazon or PayPal. Remember you’ll get bonus points for snapping every week too, as well as “hog slots” where you can win extra prizes.
Don’t forget either MobileXpression, the app I wrote about on Pounds and Sense last year. I am still receiving £20 Amazon vouchers every few weeks like clockwork from this. All you have to do is download the app to your mobile phone, and every so often check in to the app to claim any points you have been credited.
If you know of any other good money-making (or saving) apps, feel free to post details below. And, of course, you are very welcome to post comments or questions, for me or Bronni, there as well.
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
Today I have a guest post for you from my writing colleague S. Bee (her pen-name) on the subject of making money writing letters and fillers for popular magazines.
This is a money-making sideline I have a soft spot for, as many years ago I started my writing career doing exactly this. I remember, for example, having a series of letters published in The Sun newspaper, for which I received the not-exactly-princely-even-then sum of £2 each. I treasured those cheques when they arrived, though!
It’s good to know that this opportunity still exists, even in this digital age.
Over to S. Bee then…
When I began writing seriously in 2011, I focused on the fiction market for women’s magazines.
As I became more involved in it, I discovered that several of these short story writers had also enjoyed publishing success with letters in national magazines.
More importantly, they’d been paid a small fee for their efforts. If there was no fee, a prize was offered instead.
I thought, Why don’t I have a go at that? So I did, and eagerly began to send letters in.
My spirits were high. Surely I’d see my name and piece in print somewhere? But no. Sadly, I didn’t get anywhere at all!
After a few months, I felt ready to try again. However, this time I carried out research first. I studied the tone and style of the magazine I intended to submit to, and what type of letter was likely to be picked for publication, plus the subject of it. For example, I learned that positive feedback about a previous feature was very popular.
I kept my submission short and snappy – and my hard work paid off. I was absolutely thrilled to see my very first letter published in What’s On TV magazine. I was delighted to receive a payment of £10 for little more than a paragraph.
Since then, I’ve had lots of letters published in Woman’s Weekly, The People’s Friend, Yours, My Weekly, Web User, Vegetarian Living, Take a Break and Your Cat. And lots more in What’s on TV – I even made Star Letter status once! (I was paid £25, instead of their usual £10).
How do I find ideas for letters? It’s easy – you need to think of what could appeal to readers.
For Woman’s Weekly, I once wrote about the tests I undertook for breast cancer. I urged readers not to ignore any call-ups. (Thankfully, I was okay.)
I’ve also been featured with several opinion pieces for the ‘You’re Telling Us’ page in Take a Break magazine. The ‘You’re Telling Us’ question can be found on the TAB Facebook page. They request a photo of yourself and your age, too.
TAB also publish call-outs for a true-life reader experience type of feature in the magazine. I’ve had ‘A letter to your younger self’ piece published and a ‘Christmas cringes’ one too. These can pay more – up to £100.
The TAB letters page, ‘We’ve Got Mail’ currently pays £25 and £50 for the star letter. They like photos with the letter.
TAB also have call-outs in the mag for paid photo opportunities, e.g. pets or kids in a messy/awkward situation.
Some publications offer a prize to the star letter only.
I attempt it, and often I don’t win the prize, yet I’m still pleased to see my piece published.
I’ve won a small beauty prize for my star letter in the free TESCO magazine, and being selected for Your Cat‘s star letter scooped me a range of cat toys and biscuits. Your Cat will pay for true life cat tales, too.
Update: Tesco now only award a prize to the star letter in their mag – it’s a £50 Tesco voucher. That’s bound to help with the grocery bill!
My prize letters in a monthly writing magazine netted me a free one-year magazine subscription – twice! (a fantastic saving of around £160).
If you have a hobby, e.g. computers, gardening, cooking – pick a suitable magazine that accompanies it. For instance, my hubby is a very good cook and baker. He’s had several recipes published in Take a Break‘s My Favourite Recipe magazine. (He was awarded £25 per recipe.)
It’s not just letters. Some magazines also publish short poems.
I’ve had several poems published in the fortnightly Yours magazine, and a weekly, The People’s Friend. These magazines like rhyming, upbeat, reader-friendly material.
