Onwards to freedom!

savingholmes

Well done on not cracking! You are very focused when you want to be. Looking forward to your net worth table.

Happy New Year!

SuperSecretSquirrel

             01/01/2023  01/01/2022  01/01/2021  01/01/2020  01/01/2019  01/01/2018  01/01/2017  01/01/2016  01/01/2015  01/01/2014
House         165000.00   165000.00   125000.00   125000.00   125000.00   125000.00   125000.00   125000.00   125000.00   125000.00
Pensions      149152.25   132122.78   111794.17   108995.12    81848.33    78458.66    61324.05    41170.41    31113.46    23737.91
S&S            82315.62    77690.97    60168.60    56018.64    36823.05    26607.27    13313.37     6488.53     3052.50      510.96
Cash           67161.64    58676.96    48913.53    26906.74    24858.94    39576.36    47225.02    49581.61    59482.43    44326.80
Cars           10980.00    13172.50    12485.00    13137.50    17015.00    14715.00     8900.00    10700.00     9000.00    10000.00
SLC                0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00     -314.95    -2138.37    -3116.23    -6905.75    -7455.96
HMRC               0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00     -152.15     -513.23     -380.26    -2483.20   -14088.23    -6374.55
Mortgage           0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00        0.00   -14140.28   -25662.72   -37716.04   -50546.60   -63931.64
Total         474609.51   446663.21   358361.30   330058.00   285393.17   269388.83   227581.09   189625.08   156107.81   125813.52

Looking at it from a high level, another great year - NW increased by almost 28k, all lines positive except cars…

It seems churlish to complain, but the high level values are a little deceptive. If the current annual inflation rate really is 10.7%, anything less than a 48k increase is a backwards step. My DC pension is down over 10k year on year, despite continued payments in (the line level increase is all thanks to OH’s transfer). S&S up about 4.5k, but 12k new money paid in. It hasn’t been a particularly great year for us financially. This must be our first real terms negative year on year result and we’ve both been employed throughout. Inflation is an absolute horror.

Of course in previous years there have been some ridiculous and seemingly undeserved gains. I know it’s all part of the game, and we’re still in it to win it 😀 I’m not wavering in the least, I just wanted to point out that +28k isn’t the big win that it might initially seem.

We’ll hopefully be treating ourselves to a nice holiday this year, and maybe replacing one of the cars. There’s a very small possibility that we’ll replace both cars. Hopefully the markets will be a little kinder in 2023, if not we may be facing our first nominal and real terms negative year on year result 🤣

Beyond financials, all is well. 2022 was a great year for us as a family - we are all happy, healthy, and enjoying our work/education. I hope you can all say the same thing!

edinburgher

Nous sommes riches!

South_coast

I also had to deploy some explanatory sentences to my summary - except mine were "But I've also spent on x and y" to make myself better about only making a paper gain of £4.8k! I'm also happy to take the rough with the smooth, but I'd like some more smooth if at all possible 🤣!

Cornish_mum

Hi Great round up, I think not going too far backwards in 2022 is an achievement in itself especially if you already have significant investments in equities or bonds. I hope 2023 is good year for you CM

SuperSecretSquirrel

Thanks for posting SH, Ed, SC and CM 🙂

Were it not for OHs pension transfer we'd have pretty much had a nominal break even year, so +5k sounds like a pretty good result SC!

CM I'm with you on taking "not going too far backwards" as a win this year. I really am grateful for the position we're in, we don't have much to complain about, and I know it's truly horrible out there for some people currently 🙁

I won't be setting any targets/aims/resolutions this year. It would be nice to get those first three lines into six figures at some point (so S&S +18k) but I can't really do anything in particular to make it happen. I'll be sticking to my current automated purchases and allocations (1kpm vls80), all very hands off.

savingholmes

Congrats on your achievements - especially given you work part time!

You seem to keep far more in cash than would be recommended. I assume you've moved what you can into higher rate savings - but if still in PB likely to be eroding fast. I'd target your pensions more... 

SuperSecretSquirrel

Thanks SH. Cash is at 2.75% easy access, 3% PB, and 7% RS. This is of course all being eroded by inflation, but VLS80 had a -8.81% rate of return over the past 12 months which is even worse. The stock market isn't a silver bullet.

I'm happy to keep investing 1kpm, plus a little in pension contributions, but I'm also happy having a nice cash stockpile. For now at least. Pension tax relief is hard to resist, but I'm a long way away from pension age...

I'll mull it over. Maybe opening a SIPP could be in order this year. Inflation hasn't really been much of a problem until recently, so I've been quite happy with my cash and PBs. I might have to consider more defensive options if inflation isn't tamed soon. Buying another property would probably be the safest long term defense, but I can't really be bothered with the potential hassle!

SuperSecretSquirrel

£275 PB win this month 🎉 🤑

It may not be the 50k+ I had tried to manifest, but I'm very happy indeed with that win!

Karmacat

That's great news!