Investments and Crypto 💰

[jgf]

@fillip2k

Happily the shares I chose to start off in T212 seemed to do well by the end of the week. So I’m pretty happy with my first few days on the platform. Not sure I’m overly fussed by all the social features though beyond the pies thing. Which just seems like community made ETF-lites?

Have to say, that’s my main bugbear with 212 - I want a sleek, grown up investment app, not one that seems like a bragging contest and social media-esque. I know you can ignore the social side of it, but it still annoys me (irrationally!)

[AaronB1 (Aaron)]

You can ignore all the social side, you have to actively select to go into the social side.

I will give FreeTrade a go soon, but I’ve heard mixed reports about their customer service

[mikez]

@Arnie7

The boomers aren’t on a meal ticket.

Thank you. I’ve certainly paid enough NI over the years and will get the full state pension in 3 years. Meanwhile living off private pensions.

[fillip2k]

Yeah, it just seems an odd inclusion I thought. Sort of gamifying it?

I’ll be ignoring it anyway

[anchorman]

Pensions chat / poll

So, after some time in under-employment I’ve finally gotten back to real employment and started thinking about my pension a bit again. I used to contribute quite a bit, so I have some savings, but I also started contributing quite late (I worked abroad for most of my 20s, and earned not too much until my early 30s). In total, at 39 I have about £60k saved, which is okay but I understand not exceptional. I’m trying to decide what my contributions will be from here. I’m wondering where people ar…

[Dunsford (Colin Robinson)]

Might be able to get @AlanDoe to move pensioners related chat into there?

[jgf]

Anyone have any experience with InvestEngine?

[AaronB1 (Aaron)]

Yes, I have a SIPP with the platform. It’s good.

[Arnie7]

@fillip2k

Happily the shares I chose to start off in T212 seemed to do well by the end of the week.

You timed your entry into the market really well. Most things have gone up in the last week. It’s not always like that.

[Arnie7]

@fillip2k

But there is no way while boomers make up such a huge proportion of voters that any government will do anything about it.

I think it will change. The boomers range over something like a 40 or maybe 50 year period. The younger ones will definitely want something done and with longer life expectancies, there’s likely 20 or more years of them who will have an interest.

The problem isn’t that it doesn’t affect them, but that people in general don’t understand how pensions, and especially the state pension, actually work. As a general rule, I suspect that the vast majority of people believe that they are ‘paying into’ an NI savings scheme when in reality they aren’t paying into anything. I get that, because it was always described as an insurance scheme from the very start.

[Arnie7]

Oh, and worth noting that MPs don’t understand how it works either. It’s not a boomer Vs the rest thing, it’s an everyone needing to have it explained how it works thing.

[fillip2k]

I’ve had to explain it many times to people myself

(But also we should stop talking about the state pension)

[Arnie7]

The same problems also apply to most public sector pension schemes as they’re unfunded too.

[aCCount]

I chose them on the basis of good reviews on Boring Money and Which?

They’re clearly going after the long term investor because they only update prices and trade once a day, but I’m ok with that if it keeps fees low. The app is simple and easy to use as well, and doesn’t have the clutter or CFD obsession that T212 has.

Invest Engine have a good number of ETFs but nothing else. If you’re looking for shares or individual funds, you’ll need to choose someone else.

All of which is to say that, if you’re wanting long term ETF investing, I think Invest Engine do it brilliantly. But for anything else, you’ll want (need) to look elsewhere.

[anchorman]

@aCCount

or CFD obsession that T212 has

Personally I think it’s people who disagree with the ethics of CFDs who have an obsession with them.

T212’s app has no real mention of them, unless you specifically go looking for them. As far as I can see there are only two places in the entire app CFDs are mentioned:

1. The account switching page accessed from the top left, which is just a static button offering to open an account, no in your face popups or flashing elements.

2. The burger menu at the bottom right, but again, just a regular sized button which is not designed to draw attention/encourage you to click it more than any other button on the page.

@aCCount

They’re clearly going after the long term investor because they only update prices and trade once a day, but I’m ok with that if it keeps fees low

Honestly this seems like a huge trade-off from InvestEngine when you can get low/zero fees elsewhere without having to sacrifice something as fundamental as live pricing.

[AaronB1 (Aaron)]

@anchorman

T212’s app has no real mention of them, unless you specifically go looking for them. As far as I can see there are only two places in the entire app CFDs are mentioned

If you search for a stock, if there is a CFD version, it will display it towards the top of the search. That feels quite prominent to me.

[jgf]

@aCCount

I chose them on the basis of good reviews on Boring Money and Which?

They’re clearly going after the long term investor because they only update prices and trade once a day, but I’m ok with that if it keeps fees low. The app is simple and easy to use as well, and doesn’t have the clutter or CFD obsession that T212 has.

Invest Engine have a good number of ETFs but nothing else. If you’re looking for shares or individual funds, you’ll need to choose someone else.

All of which is to say that, if you’re wanting long term ETF investing, I think Invest Engine do it brilliantly. But for anything else, you’ll want (need) to look elsewhere.

Really helpful and articulate - thanks!

[anchorman]

@AaronB1

If you search for a stock, if there is a CFD version, it will display it towards the top of the search.

Sure… underneath the main, highlighted, much more obvious version with giant buy/sell buttons.

That’s about as inconspicuous as they could have made the CFD option without deliberately making the search worse by moving it below less relevant results.

[AaronB1 (Aaron)]

@anchorman

That’s about as inconspicuous as they could have made the CFD option without deliberately making the search worse by moving it below less relevant results.

I don’t think it used to display like that, from comments I’ve seen online, they’re trying to make CFDs more prominent.

I’m not sure making them display as the second line in every share search is inconspicuous but that’s just my personal view.

I’m not sure it would be worse to display them at the end but I don’t use CFDs, so having them later in the list wouldn’t impact me.

[aCCount]

It’s virtually 50/50 whether a stock price goes up or down over an hourly time period, so this is not what I’m looking at.

Realistically, the money I’m putting in today is likely to stay invested for 20-30 years. I’m topping it up monthly by direct debit and not looking at short term fluctuations.

There’s no downside to live pricing and I’d take it if offered, but it’s pretty much of zero value to most long term investors.