May – Monthly Update

Wow – the year seems to be flying by and I have a bank holiday weekend ahead of me.

I have just been doing my monthly summary and can see that this month has been a bit heavy on expenses, mainly paying for my summer holiday which is only a few weeks away now and some seasonal spending.

At last, my SIPP is showing a profit! the funds have been slowly rising over the past month and they have now started to offset the original investment buy/costs. I have also received the tax reclaim this month  – I didnt realise it would take so long to get the tax reclaim into the account. My pensions are quick at claiming and investing the tax reclaim – but not this SIPP company. It makes me wonder if there is a ‘slight delay’ to enable them to accrue some interest during transit?

Anyhow, with the sun out and the warm weather, it has lightened my mood which is gratefully received and required. I am counting down to my holiday and time away from my workplace. ‘The Man’ is tiresome and so full of office politics at the moment it might as well be them participating in the general election. Things are now accumulating on the project I am working on and the findings are not good. It may mean that the project is canned, if so, they have no need for me long-term so my time there could come to an end quicker than I thought. Which is fine, that’s the reason for the FI fund – to not be worried about the need to work. Its about having choices and the ability to live without being tied to ‘The Man’. Some independence and self-sufficiency.

My FI fund is looking good at the end of this month and is almost back to the level it was at when I took my ‘FI break’. Pension funds are looking good, making good gains and the SIPP is now looking healthier.

I have increased my ISA monthly savings amount to take advantage of the new allowances. Being able to put upto £20k into an ISA will really help me as I can move money that is idling in savings accounts into the ISA an earn some better income.

I also want to sell some of my non-tax sheltered shares and move the money into pension, SIPP and ISA accounts and the new allowances give me the freedom to do this.

Happy May bank holiday everyone, I am off to enjoy the sun.

May Progress

After my last post, I have had another check on progress and updated my accounts. I am still saving 60% of my income but it isn’t making much of a dent on my net worth, this still remains flat.

When I first started off on this path, the growth was rapid and a lot of that was down to making changes to behaviour and spending that meant that I made quite big impacts on my net worth. These have now tailed off.

I hit a wall 2 years ago when I was made redundant for the second time. I took the first (and only job) offered so I could retain an income stream. Everyone else was getting a job and it would have looked bad if I hadn’t had something when we all ended our redundancy notice. It was a bad mistake, the place didn’t fit and I suffered it for 6 months to see if it would change but it didn’t so I just left. I had no job but felt better than sitting in a horrid work environment. I decided to have an ‘FI holiday’ and took 6 months off (3 months off as FI + 3 months actively job-seeking) before I was back in employment.

My net worth did drop a bit during my ‘FI holiday’ as I used my funds to live.  (Well, my dividends were used as income! I did not use any capital). When I eventually found a job and starting earning again, my fund had lost some value but now was the time to grow it again.

Over the past year I have seen that my net worth has fluctuated. After the drop, I expected it to pick up but the external factors of Brexit and economic instability mean that my fund has not grown at the same rate that it once did. My dividend yields have dropped this year. Dividends within my ISA and SIPP are automatically re-invested but I am not making the same gains as I once was.

I am investing into my ISA, SIPP & pensions to use tax free allowances on a monthly basis and then any surplus into cash savings. I am considering pumping all the surplus cash into my SIPP and pensions but it means I cannot access this until I am 55.

My SIPP is currently recording a loss. I had opened the account by transferring two very small company pension funds (less than £2.5k each) into this account to consolidate them, then did a bulk buy to get the money back into the market, just as their prices dropped. I can see that the account is still in the red but this loss is reducing each week so it should move into profit by the end of the year. I am now topping up this SIPP account. While I have an income I will push money into saving hard.

The path seems to be faltering but I will try to continue to aim for the line. It seems so close and yet so far away too.

I am looking at side hustles and other income stream opportunities so I can move away from working for ‘The Man’ and working for myself with the support of an FI fund.

I am looking at any options so if anyone has any suggestions let me know…