Travelling On

Karmacat

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: I just imagined them coughing madly, with an explosion of ragwort seed (I'd be coughing madly too, mind you).

Right, I've done well with the NW situation, and I'm *really* bored now, so I'm stopping. Done the bank, bank savings, stupid mastercard bank, Virgin-Regular-Saver-turned-easy-access, Principality, cahoot, paypal, ratesetter, premium bonds, Kames S&S isa, Coventry isa, Aviva pension.

Notes:
- a lot of these are tiny (eg ratesetter is £1,299).
- must keep my word about opening a new mastercard - I can do it via my new bank if need be.
- Virgin is now only 1.25% p.a., there might be better out there.
- cahoot - thats just £240, and dormant at that - must write to them to reclaim it.
- Hmmm, Kames S&S isa managed to lose £3k last year, not happy with that - if there's another loss coming up, I'd better rethink that.
- I think I'm a bit top heavy with shares anyway, this far into my retirement.
- seriously need to think about what to do with my pension funds - this is the old annuity vs drawdown. Can't believe annuity would be good for me, but need to do my sums. I have the big government A4 booklet, I'll start on that.

Right now - finish looking at the threads on here, then close the computer and give the mint a good talking to :rotfl:







ETA - I couldn't stop! Just spoken with Kames - two thirds of last year's losses have been recouped, sounds a good time to get out. Especially as they don't have a way to log in and see your stuff for yourself :eek::eek::eek: you have to phone them! What century are they living in? Not mine ... still, I'll transfer this S&S to cash, and that will go a long way towards rebalancing cash vs stocks.

apple_muncher

Karmacat wrote: »

ETA - I couldn't stop! Just spoken with Kames - two thirds of last year's losses have been recouped, sounds a good time to get out. Especially as they don't have a way to log in and see your stuff for yourself :eek::eek::eek: you have to phone them! What century are they living in? Not mine ... still, I'll transfer this S&S to cash, and that will go a long way towards rebalancing cash vs stocks.

You can hide it under the mattress...

Karmacat

apple_muncher wrote: »

You can hide it under the mattress...

I think not :rotfl:I'll have to find out if my new 1.75% p.a. cash isa from Coventry BS takes transfers. It kind of should do, as they set it up by transfer

Did an hour in the garden. No repotting :o:o but lots of digging by the kitchen window. I'm doing things really differently - I disturbed lots of wild garlic bulbs there, but its totally infested with couch grass so I've separated out the bulbs and put them somewhere different. A whole bucketful of roots, yuck. It looks a lot more ... normal, actually. Bare earth ready for mulching - I'm not going to pretend I've got all the roots today, which is the 2nd time I've dug this area recently - but the third time might do it :rotfl:

Suffolk_lass

KC, we have a couple of Regular savers (one each) with HSBC that are 5% so 2.6% over the year for £3k at £250 per month shuffle - also one with the Nationwide that is the same. Worth a look?

Regarding S&S ISA - I have mine with Charles Stanley Direct (one of the cheapest platform providers and I can look at the total or the individual holdings online) and if you go for a retirement fund or cautious (40% shares (equities) and 60% gilts and bonds) you can pretty much leave it to do its' thing.

I have a mixture of passive trackers and actively managed with the former charging less and the latter charging more. They seem to be performing about the same with the extra value from a successful active manager being creamed off in what they charge - and then of course we had a bit of a lump in the Woodford Equity Income that has been suspended.

We also have a number of shares in investment trusts (another form of fund basket) and individual shares - it is quite scary how they bomb and fly but we are in it for the dividend yield. I am not convinced by these and might just simplify to conservative funds but it is interesting following them (the platform charges are higher, the more different things you hold, of course).

Karmacat

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

KC, we have a couple of Regular savers (one each) with HSBC that are 5% so 2.6% over the year for £3k at £250 per month shuffle - also one with the Nationwide that is the same. Worth a look?

Definitely worth a look - I have one active Regular Saver, at the new bank tied to the current account, but since I'm rebalancing, I need to make the most of the % earned, you're right.

Regarding S&S ISA - I have mine with Charles Stanley Direct (one of the cheapest platform providers and I can look at the total or the individual holdings online) and if you go for a retirement fund or cautious (40% shares (equities) and 60% gilts and bonds) you can pretty much leave it to do its' thing.

I definitely need to get out of Kames. Its the only S&S isa I have left, and the company who administers it has changed every couple of years - I should have left years ago. I have to focus on health admin for the next few days, but I can get back to finance admin for Thursday/ Friday.

