The HfP chat thread – Thursday 2nd December

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

• Andrew H says:

  2 Dec2 December 09:19

  Have filled all 10 bonus Avios boxes on the BA portal (5500 bonus Avios total).

  I guess I now need to start on the Aer Lingus one for any more Xmas shopping. I think it’s quite easy to shift Avios from there? Something about using the Avios.com website?

  • Peter Taysum says:

    2 Dec2 December 09:32

    Can’t see that on the site…Please can you signpost me; thanks!

    • Paul Pogba says:

      2 Dec2 December 09:35

      Its on the home page of both sites “Collect up to 5,500 bonus Avios this Christmas & Black Friday”.

• Pete M says:

  2 Dec2 December 09:26

  Morrisons 10% has appeared again on my Virgin card – 2-15/Dec.

  • Reney says:

    2 Dec2 December 09:52

    not on mine. Must have hit it too hard previously

  • elguiri says:

    2 Dec2 December 10:40

    I still have 5% on my VA+ one extended to the above timeframe

  • Youllnever says:

    2 Dec2 December 10:45

    +1. Only difference from the one before is that the £30 spend threshold looks to have disappeared.

• Safety Card says:

  2 Dec2 December 09:28

  Anyone know of any discount or if I can get points on a Heathrow Short Stay car (4 day) car park booking?

  • MrHandBaggageOnly says:

    2 Dec2 December 13:42

    You can get Heathrow Rewards points, just remember to add your number when booking.

    • Rob says:

      2 Dec2 December 13:46

      You can redeem HR points, which is actually the best use for them at 2p per point.

• Spurs drive me mad says:

  2 Dec2 December 09:37

  For all those waiting for £20 amazon credit, I found my offer near bottom of home page in a little box.

  • Walty says:

    2 Dec2 December 10:55

    Ive updated my account to only show my VISA credit. Still havent seen any offer on homepage or basket page. Wondering if I need to make a purchase first?

    • Anne says:

      2 Dec2 December 11:29

      I didn’t, but it did take about 3 days for the offer to show after taking all other cards aside from Visa off. Also had to log in on the desktop version of their site to find it. When it did appear it was part way down the page, on the right in a small box.

      • Alex says:

        2 Dec2 December 13:27

        Same here – offer appeared 3 days later in a little box on the right hand side of the landing page. There was also a notice in my basket and the payments page.

    • Spurs drive me mad says:

      2 Dec2 December 14:01

      I added my visa on Saturday and £20 offer appeared on Wednesday.

      • Spurs drive me mad says:

        2 Dec2 December 17:33

        No Thursday today!

• Fazzy Bear says:

  2 Dec2 December 09:45

  Got the 15k Nectar points from eBay promotion. Was looking to go Sainsbury in store to buy some gift cards but t and cs says “It’s easy to swipe in store – just make sure you’ve used your card in that store within the previous 12 months”.

  Seems a bit of an unnecessarily procedure. Also would it work if I buy a chocolate bar and then try to spend the points 10 minutes later.

  • Biki says:

    2 Dec2 December 09:54

    It’s to make it more difficult for people that steal your nectar details from redeeming points in random stores around the country I believe.

  • Rich says:

    2 Dec2 December 09:55

    It’s a (not very good) security feature I think. To prevent people finding/ stealing a Nectar card and being able to clear out the points. You have to have earned points in that store before you can spend.

    Not sure what the time delay is. ISTR it’s overnight, but I might be imagining this!

    • Andrew says:

      2 Dec2 December 10:18

      It might have changed, but in the past you had to wait overnight after a spend before redeeming points in a store you hadn’t used in the last year.

      Can use in Argos immediately.

  • Andrew says:

    2 Dec2 December 10:28

    You don’t have to have spent in that store to redeem your points anymore – I’ve been using my card all over the country and never have a problem redeeming points even if it’s the first time I’ve stepped into that store. So you shouldn’t have a problem.

