Thank you all for bearing with me. I’ve been having some trouble with my website the past week or so and it has been a struggle to get it fixed. Something was wrong with the SSL certificate and I could … Continue reading Website rage and skiing fun
To say that I am relieved January is over is an understatement. I can’t recall a more miserable month in recent times. I spent the first half sick with a very bad cold and then chest infection requiring me to take time off work. Not something I felt good doing during my probation period, but it was all fine as I passed. Not only did I have to make my salary stretch from 19th December to the 31st January, I had to pay all sorts of annual subscriptions and bills from Christmas. Combine that with money spent on some home … Continue reading January 2020 update
Every year we hear the media’s views on what is likely to happen in the upcoming year, and every year they are almost certainly wrong. Whether they predict what will happen in politics, the world or in finance it will inevitably be so far from what actually happens there is little point in bothering. Who would have predicted that Notre Dame would burn down, Boris Johnson would win a landslide election and Britain would still not have left the EU? With it being such great clickbait for news outlets to have stories that foretell of the devastation of … Continue reading Why I’m not stressing about the next big crash.
It occurred to me that before Mr Money Mustache there was a man. ‘Sometimes, there’s a man, well, he’s the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that’s the Dude, in Los Angeles.’ Not only … Continue reading Want to FIRE? Be like the Dude…
This decade has been the first decade where I have been a fully-fledged adult for the entire time. There have been many ups and down, as I’m sure anyone will have experienced, through out. For me the following landmarks occurred: Ups: Moved to London for the second time – 2010; Obtained my status as a Chartered Civil Engineer – 2012; Bought my flat in London – 2012; Started studying Law – 2015 Met my girlfriend – 2017; Took a gap year to study for the Bar – 2017; Called to the Bar – 2018; Discovering FIRE – 2018; Travelled … Continue reading My decade and the most important thing to achieving a healthy financial life.
Last 2019 post December was incredibly busy for me and I hope you will excuse the lack of a post until now. My girlfriend’s sister has been visiting and we have been busy entertaining her. That involved a trip to Dublin for a weekend and then Scotland for Christmas and New Year. Along with a very busy December at work, I have finally tied up some financial loose ends. I have consolidated two pensions from former employers into a SIPP. This tidies up my finances and I hope will save money on fees. Previously I was … Continue reading 2019 year end
My FIRE journey is approaching 1 year old. I first came across FIRE around this time last year by reading a New York Times article about it and was completely inspired. I set about doing it right away. I chucked some money into a Stocks and Shares ISA before realising I was making a false start. I had to pay off my vast debt before anything else and now I’m actively investing. Over the past few months, I have had a niggling pain in my side about the whole process. Although I am completely enamoured with the FI part, … Continue reading RE: The problem with FIRE
It’s that time again – my savings update. This month I put a lot of effort into developing a spending tracker so I can accurately calculate my savings rate. I had previously been using a theoretical savings rate based on my budget. However, as we all know, sometimes we go a bit off course and I need the data to reel that back in. I now have that data but first the figures in a spreadsheet. The Figures My Saving rate for Nov 2019 was 84%. Yes, I was as astonished as you perhaps are. I actually … Continue reading Savings update Nov 2019
After perusing the UK personal finance Reddit thread, I came across a post asking people to name their biggest financial regret. Amongst the many depressing and amusing suggestions, there were several people who claimed that they had “no regrets” and that the others admitting regrets should just “enjoy life”. At first, I thought that was a rather strange answer to the question as surely, being honest with yourself, there must be something that you regret purchasing. Despite that thought, I came later to reflect on what enjoying life means. Certainly, it means something vastly different to each and every one … Continue reading Enjoying life and FIRE
While wondering what to do about my pension a couple of weeks back, and starting a new job, I decided that I had no clue what my new take-home pay would be. I spent some time (a lot of time) making this handy payslip calculator. Pay-Slip-Calculator-v1-2 It will calculate the tax, NI, student loan, and pension deductions from your PAYE salary and give an idea of what your take-home would look like. It is useful for playing around with pension percentages to see what impact it will have on your income without having to ask payroll. Its very simple to … Continue reading Payslip calculator
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