The Cyber World Is Coming Home To Roost
At some stage, we’ll stop pointing out the ever-faster tide of events bring the cyber and the digital into our homes and wallets. At some stage, but not yet. The latest snippet comes from our friends at news platform, Altfi.
Having captured seven per cent of all UK SMEs at the start of the year, Tide is now partnering with Sage to bring accounting services to its 400,000 members.
The banking service is introducing Tide Accounting for UK members which will offer an end-to-end accounting and tax solution for small businesses.
Embedded within users’ accounts, the service will enable small businesses to take control of their business accounting, staying compliant and avoiding penalties, Tide says.
The automated accounting and bookkeeping services will provide real-time insights for users and will connect banking data and Tide’s existing finance and admin tools with Sage’s accounting and compliance services.
“Most business owners find accounting a daunting task and struggle with being compliant, they need a solution that simplifies it for them,” Tide CEO Oliver Prill said.
“Sage’s long and impressive record in accounting and compliance and their strategic alignment with Tide brings us a step closer towards our mission to make life easier for people who work for themselves, saving them time (and money) on their financial admin.”
Tide’s new ‘simple and affordable accounting tool’ will combine banking and accounting to streamline financial and compliance processes including self-assessment and year-end accounts.
Historical Performance And IFISA Process Guide
- Money&Co. lenders have achieved an average return of more than 8 per cent gross (before we deduct our one per cent fee).
That figure is the result of over £24 million of loans facilitated on the site, as we bring individuals looking for a good return on capital together with carefully vetted small companies seeking funds for growth. Bear in mind that lenders’ capital is at risk. Read warnings on site before committing capital.
- Money&Co. has been lending for over 5 years and has only had two bad debts so far, representing a bad debt rate of 0.03 per cent per annum.
All loans on site are eligible to be held in a Money&Co. Innovative Finance Individual Savings Account (IFISA), up to the annual ISA limit of £20,000. Such loans offer lenders tax-free income. Our offering is an Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) that can hold the peer-to-peer (P2P) business loans that Money&Co. facilitates. For the purposes of this article, the terms ISA and IFISA are interchangeable.
So here’s our guide to the process:
- Step 1: Register as a lender. Go to the login page, and go through the process that the law requires us to effect. This means we have to do basic checks on you to comply with money-laundering and other security requirements.
- Step 2: Put money into your account. This is best done by electronic transfer. We can also process paper cheques drawn in favour of Denmark Square Limited, the parent company of Money&Co.
- Step 3: Buy loans in the loan market. Once you’ve put cash in your account it will sit there – and it won’t earn interest until you’ve bought a piece of a loan. It’s this final step that requires lenders and IFISA investors to be pro-active. Just choose some loans – all loans on the Money&Co. site can be held in an IFISA – and your money will start earning tax-free interest.
The ISA allowance for 2020/21 is unchanged from last tax year at £20,000, allowing a married couple to put £40,000 into a tax-free environment. Over three years, an investment of this scale in two Money&Co. Innovative Finance ISAs would generate £8,400 of income completely free of tax. We’re assuming a 7 per cent return, net of charges and free of tax here.
Once you have made your initial commitment, you might then consider diversifying – buying a spread of loans. To do this, you can go into the “loans for sale” market. All loans bought in this market also qualify for IFISA tax benefits.
Risk: Security, Access, Yield
Do consider not just the return, but the security and the ease of access to your investment. We write regularly about these three key factors. Here’s one of several earlier articles on security, access and yield.