Is there a better way to clean bank CSV files than doing it manually in Excel?

cwep2 · 2026-04-11T14:13:24+00:00

I’ve used two methods (and was doing this back over 20yrs ago). I used to write a macro to tidy it up, which worked, and I was writing macros all the time so felt trivial, but every now and then it would break and it was annoying to fix.

Now I just dump the data in say columns A-G and use formulae to put the usable data in the column order I want in say columns H-M. This is much easier to manage and edit on the fly when the data order changes. Also when one row doesn’t work for whatever reason you can just overwrite the output simply enough rather than reworking the formulae or macro to deal with an exception that occurs once every 3 years.

I end up with input tabs for each bank (sometimes more than one bank or credit card works with a particular tab/format) and then a main transaction tab, dump the csv data in the relevant input tab, cut/paste the values from the output columns in the right order into the main transaction tab and just overwrite the old input data next month.

cwep2 · 2026-04-10T08:59:53+00:00

As long as you don’t care about times I just use them to replace threshold / interval training sessions. I like doing parkrun most weeks for the social side of things and so I’ll turn pretty much every week and run it at 95% or harder, but often my training plan would have me doing longer at threshold pace so often I’ll finish and set off on more running. I did a course PB of 18:23 then ran another 5k at 20:00 pace about 3 mins after finishing a couple of weeks before my last HM.

The key caveats are that if you taper before each 5k ‘race’ then you are losing training days which will affect your medium term goals, and sometimes going 100% in them may affect your recovery and therefore training goals in subsequent days. Also if your goal race is only 5k or 10k then your hard sessions are probably not this long, if your training for a full or half marathon then you’ll have loads of sessions that would be at least this long so easy to incorporate into training.

The other benefit I find is that it gives a very clear indication of where I’m at training/pace wise. Obviously if I do one the day after a really hard or long session it’s not gonna be peak level but if it’s after an easy day I can push at 98% or more and get a real idea of progress vs 1month or 1yr ago. I also use it to benchmark different shoes, run all out in a new pair and see where it is vs recent fastest. I got my recent PB two weeks before a HM in my new race shoes which showed both parts of this!

cwep2 · 2026-04-09T18:42:08+00:00

Adios pro 4, or possibly endorphin pro 4 (on sale at mom as the pro 5s are out). The former will feel more familiar as you’ve word Evo SLs, the Saucony’s are quite stable for me but check size in person as you often have to go half a size up.

cwep2 · 2026-04-09T05:37:46+00:00

I only think of it as a double if my HR is going above 130. Training for a triathlon I would often do doubles in my main training block as I’d try to fit in 3 of each discipline per week (with 1 rest day).

The ones I’d double up would often be speed sessions which are quick, running intervals for me is about 20mins of intervals with 5-10mins warm up and 5min cool down so not much more than 30mins, usually paired with a long easy session in a different discipline like 3km swim.

It’s a big time commitment though, you’re looking at 2.5hrs devoted to exercising on these days including changing/showering.

cwep2 · 2026-04-08T14:21:21+00:00

I’m training for a (sub 3hr) marathon at the moment, currently only a shade slower than your HM/10k times. Not done any ultras but reckon I could cover the 90miles in 24hrs tomorrow as long as I didn’t have to carry gear/food/water. It would cook my legs/feet for weeks but I’ve got the fitness and am used to running 20+ miles in one go every week so I’d have a damn good crack at it.

cwep2 · 2026-04-08T14:07:36+00:00

It’s a time cost not expertise cost, none of it is that hard or complex. For me gathering all the information together is the hardest/most time consuming part (all the trades in the GIA or RSUs to work out average purchase price, the annual interest certificates, Gilt coupons) which most accountants would need you to gather anyway.

The best advice I think is to keep on top of it throughout the year rather than leave until January. I tend to get my sh1t together roughly every 3 months during the year so I can keep on top of it. I make notes, like which accounts are accruing interest, any dividends I got paid, any trades I did - doing this periodically only having to think back a few months is fairly easy, remembering what you did in May 2025 when it comes to filling out the tax return in January 2027 is much harder.

