Switching things up slightly from this month going forwards, nothing major, don't worry. I'm just swapping around the finance and non-finance update. Over the past couple of years, as my numbers have compounded the numbers have mattered less and the lifestyle has risen to a priority. 2 months off work, again! Regular readers will know that I took 8 weeks Unpaid Parental Leave in 2025, taking off pretty much all of the school holidays to spend time with my kids. In January I've submitted the same again, and just had it approved (not that they can't not approve it, they can delay it under extreme circumstances but can't turn it down outright - see more in a previous post of mine here ). Lots of plans this year, so far we have booked a 2 week driving holiday in the French Alps, a long weekend in Salzburg, a biking holiday and Efterling in the Netherlands as well as a few days in Wales and the Peak District. Snowy Scarborough We had a night booked in Scarborough right a...
A bit late with the update this month, apologies! This one is short & sweet
Finance update
I mentioned in my last monthly update that I've rather taken to the 'waterfall chart' as a way of showing contributions and gain/loss for both the monthly swing across assets but also to show the total for the year. These can be done simply in Excel.
Breakdown for July:
- ISA is full so no new contributions, markets down led to a downturn of £2k
- Similar story with my Pension
- I contributed £2k to my GIA/easy access savings and bizarrely this ended up in positive territory at the end of the month
- £400 into Crypto and a whopping gain of £4k for the month
- House price rose £1.3k in June
- All in all, up just over £5k
2024/25 tax year:
At the start of August there was a notable market downturn, sparked by Japan increasing interest rates by 0.25%, and having a disastrous effect on the "carry trade" (where you loan money out in a low interest environment and buy assets in another). It looks like markets have somewhat recovered now however I foresee my August summary may be down a good chunk.
Non-Finance update
During July we managed an excellent camping trip at Sherwood Pines. The site itself was a perfect location for the bike trails, but the site itself was very funny about no campfires and BBQs and seemed very uptight about a few things. Thankfully that didn't take away from how good it was and just how much the kids enjoyed it, especially the bike trails, and no doubt we'll be back at some point.
We also managed to take the kids out on their bikes for a stretch of the Monsal trail in the Peak district, and we hiked around Langsett Reservoir.
That's it, that's the update.
Until next time!
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