Another month has whizzed by – late nights at work, gym sessions and nights out all sort of melded together. Oh and GoT! 🙂
My spending usually starts hiking up over the spring/summer months so I really need to watch my eating out from now on, although looking at my diary, I’ve already got too many social events booked in and I have a full bank holiday weekend.
What else did I get up to in April? I was featured in a ‘Bloggers on Fire’ interview, went on a 7-mile walk, topped up my tan and also attended an ‘investment meet up’ – I’ll do a write up on this soon.
Although it looks like I’ve been doing a lot of late nights in the office, I’m not actually moaning or complaining, as things are actually pretty good at work. Business continues to grow so my volume of work has gone up. The work I do could be done at home but I don’t like working from home and I find that email or Skype tennis isn’t half as productive as face-to-face communication. I know there are ways I can work smarter but just need to smash through what I’ve got on at the moment.
Anyway, how did I get on in April with the numbers?
I saved 43.6%, only because much of my going out expenses went on my credit card so those will hit my numbers next month.
As predicted, I was not able to max out my 2018/19 ISA – I got up to £16,400 in the end and that included jiggling emergency cash and some matched betting funds into my cash ISA. I’m going to make a real attempt to max out the 2019/20 ISA, although it looks like I’ve made a poor start on this already with my spending! Must try harder.
The above savings includes top ups of £35 from TopCashback*, £200 matched betting profit (from last month) and £138.41 affiliate income from OddsMonkey (thank you to all who signed up via my links!).
Shares and Investment Trusts
No new investments, just added to existing ones.
Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.
(Entire portfolio here)
Future Fund
The markets have been pretty buoyant lately as my Future Fund has shot up to £164,851.
Dividends and Other Income
A record-breaking month for dividends:
The £540.53 I received was the highest ever in a single month, beating the previous highest amount received in July last year. Quite unexpected so I’m really looking forward to what I might expect over the summer!
Check out the main dividend income graph!
Matched Betting (MB)
After last month’s great profits, I was brought back down to earth again! Did badly on the football accumulators (accas) and really should have checked last year’s figures as it looks like historically, April and May are bad for accas as results go all over the place, with clubs battling against relegation etc.
Big variances with my each way (EW) betting meant that total profits from this month only came in at £124, which although seems rather rubbish, is still profit and far better than the overall loss I was expecting.
As mentioned before, the MB guide I subscribe to is OddsMonkey*, which is great for beginners and experienced matched bettors alike with quality tools such as the Oddsmatcher, Each Way Matcher, Racing Matcher and Acca Matcher among others. There are step by step guides and also a friendly forum for you to ask questions and get help on any of the offers.
Some people find Matched Betting boring and too repetitive, but you won’t know until you try it and for me, it’s the ideal ‘side hustle’ to do when I want to. Anyway, check out the free trial* (with no obligations).
Goals Update
Here’s how I’m doing versus my goals:
Passive income (dividends) absolutely battered active income (MB) in April, which is kind of great but really, the MB profits should be a lot higher.
As mentioned the other week, I have now made the donation to twin my first toilet of the year and Mr Fu was the lucky winner of that!
I’m currently reading the last book from that pile I showed at the end of my last update. Have enjoyed reading these books off my shelf because I’d forgotten that I had them and they were all quite different in genres and writing styles.
It’s been a month since I visited the library as I finish off these books and I’ve really missed it. Once I’m halfway through this final book, I shall be placing a couple of library book reservations.
And that’s it from me.
I’m still behind on my blog reading and my commenting, but hope to catch up soon.
Hope you all have a great bank holiday!
[*referral/affiliate link]
Sounds like you are keeping up the great performance!
Well done on the record dividends!
Thanks GFF!
I like your approach of not moaning about doing a lot of late nights. I tend to complain quite often when that happens to me, but I should take it from a positive perspective, like you do.
Congrats on your decent amount of dividend income this month! That’s going to the moon in the summer! you’ll be meeting with NASA astronauts soon, hehe 😉
Hey Tony
I’m choosing to do the late nights, perhaps that’s what the difference is, between it being positive and negative. It’s a fine line though!
Fingers crossed the dividend income will be shooting for the stars in the summer!
Late night working is not always a bad thing. If you’re enjoying it, happy to do it and achieving stuff then what’s to complain about? Just ensure you look after yourself and don’t burn out. Some late nights for a temp period is fine, long term not so much.
Your divident income this month is amazing, can’t wait to see what happens in July. I think you have this goal safely in the bag already.
Hi Tuppenny
I did feel mentally tired but was refreshed after the Easter break. Still making it to the gym and still able to have social outings meant that I was managing it and not letting it affect my life.
Yes, looking good for my dividend goal!
Just wondered why you invest so much in an ISA and comparatively little into a SIPP? With tax relief you are better off with a SIPP investment. Unless you need the Monet earlier obviously.
Hi Griz
My SIPP is currently twice the value of my ISA and I’m looking to make it more 50/50, or slightly more in the ISA. More for flexibility and tax reasons when I come to draw down in retirement. As I’m a basic tax rate payer, the tax relief benefit of SIPP vs ISA isn’t so great.
A little part of me died when I read: “watch my eating out from now on”. I love eating out but don’t do it nearly as much as I’d like to. Me and Mrs CFC are such foodies.
