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Post by Harland Kearney on Mar 28, 2024 17:16:53 GMT
As per the title In the next Tax year would you invest in a Cash ISA with a bank/FSCS institution or buy a Cash fund / MM fund held in a S&S ISA A good strategy is often to use the CashISA to park the cash, then take advantage of the predictble *transfer* offers on wealth management platforms (Like HL for example) later in the year. You can end up earning extra cashback. I think the only reason to use MMF's on S&S (as a fund) is if you were either locked in (like a SIPP) or as a way to prevent cash drag when holding dry powder. We are in a period where MMF out paces inflation (if you believe in their numbers that is) but this is certainly going to be temporay and maybe still a loss once you take into account platform & fund fees on a MMF. If the UK Interest rate drop faster than global rates, MMF's would outpace interest at the UK Banks.I hold some MMF's as dry powder in my HL account. I've only ever used Cash ISA to take advantage of switch offers between Cash ISA > S&S ISA as I said above. Rates which Cash ISAs give are often nearly identical to post tax normal accounts, so its really a waste of tax shelter for long term investing, albiet a higher rate earner perhaps.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Mar 16, 2024 14:00:05 GMT
Loanpad only currently, for Personal & Company use.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Mar 1, 2024 19:41:12 GMT
Ratesetter on HL is dropping from 5.06% to 4.07% by 18th March, a big drop will be moving money out shortly before that date.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Feb 15, 2024 13:46:36 GMT
More like P2P's bad dogs have been taken out the back & shot. The predictable outcome for years before it happened by some smart posters on hear ringing the alarm bells!
The only platform I keep significant capital with is Loanpad & will continue to. They have been a gem in the industry so far & are worth considering in any income-bearing portfolio. Their access to LTD Company accounts also makes them attractive in an environment (the business banking sector) where bank interest rates are significantly lower for SME's.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Jan 22, 2024 14:02:37 GMT
"hello, I bought this camera from you in September, I've completed the film photography module of my course, so I was wondering if I can return it for a full refund please as I no longer need it" Eff Eff Ess, so you buy it use it for 3 months or whatever and now cos you don't need it you want me to give you a full refund, I've politely declined to give a refund This is sadly quite common on all digital platforms. Running my own digital store I often see requests like these come though & they do somewhat infuriate me. I feel like buyers are more likely to ask silly questions like these to independant sellers instead of say Tescos, where they know the response will be null instantly. Or maybe I'm wrong, I'm sure somebody on this board has plenty of customer facing stories... I like to call these customers the *banking customers* because they seem to think your business is a bank, they can deposit with you money, then withdraw it later on from you!
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Post by Harland Kearney on Oct 15, 2023 19:40:14 GMT
The rates which you get for the Short Term Royal London Fund far outstrip any brokers cash offers, baring in mind many brokers have a tier system like HL where only cash above a certain number get the higher rates (& all money before STILL get the lower rates, so watch out for that!) I have been trying to find out from HL what happens to interest on your money during the delay in buying and selling the fund which HL cannot seem to answer. After trying a number of times I could not get a definitive answer, implied from their answer you lose out on interest during these periods which can be up to 4 days when selling the funds. However there seems to be a one day delay in buying and the buying amount is in the current balance but not in the available balance until the time of purchase so I suspect you still get interest up to the point of purchase (HL were unable to tell me which balance was used for interest) but have no information on the sell delay. However I was told you get the price at a certain time and then there is a delay before you get the funds of up to 4 days but only got this answer after a number of pressing questions about this and the HL guy did not seem too convinced but it seemed it was the best he could come up with, have email them before but have not had any replies for over a month. I tend to use Lyxor Smart Overnight Return if there are enough funds and will be kept long enough to pay for the fees and spread as I can use the money to buy shares on dips as it is available immediately after a sell where there is a delay measured in days before I can use the cash from Royal London. For small amounts for longer periods (not enough for a decent share purchase) I will use Royal London as no dealing charges and no spread but there is a custody charge of 0.45% however if kept for a significant time will probably be better to go with Lyxor as there is cap on custody charge which will probably already been hit with other shares held. If you mean the cash on account in HL coffers, I'm really not sure when they pay that or count that as interest payable after making a sell. I imagine the interest earning is calculated in real time on their end, since many accounts might be moving money very quickly in the cash balance, from buying & selling multiple securities & they need the real figure at all times to give the proper accurate calculation. But yeh, I'm not surprised nobody at HL helpdesk has answered your question other than linking you the cash rates page, am I right? I jest HL support is often very good, but I've found specfic questions usally gets broad responses that don't answer the question at all (& make u feel like the agent has not even read the question, just had a bot reference key words.)
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Post by Harland Kearney on Oct 13, 2023 13:07:04 GMT
For anybody investing SIPP cash into the brokers cash balance it is prudent to check which bank holds their cash balances for the 85k limit. HL are somewhat spread, so it is diffcult to assess where your money might actually be. www.hl.co.uk/about-us/cashThe rates which you get for the Short Term Royal London Fund far outstrip any brokers cash offers, baring in mind many brokers have a tier system like HL where only cash above a certain number get the higher rates (& all money before STILL get the lower rates, so watch out for that!)
