Innovative Finance ISAs, or IFISAs for short, were introduced in 2016 to allow people to invest their Individual Savings Account money with FCA-regulated and approved peer-to-peer lending companies.

It simply means that in addition to sheltering your savings from taxes by keeping them in cash or investing in stocks and shares, you can now also grow your peer-to-peer earnings tax free. This is great news because interest rates are pretty low on cash ISAs, and the more returns you earn, the more sense it makes to avoid taxation (legally, of course).

For the 2018/2019 tax year, the ISA allowance is £20,000, and you can decide how you want to use it, if part cash, part stocks, part IFISA, all cash, etc. Any combination is possible as long as the sum of all your ISAs contributions for the year does not exceed your allowance. You cannot rollover your allowance from one year to the other, so if you don’t use it, you lose it.

Because Cash ISAs often have an attractive first year offer, then revert to a low interest rate, it also makes sense to review the ISAs you have from previous years, and transfer them to another provider to get a better rate. Be careful, you cannot withdraw the money yourself, you need to talk to your new provider and have them execute the transfer, or you would lose your tax free benefit.

Just ISA is one of the companies offering Innovative Finance ISAs and their focus is on litigation funding, to help people with their litigation fees. They offer an interest rate of 8% p.a., and you need to invest a minimum of £2,000, with no upper limit, if you wish to transfer old ISA funds.

Compared to the best cash ISA offers hovering around 2% interest, that can make quite the difference over the long term, especially since all returns are tax free.

If you invest £10,000 at 2% for 10 years, you will have £12,189 at the end of term.

If you invest £10,000 at 8% for 10 years, you will have more than doubled your money, with £21,589 in the bank, assuming you reinvested the proceeds year after year.

The slightest difference in interest rate, compounded over a long period of time, can have a great impact on your finances. Plus, £11,589 tax free is £4,635 you wouldn’t have to hand over to the taxman if you are in the 40% tax band.

Now with greater returns obviously comes greater risks, so if you plan on investing in Stock and Shares ISAs or IFISAs, make sure you can afford said risks. Do not invest money you may need to access shortly. Educate yourself and understand all the implications before you start investing. Balance your portfolio with some low risk investments, and a cash cushion in case of a money emergency.

Since you can’t access your ISA money unless you lose the allowance, earmark these savings for retirement or another long term goal. It makes more sense to invest your ISA money into higher return vehicles, but if you have not used your allowance by the end of the tax year, you can still put some of your cash into an easy access ISA to save a little extra thanks to tax-free interest.

Money and personal finance are very personal, so get informed and do what is best for your particular situation and where you are in life.

In an ideal world, you can generate infinite leads and conversions for little to no cost. This, unfortunately, isn’t quite the way things work in reality. But don’t give up. There are still many things business owners can do to get more sales in a way that won’t dramatically increase spending.

Here are nine affordable ways to boost your ecommerce business.

#1 Use Content & SEO

Content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) are two perfect examples of how you can get more people visiting your online store in a cost-effective way. These things require some time and effort, but can be accomplished with no capital investment if you take care of them yourself. Creating relevant, engaging content will draw more potential customers to your site. Keywords and metadata will help you rank better in organic search results, which is key to getting new customers from search engines and online users.

#2 Run Viral Promotions

Executing a creative, well-made viral promotion is one of the best ways to quickly generate leads without spending a ton of money. You’re essentially only putting up the capital to give away an item. The actual marketing aspect will be done for free by people sharing your contest with their connections. Make sure you have a plan before running a promotion like this, as you’ll want to get people to sign up for your email lists or follow your social media channels in exchange for entry.

#3 Upgrade Your Ecommerce Platform

What is an ecommerce website in today’s world without stunning, professional-grade templates, mobile compatibility, fast load times, and easy customizations? Not worth your time or money, that’s for sure. Fortunately, there are affordable options out there for entrepreneurs looking to upgrade their ecommerce platform. Take a look around to see what providers make the most sense for your needs and budget.

