Update is later than usual but this might become the norm, not sure. Still no real blogging routine yet and I wasn’t about during the weekend to get this out.
Anyway, for those concerned, my nephew survived the few days with me, wasn’t late for school once and didn’t miss his bedtime (by much… 🙂 )
So how did I get on in September with my savings?
I saved 52.9% of my net salary! This was the first month that my sis contributed to household bills since she moved in and I invested the cash straight away.
Of course, at some point, all my utilities direct debits will go up, with me no longer being in the house on my own, but I’ll save as much as I can while I can!
The above savings includes top ups of £120 matched betting profit (from last month) and £126.22 affiliate income from OddsMonkey (thank you to all who signed up via my links!).
Shares and Investment Trusts
Thinking about greener investments, I started investing in Greencoat Wind UK plc.
Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.
(Entire portfolio here)
Future FundÂ
With the pound taking a pounding and markets generally on the up, at the end of the month, my portfolio stood at £179,130.49. This puts me in really good stead in my race to £200k, although with Brexit (or not) looming, who knows how things will look by the end of October.
Dividends and Other Income
Another fairly average month for dividends:
I received income of £274.02. I’m thinking that I might struggle a little to hit my target but let’s see how October looks and if it’s as good as last year.
Here’s the main dividend income graph:
Matched Betting (MB)
Not a bad month for MB, with total profits of £359. As with my blogging, I’ve not quite managed a proper routine with this and spending time with the family. Saturday mornings used to be when I could do a lot of MB – now, I’m struggling to fit it in. Am nowhere near on track with my goal but I shall continue to see how much I can I get.
As mentioned before, the MB guide I subscribe to is OddsMonkey*, which is great for beginners and experienced matched bettors alike with quality tools to help you make profit. There are step by step guides and also a friendly forum for you to ask questions and get assistance on any of the offers.
Some people think matched betting is gambling but it isn’t (speaking as a former-though-now-occasional gambler). For me, it’s the ideal ‘side hustle’/hobby to do in my spare time. Anyway, check out the free trial*Â (with no obligations).
Goals Update
Here’s how I’m doing versus my goals:
Not sure I can cope with attempting another non-fiction book this year – really not in the mood and am just enjoying my fiction right now. I’ll see how I feel next month.
Also, time to twin another toilet soon so I’ll sort that out at some point – see if a reader wants their toilet twinning.
Meet Up
So last week, I went to the Manchester FIRE meet up. There were around 15 of us and I must apologise as I was really rubbish at mingling and didn’t get the chance to speak to some (or even say ‘hello’) – I will make more of an effort next time!
Some people were really new to the concept of FIRE. Others were already FIRE’d and didn’t know that it was a ‘thing’ or a ‘movement’. I hope everyone enjoyed the meet up and got some good tips and ideas on how they can improve/maintain their financial futures. Good luck to those who talked of starting their own blogs or podcasts to document their journeys!
Danny from SIGnet was there and I thought it was great that there were a lot more discussions about investments – in previous FIRE meet ups, there’s been more on side hustles, such as ebay selling, Kindle publishing and matched betting, although of course, that was discussed too!
All the people were new faces to me (apart from Danny) and also apart from John, whom I last met back in 2017 at the FIRE meet up in Sheffield! John was the one who opened my eyes to investment trusts so it was great to catch up with him.
Hopefully, these meet ups will be semi-regular – I shall post details as I hear of them.
Captain Caveman
That same weekend, I caught up with Caveman who blogs at Ditch The Cave – he was was up in Manchester for work.
Even though I knew he would not resemble his avatar (complete with ginger beard!), part of my mind still expected him to and of course, he was nothing like! 🙂
We had a very enjoyable and engaging chat on all things FIRE and also about American football!
How was your September?
Ooo did he go to the American game recently? Colleague of mine was there
Hi FBA
Sadly, he wasn’t able to get tickets.
