Who are Taxfix?

Taxfix (formerly TaxScouts) launched in the UK in 2018 with their online tax return service. In 2019 with a round of investment to back them they expanded their business. After seeing great success in Europe in 2021 they also launched a tax advice service.

Who can use Taxfix?

Taxfix are proud to offer their services to many types of potential customer. These include the self employed, landlords, investors, crypto traders, high earners and expats. They now also offer tax return submissions for limited companies too. 

What do Taxfix offer? 

Taxfix offer two main elements to their service, these being tax return submission and tax advice. You can choose to use just one of these services or bundle them both together for a discount price. 

It’s worth mentioning here that the tax return submission service Taxfix offer does come with a dedicated accountant. You can ask your accountant any questions via the inbuilt messaging service. They will usually come back to you within a couple of days.

If you choose to pay for their tax advice service, then you’ll receive a 1 on 1 video or telephone appointment with a qualified accountant. This will allow you to get any advice you might need in real time and discuss your options quicker.

Taxfix state that their service is simple, fast and online based. You will be paired with an accredited accountant to help you with any questions you might have. The whole process of filing your tax return could be completed in as little as 48 hours.

Free Bookkeeping Tools

Another feature I found interesting when using the Taxfix platform were the inbuilt bookkeeping tools on offer. These are free to use and include features that are often only available via paid online bookkeeping services. They include the ability to create invoices or scan and upload/organise receipts. You can also link a bank account to help you easily identify and input business transactions. These tools can be extremely handy in helping you to keep track of your income and expenses.

What Taxfix don’t offer

It’s important to mention here that – while Taxfix do offer some free bookkeeping tools to help you keep track of your income and expenses – they aren’t a bookkeeping service. You will still be responsible for uploading your income and expenses. This is so that your matched accountant has the correct figures to submit to HMRC on your behalf.

For high earners who are looking to use the service simply to submit a return, you will need to upload documents like a p60 or other documents related to investments etc. to show all annual earnings.

How much does Taxfix cost?

Sign up via this link* to receive 35% off Tax Returns for new users (discount automatically applied at checkout)

Taxfix services are priced as follows…

Tax Return Submission Service

Tax Return Essentials – The Tax Return submission service from Taxfix costs £169 all in. If you are simply looking to have someone file your tax return on your behalf and would like to be able to ask questions of an accredited accountant via a text messaging service along the way, then this might work well for you.

Tax Return Plus – If you’d like extra help dealing with HMRC letters or investigations you can opt for TAX RETURN PLUS. The fee for this is £249. Other benefits available with this plan are UTR registration and a personal tax summary.

Tax Return Platinum – £499 – everything in Plus + year-round accountant support + 3 strategic tax planning calls

Don’t forget if you sign up via our link above new users get a huge 35% off the above prices!

Tax Advice Service

If you would like to receive more personalised tax advice via a video or telephone appointment then this is available at a cost of £139. You will also receive a written summary of the tax advice you receive during this consultation. 

Limited Companies

Taxfix can also submit tax returns for limited companies. The costs for this are higher, ranging from £89 + VAT for a dormant or non-trading company to £419 + VAT for a VAT-registered company.  

Taxfix Reviews

While we hope that this Taxfix Review has given you more insight as to what the company offer and how much the service costs, you may be wondering if Taxfix really deliver on what they claim to offer? For this it can be helpful to see what others have had to say about the company. 

On Trustpilot it’s encouraging to see that Taxfix have a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars. This rating is based on a solid selection of almost 5,000 Taxfix reviews. 92% of these reviews gained the full 5 stars. 

It’s good to see that any negative reviews were often responded to directly by the company. I like to see this as I feel it shows the company care when users have – for whatever reason – not been happy with their experience. Most of the negative reviews seemed to be regarding the speed of accountant responses to questions when using the Tax Return service. While this doesn’t appear to be a common issue, it could be addressed by opting to pay for the Tax Advice service. This includes a live 1 on 1 video or telephone consultation. 

Conclusion

If you struggle with the process of submitting your tax return and don’t have a personal accountant of your own, then Taxfix could well be worth considering. Having an accredited accountant on hand who you can reach out to for support could be very useful. The pricing is competitive when compared to hiring a standard accountant. The positive reviews – along with their success so far – would also indicate that the company are doing something right in helping their users to submit an accurate tax return on time! 

Sign up via this link* to receive 35% off Tax Returns for new users (discount automatically applied at checkout)

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This article will help high earners to work out whether they need to file a tax return or not.

Limited time partner offer: If you feel you need help filing your tax return or some advice on whether your income streams are taxable or not, then an online tax return filing and advice company like Taxfix might be worth looking into. They offer a tax return filing service but also a separate tax advice service, where you can book a 1-on-1 consultation with a tax advisor. You can check out our full Taxfix review here. 

Sign up via this link* to receive 20% off Taxfix tax returns (discount automatically applied at checkout)

How Things Used to Work – Prior to April 2023

As a high earner in the UK, it used to be the case that you had to file a tax return if you earned over £100,000. This guidance was changed, however, for the 23/24 tax year.

