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Post by justdabbling on Aug 10, 2016 21:56:20 GMT
I had a 4kw array installed in July 2011 by Your Power Ltd., and it seemed to be a very professional operation. Despite living in rural Gloucestershire and feeding the birds I have had no problems with any birds and I had never heard of netting until I read about it here. We wash the panels once a year but that is the extent of the maintenance required so far. The panels have produced an average of 3700 kWh pa which produces FITs income of about £1900 pa. I have not documented the saving in electricity consumption but the monthly direct debit was halved, after an £800 surplus arose following the installation of the panels. I too use a 100 renewable tariff and have invested some FITs cash in other renewable energy community projects on Ethex, and the EIS and SEIS certificates are beginning to come through on those, however, EIS and SEIS have now been withdrawn from these type of projects. Your Power used some panels from a manufacturer Suncycle, some batches of whose panels were later found to be faulty, and Your Power kept me informed about the situation, and in due course confirmed that my panels were not in the affected batches, which was good after sales service. So it has all been a positive experience so far, the only negative aspect being the service from SSE, with whom I contracted to administer the FITs, and which I have found to be slow and uncommunicative, although they do deal with the payments eventually.
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Post by justdabbling on Aug 10, 2016 21:36:36 GMT
OK, so I am not exactly on the bleeding edge here, but I'm considering it (slightly prompted by the Franco-Chinese Nuclear fiasco I guess) .. anyone here who has actually invested in Solar PV (as well as or instead of P2P) .. if so, were your experiences good or bad, and how do you rate it with hindsight (ignoring the fact that the FIT is 1/3rd what it was a year ago). So far I've seen about 4 companies, 2 of which went straight on the scrap heap for sending salesmen who thought that a voltage optimiser would save me a fortune (I guess they suspect I have an industrial site out back?). I suspect it is the new 'double-glazing', with half the same salesmen. 8<. I did find one who knew what a volt was.
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Post by justdabbling on Jul 20, 2016 10:07:05 GMT
I do intend to increase on the very small sum currently invested but I won't go above about £1000 without a bit more of a track record - just more months in business and loans completed as Stevio said without dramas. The communications on this forum are influential and encouraged me to try Collateral as diversification of both platform and type of security.
I would be building up my investment quicker if it was easier to put money in though - it would be better if I could make two or three investments and then pay once. This morning I cannot make any investments as my on-line banking seems to be down and the card system is not yet available.
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Post by justdabbling on Jul 11, 2016 12:38:12 GMT
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Post by justdabbling on Jul 11, 2016 12:35:04 GMT
what is odd is that both systems, education of UK citizens and education of foreign citizens is designed to shove the bright and the best out of the country leaving only the plodders. Now as a method for designing an education to raise the wealth of the nation this has to be pretty weird. Perhaps we could have a system where the bright ones get to pay less and are encouraged to stay..... we could call it scholarship and it might reflect the concept that was in place from about 1500 to 1980. As long as it is for STEM degrees and the like, then I agree fully. Media studies not so much.
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Post by justdabbling on Jul 8, 2016 9:49:40 GMT
I was holding back until the referendum and would have doubled my investment in SS had the result been remain. The Brexit vote combined with finding that there is no certainty about being able to access my money at the end of the loan period has spooked me somewhat.
Now I am thinking about which sectors are more vulnerable and which might prosper from the current situation. From what is happening with the Commercial Property funds it seems that the market is likely to be flooded with offices and warehouses as the funds seek to liquidate so I am not keen on any 'commercial' property.
From the drop in the value of the pound it seems that tourism and leisure could be safe bets as there is likely to be an increase in 'staycations' and also foreign tourism.
Student housing should also hold its own as many of the students are foreign and UK education would now seem more affordable. The more luxurious student accommodation is targeted to foreign students.
Renewable energy production attracts income through the government schemes and, as oil and gas are priced in $ then the competing fuels may be more costly, depending on what happens with world oil prices, so I am happy to invest in loans leading to the development of renewable energy projects.
Accommodation for the elderly should be a safe bet as sales are largely to cash buyers and the population is ageing, and may even grow if some of the retired UK citizens currently in the EU find they have to return to the UK.
Many of the loans on SS are for conversion from Commercial to Residential and it would seem that there is likely to be less house price inflation that we expected and which may have been factored in so there is a need to be cautious there.
As for what SS can do to increase confidence I would like the new loans to be in the areas that seem to be likely to benefit from Brexit.
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Post by justdabbling on Jun 28, 2016 9:44:00 GMT
I sold after reading about the dubious background of the borrower on this forum and my £300 went in about two minutes. Thank you cooling dude and others.
