March 2022 Savings, plus other updates

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In my world, March was another good month – funny how just a bit of sunshine really lifts the spirit.

Courgettes and leek sprouting, with the help of recycled toilet roll tubes and food cartons!

I tentatively planted a few seeds and these are doing well already.  Hoping to do more over the coming weeks.

There was good news work-wise – firstly, I got paid my (discretionary) annual bonus.

Secondly, I was among several employees who picked up an award for ‘exceptional services’ in 2021 – our reward will be a trip somewhere in Europe (once Covid restrictions have died down), so that’s something to look forward to. It would be great if it’s a country I’ve never visited before.

Anyway, with one quarter of the year over already, let’s take a look at my numbers:

I saved 34.1% of my net salary.  The above includes £92.99 from doing Prolific surveys.

Previous years have seen me achieve a savings rate of over 60% or 70% during bonus time, but although I would have loved to have been investing more while the markets are still down, the large majority of the bonus will have to go towards some critical work which I’m getting done in a couple of weeks (sorting out my unsafe driveway).

Shares and Investment Trusts

No changes here, I just topped up existing investments.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund 

Did the stock markets hit rock bottom last month?

Who knows but signs of a recovery propelled my Future Fund back up a little, finishing at £232,209 by month end, pretty much back to where I was at the end of 2021. Check out that ‘W’!

Dividends and Other Income

I love seeing my dividends roll in and it was another decent month for income:

I received £411.16, of which £327.01 was from my ISAs, the rest from my SIPPs.

Here’s what the graph looks like:

A little less than last March but there were a couple of late payments which will be logged as April income.

Matched Betting (MB)

After dipping my toe back in last month, the sunnier weather had me more inclined to spend my time outside. That said, I did do a little EW betting during the Cheltenham festivalI but there were none of the previous rich pickings, I made just £21.47 profit (using very small stakes).

As mentioned previously, the MB guide I subscribe to is OddsMonkey*, which is great for beginners and experienced matched bettors alike. There are step by step guides and also a friendly forum for you to ask questions and get help on any of the offers.

Goals Update

Here’s how I did in March:

Not doing too badly on all the goals.

The non-fiction book I read?  ‘The Tiger That Isn’t – Seeing Through a World of Numbers’ by Michael Blastland. What I learned from this book was just how wrong people (that includes me) can be about numbers and to question ‘averages’.

Podcasts

I mentioned in previous posts that I had started listening to podcasts during my bus journeys into work.

I started off by trying a variety of the more ‘popular’ personal finance/FIRE podcasts but found that I far far prefer reading about these topics rather than listening.  Just found them all quite yawnsome and my attention drifted very quickly.

Anyway, through trial and error, I’ve now narrowed down my listening to the following two podcasts (both with back catalogues stretching many years), which I find keep me entertained and engaged, and which I’ve found myself listening to even when at home (something I never did previously):

  • The Infinite Monkey Cage – I’ve discovered that I absolutely love science (and history) mixed with humour, plus am a big fan of Prof Brian Cox. I’m slowly and joyfully making my way through the old episodes, which go back to 2009.
  • More or Less: Behind the Stats – I enjoyed Tim Harford’s book, ‘The Undercover Economist’ and also enjoy this podcast which sees topical stats and numbers being dissected and debunked. Getting some truth behind some numbers thrown about by the government and the press also helps with my own biases and opinions.

I don’t mind people recommending other similar podcasts in the comments so that I might add to my ‘to listen’ list – at least this list should be much smaller than my ‘to read’ list!

And finally

It took me almost a full month before I could shake off all post-Covid symptoms; the intermittent cough and breathlessness meant I had to delay my return to the gym but I’m so glad I’m back and ready to get myself back into shape.

Hope all’s well for everyone else – how was your March?

[*referral/affiliate link]

14 thoughts on “March 2022 Savings, plus other updates”

  1. Weenie, congratulations on your millionaire status. Finally there! (Hint: your investments page shows a 31 March value of £1.42m – maybe a typo? 🙂 ).

    Anyhow, good to see you rolling on with your saving and investing. Bad luck with the drive: I can empathise because last year I had to have various bits of maintenance done around the house, running to several thousand.

    Keep us posted on the development of the leeks and courgettes.

    • Haha, thanks – that was most definitely a typo, good spot, cheers! 🙂

      Yes, it hurts that I have to spend so much money on the drive but it’s become hazardous so I’ll be glad when it’s done.

  2. Hey Weenie,

    It’s been ages since I’ve checked up on your progress, but am I happy to see the results! You’ve been doing amazing the past few years, wow. Lots of dividend income and your net worth has skyrocketed.

    Keep it up!
    NMW

  3. Nice to see you are feeling better Weenie. Thanks again for the update. What a lovely perk to win, well done! Enjoy the trip….whenever and wherever that will be.

  4. Hey Weenie. That’s a cool company! Hope you get somewhere with some and !

    And welcome to the joys of home ownership…..and maintenance…..!

    Great to see you doing well.

    • Cheers Michelle!

      I guess I should actually be glad I have got the money to do the maintenance so really can’t complain!

  5. Congratulations Weenie. Really hope you get to go somewhere good that you’ve not been before. What a great way for them to show how much you’re appreciated.
    Glad you’re starting to recover from the dreaded Covid. Getting back into exercise often seems to be an issue post Rona. Good figures too as always. And your saving rate might not be quite as high as it was, but you are a home owner now, so that’s probably not unexpected.

    • Thanks SS, yes, feel really appreciated by the company with this award.

      Am slowly upping my training a bit so hopefully soon will be back to the level I was pre-Rona!

  6. Congratulations on the award weenie, that’s something to be proud of. Hope you’ll be able to visit a country you haven’t visited. Glad to see you feel better and are able to continue with your life as normal. Cheers!

  7. Hey weenie. Thanks for the update. Glad you are now finally over Covid, it’s a real bugger isn’t it. That’s brill about the trip away you have been given, has that happened before, Do you know how long the trips tend to be for? That’s really good.

    TFJ

    • Thanks TFJ.

      I’m only aware of two such trips being awarded previously; think the first one was to Miami (!) and the second one to Buenos Aires. 2020’s winners received cash compensation as they weren’t able to travel. I think the winners from our US offices will probably still go to those kinds of places and us in Europe will go somewhere closer! Not sure for how long, can’t see it being more than 3-4 days really, as it’s during work time!

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