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May 2025 update

   Finance update After three months of negative returns, my figures have bounced back in style! I've tracked my pots for just over a decade now and May was the biggest jump I've seen. It almost justifies chucking everything I did into the markets for the past 3 months both via my pension at the end of the tax year as well as into my ISA at the start of this tax year! Overall networth is now £1.2m Breakdown for May: ISA  up £12k Pension  up £16k GIA /easy access savings up £4k Crypto  up £15k House price  up £5k Total : up £61.6k Another good chunk into my ISA in May, which means it is now full for the year,  the quickest I've ever done it! My priorities are now filling Premium Bonds, pound cost averaging into Crypto, and also contributing a few hundred a month into my kids JISAs. 2025/26 tax year: Total change over the past couple of months is now +£36k.  Non-Finance update Unpaid Parental Leave No weeks off during May. The big 6 weeks off comes ...
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March 2025 update & 24-25 annual review


 

Finance update

Another negative month for returns, but it could have been worse (just wait for my April update with the impact of the Trump tariffs!). Ended up down £6200.

Breakdown for March:

  • ISA down £5k
  • Pension down £6k
  • GIA/easy access savings down £5k
  • Crypto up £2k
  • House price up £5k
  • Total: down £6k




The big moves for the month came from me moving a lot of savings into my pension. Mainly to duck under the higher rate tax threshold and also to swerve the High Income Child Benefit Charge.


2024/25 tax year review!

At the end of the 2024-25 tax year, my net worth has gone up by £140k. This is broken down as follows:

  • ISA
    • Contributions: £20k
    • Market gains: £20k
  • Pension
    • Contributions: £34.5k
    • Market gains: £23k
  • GIA / Premium Bonds
    • Contributions: £0 (Despite putting in over £10k here I've left this at zero as I've moved the bulk of it into my pension in March so didn't want to double count contributions on both assets)
    • Market gains: £6.7k
  • Crypto
    • Contributions: £8.5k
    • Market gains: £16.6k
  • House equity
    • Contributions: n/a (mortgage free)
    • Market gains: £9.7k

This is how the net worth increase running average is looking. Was so close to breaking the average £20k a month but the big drop in February (and presumably in April!) means it has dropped to about £10k a month.

And this is how the allocation propotion is looking. No plans to move house, so unless house prices skyrocket then this should stay fairly static. Next year I am planning on not contributing as much into my pension for a couple of reasons; firstly because I've spent a good few years front-loading it and it *should* tick up to a number I'd be happy with at age 55. Secondly because I am taking 8 weeks Unpaid Parental Leave this year, it means I have less of my salary to sacrifice into my pension in order to duck under the high rate tax band.



Side hustle update:

My accidental foray into a side hustle this tax year has been an absolute boon! I've worked out that I've had just over £13k in passive/very lazy side hustle income for the year. The vast majority of which (£12k) has come from investment platform switching incentives and referrals.




Non-Finance update
  • Unpaid Parental Leave
    • No weeks off in March, but I do have a week at the start of April for Easter holidays.
    • For more on this, see my seperate blog on Unpaid Parental Leave here
  • Trips
    • Berlin (me and the Mrs, wait....just us two!?!?)
      • A rare trip away with just me and my wife to Berlin for the weekend. Lots of sightseeing, beer drinking and wurst eating!
      • Highlights for me was the extensive Berlin Wall exhibitions on Bernauer Strasse, as well as the Stasi Museum. If you are into your history but want to stay off the tourist traps then these two are great.
      • The Kulturmuseum was also good and had an exhibition on Heavy Metal in East Germany.
      • The weather was fantastic, start of March and 18 degrees and blue skies each day.
      • The only niggle was that all German airports decided to strike on the day we were due to fly back. They announced this on the Friday and the strike was due to take place on the Monday, not ideal! It didn't really make the new much in the UK but thankfully we had a friend 'in the know' who tipped us off, so we were able to book an alternative flight on Sunday night instead of Monday morning. Our flight was one of the last ones leaving, and it was very bizarre seeing blank flight departure boards (see picture) 


 

 

 

 


 

 


 


  • Other things:
    • Foraging - I've found an absolute tonne of wild garlic near me, about half a mile carpet of the stuff! So I've been making lots of pesto and mayonnaise from it
    • Bike rides - Now the weather has turned, we've been on a few more bike rides with the kids. We are off to Sherwood Pines in Easter and will be taking our bikes there.
    • Lord of the Rings - we have finished reading/listening to the first book and are on chapter 3 of the second book now. My daughter dressed up as Frodo for World Book Day, with my son as Harry Potter and we made some old looking maps to go along with their costumes which they really enjoyed


 

 



That's it, that's the update,
See you next time!







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