Finance update Breakdown for December: ISA flat Pension up £2.3k GIA /easy access savings up £0.5k Crypto flat House price down £10.5k Total : down £2.5k I know I used this meme during the November update, but it's staying in again for December, just swapping out Crypto for house price! With my ISA and SIPP both pretty equal in terms of value, the difference in underlying performance is due to the funds underneath. My ISA (fully in equities) was flat for December, whilst my SIPP has a good chunk of Gold ETFs in it, which performed well during December. I tend to update house prices when Zoopla does about mid-month, and it looks like it fell off a cliff in December, not that it matters that much as I've no intention of moving anywhere. I was very pleased to see the announcement of Interactive Investor in December that they are changing their fees in Feb 2026. I swapped over to the platform because the flat fees makes a lot of sense when you have bigg...
Finance update
Breakdown for December:
- ISA flat
- Pension up £2.3k
- GIA/easy access savings up £0.5k
- Crypto flat
- House price down £10.5k
- Total: down £2.5k
I know I used this meme during the November update, but it's staying in again for December, just swapping out Crypto for house price!
With my ISA and SIPP both pretty equal in terms of value, the difference in underlying performance is due to the funds underneath. My ISA (fully in equities) was flat for December, whilst my SIPP has a good chunk of Gold ETFs in it, which performed well during December. I tend to update house prices when Zoopla does about mid-month, and it looks like it fell off a cliff in December, not that it matters that much as I've no intention of moving anywhere.
I was very pleased to see the announcement of Interactive Investor in December that they are changing their fees in Feb 2026. I swapped over to the platform because the flat fees makes a lot of sense when you have bigger amounts, rather than paying a fixed %.
At the moment I am paying £21.99 a month, which covers off £600k across ISA/SIPP/GIA and 2xJISAs. After the fee change I will only pay £14.99 a month, which is effectively a tiny 0.0025% platform fee!
As always, if you're tempted to switch over to the platform then if you use this referral link you'll get the it platform fee free for a year.
2025/26 tax year:
Total change since the start of the tax year has now dropped slightly to +£162k.
Non-Finance update
Busy festive period
- Although we actually had a fairly relaxed Christmas this year, December and early January is a really busy period for us. In a three week period we have both kids birthdays, Christmas, and car service and MOT due on both cars! Brace brace credit card limit!
- Those of you that have read about our trips to Germany a few years ago know that I love Bavarian / Swabish cuisine. Deciding against going to the abomination that are Christmas/German markets in the UK, I decided to cook up some treats and have our own at home instead. With sachets of mustard from our trip abroad as well as a crate of Oktoberfest beer from the local beer shop, and not forgetting the spaetzle maker, it went down a hit with the whole family!
- The Longest Yarn - whilst visiting my family at Christmas me and my son went with my Mum to see The Longest Yarn, which was being exhibited at a village hall in Tean, Staffordshire. It is a travelling textile art exhibition made up of knitted dioramas of WWII. In total they have a huge number of panels (80 I believe), and all of us were blown away with the detail as well as time and effort taken to create them. Here's the website, if it is being exhibited near you then I'd highly recommend it.
Bit of a shorter one this time, but I hope to be back in the next few weeks with another Reel Freedom post as well as maybe something on Stoicism.
That's it, that's the update,
See you next time!
Annnnd it's gone. I remember that episode well.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we do feel a loss (even a notional one) more keenly than a gain.
I still recall the pain of last year when tariff announcements had a negative impact.
However, since then my net worth has steadily increased.
It's all just numbers and I'm sure your numbers are still better than circa 90% of the UK.
Hello fellow FIREman. Im a dad in Calgary, CA. Just found your blog and have been thinking moving to the UK ever since my 1st visit to the palace. Probably one day.
ReplyDelete