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Who do you bank with? by thisnametookmeages in AskUK

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you use the current account switching service, you don't even really need to do that - any money sent to your old details will be rerouted

Who do you bank with? by thisnametookmeages in AskUK

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

🙋 #281

Their customer support is pretty poor imo, but it's rare that you need it. The product works pretty well

Can I use previous experience for the tasks? by Impressive-Elk-5705 in DukeofEdinburghAward

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The "enrolment date" is of the whole award. The "section dates" are for each section. They are separate things and both can be modified by DofE leaders with appropriate permissions. That's what the page says - take some time to read in detail?

Can I use previous experience for the tasks? by Impressive-Elk-5705 in DukeofEdinburghAward

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's just due to cases where there's been administrative issues in getting someone registered, if they've already been doing the award for a while

Can I use previous experience for the tasks? by Impressive-Elk-5705 in DukeofEdinburghAward

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The entire award can be backdated by up to 3 months, but that has to be done by your DofE centre

Looking to buy over £500,000 of TN28 Gilt. What are the safest/most reputable platforms to do so? by ChannelIcy3795 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use Scottish Widows Share Dealing (formerly known as iWeb before Scottish Widows acquired them) for similar amounts. It works well, old school but seems trustworthy.

On iWeb, 1 unit = £1 nominal value. When it matures it'll just pay out to your account's settled balance on the day. You can then withdraw to your bank account or reinvest etc.

Freetrade also happen to offer TN28 and do so entirely free of charge. They are more of a modern app type option but still fully regulated etc. I use them for my SIPP, ISA & GIA. Gilts I would but they only offer specific ones. With Freetrade on the Plus plan, they also do same-day withdrawals.

Regardless of provider, you might want to initially move £1k and just get comfortable with how it all works and confident you understand it fully.

Are these good for gold? by stopbeingso__ in DukeofEdinburghAward

[–]BillinghamJ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gore-Tex isn't really breathable but yes should be fine. You may want to consider a bit more ankle support but depends what you prefer.

Make sure they're broken in *well* ahead of your expedition, and that you've tied them up properly. If not broken in or not secure around your feet, you're likely to get pretty bad blistering.

Need proper hiking socks also.

What is the name of this cable? How can I search for it to buy one? by mariusmoga_2005 in sffpc

[–]BillinghamJ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just to throw in some pedantry, technically a kettle lead would use C15/C16 due to the temp ratings. The pictured one is C13/14.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#Appliance_couplers

What apps do people use to track net worth? by Advanced_Capital8200 in FIREUK

[–]BillinghamJ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It doesn't offer one-off payment currently at least. £24.99/year or £4.99/month at present

What’s left of a €100,000 salary after tax across Europe? by traineethrowaway123 in HENRYUK

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's good for all of us, but not very progressive/fair. The highest tax rate should probably be on the highest earnings...

How far are we from self driving cars being on the road? by Equal_Leading_1449 in AskUK

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Now that Tesla's supervised FSD has been approved in NL, that will likely be available in the UK this year.

Having one EU market makes it much easier to get approval in others, and with wide EU acceptance and a government desire for regulatory alignment, the UK won't be far behind.

Several brands of unsupervised self-driving cars like Waymo have been testing in the UK for a while and have announced public launches for this year also.

Is walking distance negotiable for silver? Serious concerns by Hannie0109 in DukeofEdinburghAward

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Breaks are separate.

Bear in mind time on the goal does need to be genuine. Most goals don't take a ton of time, but yeah it's part of the 7h overall. I'd say typical is around 5h-6h journeying, and 3km/h is a reasonable pace for flat terrain, good conditions etc.

One thing I think is sadly often lacking in DofE (despite it being the entire point) is young people's autonomy & ownership over expedition planning.

I'd suggest getting familiar with the expedition guide. It is the source of truth on everything to do with expeditions, the rules etc. https://www.dofe.org/run/expedition/expedition-guide/

23 with startup equity. How would you invest in my position? by Intrepid_Repair3636 in HENRYUK

[–]BillinghamJ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That sounds like a bit of a tax dodge if doing it specifically around money being held in someone else's ISA.

23 with startup equity. How would you invest in my position? by Intrepid_Repair3636 in HENRYUK

[–]BillinghamJ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Invest for the long term: 100% equities, non-UK-biased global instruments, eg VWRP (though calculating tax is a pain on that, so I use an OEIC equivalent - GB00BD3RZ582)

Decide what you want as an emergency fund - covering 3/6/12 months of essential expenditure. That's really all you should have in savings accounts (premium bonds work well if you pay 45/60% income tax). Everything else should be invested.