How Things Work Now – 2023/24

For the 2023/24 tax year this threshold was raised to £150,000. 

So if you earned more than £150,000 through PAYE in the 2023-24 tax year, then you’ll need to file a tax return. This is the case regardless of whether you have other income streams or not. 

Earned less than £150,000 but have self employed income

If you earned self-employed income on top of your earned income, then you will more than likely need to submit a tax return. This is true even if your income totalled less than £150,000. It’s especially true if you had more than £1000 in self employed revenue.

Earned less than £150,000 but have other income

If you earned less than £150,000 but have other sources of income – such as income from investment dividends or interest on savings – then you’ll need to check whether these income streams are high enough to require that you file a tax return.

For the 2023-24 tax year you have until January 31st 2025 to file your tax return with HMRC. If you miss the deadline then you might be liable to pay a fine. You may also find that you have some tax to pay due to a capital gain for example, or if you earned some money from self employment. If you don’t pay all of your due tax by this date too, then you may be charged interest. 

Why do I need to file a tax return as a high earner?

One of the main reasons HMRC ask you to file a tax return as a high earner is that your high earnings will reduce the amount you can earn before you start to pay tax. This is known as your tax free allowance and in the 2023/24 tax year this figure stood at £12,570. As you start to earn over £100,000 in the UK, you start to lose your tax free allowance. For every £2 that you earn over £100k, you actually lose £1 of your tax free allowance. Once you reach £125,140 in earnings, your allowance disappears completely. 

The 60% Tax Trap

You also start to pay 60% tax on a portion of your income. This is commonly referred to as the 60% tax trap. You won’t find any mention of a 60% tax rate on the HMRC threshold’s page. That’s because it’s not really an official rate. You just effectively begin to pay 60% tax on any earnings between £100,000 and £125,140 due to the tapering on your tax free allowance. Not only are you charged the higher tax band rate of 40% on these earnings, you also lose your allowance. This means you pay an extra 20% tax on those earnings too.  

Ways to Avoid the 60% Tax Trap

There are some perfectly legitimate ways of avoiding this tax trap. One is to donate to charity, to reduce your taxable income to under £100,000, 

The other frequently used way is to contribute more to your pension pot. As you put more money into your pension each year, you reduce your net adjusted income. This can allow you to recover some of your tax free allowance. You might even be able to recover all of your allowance and avoid the 60% tax trap completely if you bring your net adjusted earnings back down below £100,000. 

If you don’t yet have a pension, or perhaps you do but want to set up a private one or consolidate your existing pensions, then you can easily do this via reputable companies like Hargreaves Lansdown* or Moneyfarm*.   

The option of increasing your pension contributions to build your pot for later in life will obviously be the best and most attractive option to most people. There are limits to how much you can contribute to your pension and still receive tax relief, though. So getting expert financial advice could be a good idea here. 

If you need expert financial advice on utilising pension contributions or charity donations to bring down your net adjusted income, then you can easily find a local financial or pension advisor via a website like Unbiased*.

Still Unsure?

If you still have doubts about whether you need to file a tax return as a high earner or not, then you can also try out this handy tool on the .gov.uk website. This should give you a little help in deciding whether you need to file a tax return in the 2023/24 tax year or not.

Do remember it is YOUR responsibility to find out whether you need to file a tax return. HMRC are not required to reach out to you to ask you to file one.

A note to our readers – If you sign up for a service via any of the links in this post, then we will receive a small commission at no cost to you. In fact, you might even save money by utilising exclusive discounts or offers we have negotiated with these firms. This commission helps us to keep producing helpful content on Money Bulldog for you to enjoy free of charge.

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In recent years the term Shrinkflation has been used in the media a lot. But what is Shrinkflation and have you noticed it? We’ll answer this question in this post but first, let’s relive our childhood a little

A Little Bit of Nostalgia to Start Us Off

When I was young my family used to own a newsagents. Every Friday night was labelled ‘Friday night treat night’. Myself and my sister were each given £1.25 to spend in the shop downstairs, once the shop doors had shut and the lights had gone out. 

You wouldn’t believe what you could get for £1.25 back then. A can of coke was 30p (if I remember right). Chocolate bars like Mars, Marathon (now Snickers bars) and Spira bars if you remember those, could all be bought for about 25p each. Space Invader crisps were 10p a pack and let’s not forget a quarter bag of Choc Dip or Choc Nibbles – the stuff where the paper bag would always go soggy in the corner as you tipped it into your mouth – weren’t very expensive either.

The same was true of those little plastic sherbet sticks. The ones where you’d have to keep biting lower and lower down the plastic tube to get the last of the sherbet out! I can’t remember what they were called. 

And let’s not forget our old friend the 10p drink carton (full of E-numbers) with a straw attached. If you didn’t have a straw you could flip it upside down, bite off the bottom corner and then drink it that way. Then you could put it between your bike frame and tyre to make a loud whirring noise while you cycled off. Exciting!

Anyway, enough of my childhood nostalgia. The point of all this is that it was really, really hard to spend £1.25 on sweets and chocolate back then, at least without ruining your health.

