The HfP chat thread – Monday 17th May

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Reney says:

17 May17 May 09:54

Morning, any recommendation for a globally diverse ETF?
- M says:
  
  17 May17 May 10:16
  
  How about an index fund instead?
  
  I invest in Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund – Accumulation
  - Josh says:
    
    17 May17 May 13:19
    
    Agreed. Dividends auto reinvested so no faff from taxation perspective. Globally weighted.
    
    Tip: Once your AUM reaches £60k <, transfer from vanguard into a fixed fee brokerage. This is roughly the point to which the platform % fees start to cost more.
    - Genghis says:
      
      17 May17 May 13:25
      
      “ no faff from taxation perspective”
      
      Within an ISA there’s no faff at all as no IT / CGT
      
      Within a pension there’s no faff as no CGT and IT only on drawdown
      
      Within a GIA, indeed there’s more faff choosing an acc fund from a taxation perspective. Rebuilding the base cost and paying IT on notional dividends although no cash flow to actually cover the payment.
      
      Acc inside tax wrapper. Income outside.
- Red Flyer says:
  
  17 May17 May 11:08
  
  You really should not be seeking investment advice via a travel blog?! Do some research via the likes of Morningstar.com at least and remember past performance is not a guide to future returns etc!
  - Anuj says:
    
    17 May17 May 12:06
    
    There’s actually some really good advice given on here. Investment need not be that complicated. People usually advise on global passive index trackers, of which there are a few that really stand out. No one comes on here asking which is the next stock they should pick
    - Red Flyer says:
      
      17 May17 May 14:01
      
      Investment advice is a regulated activity so should not be given if not properly qualified!
      - Reney says:
        
        17 May17 May 14:09
        
        I am aware, I view this as some suggestions to kick of my research. I know this a pedantic, but pretty sure giving credit card advice is financial advice which is why Rob is registered with the regulator. It doesn’t stop people suggesting credit card here all the time.
        
        Also as mentioned if you have spent enough time on these chats you’ll realized there are some (not all) people who really know their stuff, taking a few starter points for my own research seems sensible to me.
  - the_real_a says:
    
    17 May17 May 14:02
    
    Its not advice really is it? More like a suggestion of where to research further…
    - Reney says:
      
      17 May17 May 14:10
      
      +1
  - Reney says:
    
    17 May17 May 14:13
    
    But I appreciate Red Flyers’ warning for other readers who may not be aware the context in which I’m asking the question.
- Steve says:
  
  17 May17 May 12:54
  
  HSBC FTSE All World Index Acc
  - Genghis says:
    
    17 May17 May 13:18
    
    Albeit not an etf. On the wrong platform (eg HL) you’ll pay ££££.
- AndyW says:
  
  17 May17 May 14:35
  
  Without going into where you are accessing this from, whether an ETF is best etc, SPDR MSCI World ETF has a TER of 12bps which last time I checked was market leading
- Waddle says:
  
  17 May17 May 14:39
  
  iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD (Acc) (GBP). Not necessarily global but traded in GBP, and dividends accumulate to prevent a CGT event.
  - Genghis says:
    
    17 May17 May 14:54
    
    “dividends accumulate to prevent a CGT event.”
    What’s the relevance of this?
    - Waddle says:
      
      17 May17 May 15:06
      
      Dividends paid out (as opposed to reinvested automatically within the fund) via a non-ISA account trigger a CGT event if above the allowance, do they not?
      - AndyW says:
        
        17 May17 May 15:15
        
        Divs are income, wouldn’t impact CGT
      - Jonathan says:
        
        17 May17 May 15:18
        
        No. CGT is for capital growth. Dividends fall under income tax although you get a £2k pa tax free allowance. An Accumulation fund reinvests the dividend income automatically but it still counts as income hence Genghis’ advice to choose Inc funds outside a pension/ISA wrapper as it keeps the calculations for tax return simple.
      - Genghis says:
        
        17 May17 May 15:20
        
        Dividends from funds within a GIA are income and subject to income tax (not a capital increase and therefore not subject to CGT).
        
