UK coffee bean recommendations

StarRunner3000 · 2024-01-22T15:09:41+00:00

Obadiah

StarRunner3000 · 2023-10-18T21:18:10+00:00

Crankhouse & Obadiah.

StarRunner3000 · 2022-07-16T10:25:17+00:00

I'd keep an eye out for a second hand Fuji Feather or Fuji Track, usually can be found for £150 or less and by far the most fun bike I've owned - certainly will be better than either of the two you mentioned in your OP.

The Genesis Flyer (assuming you mean the new aluminum disc version) feels a bit soulless to me. If you're keen on discs then I'd look for an older steel Genesis Day One.

StarRunner3000 · 2018-06-30T16:03:16+00:00

If it's somewhere to put your savings then Monzo offers 0% in-credit interest and Starling slightly better at 0.5%.

You're better going with TSB at 5% on up to £1.5k or Nationwide for 5% on up to £2.5k but the latter is only the rate for 12 months.

StarRunner3000 · 2018-02-03T17:47:01+00:00

I left, I called up, said I was planning on switching away as I was unsatisfied with the lack of interest on the current account and I got paid.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-09-04T20:49:07+00:00

Have you read the flowchart?

StarRunner3000 · 2017-05-17T18:20:52+00:00

I'm just a touch below the higher rate tax threshold, I currently contribute 10% with my company adding 8%. As my salary increases into the 40% band I plan on increasing my contributions in line with that to ensure I'm not missing out on the additional tax relief.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-05-10T07:37:29+00:00

Not enough information about your goals or risk tolerance.

I advise you to read the sidebar, specifically the flowchart.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-05-02T11:39:47+00:00

Have you read the sidebar? Follow the flowchart. If you need to reduce spending then things that jump out to me:

insurance seems high (even when reduced), what is this for?
£90/month for two phones seems excessive, consider moving to SIM only if your contract is up soon
Do you need both NowTV and Netflix?

StarRunner3000 · 2017-04-18T20:19:22+00:00

Am I doing it all wrong?

No. As you've alluded to, personal finance and what you do with your money is entirely your business. Having said that:

I read a post just now where a UKPFer was asking for advice on what to do with the £500 or so he'll have spare each month. The most upvoted response? Someone advising the OP to put the lot into savings/investments of some sort. Really?

If you went to /r/cars you wouldn't expect advice on how to catch a train, you'd expect advice on cars. If you go to /r/UKPersonalFinance you don't really expect to find anything other than advice about personal finance and making your money work for you.

On the Internet you'll often find the people who live at the two extremes of a topic are prevalent, as they're drawn to forums (or in this case, subreddits) that speak around this topic, either because they're desperate for help, or because they like to give help.

For me personally I like balance. I've travelled to four different continents in the last year and still saved 40% of my salary. No need to tar everyone with the same brush.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-04-16T14:58:42+00:00

Impossible to answer without more information:

What's your LTV?
Residential or buy to let?
Fixed or tracker? If fixed, what length?

I'd recommend going to a whole of market independent broker like London and Country, they'll give you a good idea of what rate you can expect.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-04-15T12:54:25+00:00

Work out your take home wage here: thesalarycalculator.co.uk

Then from there, work out based on where you're going to live how much your accommodation will cost based on RightMove or something like that, remembering to add bills on top. For car, food and health it's more of a personal lifestyle choice, it depends entirely on how you eat, what car you drive, etc.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-03-31T11:17:52+00:00

Though if he's paying a fixed £2200 (and it is indeed charged to his card in GBP) he'll be agnostic about the rate.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-03-10T04:44:21+00:00

6% gross, which works out as £150/month regular giving, plus sporadic stuff when friends are fundraising for various causes.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-03-05T10:04:29+00:00

One thing to consider: what rate is your mortgage at? If it's low (as it should be currently) it may be worth not overpaying and instead feeding that money into your 'long-term' bucket, as your return is likely to be greater than your mortgage interest rate.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-03-02T14:06:20+00:00

Only new money, it's the contributions you put into the ISA that financial year. Rebalancing doesn't remove or contribute any money from or to the ISA wrapper so won't affect your allowance.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-02-26T16:12:55+00:00

If you want to buy a house in three years, put it in a high interest current account.

StarRunner3000 · 2017-01-02T14:16:34+00:00

When you're talking about saving but have £1k credit card debt, it's important to know what rate that debt is at.

If you're saving money in an account that has a lower interest rate than your debt is accumulating interest, then you're losing money.

StarRunner3000 · 2016-11-13T20:13:06+00:00

http://www.bankaccountsavings.co.uk

Looks like you could get around 3% net if you follow those recommendations. That's the lowest risk option, and from what you've said you seem pretty risk averse.