TPF award a small prize (I’m not sure, but it used to be a tea caddy and a packet of loose tea) if your poem is selected for publication in their letters page – however, they pay £15 per poem if you target your poems to their other publications, e.g. their fiction special, annual or fireside book. The magazine has different email addresses for these slots.
Yours pay £10 in gift vouchers per poem. The vouchers can be spent practically anywhere. They pay a £10 gift voucher for a normal published letter too.
Yours regularly publishes call-outs in the mag for specific reader’s memory/nostalgia experiences. They sometimes require photos to accompany the feature, so you’d need to scan these in and send them with your article [or of course send digital photos – Nick].
Don’t forget that fillers such as top tips, funny photos, a ‘pet of the week’ type of feature, puzzles, jokes, beauty queries, travel articles (think about what’s interesting about about your town/city – photos required) and ‘items to be valued’ pieces are high in demand, too.
I’ve had my childhood teddy valued in Real People magazine (I earned £25). My cat has been featured in My Weekly (another £25) and I’ve had beauty questions featured in Take a Break. (They pay £25 for this.)
I’ve also made it to the TAB letters page, with their ‘What a laugh!’ slot. I was £50 richer for just a few lines of text!
A writer friend of mine likes to create her own word puzzles (not necessarily crosswords) and she has these published regularly in Real People magazine. If published, the fee for this is either £30 or £50.
I’m not a gardener, but my writing friends who are have hit the jackpot with letters and hints in gardening magazines. Prizes and cash are up for grabs.
Although you won’t be able to earn a regular salary with letters and fillers, the odd £10 here and there soon adds up.
Bear in mind that no matter how many letters you submit, you won’t be chosen every week. Consider the fact that the editor or team will become familiar with your name. However, saying that, they do appreciate regular contributors – just don’t swamp them!
Publications are always looking for well-written, entertaining, intelligent letters that fit in well with the editorial style of the magazine.
Always be cheerful and polite, don’t waffle, and make sure you follow the magazine’s submission instructions. It’s all done via email now.
Your subject heading should be: ‘Letter for consideration’.
Work can be edited, changed or even added to – to me, this doesn’t matter as I want to be published and I want to be paid.
Some magazines let you know beforehand if your letter/filler/poem has been selected, and some don’t. If you submit material regularly, this means a weekly scan of the magazines in newsagents or the supermarket to check if your piece is in.
Some prizes arrive completely out of the blue. One Christmas, I won a prize of a large jigsaw puzzle, yet I hadn’t a clue who had sent it or what publication my letter was in. All I had was a snail mail letter saying ‘Congratulations!’ from the makers of the jigsaw, which didn’t really help.
Later, I realised I must have been awarded star letter in Down Your Way, a Yorkshire-based nostalgic magazine. I quickly emailed the Ed and he confirmed it. (Update: I’ve won this prize a second time with a piece about phone boxes.) As it was approaching Christmas, it came in very handy as a gift for a family member who loves jigsaws.
So, what’s stopping you from having a go?
If I can do it, so can you! Get writing and good luck!
S. Bee
Thank you to S. Bee for an interesting and inspiring article.
I would just add that you don’t need any special writing skills to win cash and prizes this way. It’s really just a matter of keeping your ear to the ground about current events and issues, and coming up with positive, upbeat angles on them.
S. Bee isn’t being paid for this article, but she asked me to mention a charity ebook she is promoting on behalf of the RSPCA (who receive all profits). It’s called Paws for Thought – 27 Tail Thumping Stories (see front cover, right). It’s for a great cause and only costs £2.99 from Amazon as a Kindle ebook. If you enjoy short stories – and especially if you love animals – why not check it out? 🙂
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this article, please do post them below.
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
Today I have a guest post for you from my friends at Suttons, a leading seeds, bulbs and horticultural products company.
There is a lot of discussion about saving money before you retire, but not nearly as much about saving afterwards.
But in reality the great majority of us have to survive on a lower income in retirement. While nobody wants to spend their golden years scrimping for every penny, saving money in retirement is important and helps us to afford things such as holidays that can enrich our lives.
So this guest post sets out some great ideas for painless ways of saving money in retirement. I hope you enjoy reading it.
