July 2025 update

Apologies for the delay on this one, it'll be a short one this month as I'm in the middle of the Summer hols with the kids, and trying to pack in a lot! .... More on that in August's update.

 

Finance update

Another fantastic month in July, ending up £55k! Markets did well, as did Crypto.

Breakdown for July:

• ISA up £12.5k
• Pension up £14k
• GIA/easy access savings up £3k
• Crypto up £16k
• House price up £5k

• Total: up £55k

For those of you who are regular readers you'll know that I opted to put in a couple of grand into Premium Bonds last month; "I'm very conscious that the Premium Bonds prize rate has just been lowered again, however I'm running out of pots to put it". (Me last month)

I found out at the start of August that this had won me £100! So even if I win sod all else for the rest of the year, then this will effectively work out at 5% interest, a lot higher than the effective rate (average across holdings for chance of winning) which is 3.6%

I plan on adding another few grand to my Premium Bond pot over the next few months, so we'll see what happens. Some of it will be withdrawn towards the end of the tax year to pop into my pension into order to duck under the HICBC threshold.

2025/26 tax year:

Total change since the start of the tax year is now +£105k. I started off the tax year with -£25k in April, so to claw back this and be up to over £100k in a matter of 4 months is fantastic! A few years ago I'd be well happy with being up £100k a year in total, never mind starting year from behind. It goes to show just how quickly that this "middle" or "suck" part of FIRE really does compound quickly if you keep up with the basics.

Non-Finance update

• Unpaid Parental Leave
• I started my 6 weeks off Summer Holiday Unpaid Parental Leave at the end of July, and I write this at the end of the 4th week off, it's absolutely flown by and we've crammed in an absolute tonne! Tomorrow we finish off the holidays with a 2-week cruise!

• Holidays/Trips
• Blackpool - We started off the School Summer Holidays with a short trip away to Blackpool. The kids had never been before and it was good to show them what it was like. Even though it is a bit of a run down place you can tell that it has had some money invested into certain areas of it. We parked near the South Pier, then walked all the way up to the Tower and back again, stopping off at various 2p machines and donkey rides on the way! They were absolute deamons on the 2p machines and won an absolute load of tat (see picture below!), but they were extremely happy with their winnings, especially given I had only given them a few quid each! We finished the day off with a well-earned fish & chips as well as snacks back in the Premier Inn to watch the England Women's football match.

 

• Haigh Woodland Park - On the way back from Blackpool we stopped off at Haigh Woodland park. It's a council run recreation area, with lots of playgrounds and woodland walks. Free entry and only a few quid for parking, the kids loved it! Highly recommended if you're passing near Wigan. Our favourite bit was the crazy golf which was only £1 each!

 

That's it, that's the update,

See you next time!