Graph of £88,000 invested in a FTSE 100 tracker over 5 years vs. my Utility Warehouse Business income

Graph of £50,000 invested in a FTSE 100 tracker over 5 years vs. my Utility Warehouse business income
* Credit to London Stock Exchange for FTSE data

Read to the end for a full commentary on this graph of my Utility Warehouse business income for the past five years vs. £88,000 invested in the FTSE 100 over the same period.

Comparison of Top Six Investment Models vs. The Utility Warehouse Business Opportunity

Ok – it may not be the catchiest title but this blog is significant. Let me take you back to 2010. I was in Croydon hotel at a Utility Warehouse business “Opportunity Presentation”, a presentation explaining the business opportunity. I had seen this many times before, and always liked to attend to accompany guests and to network with other Utility Warehouse Partners. Three quarters the way through the presentation, one of the co-presenters emphasised “The Utility Warehouse business opportunity is a saleable, willable asset”.

Penny Dropped Moment

My jaw dropped open – at least in my head. There must have been some kind of physical manifestation of my surprise because the presenter came over to me and said “That was a penny dropped moment wasn’t it?!”. It was. I realised that this passive income that I was building up was even more than the pension that I had hoped it would be. This would be an income for my children as well when I have left this earth. That was a whole paradigm shift in the way I viewed the Utility Warehouse business opportunity.

Top Six Investment Models

Here’s the rundown of the top six investment models as I see them. At the end, I pull it together with a comparison with The Utility Warehouse business opportunity and explain how we arrive at the comparison graph at the top of this article

6. Trading Stocks & Shares

It is possible to make money on the stock exchange but the statistics are against you. Approximately 97% of all professional fund managers (someone who gets paid to pick stocks & shares by clients who invest in their ‘pick of the bunch’ known as a fund) fail at beating the average growth of the London Stock Exchange over a modest time period.

That’s right – 97% of all those people with highly paid jobs, champagne lifestyles and often arrogant attitudes. Those people who you see on TV, on the train going to “manage their hedge fund” (decide which, if any stocks & shares they are going to buy / sell that day), 97% of those people fail to beat the average.

In my personal opinion it’s a mugs game. You are better off investing in a FTSE 100 or FTSE 250 tracker that compounds interest. That’s pretty much the conclusion of the absolutely superb book ‘Ouch’ by Paul Knott (see “further reading” below).

Tony Robbins famed for his inspirational courses, talks and books, decided to write his first book for 20 years; surprisingly he chose to write about money and his book “Money, Master the Game” is quite a tome at 688 pages. The conclusion of his book is ultimately the same as “Ouch”, the only differences being that Tony’s book has a more US bias and is, a bit of a sales pitch for his ‘special fund’.

5. Penny Shares

With some diligent work and research, it is possible to skew the risk / reward ratio sufficiently to make some share dealing worthwhile . The AIM (Alternative Investment Market) is a collection of companies that are not quite at the level required to be on the LSE. Some are high-risk start-ups, some are solid, well established companies.

I used to subscribe to the now deprecated “The Penny Share Letter” by Agora Financial which effectively did all of the research for you and gives one recommendation (as a minimum) per month. The results were impressive. They weren’t all winners but the vast majority were. There are a few share dealing platforms out there, I personally use IG as they are pretty cheap and cater for the home-investor. I believe there are some disruptive trading platforms coming online with lower costs but I have not experienced or researched to date.

4. Binary Trading

The only other method of investing in the stock market that I do rate is a relatively short term method known as ‘binary trading’. Agora Financial produce a guide on how to do this effectively. It does take some groundwork and a fair time investment but, if you are interested in playing the stock market – this is the way to do it in my opinion.

The crucial benefit of binary trading is that your losses are much more limited that with traditional share dealing. You are effectively betting that a certain share / currency / asset (gold etc) will hit a certain value in a particular timeframe. Your exposure is therefore limited to your bet. You don’t have to actually buy the asset which, for the same return would give you much greater exposure. I use binary.com as it is simple, straightforward and very cheap.

3. ISAs / Savings Accounts

Safe as houses, but boring as it gets when it comes to real returns. Except for the tracker ISAs, which over time will give 10-12%. Enough said.

2. Tracker Funds

In the UK a FTSE 100 or FTSE 250 tracker with the profits reinvested to compound is one of the very best ways of investing your hard earned cash.

1. Property

The number one way of making money – in my opinion, based on the evidence of those who have amassed great wealth is: property. Bricks and mortar. It is consistently the most solid, lucrative and leverage-able form of investment there is.