For many of us, we dream of retirement. The ideal age for packing in work is 57, according to studies, with 32% of respondents planning to quit the working world at this age. However, for some, the thought of calling it a day before they’re eligible for their state pension isn’t feasible. It’s been estimated that the British public will need at least £260,000 to retire without money issues. Unfortunately, research has found that the average pot of money held by those aged between 45 and 54 is £71,240 — way off the final required total.
While this final figure sounds extremely high, there are ways to prevent overspending in your later years. Here, we take a look at some great ways to save money after you’ve retired.
Sell your clutter
We are a nation of hoarders. Whether it’s old equipment or new purchases, we don’t like to get rid. In fact, over half of the UK’s adults claim to have between one and 10 items hanging in their wardrobe which have never been worn. However, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, right? Therefore, clear out any unnecessary clutter you may have acquired over the years.
Have a huge clear out and you’ll be surprised at how much stuff you don’t actually need if you’re ruthless. This can help to provide extra funds to go towards your retirement pot. It means that you’ll be increasing your income, and you won’t even have to make too many cuts from your lifestyle. You can sell your stuff via online auction houses such as eBay and local Facebook groups.
Grow crops
Growing produce at home has many benefits. We all know that eating fruit and vegetables is good for you due to them being full of vitamins, minerals and nutrients. However, have you ever stopped and thought about how much money you can save if you grow your own veg? If your garden is big enough, you should create a vegetable plot. This can include cabbages, lettuce, onions, sweetcorn, leeks and the likes.
You should also look into companion planting. For example, grow Swiss chard in the same space as onions, beetroot and cabbages and you’ll make the most of your space while also deterring pests. A patio garden can also grow smaller produce, including mange tout, radish and French beans.
Some of the most cost-effective vegetables you should look to grow in your garden include tomatoes. As they don’t require much space to grow, you can even place these on balconies. Usually, they take 12 weeks before they are ready for harvest and each plant can create fresh produce daily for up to six years. Based on a shopper buying one box of tomatoes per week, this can help you save £52 each year.
Potatoes are another money saver. The average Brit eats 429g of potatoes every week and the average four-pack costs £1 in a supermarket. However, for a pack of five seeds, you can grow up to 45 potatoes for as little as £1.50.
Of course, there are many other examples that can save you money, and it all tallies up when put together to make great savings.
Adjust the frequency of luxuries
You don’t have to stop enjoying yourself to save money in retirement. It’s no use retiring just to sit and be bored. However, it’s important that you plan properly and adjust your lifestyle to suit your budget. We all like the occasional blow out — whether that’s on a holiday, fine dining or on new items. However, it’s crucial to live within your means. If you were used to eating out every other night when you were in employment, chances are you won’t be able to once you’ve left the workplace. However, you shouldn’t cut it out altogether. Simply adjust the frequency you do so and you’ll still be able to have that luxury that you long for.
Set priorities
Having a budget doesn’t mean removing the items or adventures that are most important to you from your life. However, it is important to set yourself priorities. Decide what it is that you really want in your life and what are just added bonuses. Doing this can help you to prioritise your money, while ensuring you don’t miss out on what you really want in your life.
The above are all examples of how to save money once you’ve retired. Of course, there are many other opportunities for you to make the most of your retirement, but by focusing on these points, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying your relaxing time after finishing work for good.
Thank you to Suttons for an interesting and thought-provoking guest post.
I definitely agree with the advice to grow tomatoes. I have been doing this for a few years now, in growbags and/or hanging baskets. Despite my distinctly un-green fingers, they never fail to produce a bumper crop of tasty toms, and save me having to buy any from the shops for months on end. Suttons have lots of varieties of tomato seeds available. Or if you prefer you could visit a garden centre such as Dobbies and perhaps take advantage of their Over 60 Meal Deal as well!
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this article, please do post them below.
Today I am pleased to bring you a guest post from my money blogging colleague Jennifer Kempson. Jennifer blogs at https://mamafurfur.com.
In her article Jennifer sets out some strategies to ensure you have enough money to enjoy your retirement, even if it’s not too far away!
Over to Jennifer, then…
They say hindsight is a wonderful thing, and truly as we reach the later years of working life and approach retirement, we may secretly wish we had made our retirement resources a priority and regarded them as a key resource to help fulfil our passions and achieve our long-term ambitions.
Money, much like health and energy, is one resource that we will look back on and wish we had taken better care of during our younger days, so we can look forward with pleasure and excitement to when the time-freedom of retirement allows us to do whatever we dream of.
