Phew! What a month! For those of you that have been following me for a while, you'll know that I took the entirety of August off work, 6 weeks in total, through Unpaid Parental Leave. And boy did we pack a lot in, more on that in the non-Finance update but first...
Finance update
After being up £60k in May and £55k in July, August was fairly meh, closing at up just £2k. I've also had a fair amount of negative months this year (-£36k in Feb and -£25k in April) so at least it wasn't that bad!
Breakdown for July:
- ISA up £2k
- Pension up £5k
- GIA/easy access savings up £1.5k
- Crypto down £8k
- House price down £2k
- Total: up £2k
Such is the way with Crypto, it's a hell of a rollercoaster, and one that I've been sat on for approaching 10 years now. I'm used to the ups and downs, but as Crypto - and Bitcoin especially - become more mainstream and thus the price gets bigger, the monthly ups and downs become bigger and bigger.
Not necessarily all down to big crypto monthly swings, but having 10 years worth of data allows me to see how my monthly net worth has increased/decreased. You can see in the chart below that towards the start of my journey I had a lot of consistent, but modest, monthly increases. This is reflected in my investment strategy which was largely savings accounts / Cash ISAs and overpaying my mortgage. However as the savings amount got bigger, and I did more and more research into index funds / crypto etc, then the risk increased, the gains got much bigger, albeit there have been the odd months where the paper loss has been quite painful to see! This year has seen my biggest monthly gains (4 out of the 5 biggest monthly gains in the past 10 years), but it has also seen some big monthly drops as well.
Tracking all of this just gives me the confidence to have faith in the process, in the compounding process that is much more evident now than at the start of my journey (I'm fairly sure that my investments and passive income now earns more than my actual work income).
Another interesting thing I've noticed in the past few months is the price of Gold. One of the main reasons I first become interested in finance is Gold, and more specifically real money. My origin story is graduating on the eve of the Global Recession in 2007, and becoming more and more annoyed with the way the banks were bailed out, and lending irresponsibly. In roughly 2014/15 I fell down a 'real money' rabbit hole, reading more and more about Gold and how it has stored value for millennia, it also led to my interest in Bitcoin. I took my money out of my cash ISAs at the time and bought small amounts of Gold bullion, Silver bullion and Bitcoin.
Searching through my emails I actually found the receipt, almost 10 years ago to the day, that I first bought some Gold and Silver bullion, and the prices blew my mind! Real money such as gold and other assets in limited supply (cough Bitcoin cough) increase in value as the value of fiat money is reduced, for example, if Governments have spent the past decade printing it into oblivion.
A 1oz Silver Britannia cost me £13.40, and now it is £36, tripling in value.
I followed up this order a few months later with the same again. Eventually I plan on passing these two Gold coins on to my two children. Oh, did I mention that Gold coins (not bars!) are CGT free, so it makes a great option for estate planning.
Recently I've started reading the excellent new book by Dominic Frisby called 'The Secret History of Gold', and highly recommend it if you're interested in an asset that stands the test of time in an environment where Governments only have the "print money" button to press. Like Bitcoin, I'm just kicking myself that I didn't buy any more!
2025/26 tax year:
Total change since the start of the tax year is now +£107k.
Oh, one nice little milestone that I crossed this month is that I crossed the £0.5m figure on my investment platform, Interactive Investor.
This is made up of:
- S&S ISA - £214k
- SIPP - £234k
- Trading Account - £1k
- Kid1 JISA - £26k
- Kid 2 JISA - £26k
For all of this invested, I only pay £21.99 a month, flat fee. For those of you interested in moving to Interactive Investor, please use my referral link and you'll get the first year without having to pay the monthly fee.
Now for the fun bit!....
Non-Finance update
August was 99% holidays and trips, so here goes! Strap in!