Alan Sugar – think he made all his money from his technology companies (Amstrad etc)? Think again – the vast majority of Allan Sugar’s wealth comes from rental income on properties that he rents out and on properties that he has sold for a profit.

McDonalds – if you have seen the film ‘The Founder’ you will know that they are not a food company, they are a property company. McDonalds buy the land and the franchisees rent the premises from them. This is their passive, predictable, unfluctuating income stream. The burgers are gravy (pardon the pun).

There are three main ways of making money from property:

1. Buy, Develop, Sell

   The classic model that most dabblers tend to approach. Some are very successful at it. In my personal opinion it is generally a rather short sighted approach. Property automatically appreciates in value all the time. It took less than two years for property values to recover from the 2007 crash. As soon as you sell, you lose the leverage that the gain in value gives you. That said, there is always a right time to make the break and sell up.

2. Buy to Let

   Once a very popular way of gaining a modest passive income, this method has massively dropped in popularity following the government’s recent tax changes in the UK. It is still possible to make money using this method but it is now a tougher proposition and the returns are modest.

   The one exception to this currently appears to be the lucrative central London market. Property prices are high, but so are rents. Rental usage is very high in London due to the transient nature of the people living there. Therefore demand is high and rental rates are comparatively high.

   There are some developers offering a service where you can part-invest in a development. The idea is that you re-mortgage your house, take £20k-£50k out at (current mortgage rates) around 2-5% and invest it into a buy to let London cherry-picked development. The returns are around 12%. The benefit of this model is that the returns come relatively fast – within a year or two and you can do it with no funds (re-mortgage).

   My Property Expert is a company offering this service. Disclaimer – I am professionally linked to Eyeedul at My Property Expert.

3. Homes of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs)

   This method is also subject to the new tax laws in the UK, however it is sufficiently profitable that this is not a problem. When I go into property investing, this is the route that I am planning to take.

   You buy a property, get permission from the council to create an HMO (not usually too difficult – there’s often high demand), convert it into bedsits and let them out individually on a flat rate – bills included. The market for this type of accommodation is growing. Two obvious users of HMOs: Students and DSS. Students pay their rent termly, in advance – they’re fantastic payers. DSS with solid benefits make perfectly good tenants as long as you conduct your due diligence. And of course the growing market of single professionals.

The Golden Rule of Investing

Einstein famously said that “Compound Interest is the most powerful force in the universe” and he was right. Reinvest your gains, have a plan about what level you are going to get to.

Other Methods

Of course there are other methods of investing: foreign exchange trading, bitcoin etc (all of the ‘blockchain’ crypto-currency market is going to plummet in the next 2-3 years in my opinion), p2p lending / crowdfunding etc. These and similar methods are too risky to be within the scope of this article.

Bottom Line

Own property, leverage it (re-mortgage), own more, convert to HMO, rent rooms out. Wait for the value to raise, wash, rinse, repeat. Put the profits into a FTSE 250 tracker. Set proper life goals and plan your financial activities around these. Your wealth will grow faster, the more you reinvest but, of course the point of all this is to enjoy your money.

Conclusion: The Utility Warehouse Business as a Passive Income vs. Investment

Here’s the second “penny dropped moment” that I got from that seminar in Croydon. £88,000 invested in a FTSE 100 tracker with a 0.5% fee would give you a monthly income of £355. If you go out and gather 120 Utility Warehouse customers, that will give you the same return, plus bonuses along the way.

I worked consistently gathering customers for the first 3 years of building my Utility Warehouse business, that got me to around 120 customers. I didn’t break any records, qualified for very few of the incentives that they offered but, doggedly and persistently I drove the business forward a couple of evenings a week and sometimes half a day at weekends. That gave me an income equivalent to having £88k in the bank.

You can read an earlier blog that I wrote on the income that my Utility Warehouse business generated from day zero here.

With that information – you have a balanced summary to make a decision for yourself. The rest, I leave up to you.

Further Reading

Having been fascinated with the concept of passive income for most of my adult life, I have studied many forms and looked at the patterns of investment and behaviour of the super-rich. Some of the publications that I recommend for greater understanding on this subject are:

• Ouch! by Paul Knott

  

  A cynical look at the current system of hedge fund managers and credit card cancer that the western world is currently suffering from. Hard hitting and full of helpful action points.

