Hello Silver Bloggers,
How are you? I hope everyone is well and enjoying the community.
I had a lovely letter at the beginning of the week from an ex-employer. They said that I'd worked for them for three months in 1987 and they'd been trying to pay me a pension since 2015. Under English pension rules, it came in two parts - an annual income (subject to tax) and a tax-free lump sum. The whole thing was a small amount and maybe enough to enjoy a nice weekend away and pay my audiobook subscription each month, but that made it fun!
I had a long conversation with my pensions adviser as we looked at the options of taking higher or lower income vs higher or lower lump sum. As we were sitting there, discussing the lump sum and saying that current fiat savings returns are .71% for easy access and 2.2% fixed (lock away for three years), I decided to take the higher income (two extra audiobooks a year) and lower lump sum.
On the way home, I realised how crazy that was! This was a windfall - extra to the provisions I had already made for a retirement income, so I didn't have to worry about being careful, and I had already considered blowing it all on a short-break holiday!
When I'd got in and made a cup of tea, I worked out some of the current returns on Hive:
| Option | Return |
|---|---|
| Hive Power curation plus inflation | 10.25% |
| HBD | 12% |
EDS ( ) | 22% (14 February 2022 Report) |
Guess what I decided to do? 😍
The question then was how to apportion the lump sum. I've gone for 40% Hive savings, 40% HBD savings and 20% EDS. EDS is an income token, which pays out in Hive each Monday. I guess I could have taken some bigger risks and gone with some different coins, but I like a balance between nice returns, good business models and (relatively) easy access to my resources.
There is also the debate between powering up and putting Hive in savings, but I'd like to have some fairly liquid (three days as opposed to at least seven) for when the market moves. I may take some for Hive Power Up Day now and then. Again, as this is a windfall that I wasn't expecting, it doesn't have to be earning a return. It can be sitting waiting for an increase in the value of Hive.
There will be a tax liability when I come to convert it back to fiat, depending on tax rules at the time and how much I exchange but, even after one year, my windfall will have become a nest egg and enough for an audiobook a week!
Three things newbies should do in their first week and, for most things, forever afterwards!
