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GBBA Assetz Capital Sellout Analysis

Assetz Capital GBBA Sell-Out Progress

  • July 15, 2018
  • by Neil

I requested a sell out of my funds in the Assetz Capital GBBA account around a year ago, on July 23rd 2017. The GBBA account is the ‘Great British Business Account’ which is currently on series 2 offering 6.25% returns with a discretionary provision fund. I wasn’t particularly worried about the account or the returns from my investment, but I wanted to try to invest it myself either on some of their manual loans or on other platforms with a higher risk/return.

There have been some questions around selling out of the GBBA and the utility of the discretionary provision fund on the account. It is great to have a safeguard against defaults, but in practice, if you need access to money in the the short term, what happens? This is my progress selling out around £2400 from my GBBA investment over the last year: Read more “Assetz Capital GBBA Sell-Out Progress” →

choosing an if-isa Analysis

Questions to ask when choosing an IF-ISA

  • March 18, 2018March 18, 2018
  • by Neil

It’s getting close to April 5th: the end of the current UK personal tax year and the last chance to use your £20k ISA allowance. You can split your ISA allowance between more traditional Cash ISAs and Stocks and Shares ISAs and the newer Innovative Finance ISA (IF ISA). However, choosing an IF ISA can be more difficult:

  • The IF ISA providers are often much smaller with less information or reviews on the net
  • Most providers only let you invest in loans listed on their own platform – it’s not like a stocks and shares ISA where you largely have access to the same investments whether you open it with the likes of Interactive Investor or Hargreaves Lansdown
  • The FAQ’s are not always clear and definitely not standardised.

Here are some questions that you should be asking yourself when you are choosing an Innovative Finance ISA provider: Read more “Questions to ask when choosing an IF-ISA” →

Revolut Analysis

Free Euro Transfers with Revolut

  • December 7, 2017December 7, 2017
  • by Neil

One of the things that put me off investing in Euro-based P2P lending platforms like Twino or Mintos were the high costs to try them out. Many banks charge transfer fees of £12+. Yes, there are low-cost transfer services like Transferwise, but most European P2P platforms need your first transfer from a bank account to satisfy KYC (know your customer) checks.

After being recommended Revolut from some commentators on a previous post, I stumbled upon a excellent way to transfer money to Euro accounts. This allows almost fee-free transfers to European P2P sites! Read more “Free Euro Transfers with Revolut” →

Monzo Review Analysis

Monzo Review: (For Now) an Ideal Pre-Paid Card for…

  • October 7, 2017October 7, 2017
  • by Neil

Monzo is a smart-phone only digital bank – sometimes called a ‘Neobank’ in some news articles. I’ve been using it over the last few months and wanted to share it with P2PBlog readers particularly as a smart way to spend money (and save fees) when travelling abroad. It’s probably not one for those who are cautious of sharing their private data with 3rd parties, but there are some key benefits of using the app which I will cover in this review. For the time being, the major draw is no fees on foreign cash withdrawals, though unfortunately this may be about to change. Read more “Monzo Review: (For Now) an Ideal Pre-Paid Card for Frequent Travellers” →

Brexit Opportunities Archover Analysis

Brexit: an opportunity for peer to peer lenders in…

  • October 1, 2017September 30, 2017
  • by Neil

…a world of change

Guest content from Angus Dent, CEO of  P2P lending platform ArchOver

Glancing at the news, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Brexit spelled the end of days for British business. Recent research by Citibase, which surveyed over 1,100 SMEs, revealed that small businesses in the UK are suffering from the prospect of leaving the EU, as one in five companies surveyed recorded a fall in revenues since the historic referendum result. This increasingly bleak picture of the post-Brexit UK economy has left the finance industry on edge about what is to come. Read more “Brexit: an opportunity for peer to peer lenders in…” →

Nutmeg High Risk portfolio performance Analysis

Nutmeg Robo-Advisor Performance Update

  • September 23, 2017
  • by Neil

I invested in the Nutmeg robo-advisor service at the end of the last tax year to use up my ISA allowance. There are often great cashback offers run by Quidco* and Topcashback* – in my case I had a £170 cashback for a £5,000+ investment which works out at an additional 3.4% return. At this moment in time it seems as neither cashback site has a link for Nutmeg, but offers may come up towards the end of the tax year as these companies fight for investor cash.

