Another month over, I did well to stay on target this month as I went travelling this month. My first time out of the country since 2019! This time to Poland with my girlfriend. It was wonderful and relatively inexpensive.
However, the various PCR tests etc. made it a bit more expensive than it should have been. £50 per test, plus £30 at the airport before flying to the UK, seemed a bit steep. Family is worth it, but until these are scrapped I will be staying.
I plan to start a side hustle this weekend using the niche I work into to also make some extra money. Without going into too much detail, I am aim to “hyper-localise” my keywords and focus on my hometown market, which I know very well. This should limit competition from big players and allow me to go deep, rather than wide. The risk is low, the upside is money equivalent to my full-time income at the very least.
I’ve taken this idea from a man I met in the countryside of Suffolk a few years ago. We will call him Paul. He spent his life making doorknobs. Popping over to India (flying economy), living in a modest apartment/hotel and shopping for unique designs and suppliers. His nearest competition would fly 5 people out business class and stay in a high-end hotels. They could never begin to compete on cost. The freedom he had was inspiring. Paul told me to keep my business under £1m, and stay humble. That will do it.
I will start reporting on this idea once I get it off the ground. I am looking for the most straightforward path to start, as I prefer to start and tweak as I go, rather than plan for an eternity and never actually begin. Too many just never start.
House hacking is going well. This year I have made £1600 tax free, and I rent my room out cheap to my cousin. I also only rent it out half of the month. Full-time I could probably generate £500 in tax free income (thanks to the “rent a room scheme” in the UK).
The tax implications become more worthwhile the higher your income. Earning £500 tax free for a top-rate tax payer is like having earned an extra £900 gross. That’s a £10k a year gross pay-rise. If you can afford it is a great way to build wealth. Housing hacking in the UK is not spoken about enough.
In the future I think I would like to try and find a duplex or similar to rent out the other room without too much inconvenience. Due to the tax implications it is the most efficient way to use the banks money. I should note that £500 is more than I pay in interest per month on my mortgage.
All in all a good month, oh house price increases where the biggest portion of the above.