Apologies, this post might end up dragging on a bit.
I had a great holiday (more on this later), though not entirely relaxing in parts, but enough that my batteries have been mostly recharged and I feel more in control of things.
So with one more month to go, how did my numbers look?
I saved 21.5% of my net salary. The above includes £12.23 from doing Prolific survey and a £10 charity lotto win.
Shares and Investment Trusts
No change here.
Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.
(Entire portfolio here)
Future Fund
Trump’s re-election boosted my FF upwards to £296,316.79. I never dreamt that my FF would get close to another milestone this year – might a Santa Rally push it that far? Whether it does or not, I’m very happy with this progress, especially as I’ve got a big wedge still in UK equities which are not achieving the big numbers their US counterparts are doing.
Dividends and Other Income
A good month for dividend income:
I received £701.80, of which £468.59 was from my ISAs, the rest from my SIPPs. All dividends were reinvested.
Here’s the progress on my ISA dividend income:
With December to go, my income received has now matched what I received in total in 2023. It’s going to be tight but barring any surprises, I think I should hit my income goal.
Goals Update
What about the other goals?
Hoping to bag one of the reading goals by the end of the year, but I really need to stop watching tv and get some reading done!
Options, Options
It has now been two years since I decided to dip my toe into the murky but intriguing world of options trading.
What was my aim here? I had wanted to learn something new, start a mostly fun hobby of sorts and be sociable too by attending the monthly Beginners’ Options (online) meet ups.
I also had a goal of doubling my initial capital, all £1k of it!
In my one-year update, my balance ended up at £1,484.27.
By the end of year 2, my balance was at £1,847.67 – a 24.4% gain!
I haven’t doubled my money but I’m getting there!
This year wasn’t all plain sailing however, as there was a big wobble (caused by interest rates announcement in the US, I think).
All was ticking along nicely and then, WHAM!
I was in the office when it all went pear-shaped and I had to turn off/ignore my madly pinging phone, informing me that the US500 had crashed X number of points!
When I got home, I sold my position, but by then, the markets had settled a little so instead of losing over £240 had I been able to sell in a panic during the day, I made a £151.13 loss on that trade. Inertia saved me a bit of money! I’ve since made up for that loss and then some, so all is good.
What next once I reach my initial goal?
My strategy still appears to be sound so I can continue doing what I’m doing:
However, I’ve not decided whether to start withdrawing profits and keeping the balance at £2k, or if I should set another goal, £3k maybe or doubling to £4k? Maybe I just withdraw my initial capital and then I will be playing completely with profits. I will figure something out when I get to my goal.
Finally, this is not any sort of recommendation or suggestion for anyone to try options trading, I’m just having a bit of fun and am aware of the risks – DYOR!
A bit on my Holiday
I spent some good quality time with family in Hong Kong, although the first few days were spent sleeping a lot (jet lag and some general exhaustion). Some family members had a trip to China planned the following week, and all I needed to do was sort out my visa, which ended up easier said than done!
It took a couple of days and many hours of quite stressful to-ing and fro-ing, which culminated in the following ridiculously bizarre scenario:
China Visa Representative: “You are not British (despite my British passport and birth certificate) because your parents were born in China (actually Hong Kong, but it’s all China to them now). You must go to Immigration to renounce your nationality (a nationality I do not claim to have)“.
Immigration Officer: “We cannot help you because you are British.”
I think I laughed in his face!
In the end, I had to submit a handwritten personal statement with my visa application, which included stating my reason for wanting to enter the country and that I had no intention of staying there longer than my visa allowed. Even then, I was told several times that there was no guarantee my application would be approved but fortunately, I was ultimately granted a visa. Still, what did they think I was going to do while I was there!?
Anyway, was the trip worth all the hassle? Yes, it was.
This was my first trip to the country as an adult. Travelling several hours by an impressive high speed train (clean, roomy and on time), we went to Guilin, a small city renowned for its beautiful natural sceneries and unusual shaped mountains. We went by guided tour, so we had a small coach which took us to various places of interest to visit.
China is big, big properties (with big spaces in between said properties), big courtyards, big roads, lots of wide open spaces.
Culturally, the people are very different, in terms of their etiquette, in particular their profound lack of queueing skills, not maintaining and respecting personal space and (what I would deem) bad manners. Gosh, am sounding like a right British tourist, haha! 😀
But the awesome sights…
And the yummy food! I felt like I’d put on half a stone by the end of the trip from all the eating! Sorry, I’m not the type that generally takes photos of my food because I’m too busy eating it! However, this video I came across is pretty good at highlighting some of the food (and some sights) we sampled.
There didn’t seem to be a lot of traffic pollution – I saw many e-vehicles and all mopeds/scooters were of the electric variety.
However, they haven’t embraced the plastic-bag-reduction initiative so it was weird getting all purchases in plastic bags of all sizes.