• For the Love of Money by Sam Polk

  

  A challenging book, that questions whether money itself is the real goal. Very deep and thought provoking.

• Complete HMO Success by Nick Fox

  

  A comprehensive overview of how to get started in the HMO industry. Very actionable.

• How the Stock Market Works by Michael Becket

  

  Good grounding on the basics. Stay away though – it’s a mugs game.

• The Number by Lee Eisenberg

  

  Seriously good book on financial goals – told as a (true) story.

• Moneyweek magazine by Agora Financial

  

  Recommended in “Ouch”, this is the only magazine that I subscribe to. It is very punchy with zero hype, very, very useful.

• The Penny Share Letter

  

  Another publication by Agora Financial. Penny shares are high risk, high reward. This publication consistently picks winners

• The Big Short (book of the film – watch it, it’s staggeringly good) by Michael Lewis

  

  The true story of the investors who saw the 2007 crash coming and had the courage to back it with funds. They won big. Very eye opening

• Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

  

  Aimed at helping those in personal debt to get out of it. Very hard-hitting and effective. Highly recommended.

• Money, Master the Game by Tony Robbins

  

  Great book but very long winded. Buy tracker funds – almost all hedge funds perform worse. Reinvest the profits. There – I’ve just saved you 3 weeks reading it 🙂

• The Behaviour Gap by Carl Richards

  

  Insightful book on the psychology of why we go on ‘retail therapy’, spending ‘binges’ etc

• Wealth Secrets of the 1% by Sam Wilkin

  

  Interesting read on the successful traits of the wealthiest 1% of society

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are simply the opinion of the author and do not constitute financial advice either explicit or implied. Always seek the advice of a professional, qualified financial advisor before making an investment decision.

Utility Warehouse changes and improvements have made a significant difference to the customer and Partner proposition in 2018:

Utility Warehouse Changes the Partner fee to £50

There are now two options when signing up as a Utility Warehouse Partner:

1. £50 Option to being a Utility Warehouse Partner. If you choose this route, you need to follow these steps:
   1. Sign up as a Utility Warehouse customer by clicking on the “Save Money” link in the menu bar above.
   2. Once you have completed the signup process, you will be given a membership number. Make a note of this.
   3. Apply to be a Utility Warehouse Partner by clicking on the “apply now” link on the right hand side of this page
   4. Enter you Utility Warehouse membership number in the box labelled “Utility Warehouse customer account number”
   5. Choose whether you want the company branded tablet or are happy to use your own tablet / laptop. See this blog post for more information.
   6. Complete the form and submit. You will automatically be charged the discounted rate of £50.
2. £100 option. If you choose this route, there is no requirement to sign up as a Utility Warehouse customer first.
   1. Apply to be a Utility Warehouse Partner by clicking on the “apply now” link on the right hand side of this page

What Happens Next?

Once you have completed the online application form, you will receive a confirmation email from Utility Warehouse head office. Within 24 hours you will receive your unique “Executive ID number” and access to the online portal provided by Utility Warehouse, known as “The Partner Portal”. From there, you will be guided through your early steps as a Utility Warehouse Partner, including:

• Completing online training
• Uploading a passport style photo for your ID card
• Agreeing to the OFGEM regulations agreement
• Booking your classroom training from one of the hundreds of training centres nationwide
• Ordering your optional piggy shaped business cards

…and many more

To find out what you get in return for your application fee, see the FAQ page here.

Extra Benefits for “Daffi Double-Gold Homeowner” Customers

A “Daffi Double-Gold Homeowner” customer is a homeowner who takes all four services available: energy (gas or electricity), telephone line, broadband, mobile phone. For those customers who qualify, Utility Warehouse may offer extra benefits. See http://www.utilitywarehouse.org.uk/ for more information.

Mobile Phone Signal Booster Box

For years, Vodafone was the only company to offer a mobile phone booster box – a “Femtocell”. Then EE came into the market and now that the technology has been honed and perfected, Utility Warehouse are offering the equivalent product.

This means that Utility Warehouse mobile phone customers can now enjoy 5 bars of coverage in their home. The booster box plugs straight into their internet router and within minutes it is boosting the Utility Warehouse mobile signal within the customers home. I have one of these myself and it works perfectly for calls and texts. It cannot be used for data – your phone will automatically pick up data from the router instead while calls and texts will run through the booster. Just one of the great Utility Warehouse changes in 2018!