Of course, we all know the effect that inflation has had. Nowadays, you’d be doing well if you could get a can of coke and a chocolate bar for £1.25! You might even have to go to B&M Stores shop to make that happen.

Today, though, we aren’t just facing the problem of inflation but also of a newer phenomenon called Shrinkflation. But what is Shrinkflation and have you noticed it?

What is Shrinkflation? 

A recent campaign launched to reduce the price of the famous Freddo bar to just 5p has brought the issue of Shrinkflation back into the spotlight. But what is Shrinkflation?

Shrinkflation is the process of the price of an item increasing, while at the same time getting smaller in size.

Shrinkflation has been in the news an awful lot in recent years. Many products and well-known brands have been accused of it. To me, though, the biggest outrage seems to have been dished out (mind the pun) in the confectionary sector, specifically with chocolate! 

Shrinkflation in Boxes of Chocolates

Boxes of chocolates such as Roses and Quality Street have been in the news recently. This is because the cost of these sharing boxes has risen substantially, while at the same time getting much, much smaller. It’s not just the size of the chocolate boxes that are getting unbearably small, it’s also the chocolates themselves. 

A report from a company called ICE36, for example, found that boxes of Cadbury’s Roses have shrank by a whopping 35% between 2013 and today. Back in 2013 a box of Cadbury’s Roses weighed 850g and cost £5. In December of 2023 a box weighed only 550g and cost 50p more at £5.50. We all know inflation went crazy over the last couple of years but still, this level of Shrinkflation seems to defy logic a little. The level of Shrinkflation even led to calls for a boycott of purchases of these ever popular chocolate boxes!

To defend these changes in size and price, the manufacturers often blame the cost of raw materials like Cocoa, which they say has increased in cost drastically due to climate change and poor harvests. Then we also have the increase in energy costs due to the war in Ukraine and the resulting increase in interest rates. Finally, I suppose the sugar tax will also play a part, as well as the higher wages now being paid to cover the rising cost of living. 

Shrinkflation in the Legendary Freddo Bar

And returning to our old friend the legendary Freddo bar, we see a huge rise in price in recent decades. When the Freddo bar was relaunched in 1994 it cost just 10p and weighed 18g. The price stayed at this level for 10 years despite inflation. From the mid 2000’s, though, the price started to gradually creep up. I’m sure if you’re a Freddo fan you’ll remember the day you first walked into a shop to see a 15p price tag! ‘Oh no’, you thought. ‘I’ll have to leave the caramel one today and just buy the plain chocolate’… ‘I’ll just have to have one’ .

The price kept rising and rising in subsequent years, reaching a peak of 30p today. During this time the amount of chocolate fluctuated, actually going slightly bigger for a brief period and then being reduced again. We should say, though, that it’s difficult to accuse Cadbury’s of Shrinkflation when it comes to the Freddo bar – at least in my eyes anyway – as the bar was originally 18g and it remains the same today.

The problem with a Freddo is simply the level of inflation in the price. The rise from 10p in 1994 to its current price of 30p is a hard one to ‘stomach’. This is especially true when the Bank of England’s inflation calculator for goods and services says it should only really be about 20p. I know, however, there will be exceptions to this general rule.

I have to say, I found it mildly amusing when I checked the current price of a Freddo on the Sainsbury’s website earlier today and it was 30p, even though the image showed a price of 25p… such is the speed of the price rise of Britain’s favourite chocolate frog. 

What about other products?

Of course, it’s not just chocolate where brands are being accused of Shrinkflation. It has shown up in many other products too, from Gravy to Tea Bags, accusations of Shrinkflation have been showing up all over the place. What are the worst cases of Shrinkflation you have seen? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below!

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Who are the Magnificent 7?

The Magnificent 7 are a group of tech stocks that dominate the stock market and have generated huge growth over recent years. A lot of this is due to the change they have enacted on consumer demand and behaviour. With a combined market cap of more than $16 trillion dollars at the time of writing, these companies can really impact the major stock indexes. 

As we list the Magnificent 7 companies below, I doubt there will be many names you don’t recognise.

1) NVIDIA – NVDA

Until a few years ago, most people will have only recognised the name Nvidia due to their prominence in the world of computer chips and graphics cards. Nowadays, though, Nvidia is a market leader in the world of Artificial Intelligence or AI. With a market cap of $3.1 trillion, its value is now similar to the likes of Apple and Microsoft! One example of this is that Nvidia make the chips that enable programs like ChatGPT to learn and develop. There is an also a huge demand for supercomputers right now, which has increased the demand for Nvidia hardware. With this demand likely to grow into a multi trillion dollar field, the future looks bright for Nvidia. As long as it can fend off its competitors, it looks likely to remain one of the Magnificent 7. 

2) Alphabet – GOOG

Now for the first of 3 companies listed in the Magnificent 7 whose name begins with the letter A… Alphabet. If you’re just starting out investing, then this name might sound a little unfamiliar. Alphabet is a parent company created by Google to house all of its companies under one umbrella. These comaines include not just its search engine and all of Google’s advertising revenues, but also companies like YouTube, DoubleClick, Nest, Fitbit and others. Google changed the way we use the internet and is still the dominant player in global search. With YouTube dominating the world of online video consumption, Alphabet more than deserves its place in the list of the Magnificent 7 stocks. Alphabet currently has a Market cap of over $2 Trillion.

