January - end of the month report

My Overview

Total portfolio: £24643 (+125)
Debt: £806 (-353)
External funds: ZERO
Car: No
Net Worth: £23839(+480)

Investments UK: £8687 (+20)
Investments overseas : £3606 ( same)
Cash: £1267 (same)
Pension: £10495(+105)

Total Income: £2103(+200)
Passive income: £398 (18.94%)
Savings rate: 11.57%

Side hustle 2 value: £0.40
Side hustle 3 value: £ 297.85 (Profit December 464.89)
Side hustle 4 value: £607 (Funds spent:5067)

Still working out on paying the debt, with £806 left, so i am estimating 2 months until i am done with it. Not enough movement, i was paid for all the extra work on Christmas, with a mere 200 pounds extra. Side hustle 2 is not moving as usual, but i took a bit of effort in that direction, so hopefully i see some movement in February. Number 3, matched betting, just the minimum of effort, as i am banned to use my phone at work now. Do not ask why! (around six hours on the phone daily, that's why). Crypto is not moving much, i just let everything to go automatically as it was set up. I noticed that the pension fund went down as we are getting close to Brexit, and most of the funds i use tend to decrease. But i believe they will catch up eventually, 1-2 years after the event. I decided to focus a bit on saving some money for a house deposit, before the next year wedding if possible. I have the First buy ISA with 200 going there monthly. And i will use TSB account for 1500 with 3% interest, and i can make a saving account with TSB for further 250 i believe, for the same 3% rate, or maybe is 1.5%, i need to check. Once those are full, i will use Santander for 1.5% up to 15.000.

G.

2018 - FIRE and achievements

In 2018 I earned a total of £26846, out of which £16894 from my 2 jobs (91.3% of my full time job, 8.7% from my part time one).

The internet profit was £3347, with 89% from match betting, 5.8% from cryptocurrency mining and 5.2% from various survey and online activities.

Other small amounts were gained from bank interest (£73), dividends (£13), rental (£6479), Amazon (£29) and money found on the floor (0.25).

My portfolio went down from £29035 to £23359 (after 11.000 gain in 2017), mostly because of my cryptocurrency adventure (basically I won 11k and i lost 6k next year because of the bear market).

Actually I am at 20% of my planned journey, and this year i am quite optimistic, planning to reach 30k at the end of the year.

December - General overview

My Overview

Total portfolio: £24518 (+288)
Debt: £1159 (+24)
External funds: ZERO
Car: No
Net Worth: £23359 (+264)

Investments UK: £8667 (+452)
Investments overseas : £3606 ( same)
Cash: £1267 (-112)
Pension: £10390 (-52)

Total Income: £1903 (-801)
Passive income: £531 (27.9%)
Savings rate: 12.63%

Side hustle 2 value: £0.31
Side hustle 3 value: £ 464.89 (Profit November 374.48)
Side hustle 4 value: £714 (Funds spent:5079)

This was a good month, and i even manage to finish it with a positive balance, despite a big splash due to Christmas and various birthday. I manage to reward myself with a decent computer, paid over the next 4-5 months courtesy of PayPal, with 0% APR. My investments increased slightly, but the pension fund went down instead of up, with all the uncertainty of Brexit and other industry problems. Betting was fine, even if it was done whenever i had the time. The crypto portfolio increased slightly, but is still far from getting me a profit. I will follow up soon with a yearly overview.

Have a nice day!
G.

Another year is gone...

...and i am working out the details related to the finances. I will publish them as soon as i finish it.

November - General overview

My Overview

Total portfolio: £24230(+593)
Debt: £1135(-1056)
External funds: ZERO
Car: No
Net Worth: £23095(+1639)

Investments UK: £8215(-296)
Investments overseas : £3606 ( same)
Cash: £1379(+1018)
Pension: £10442(-156)

Total Income: £2704(+1001)
Passive income: £1070 (41%)
Savings rate: 30.58%

Side hustle 2 value: £0
Side hustle 3 value: £374.48 (Profit October 202.29)
Side hustle 4 value: £683 (Funds spent:5083)

The year is almost over, and i did not get the expected results. For 2019 i will probably stop the cryptocurrency experiment (it was not a loss, but too close to it, as the total gain after one year is probably right under £3000) because the coins market is still pretty bear-ish. Matched betting was good as usual, given the amount of time spent for it. My portfolio had a slight increase, as i try to still save on First To Buy ISA and to pay the remaining debts. I need to re-work my strategy for the next year, as this year one was proved ineffective. Probably i will become a bit more conservative, given the Brexit approach and the complete chaos on shares market and crypto market.

Hope you have good news in the coming year. Merry Christmas and Ho-Ho-Ho!

Discussions with a 5-years old

Adult:
-One day we will die!
Child:
-But until then, every other day we will live!

August 2018 - Monthly report

My Overview

Total portfolio: £23647(-8672)
Debt: £2191(-1477)
External funds: ZERO
Car: No
Net Worth: £21456(-7195)

Investments UK: £8511(-8701)
Investments overseas : £3606 ( same)
Cash: £341(-362)
Pension: £10598(+383)

Total Income: £1703(-94)
Passive income: £183 (10.77%)
Savings rate: 30.58%

Side hustle 2 value: £4.10
Side hustle 3 value: £103 (Profit July 476.51)
Side hustle 4 value: £913 (Funds spent:4928)

I need to admit that i am an amateur, and all you need is lack focus for a moment for everything to go South. How shall i start? The experts use to state that a catastrophe is usually happening not because of one mistake, but a suite of at least 5 severe mistakes. Under 3 mistakes, we are still able to recover. Let's count my own. First, due to a moment of being distracted and not matching, I lost 400 on betting (Error no.1). Second, as you can see the side hustle number 4, if you did not guess, it is about cryptocurrency. Summer 2017, i made about 12.000 after investing 3000. All of them nicely invested. But Bitcoin was growing so fast, i was thinking that maybe i will make it second time. I did not want to take money from investment, so i made a loan. As you can see, the actual value of my loan is now £913, with 4928 spent. The loan is paid with the money invested on The House Crown, a sum of 5000 used one year ago (interest still to be paid). So i lost approx. 80% of what i invested in crypto. Greed is not always good. Third, the lovely Government found out that i need to pay £2200 as tax from some years ago (4-5 years ago, the last three are not yet calculated). I already paid 600, with everything to be paid in the next 4-5 months. Did i stop here? No, of course, i went to spend almost two thousand on two lovely holidays in August and September. (error no.4). And i used almost 500 from a credit card, with a very low interest, but still, error no.5. This is the story of how my net worth decreased with 25% (I have decreased with 7200 in 2 months).

What did i learn? Do not make any loans, if you do not have it cash, you cannot afford it. Whatever you do, check twice, and if it is to risky, just stop. Or, according to the previous rule, invest what you can afford to lose. Always pay your credit cards in full. And the final one, if you are having not enough cash, do not go on spending free.

Except all this ranting about my loss, the debt is clearing up nicely, the pension increase slowly every months, and my side hustles are not bringing much profit and are just using my free time. I will try a different approach, according to the Pareto principle, focusing 20% of my time on the activity that is bringing 80% of the results, and just stop doing the others. This series of unfortunate events will not deter me from my way, and i am restarting the quest adjusting my strategies once more. Main focus is on building a solid cash reserve, and only after to invest some more. I am thinking of maximizing my TSB account, as they are paying 3% up to 1500 and the Santander123 as they are paying 1.50% up to 15000. If you know a better alternative to keep cash available, tell me please.

Have a beautiful week!

G.