But I managed to get tickets and saw a cracking game at the new Spurs stadium! 🙂
The think I find fascinating about fire is how personal it is. You’ve got RIT. 1.4m fired. You’ve got FVL 2m plus not remotely ready. Ms zi you 750k nearly there.
Me at 530k (330k ex house) . Not remotely ready or even feeling particularly close. Waiting for the snowball
On the UK side you also have IRetiredYoung who even though he lived in Dubai before moving to France is FIRE’d with >$4m and loving it. Inspirational for those looking to downsize, travel and improve/stay fit/healthy.
It is very personal and highly dependent on your expenses and situation. If I had your 530k number, I’d be well and truly FIRE’d (my number is closer to your ex house number!).
Well done for hitting above 50% on the savings rate!
£359 matched betting profits aren’t to be sniffed at as well! How do you go about withdrawing these profits? Do you have a plan on when to withdraw them or is it relatively randomly?
Edging closing to that £200,000 mark – are we to expect a Weenie party? 😀
Cheers Jase.
Unlike some of the ‘high rollers’, eg TFS et al, I don’t have a lot sitting in my betting accounts so I withdraw them as and when, like a ‘regular punter’. So I usually withdraw in lots of £200, so I can invest it!
I don’t want to think about any sort of celebration yet, not until I’ve actually reached £200k as anything could still happen in the markets!
Great you met with Caveman 🙂
I’d like to assist at one of this FIRE or investing meetings but they intimidate me. I wouldn’t have a problem to go to an Spanish one but the perspective changes when here in the UK.
So, it would be great to meet first with one person before going to a big one but I never go up to Manchester and SN ignores me :((((
HI Tony It was my first meet up at Manchester, complete newbie and it was lovely to meet new people. It was NOT intimidating at all
The Squirreler
Hi Cath, thanks for your comment.
I guess it’s fear to the unknown what I’m experiencing. Perhaps, I will just need a couple of pints and everything will be OK. I’ve read somewhere that weenie drinks really good beer, so Weenie, what’s your drinking recommendation for an Spanglish introvert going to his first meet up? 🙂
Thanks Cath for confirming to Tony it’s not scary! 🙂
Tony – my go-to drink at the moment are session IPAs (<5%) but they're not to everyone's taste!
Hi Tony
The investing meeting is probably a little more intimidating I guess but nothing to worry about. The FIRE meet ups I’ve been to are all casual so they’re all very relaxed.
I understand that attending a big London event might seem a bit scary – however, I’m not sure SN is deliberately ignoring you – drop him a DM/tweet.
Can I also just point out how long it took you to hit 100k compared to just 2 years to be nearly at 200k. The snowball at work
Hey FBA
The first £100k was the hardest for definite! I’m really surprised at how much progress I’ve made towards £200k, looks like I should get there sometime next year, which is a lot earlier than I thought!
Hey Weenie,
Love that you made your savings rate 52.9% for the month. Do you feel hopeful for bumping your annual average up to 50%?
Hopefully your utility bills won’t go up too much and you can really benefit from having your sister’s contributions…
Corinna
Hi Corrina
I’m not sure I can sustain that savings rate to get the average up to 50% this year but I think I may be closer to it than I have been in a long time!
There’s definite benefit from my sister’s contributions and I’m still keeping an eye on how long the central heating is on for, haha!
HI Weenie
Great savings rate Weenie. Am going to try and push mine up a bit – am at 38% of gross.
Your goal for MB and dividends is a great way to focus on income as well as savings and net worth. If you were able to get £9 k as a starter income from these two sources – starting point for FI.
What about Nov 29th for the next meet up?
Hi Cath
Thanks and good luck with your savings rate.
I do hope that I can continue to MB when I pull the plug on FT working, as it would be an ideal side income!
29th Nov looks good for me – pencilled in my diary for now, so once you confirm, it’ll be in ink!
Great to hear things are going well with you and your sister + nephew and you are getting benefits from them moving in.
And the Manchester FIRE meetup sounds like a great success, getting new people together who are keen and interested.
Hi Mz ZiYou
It was a great success and I’m very much looking forward to the next one already!