Reading this right now you may feel that it is too late for you to recover your potential financial security for your retirement, but I’m excited to share with you a few ways that you can invest in your future even when retirement is on the horizon in the next 10-15 years.
Make a plan and start seeing it happen!
Firstly, I will say that I am a firm believer in “putting your own oxygen mask on before anyone else”. And the very best investment financially or otherwise you can make for your future is to sort your own financial security as a top priority.
You absolutely need to write down your financial goals and desired experiences for your retirement, and start getting excited about this and be as specific as possible, so that you know exactly how much money you will require to make it happen.
Like time spent with our children and loved ones, if we master our relationship with money and the way we feel about it today, this will have a huge compounding effect on our short- and long-term happiness in future. I talk more about the habits and thoughts that can reshape your relationship with money in my new book, The Master Money Blueprint, which sets out the 26 timeless money principles and habits that I believe can change your financial future.
Pay off your liabilities as soon as possible
One of the most beneficial things you can do for your financial future is to become as debt-free as possible.
Make better money relationship habits starting today and commit to overpaying on everything you have as a liability against your name.
This could include your mortgage or car payments, and is especially crucial if you have credit card debts or loans. Commit to paying these down as quickly as possible and never returning to debt again.
A home with its mortgage completely paid off will provide you with safety and security in future, and when the time comes can be left to loved ones. But more important than that would be the mindset that your home is secure and safe for your happiness both now and in the future.
I like to use a great principle called The 10% Rule, mentioned in more detail in my book and on my blog at www.mamafurfur.com. This can and should be applied to every debt you have – any outstanding mortgage, car payments, loans, etc.
Commit to paying 10% over the monthly repayment required each month as a default. That small action will do two things. Firstly, you will not really notice too much discomfort. For a mortgage of, say, £400 a month, finding a further £40 could be as simple as giving up that gym membership and going for walk with friends, getting some free weights in the house, learning yoga from YouTube, and so on. It could be giving up all the unused packages from cable TV for a few months to see if you really miss it. It could be starting a small sideline business at home to make some extra money, or saving on your food and shopping purchases by eating one less takeaway a week. The choices are limitless.
That action of paying 10% more each month means you will make the equivalent of 1.2 extra payments towards reducing your debts per year. For a 25-year mortgage, for example, this could result in the debt being fully paid off in just over 22 years instead. That is a nearly three years off your home loan from a small change without causing too much stress to your day-to-day living. The second benefit is to your mindset, which is priceless – you will quickly see that money really is a resource to deploy based on your goals and long-term plans. Overpaying then becomes a joy, as much as it might be difficult to see that at the start, but the smallest actions usually do change us for the better when we let them.
An investment ISA (Individual Savings Account) allows you to save up to £20k tax free in stocks and shares every year. This type of savings account could allow you to create a passive income to supplement a pension. You can have a cash ISA and an investment ISA if you wish, as long as you don’t exceed the £20k annual total contributions allowance.
Investments in ISAs are not liable for income tax or dividends tax. Neither do you have to pay capital gains tax when you sell them. They are available from most banks and investment companies.
Like any type of investing, we need to purchase funds based on our goals, requirements for the money long term, and our tolerance for risk.
Investment returns are not guaranteed. However, generally you can expect to see a 4% return on your investments if you pick solid mutual funds (collections of stocks purchased together, spreading your money across a wide range of similar companies) such as Vanguard’s LifeStrategy 100% Equity Fund or reliable low-cost index funds such as the S&P 500. It is also not uncommon to see growth rates of an average of 9.5-10%.
At the later part of your life, if you are hoping to use the power of compound interest and the stock market to gain higher returns than a normal savings account, then I strongly advise doing as much research as you can into the funds you decide to pick.
With investments, we need to assume we are leaving them a minimum of 5-10 years before withdrawing the money, and must not let the ups and downs of the stock market test our emotions.
The value of the stocks once we purchase them is only relevant once we need to sell them, so best mindset practices say to ignore the current day value until you absolutely need them.
Another benefit of using an investment ISA is that you will have access within a few days to your money should your circumstances change and you find you need the money sooner.