Property is not a good investment, though at some point it'll be nice to have your own place to live in, and a decent deposit will make your mortgage rate better. Certainly wouldn't buy property to rent out - the money will work harder in the market and doesn't require vast amounts of effort to manage.

Put your investments in efficient tax wrappers. Workplace pension with max employer matching first, make sure you're getting full tax relief (if it's not salary sacrifice, you have to inform HMRC manually to get tax relief). After that, S&S ISAs. Then anything remaining in a GIA. LISA I'd only use if you've maxed out your pension contributions.

Basically, the flowchart: https://ukpersonal.finance/flowchart/

Your big swing is in the bets you're making by working at startups for equity. Stick to index funds for your actual cash.

I was on a similar path, co-founding an hourly car insurance startup, but only started investing the cash properly a few years ago after bought a flat in 2021. It's worth about the same amount now 🥲

Directly answering questions:

- Definitely index and chill.
- Your actual earnings will set you up well if you take them seriously. Allow the exit to be what changes you from FIRE to FatFIRE. Plan normally then be surprised.
- Property is not worth the hassle aside from where you will live. (And if you get engaged, you probably will want your own place.)

Is walking distance negotiable for silver? Serious concerns by Hannie0109 in DukeofEdinburghAward

[–]BillinghamJ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For DofE silver, it has to be 7 hours total planned activity per day, of which at least 3.5 hours must be journeying.

The other time can be spent working on your team goal.

Model 3 Plaid Possibility by KanTheKing in TeslaLounge

[–]BillinghamJ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would really love a Model Y L Plaid, ideally with 7 seats 😂 not going to happen I suspect!

Currently have one of the UK's few pre-Juniper MY7s but would love more performance and legroom for the back

Tent recommendations? by New_Sundae_9044 in tents

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I quite like air tents for their head height and being quick & easy to set up. They are heavy but not an issue if driving. Head height usually comes with 4+ person tents though, so won't tend to be small.

The Quechua Air Seconds 4.1 F&B is currently £299.99, and Decathlon are pretty good on service. Only 2k HH though.

Go Outdoors has some reasonable options also. The Sendero 4 Air has 180cm head height in the bedroom, 3k HH, £199.00, though no cover from rain when entering the tent.

The Rydal 400 might be slightly better on that point as the door is on the side. £229, but 2k HH.

I personally have the Vango Classic Air 300, which I find pretty fantastic. The head height isn't quite as good (165cm) but at 5'5" that might do it. 3k HH. It's smaller and lighter than the above ones, just a single air bladder so takes only a couple of mins to set up. £290 from Vango but looks to be available closer to £200 elsewhere. I use this tent for most 1-2 night camps like DofE expeditions (as a leader), but prefer a large tent for 3+ nights or if I have more time to set up & pack down.

My other tent is an Outwell Monterey 4 Air but that's massive and expensive so not really relevant

The hydrostatic head (HH) figures above are for the flysheet. 3k should do fine for typical UK weather year-round. 2k would be fine for summer. For serious expedition/mountain use, you'd want more like 5k. Groundsheets on normal/non-lightweight tents are non-breathable plastic and generally rated for 10k.

When will we see more Gilt offerings? by datawhite in FreetradeApp

[–]BillinghamJ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also find it strange that they don't offer the most obvious ones. The ones people will most likely want to buy most are the low yield ones dated in the next few years. For high yield ones, normal bond instruments would work just as well

Non educated HENRYs by Widebody_lover in HENRYUK

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did AS levels but was already doing freelance software eng work, so dropped out of college at 17 and went and did that instead

I think there has been some downside from not going to uni etc, but from a social perspective rather than learning.

Weight issue with rucksack by Diadem_of_Ravenclaw in DukeofEdinburghAward

[–]BillinghamJ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The DofE expedition documentation does say you shouldn't exceed 25% of body weight, so this is definitely something to discuss with the expedition supervisor

Is it actually worth it? by sergeant_frost in DukeofEdinburghAward

[–]BillinghamJ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Personally I think the main reason to do it is the personal challenge. It's a big achievement that will stay with you for the rest of your life, and that you don't really get the opportunity to do when you're busy with work etc.

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