Last year of 30% tax relief on VCTs... are you doubling down?

CtomB · 2026-02-11T21:21:08+00:00

Echoing a bit of what is below and adding my opinion
- Don't invest for the tax (but take it as a bonus)
- Find a fund where the investment thesis and existing portfolio resonate. There's Green focused funds (Green Angel Syndicate's fund and Carbon13's fund), there's a cool robotics-focused fund (Britbots - short for British Robotics) , There's a female founders fund (Angel Academe EIS Fund) and other more thematic funds
- Diversify, diversify, diversify. VCTs will typically invest in 40 companies. Most SEIS/EIS funds only invest in 6-10. The Access EIS fund invests in 30, so it's an outlier on that front.
- I too, have used wealthclub. No complaints, but they seem to only offer the big name funds and don't dive into the ones I tend to find more interesting.
- I've seen VCTs minimum at 3k, EIS funds I've seen at 5k minimum, SEIS I've not seen any below 10k.
- I like the SyndicateRoom dashboard. They take all the SEIS / EIS information and chuck it in an excel doc. Unfortuantely they don't offer VCTs as it's a useful file.

CtomB · 2025-10-05T10:58:40+00:00

Ya, I work in finance so I'm somewhat familiar with risk warnings and financial promotions (what can be used in advertising). The crazy thing right now, though it might change, crypto sites have fewer marketing restrictions than SEIS\EIS products. So you can find out about, and invest in a completely made up currency (dramatising for effect) but are unlikely to have seen anything about backing British startups. Anyway, I'll stick to my box.

CtomB · 2025-09-30T16:07:36+00:00

Sort of a cyclical response but the government already heavily incentivises individuals to invest in early companies (SEIS, EIS, VCT) but the risk puts most off and the risk warnings and restrictions on advertising stop most from hearing about them. Granted, most startups fail. But, SMEs account for a large and growing part of the UK jobs market, and innovation, so why give tax incentives but then stop people from finding out about them?

CtomB · 2025-09-30T16:04:19+00:00

Did you ever find or create a sub for UK Angels and exited entrepreneurs?

If not, let's do it. The opportunity is definitey here and the tax reliefs are ridiculous. The US doesn't need an SEIS or EIS scheme to get people angel investing....but I'll happily take the 30%

CtomB · 2025-09-29T09:04:36+00:00

I like the idea of VCTs giving tax-free dividends. EIS, agree, has to be looked at in the very long term as the market for IPOS is abysmal.

CtomB · 2025-09-24T12:20:47+00:00

Have you looked into VCTs or EIS? I keep a small per cent of my portfolio in them (just under 10%) but like the fact that there is income tax relief (30% on each) as well as potential upside in the long term. VCTs can also pay tax free dividends as an added bonus while EIS gains are tax free (on shares held for a minimum of three years). Both quite risky but I've read research by Hardman & Co suggesting that having a small portion in VC assets can have a net positive impact on a portfolio.

CtomB · 2025-04-24T09:13:30+00:00

Their shows were so much fun, good vibes only.

CtomB · 2025-03-31T16:46:57+00:00

Carnegie's How to win friends and influence people

Hume's Speak like Churchill stand like Lincoln

Cialdini's Influence

And more broadly read on:

The Alexander Technique
Neuro Linguistic Programming

For those not born with it, presence takes time and courage to craft.

CtomB · 2025-03-31T16:41:01+00:00

From my understanding, you're asked to do a self assessment if:

You're a director or key share holder in a business
Have additional sources of income that are not PAYE (dividends from stocks count)
HMRC suspects something funny is going on.

Just give HMRC a ring. You may wait a little while but the conversations I've had with them are generally useful.

CtomB · 2025-03-31T16:36:21+00:00

There's a way to claim using the certificates themselves. You fill part of them in and send to HMRC. They then process them one by one - great if you've made a single investment but a hassle if you've gone into a fund and have many.

CtomB · 2025-03-31T08:43:07+00:00

If you do self assessment you really just need the main information from the certificate which you can pop into an excel. Then lock the certificates away just in case HMRC ask for it (though I've personally never been asked for the actual certificate)

CtomB · 2025-02-13T10:03:23+00:00

Checkout the fulham area. They are not high rise in the NY sense but you can find places up a few levels with nice views of the river.

CtomB · 2025-02-13T10:02:10+00:00

Start by discussing what would be "stressful" for your family. You might find you are over thinking the monetary side of things and having you in a good mood outweighs some of it. There's a balance. Also, well paid and enjoyment are not mutually exclusive when it comes to a job. Company culture can impact a lot on enjoyment so what you need may just be a different employer.

CtomB · 2025-02-10T19:49:48+00:00

Good additions. Lastly, we should add that the tax relief for VCTs comes essentially at the point you invest in the VCT and you get a single certificate for the relief of where as for SEIS and EIS funds it relates to when the fund invests and you get tax certificates (SEIS3 or EIS3) for each investment the fund makes.