        Within a GIA, whether you get the actual cash from a dividend (an income fund) or it gets automatically reinvested (an accumulation fund), the dividend is still subject to income tax. There are allowances of course (£2k / year dividend allowance). That an accumulation fund doesn’t pay you cash but you may (if over allowance) need to pay cash out to HMRC, may lead to a liquidity problem.
        
        Also, the automatic reinvesting of dividends – like I posted above – means that you need to rebuild the base cost of the asset for CGT purposes, and getting that information is a right pain.
        
        It’s much easier to hold income units within a GIA. That way you know what the dividend is as you actually received the cash, if you then need to pay tax on that you have some cash to pay it, and you can then reinvest those dividends manually and you know the base cost of the reinvestment since you invested that cash and you have a readily available price.
- Genghis says:
  
  17 May17 May 20:18
  
  L
  
  I plan on starting a “blog” which discusses all of this.
  
  The “rational” portfolio is a global market cap weighted fund watered down depending on your age with either a global bond fund hedged to your local currency or local bonds.
  
  Implementing this then, it’s important to keep it simple and keep costs low which all allows you to stay the course.
  
  There’s many ways to skin a cat and different coverage. You marry up your fund and broker and how you’ll trade in deciding the best approach for you. Each broker charges differently for different products and different types of accounts.
  
  Which fund is “best” depends on many things: cost, tracking error, coverage (100%, sampling etc), physical / synthetic etc. Too much to cover here.
  
  Something like the FTSE All World index can be tracked using HSBC All World C OEIC (I use this in iWeb ISA, cheap as chips) or Vanguard FTSE all world ETF (in dist and acc formats, latter has large spreads)
  
  FTSE Developed World + FTSE Emerging Markets = FTSE All World, I use two ETFs in this approach with Vanguard funds.
  
  If you want small caps too (FTSE All Cap) then you can’t go wrong with the Vanguard FTSE All Cap fund offers have mentioned. Small caps have performed v well recently but before the recent for surge not that well for many years. There’s some added cost. Is it worth it in the future, who knows. I don’t use.
  
  MSCI split things a bit differently in terms of large / med vs small and Dev world vs EM so don’t try to mix and match.
  
  ACWI has come down in cost recently. MSCI World only covers developed markets (eg the SPDR ETF already mentioned, SWDA, the HSBC one etc). If you want global coverage could combine with EIMI which covers EM (large, med and small caps) And if want developed world small caps add in the iShares WSML.
  
  For bonds there’s loads of different options out there. I’m still young so have an aggressive 100% equities port. I’ve ridden markets before. If you plan on doing the same, follow Monevator’s now legendary advice
  
  https://monevator.com/weekend-reading-do-not-sell/
  
  Hope this helps.
  - Magic Mike says:
    
    17 May17 May 20:33
    
    Not Genghis, but there is some really bad advice in the thread above. Like not appreciating the difference between inc and acc, etf and fund, CGT and income tax, and more.
    
    I wouldn’t take points advice from Monevator and it’s probably inadvisable to take financial advice from a points blog…
  - Matt says:
    
    17 May17 May 20:52
    
    I would read such a blog with interest. I hope it comes to fruition.
Roberto says:

17 May17 May 09:54

Just been on the phone to move some Avios to Nectar.
All in all a very cagey affair, the agent who did it sounded like I was asking her to transfer me a million pounds of her own hard earned cash.
Very strange, felt like I was getting interviewed for committing a crime.
- Peter K says:
  
  17 May17 May 10:05
  
  Completely opposite to my two experiences of trying it. Both agents were lovely and once even pre-emptively asked if I wanted to transfer the maximum allowed before I said how much I wanted to move.
  - Simon says:
    
    17 May17 May 10:28
    
    How long did they take to arrive? Called on Friday – took 2 minutes – wondered if they might turn up today ahead of a shop tomorrow…
    - Andrew says:
      
      17 May17 May 10:49
      
      Has been taking about 4 or 5 working days in my experience. And would agree with Peter, friendly and efficient agents just collecting the correct information to verify it’s you before doing the transfer.
    - Peter K says:
      
      17 May17 May 11:03
      
      @Simon, be aware that the points are not available to use until a day *after* they appear in the nectar account/app.
      