Utility Warehouse Changes the Partner Commission Structure With Larger Up-Front Payments for Gathering Customers

One of the most significant Utility Warehouse changes that has been introduced is the “QUIP” QUick Income Plan. This enables Partners who opt-in to be paid a lump sum for signing up Daffi Double-Gold customers. This up front payment replaces the usual monthly commission that would otherwise be paid for the first five years of that customer being with Utility Warehouse. After the five years is up, regular monthly commissions are paid as normal.

I’m always very honest on this blog and I have to admit that when I heard about QUIP, I wasn’t entirely positive. For me, Utility Warehouse has always structured their commission programme very ethically by paying Partners with small monthly commission payments over a long period of time, rather than by incentivising with large up-front payments. It is a well known fact that the door-knockers of old that were part of the marketing strategy of the ‘big 6’ used to be paid a large up-front commission to tie customers into contracts. This is partly what earned them a poor reputation. Historically, Utility Warehouse rarely tied customers into long contracts (with the exception of a brand new phone line install).

Having reflected on “QUIP” for a while now, here are my conclusions:

• The customers who qualify you for a QUIP bonus are those who take almost all of The Utility Warehouse services. Therefore they are making the most significant savings.
• All “QUIP” customers are receiving free, professionally fitted LED lightbulbs (see above) so they are getting a benefit that no other supplier can currently offer.
• The tie-in that Utility Warehouse do need to apply for QUIP customers to make it commercially viable is ethically structured: There is a fair buy-back on the free LED light bulbs that operates on a sliding timescale.
• From a Partner point of view, approximately 10% of your customers will be QUIP if you offer all of the services on every appointment. That means that your monthly commission is likely to increase in the short term but not significantly.
• From the point of view of gaining increased motivation as a brand new Partner, QUIP is excellent as it allow you as someone brand new to the business to earn a meaningful commission. My first residual commission payment was £6.75 which came four months after I started. It took significant patience, persistence and hard work to keep going to the point where I was earning so much that Utility Warehouse funded a company car for me.

This is one of the most significant Utility Warehouse changes to come into effect and it is certain to make a big difference to customers and Partners in 2018.

Utility Warehouse Changes Include Training Improvements: Sign Up Customers With Only Online Training

It is a much, much simpler task to sign up a new customer than when I started as a Utility Warehouse Partner back in 2009. Back then, there were paper forms in duplicate, it was very, very easy to make a mistake and that would delay the application process etc. As an engineer, I was fairly good with detail but I still had many forms come back with errors.

Now, with these new Utility Warehouse changes, the entire sale and quotation process has been made foolproof. This has been partly helped by the government’s initiative to force suppliers to add comparable prices and greater clarity to bills. All suppliers must now quote annual usage for the past twelve months and a predicted price for the next 12 months based on the same usage profile.

During an appointment, rather than have to get a calculator out and dig into piles of paper, it is simply a case of pressing the screen on a tablet to show a series of short videos and then input the customer’s data into an interactive online form (there is an offline backup version too if you don’t have internet access). You can get the few figures you do need from their most recent bill or answer a few simple questions with them using drop down menu choices to get a quotation.

Utility Warehouse have, for some time now required all new Partners to complete a series of online training modules and in addition attend classroom training. Whilst it is still highly recommended to attend classroom training, it is now possible to go to customer appointments, having only completed the online training course. There is an assessment within each module to maintain high quality results.

Are Utility Warehouse Always the Cheapest?

No – there are a small number of people out there who are better off not signing up to Utility Warehouse . For those people who compare ppkWh tariffs – the honest truth is that much of the time Utility Warehouse is not the cheapest in the marketplace. The question I ask potential customers is: what are they more concerned about: the ppkWh rate or the amount of money the utility company takes out of their bank account every month?

Energy rates with Utility Warehouse often drop with the addition of services – customers who are able to take telephone & broadband get a better deal and – they get currently 25% off their telephone & broadband. Customers who take the Cashback card typically get £25 – £40 off their utility bill and it is often more with big purchases and around Christmas time. We have been Utility Warehouse customers since 2008 and in 9 years we have had over £4000 in cashback – and we are not particularly big spenders.

Understanding the above concept and having the decency to walk away from an appointment when it is not the best thing for the prospect to sign up to Utility Warehouse is, in my opinion the key to making a success of this business. The only quality that is more important is the ability to get lots of “no’s” and keep moving forward – keep making appointments. Put those two qualities together and you will make a success in this business as a Utility Warehouse Partner.

Questions, comments? Please advise your thoughts in the form below, I read them all!