#4 Give Customers a Reason to Follow Your Social Media

Social media is one of the best ways to keep in contact with your top customers. But not all social media strategies are the same. Simply making posts isn’t going to cut it when other brands are doing things to drive deeper engagement. Creating high-quality social media that actually provides value to consumers costs you nothing but is extremely important to boosting customer loyalty.

#5 Retarget Abandoned Carts

It’s estimated that $4 trillion was abandoned in online shopping carts just in 2017. That far exceeds the total amount of merchandise actually purchased through ecommerce channels in the U.S. Recover some of those abandonments by retargeting consumers with email and ads.

#6 Get More Out of Your Loyal Customers

It’s typically more cost-effective to spend time focusing on your existing customers than trying to get new ones. Customer acquisition cost is one of the most troubling metrics for many ecommerce stores. Additionally, building loyalty through rewards programs and other measures will get people who already appreciate your brand to like it even more.

#7 Use Better Photos

Images are essential to a beautiful and engaging ecommerce website. You aren’t going to sell many goods if all your photos are unappealing to consumers. Think about resolution, as well as composition and size of your photos. However, you don’t want to go overboard with using too large of image files. This can slow down your website, which will lead to higher abandonment rates.

#8 Cross-Sell

Cross-selling products is one of the best ways to boost your bottom line without having to spend more money. The process is basically just offering consumers other suggested items they might also want based on their searches. Businesses that do a good job cross-selling are motivating customers to spend more money, just by pointing them in the direction of other products they might like.

#9 Streamline Your Checkout

Along with high shipping costs, a convoluted checkout process is one of the top reasons for people abandoning their online carts. You can lower the incidence of this by making your e-store’s checkout process quick and easy. The fewer hoops people have to jump through, the more likely it is that they’ll actually complete a purchase.

Every entrepreneur should be looking for affordable ways to generate more business. These are some of the most effective methods for boosting your ecommerce conversions, without draining your cash reserves.

You can never put a price on security; however, knowing where to find an excellent multi-policy deal can save you money.

Any reputable company will be able to give you a discount when you bundle their services together, and this can be a significant amount for some people. It can also be a lot easier to keep on top of the paperwork when it all comes from one source.

Here are some of the insurance companies that can bundle services:

Geico

Geico is another reputable company offering value through bundling services.

They combine auto insurance with home or renters insurance like many other companies do, but they also give you other options as well. For instance, they offer discounts for the military and federal employees as well as students.

Geico’s multi-policy discounts include multi-vehicle discounts so that you can insure your car and bike for a discount.

Liberty Mutual

With three different multi-policy options depending on your circumstances, you can enjoy discounts if one of the following meets your requirements:

• Auto and home insurance
• Auto and renter’s insurance
• Auto and condo insurance

They offer a multi-policy discount for these situations, and you can add on many different levels of coverage including breakdown assistance. You can also update each policy at any time.

Founded in 1912, they have an outstanding reputation in the industry, insuring over 1.5 million vehicles.

Progressive

You can build your policy easily through Progressive. It doesn’t just start and end with home and single vehicle insurance. You can add a boat, car, RV, motorcycle, and renter’s insurance, among others. Combining two or more products allows for a multi-policy discount, and you can also purchase pet, travel and health insurance through them.

Progressive also says that if you already have one of their policies but wish to add another, the discount will be added. Their website shows average savings of $808 when bundling home and auto insurance.

Trusted by over 18,000,000 drivers, they certainly have a large share of the market.

USAA – Best for Military

The first thing you would expect from USAA is quality vehicle insurance, and that is what you will get.

They don’t charge extra for flexible payment plans, but most significantly, they say that in 2016 their members saved $519 million when they bundled their insurance products. Combining vehicle insurance with home insurance, whether you are a renter or homeowner, yields significant discounts.

There are even family discounts available. Ensuring multiple people for multiple services can help you save even more money than if you were to purchase separately.

Only available to current or former military members and close relatives.

State Farm

State Farm believes that they can save customers up to $854 when switching to their bundle policy. Again, this is for home, condo or apartment insurance as well as a vehicle. You can expect further discounts for insuring multiple vehicles as well.