• David says:

  2 Dec2 December 09:49

  Is anyone else experiencing flights showing on BA App and website as cancelled but when you click through it seems they are running and you only have rebooking rather than cancellation rights? I spoke to BA yesterday and they insist the flights (to Cape Town!) are running- seems to me like gross inefficiency (at best) or a strategy to try to make people take vouchers for flights which are o will be cancelled (at worst).

• Ian M says:

  2 Dec2 December 09:55

  Does anyone have the UK contact phone number for Miles & More to cancel a redemption booking by any chance?

• Dylan says:

  2 Dec2 December 10:08

  Not travel related but I know you are savvy bunch.

  Answers on a postcard for any inflation-busting ideas on where to send £10K cash for 1-2 years?

  Have already used up my annual Stocks & Shares ISA allowance. Ideally need fairly quick access to the cash in case of a house move, so not interested in the pension route. But happy to take a 2-3% hit if the worst should happen to the markets.

  Perhaps just continue topping up my investment pot at Nutmeg which I presume then attracts tax once beyond the ISA allowance?

  • Sam says:

    2 Dec2 December 10:13

    Inflation busting unlikely
    Premium bonds is an option
    If you have a partner, their ISA

    You’re only going to attract tax, specifically Capital Gains Tax, if the 10k and your other investments gains at least £12300 and you liquidate. Given you’re using it for a house move, I’d assume you’re not going to invest in anything particularly high risk?

  • AndyW says:

    2 Dec2 December 10:45

    If the worst happens to markets it’s not going to be 2/3% I can tell you that

    • Jonathan says:

      2 Dec2 December 12:43

      Agree, crashes are sudden & hefty so very little opportunity to escape whereas the oft quoted long term 5-10% pa returns are generally slow & steady in the intervening periods. Almost no one has a reliable record of timing the market hence the phrase “time in the market not timing the market”. If you probably need the funds in <5 years I wouldn’t advise investing in equities.

  • Paul Pogba says:

    2 Dec2 December 11:23

    If inflation is your biggest concern LSE:TIPS (SPDR Bloomberg Barclays US TIPS UCITS ETF) might be worth investigating. You will be exposed to GBPUSD currency risk however, but if equity markets crash you might end up with a capital gain as yields fall.

  • Andrew H says:

    2 Dec2 December 12:13

    Dividends are tax free for first £2k so you could invest in a normal trading account as you also have a CGT allowance

  • Jonathan says:

    2 Dec2 December 12:26

    Lifetime ISA if you qualify? That’ll give you a 25% top up on a 4K investment in the new tax year. Stick that in a vanilla cash fund & you’re handsomely quids in regardless of what the equity markets do.

  • Phil says:

    2 Dec2 December 12:29

    Markets can move 2-3% in a couple of weeks at the moment – so the sensible answer is that if you really need the money in 1-2 years then you should stay out of the markets.

    Saying that – and no shares being safe – but Legal & General dividend is currently paying 6% yield against share price; is a nice boringly stable company and the share price still hasn’t fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

    But if you invest in equities at the moment then you’ve got to be happy to take a 20% loss over that timescale, not a 2-3% one.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    2 Dec2 December 13:08

    If you can hold for atleast 2-3 years, have a look at wealth preservation funds like CGT and PNL. Or even vanguard lifestrategy 40%

    • Dylan says:

      2 Dec2 December 16:18

      Some brilliant advice in the comments above, thank you!

      Based on the comments and some of my own research this afternoon I’m thinking to split the cash down the middle – £5K to Legal & General and £5K in either CGT/PNL. Seems I can do both via my pre-existing HL Fund and Share account.

      Rookie question concerning dividends – do I need to have held the shares for a set time before becoming eligible? And will they simply be added to my HL balance?

      • John says:

        2 Dec2 December 17:04

        If you hold the shares the end of the ex-dividend date you will get the dividend, even if you bought them at 4.29pm.

        The share price will drop by the amount of the dividend the next trading morning.

        Yes the cash amount will be added to your broker balance

        • Sundar says:

          2 Dec2 December 20:09

          Be aware of mistakenly selecting Dividend Reinvestment in which case, they will be reinvested minus any transaction charges.

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.