April 2026 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 5th May 2026 by weenie

Ok, not so late with this post as I’m feeling better and more organised. Life feels back in my control again.

Perhaps I feel more uplifted now that spring has sprung, seeds I have planted have germinated so fingers crossed for a nice little crop of veggies later in the year. Plus some big sunflowers!

A spendy month, with a couple of birthday outings and I had the fascias, soffits and guttering on my house replaced. This was done by my builder neighbour who has replaced the fascias on many of the houses on the estate so he came highly recommended and all can see his handiwork!

Also attended the Manchester FIRE meet up, which was a good, interesting session (I have a story at the end of the post) at a new venue since our old one (BrewDog) has closed down.

Work is still really busy and I got an annual (performance based) pay rise, so will increase my savings/investments accordingly.

Anyway, how did I get on in April?

I saved 25.7% of my net salary. The above includes £39.24 from Prolific surveys.

Shares and Investment Trusts

Topped up existing holdings, no new investments.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund

The rocket is back! I have to be honest, I didn’t think it would make a reappearance so soon but really, who knows what is going on with the markets? My index trackers hold oil companies which is probably pushing things up, I guess.

At the end of April, my FF was up, at £389,242.68.

Whilst I am happy that my FF is marching towards its next milestone, I’m still a little uneasy about the rapid gains I’ve made so far this year.

Dividends and Other Income

An average month for dividends: Continue reading →

March 2026 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 14th April 2026 by weenie

Am so behind on everything.

Not a great month for me health-wise and not helped by a mad busy month at work.

I’m not counting down the days/months to my FIRE but I’d be lying if I said thoughts didn’t stray in that direction.

Anyway, how did I get on in March?

March was bonus month – I got my performance bonus but the company missed some of its targets so I didn’t get the full bonus. Anyway, I saved a whopping 59.1% of my net salary. The above includes £25.24 from Prolific surveys.

Shares and Investment Trusts

Mostly topped up existing holdings but did open up a small new position in International Public Partnerships investment trust (INPP).

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund

Well, it was only a matter of time. My FF dropped back to what it was in January, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

At the end of March, my FF was down to £375,994.57.

Things are looking a little rocky still but I think my recent de-risking has made my portfolio a little bit more resilient, I think…. I’ll probably write a separate update post on what I’ve been doing.

Dividends and Other Income

A decent month for dividends: Continue reading →

February 2026 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 4th March 2026 by weenie

February was a bit of a blur.

And a weird one for me, as mentally and emotionally, my head was full of stuff (good and bad). HRT has helped with my exhaustion but the month still left me feeling rather tired.

Bullet points of what went on this month:

Stayed up to watch the Superbowl as usual. Ok, one of the reasons why I felt tired!
My closest uncle passed away peacefully after a long kidney illness. At least I was able to spend some time with him late last year. RIP TQ.
One of the ladies I knew quite well from the WI passed away from illness – she was only 52. RIP Liz.
Numerous social outings, catching up with friends and the Manchester FIRE meet up, the last one at the now-closed BrewDog Outpost (more on this later).
A trip down to London to see family, which included a visit to the National Gallery – I could spend an entire day there!
Finally admitted and told my oldest friend (from school) that we had grown apart and that was ok. She didn’t think it was ok.

Throughout it all, I continued to suffer badly from eczema and am only now in the recovery phase and feeling normal-ish.

Anyway, enough of that, how did I get on in Feb?

I saved 28.4% of my net salary. The above includes £25.18 from Prolific surveys.

Shares and Investment Trusts

UK share prices continued to rise and I found that some the investments in my income portfolio had gone up so much that they breached my portfolio allocations. I ended up top-slicing a few of them (including BRWM, MYI and LWDB). Mostly reinvested the funds from sales into existing holdings but will also be opening a new position in 3i Infrastructure (3IN) and to a lesser extent, Cordiant (CORD).

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund

In a crazy fashion, my FF continued to spiral upwards but of course, this snapshot was taken before all the shenanigans with Iran and the Middle East.

At the end of Feb, my FF ended up at £384,009.41.

that last bit is almost as straight as a ruler!

Will the rocket ship make an appearance next month? *Spoiler alert* – probably not!

Dividends and Other Income

An average month for dividends: Continue reading →

January 2026 Savings, plus other updates

Posted on 13th February 2026 by weenie

Halfway through Feb already, so am running very late with this one!

Been rather distracted recently – work continues to ramp up and (maybe related or unrelated) my eczema has flared up so I’ve been itching miserably and uncomfortably and not feeling quite like usual myself.

But anyway, how did I get on in the first month of the year?

I saved 24.1% of my net salary. The above includes £26.51 from Prolific surveys and £38.16 from TopCashback.

Shares and Investment Trusts

No changes to my dividend income portfolio, I just topped up existing holdings.

Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.

(Entire portfolio here)

Future Fund

Unnervingly, things continue to spiral upwards. At the end of the month, my FF ended up at £375,605.79. Look at that straight line progression – just seems unnatural and too good to be true…!

New capital is going into money market funds – perhaps I may need to look at de-risking some more…