Hey Juno community!
We're back with our signature investing challenge! It's 3 weeks of building a ready-to-invest portfolio from scratch. Scroll down for our community's take on whether to continue investing during a looming recession
Also in today's newsletter, there's a major interest rates update today, and a new court case has potentially changed the relationship between credit card companies and porn platforms.
Have a great Thursday!
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In the news this week
1. Mortgage interest rates look set to increase...again
What's happening?
The Bank of England are deciding today whether or not they'll be raising interest rates again after their last raise back in June. Currently the rate is 1.25%, a big hike since December 2021, when it was 0.1%.
What does this mean for me?
Put simply, interest rate increases are good for your savings, and bad for your borrowing. For each, you want to make sure you're getting the best deal. Check youreasy-access savings account and make sure you're getting at least 1.5% in interest (if not, you can look for a better deal here). If you have a mortgage or are looking at getting one, see if you can secure a fixed rate.
Learn more...
🏡 The team at Online Mortgage Advisor have brought together their predictions for the housing market.
2. Energy bills might be going up more than expected
What's happening?
We all know that UK energy bills have been rising, but some predictions suggest that they may rise this winter more than initially expected. One consultancy suggested that the typical annual household bill on a capped tariff may rise to £3.6k by next year.
What does this mean for my money?
Government support on bills has been announced for UK households from October, so get clued up and make that part of your financial planning. Even if it won’t change the current energy price rises, it’ll help make the shift a little bit easier.
Learn more...
This explainer breaks down the government support that might be available for you.
3. A judge has ruled that credit card company Visa has to be held accountable for its role in enabling underage porn
What's happening?
Visa is currently going through a lawsuit for its role in processing payments for MindGeek, the company that owns PornHub. The suit claims that Visa is partially responsible for helping people profit from underage images on the platform.
Visa attempted to have its participation in the case dismissed, but is now being held accountable. The ongoing suit shows that credit card companies won’t be able to distance themselves from wrongdoing on the platforms that they enable. Get the full story.
What's going on in the community?
1. Should you keep investing during a technical recession?
Q: Hello all - was reading the NYT this morning about IMF declaring a looming recession. We were all expecting, but I think I'm still keeping too positive and kept investing money into my Nutmeg stocks and shares account.
Should I stop for the time being? Should I still put some money in it, just less? Feeling a bit stressy, what are you guys doing?
R1: As I take it, if you have the money to spare you can continue to invest, if it's stretching you too thin it might be better to save some money and have a very secure emergency fund because you never know what might happen with your job and accommodation or other life costs.
Investing is for the long run and will generally recover from recession better than putting that money in savings or just having it in your normal account which will just lose value.
If it's causing you anxiety I’d maybe avoid looking at your investments or at least looking at them too frequently as it's likely they’ll be losing value for a bit before recovering.
R2: Couldn't agree more. The priority right now is making sure that you have a good emergency fund.
If that's covered, then investing during a recession could actually be a great opportunity - as you can get access to the same stocks & shares at a 'discounted' price.
I also agree to avoid looking too much at your portfolio. Don't try to time the dip, as no one really knows when or what is going to happen. Dollar-cost averaging is the way I would go about it!
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