I strongly recommend every adult has an investment ISA, as it is currently one of the few ways to get high-interest returns on your long-term savings. It could even allow you to build a substantial ‘pot’ that allows you to achieve complete financial freedom for you and your family in future.
I call an investment ISA a passive income source, as the money generated is created by companies returning some of their profits in dividends, and/or the value of the stocks and shares purchased going up.
We do not have to exchange our time for this income, therefore it is completely passive and grows without any effort from ourselves. The beauty of the stock market is that our money will remain active until we choose to sell our stocks, so it will continue to create more income for us in the background. We can simply withdraw a small portion of it each year to live off, and some of the increase will still remain, adding to our wealth total despite the withdrawn money.
Let’s look at some examples of what we could potentially end up with if we took out an investment ISA even with a short-term goal of accessing the money within 10 years. I will use a withdrawal rate (how much we draw from our account every year as a source of income) of 3.75%. This is regarded as a good average by most financial advisors and institutions.
Starting with no savings at all at age 50, if we contributed the maximum of £20k a year to an Investment ISA with a withdrawal rate of 3.75% a year on average and saw only a 4% return on investment, then using the power of compound interest and reinvesting any dividends or growth, we would have at age 60 a total investment pot of around £246k. If we withdraw 3.75% of this a year, as stated above, after 10 years we could withdraw £9.2k a year of interest (tax free). That would mean an extra £800+ in your pocket every month through your investment ISA savings alone.
Leave the amount until you are officially retiring at age 65, after 15 years of consistent effort and contributions, we could see approximately £411k with an income of £15k a year or £1200 in our pocket every month.
If we were to see a 10% return on investment each year, the total fund within 15 years of maxing out our contributions would be approximately £696k and an income of £65k a year tax free! That is probably more than any retirement could use up, and of course this is purely using our investments as a source of income and not including a state or employer pension. That means you could end up being able to use the interest generated from your investments each year to live off indefinitely!
Another great point to remember is that an ISA is per individual, so if you are a couple you can open one each and double your achievements together.
What better gift than your time and freedom back to use as you wish could you give yourself and your loved ones?!
If you would like to know more about the basics of the stock market, or how to use an investment ISA to retire earlier than planned, please check out my blog posts here:
Master your money and create your best life – your greatest investment in your future!
Make it a priority to learn how to master your money and use it to direct and create your best life.
Successful people in every walk of life leave clues along the way, so however you feel inspired to live your life, do it with style and use money as the tool to get there, taking your loved ones along with you for the ride.
Think of your upcoming retirement as an opportunity to explore new opportunities and even business ideas. Learn as many new skills as you can in areas that make your future life seem exciting, and watch as the world really opens up to you to design the life you always wanted in your retirement.
Here’s to a great future ahead on your terms, with money as an abundant resource to fuel it!
About the author
Jennifer Kempson, aka Mamafurfur, is a 30-something Scottish working mum with a passion to help others create the work-life balance and lifestyle they desire with time and financial freedom, sharing smarter spending, saving and lifestyle strategies.
Outside of her blog, she recently released her first book titled The Master Money Mindset: How to Master Your Money and Create a Powerful Money Mindset, sharing 26 timeless money principles that will allow you to design and shape your future using money as the resource it should be. The book is available on Amazon Kindle and as a paperback now.
Currently voted UK Money Vlogger (Youtube Creator) 2018, and finalist for the UK Blog Awards Finance Blog of the Year 2019.
Many thanks to Jennifer (right) for a valuable and thought-provoking guest post. Please do check out her blog at www.mamafurfur.com and her YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/mamafurfur.
I do agree with Jennifer about the value and importance of paying down your debts. Not only will this reduce the capital outstanding, even more importantly it will reduce the interest you have to pay on that capital in future. Other things being equal it’s best to pay off high-interest loans first (though check whether there are any penalties for doing this). Mortgage rates are historically low at the moment so paying extra every month won’t have as big a benefit, but of course there is still much to be said for going mortgage-free as early as possible.
I also agree with Jennifer about the value of saving as much as possible using ISAs. And for long-term saving especially, you are likely to get much better returns from investment (stocks and shares) ISAs than cash ISAs. Do just bear in mind that pension contributions are another great way of saving for retirement, and you get tax relief from the government up front on them.
