Pound to £5k Challenge

Week Thirty-Eight

WEEK THIRTY-EIGHT

I am finally back in the UK for the rest of the year after a busy but amazing two weeks, I wanted to thank you for your patience whilst I have been away and have been less active!

By popular demand, you will find a blog post on our recent trip to Iceland at the bottom of this email. If you would like a similar breakdown on our trip to Porto which we have just returned from do let me know!

As always, don’t forget that you can check out all emails before this one and work through them at your own pace at the below link!

FIRST DIRECT IS BACK (£200+)

It has been a while since we saw a new bank switching offer as the flurry from earlier in the year suddenly disappeared.

Well, First Direct have returned with their £175 cash switching offer and you can boost this to over £200 with the cashback being offered by TopCashback and Quidco (£36.75 and £35 respectively)

If you haven’t switched bank accounts before, it is well worth thinking about AND you don’t actually have to leave your current bank to get the cash (check out my foolproof method below!)

NEW TO REVOLUT? GET £50

Earlier this year, Revolut received its UK banking license and with millions of customers across the world, it is a great tool to have particularly if you travel a lot as it’s quite a good card to have when spending abroad

Well, if you aren’t one of the millions of existing customers, you can get £50 cashback from me which is the highest ever amount I’ve been able to offer!

Here’s how:

1. Message or email me for my referral link

2. Sign up through my referral link (no credit check or score impact)

3. Order a physical card (costs ~£5)

4. Use either your virtual or physical card to spend 3 times (£5+ each time excluding cash/gift card/gambling transactions)

5. Do that within 7 days and I’ll send you £50 cashback

It really is as easy as that, and I have limited spots so be sure to get in touch if you’re interested in this offer!

MY ADVENT CALENDAR “WARNING”

As brands start to unravel their Christmas 2024 products and marketing campaigns, I am starting to see a flurry of advent calendars hit my social media feeds and it’s something that I always grit my teeth at!

The biggest marketing ploy that is used is how the contents of advent calendars are “WORTH £X” and it’s always a considerable amount more than the price of the advent calendar

But let’s be real, these advent calendars are only ever going to be a deal if you were planning to go out and individually buy everything inside the calendar separately

Otherwise, you are just trying to justify the cost based on “how much the contents are worth” but it’s worth remembering that even with chocolate advent calendars you get the dud flavour more often than you want (whether that’s a Bounty, a Toffee Penny, or God Forbid an Eclair)

Therefore, you probably will get products in these pricey advent calendars you either don’t like, don’t want or will not use

So it is super key to think about whether these expensive advent calendars are actually worth the money they are charging; of course you should treat yourself every now and then but PLEASE don’t fall for the marketing and then regret it!

DON’T LEAVE £20 ON THE TABLE

I’ve been going on about the ZING app for a few months now because it is quite possibly the easiest £20 you could make with no real drawbacks!

How it works

ZING is a virtual wallet app created by HSBC and they are pumping £100 millions into this app to combat some of the bigger competition

You top up your wallet with cash from other bank accounts and can convert it into foreign currency (EUROs, US Dollars, etc.) with up to £500 in fee-free transfers per month at the minute

You can then use your (free to order) debit card or virtual card on Apple Pay or Google Pay to spend in the UK or abroad like a normal card

There is no credit check or credit score impact and I plan on using this card on an upcoming holiday

How to get £20

1. Follow my referral link below and enter your mobile number

2. Download the ZING app and create an account with the same number (you will need to verify ID as it’s a legal requirement for financial institutions)

3. Order a physical card for free

4. Top up your account with £5 or more

5. To save waiting for the physical card to arrive, I’d add a virtual card to your phone

6. Spend £5+ on your card in one transaction

7. 30 days later you will get £20 paid into your account

IN THE NEWS

Tax Increases Coming?

You have likely noticed the talk of a “£22 Billion Black Hole” in the Government’s coffers which means they will likely need to raise this huge amount of cash from somewhere; and the Government’s only real income source is taxes

Therefore, it is no surprise that we can expect tax increases to be announced on the upcoming Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024

However, it is always key to avoid planning for the unknown. Over the last few months, I have seen so many conversations online of people trying to get their ducks in a row based on speculative ideas of what might be announced but it’s vital to note that no changes will happen overnight

Any tax increases which are announced will likely not take effect until the new year (January) or the new tax year (April) meaning there will be time to ensure your cash is in the right places

For completeness, it is looking more likely that the Government will avoid raising taxes on income and will instead look at Capital Gains Tax or Inheritance Tax increases but until it is announced we won’t know for sure