They offer a wide range of insurances, but the discount is only applicable to home and auto policies. It’s easy to get a quote online, but if you prefer the personal touch, they have offices across the country.

Allstate Insurance

Allstate says that you can get savings of up to 10% on auto and 25% on home premiums. These discounts apply to renters and condo insurance too.

Interestingly, if you combine an Allstate auto insurance with life insurance, you can also save by purchasing the two as a bundle.

The best way to find out how you can save is to inquire with them as they don’t specify what sort of discount you can expect, but you could even get money off when adding a new driver.

The Hartford

The Hartford offers a variety of discounts that aren’t just subject to bundles.

Still, they advise that when you purchase auto and home insurance you can save up to 5% on car, and 20% on home/condo/renter’s insurance. There are other ways you can save even more on your insurance through them which includes defensive driver certification, and also proving that you have a safe vehicle.

Formed in 1810, The Hartford is one of the oldest insurance companies. Seemingly, they stand by their already well-priced policies, but you can get a better deal through bundling.

Expect access to agents around the clock as well as guaranteed policy renewals for drivers.

Insurance Companies That Can Bundle Services Conclusion

Because there is high demand for multiple insurance policies, the industry is very competitive. You can see from the numbers listed above that these companies are dealing with millions of customers.

This has created a market that can favor the consumer, with each of the insurers offering some substantial discounts on bundled services.

When it comes to saving money, tackling the big ticket items is one of the best things you can do. Sure, saving a few pennies here and there is great, and frugality should be encouraged. But nothing will have a greater impact on your finances than tackling the “big three”: housing, transportation, and food. Today, let’s talk about the different ways you can save money on transportation.

The first obvious one is to not have a car at all! Yes, some will find it ludicrous, but think about it. Every month, you are spending on insurance, petrol, your car is depreciating every time you use it, and losing value. Add to that repairs, maintenance, MOTs, and a car loan if you bought it on credit, and it is easily an expense of a few hundred pounds every month. “Yes, but I need it to go to work”. I hear you. How about looking for a job closer to home, that you can cycle or even walk to?

Maybe you’ll make a little less money, but your quality of life would vastly improve, and the car savings may even mean you might come ahead.

Another suggestion is to get rid of your second car if both you and your partner have one. A two car household is rarely a necessity, and rather a matter of convenience. What if you pool errands and optimise the use of just one car? Limit your driving to going to work, or to weekends?

You can generally rent a car for about £50 for a whole weekend if and when you need one, which is cheaper than a month of parking in many cities!

If you really need a vehicle, let’s see the different lines of budget and how to save on them. Petrol is usually the biggest recurring expense. You can save by using loyalty cards from supermarket and petrol stations, and collecting rewards and discount vouchers. There are online sites that will tell you which is the cheapest station next to you. Try to fill up on your way to work and not make a special detour just to fill your tank.

Insurance can easily be challenged online thanks to online comparison sites. In just a few clicks, they will let you know what is the best deal for your insurance needs and how you can switch provider.

Be religious with oil changes and follow the manufacturer’s scheduled maintenance recommendations to a T. Better safe than sorry. If you delay maintenance, you will have problems sooner or later, and fixing them will be expensive. Check your tires and change them regularly for safe driving and petrol efficiency. In short, plan ahead and make a calendar note to follow the schedule.

Same thing goes for your MOT. A Halfords Autocentre survey has revealed that 53% of motorists are unsure when their MOT is due. That can result in a fine if you miss the date. And now, there are no more excuses because Halfords Autocentre is offering a FREE MOT to all its customers. All you have to do is buy something there, that can be as small as a 40p bulb, and you get a free MOT from Halfords. Click here to learn more about the free MOT offer.

Last, let’s discuss repairs and breakdowns. A breakdown cover is not too expensive, and if your car is more than a few years old, this is something you should consider buying, as it is likely you might have a problem. Check with your bank first as some credit cards already include breakdown cover for free.

If time comes that you are in need of unexpected repairs, ask around for recommendations. Better find a good professional that will do a solid job, than a cheap fix that will take you back to the mechanic’s two weeks later.

 

Owning a car does not have to be that expensive. How do you save on motoring costs?