Finally, I do of course appreciate that not everyone is going to be able to save £20,000 a year into their ISAs. Whatever you can find, however, putting it into ISAs (and pensions) will ensure you get the maximum benefit in years to come. And the earlier you start, the more time your savings and investments will have to weather any ups and downs in the financial markets and grow. You can read some ideas for boosting your income so you can afford to save more for retirement in the Making Money category on my blog.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.
If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
Today I’m pleased to bring you a guest post on how to save money on your television watching by using free (and low-cost) services rather than expensive cable and satellite TV packages.
It’s by Or Goren, who runs Cord Busters,a UK blog for people who want to ditch their expensive cable/satellite TV bills and become – as Or calls it – cord cutters.
Over to Or, then…
We live at what many call ‘The Golden Age of TV’ – with numerous high-quality programmes (and plenty of reality TV nonsense, if that’s your cup of tea), it seems like there’s always something good to watch. But the abundance of TV comes with a high price tag – the high price tag…
Many homes treat Sky (or competing pay-TV offers like Virgin Media, BT, etc.) as if it’s the default – and only – way to watch TV. We’ve come to take those £40-50-60/month contracts for granted, and we assume it’s too much of a hassle to find other – cheaper – ways to enjoy TV.
Luckily, this golden age of TV has also brought with it new ways to watch TV, that don’t involve long-term, pricey contracts. From Freeview to Netflix, here are some of the methods you can use to still enjoy lots of good programmes – without paying too much.
Cut Your Cable TV Cord
Cord cutting is a term that crossed the pond over from the US. It basically means getting rid of your pricey cable TV (or satellite TV, in Sky’s case) plans, and moving to cheaper pay-as-you-go alternatives that usually involve TV that streams over your broadband connection.
The first step is to actually cancel your Sky (or similar) plan. If you’re still under contract, you’ll have to wait for it to end (or pay a fine) – so pay close attention to the relevant dates. In any case, it’s probably best to try some of the methods mentioned here, before you actually cancel Sky – to see if they fit your home and your lifestyle.
Freeview – 100% Free TV
The easiest and most cost-effective way to watch TV in the UK is via Freeview. It’s a joint venture of the BBC, Sky, ITV, Channel 4 and Arqiva, that provides over-the-air access to more than 100 TV and radio channels (including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and plenty of others), without ANY monthly payments.
Despite what some pay-TV companies would have you believe, you don’t need THEIR equipment to watch Freeview. You only need two things:
A TV aerial: If you don’t have one on your roof (many still do), you can use a very simple indoor aerial (a good one will cost around £10-20). How well it’ll work depends on the reception in the area where you live – you can check the estimated coverage with the Digital UK Postcode Checker.
A Freeview Receiver: If you bought your telly after 2010, it should already have a Freeview receiver built-in. So you just connect your TV to the aerial – let it scan for channels – and that’s it, you have all the Freeview channels right there, with a convenient Electronic Programme Guide that lets you see what’s on, 8 days ahead.
If, however, your telly is older, or if you want more advanced features, you can buy a dedicated Freeview box.
Some Freeview boxes are also recorders, and you can use them to record TV programmes via the electronic (on-screen) guide. Then, you can watch those recorded programmes whenever you wish, and even fast-forward the adverts. (You can see some of the Freeview boxes I recommend here.)
If Freeview reception isn’t good enough where you live, there’s also Freesat – it’s a similar service that relies on satellite dishes. If you have a Sky dish, you can – in most cases – use that same dish to watch Freesat. You’ll just need to buy a Freesat receiver – but again, there are no monthly costs for the service itself.
Internet-Based TV
If you want more TV than what Freeview has to offer – there are still cheaper alternatives to Sky. You’ve probably heard of Netflix – which is a service that streams TV programmes and movies to your telly (or your computer, or your mobile phone), using your broadband connection.
Netflix (which currently costs £7.99/m for their most popular tier) has a library of thousands of TV programmes and movies. Another competing service is Amazon Prime Video, which you can get either by being an Amazon Prime subscriber (£79/year) or by paying £5.99/month.
In order to be able to watch these internet-based streaming services on your telly, you need a device that will stream the content to it.
One option is to buy a Smart TV, which is capable of connecting to your broadband service (either via WiFi or with a cable to your router), and comes with some of the popular streaming apps, such as Netflix and Amazon.