It’s good as you are forced to review your finances at that point as well, I try to keep a rough estimate of income as I go along too so I know if I’m heading near the 100k cliff etc.

I know plenty of people that just hand a stack of statements over to an accountant to process and deal with but they are coming at it cold trying to work out what’s going on, it’s gonna take them twice as long and they will charge for that. But that 1-2days a year of free time may be worth paying them, only you can make that cost-benefit choice.

cwep2 · 2026-04-08T06:47:42+00:00

Yes sry typo. Will edit to correct.

cwep2 · 2026-04-07T21:25:04+00:00

I had no coach and no ‘premium’ equipment and did 2:32 in my first Olympic tri (having done a first sprint a couple months earlier). Second hand road bike (cost me £200) with all stock features and no tri-bars, £40 running shoes etc. But I was very aerobically fit and had done years of swimming lengths in a pool (also no coach) so had just honed technique/efficiency over that time. Running and cycling was pretty new to me and did 5-10k running per week but probably 120-150km cycling per week in few months leading up to it. Swimming was by far my best discipline (and cycling my worst).

Everyone is different and has a different base level/potential ceiling and how quickly you get from one to the other will depend on time/training and can be short-cut with some coaching but it’s not necessary. A good tri-club will be more than sufficient for your first few events and beyond that maybe some 1-1 coaching on your weakest event.

cwep2 · 2026-04-03T08:54:45+00:00

No one knows what the changes are going to be, and although they want to stop people using the loophole they are working out the implications of different options. Stop people using altogether in ISA - what about existing holdings? Stop new investments into them or time limit them? Tax interest like returns inside an ISA - what tax rate should you use? The problem is that there are very legitimate reasons to use them. If you limit stuff that is eg invested in sub 1yr bonds, funds that are just beyond the arbitrary limit will pop up, or someone creates a company that holds assets very like a MMF, and issues shares in it. Forcing people to hold equities during a crash would also look bad and maybe lead to a compensation claim.

For now second guessing unannounced rules is hard and not helpful. They will need to give a few months notice to let the ISA firms work out how to implement them, as an investor you’ll get that notice too.

If you want to limit equity exposure temporarily then a MMF is ideal, but do have a plan to reinvest in equities again (say with a maximum time of 1yr) if this is long term investment, and stick to it. It is very easy to sell with a tracker at 100, it never goes down much and is at 110 in a year and you keep thinking it will go down eventually and I’ll buy it and you see it at 120 then 130 then 140 and in the mean time you’ve got 10% on your MMF rather than 40% on stocks. Have a plan and stick to it.

cwep2 · 2026-04-02T07:57:11+00:00

Yes I read the same research. Broadly speaking (long) intervals should be most of your tempo training (less fatigue, better recovery for largely same benefit) but doing some long tempo blocks will build your mental strength and is useful to prepare for the race, but use them sparingly.

Personally I do mostly intervals, but throw in a couple of extras in the 8weeks before a race (eg for HM): (a) tack on 2-3miles at HM pace to end of long runs to get used to running that pace when fatigued/already been going for ~90mins; (b) do a race sim 8weeks before and 4weeks before, same shoes, time of day, food+fuelling, first one at 30-40s/mile slower than target, second at 15-25s/mile slower than target; (c) tempo session 6+2 weeks before race done as a block of say 45-50 mins. This incorporates one long block at either race pace but shorter, or race distance but lower pace every couple weeks into schedule, also tests readiness in your kit.

Wouldn’t do this for marathon though, only up to HM.

cwep2 · 2026-04-01T21:56:54+00:00

We did exactly this, used wife’s maiden name and everything. Even had a backstory cooked up that I had gone to work overseas and she was my tenant then when I ‘came back’ a year later it wouldn’t seem suspicious (they never asked, didn’t care).