With facial recognition software used all over the place and having my passport scanned wherever I went, I don’t understand all that palaver over my visa – I couldn’t disappear in the country even if I’d wanted to, as they pretty much knew exactly where I was and where I went!
Not having access to Google and WhatsApp took some getting used to. In order to communicate with my family on the trip, I had to download WeChat, their version of WhatsApp (another way to track where I was). The places we visited still accepted cash but I believe in the bigger cities, it’s all cashless (yes, another way of tracking your movements and spending).
The good news is that having gotten this visa, next time I visit (and I’m sure there will be a next time), it shouldn’t be such a chore to get another one…
And Finally
My next post will be my end of year round up. I will also need to think about my goals for 2025 but frankly, I can’t focus on anything like that right now.
The radio is playing Christmas music and I need to get into the spirit but I am still decidedly humbug about it all!
Congratulations weenie on such an awesome FI pot amount, so close to £300k!
That’s very interesting about China, I think personally it’s a real shame what’s happened in Hong Kong and how quickly it really is just becoming normal China now especially for those that really did enjoy the greater freedoms they once had. Some really good pictures, some real beauty in China no doubt!
TFJ
Great to see you so close to the £300k!
The Rest is Politics Leading this week was with Chris Patten, worth a listen, especially on the HK side of things.
Thanks JDW and thanks for the heads up on that podcast, I will check it out!
Cheers TFJ, hope all’s well with you.
Congrats on the Future Fund.
Not quite the same amount in my FF, however, a nice increase recently.
My mortgage is up for renewal next year and I’m in two minds regarding paying some of it down or just leaving my global index to compound (or not) in 2025.
First world problems but still requires some thought.
Season’s Greetings,
Lee.
Thanks Lee and congrats to you too on a nice increase to your FF.
I’ve been making monthly overpayments to my mortgage as it’s still at a chunky interest rate but yes, I too have been in two minds as to whether to take advantage of increasing markets (increasing until they don’t, that’s the problem lol) and putting the overpayments into more equities. If the interest rate continues to drop, then that make my decision for me!
Hi Weenie,
Fascinating report on China and some amazing pictures. The scenery is stunning. It’s good to hear you got some quality time with your family.
At this end FI plans dented by the cost of a kitchen / diner complete refurb (plaster and lath ceilings down, rewiring etc yuk), but I’m trying to future proof my home before pulling the trigger. Anything to do with tradespeople is expensive, I mean sharp intake of breath expensive. I started well with reading this year, and read about 6 books up to March, then a job change, some stress and I stopped. I must start again next year. The Christmas lights are up outside the house, but I’ve not even written a Christmas card so far, so must try and get into the spirit of things.
I’m guessing your wrist is totally mended now and well done with getting your FI target nearing 300k!
Hey Starla
Glad you enjoyed the pictures of China.
A good idea to future proof your home before pulling the retirement trigger – I know I have to sort out my facias and guttering in the next couple of years but keep putting off the job. Maybe getting some quotes will give me an idea of what to expect.
My wrist nearly there – however, I now don’t know if the aches I feel are ones I’ve always had (and ignored previously) or they are from the injury. I’m having to use a wrist support for some of my weights but weaning myself off soon I hope.
Hope you’re more or less done with Christmas organisation, I think I’m pretty much there. Wishing you a great one and a happy new year!
Enjoyed your photos and travel report on China.I have always wanted to go down the Yellow River as well as visit Shanghai.Did visit HK and Macau in the 1990’s.If of interest bought a HK listed share this week China Blue Chemical – Fertilisers.Share price HK$2 Intrinsic value estimated at HK$ 3.30.Dividend Yield 8.5%
Cheers Simon
HK and Macau are very different from the 1990s!
Nice yield on that share but probably too risky for me.
I love your pursuit of doing some of what you love, holidays and reading. I have embarked on a new hobby and hope to immerse into learning about the great Artists.
FI pot looks good with all the election news across the water.
If you want to get into Great Artists would recommend the book or TV series ‘Civilisation’ by Sir Kenneth Clark
Cheers Sean and all the best with your new hobby!
I’ve never visited China, bar Hong Kong. We remember with great pleasure a flight from Melbourne. A Chinese granny adopted our three year old and devoted herself to platting her hair and entertaining her.
We did wonder whether Gran was returning from visiting children and grandchildren in Oz and wanted yet another chance to fuss over a youngster. Bless her.
Lovely story, thanks dearieme!
Well done on your fund
Your post made me chuckle, having been brought up in HK I can only just imagine the immigration scene. Rules are rules
China sounds great, it is on my list to visit ( I have never been) There was a school trip in 1977 when it first opened up but the reports back from school friends who went ( just over the boarder to Guangzhou was it was just farmers fields and lots of bicycles so do’t bother……) Suspect it has changed
Have a great Christmas and thanks for your blog
Cheers Vespaboy.
And yep, rules are rules!
There was a time when China was lots and lots of bicycles – I only saw a handful among all the e-scooters!
Hope you have a great Christmas too and thanks for reading!