... but we were stung by Bitcoin and the bee-keeping scheme
Jeff Prestridge: INSUFFICIENT MORTGAGE CONTROL
THIS time last year, I set myself a dream goal: to be mortgage free by the end of 2019. Of course, I still have a year to go but I have not quite made the progress I had anticipated.
I did make an overpayment last month and I am putting money aside in a tax-friendly Individual Savings Account so I can reduce any outstanding mortgage come the end of next year. But I could have done more this year. Marks out of ten? A miserly five with a note – written in capitals – to self that says: Get saving, Jeffrey.
Sally Hamilton: BITCOIN MELTDOWN
A YEAR ago, the newspapers were awash with stories of vast fortunes being made during the Bitcoin mania. As a personal finance experiment I decided to join the stampede and invest £100 in what many said at the time was a one-way bet to untold riches. Hah! Not likely. Last time I looked, my £100 investment had dwindled in value to £21. I think I will stick to good old cash from now on.
Laura Shannon: CHILDCARE COSTS
IT IS no secret that nursery places don’t come cheap. My daughter’s nursery is worth every penny in terms of what it provides and the lovely people who work there, but it’s still an eye-watering chunk of household income to sacrifice. Therefore any State help should be pounced on. I wasn’t completely useless in this regard and instructed my husband Rob to set up taxfriendly childcare vouchers through his employer. This was while I was still on maternity leave and in a bit of a ‘new-mum fog’. But over this past year, since the mist cleared and I returned to work, I’ve realised we would be better off under the new Government Tax Free Childcare scheme. Probably to the tune of around £500 a year. But now I’m reliant on my husband to cancel his vouchers before I can open a new account.
It’s all a bit of a faff, but needs must. Hubby, get a move on.
Toby Walne: BEES NO MORE
ALONG with my son Harrison, I am a beekeeper. We started the year with two hives but ended with none. It can be an expensive hobby – the gear cost £600 – but two years in it was paying its way in honey. The bees loved the hot summer. That was until ‘robber’ bees attacked and stripped one hive – ruthlessly stealing all the honey while defenders fought to the death.
The outsiders then turned their attention to the surviving nest. It held up well until wasps joined in – not just after the honey but the protein from the unborn brood.
So in the dead of night, I drove the hive to a friend’s garden five miles away.
My loss was his gain. In the autumn he sold 50 pots of their honey for £5 each.