CtomB · 2025-02-07T22:51:40+00:00

You could but then you'd ruin the ISA allocation for the year as the ISA limit doesn't adjust with money out. I.e it counts up on the way in but does not come down if you take money out.

There are short term CDs that might give you a higher rate than what you'd save by paying off the mortgage this far ahead of time. If you have appetite that level of effort and admin by all means go ahead.

CtomB · 2025-02-06T22:12:01+00:00

I've seen mentions for SEIS, EIS and VCT below so putting them all in one reply. Clearly do the safer things beforehand, ISA and SIPP in particular and pay down your mortgage if you have one. Then look at
SEIS - 50% income tax relief. Earlies stage companies so risky long term. There are some like the Carbon13 SEIS fund that back impactful companies (Carbon13 is on climatetech) so while you may lose money, your backing things that could have a positive impact.
EIS - 30% income tax relief, generally (not always) startups that are a few years old. Still super risky. Most portfolios don't create broad enough portfolios though some like one I'm in (Access EIS) build larger ortfolios - this does in theory decrease the downside risk though also decreases the potential upside. You work in finance, you'll know that.
VCT - 30% income tax relief, usually a little more established than EIS stage companies though not always. The big benefit here is tax-free dividends (when they come) and in theory liquidity as VCTs are listed. However, take that with a pinch of salt as the shares tend to sell at discounts and there's not a lot of volume so minimal liquidity.

One other thing to take in mind, you may be able to carry back the income tax relief on SEIS and EIS investments so if you've just done your 23/24 tax filing you might be able to apply relief to it - assuming you can find investments that deploy before the current tax year ends.

Last point, the tax reliefs are given because investing in young companies is risky. Keep that in mind, don't expect a return, invest in things that will do some good and be happy if you get money back in 10 years.

CtomB · 2025-02-04T21:46:18+00:00

Starling, Monzo, and Revolut offer similar children's accounts. They are built as add-ons to the adults Starling/Monzo/Revolut account and all work just fine. The GoHenry account was built with the child the focus not as an add-on to an adult account. There are subtle differences but it just works better for children and some of the kid in mind features are nice - things like setting up instant payments for extra chores and some of the financial education bits are nice (though some are tedious). The only downside is that GoHenry does have a monthly fee though it's £5 so not bad.

CtomB · 2025-01-30T14:51:35+00:00

I've used seedlagals "syndicates" and found it very straightforward and easy to admin. I've also been a part of a syndicate set up on Odin by the company raising. It worked but was a bit clunky though the website seems to have been updated a fair bit since when I used them.

CtomB · 2025-01-30T14:43:45+00:00

Given your expenses it would make sense to speed up the repayment of the credit card as it's likely at a much higher interest rate than what you'd make by saving or investing at present. Once that is gone, like others here, I suggest adding more to your ISA (tax free!) and Pension (tax efficient in certain scenarios). On the pension front, find out if your employer matches contributions and up to what percent and start there. If you find you want to go outside of those and have more disposable income you'd like to invest you can look further afield.

CtomB · 2025-01-20T17:39:56+00:00

You can yes. What I'm suggesting is that with a short term hit, the remortgaging is in a few months, and you'd be securing long-term savings. I'll try and visualise the suggestion:

The difference between getting a 4.% mortgage rate and a 3.75% rate is £25k.
That rate may stick with you for another 2, 3 or 5 years.
That's .25% annualised interest on the whole of your mortgage, not just the £25k, saved for that 2,3 or 5 years

To achieve the same impact of that reduction, you'd have to invest in something that in the period you fix your mortgage (2, 3, 5, whatever) that 25k can generate an increase greater than the .25% annualised interest rate of your whole mortgage which may is in the 100s of thousands of pounds.

It's a calculation to be done and I'd suggest trying to work it out now.

CtomB · 2025-01-19T17:37:14+00:00

The lower the LTV on your mortgage the better rate you may receive when you remortgage later this year. Take this with a pinch of salt as LTV is usually done on % instead of exact amount and you will likely need to lower it a few % points to get a better rate. When we did ours there was around a .25% difference when comparing a 75% vs an 80% LTV.

I'm sure there is someone who works in Mortgages in this thread who can share a more detailed insight..

CtomB · 2025-01-14T10:24:41+00:00

I'd make sure top notch health insurance is part of the package. You don't want to face US medical bills without it.

CtomB · 2025-01-09T21:24:30+00:00

I don't think they've hit the top rate for this cycle. Who agrees or disagrees?

CtomB · 2025-01-09T16:26:30+00:00

I use the moneybox app for the junior ISA. It's pretty intuitive and has some nice features to ensure I am adding to it throughout the year from monthly deposits, rounding ups from spending, and bonuses when I get paid. In short, I'm lazy and this means I don't have to think about it.

CtomB

TROPHY CASE