August Net Worth Update: £136,923 (Down by £1,362.49)
Hello, everyone! As we welcome a new month, it’s time to update you all on my financial journey. Even though August has seen a slight dip in my net worth, it has been a month full of learning and strategies for future growth. I am starting to see various side hustles tick up, albeit very slowly! Currently income from other sources is at £29 per month, I expect this to go up with the increase in savings rate. I’d like to get to the point where 30% of my income is from an outside source. Eventually of course, it’d be good to get a to 100% but baby steps and all that!
Uncertainty at work has finally been realized in layoffs within my team, I don’t yet know if I will have a job but either way I know I need to get smart about what I do with my spare time. I am building a few different things at the moment but ultimately I need to find what works and go deep on that. I love writing and would like to do much more of it. I think a personal writing style is going to become very important with rise of AI writers. I think the dust around this will settle eventually.
I’ve noticed a lot of Niche Site writers have switched or focused on travel sites, it makes sense given the climate. It’s very hard to replicate a good travel site with AI. Excellent content is king and we all need to be more cognizant of that. Whether I have the skill to compete in this arena is another thing entirely.
Here Is How it is Broken Down
Cash: £600
My cash position is lower then normal, but my and my partner have started setting aside our joint disposable income at the start of the month, so I am hoping this will pay dividends in the long run. Anything we don’t spend will go into our joint Monzo savings point. Which yields are 3.74% a little less than chip but the amounts are so small at the moment it’s not worth the complication of mixing them. Not until Chip brings out a joint savings account, now that would be great!
Shares: £371
The shares have been somewhat stagnant this month, but I am optimistic about their future growth. I am monitoring the markets closely for better opportunities to increase my holdings. These are just shares in FreeTrade via crowd funding. I now only hold pension funds and will be dripping into a vanguard fund in due course.
RSUs vesting in 2023: £5,000
Restricted stock units (RSUs) vesting next year will add a substantial amount to my net worth. This is something I am looking forward to as it will give a significant boost to my overall financial health. I am currently in talks around redundancy so it’s hard to say whether these will be forfeit or not. The package on offer is decent but I don’t expect to actually lose my job.
Savings: £4,254
My savings have been doing well this month. I have been disciplined in putting aside a portion of my income and reducing unnecessary expenses. This strategy is essential for my FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) journey.
Pension: £14,263
My pension fund is an integral part of my retirement strategy. Its steady growth is a good sign for the future. I recently left FreeTrade and moved all my money to my workplace pension, this combined figure will be what is combined at the end of the week. It’ll be nice to have all my pension in one place, and start to accelerate my contributions. Currently, given my work environment, I am being more cautious than perhaps I would need to be normally, I want to ensure that I have as much cash on hand for opportunities (and in case I need it to survive!). My pension will need to be topped up, I am turning 28 this October and the amount in my pension is much less than it should be. I actually did have more but did some bold bets in my SIPP that did not quite playout. Lesson Learned! I can accelerate this fast as I am likely going to enter the top-rate of tax this year, meaning any additions will be even more tax efficient.
Home Equity: £119,649
My home equity continues to be my most significant asset. Even with fluctuations in the housing market, I am confident in its long-term value. I am very glad I bought at the start of the pandemic, you will notice from the graph above this has been a large contributor (for reference I put down £40,000 3 years ago). The compounded returns on money invested are significant even as interest rates climb. I bought a house that was one of the cheapest on the street and house hacked my spare room for a couple of years, I have various articles on this you can find here: House Hacking: A Global Guide
Household Debt: £6,600
We have a slight increase in my household debt this month due to some unexpected expenses. However, this debt is fixed at 1.64% interest so it’s not worth paying back (better to stick the same money into my savings account).
In total, my net worth is £136,923 for August 2023, which is a decrease of £1,362.49 compared to the previous month.
