November 2025 update

 

Finance update

Breakdown for November:

• ISA up £4k
• Pension up £6k
• GIA/easy access savings up £1.5k
• Crypto down £25k
• House price flat
• Total: down £9.5k

My waterfall chart this month looks like someone climbing the stairs only to open the door at the top and step and fall outside of the house! Crypto absolutely kicked my ass in November, but given how long I've been in crypto this is par for the course and doesn't worry me at all, I'm a long term HODLer.  

2025/26 tax year:

Total change since the start of the tax year has now dropped slightly to +£164k. Interesting that I'm still up on Crypto for the year, important reminder to zoom out for better context.

Non-Finance update

Trip to Paris - Surprise for wife's 40th

• My wife turned 40 this year back in August, as part of her gift I got her a trip over there during the October school holidays. She used to live in Paris for a year during University so thought it would be an ace idea to do some reminiscing and to show the kids all of the sights that she was used to when she lived there. I managed to get a hotel REALLY close to where she used to live, but given that this was in a really posh area of Paris, the rate per night was one of the highest I think I've ever paid! Was it worth it though? Absolutely! The room was great, we got a suite so the kids had a separate room to us, and the location was absolutely perfect. Quiet on a night, close to Luxembourg gardens and the restaurants we wanted to go to.
• Food - what blew me away in Paris was the food. Especially the price of food when eating out. When my wife lived here in the mid-2000s we were used to 3-course tourist trap type places with a set menu for something like 15 Euros. I was expecting what with a comparison of London as well as runaway inflation for the past decade the price to at least be triple, but was extremely surprised that the prices were consistently in the range of 15-25 euros! The kids tried snails, frogs legs, raclette and fondue and my son had at least 3 steaks (getting progressively rarer!) in his time there! Our top pick was Polidor, the food was fantastic and they have a kids 2-course set menu (only 12 Euros!) https://www.polidor.com/en/home/
• Sightseeing - we pretty much ticket off all of the touristy things to do, Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre, Notre-Dame, The Louvre, Arc De Triomphe, boat trip on the Bateau-Mouche, we even found some time to see some of the scenes from Ratatouille that were based on real-world Parisian locations, although the kids weren't much of a fan of the rat catching shop!

 

 

  

Board games, Airfix, Gigs and Snooker

Lots of other fun stuff happened in November

• The Offspring - My wife got me tickets to see The Offspring at Manchester AO Arena for my birthday in the summer. It was an absolutely fantastic gig (especially considering how old they are the type of active punk rock that they play!). I was especially impressed with the intermission entertainment, there was a kiss cam, beach balls and a blimp! I grew up in my early teenage years listening to Americana and Conspiracy of One, trying my best to play their hits in a teenage punk band.

• Board Games - I got some more board games from our local library, and they've gone down an absolute storm with the kids!


• Tiny Towns - The kids have played this one the most, it's a simple city building game with the strategy based on point scoring using combinations of different buildings
• Forbidden Island - I especially like this one because you have to all work together as a team, it gets people talking to each other, strategising and coming up with a collective plan - fantastic!
• What Next? - Remember the 'choose your own adventure' stories you read as a kid? ('Turn to page 63......You are dea.......ARGH, QUICK GO BACK! I STILL HAD MY FINGER ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE!'), yeah, well this board game is basically the same as that but it is interspersed with mini-games as well as the classic binary choices.
• Trekking The World - We've played this one once, and it seems very similar to 'Ticket to Ride'. Maybe we've not given it a proper run out but it seemed a bit more complicated to set up and get the hang of in comparison to the others.

• Airfix - My son has been getting into Airfix modelling recently, and finished his first model in November, a Messerschmitt BF109. It came in a set with a Spitfire so now he is onto that one, as well as picking out some other ones he wants to build in the future. We also went to the Yorkshire Aircraft Museum in York during November as we noticed that they had an aircraft modelling exhibition on. We actually took along his model to it, and upon turning up and seeing the empty table for the 'Junior' category, decided to enter the competition they had on. In the end he didn't win, which is unfortunate but a good exercise resilience and sportsmanship (which he is very good at anyway!). I can imagine from his point of view that entering early on, on a table with only his model on for a good few hours had him picking out his prize in his head! But as the day went on, more and more entries turned up, including some suspiciously good ones from 5/6 year old entrants (...) Hey ho, we had a good day out regardless, and the ticket is now valid for a full year so we can return back there next year for free.

• Snooker - Me and my siblings had given my Dad a ticket to see the snooker in York at the Barbican for his birthday. I also decided to get a ticket to join him. Really good experience!

That's it, that's the update,

See you next time!