A killer month.
Cheers CfC.
I don’t eat out much, probably only once or twice a month.
And although I like my food, I wouldn’t say I love it, so no, not a foodie!
Sounds like another great month.
While I know it can cost money I always quietly cheer people on when they have a full social diary. So long as it’s stuff that you want to do (rather that feel obliged to) then have at it I say. Time with friends is one of the things that I always want more of.
Have a great bank holiday yourself!
Hi Caveman
Yeah, I don’t want to cut back on time spent with friends – it’s when the social events are bunched together rather than spread out, if feels like I’m spending more than usual.
Went out last night and saved on taxi fares as I drove – been a while since I was the only sober person at a party but still enjoyed myself!
How could you have been expecting a MB loss?
If that’s really the case, isn’t what you’re doing not MB but just betting?
Hi Chris B
The Eachway Betting I’m doing is not true MB – some days/weeks it’s a loss, some days it’s a profit – it’s almost like the stock market, there’s variance, ups and downs. As I’m measuring on a monthly basis, there will be times when there will be a loss but I could easily choose to delay reporting by a week and be in a profit. The overall trend is a profit (so far this year, around £1.5k).
Yes, EW betting is like betting but using matched betting tools to get the edge.
For more info on how you can profit from EW betting (which obviously carries more risk than MB), check out Dan’s latest update: https://pursuefire.com/monthly-each-way-betting-report-10-april/
Pingback: The Full English Accompaniment – A life like Miss Havisham? – The FIRE Shrink
Looks like you’re doing really well Weenie. It’s good to see how you’ve been getting on with Matched Betting, as this is something I’ve just started doing in the past couple of weeks. I had a tricky start with it, but I think I’ve got the hang of it now. And I’m one of the ones that signed up to OddsMonkey through your link, and you’re right it’s a brilliant service. I’ve written about my experience starting Matched Betting if anyone’s interested in having a read from a newbie’s point of view. You can read about it at https://sassenachsaving.home.blog/2019/04/28/matched-betting-is-finally-happenng/
Thanks SS and thanks for joining via my OM link. Great to hear that you are getting the hang of things!
Crikey! Nice work on the Dividends Weenie! Have you had most of those stocks / ETF’s since the beginning or have you modified / adapted as time has gone on?
Cheers Jase.
Most of my ETFs/stocks I have held for a number of years now but I have made alternations to my allocations, piling more into both ETFs and investment trusts . Recently switched a like-for-like accumulator FTSE 100 tracker fund for VUKE (Vanguard FTSE 100 ETF) to boost the income. Just continuing to reinvest the divis and adding on a monthly basis has meant the income continues to grow.
Hi Weenie
The toilet twinning certificate has arrived! Thanks. I’ll post a pic soon.
Great going on the ISA this year. It would be nice to max out next year.
We are in the same boat with MB profits down this month.
See you soon
Hey Mr Fu
Glad to hear it’s arrived safely – look forward to seeing a pic of it!
Over 500 from dividends is bloody amazing! I don’t do dividend investing so to speak but vanguard ETFs and funds do kick off dividends as you know so I should add mine up to see how much it comes to each month… It might be a good amount!
You were so unlucky with EW this month 🙁 seemed like most had a really good month. I’m sure fortunes will reverse in the coming month as always tends to be the way!
Cheers!
Hey TFS
Just as well that my passive income made up for the rubbish MB profits! I was unlucky as I had the double whammy of making a loss on the no lay accas too – this time of year is bad for accas so must remember for next season!
I reckon if you totted up your ETF dividends, you might be pleasantly surprised!
Hi Weenie, sounds like a good month overall – and those dividend numbers are impressive – feels like you are at the tipping point now where they will keep increasing year on year. I’m interested to hear about the investment meet up as well!
Cheers Ms ZiYou.
I think you’re right, they can only just go up every year, so I guess the interesting point is by how much!?
Finally finished the draft on the investment meet up, so that will be posted after my next update.
Hi Weenie,
Nice to see you had a truly awesome dividend month! A bit like TFS I haven’t/(can’t?) tracked dividends…I’m mostly in accumulator funds so I don’t think I get to see any dividends…well it’s not obvious to me anyway.
At the end of the tax year just gone I decided to go for income funds so I can manually reinvest – I’d really like the visibility of what I’m getting.
Still feel like I don’t have a clue what I’m doing most of the time with investing, but I figure at least I’m doing something & have money in the game!
Corinna
Hi Corinna
I think there is a way of tracking acc fund dividends, but it’s not as straight forward as income – I’m sure Monevator covered it at some point.
Good luck with the income funds – I can’t say I’m an expert at what I’m doing but as with you, at least I’m doing something!
Hi Weenie. I recently found out your blog and it`s really awesome! Keep it up!
Im interesed in each way betting but kind a don`t understand it fully. Is bets placed only in bookmaker? Would be lovely to see screenshots from A – Z. Like choosing bet and placing bet and result of it. 🙂
Thanks.
Hi there
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Rather than go into a half-arsed explanation of EW betting here, better if I point you to one of the excellent guides out there, so here’s one: https://thesavingninja.com/ew-betting-full-guide/. Good luck!