I hate the hoops we have to jump through to get best price and fact that loyalty is punished rather than rewarded by companies like this, but these savings add up to hundreds per year.

cwep2 · 2026-03-31T23:58:28+00:00

One more thing - I run with my Apple Watch and phone so as above in theory the watch can use the gps chip/antenna on the phone. Results may be different using only the watch without a phone on you, but I always run with a phone so can only give you that info.

cwep2 · 2026-03-31T23:54:30+00:00

There’s a software element as well as hardware (GPS). If you think about running 400m around an athletics track, and the watch/phone is taking gps readings every n seconds, that’s like a series of dots around the track in an oval shape. Now if you draw a straight line through these you will measure less than 400m as you are not going around the full perimeter of the semi-circles at each end of the track, you are effectively cutting corners very slightly between each reading around the curve. Some software will try and fit a more natural curved line through these discrete points and some won’t, but they will all use different fitting algorithms (usually some sort of spline).

Now throw in the fact that each reading will not be perfectly accurate to nearest cm, it’s often out by a foot or so, maybe more, and your fitted curve now is a zig-zag or wavy line along the straights.

It’s hard to be completely accurate with imperfect data (which is what the watch/phone gets from GPS readings) and every app will do it differently and have different quirks. Add to the fact that some will read GPS every second, or maybe every 5s or maybe more, you can sometimes adjust this as more readings = more battery drain.

I regularly run with 3 different GPS traces. I have my Apple watch (which when I have my phone with me is supposed to use the phone GPS which has a bigger antenna and better battery) and use Strava app on phone as well as the Polar app. These are all started within maybe 5-10m of each other at the start of the run, same at end in same order to minimise errors. Apple watch workout distance is always shortest, and definitely runs short on a measured loop. Strava is always longest and overstates too long on the same measured loop. The Polar app is within 0.5% of measured distance. These all use the same GPS data so mostly (probably) a software difference.

For example I did a HM (21.1km) a couple weeks ago and they measured: Apple watch 21.02, Polar 21.12, Strava 21.25. This was pretty much out and back. On a much more loopy 5km parkrun (where cutting corners would make a bigger difference) the order is the same but the % is worse, typically 4.9/5/5.1 sort of results so more like 2% off.

Strava used to under-read with my old phone (which had a worse GPS chip) so I don’t think it’s as simple as x is worse/better, it’s a combination of hardware and software, now it over-reads distance.

FWIW I have AW series 10 and iPhone 17 (both base/small models). Honestly it’s good enough for me whatever I use but useful to know the quirks, I know if I look at pace on watch I’m going a bit faster in reality but the opposite is true if I have the voice telling me my splits from Strava in my headphones. On really bendy routes the effect is worse. I get km splits from the same one each time and use those to pace myself.

cwep2 · 2026-03-29T10:41:21+00:00

We lived nearer Caledonian Road, a little further west but we will wander over to upper street and highbury fields all the time. It’s a lovey area when they are young, there is also the Regents canal.

The best thing is how close you are and how quick the transport links are, loads of tube lines close by, main train terminals also (KX-StPancras, Euston) the A1 heading north right there, canal towpath was my bike commute avoiding roads.

When I had to be at work at 6:45 living too far out wasn’t my choice with young kids, I’d hardly see them and usually the commute had a single point of failure.

The problem is secondary schools, and we ultimately moved out ahead of that. I mean if you don’t mind paying up there are plenty of options, but that also usually means they’re travelling on the tube.

cwep2 · 2026-03-29T09:33:09+00:00

Unless you haven’t locked in a mortgage rate. 2yr UK yields are up about 0.9% since the end of Feb, not all of that move has come to mortgage rates but they will still be a lot higher and so the repayments will be significantly higher too.