3) Amazon – AMZN

If Google changed the way we used the internet then Amazon definitely changed the way we shop. Not just shop online either but shop in general. Amazon started out as an online bookseller but they didn’t really intend to stay that way. Right from the start it was apparent that Amazon wanted to reinvest almost all of its profits to fund branching out into different industries. These days there are not many things you can’t buy on Amazon. In fact, there was talk recently that they were even going to be selling cars. This has meant that this online retailer – started by Jeff Bezos in his garage – has now grown into one of the maginficent 7 stocks. In fact, Amazon now has a market cap now in excess of $2 trillion dollars! 

4) Apple – AAPL

In Apple we come to a company that really needs no introduction… but we’ll give it a little one. Founded by the late Steve Jobs and Wozniak, Apple revolutionised the smartphone. Apple also introduced other devices to the market that are now a staple of modern life. The iPad, iPhone, airpods and of course the Mac computer are just some of these products. Apple has an almost cult-like following who also use many of the digital services offered by the company. This has led it to go tit for tat with Microsoft, competing in value and occasionally trading places with the other in which has the biggest market cap in the world. At the time of writing, Apple is winning this war by some margin. With a total market cap of almost $3.5 trillion Apple is the world’s most valuable company.

5) Microsoft – MSFT

This would be a good place to introduce Microsoft to our Magnificent 7 list. Currently the world’s second largest company by market cap at around $3.2 trillion, pretty much all of us will have owned or used a computer in our lifetime with Windows software on it. Microsoft’s legendary founder Bill Gates was portrayed – and probably was – the polar opposite to Apple’s founder Steve Jobs. Yet the two of them engaged in a race for technological dominance over the decades. Nowadays, Microsoft’s biggest revenue stream actually comes from its intelligent cloud business. Microsoft also has a huge investment in AI and it has recently worked closely with NVIDIA in this sector. 

6) Tesla – TSLA

With a current Market cap of $761 Billion, Tesla is currently 12th on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market cap. The Magnificent 7 companies are not just about market cap, though, it is also about innovation. On this front, it’s fair to say that Tesla and its founder Elon Musk – who also famously founded and sold PayPal – has revolutionised the electric car market. Tesla may have dropped off in market cap from a peak of over $1 trillion dollars, but things do seem to be steadying out for them. Let’s face it, they are only really one extremely successful model launch away from rising close to the top of the market cap list once again. 

7) Meta – META

Last but not least on our Magnificent 7 stocks list is Meta. Like Alphabet is for Google, Meta is a parent company created by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to house all of the companies now operating under Meta. These include names such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus. With the Metaverse and Virtual Reality now growing in popularity the future also looks bright for Meta. That being said, the family of apps listed above and the advertising revenues they generate still account for the vast majority of Meta’s revenue. This leads to it’s current Market cap of around $1.4 Trillion. 

Are you invested in any of the Magnificent 7? Let us know why in the comments.

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What is an Airbnb-friendly mortgage?

The first thing to know here is that an Airbnb-friendly mortgage is not a Buy to Let mortgage. It is not designed to allow you to operate a full-time airbnb all year round. Instead, what NatWest have done is update their terms to allow more flexibility for borrowers to make money from their home on a part time basis. 

How have NatWest’s terms changed?

In the past, if you wanted to rent out a room in your home – or rent out your entire home while you were on holiday – you would need to apply to NatWest for something called a ‘Consent to Let’. Not only did you have to apply for this, you also had to pay a fee for it! There was no guarantee that your request would be granted and this lack of flexibility was frustrating for borrowers.

With NatWest’s new more flexible ‘Airbnb-friendly’ terms, borrowers will now be aliowed to rent out a room in their home – or even their entire home – for up to 90 days in each rolling 12 month period. They can now do this without having to apply and pay for a Consent to Let.

This change to NatWest’s mortgage terms could come as a welcome relief to cash-strapped borrowers who have been hit by rising interest rates. Renting out all or part of your home on airbnb could raise £1000s of pounds per year. This could go a long way in funding your annual mortgage bill. In more extreme cases it could even stop you from losing your home if the payments have simply gone up to an unaffordable level. 

Are NatWest the only lender to offer Airbnb friendly mortgages?

While NatWest when launching their new terms encouraged other lenders to follow suit, it’s worth mentioning that they are not the only lender to have taken the step of updating their mortgage terms to make them more Airbnb-friendly. Halifax, Metro Bank and Barclays, for example, have also updated their terms in a similar way.

Are Airbnb-friendly terms available for all borrowers?

It’s worth mentioning too that these terms are not always available to all borrowers. Many lenders only offer these terms on mortgages with a maximum loan to value of 75%. So be sure to check the terms and conditions thoroughly before applying to ensure they are suitable for your needs.

How long can I let my home out for?

