Savings and Investments thread

Baillie Gifford have taken their profits on Tesla and sold around half of their holdings. Wonder if that has anything to do with a certain individual's twitter habits or $1.5 billion of bitcoin...

WishIdStayedinthePub said:

An article on Bloomberg is a bit concerning (my emphasis in bold) ....

"Last week Bloomberg reported that junk bond yields in the US fell below 4% the lowest level ever recorded and down from 11.5% peak yield in March last year. This is the opposite direction to the yield on the “risk free rate” of US 10y bond (hitting 1.18% last week) which has been steadily rising over the last 6 months. These contrasting trends in fixed income suggest that debt investors are beginning to fear wealth erosion from inflation in “risk free” assets more than default risk from highly leveraged companies.

Junk bonds have benefitted from a rising oil price $58 per barrel (WTI), up 66% since the start of November. Many US energy (including shale gas) companies used the junk bond market to finance their operations.

Companies are responding to the rising junk bond market by issuing more junk debt, year-to-date US volume stands at about $60 billion, which is a record amount. In the UK, Mohsin and Zuber Issa’s deal (backed by TDR Capital, a Private Equity firm) to buy Asda from Wal-Mart for £6.5bn will be funded by the junk bond market and sale and leaseback deals. Wal-Mart has always struck me as a well-run company with a strong management team, Jeff Bezos lured many employees from the retailer, such as Rick Dalzell, to manage Amazon. So it’s not clear what expertise the Issas and TDR bring to the business that Wal-Mart doesn’t have, other than a talent for financial structures."

There's a piece in the FT this week noting that  "It has never been cheaper for companies with a “junk” credit rating to borrow cash in the US, as the voracious appetite from investors for riskier debt sends the interest rates paid on recent bond deals to record lows."  Additionally, I was chatting with an M&A specialist earlier who said there is so much cash out there at the moment that they are all looking for deals/value in the market.   

Does anyone have an employee pension which is serviced through L&G, just wondered how you navigate through the various funds. There are a number of employee recommended ones and more besides, before I go down the road of engaging with a financial advisor just wondered if anyone here had any approaches or tips in terms of fund selections 

Jon_CAFC_ said:

Does anyone have an employee pension which is serviced through L&G, just wondered how you navigate through the various funds. There are a number of employee recommended ones and more besides, before I go down the road of engaging with a financial advisor just wondered if anyone here had any approaches or tips in terms of fund selections 

Does your employer offer advice from the firm who set the pension up  ?  I know some do, as the IFA who set up the workplace scheme is probably receiving some ongoing fees & as such is duty bound to give you an annual review - at which you could discuss the funds on offer. 

Generally employees are given a limited choice of funds & are usually steered towards some form of "lifestyling" or targeting - where you are moved out of equities & into bonds & cash the nearer you get to retirement. 

Different if you are free to choose from the whole market, but I doubt that is on offer. It is definitely worth your while engaging with a financial adviser - whether led by your employer or one you source yourself  😉

Ugolfaddick said:

Jon_CAFC_ said:

Does anyone have an employee pension which is serviced through L&G, just wondered how you navigate through the various funds. There are a number of employee recommended ones and more besides, before I go down the road of engaging with a financial advisor just wondered if anyone here had any approaches or tips in terms of fund selections 

Does your employer offer advice from the firm who set the pension up  ?  I know some do, as the IFA who set up the workplace scheme is probably receiving some ongoing fees & as such is duty bound to give you an annual review - at which you could discuss the funds on offer. 

Generally employees are given a limited choice of funds & are usually steered towards some form of "lifestyling" or targeting - where you are moved out of equities & into bonds & cash the nearer you get to retirement. 

Different if you are free to choose from the whole market, but I doubt that is on offer. It is definitely worth your while engaging with a financial adviser - whether led by your employer or one you source yourself  😉

Sourcing you say, did I recall you’re an ifa golf? 