You can also buy a dedicated streamer that connects to your telly. While some are a bit complicated and fiddly to use, the Amazon Fire TV is quite user-friendly, comes with a remote control, and can even be operated with your voice.
NOW TV – Sky, but For Less
Some people still swear by Sky TV’s programming. There’s a good reason for that – Sky has the rights to many of the hottest TV shows from America, and it’s hard to get those elsewhere.
However, there’s still a way to save money – even if you want Sky’s channels and programmes – and that’s their NOW TV service.
NOW TV was supposed to be Sky’s answer to Netflix, and indeed it’s a similar service: for a cheap monthly fee (and no long-term contract), you get access to a library of TV box-sets, movies, and even Sky Sports (depending on which plan you subscribe to).
Just like Netflix, NOW TV streams via your broadband – so you’ll either need a Smart TV that supports NOW TV, or a dedicated streamer. They also sell their own NOW TV streaming sticks.
Unlike Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, NOW TV has different “passes”, depending on the content you’re interested in: £7.99/month for the TV package, £9.99/month for the Cinema package, £2.99/month for the Kids package, and £33.99/month for Sky Sports.
Once you get over the hesitation of installing these devices, you’ll open up a whole new world of TV streaming, with premium content from all around the world. And while most of the content does incur a monthly cost, it’s still a lot cheaper than a cable-TV contract. Plus, it’s flexible – you can cancel Netflix, for example, whenever you want – and re-subscribe with the touch of a button.
Happy Cord Cutting!
Many thanks to Or for a great money-saving article. Don’t forget to check out his Cord Busters website.
I agree with everything Or says, and am pleased to reveal that I am a ‘cord cutter’ myself. I recently bought a Toshiba 32″ Smart TV, but also use an Amazon Fire TV stick and a Chromecast device (both of which I also recommend).
I have so far resisted the siren call of Netflix, but I do have Amazon Prime. I originally subscribed to this service for the free next day deliveries, but increasingly take advantage of the free films and TV shows as well. Currently I am reliving, well, not exactly my youth but my early middle age, by watching 1990/2000s cult horror series Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, after I discovered that all seven series were available free for Prime members. Incidentally, if you are interested in giving Amazon Prime a 30-day free trial without obligation, here’s a link you can follow (affiliate).
If you are currently paying up to £50 a month for a cable or pay-TV service, you could save hundreds of pounds a year by switching to free or lower-cost services such as those described in the article. So why not take the plunge and join the growing crowd of people who (like myself) have ‘cut the cord’ and are saving money every month as a result.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this article, for me or for Or 🙂 please do post them below.
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Today I am pleased to bring you a guest post from my fellow UK money blogger (and freelance writer) Ruth Hinds, who blogs at Ruth Makes Money.
Ruth’s post is about blogging, a subject I haven’t previously got around to covering on Pounds and Sense. But, of course, it’s a major way I make money myself these days, and it’s also an option that is both accessible and appealing to many older people.
Over to Ruth then…
Have you ever thought about starting a blog as a way to create an extra online income stream? Or do you have an existing blog that you write just for pleasure, and sometimes toy with the idea of turning it into a money-making machine?
Though I’ve been a freelance writer for the past seven years, it’s only around 12 months since I took the leap and created my own blog, dedicated to documenting my journey towards creating a full-time income online, and what’s worked for me along the way.
Whilst it’s relatively early in my blogging journey, I’m happy to admit that monetization was on my agenda from day one. As well as help people to create their own freedom away from the constraints of a traditional job, I was eager to learn the ropes quickly and add another income stream to my box of tricks.
It’s safe to say that I’ve reached that goal, and I’ve also learned a ton of valuable lessons along the way when it comes to creating a profitable blog. Here’s what you really need to know if you’re thinking about taking a similar path…
1. It’s a steep learning curve, and it pays to get started ASAP
I often see people saying that they intend to monetize their blog one day in the future, but they don’t yet feel ready to make that leap. They feel that there’s more to learn, or more experience they need to get under their belts, or they just find it all a little overwhelming. Though I completely understand – because there’s certainly a lot to get your head around – I do also disagree with waiting.
You see, making money from your blog takes trial and error. There are strategies to become familiar with, tactics to master, and you’ll undoubtedly get plenty of things wrong along the way. This is why I believe that it pays to start that learning journey sooner rather than later.