There are also restrictions on the length of time you can rent out all or part of your home for. These restrictions often mean you can only rent all or part of your home out for between 3 and 4 months – 90 to 120 days – in any rolling 12 month period. While this might be suitable for some, it does mean that you wont be able to spend the majority of the year abroad and only come back for a few months of the year. 

Do I have to use Airbnb?

There is one other condition that is often attached to an Airbnb-freindly mortgage and this is implied in the name. Most lenders will require you to use a reputable company or website to rent out your home. Airbnb will obviously be one such company. For others, you may want to check with you lender first before going ahead.

We hope you’ve found this overview of the new NatWest terms useful. If you have please do check out our other mortgage related content.

Will you benefit from the new NatWest Airbnb-friendly mortgage terms? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Perhaps your friends have even made a few quid themselves by purchasing a rare bottle or two and then selling them on at a later date. Or, maybe they have shown you rare bottles selling for many thousands of pounds – or even hundreds of thousands of pounds – on whisky auction sites. All of this is enough to spark the interest of any investor, especially if you enjoy a wee dram yourself. 

But how can you get into this type of investment class? Here are 3 possible routes in for you to consider.

1) Invest in a Whisky Bottle  

So the first and perhaps most obvious route into whisky investment is to buy a rare bottle. But what should you look for? What sort of bottle might make for a good investment? 

The first thing I would suggest here is to do lots of research. Reading one single blog post like this is not going to give you the knowledge to jump right in and buy, but we can help you to start your search. 

A few things you can look for are as follows…

New Distilleries

Have you heard about a new distillery that is launching? Do they have management in place that have a track record of success in the industry? If you’re able to get hold of an early edition bottle from some of their first releases, then you might just find that the price of these rise as the popularity of the distillery grows. 

A friend of mine made a bit of money via this route. He bought a couple of the first bottles from the Bruichladdich distillery when it first opened – Port Charlotte PC5 bottles he tells me. My friend bought them for around £65 each and sold one of them a few years later for £200+. He still has one today and is holding out for a good price. The man behind this distillery was Jim McEwan who was a master distiller and had worked for many years at Bowmore driving its growth. This instilled confidence into my friend that Bruichladdich would be a success and these early editions would be worth much more in the future.

Failing Distilleries

The opposite way to go about things than we have just mentioned above could be to look for distilleries that are in trouble and could be closing down. If you can pick up a bottle or two of the last editions of a whisky from a distillery such as this, then as time goes by these could also appreciate in value, as they will no longer be available.

Limited Editions

And, of course, limited edition bottles from renowned distilleries could be a safer and more obvious route to gains in the value of your whisky investments. You just might not make as much money, as every man and his dog seems to be at it these days.

2) Invest in a Whisky Cask 

Another route into whisky investment could be via the purchase of a cask. 

You may have seen advertisements plastered all over instagram to invest via this route but do be careful, there are many scams out there. Investing via a reputable broker might be a safer way in but if you do go it alone, be sure that all the correct documents are in place and that the barrel is stored correctly and is transferred into your name. If this doesn’t happen then you may not own the barrel in the way you think you do. Keep in mind that whisky investment is unregulated and therefore there is no real route for recourse if you do end up being scammed. 

Some people who invested in whisky barrels 30 or so years ago have made upwards of £100k after selling them. Barrels of Ardbeg, for example, which were bought for £1,000 many years ago have sold for £200k+ plus in recent years. This is the thing with whisky investment, though, it’s more than likely a long term game!

3) Invest in Shares of Whisky Companies

Our 3rd and final route into whisky investment then is perhaps the easiest too, with less knowledge required and that is to invest in shares of whisky companies. 

You could either invest in big parent companies like Diageo (Talisker & Dalwhinnie), Pernod Ricard (Aberlour and Glenlivet) or Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (Ardbeg & Glenmorangie). 

Alternatively, if a new distillery is setting up shop then might it be possible – if not more risky – to buy into one of these via shares in the company? It’s not something I’ve looked into personally but a friend did mention that as a possible route in.

Conclusion

As we’ve seen then, there are various routes into whisky investing. Which one you choose might boil down to the level of risk you are happy to take and also how much money you have to invest. 

Have you invested via any of the above routes? We’d love to hear your experience in the comments below!

“Capital at risk. Investments can go up and down in value, and you may not get back what you put in. This blog does not constitute financial advice. If you’re unsure, seek independent financial advice.”

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Now my son – like myself – is a bit of a bargain hunter and hates overpaying for things. Like any other child he’s also a little addicted to YouTube and YouTube shorts. So I have to say I was a little skeptical that he might be getting taken in a little bit by some kind of click bait. 

So I asked him a few more questions and had him send me the links to where he’d found the information and lone behold, what he was telling me was true. Let me explain…

How to get free refills at Starbucks

It turned out that what my son was telling me was completely true! 

If you have the Starbucks app and you are a rewards member – which it’s completely free to sign up for by the way – you can indeed scan this app when purchasing filter or cold brew coffee (and also tea) and receive free unlimited refills for as long as you are in the store.

Not only this but you can also receive a further 25p off by taking your own reusable cup to the store to use.

