Heirlooms

A nice Perth Mint Lunar II Dragon 2012  High relief and a 1/4oz proof gold Kookaburra 2021
 

3 rounds from Mason Mint in antique finish
Final Frontiers - Pilgrims
Mythical cities - Atlantis
Noah's Ark
 
Absolutely stunning
 

Received today. 
 
 

A little bit of Americana from @DuncanWylieWilson. My first purchase from him. Delighted with them. First of many no doubt. My wife thanks you...😉

Got this gem from @Fadeingstar manage to get my first geiger bar

Nothing fancy but this is what I've managed to accumulate in 4months. My Goddess Europa silver showed up today so I'm well happy. I'm not sure if I've done for the year yet, that depends on spot prices and what I come across. 

2Oz Bacchus round from Intaglio Mint, 3/4Oz Canadian Owl 2021 and new round - Sheriff - in Provident/JM Bullion series Wild West

Between having to order this coin twice (duble the price) and hearing that the 10oz Kook won't be made în 2021... it's like I'm not even happy about this arrival. 

Another couple of ounces to add to my mini Panda stack arrived yesterday. 
Great condition and any wee marks appear to be just on the caps. These 2020 & 2021 Pandas were courtesy of @Fadeingstar, a super seller and a pleasure to deal with 👍🏻
 

Very good 100 lire Vatican coin, many thanks to @paolo for the deal. 

Good day today 😊

Spot the odd one out!

... and the Reverses:

No prizes though, not even a bag of chips.

Posted this in a Britannia thread and thought I’d posted it here also. These are all the special 1 year only designs in 1oz gold bullion I have managed to collect (no bullion gold Britannia’s were minted in 2005 so I got the proof). @Abyss and @Stuntman were the people that inspired me to collect these (thank you). Not sure if I’ll continue however I’m hoping the RM will do a special for the jubilee in platinum. Would be a nice full stop!

Thanks,  choosing your own funds is a valid point. 
With the AVC it will come out of your gross pay so there is a slight tax incentive, however I don't think I will be able to choose the funds. 

The best thing I ever did was to open a SIPP.
Mine is with Hargreaves Lansdown and I am in full control on-line.
Long time ago SIPPs were for the high earners and had significant fees but not any more.
My pensions from previous jobs were arranged by financial advisors and I had next to no choice in switching funds and everything incurred fees which affected my returns significantly.
I transferred them all into my SIPP and glad I did.
Paying into a pension with spare income means you get full tax relief boosting your contributions.
This might not last forever as the government needs to reign in its tax giveaways in the future.
With the HL SIPP you can buy and sell funds as you please and most no longer have the different prices between buying and selling so you do not get charged for changing your mind or switching funds. That used to be a problem with a bid/offer spread and was definitely a deterrent to switching. Using a broker or IFA inevitably will cost you each time you pick up the phone so take the DIY route. There is so much advice these days on selecting a good mix of funds and I am not convinced the fee charging experts can do a better job than DIY so long as you pick your funds sensibly. That's my experience.
There is nothing to prevent you opening up a SIPP on your own, not connected with the Company pension scheme, and just feed it with cash claiming tax relief as you go or on your annual tax return. You can even open a SIPP for a young child or grandchild literally the day after they are born and if you put £2,880 per annum into their SIPP the government adds £720 to £3,600. Repeat each year and the pot will grown.
That's a 25% gain straight away and you can keep this in cash if you wish but funds would be recommended for long term growth potential.
 

I opened a SIPP with Vanguard instead. The annual fees are low and I can control the fund(s) the money go into. The slight ball ache is SIPPs only give you 20% tax relief so if you are a 40% tax payer you have to claim the addition 20% from your self assessment which they transfer into your account

Has anyone paid in extra to their company pensions via Additional voluntary contributions (AVC) if so so would you recommend doing so?
If I was to pay in extra via the AVC the company I work for would NOT match the contribution so I'm questioning to my self whether it is worth doing as there will be management fees and charges associated with the AVC .
 
Any help or thoughts please do comment. 
Thank you 

I really shouldn't have dipped my toe into Libertads. 🙃
2021 5 coin proof sets.

Some swiss cheese, europa silver & dragon yen 🤠🤠



 
 

Picked these up courstey of @SilverSnake, a nice 2013 & 2014 Panda. Great condition, any wee marks you see appear to be just on the capsules 👍🏻
I've certainly no intention of backdating but I thought a nice mini date run of 10 would be a nice number for the stack, few more and job done 😁

The American Silver Eagle collection of a friend, an opportunity collector...



(Leuchtturm box and Leuchtturm capsules)
A small date run of 1989 to 1993, a 2010, 2018, 2021, 2021 - one of the 2021 Type 1s I got yesterday found it's way in here.

1887 Queen Victoria Jubilee Silver Proof Crown
From one of only 797 proof sets issued:

Some slight hairlines, but no milk spots!

Doug said "Gorgeous tones", and I agree!

Same here from @1stsovereign, very satisfied. The picture doesn't do it justice... unfortunatepy my camera & lighting are bad but take Leonmarsh's picture as a better reference!