      I did a big shop the day they appeared, staff at Sainsbury’s could see them on app on my phone but their system could not. They rang nectar while I was in store who said that it’ll take an extra day after showing in the account before they are usable in store.
      - Simon says:
        
        17 May17 May 12:52
        
        Thanks Peter. Will bear that in mind. Looks like I’ll have to dig out the Nectar Amex for one last shop this week!
Ja says:

17 May17 May 10:02

I’m going to Jersey in a few weeks. I know we have to have a covid test on entry. What I can’t find out is, do I have to book one. Or do we just queue up for it when we get off the plane. Any guidance appreciated.
- Rob says:
  
  17 May17 May 10:15
  
  As per my review from last year, you get your baggage, leave the baggage hall and do it then. No booking required.
  - Ja says:
    
    17 May17 May 10:16
    
    Thanks Rob
- Will says:
  
  17 May17 May 11:34
  
  I have just returned from a weekend in Jersey. Test on arrival, queued for maybe 10 minutes and got result back in 6hr 20 minutes – very efficient!
WaynedP says:

17 May17 May 10:09

Half hour BBC Radio 4 article at 11 am today on one person’s experience of UK Hotel Quarantine.

May be educational for those, like me, facing the prospect of this particular deprivation in the near future.

Apparently >27,000 people have already been through it in UK since introduced 3 months ago.
- WaynedP says:
  
  17 May17 May 11:39
  
  Oh dear. Sounds as grim as you might reasonably expect.
  
  Difficult set of circumstances imposed both on providers and passengers.
  
  But worth pursuing the govt’s silence on statistics like proportions testing positive on day 2 and 8, and numbers absconding early.
  
  Any state enforced deprivation of liberty at own expense must be objectively justifiable with statistical evidence, or be questioned regarding its appropriateness in a 21st century democracy.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    17 May17 May 13:07
    
    This is the biggest hole in this.
    
    They have all the stats we don’t need to guess what % of passengers arriving actually test positive on day 2 and day 8 then know it all.
    
    They could in one fail swoop justify all these actions with data … the fact they don’t tells you everything.
Anna says:

17 May17 May 10:17

The IHG flash sale is making points bookings look even more dire – Indigo Stratford is £118 (with breakfast added) in early June as opposed to 45k points! Clearly they are trying to dissuade people from trying to get free stays.
- Scott says:
  
  17 May17 May 10:31
  
  I booked a night this week at my local HIX and no mention of any flash sale there.
  Price pretty much normal (£49 or 20k points), but it will trigger my 2x bonus on my next stay which will hopefully be somewhere where I can earn a few more points.
- Harrier25 says:
  
  17 May17 May 10:51
  
  ….and the Indigo Stratford is nowhere near as good as the Crowne Plaza Stratford, which has a lounge, has been fully refurbished, is sat on the River with an excellent garden and is usually cheaper.
  - The cyclist says:
    
    17 May17 May 11:05
    
    The breakfast is very good too, especially if you bring your own big plate
  - Anna says:
    
    17 May17 May 13:08
    
    Hmm, might have another look. I’m very attracted by the Olde Worlde look of the Indigo, but the CP does look very nice as well!
    - Anna says:
      
      17 May17 May 13:11
      
      Doesn’t look like the lounge is re-opening just yet, so I’ll stick with the Indigo and try the CP next time! The general area is always a good place to break up a north-south (or reverse) trip.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    17 May17 May 13:08
    
    When was the CP fully refurbished ?
    
    My experience of the two is that Indigo is far superior property, in the centre of town with a great restaurant / bar.
    - Sean says:
      
      17 May17 May 13:22
      
      100% agree (from a Stratfordian)
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        17 May17 May 14:48
        
        We were there last July. They were incapable of cleaning the room properly, even when having two goes at it and the Crowne Plaza is a walk over the river bridge from the centre, so 2 minute walk, but in a much nicer location set on the river bank.
    - Harrier25 says:
      
      17 May17 May 14:36
      
      It was fully refurbished in two stages when it was rebranded from a Holiday Inn. The rooms were refurbished about 12 months after rebranding.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        17 May17 May 15:22
        
        Years ago then and to an OK standard. Rooms at Indigo are far superior.
        