Now the links he sent were a little old and there were figures of £1.50 being used as the total price of a filter coffee – after the reusable cup discount had been applied. I’m guessing these figures are now a little out of date with recent inflationary pressures. But even if you’re now paying more like £2.50 for a filter coffee with unlimited refills, that’s still a really great deal.

Factor in that you’re also not having to heat your home during this time if using it as a workspace and that you have access to their free wifi and the joyous sight of other human beings while working, well this all adds value to an already great deal. 

Are there any hidden catches? 

There really doesn’t seem to be any hidden catches either. The only one that might come up is that it says the usual ‘at participating stores’ in the terms and conditions of the deal. But all you have to to do is ask in your local store if they are part of the deal.

Also don’t forget to scan your rewards card when making your first order and then again each time you go for a refill.

Finally be aware that once you leave the store, you will then likely have to pay for a new coffee if you return later.

Time to get the app!

So if you like the sound of getting free unlimited refills on filter coffee – iced or hot – and also iced or hot tea, then why not check out the Starbucks app and sign up to the rewards program to start benefiting from the deal today. Here’s a link to the offer details page too so you can check the details yourself.  

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First off, let’s just quickly outline some of the main features of the Lightyear app.

• Multi-Currency accounts available at no cost
• Competitive interest rates paid on uninvested cash
• Easy Access, High Interest Vaults
• Maximum trading fees of £1, $1 or 1 Euro per trade
• Fractional investing available for high value US shares
• Low Currency Conversion Fees at Interbank rates
• Free Investing tools to help you learn and succeed
• No Lightyear Execution Fees on ETF investments – other fees may apply

The Team Behind Lightyear

One of the first things I like to do when writing a review is to look at who is behind the platform, to see if it is credible.

The good news with Lightyear is that there are some instantly credible names that jump out, filling you with confidence that the company know what they are doing.

The founders of Lightyear are Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer. This pair were former members of the team over at Transferwise – now known simply as Wise. Wise made international money transfers cheap, fair and simple. This is the same philosophy Lightyear are now applying to trading and investing.

It’s also encouraging to see that Lightyear have secured financial backing from Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group.

Getting Started With Lightyear

While Lightyear have recently launched a web based version of their platform, this is still in beta stage and can only be accessed by already verified investors.

So to get started with Lightyear, you’ll need to download the Lightyear app from your App Store of choice.

On downloading the app myself I was asked to verify my phone number and enter some other details to confirm my identity.

Lightyear Solves Common Investing Problems

One of the main things I wanted to achieve with this Lightyear review is to explain what problems the platform solves for investors. Let’s consider 5 of these problems.

Problem 1: High commission on share trades

One of the biggest barriers to entry for those looking to trade stocks and shares are the high fees charged by traditional investment platforms. If you wanted to buy a share in Coca-Cola, for example (currently priced at around $61 per share), then you would need to pay a commission fee of perhaps £10 or more to buy that share and then a further £10+ to sell it! You can see how these kind of fees might wipe out any profits you might make through gains in the share price.

SOLVED – With Lightyear you will only pay a maximum of £1, $1 or 1 Euro per share trade.

Problem 2: Investing in high value shares

Another problem faced by some investors is that of investing in shares that are of particularly high value. If you want to invest in Microsoft, for example (currently trading at $327 per share) but you only have $100 to invest, then with traditional investing platforms you would be priced out of this trade.

SOLVED – Lightyear allows fractional investing on some US shares. This means that rather than having to buy a whole share, you can buy a fraction of one instead.

Problem 3 – High currency conversion fees

High currency conversion fees is yet another issue traditionally faced by those looking to invest in overseas shares. If you live in the UK, for example, but want to invest in US stocks, you will need to exchange your pounds into dollars to make the trade. This would often be at less than favourable exchange rates and come with hefty currency conversion fees too.

SOLVED – The first way Lightyear address this problem is by allowing you to hold multiple currencies in your account. This means if you sell a dollar denominated share, then you can hold that dollar balance in your account until you want to buy another dollar denominated share, even if you are a UK investor. The same is true with euros. If you do need to convert your currency in order to buy a share, then the currency conversion fee charged by lightyear is set at a very reasonable 0.35% and your money will always be converted at the live interbank rate. This is the rate at which banks convert currencies with one another.

Problem 4 – Fees on ETF investments

ETFs are now widely known by investors as being an economical way to invest, mainly due to their popularity among robo advisor platforms like Moneyfarm, InvestEngine and others. While ETFs are less costly than some other types of investment, many traditional investment platforms still charge a one off fee to buy them. Robo advisors charge an ongoing fee to manage your ETF portfolio for you.

SOLVED – Lightyear don’t charge you execution fee or a management fee to invest in ETFs. While ETF providers do charge management fees themselves, Lightyear do not add any of their own fees on top of this. (Other fees may apply)

Problem 5 – Monthly fees

A final problem that some investors face is that of monthly fees being charged by their investment platform, just to maintain an active investment account. This could be around £10 per month with some platforms.

SOLVED – Lightyear do not charge any monthly fees to use their platform.