I often get questions from readers and other bloggers asking if I know where to find performance data for robo-advisors. I’ve made a comparison tool of the fees (link: Compare Robo-Advisors) but have struggled to find good data on actual performance. The way these advisors work is to ask you questions about your investment goals and risk tolerance and then design an allocation of ETFs for you. In my case I created 2 portfolios with Nutmeg: one of the absolute highest risk (high risk tolerance and 50 year time frame) and one of the absolute lowest risk. I will try to find a way to export the data and compare to basic low cost ETF trackers but for now here is the summarised data of the last 5 and half months for my Nutmeg portfolios: Read more “Nutmeg Robo-Advisor Performance Update” →

Buying Cryptocurrency Analysis

Buying CryptoCurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin etc.)

  • August 15, 2017August 15, 2017
  • by Neil

Given the huge volatility and risks involved, buying cryptocurrency could be the worst investment decision you ever make. For me, it is a bit like the dot com boom: many people recognise that this technology may change the world and are just throwing money at any opportunity to profit from the change. At the same time, historically owners of cryptocoins like Bitcoin have made massive returns and it is interesting to understand how to buy cryptocurrency directly if you want some exposure. This article starts with a basic intro to cryptocurrency, then goes on to show you 3 ways you can obtain them yourself.

Before you read any further, look at these two tweets from a bitcoin analyst as a caution before investing any money: Read more “Buying CryptoCurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin etc.)” →

European P2P Cashback Offers Analysis

Euro P2P Cashback

  • August 6, 2017November 7, 2017
  • by Neil

A number of continental European peer to peer lending platforms run cashback promotions for new customers. To qualify for these cashback offers you generally have to sign up via a special referral link or use a promo code on sign up. There’s two elements to most EU platforms bonuses:

  • A small completely free bonus on sign up, usually around €5
  • A percentage of your average investment balance over the first few months

First written June 2017, last updated Nov 2017 with updated Mintos Refer a Friend code

Read more “Euro P2P Cashback” →

The Student Rental Market Analysis

The Student Rental Market

  • July 17, 2017July 13, 2017
  • by Neil

UOWN is a Property Crowdfunding platform which allows the public to buy individual shares in UK properties. You can invest in a property via the UOWN platform and receive dividends from ongoing rental income and share in potential capital growth. If you join the site, one of the things you’ll notice is that all of the properties listed so far are student rentals. As the student rental market is quite a hot topic at the moment, I asked Sam Davies of UOWN to share some of his understanding of the market:

In the property crowdfunding market, investors have a huge range of property types to choose from. One property type that has always divided opinion is student property. Historically, some people have chosen to steer clear citing the propensity for students to damage fixtures and fittings, and the intense management needed, as not worth the headache. But with the recent staggered removal of income tax relief on mortgage interest, and higher transaction costs from a stamp duty surcharge on buy to let, the government has firmly put the brakes on the market.

Now more people are turning to student property to get the returns that they desire. With that in mind, what are the underlying fundamentals of the student market and what is in store with Brexit on the horizon? Read more “The Student Rental Market” →

UK Self Assessment Taxes p2p lending Analysis

UK P2P Self Assessment Taxes

  • July 4, 2017July 4, 2017
  • by Neil

I’ve been preparing my UK personal self assessment returns to include P2P and Property Crowdfunding income. This posts looks at what I’ve found to be technically necessary and follows up with my interaction with the platforms I invest in: exporting tax reports and specific tax questions. I’ve already written about how the UK government calculates tax on P2P income here, but have pasted in the relevant parts: Read more “UK P2P Self Assessment Taxes” →

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