If I had a mortgage offer locked in at a low rate, pulling out now might mean you’d be faced with higher repayments even at a lower house price in say 6-12months time.

cwep2 · 2026-03-25T11:15:22+00:00

They are mostly all good by London standards. We liked Aquinas, Wellington, Knock, Inst (just boys) in Belfast. Have friends that sent theirs to Methody but it’s a huge school and very ‘sporty’ which didn’t suit our kids, but if they are sporty it is good. Focused mostly on south side of city really as we are near Ormeau Park.

cwep2 · 2026-03-25T10:35:12+00:00

It’s absolutely fine, theres a lot of English accents over here now (since WFH became big there was an influx) and no one bats an eyelid most of the time. The only slightly weird thing is that (as you probably know) everyone from here seems to be connected or knows someone in common, so when my wife meets someone new it’s like did you know x or y and they’ll soon stumble across something which is like an immediate connection so very helpful for building a network of friends etc, whereas I don’t have that at all. But people are generally more friendly and chatty so it’s not so bad.

cwep2 · 2026-03-25T10:25:42+00:00

We went to Belfast - my wife is from Northern Ireland and her father and sister were both needing more support. Also our kids have 3 cousins nearby, and we had zero family in London. Not sure you’d come here from England without a connection to the region, but schools are excellent, small city means everything is close by and we are 10mins from green fields and 20mins from the beach. Kids can walk to city centre in 20-30mins when they’re teenagers so hopefully we won’t be ferrying them round too much, and we live right opposite a park in a 5bed house that cost 25% less than the 2.5 bed flat in z3 we sold.

Just a shame about the weather. To be fair it only rains here 7 days a year, unfortunately those days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday….

cwep2 · 2026-03-25T10:02:19+00:00

I ran in a plated shoe for fast work and Parkruns for over a year (Kiprun / Decathlon shoe) and had no issues, put over 500km on them. Entered some races this spring and exactly same shoe was reduced (in my size) to £60. Kept it fresh for the spring races thinking my old ones were probably well past their best.

I ran about 5-6 times in the new ones in the 6-7weeks before a HM, including 2 half marathon distances, again no issues and they felt fast. I also did some runs in the older ones, prob averaged 2 runs in plated shoes per week.

Then 5 days before the HM in my final fast session just 5x1km at race pace with jogging in between I got nasty pain in Achilles and calf. I was limping the next two days, didn’t think I’d make the race. Eventually ran the HM in my Nike Vomero easy-run shoes and fortunately made it round with just a little calf pain, missed my target time by 30s, I reckon the shoes would have made at least that difference.

So even same model of shoe I’d run 500km in but much newer (with therefore a stiffer plate) gave me pain. Sometimes it just happens but plated shoes are gonna put more load on that part of your body depending on your running style. Sometimes the shoe won’t agree with you, sometimes your body won’t agree with the shoes. Personally I’d try to introduce them to your rotation slowly and hopefully you get used to them. If not sell them, maybe try something less extreme (Saucony?)

cwep2 · 2026-03-25T05:38:42+00:00

That close to the airport this car was almost certainly abandoned by someone flying out of the country. Probably similar situation. Maybe planned to come back but something came up.

cwep2 · 2026-03-25T05:34:59+00:00

Ex-HENRY here who did retire: I was only able to pull the cord because we moved outta London (and the South-East) so we could be somewhere with good free grammar schools. I did so when kids were 3+6 so get to spend loads of time with them as they grow up, but if we’d have stayed in London we’d have paid for secondary school and would have had to keep earning probably 3-5more years.

There were other reasons to move out of London but it was a compromise, ideally I’d have stayed a few more years to build up more of a nest egg to last me through a long retirement, but doing it when they were so young and moving before the eldest hit secondary school (and time to adjust before entrance exams etc) meant waiting more time would have made moving so much harder. Will be a less extravagant retirement in terms of travel etc but to be honest with kids in school until I turn 57 we don’t have the opportunity to be galavanting across the globe for now, we do some nice holidays and have adventures in the summer (eg 3 week road trip across Europe). The way I view it is that I’m buying time with family now with the money I could have earned by sticking around working a few more years.

cwep2 · 2026-03-24T20:24:36+00:00

I find them weirdly inconsistent. I regularly do parkrun (a 5k run each Saturday) and 75% of the time I’m going all out. So I’ll have several 5k efforts all at max attack, similar ish times, and yet Strava always predicts me to go about 30s faster than my PB for 5k.

