April 2023 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 2nd May 2023 by weenie

April was a bit of a spendy month.

Enjoyed a couple of social outings, one of them being the Manchester FIRE pub meet last Friday.

Also, unusually for me, I intentionally went clothes shopping. I haven’t done this in a long time as it’s not something I particularly enjoy doing, but with my preferred hipster/low-waist jeans back in fashion, I had to pick up a couple of new pairs to supplement my old ones (still fitting me from the 90s but looking rather shabby!).

I know many people these days just get their clothes online, but I’m old-fashioned and prefer to try before I buy. The only time I buy clothes online is if I’ve tried the exact item previously instore. Plus, I can’t be faffed with returning items which don’t fit.

It’s the first shopping trip I’ve been on in a long while and the first items of clothing I’ve purchased since the Marie Kondo 50% cull of my wardrobe in 2021 prior to my house move (with the exception of gym wear/underwear).

During Easter, I went on a traditional bank holiday outing to B&Q and took advantage of the gorgeous weather to paint all my garden fences (front and back). As well as paint, I also came away with a plant (more on this later) – B&Q is one of those places where you inevitably always end up buying something that wasn’t on your shopping list! However, I deliberately didn’t get a trolley or basket so there was only so much I could carry – the 12L tub of paint was heavy on its own! The tricks one must do to stop ourselves from spending needlessly, haha!

Anyway, some good news at work was that I received the maximum performance-related pay rise offered by my company, which was 5%, the same as last year. Again, nowhere near inflation-busting, but still, I’ll take it for what it is, since annual increases are not guaranteed.

This new bit of extra pay will just get swallowed up by bills as it looks like everything has gone up for me, apart from water and tv licence.

Right, enough waffle, how did I get on in April?

I saved 17% of my net salary. The above includes £41.78 from doing Prolific surveys and £20 from matched betting profits.

Shares and Investment Trusts

I just topped up existing investments.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund

No apparent drastic events to rock the stock markets, so my Future Fund moved up a small notch, to £231,955.

Dividends and Other Income

A fairly average month for dividends.

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March 2023 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 3rd April 2023 by weenie

The month started quite well, with things I hadn’t done in a while.

The first was a Friday after-work drinks session, which was followed by a cheeky Nandos.

Great fun, which harked back to the days when this was something I used to do on a semi-regular basis and would not have warranted a mention on the blog.

The second was a social outing which had me rolling home after 2am – another fun night but the lack of sleep and ensuing hangover reminded of why I don’t do these very often (aside from financial cost)!

Things went downhill after that – first, the battery in my car died and had to be replaced (£145). The short (but necessary) car journeys I make aren’t great for the battery, so it generally needs to be replaced more often than if I used my car regularly and for longer journeys.

Next, I woke up one weekend with throbbing toothache.

Managed to get a dental appointment first thing on Monday but due to the location of the offending tooth (right at the back), the work that needs doing (likely root canal) is beyond my dentist’s expertise/equipment so I’m being referred to a private specialist.

As someone who doesn’t automatically reach for painkillers at the first sign of discomfort, I’ve not liked having to take so many but needs must if I am able to do my work and get sleep. I hope I get an appointment soon (it’s been two weeks and counting…). The pain is so bad sometimes that I dream of just getting a pair of pliers and pulling out the damn tooth for some relief.

This month, I got paid my company bonus and while in the past, I would have tossed the majority of it into my ISA, this time, I’ve put most of it aside to cover my impending dental work treatment. Ouch, in all senses. That’s not to say I haven’t invested any of it, I have, just not as much as I would have liked.

Anyway, the first quarter to the year is over already so let’s take a look at how I did in March:

I saved 25.9% of my net salary. The above includes £83.66 from doing Prolific surveys, £59.70 from OddsMonkey* referrals, £20 from matched betting profits (yes, I know, more on this later!) and a nice £400 from taking part in a 3-week online investing community thing with Research in Finance (not a referral link – sign up for free!)

Shares and Investment Trusts

No new investments, I just topped up existing holdings.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund

All’s not right in the banking world – Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse and First Republic are unlikely to be the only ones this year to get into a spot of bother, and it’s probably only a matter of time before some other ‘too big to fail’ bank will need propping up/rescuing. Let’s hope regulations help prevent the worst from happening.

At the end of the month, jittery markets caused my Future Fund to drop a little, down to £229,463.

Dividends and Other Income

When markets are down, dividend income provides the only ray of light in my portfolio:

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March 2022 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 3rd April 2022 by weenie

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:

Continue reading →

February 2022 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 2nd March 2022 by weenie

Thoughts go out to the people of Ukraine.

I can do nothing except make a financial donation to charities helping the people in crisis over there.

Meanwhile…

In My Little World

In my little world, February was a good month, including several social nights out with friends and an actual works leaving do – colleagues had been slinking off over the past year or so with no thanks or fanfare so it was nice to give someone a good send-off.

There was also the Manchester FIRE pubmeet, which was the usual eclectic mix of people at all different stages of their FIRE journeys, and was the usual engaging, enjoyable and interesting event.

Work ran a ‘Compliment a Colleague’ on Valentine’s Day, where you could submit an anonymous (or not) Valentine’s compliment or message to a colleague (all compliments and messages vetted by HR to ensure nothing inappropriate was sent, otherwise it could have been carnage, with an office full of young twenty-something lads…)

I received the following compliment:

Dear Weenie

You are awesome at your job and so patient with people!

I appreciate our chats and think you’re an amazing person – kind, smart and funny. You rock!

It was sent anonymously but I know who sent it and I was extremely touched to receive the compliment from them!

Anyway, enough of that warm fuzziness, let’s take a look at the numbers for this month:

I saved 22.6% of my net salary. The above includes £37.96 from doing Prolific surveys and £61.63 from Google Adsense.

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

It’s obvious that war causes uncertainty and volatility so the markets continued to dip.

I have no insight (who does?) as to what will happen next but as I think my portfolio is mostly diversified, I just continued to invest as normal according to my plan.

My Future Fund continued to fall, settling at £223,780 by month end, down by 3.6% YTD.