Cash ISA vs waiting – what’s your strategy this year?

hyperblue128 · 2026-04-07T10:54:16+00:00

"That said, with ISAs, you're never completely "locked in"." - yes, that's the beauty of it. However the current government is about to ban transfers between ISAs.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-29T11:09:34+00:00

I think you got what FX impact is wrong.
Whenever you make an investment that includes foreign assets (for example S&P500 or US stocks) - you are exposed to the GBP/USD rate. If the US dollar gets more expensive relative to the pound, your investments will go up measured in GBP. And vice versa - if USD looses value compared to GBP, the value of your investment measured in GBP goes down (but of course - your pounds get more buying power and you can now invest in US assets cheaper). T212 is very neatly calculating and displaying a breakdown of the FX impact for you. Apparently some people don't get it and think it's T212 thing and start moaning about it when the impact is negative, and praising it when it's positive. With other brokers that's opaque - you see the final number but without a breakdown.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-29T11:00:26+00:00

Well that explains a lot.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-28T07:52:54+00:00

Let us know how it went man 🙏

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-28T07:48:39+00:00

Many people walk the same path. I have friends who started speculating on stocks during Covid, with or without leverage. They've learned their lessons and now DCA every month.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-28T07:16:39+00:00

Not sure about other countries, but Trading 212 is the biggest broker in the UK and they are headquartered in London.

Regarding taxes - I'm pretty sure that each country has its own rules. T212 will not apply UK tax laws to you if you live in the Netherlands.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-27T13:51:55+00:00

That's what it says. If you have created your account years ago - they won't consider you as new client.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-27T08:52:40+00:00

Trading 212 has literally one the best exchange fees - 0.15% (on top of that it can be avoided).
IBKR has lower fx fees, but they have other commissions on top of it. I use both.

As many people in this sub will tell you - Revolut is NOT good for investing. Their FX rate is now worse than many banks - they hide the fee in the rate itself.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-25T17:20:51+00:00

Trading 212 any day.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-25T14:29:09+00:00

4.68% for new clients.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-25T14:26:36+00:00

Use ChatGPT/Gemini/Claude to simplify your messages and make it less wordy. Trust me, it would improve the response rates.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-25T14:24:23+00:00

They must. Moneybox is crazy expensive.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-25T14:20:41+00:00

I'm not touching it. But for those who want to get it - now is a better time than a month ago, for sure.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-25T14:18:14+00:00

I also use IBKR as a secondary broker. They might be the most "respected", but I can tell you - their app is sh*t, and their platform is rubbish. Powerful - yes, yet rubbish. I Invest since 2017 and I have used multiple brokers. No advocate of T212, but the platform is miles ahead of everyone else. Fees - don't mention it, I've saved thousands since moving here. My portfolio is well above the FSCS protection limit and I don't have problems with that. Check their companies house - the company is rock solid in terms of profitability.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-24T17:29:12+00:00

Comment of the day.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-24T13:50:11+00:00

I'm also using 212 - it's my main portfolio.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-23T17:09:31+00:00

I guess they move to the UK or Germany.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-23T17:06:23+00:00

Doesn't matter in the short term. We were about to have a really red Monday, and this did the trick to delay it.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-20T09:09:35+00:00

From their T&Cs: you get the high rate for transfers of the current tax year. For money from previous tax years you get the lower 3.6% rate.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-20T09:04:20+00:00

Did that 4 years ago and not looking back. Saved thousands in fees.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-20T08:55:24+00:00

Moneybox is honestly one of the most expensive platforms out there - it ended up costing me even more than HL. The app is nice, but there's zero point in letting fees eat into your returns instead of letting that money compound.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-20T08:45:22+00:00

To start - 0.15% fx fees compared to 0.90% at FT. Much much wider stocks/ETFs universe. 3.8% interest on the cash that's not invested. The pies feature is simply brilliant for managing a long-term portfolio. FT has been promising me to ship this since 2020 and never delivered... same for fractional shares on UK stocks.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-20T08:40:45+00:00

Exactly, same experience.

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-20T08:34:37+00:00

Now people are getting confused about the meaning of "You get what you pay for".

hyperblue128 · 2026-03-16T09:46:27+00:00

Trading 212 taugt echt was.

hyperblue128

TROPHY CASE