        Cleaning May be an isolated incident or not.
        
        While it’s on the river most of the rooms overlook bins and other houses. If you want to go to the restaurant/bar in the river just walk the 10 mins or so from indigo and over the bridge as you say.
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        17 May17 May 15:36
        
        It’s personal preference I suppose.
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        17 May17 May 15:37
        
        ….and I’ve never overlooked the bins!
S says:

17 May17 May 10:21

Can you overpay your Capital on Tap card? Looking to make a large transaction (£45,000), but credit limit is low – any suggestions? Thanks
- Alex says:
  
  17 May17 May 10:44
  
  Not sure if you can overpay, but I would potentially call them and tell them what you plan to do, and that you can show the funds in your current account and they can raise your limit for a day or two. I had similar with Amex when spending 3x my limit on a single item and they were fine with it.
GillyDee says:

17 May17 May 10:34

Need to pay a small travel company in Colombia in USD. Any ideas as to best transfer company to use? Wise don’t allow it…..

Thanks
- Jay says:
  
  17 May17 May 11:29
  
  Out of interest, what is the issue with Wise?
  - GillyDee says:
    
    17 May17 May 12:23
    
    Jay – the list of countries you can send USD to doesn’t include Colombia.
    - Jay says:
      
      17 May17 May 12:41
      
      Ahh OK, thanks.
- Sina says:
  
  17 May17 May 11:49
  
  Azimo or Currencyfair! I can refer you to Currencyfair and we both get 50 EUR if you send over $/£2k.
  
  https://www.currencyfair.com/rafland/?channel=RV2A11
  - GillyDee says:
    
    17 May17 May 12:24
    
    Thanks, Sina – I’ll look at them both. Just the deposit this year so much less than 2k
    - Sina says:
      
      17 May17 May 13:13
      
      Cheers @GillyDee, have a look on the Voldemort portal as well, for lower amounts, there are a number of offers for FX transfers!
- James Pleasant says:
  
  17 May17 May 12:03
  
  Check out Post Office International Money Transfer &/or Remitly – both offering good FX rates and nice incentives (£30/ £19) on fairly low minimum transfer amounts (£500+/ £200).
  
  Or do both. Or get your better half to do it as well if you fancy bigger incentives. I assume there is no reason you couldn’t pay them (say) in 4 chunks – and you’d pocket £98. Which is effect just a much better exchange rate than you’d get with Wise.
  - GillyDee says:
    
    17 May17 May 12:35
    
    Thanks, will check them out
- Clive says:
  
  17 May17 May 17:36
  
  If you need an Azimo referral https://azimo.app.link/invite?code=CLIVEF1&&medium=clipboard will give you £1 for any transfer over £100 with me the same too
Grimz says:

17 May17 May 10:43

Car Hire in USA – I have a trip planned to Arizona and California in September for 2 weeks and the cost of Car hire compared to last year has went from around 450 to 1250. I don’t know if the trip will go ahead as we might not be allowed to travel but the cost of the car hire alone is putting me off. Do people think car hire prices will come down anytime soon or am I missing out on some cheaper ways of hiring a car?
- Rhys says:
  
  17 May17 May 10:46
  
  They’re massively inflated at the moment because all the rental car companies sold massive % of their stock. Now that travel has bounced back (especially in the US) there’s huge demand but no supply.
  
  Whether that changes will depend on how quickly the car companies pull in additional stock. Your best bet may be to book a refundable or pay-on-arrival reservation and then see if anything changes closer to the time.
- Andrew says:
  
  17 May17 May 10:56
  
  When the chips are available to build cars again, things might change.
  
  In the meantime, you might need to hire a U-haul.
  
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/05/03/hawaii-uhaul-car-rental-shortage/
- marcw says:
  
  17 May17 May 10:58
  
  Have you checked all companies? I’ve seen some MASSIVE differences between Avis and Budget in August in LAX. Avis asking for 1.5k + for two weeks, while Budget only 450 +. Same car.
  - Tariq says:
    
    17 May17 May 18:14
    
    Ironic that they’re the same company.
    - Andy in Cheshire says:
      
      17 May17 May 22:34
      
      We rented a car from Budget at Logan in Oct 19
      
      It had 3 bald tyres, the service-needed light was on, there was no water in the washer bottle. I’d have lost my licence if I’d been driving such a wreck over here.
      