There’s also a valid point here that as you build your audience, it makes sense that they’ve seen your monetization efforts from the beginning. This way, you’re being transparent from the start, and there’s not a point where your readers can suddenly bring your integrity into question.
2. You don’t need a gigantic audience to start making money
We’ve all heard about the big name bloggers who are pulling in hundreds of thousands of pounds every year, and of course, these people often have millions of followers. It’s important to recognise though that there are plenty more bloggers with relatively small readerships who are earning a decent chunk of cash along the way.
What it really comes down to is the methods that you use. I personally decided to really drill down on affiliate marketing, and put my efforts into promoting my favourite matched betting software. By creating content that explained the matched betting process, answered common questions, and gave an insight into my own successes with leveraging free bets from online bookies, I started earning commissions within my first few months as a blogger, and they’ve continued to grow throughout the year.
3. Though some monetization tactics are definitely more realistic than others!
Though I’ve had great results from affiliate marketing, there are still some blog monetization techniques that my readership is simply too small to tap into effectively. A great example of this is running adverts in the sidebar. These typically earn me about $15 per month. They’re never going to make me rich, though they do cover my hosting and domain costs.
When you’re blogging, it can seem like your to do list is never ending. There are posts to write, content to promote, social media channels to keep on top of, and the reality is that you need to selective about what you do and don’t dip your toes into. Based on my experiences, I’d definitely suggest that new bloggers get super focused, and really run with just a couple monetization techniques so they can see the best possible returns.
4. Blogging can be a great way to get started with freelance writing
When it comes to the various money-making methods that go hand in hand with blogging, the possibility of starting a freelance writing business is definitely discussed less often. Perhaps it’s because it’s more hands-on, and couldn’t be classed as passive income. Still though, it’s worth discussing because it can be highly profitable, and also hugely rewarding.
When you’re putting your writing out there online on a regular basis, other bloggers and business owners start to pay attention. They get a feel for your style, your expertise, and the value that you could bring to their own content creation processes. And of course, you’re building a portfolio that you can use to pitch for projects that catch your eye.
I built my freelance writing business without the power of my own blog behind me. With hindsight though, I can tell that I definitely missed a trick. Starting a blog is a legitimate way to start a writing career, whether that be copywriting for businesses, or even feature writing for newspapers and magazines.
5. It won’t make you rich overnight, but building a generous income is very achievable
If you’ve been around the block a few times with side hustles, then you’ll know that things take time. There are no overnight millionaires, and if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. And so if you’ve read income reports from big bloggers who claim to be pulling in massive amounts of money, then you may be a little bit skeptical. Is it all smoke and mirrors? Have you missed the chance to do the same? Or did they just get lucky?
What I know for sure from my year as a blogger is that it’s very possible to start earning money within your first few months, and if you commit to being in it for the longer term, the rewards are there for the taking. It takes time, and a dedication to learning the ropes, but I’m pleased to be in a position now where my blog consistently generates in excess of £800 per month. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s not too shabby for something that I only dedicate part-time hours to!
My only regret with blogging is that I didn’t start sooner. It earns me an income, it’s opened up countless opportunities, and knowing that I’m helping other people with their money-making adventures brings me a huge amount of satisfaction.
If you’re thinking about starting a blog, then why not bite the bullet and get stuck in?
Ruth blogs about genuine ways to make money online at RuthMakesMoney.com. She covers blogging, eBay reselling, and freelance writing, and loves helping people to build profitable income streams on their own terms.
Many thanks to Ruth (pictured) for an interesting and inspiring article.
I have been blogging myself for a number of years, both here at Pounds and Sense and at Entrepreneur Writer and the former My Writing Blog (now closed).
Like Ruth, I would never claim that blogging is a get-rich-quick proposition. It takes time and effort to build a successful blog, and only then will the big rewards start to come.
But blogging is also a creative and fulfilling pastime that can help keep your wits sharp and generate at least a useful sideline income. And it’s something you can fit in as and when you have the time (and energy), so again it can work well for many older people. For all these reasons – and more – I plan to cover blogging again on Pounds and Sense before too long.
As always, if you have any comments or questions, for me or for Ruth, please do post them below.
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