Land Ahoy!

I’m back from a rather indulgent holiday you might say… Weight loss programme now engaged for Mr Jase… I visited Canada / East Coast cities of US for a good few weeks to get away from the computer screen and what not. It was very enjoyable I must say, as I write this blog post and have over 400 emails unread staring at me on my other monitor. As like many of us, I have asked myself why do I go on holiday after coming back to such a pile of work. But hey ho, this is why we’re all on some sort of FIRE journey right? So when we do come back to work, in-fact that won’t matter at all, because you won’t need to work if you don’t want to!

Here’s a few holiday snaps!

Would definitely recommend Canada / Nova Scotia / Newfoundland to anyone – such a beautiful untouched place. Friendly people, lots of space, cheap houses, beautiful scenery.

Anyhow, how have those savings been doing this month?

Value of Investments

Here?s the total value of investments to date across all accounts;

Jan-19 Feb-19 Mar-19 Apr-19 May-19 Jun-19
??17,919 ??24,666 ??29,873 ??37,687 ??41,400 ??48,743
Jul-19 Aug-19 Sep-19 Oct-19 Nov-19 Dec-19
??58,104 ??60,882 ??68,509 ?TBC ?TBC ?TBC

Only a few thousand now away from the big ?70,000! I’m hoping to hit this target in October as we continue to march strongly towards the even bigger ?100,000 milestone! Once I do hit that I’m thinking of a big celebration / meal out type scenario to reward the effort and saving amount each month that I’ve managed to do throughout 2019. I’m pretty pleased with the performance of September, given that I’ve had a holiday for most of it. October may taken a slight hit on the savings rate, but still in / around the 60% mark.

Here are some stats on income / expenditure side of things;

Total Income: ?12,000
Total Saved (?): ?7,800.00
Total Expenses: ?3,200.00
Savings (%):?65%

?1000 was put into Premium Bonds this month (to max up the difference).

Hit a new record in the savings rate at 65%! Mind you, my income has been higher compared to previous months and this extra was simply put straight into investments. I do really think I’m hit the sweet spot regarding the savings rate (between 60-65% I believe is my maximum). Sure I could probably push it higher, shave a few pounds (?) here and there, but realistically at what cost to the enjoyment of the life and the journey? This is the great thing with FIRE – you’re setting your own targets and finding your own sweet spots. However, mind you I do still find many videos online criticising the FIRE movement on the basis of that you have to ultra frugal and save every penny that you have (which just isn’t the case). In my eyes, it teaches you to be more mindful of your financial and purchasing decisions. If we want to go out on a shopping spree, we can.

Here’s what this increase looks like from a graphical perspective!

The fund (Vanguard) side of things continues to progress well, whilst there was a small black back on the stocks and shares side of things (still under performing). In total on the stocks and shares side of things I’m down by about ?2,000 – not entirely true as I have received around ?500 in dividend income from the stocks I do hold (which has been fantastic!) – I’m building these up to around ?1,000 before I purchase another set of shares. Imperial Brands and Carnival Group continue to let me down – news / press regarding fears negatively impacting the two brands are causing share prices to fluctuate.

I’ve soon come to realise that the majority of my investment is going to go into the global market tracker (Funds Overview Graph) as I don’t have the skill, know how to carefully select shares. I may look to invest in stocks and shares in the future, but predominantly my focus is on low cost funds (very much going with the flow!).

That’s about it all folks! I’m aiming to write a few more posts in October to make these updates slightly more interesting!

Touch base with you all soon!