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Lendy (L) in Administration
Gut feeling
Jun 14, 2016 12:15:51 GMT
fp likes this
Post by justdabbling on Jun 14, 2016 12:15:51 GMT
Some people may be withdrawing from SS to put money in another currency, as most companies have apparently. In fact I did fantasise about whether that was why that one person seems to be realising cash on all those London properties. If the £ drops 25 per cent he'd make another fortune.
As for property prices in the event of Brexit there is quite a lot of foreign money invested in Uk property as a safe and profitable haven, and that might be in vested elsewhere because of the currency issue, as well as concerns about the housing market itself. As for the rest, in areas where there is less employment, e.g if companies close their Uk base or move their HQ to an EU country then lower employment in an area might reduce demand for housing. I saw some research showing that London and Scotland, ironically areas that are considered pro-remain, as less dependent on EU jobs for employment than other areas. University of Gronignen research.
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Lendy (L) in Administration
Gut feeling
Jun 14, 2016 12:07:24 GMT
Post by justdabbling on Jun 14, 2016 12:07:24 GMT
Not sure I've seen this asked directly on here or not ....( I personally think that the latest SM activity is due to the new loans....) but ..... Following the latest opinion polls, is anybody bailing out of SS fearing a property crash in the event of Brexit? I live in the SE and currently have about 4 MAJOR (and several minor....) housing developments being built within a 10 mile radius of where I live with demand FAR outstripping supply. I'm not sure why Bexit alone would trigger a property crash?
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Post by justdabbling on Jun 12, 2016 8:36:13 GMT
Premium bonds have that little frisson of excitement, but I believe on average punters receive less than from having Santander bank accounts which could be a backup to P2P and do at least pay the %
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Post by justdabbling on Jun 12, 2016 2:57:15 GMT
Freddy, you are probably more diversified than most posters, as SS relies on the UK property market increasing in value and you have property abroad, and therefore also diversified currency wise, although perhaps you have a risk of income in one currency,nana expenditure in another. Some posters are suggesting diversification into another P2P with UK property loans and whilst this does spread the risks associated with the different P2Ps such as fraud, competence etc. it does not diversify against the risk of UK property prices stalling, but your strategy does. Soros has bought a load of gold, which has no returns and even cost money to keep. I wonder how many SS investors hold gold as part of their portfolio.
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Post by justdabbling on Jun 11, 2016 15:38:09 GMT
Compared with others I am just playing at P2P. I have reached the age I was going to retire but I find that I still enjoy my work which is freelance, and related to business education around the world, so I have cut down and so have more time than I am used to and I don't need to start using the retirement savings which were intended to be for capital expenditure during retirement as I have enough pension income. So I have time to do something other than shove the money into a cash ISA and a professional interest in new business models, but the actual trigger was a decision to make sure my cash was only used for things that are Ok with me. I suppose I still hate the bankers, not your everyday ones of course and who may be very nice people, but the industry as a whole which has been ripping people off for at least 40 years. I started with Abundance and investments with 50% SEIS tax relief, generally assisting family with buying property etc., starting another pension fund (ethical of course), and behold everytime I did something 'principled' I seemed to improve my returns. I suppose it was just that I was actively managing the savings. So it is partly playing, partly professional interest, partly control freakery and partly bloody mindedness. I like SS because it is simple and it seems transparent, but I have only about 4% of my little pot in it at the moment. I am holding back until after 23 June. The other risk that I wonder about is cybercrime ie hacking. It is nice having a site that is so easy to go into, sell loans and draw down funds but I would need a bit if reassurance before I put in a lot more cash.
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Post by justdabbling on Jun 11, 2016 11:27:26 GMT
I hope all those holding PBL20 have all their cash returned, but I noticed today a discussion in the general P2P section of this forrum about 'Bad debt reflief' and as I understood it the total amount owed should be set against the interest gained from SS, and then other P2P activities for this tax year. Monies returned later are then added as extra income when they are returned. The P2P provider should deal,with this through the tax statements. This related to personal income tax. Could soften the blow if people do end up losing money, and if anyone has a higher tax rate this year than next year perhaps they might gain?
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Post by justdabbling on Jun 9, 2016 13:11:46 GMT
Thanks guys, this discussion and tomorrow's new release prompted me to sell the loan part I bought in error Don't get too excited about tomorrow's new release - it's a tiddler, so you'll not get more than two or three hundred quid or so. Small fry in the fisheries? It's OK I am just dabbling.
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Post by justdabbling on Jun 9, 2016 11:02:25 GMT
Thanks guys, this discussion and tomorrow's new release prompted me to sell the loan part I bought in error - this was the only holding that breached a limit of about one third of a year's interest. My thinking was that there should be a 50% return of capital on defaulted loans given the supposed maximum of 70% LTV, so if I was caught up in 2 defaults a year then the loss would be one third of the interest so it would still be a lot better than most investments. Of course the 'excess' loan holding sold instantly!
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