High Interest Vaults

A recent addition to the Lightyear offering comes in the form of low risk, easy access, high interest vaults. Managed by the world’s largest asset management firm BlackRock, the interest paid on these vaults is benchmarked against the overnight rates offered by the central bank in your region. These accounts are offered in GBP, Euros and Dollars and there is no minimum or Maximum investment. Invest from just £1, 1 Euro or $1.

The advertised interest rates are what you will receive on your investment after the 0.25% total fees have been deducted, so the rate you see is the rate you get! Interest is earned daily and paid monthly and you can also withdraw your investment to your Lightyear cash account almost instantly on most occasions. While the Lightyear High Interest Vaults are considered low risk due to your money being invested in Money Market Funds, it is still an investment, so the value can rise as well as fall.

Lightyear Fees

While we have already mentioned some of the fees charged by Lightyear in this review, it’s always helpful to see them in one place. You can see all their fees on the Lightyear website.

Do remember that there are sometimes extra fees involved with investing which Lightyear don’t have any control over. These include fees like stamp duty on share sales (or equivalent fees in the country you are investing in. Then there are management fees charged by various fund managers when investing in funds or ETFs. Finally you may have to pay tax on any gains you make, be it capital gains or on income.

Lightyear Investing Tools

Lightyear also offer some free features to help you grow your investing knowledge. These tools include Live news feeds related to stocks you own along with other analyst ratings and price expectations.

The company also have features which will help you to understand any investing lingo. While Lightyear do try to simplify the investing process a little knowledge can still go a long way.

Lightyear Reviews

While we hope that this Lightyear review has helped you to understand more about what Lightyear offer, it’s good to hear what experiences other Lightyear customers have had with the platform. This includes the customer service on offer.

The reviews left by Lightyear users on Trustpilot so far have been very positive. Lightyear are currently rated as excellent based on 585 reviews and score an impressive 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Is Your Money Safe With Lightyear?

Lightyear outline in great detail on their website the efforts they make to safeguard your money. Of course, Lightyear are not able to shield you from any unwise investment decisions. Governmental protection schemes are not designed to cover investment losses which may or may not be related to unwise investment decisions.

You can read more about their safeguarding process on the Lightyear website.

Are There Any Drawbacks?

In this Lightyear review we’ve highlighted many of the pros Lightyear has to offer for investors. But are there any cons to using Lightyear? The answer is that – presently – there are some cons to mention. The company do say that they are working to resolve these issues, though.

The main drawback I personally can see is that you can’t currently invest via a Stocks and Shares ISA or pension account. This is due to the company not yet being FCA authorised. This is something Lightyear are working on resolving. The company hope to offer a Stocks & Shares ISA in the future.

If you really want to invest via a Stocks and Shares ISA then you might want to check out our reviews of robo advisors like Moneyfarm and InvestEngine.

If you want to pick your own Stocks and Shares, then maybe a more traditional platform such as Hargreaves Lansdown might work for you.

Another potential drawback with Lightyear is that crypto trading and CFD trading are not available.

What Do We Think Of Lightyear?

It’s hard not to be impressed by what Lightyear have to offer investors. Lightyear solve many problems that prove to be a barrier to entry for most new investors. These solutions include low trading fees, multi-currency accounts and also fractional investing. The fact that there is currently no Stocks and Shares ISA or pension product available is certainly a drawback but this is something the company are looking to address. All being said, Lightyear seems like a great option for new investors looking to invest in several different markets and currencies. On top of all this, you can earn a decent rate of interest on any uninvested cash in your account.

If our Lightyear Investing review has helped you, then please do consider signing up via this link. If you do, we will receive a small commission. This helps us to keep this site free to use, at no extra cost to yourself.

Lightyear would like us to mention the following…

Your capital is at risk. The provider of investment services is Lightyear Financial Ltd for the UK and Lightyear Europe AS for the EU. Terms apply: lightyear.com/terms. Seek qualified advice If necessary.

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Do You Own Your Home?

When reading the question above, many homeowners throughout the UK will instantly answer ‘Yes I own my own home!’ but do you really? The truth is that only a small percentage of owner occupiers in the UK actually own their home outright, the majority of people co-own their home with their mortgage lender.  As your mortgage lender has a vested financial interest in your property they also have a legal right to ensure that your home as a structural building is adequately insured. This legal right will be mentioned in the terms and conditions of your mortgage agreement.

Do I Need Buildings Insurance, Contents Insurance or Both?

Due to the recent rise in the cost of insuring a home, when comparing home insurance quotes online, many people wonder if they need to take out a joint buildings and contents policy or whether they could get away with insuring just one of the two. If you’re a homeowner with a mortgage you will be required to at least take out an adequate buildings insurance policy. Whether you also choose to insure your contents is up to you but I personally feel that contents insurance is vitally important for both homeowners and tenants, which leads us to our next heading.

I’m a Tenant, Do I Still Need Home Insurance?

I often wonder how many people in rented accommodation have wasted money on buildings insurance over the years. If you live in rented accommodation it is usually the responsibility of your landlord to take care of the buildings part of a home insurance policy, as a tenant you will not normally have to pay out for buildings insurance. It is still your responsibility to arrange adequate insurance for your contents though. Premiums for contents insurance vary dramatically so it’s worth taking the time to shop around and find the best contents insurance quotes.