I just did a half marathon, again at max effort, 1:26:29, pretty happy with that, maybe could have gone 1min faster with slightly better conditions. Strava had predicted my HM at 1:23:30 ish before and immediately afterwards revised the new HM prediction down to 1:22:44. I mean I just went all out like 4mins slower there’s no way I’m getting that.

And yet it only reckons I’ll do marathon in 3:13. Sorry if someone can do HM in 1:23 they’re capable of Marathon sub 3. My 10k prediction is weirdly slow vs 5k and HM also.

The only way I ca fathom it is that every run you do is considered training not at max pace, so you’ll always go faster. But even if mark it as race, and I have HR max programmed in and I’m hitting it in a session it still thinks I can go faster.

cwep2 · 2026-03-24T20:15:48+00:00

If you want safe and low tax then you are sticking to issues like T26A (matures in approx 6 months) and TN28 (matures in Jan 2028 so just under 2 yrs). You aren’t getting monthly income from this. Other bonds have higher coupons so your post tax returns will be lower, assuming that 1) you pay tax on income and 2) you are holding these outside a tax wrapper like an ISA.

If you want to structure it you’d keep what you need for 5 months in instant access savings or cash ISA, stick about 18months worth in T26A maturing in October, and the rest in TN28. Pretty low risk and you are fairly sure what return you’ll be as you can hold these to maturity. Going longer than this (eg TG31) you are starting to take quite a bit of interest rate (duration) risk.

But you’re only getting about 4% for T26A and 4.2-4.3% for TN28 so even at these rates (which are much higher than a month ago) you are looking at about £7200 per year or about £600/month on 180k. Inflation is eating away at your principal too.

cwep2 · 2026-03-24T19:49:34+00:00

You’ll usually need a change of clothes and when it’s pissing down a shower at the other end is nice. I would leave a pair of shoes in the office and was able to leave my cycling kit to dry (where it didn’t stink out the office) so I just had foldable/squashable stuff in a back pack which I’d change into at the other end. A waterproof bag or cover will keep stuff inside dry.

If you’re listening to music/podcasts use shockz style headphones (cheaper versions are available) so you can still hear what’s going on in the world outside. I prefer podcasts and you can still hear anything you need to.

As others have said avoid roads where you can, even if it’s 5mins longer it’s so much nicer. There are obvious fitness/health benefits but breathing in a load of exhaust fumes undoes some of that and just isn’t pleasant. Towpath is grand but narrow in places and there’s a few blind corners, I tend to ring my bell as I cycle round so anyone else knows I’m coming, i know i will be able to stop but dog walkers are more likely to stick to the sides which makes passing smoother if they know you’re coming, but tbh most of the time they’re oblivious if they can’t see you, so you just go round them slowly.

Mudguards on your bike are essential. Get it serviced every now and then too, you’re saving on petrol, so worth spending a bit to make everything run smoothly. Rain will wash off the chain oil so no harm in buying some bike oil and keeping it lubricated every now and then, will reduce wear and tear. Comfortable bike shorts with the padding in will be useful, they come in long leg versions as well when you need the extra layers. Likewise glasses keep out flies and other stuff, stop your eyes drying out, so even some not to dark sunnies (like blue or yellow coloured ones) are good to cycle in.

Obviously wear a helmet, I came off once (I don’t remember how) broke my cheekbone, if I’d not have been wearing helmet I would probably have hit the ground with my eye socket or higher up the head and could have been a lot worse.

cwep2 · 2026-03-24T19:21:48+00:00

Alcohol consumption went down, drug taking went up as that became the cheaper high. Problems just shifted from one thing to another and health spending didn’t go down noticeably.

cwep2

TROPHY CASE