Category Archives: Books

2018 Goals + Bingo

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Happy New Year to you all!

For those who work, I don’t know about you but this felt like the longest week ever in the office!

I have no idea what this year will bring but just hope that it will be interesting (bubbles and market corrections? Bring ’em on!), with a lot of good stuff and laughs in between! Oh and with me (and you) continuing to head in the right direction with our finances (bubbles and market corrections notwithstanding!)

Anyway, back to the main topic…Goals!

I only set a few goals last year and the focus on just those few worked well for me with little room for distraction so I’m going to do something similar exactly the same for 2018.

So without further ado, here they are:

Continue reading →

December 2017 Savings, plus Round Up

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Well, I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, full of sumptuous food, loads of drink and festive cheer! I travelled south to celebrate the holidays and spent some excellent quality time with some family and friends, increasing my waistline further in the process!

Interesting sights in London (Peckham)…

Not even missing my flight home on Boxing Day (the M25 was closed for several hours following an accident, so I couldn’t get to the airport in time) really spoiled things for me – I booked myself into a hotel, spent the evening reading and took the first flight home the following day.  Of course I wasn’t particularly happy that I had to unexpectedly fork out an extra £150 but I’m just glad that my flight wasn’t grounded by snowy weather.

So, how did I do in the last month of the year?

I saved 37.8% – surprisingly higher than expected but some expenses will appear on next month’s credit card.

My average for the year ended up at 42.4%. Although I didn’t achieve my goal (again) to hit that elusive 50%, I’m pretty happy with this average.

Anyway, December savings include £62.81 affiliate income from OddsMonkey (thank you to all those who joined via my link – much appreciated and hope you’re enjoying matched betting!).

Shares and Investment Trusts

I just topped up existing investments this month.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund 

I believe Santa put in a Rally, pushing the FTSE 100 to yet another all time high –  my Future Fund ends the year at £133,063, an increase of 46% from the start of 2017!  This increase is almost entirely due to extra capital invested (mostly from my redundancy payment) and not from any ‘investing skills’. I will add however that my investments have benefited from dividends re-invested and uplift from the downtrodden sterling.  I continue to creep towards my next big milestone, for now!

Dividends and Other Income

Dividends received this month: Continue reading →

November 2017 Savings, plus Other Updates

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I’m back from a fabulous holiday but am both jet-lagged and hungover – not a nice combination, but yes, Christmas parties have started early!

I’ll do a bit of an update on my hols at a later date but without further ado, how much of my net salary did I save in November?

I saved 25.2%. My worst number since I returned to work but I’m quite surprised I even saved this much to be honest. Hurrah for automated savings!

My average for the year has now dropped to 42.8%. Unless I have an utterly disastrous December (it’s not looking great but shouldn’t be that bad), I should be able to make a reasonably good 40% average savings rate.

The above savings includes £25 premium bonds winnings, £36.75 from TopCashback*, £50 rent received and £85.73 affiliate income from OddsMonkey (thank you to all those who joined via my link – much appreciated!).

Shares and Investment Trusts

I sold my Ladbrokes Coral shares to take 15% profit (including dividends received over the two years I’ve held the stock).

I sold as part of portfolio simplifying exercise but my decision to sell was also partly based on my thoughts that the government’s pending restrictions on the fixed odds terminals which will likely to have a big impact on the company, plus the viability of high street bookies in general. As for the takeover by Foxy Bingo owners, GVC? Not really interested to be honest.

The funds from this sale have been added to my usual monthly capital to top up one of my existing ITs.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund 

Markets appeared to be up a little this month, boosting my Future Fund, which now stands at £130,765. Another step towards my next big milestone!

Dividends and Other Income

Dividends received this month: Continue reading →

October 2017 Savings, plus Other Updates

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Another blur of a month, not one of my favourites with the beginning of winter and the dark mornings/evenings.

A new member to the team at work has kept me extra busy but in a good way.  I can’t believe I’ve been at the company for 6 months already – time evidently flying while I’m having fun…

Still no progress on the kitchen – I’m facing a real possibility of it not being completed before the end of the year!

Anyway, how much of my net salary did I save this month?

I saved 37.8%. Surprisingly a slight improvement on last month but not by much. With Christmas shopping in my sights (at some point very soon), it’s not going to really get any higher than this.

My average for the year has now dropped to 44.6%. I’m not going to reach my target  but will be satisfied with it above 40%.

The above savings includes £575 matched betting profits (which includes the purchase of some shares in BrewDog* as mentioned in a recent post) and £98.05 affiliate income from OddsMonkey (thank you to all those who joined via my link – much appreciated!).

Shares and Investment Trusts

I sold my De La Rue shares to take 53% profit (including dividends received over the three years I’ve held the stock).

I don’t usually sell any of my shares, mainly because my strategy is to buy and hold, but as I want to simplify my portfolio, I’m selling off stocks off bit by bit and reinvesting the profits.

The funds from this sale will be added to my usual monthly capital to top up one of my existing ITs.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund 

Markets were on the up this month, boosting my Future Fund, which now stands at £129,187. Another step towards my next big milestone!

Dividends and Other Income

Dividends received this month: Continue reading →