Another crazy day on AIM & Markets in general, KNB still flying, MXC about to take off and sleepy old EveSleep going ballistic, common theme being cannabis, looks like cannabis is the medicinal Bitcoin equivalent.  Never thought a few years ago I’d have an investment portfolio of cannabis and non existent coins 😜😜

Daarrzzetbum said:

Another crazy day on AIM & Markets in general, KNB still flying, MXC about to take off and sleepy old EveSleep going ballistic, common theme being cannabis, looks like cannabis is the medicinal Bitcoin equivalent.  Never thought a few years ago I’d have an investment portfolio of cannabis and non existent coins 😜😜

From the KNB Company Profile:

Rob7Lee said:

mendonca said:

Does anybody know much about SEISS grants?

A friend is asking if they can defer the declaration of the grants as income for 21/22 accounts, rather than 20/21?

The person is not intending to do anything "clever", simply had a hobby business hit by the pandemic (beauty/facials/hair/makeup) and has been working as a receptionist at a Healthcare company since no longer able to continue with her business's operations, having been recommended by an in-law who works in recruitment. Her concern is that any more hours now worked will be earning at the 20pc tax rate band and has consequences to childcare tax credits.  It's not my area of expertise and I am not sure about the implications, so am recommending she seeks specialist advice. 

No, don’t believe you can defer and will need to go on her self assessment.

“The grant does not need to be repaid if you’re eligible, but will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance and must be reported on your 2020 to 2021 Self Assessment tax return.”

I agree. If you received "income" during the 20/21 tax year then it needs to be recorded on your SA for that year. Otherwise I'm deferring my income I've earn't this tax year until 2080/81.

Cable hits 1.40 for first time since April 2018

My SIPP has taken a bashing after lovely gains, guess like everyone's. Hope the recovery comes back soon.

PragueAddick said:

Fortune 82nd Minute said:

Interesting times on the markets this last few days.

Any of you experts want to advise why our friends in the city are having a little bit of a "panic" this last few days?

Investing in any UK fund that invests heavily in the FTSE 100  (still down about 27 % on last year's high) just seems a total waste of time at the moment.

Even more fun and games over the pond. NASDAQ suffering a really sharp decline and all the tech companies that have seen huge rises recently being sold off sharply. Tesla shares down about 8% at the moment. What are they panicing about?

All I can say is my BG funds won't be looking so good tonight!

I'm just a punter, but this is how the FT summarises it:

US technology stocks fell sharply for the second day in a row on concerns that rising long-term interest rates will derail a historic surge in the share prices of fast-growing companies.

Thanks. Straight out of the Lee Bowyer book of talking bollox excuses!

Buy the rumour 
Sell the fact 

Anna_Kissed said:

I saw this Tweet... and thought of this thread...

https://twitter.com/Mancunian_Mum/status/1364168133624418308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Anna_Kissed said:

The point is that she has paid someone - who may already have their own home (or, perhaps, homes) - for a place in which to live and, in so doing, has been unable to commence the process of purchasing, with a mortgage, her own home.

The disparity between the affluent and the vulnerable is, to many, obscene. There are people who seem content to defend this sorry state of affairs.

And my point was she hasn't bought someone a house outright at all. If you look at the full thread including her responses she's talking about a £125k house that she's living in. So she's conveniently forgotten that banks charge interest and that it costs money to own a home in running costs and she's had none of that financial risk.

She's also got no idea it would appear on where probably 2/3rds or more of her rent goes which is likely to builders, tradesmen, insurance company, carpet shops, kitchen suppliers, a bank in interest and also likely HMRC.

The sad thing is if she was a little more financially astute or took the time to learn (back to we need to teach this in schools, further education and adult education) I'd pretty much guarantee if she's paying 7-800 rent on a £125k house in Southport she could purchase a house in the next 3 years if she's paying that sort of rent.

There's a lot of Landlords wanting out so she could source a lease to buy. In that neck of the woods there's probably even investors who'd buy somewhere specifically to do a lease to buy in a 3-5 year period.