I saved 21.5% of my net salary. The above includes £12.23 from doing Prolific survey and a £10 charity lotto win.
Shares and Investment Trusts
No change here.
Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.
(Entire portfolio here)
Future Fund
Trump’s re-election boosted my FF upwards to £296,316.79. I never dreamt that my FF would get close to another milestone this year – might a Santa Rally push it that far? Whether it does or not, I’m very happy with this progress, especially as I’ve got a big wedge still in UK equities which are not achieving the big numbers their US counterparts are doing.
A good month for dividend income:
I received £701.80, of which £468.59 was from my ISAs, the rest from my SIPPs. All dividends were reinvested.
Here’s the progress on my ISA dividend income:
With December to go, my income received has now matched what I received in total in 2023. It’s going to be tight but barring any surprises, I think I should hit my income goal.
Goals Update
What about the other goals?
Hoping to bag one of the reading goals by the end of the year, but I really need to stop watching tv and get some reading done!
Options, Options
It has now been two years since I decided to dip my toe into the murky but intriguing world of options trading.
What was my aim here? I had wanted to learn something new, start a mostly fun hobby of sorts and be sociable too by attending the monthly Beginners’ Options (online) meet ups.
I also had a goal of doubling my initial capital, all £1k of it!
In my one-year update, my balance ended up at £1,484.27.
By the end of year 2, my balance was at £1,847.67 – a 24.4% gain!
I haven’t doubled my money but I’m getting there!
This year wasn’t all plain sailing however, as there was a big wobble (caused by interest rates announcement in the US, I think).
All was ticking along nicely and then, WHAM!
I was in the office when it all went pear-shaped and I had to turn off/ignore my madly pinging phone, informing me that the US500 had crashed X number of points!
When I got home, I sold my position, but by then, the markets had settled a little so instead of losing over £240 had I been able to sell in a panic during the day, I made a £151.13 loss on that trade. Inertia saved me a bit of money! I’ve since made up for that loss and then some, so all is good.
What next once I reach my initial goal?
My strategy still appears to be sound so I can continue doing what I’m doing:
However, I’ve not decided whether to start withdrawing profits and keeping the balance at £2k, or if I should set another goal, £3k maybe or doubling to £4k? Maybe I just withdraw my initial capital and then I will be playing completely with profits. I will figure something out when I get to my goal.
Finally, this is not any sort of recommendation or suggestion for anyone to try options trading, I’m just having a bit of fun and am aware of the risks – DYOR!
I spent some good quality time with family in Hong Kong, although the first few days were spent sleeping a lot (jet lag and some general exhaustion). Some family members had a trip to China planned the following week, and all I needed to do was sort out my visa, which ended up easier said than done!
It took a couple of days and many hours of quite stressful to-ing and fro-ing, which culminated in the following ridiculously bizarre scenario:
China Visa Representative: “You are not British (despite my British passport and birth certificate) because your parents were born in China (actually Hong Kong, but it’s all China to them now). You must go to Immigration to renounce your nationality (a nationality I do not claim to have)“.
Immigration Officer: “We cannot help you because you are British.”
I think I laughed in his face!
In the end, I had to submit a handwritten personal statement with my visa application, which included stating my reason for wanting to enter the country and that I had no intention of staying there longer than my visa allowed. Even then, I was told several times that there was no guarantee my application would be approved but fortunately, I was ultimately granted a visa. Still, what did they think I was going to do while I was there!?
Anyway, was the trip worth all the hassle? Yes, it was.
This was my first trip to the country as an adult. Travelling several hours by an impressive high speed train (clean, roomy and on time), we went to Guilin, a small city renowned for its beautiful natural sceneries and unusual shaped mountains. We went by guided tour, so we had a small coach which took us to various places of interest to visit.