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Post by Harland Kearney on Sept 28, 2023 16:28:56 GMT
Shame they don’t allow in sipp or isa. Spouse they gotta cream off the dosh somewhere. Having talked to HL about this, it is apparently in the works; I doubt we will ever see it though. We would make a really good chunk of change without having to use the money market funds (no platform fees this way). There is defo a motivation NOT to offer this to clients as a result right now.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Aug 30, 2023 13:08:35 GMT
Out of interest, what would be the minimum differential (of p2p above FSCS protected building society type account) you would be comfortable with? Asking for a friend. Loanpad's 6.2% for 60 day notice is equivalent to 6.4% AER with reinvestment, and the average notice can be reduced to 30 days with rolling withdrawals. The closest FSCS equivalent I could find with a very quick look was West Brom BS at 5.25% with 60 day notice. I prefer the Loanpad offering. It's undoubtedly at the absolute safest end of p2p offerings. The fact that I don't need to repeatedly move the funds to chase the latest FSCS highest rate is a big factor for me. Over the past 4 years I will have built up a 5+% buffer over the maximum I could have earned by constantly chasing the highest FSCS equivalent. To lose that much capital on LP would take a total write-off of at least 9 average loans. Given that they've never even lost a penny of interest, let alone any capital, that would seem pretty unlikely. Any loan being a complete write-off on LP would be extremely unlikely, so it would need losses on many more than 9 loans to cancel out my 5+% buffer, which grows daily. E.g. it would take at least 18 loans going so badly wrong that selling the security recovered less than 21.5% of their current valuations. And don't forget that those LTVs are based on the actual valuations rather than the predicted future LTGDVs. I'd be looking at a minimum of around 7.5% for the next safest group of platforms, but LP is a special case for me where I'm prepared to accept less, particularly when allowing for its ease of use. Having said all of that, I do think that LP need to keep inching their rates higher to maintain market share in the current environment. Very good reply Ace as always, these are exactly my thoughts too.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Aug 24, 2023 19:49:26 GMT
Never had any issues, also during the COVID 2020 March-April liquidity crunch P2P Loanpad is one of the only platforms that did not have any issues with its pooled-style products.
A real-life crisis test for the platform is performed with flying colors.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Jul 18, 2023 20:25:53 GMT
Counter move has come ... Chip up to 4.51% AER now I've been sticking with Chip & pretty impressed its been easier than swapping & switching every 5 working days. I think sometimes you loose more, constantly withdrawing in & out of accounts, losing daily interest at times. Plus your own time being used up/messed around with by God knows what bank that week, as can happen to the best of us for no good reason.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Jul 18, 2023 0:36:25 GMT
LP now pays 5.8% 60 days access & 4.8% classic ("instant") respectively.
6% to come on 1st August for 60 days & 5% for Classic.
I think we will see 6.2-6.6% depending on the direction of further hikes in the UK. I think the argument for using Loanpad over a 1 yr FSCS-protected bond is now almost exclusively with access timing. Been continuing to add to my positions using LP as a safe heaven for dry powder as I drip recent earnings into the stock markets still (an index for the long run) very useful tool. & as I've stated a few times, a good holder for LTD Company cash, all the caveats of P2P for granted of course.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Jun 26, 2023 15:00:16 GMT
Chip Raised to 4.21% AER
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Post by Harland Kearney on Jun 25, 2023 19:58:43 GMT
For those curious, my main reason for using Loanpad is in relation to their limited company accounts, the limited company accounts in the banking sector interest rates are duly lacking. The going rate at Loanpad is far higher than competitors opposed to business banking. I have a significant sum in Loanpad & the interest it provides is invaluable in my wider portfolio. That's interesting, I'm currently plonking retained earnings in Aldermore business savings, can't remember how much they're paying now, probably around 3% or so. Will have a look at this. Yes I'm also using Aldermore as my quick access savings for my LTD, its 3.05% currently moneyfactscompare.co.uk/business/business-easy-access-savings/Decent website to find the best rates. Everyone's business is different but mine generates large cash flow profits & is not capital-intensive. The main reason it hangs around in the LLC is due to the UK Tax laws essentially keeping it there. I find most of the investment grade accounts for mainstream investments such as Vanguard platform ect are very expensive, especially if your business earns under 250k a year in profit. Loanpad has no additional fees straight forward but still carries exceptional risk compared to a bank, I'm sure we all know that by now but the risk-adjusted returns make alot more sense in LTD with Loanpad than personal investors, a little ironic really.
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Post by Harland Kearney on Jun 22, 2023 15:44:37 GMT
I believe it would sync with ISA. It wouldn't make much sense if it didn't from Loanpads history but have to agree I thought that would be the first comments posted here If we see another Rate Hike I think 6% for ISA might be on the table after July . The July 5.8% rate is very attractive for my portfolio, especially my Limited Company, good work as always Loanpad. Looks like the 6% happened, I'd like to say my crystal ball is not so foggy recently but I think this was obvious to all. I will be keeping significant investment where it is.
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