Tramlines music festival
- This actually occurred at the very end of July but I completely forgot to mention it in my last update. We went here with the kids and loved it so much that we've actually booked early bird tickets again for next year! Mine and the kids highlights were Pulp, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand and The Lathums. Me and the Mrs have done lots of music festivals in the past, Leeds Festival from the early 00's, Glastonbury in the late 00's and in the past decade smaller festivals like Y Not in the Peak District which is fairly similar to Tramlines (albeit there is no camping at Tramlines). We are big campers, but found the day tripping to work well. Sheffield is only a short distance away from us in Wakefield and we were down there and parked up in 20-30mins. It also meant we were guaranteed a good night's sleep ready for dancing / shoulder carrying(!) the next day.
- I can highly recommend the festival for those with kids, there was a huge dedicated kids area with lots to do, and lots of similar families and kids about. Tickets are £10-15 per child for the entire weekend so it's fairly obvious that festival organisers are following the money with the demographic likely to have kids.
Camping (Silkstone)
- Normally we go on at least 3/4 camping holidays a year, and have done since about 2018, but what with all the other travel plans this year we'd not been on one yet. To remedy this (and to keep the kids grounded!) we decided to book a pitch for a couple of nights at a campsite just down the road from us. This meant that Mrs DoF could still get to work, whilst I could stay with the kids at the campsite.
- The campsite was in Silkstone, to the East of Barnsley and on the border of the Peak District. There were tonnes of animals at the campsite, goats, highland cattle, rhea and a pig. It was a working farm but the addition of these animals was great and the kids absolutely loved feeding the animals dandelions. The campsite cost me roughly £35 for 2 nights and at the end of the summer holidays one of my kids actually said that this was their favourite memory! It just goes to show that entertaining kids and creating long lasting good memories does not need to cost the earth.
- I also chose the campsite based on it's location to nearby cycle routes. We rode from Penistone to Dunford Bridge and back again on the TransPennine Trail, which I would highly recommend if you have kids a similar age. It is extremely flat and smooth, with lots to see and do including a woodland maze and an excellent cafe (Magic Wood cafe).
Mrs DOF's 40th
- This summer also marked my wife turning 40. I had a long walk in the Peak District planned however a storm with rain and 40mph wind put the brakes on that plan. Instead I decided to slightly amend the plan and head underground!
- We drove to Castleton and went down Treak Cliff cavern, exploring the mine and seeing the veins of Blue John crystal. I also booked us all into a stone polishing workshop afterwards where we were told lots about the history of the mine and the rocks themselves, with a nice little souvenir to take back with us!
- Timing was perfect and the rain passed as we were down the cavern, and we were greeted with blue skies when we emerged blurry eyed from the deep. We then managed to get a walk in at Monsal Head and a lovely meal at a nearby pub. All in all, considering the adverse weather, I think I pulled off a great day for her and something we'll all remember for a while.
Hundred Cricket match
- I've probably mentioned it in previous updates but my son plays cricket for a local team and has been getting more and more into it over the past year. We managed to get tickets to The Hundred at Headingley. Great atmosphere and also such good value for money; £18 for adults and £5 for kids, get to see both the Womens and the Mens match. We turned up at 2pm, and were still there at 9pm! Thankfully they were really relaxed with bringing food in as well, which meant I was able to take a hefty picnic in, Yogi Bear style.
Longest cycle ride to date
- I've been on my bike a lot more than I used to in the past couple of years, but nowhere near as much as I want to. Time is a major factor, juggling work, kids and my charity work side quests. However, during August I managed to carve out a few hours and smash out the Wonders of Wakefield cycle ride, a nearly 40km route which happens to be my longest one yet.
B29 Crash site walk
- I also managed to carve out a bit of time to do a walk I've been meaning to do for a few years. Towards the East of Glossop there is an aircraft cash site of an American B29 Superfortress bomber which crashed in 1948. It was extremely humbling to be at the site, and seeing the remnants of the plane, a lot of which was still shiny! The route was just over 6km and took me just over an hour to do, stopping at the crash site and the trig point to admire the view of Manchester. Highly recommend this walk if you are in the area, I would even like to try it with my kids as well.