Will My Mortgage Lender Know If I Cancel My Policy?

If you’re facing financial difficulty and have considered cancelling your home insurance policy to save money, I’d urge you to think again. Many people think that their mortgage company will never find out if they cancel their home insurance policy or that their lender will be powerless to take action if they were to find out. Unfortunately though, this is not the case.

At some point when taking out your mortgage you will have been required to arrange a buildings home insurance policy. When you arranged that policy your mortgage lender will have been named on the policy as having a financial interest in the property. If the policy were to be cancelled your insurer has a legal responsibility to inform your mortgage lender so that they can take action to remedy the situation. What action?

What Action Can A Mortgage Lender Take?

As part of your mortgage agreement your lender will have the legal right to set up a buildings insurance policy on your behalf and charge you for the cover. They may also charge an admin fee for setting up the policy and the premium you pay for the new home insurance policy is unlikely to be as competitive as the ones you might find on a comparison site.

Although home insurance is getting more expensive by the year, it’s also a necessary requirement for homeowners. Home insurance may not be required by governmental law but if you have an outstanding mortgage on your property you are legally required to maintain adequate buildings insurance and lenders have the power to take matters into their own hands if you make the decision to cancel your home insurance policy, often at a great expense to you.

“This blog does not constitute financial advice. If you’re unsure, seek independent financial advice.”

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In this Scottish Friendly ISA review, we’ll be taking a closer look at this Stocks and Shares ISA account, its features and the setup process to help you to decide if this is the right investment ISA for you.

Choose the Right Investment Level

One of the best aspects of investing in an ISA is that it gives you a flexible way of matching your investment level to your current needs and plans. You can then adjust the amount you invest over time as you see fit.

What this means in practise with the Scottish Friendly ISA is that you can setup your account and start investing* from as little as £20 on a monthly basis, or else get started with a lump sum of £100 or more. From this starting point you can then go up to the maximum annual ISA allowance if you want to.

The fact that your ISA is tax free means that the money you invest and your returns stay in the account and work hard for you, rather than going to the tax man.You can also have other types of ISA such as a Cash ISA at the same time, provided that you don’t go over your annual ISA allowance.

Ideally, you will let your ISA account run for at least 5 years but you can take the money out before then if you need to do so. However, by choosing the right investment level at the start and then monitoring the progress, you stand a better chance of being able to continue with the investment for as long as you want to.

The Ready-Made ISA Option

The Scottish Friendly Ready-made ISA is ideal for an investor who wants to take some level of control without putting all of the pressure on their shoulders.

This is because it lets you invest in a unitised with-profits fund. This gives you a guarantee that you will get back at least what you initially invest in 10 years, provided you don’t switch away from or withdraw money from the fund.

You can choose the My Easy Choice ISA or the My Ethical Choice ISA depending on your preference. Each require a £20 a month or £100 lump sum minimum investment.

The Do-it-yourself ISA

The do-it-yourself ISA option from Scottish Friendly allows you to be a little more hands on with your investment, without having to take on the responsibility of choosing from a vast array of investment choices.

There are 10 funds to choose from. The My Choice ISA gives you the ability to invest with lower amounts of money upfront, but you may pay a slightly higher management fee than if you were to invest higher amounts in the My Prime ISA. It is certainly well worth taking a few minutes to look through the details of these funds on the Scottish Friendly website to see which one is likely to be the perfect match for your investment needs.

If you like then you can even set up different policies within your Scottish Friendly ISA and invest in more than one fund. As long as you don’t go over your annual ISA allowance, you can open as many policies as you like and split up your money across various funds in the way that you most like the look of, allowing you to save separately for say a car or your child’s university fees all within the one ISA account.

Getting Your Account Opened

Before you apply for your new ISA account it is also a good move to check out the key features as well as the page on the Scottish Friendly website that shows how your money could grow. This is a quick and easy way of seeing how you could achieve your financial goals in the timeframe that you have in mind.

Once you have done this, the next step is to set up your ISA account online*. This is a painless process that is carried out over just 4 steps.

You will need your bank account details and National Insurance number in order to complete the application process. The key features page on their website should also answer just about any question that you have on the subject.

Why Choose This ISA?

There are a few reasons why you might want to invest in the Scottish Friendly Stocks and Shares ISA. Of course, as with any type of ISA it is an extremely tax efficient way of investing your money month after month.

In addition, it offers a highly flexible approach If you aren’t sure how your life and finances will change in the future. This makes it ideal for someone who wants to start investing but isn’t keen on committing a set amount for a fixed period.

It is also an attractive proposition for anyone who wants to take a degree of control over their investing. Instead of just having your money lumped into a set account, you get to choose from an interesting range of different funds.

All in all, this is the sort of flexible and attractive ISA account that makes it easier to plan for a better financial future no matter what your hopes and dreams are.

Capital at risk. Investments can go up and down in value, and you may not get back what you put in. This blog does not constitute financial advice. If you’re unsure, seek independent financial advice.

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