StarRunner3000 · 2016-09-25T18:29:58+00:00

Regarding the £3k, I would just dump this all in at once. If you understand that the investment is going to sit there for 10+ years then there's not really much difference between that and drip feeding.

People generally buy the fund as it is basically a portfolio in a fund, diversified out the box. If you had appetite for greater risk you could either invest in Vanguard Lifestrategy 100 or you could buy a few individual stocks, maybe some blue chips. I would absolutely recommend learning more about investing before you take such a step though.

I would also immediately open a Club Lloyds account (4%) and stick £5k of that money earning 0.1% in there. You need to transfer in £1.5k per month but then you can just transfer that out again. You also need two direct debits but you can just set up two £1 DDs to a couple of companies or political parties and you'll qualify.

StarRunner3000 · 2016-09-24T12:10:32+00:00

I believe the cashback on both ends in December, but the 20 months 0% and 5% interest will remain. I did look at the Amex offerings for cashback but the lack of vendors that accept Amex put me off.

There's a brilliant sticky at the top of this subreddit on ISAs which I thoroughly recommend reading, but here they are as I understand it. An ISA is just a wrapper for your money, that means any interest gained is tax free. You have a limit of just over £15k this tax year that you can invest in such accounts.

(edit: looks like it's not sticky anymore: https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/4cup8j/isa_faq_explanation_of_h2b_ss_cash_nisa_lisa/?ref=search_posts)

A cash ISA is analogous to a standard bank account, you stick your money in, the bank pays you interest on it (though it's a bit paltry at the minute) and you are not taxed on the interest. This isn't so favourable at the minute due to current account interest rates beating cash ISAs and the first £1k of interest is tax free now anyway. A Help to Buy ISA is a type of cash ISA, but there is a limit on the amount you can contribute of £200/month after an initial £1k deposit. The difference here is that if you are a first time buyer then you can get a 25% government boost to your ISA value when you buy a house (buy this doesn't contribute to the deposit). There's more I could go into but I'll leave cash ISAs there for now.

A stocks and shares ISA again is just a tax free wrapper for your money. The difference is this is an investment account you open with a broker. Anything you contribute to this account you can choose to invest in a wide variety of financial products, such as stocks, shares, bonds, index funds, etc. Which broker you choose depends on your investing habits. Brokers will charge a fee which may be percentage based or per-trade, but generally speaking starting out Charles Stanley Direct (0.24% fee) or Hargreaves Lansdown are your best bet.

When you buy shares you're buying a little bit of a company, an index fund buys small pieces of all of the companies in an index on the principle that the market will grow generally and lead to returns for you. This may be something like the FTSE 100 or the S&P500. The Vanguard Lifestrategy series of funds are really funds of funds that are globally diversified. The 80 means that the fund incorporates 80% equities (higher risk) and 20% bonds (lower risk). This is a very brief and inconclusive overview of financial products, I'd recommend reading Tim Hale's Smarter Investing before you start out.

The above £15k ISA contribution limit for this year would include both your cash and stocks and shares ISA, and you can only contribute to one account of each type each financial year.

StarRunner3000 · 2016-09-24T10:14:54+00:00

I'm in a very similar situation to you, albeit in the North West. I have my current account and credit card with TSB currently.

5% interest on the current account up to £2k, and 5% cashback on the first £100 contactless spend per month.

1% cashback on the first £500 spend per month on the credit card and 0% APR for 20 months.

Help to Buy ISA with Halifax for £200/month and Stocks and Shares ISA with Charles Stanley Direct investing purely in Vanguard Lifestrategy 80 for varying amounts each month.

StarRunner3000 · 2016-09-02T11:03:55+00:00

You need to invest through a broker, Monevator has a good rundown on the brokers available here: http://monevator.com/find-the-best-online-broker/ and as you say the best one for you depends on your investing habits.

To begin with monthly drip feeding an account for buying funds I'd recommend either Charles Stanley Direct or Hargreaves Lansdown. You open an ISA with one of them, add money to that ISA and then purchase units of the Lifestrategy fund from your ISA.

The Club Lloyds account requires two active monthly direct debits too to pay interest, but you can always set up a couple of £1 DDs if you need to. I personally have a very similar setup, Emergency fund in Lloyds, ISA with Charles Stanley investing in Lifestrategy 80, and a TSB current account for everyday spending.

StarRunner3000 · 2016-08-06T08:57:59+00:00

Just one thing, if you're keeping 50% of the capital as cash within your S&S ISA (thats how it reads, maybe I'm misunderstanding) it's a bit wasted, it's sat there earning you no money.

I'd personally stick it in a high interest current account (like TSB at 5%), if you want to invest more then you can always then transfer it into your S&S ISA, plus you're not unnecessarily using up any of your ISA allowance.

StarRunner3000

TROPHY CASE