I have a mixture of passive trackers and actively managed with the former charging less and the latter charging more. They seem to be performing about the same with the extra value from a successful active manager being creamed off in what they charge - and then of course we had a bit of a lump in the Woodford Equity Income that has been suspended.

I have ethical and stewardship funds for the S&S and the pension - I haven't compared and contrasted in the way you mention I can have a bit of a look around today before I leave the house, thank you for this.

We also have a number of shares in investment trusts (another form of fund basket) and individual shares - it is quite scary how they bomb and fly but we are in it for the dividend yield. I am not convinced by these and might just simplify to conservative funds but it is interesting following them (the platform charges are higher, the more different things you hold, of course).

Oh my! I don't have any investment trust shares ... I *do* have one set of individual shares still SSE, I bought some electricity shares when they were privatised, and through various name changes and devolvements, I've ended up with SSE.


Lots to think about, thanks SL.

Goldiegirl

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

KC, we have a couple of Regular savers (one each) with HSBC that are 5% so 2.6% over the year for £3k at £250 per month shuffle - also one with the Nationwide that is the same. Worth a look?

Regarding S&S ISA - I have mine with Charles Stanley Direct (one of the cheapest platform providers and I can look at the total or the individual holdings online) and if you go for a retirement fund or cautious (40% shares (equities) and 60% gilts and bonds) you can pretty much leave it to do its' thing.

I have a mixture of passive trackers and actively managed with the former charging less and the latter charging more. They seem to be performing about the same with the extra value from a successful active manager being creamed off in what they charge - and then of course we had a bit of a lump in the Woodford Equity Income that has been suspended.

We also have a number of shares in investment trusts (another form of fund basket) and individual shares - it is quite scary how they bomb and fly but we are in it for the dividend yield. I am not convinced by these and might just simplify to conservative funds but it is interesting following them (the platform charges are higher, the more different things you hold, of course).

I also have my S&S ISA with Charles Stanley, and have found it easy to use.

My husband has his SIPP with Hargreaves Lansdown, and I do prefer their website to Charles Stanley, but it is more expensive. He's got some funds in Woodford, but fortunately, we had already sold the bulk of the holding

Karmacat

Right, I'm just listing things here so that all's straight:
- lots of dried out greenery hefted into the green bin, its good to tidy up.
Action: keep going

- dental checkup went really well - last had x rays 3 years ago, today's x rays look identical, no problems developed. And he gave my teeth a bit of a shine, I practically begged £21.

- I bought some clothes! From a charity shop a sun dress and a lovely cotton skirt - I don't have anything resembling these things in my wardrobe, I'm feeling the lack. £6.50, they had a sale on

- the book we're selling is now listed online, described as "rare", woo hoo, £300-£500.
Actions: (1) we're going to the auction to watch (2) in a fortnight or so, my sister and I will pop up to London to check out selling all these silver ornaments from Africa. I have 3 of my own too, that I want to get shot of.

- money ... I currently have about £92.5k cash of one form or another. I have the Kames S&S isa at £27.5k. I have SSE shares worth £3.4k approx. I have 3 small pension pots that total (totalled, rather, earlier this year, not checked them yet) £55k more or less (oh dear, that doesn't sound very much), all in stocks and shares, ethically based. I get the state pension at the very end of next year. Day to day living expenses are well within state pension amounts (which is why I'm not posting on the pensions board, no way no how).
Actions: (1) set up Regular Savers again, as per SL and Martin's recommendations. (2) transfer the Kames money to a current cash isa. (3) open a new isa. (4) investigate what to do with the pension funds: probably drawdown, but I have *no* idea what's appropriate.

- mobile phone. Just under £15 a month, but I could easily pay half that and still do everything I want.
Action: Three service is better, not great, but better. I could stay with them on a new deal, if I was paying £8 or something. Otherwise, check with giffgaff if the sim card I sent for is still valid, if it is, go with that. If not, get another one.

- holidays. (1) the Dorset trip, based around the Agatha Christie thing. (2) Sun holiday in Kent, in October or so. (3) Two Sun holiday trips together, to make a proper stay in Cornwall, late spring/early summer next year. And (4) ... an off the cuff remark by my sister has suggested the idea of a loooong cruise - a new cruise ship is travelling to its new port, so its mega cheap. All sorts of places I will never see otherwise. Omigod, I'm so tempted. If I work hard at it, I might fund most of it with matched betting. My sister absolutely loves travelling, and so do I, but I'll never be able to visit this lot unless its on a cruise. Argh ....

beanielou

Go for the cruise

apple_muncher

Go for it! (The cruise, that is)

littlefred169

If you do choose giffgaff see if any of your friends are on it as if they order you the SIM card you get £5 credit and they will too.

LF