2-week Mediterranean Cruise
We've had this cruise holiday booked for over a year, after returning from our full on adventuring holiday in Germany 2024 we fancied a bit more of a relaxing holiday. Now, we aren't really 'resort' people, and certainly researching typical 'resort' holidays we were astonished with just how much they cost at resorts like Tenerife or Gran Canaria nearing on the best part of £10k for a couple of weeks. It was Mrs DoF that suggested having a look at cruises, and we were blown away by the cost. £5500 for 2 weeks for the 4 of us with all food included as well as 6 stops at locations in Spain and the South of France. It also seemed like the perfect middle ground between relaxation (forced relaxation on the sea days!) and the opportunity to explore on the port days.
The ship was huge, 5000 guests and a couple of thousand staff onboard. I was extremely impressed by the choice of food (over 30 bars and restaurants onboard) as well as the entertainment; dozens of pools, a different show every night, 4 screen cinema, and mini golf. Compared to an airport, the embarkation process was extremely smooth, and considering the sheer amount of people onboard we never had to queue for anything more than a couple of minutes getting on and off at each stop.
Enough about the ship, where did we stop?...
- La Coruna
- In the north-west of Spain, we did a bus tour and stopped off at the Tower of Hercules, a Roman built lighthouse for when they used the port as a strategic base.
- We also stopped off at a huge WWII gun battery which the kids had fun exploring
- We had tapas in the town, with the kids wolfing down calamari and octopus!
- Malaga
- A couple of sea days later, we arrived in Malaga. Very impressed with this place. A Moorish castle and a Roman theatre a stones throw away from each other!
- There was also a festival going on in town as well. Foodie highlight was tucking into nougat ice cream (turron)!
- Alicante
- I always had negative connotations when I hear Alicante (most likely due to the proximity to popular resort destinations like Benidorm where you actually fly into Alicante airport), but I was blown away by how nice it was! There were a few people on board who just headed to the beach but we decided to explore the town and the history of the place.
- Another fantastic Moorish castle and a lovely town centre full of quirky shops and restaurants. Probably the best tapas meal we had in the holiday as well!
- La Seyne-sur-Mer / Toulon / Cassis
- At the furthest point of the cruise now we ventured into the South of France. We docked at La Seyne-sur-Mer, with many people on board heading over to Toulon for the day. We actually decided to take an excursion to Cassis for a few hours.
- Cassis is a fantastic small French fishing village which reminded me a lot of places like Robin Hoods Bay here in Yorkshire, albeit with a bit nicer weather! We learnt that Churchill spent quite a lot of time there painting the landscape.
- Had a jaunt around the streets and shops and took a stroll on the beach. Liked this place a lot, seemed very laid back and still fairly humble instead of the glitz and glamour in Cannes and Monaco up the road.
- Barcelona
- Stopping off in Barcelona, we did another bus tour. Lots of architecture, a surprising amount of kids playgrounds as well!
- Having never been to Barcelona it was nice to see, but probably my least favourite place we stopped at. I think it just confirmed to me that I'm a country bumkin and prefer the slower pace of life!
- Cadiz
- The last place we stopped off at was Cadiz, and this was probably my favourite! The town is a great size, nice and laid back, great architecture, playgrounds and areas that have been well kept. We spent a couple of hours on the beach and the kids had a great time in the waves.
- We also visited their central market and went to various food vendors ranging from open sandwiches to mountains of seafood!
- Another Roman theatre(!), very well preserved and free to enter, and a lovely town centre. We'll definitely be back in Cadiz in the future!
We'd definitely do a cruise again, although maybe in a few years and almost certainly a different route (perhaps starting in Malta and going to Italy/Croatia, or a shorter one in the Nordic Fjords).
And with that, a fully topped up memory bank for us all (but especially the kids), I'm back at work and now looking forward to my next period of Unpaid Parental Leave in the October Half term.
That's it, that's the update,
See you next time!
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