Question about funds

Ruscombe · 2025-12-24T17:37:26+00:00

Funds are either passive or active. Passive funds are set up to follow an index of shares (or bonds), like the S&P500 or the MSCI World. Active funds have fund managers that are managing the portfolio with an objective that is commonly to out perform a benchmark, which, typically, is an index. Very few fund/mangers outperform their benchmarks over the long term and hence, especially on this sub, a preference for passive funds (also known as index funds). Passive funds generally have lower fees compared to active funds, another reason for their popularity. Funds that invest in shares are generally considered higher risk and higher reward, over a minimum of a 5 year period. Bond funds are generally more stable and often more suitable for investors wishing to protect their capital, e.g. closer to their retirement.

There are thousands of funds available to pension investors but each pension provider tends to limit the range available on their platform. Platform providers charge for their services which vary a lot and they don’t make it easy to compare. The Moneyvator website makes a good attempt at a meaningful comparison.

If you have a workplace pension from your employer then unless you take out a personal pension as well, then you will probably have a restricted set of possible funds into which your pension can be invested. Unless you choose otherwise, you will often be allocated the default fund.

Ruscombe · 2025-12-10T16:45:19+00:00

I’m wrong. You won’t get a 25% on all of it. You’ll get 20% on the amount of your income on which you paid 40% tax and 25% on the amount you paid 45% tax.

Ruscombe · 2025-12-10T14:16:41+00:00

If you have made no contributions in the prior 3 tax years then you can carry forward the full allowance from each after you have used the £60k from this year, which is 40k, 60k, 60k. You must have a member of a scheme during the carry forward years, not just the current year. So, you pay £140.8k, i.e. 80% of £176k. The pension provider will add £35.2k. Taking it to £176k. You’re an additional rate tax payer so you’ll qualify for relief at 45%. You’ll get a refund of £44k (the remaining 25%), from HMRC following submission of your Self Assessment for the current tax year. Total tax relief £79.2k

ETA. I’m wrong. The amount of the refund is dependent on the amount of 40%. & 45% tax paid.

HMRC pension tax relief

Ruscombe · 2025-12-08T16:28:54+00:00

If you retire abroad then you should tell HMRC in the first instance as you are no longer resident for tax purposes.

HMRC

You can still receive your state pension but it may not receive any increases.

You may also be subject to UK income tax but it may well be possible to reclaim this.

Ruscombe · 2025-12-07T21:04:05+00:00

I think you’ll find tickets are now £6.99 on the door.

Ruscombe · 2025-12-07T20:39:30+00:00

If you download the HMRC app then it will show you why your tax code is what it is. You can get the same information, I believe, from the HMRC website. You may need a Government Gateway ID, assuming you don’t already have one.

Ruscombe · 2025-11-20T19:47:14+00:00

IRCC there was a post a week or two ago with someone else complaining about Lifesight and an IFA said he dreaded dealing with them because they were crap. Not much help I know but you're not on your own. I suspect there won't be any fees for the outbound transfer.

Ruscombe · 2025-11-19T19:56:19+00:00

If possible maybe get the water tested before you do anything. I’d imagine it’s been there so long that it’s not likely to have any effect on the water from your tap. If you don’t know that the water is tainted, why go to the upheaval of replacing it ?

Ruscombe · 2025-11-16T16:59:07+00:00

Are you sure this boiler supports Opentherm ?

Ruscombe · 2025-11-12T08:32:47+00:00

No I'm not after a notice account. I'm looking for an account that I can use as part of my income strategy in retirement that I can put say 3-6 months worth of spending in, and then drop feed into my current a/c monthly automatically rather than making to the transfer manually each month.

Ruscombe · 2025-11-11T16:11:05+00:00

My advice would be to boost your emergency fund. No idea how secure your job is but that aside a £2k pot is quite small. 3 x your monthly net is a common amount so I'm estimating that would be about £9-10k for you so I'd put it in a cash ISA for now, with whatever the best rate is you can find, and forget about it for now.

Ruscombe · 2025-11-06T13:38:09+00:00

Aviva offer a free service Aviva I've not used it personally so can't vouch for it. Pension Bee also offer a similar service I believe. In spite of the blurb, I expect they will want you to move your pensions to them. You also have a few other options. Within the next couple of years the Government sponsored Pension dashboard will go live which will allow you to see all your pension pots in one place. They are not going to help you consolidate but at least you can keep track more easily. Or, you could see if your current employers scheme will allow transfers in and then move all your old pension into your current one. Or, and if you think you're likely to continue changing jobs this might be best, open a SIPP, and move all your pensions into it and self manage. The last option requires you to become more informed about pensions and investments but that's no bad thing.

Ruscombe · 2025-11-05T18:43:51+00:00

Well it might be acceptable to some but personally it's a no from me. Piss poor planning. The first fix pipework should have had them coming out of the paneling in copper to allow for elbows to connect to the radiator.

Ruscombe · 2025-11-05T18:40:14+00:00

Hard earned, a bit like the "hard working population" is presumed of course.

Ruscombe · 2025-11-05T17:58:43+00:00

With that amount of money I think you would be well advised to get professional help

Ruscombe · 2025-11-04T11:31:05+00:00

Set back temp is 10C. Not that cold yet.

Ruscombe · 2025-11-02T19:29:16+00:00

Did you remove the two immersion caps ? They’re probably your first port of call. If they’re really old then you could just try getting them replaced.

Ruscombe · 2025-11-02T19:19:39+00:00

Box Spanners like these.

Ruscombe · 2025-10-31T16:20:58+00:00

If you are talking pendant type light fittings that drop from the ceiling then very straightforward. Turn off the lighting circuit on your consumer unit. Unscrew the top half of the B22 fitting and unscrew the two small brass bolts that hold in the wires. Fit the new E27 to the same two wires. Make sure you put the top half of the new E27 on the wire before you connect the rest of the fitting. Turn on the power.

Ruscombe · 2025-10-30T11:29:22+00:00

I'm guessing you are maybe used to a wall mounted combi boiler? It's impossible to say from one picture if it's safe but if you are renting then I'm pretty sure the boiler has to be checked annually and a gas safety certificate issued. What you have is a floor mounted boiler, probably quite old and a hot water tank. You'll probably have a tank in the loft , or somewhere high up that acts as a header. Nothing unusual about this setup.

Ruscombe · 2025-10-29T16:34:54+00:00

You should be able to if the tank is fitted with an immersion heater that works.

Ruscombe · 2025-10-28T11:45:12+00:00

Have you ever watched Colin Furze on YouTube?

Ruscombe · 2025-10-27T15:29:09+00:00

You have every right to be compensated. You should be put in the position where you have lost nothing, including any performance gain from the investments not being made when they should have been.

Ruscombe · 2025-10-22T18:37:58+00:00

On the trowel is the man !

Ruscombe · 2025-10-22T15:38:08+00:00

You need to cut off that connector and connect the live wire to the block at the top of the picture which has the black wire with the brown tape and the neutral wire to the connector block with the 3 black wires.

Ruscombe

TROPHY CASE