      I wouldn’t touch Budget with a barge pole.
- Louise K says:
  
  17 May17 May 11:06
  
  Try HappyTours USA I have had excellent prices from them in the past.
- Pierre says:
  
  17 May17 May 11:31
  
  I don’t know if this will be useful/workable for anyone else but… We needed a rental car for the Algarve in July, and hire prices for pretty much all the direct options were sky high! I tried via the ‘Hilton partners’ page and managed to get something that, while hardly cheap, was a definite improvement on anything else I could find.
- Anna says:
  
  17 May17 May 13:14
  
  I got a decent deal with Budget via ba.com – 7 seater SUV for £450 for 2 weeks in August in Florida. The plan is to ask for a slightly smaller vehicle if available when we arrive. It was a good £200 cheaper than the smallest ordinary car though!
- Olivia says:
  
  17 May17 May 13:56
  
  Appreciate it’s a different state was quoted £380 for MUSTANG out of DFW for a week from Avis.. Not sure what I was more shocked by, the fact it was the cheapest or the fact they were trying to charge £520 for a Fiesta for the same time frame!
  
  As you can imagine, it is a no brainer which is being booked.
- Travel Strong says:
  
  17 May17 May 15:10
  
  I found massive differences between different start points, so check around if you are flexible on routing – e.g. LAX/SFO/SAN start points were 25% of the cost of PHX/LAS start points.
  
  Also there were some huge discounts for Pay Now bookings with Hertz (again, cost about 25% of the Pay At Location)… this gave me a glimmer of hope, that prices may be aspirational and based on predictions of a high demand. Hertz seems happy to sell at normal prices if you give them cash up front! Not that I will be doing that – the cancellation terms are awful on hertz Pay Now.
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    17 May17 May 19:33
    
    I thought the cancellation terms were very reasonable for hertz prepay?
    - Travel Strong says:
      
      17 May17 May 21:43
      
      Cancel within 24 hours of booking = No Fee
      
      Change of extend reservation any time before scheduled pickup for up to 12 months = No Fee
      
      But….
      Cancel more than 24 hours before scheduled pickup = $100
      
      Cancel less than 24 hours before scheduled pickup = $200
      
      So no real option to get money back, just a 12month credit option.
      - Travel Strong says:
        
        17 May17 May 21:47
        
        Oh and more small print that you can only change twice. If I had used terms like this in the past year, i’d have thrown away $100 a couple of times.
      - Adrian says:
        
        17 May17 May 23:04
        
        This is incorrect. If you are from the Europe then
        
        CANCELLATIONS
        1. Hertz allows you to cancel a prepaid reservation:
        a. online by the ‘Modify/Cancel’ reservation page
        b. by calling the Internet Helpdesk
        
        2. A full refund of the prepaid reservation will be made:
        a. If the cancellation is made no later than midnight two (2) days before the date of your scheduled pick-up;
        b. Less an administration charge of EUR 45.00, GBP 30.00, CHF 65.00, SEK 300.00, NOK 300.00, ZAR 450.00, DKK 300.00, AED 200.00, SAR 200.00, KWD 20.00, RUB 1,800.00, OMR 25.00, QAR 200.00, BHD 25.00, USD 60.00, PLN 200.00 if the cancellation is made after this time.
        3. Refunds will be processed automatically after the cancellation and will be made to the debit / credit card used for the original booking.
      - Travel Strong says:
        
        17 May17 May 23:23
        
        That is all very well in principle, when searching for generic T+C’s – but when making an actual booking (on the uk site, in GBP, for a USA rental) the actual T+C’s you agree for the rental are those I pasted above.
      - Travel Strong says:
        
        17 May17 May 23:24
        
        Or at least they do for me. YMMV.
      - Travel Strong says:
        
        17 May17 May 23:29
        
        Whoa whoa I eat my words. Adrian, apologies for not believing immediately and thankyou for making me check again! Scrolling further down the same T+C page does indeed give different terms for EMEA customers. This has just saved me $$$ on my next rental… if the trip goes ahead of course!