Your 2017 Financial Review thus Far

Cotta

tara747 wrote: »

This is my end of September figure, so it's actually £1,049 average per month

Well done on your RS, how much have you saved so far?

Only £4k so I am well behind you.

george4064

george4064 wrote: »

ISA portfolio is up 15% this year (since 31st December 2016).
£9,829 saved this year (so far!)

Total assets up 24% this year.

Thought I'd give this thread a bump.

ISA Portfolio is up 16.86% since 31/12/16. Got a few dividend payments due 31/12/2017 which should give it a final boost.

Alexland

Calendar year 2017 has been so generous to investors it would be very hard not to show gains. Our net worth is up around £150k of which some is retained income and the rest is house price and fund growth and accumulation.

Still I remain bearish that it could all reverse out tomorrow if market conditions change. Keeps me sane.

BananaRepublic

My investments are up between 20% and nearly 50% over the last two years or so. I am mainly in the UK and Europe with some Japan. I consolidated most of my pensions into a SIPP, and moved ISA funds over to You Invest, not the cheapest platform admittedly. Being able to see everything from one site is so convenient. The fund comparison tools available today are amazing, 20 years ago it was much harder to do research, I think I lucked out back then when choosing some funds.

I think we are due a crash, be that next month, or in a few years, but I'll just batten down the hatches, and ignore the sound of the storm till the sun returns. I'm of the view that exposure to risk within reason is the route to long term gains.

bigadaj wrote: »

Surely not, the trump rally is never ending, that's you negative liberal new Englanders for you.

Niall Ferguson s predicting a large crash in the near future. you can Google to read his explanation. Not what you'd call a liberal. And I am sure Brexit proper will trigger a crash in the UK, how big is anyone's guess. As with most crashes, the trigger is not the cause, the cause being pent up instability.

Mmm, just realised that last quote might have been sarcasm!

binaryuniverse

After perpetually being in unaffordable debt, for the last decade, this year was the year I actually started looking forward, not back.

Defaults paid off, and/or dropped off my credit file, allowed me to start applying for accounts that would make me money, rather than the other way round. Opened many bank accounts for interest/rewards/bonus. Currently bringing in approx £30 a month. Now looking at opening regular savers, and begin cycling money through those too.

Currently saved close to £8K. Although that has been offset with new debt, from stoozing. About 50% of money saved.

Lifetime ISA opened, ready for first dump of £4000, at the end of the tax year.

Next year I start looking even further ahead, and upping pension contributions.
Not in a position to consider S&S yet. That may come further down the line, though.

It's all been very positive. :beer:

BLB53

All good so far with investments. Largest chunk in Lifestrategy 60 up around 8% but some ITs are doing v well - Scottish Morgage up 40%, Aberforth 24% and TR Property up 30%. The average works out at ~12% with dividends.

I have had a good run for several years but I suspect there couldl be a reversal maybe next year and I have been reducing my equities and putting more in bonds and cash in recent weeks.

Thrugelmir

BananaRepublic wrote: »

Niall Ferguson s predicting a large crash in the near future. you can Google to read his explanation. Not what you'd call a liberal. And I am sure Brexit proper will trigger a crash in the UK, how big is anyone's guess. As with most crashes, the trigger is not the cause, the cause being pent up instability.

Global levels of debt and how Central Banks are going to unwind their stimulus packages are the key issues. Seems to be a gut instinct prevailing that choppier waters lie ahead in the not to distant future listening to a number of market commentatators.

While large gains are all very welcome. Investment of new money is only going to result in lower returns. You can only eat the cake once.

Alexland

Thrugelmir wrote: »

While large gains are all very welcome. Investment of new money is only going to result in lower returns. You can only eat the cake once.

Until, if you wait long enough, someone makes more cake!

I am not leaving the cake factory while we wait for more ingredients. Although their protocol of removing cake I have already eaten in the meantime is rather unpleasant.

Alex

TheShape

I have been keeping a spreadsheet since March of this year to keep a track of all my savings and investments. The only thing that doesn't feature on there is my Civil Service Pension as I'm not sure how to record its value.

My net wealth has increased on average by a little over £1000 per month for the last 9 months and £1500 per month for the last 6 months which I think is a rather impressive result given my net pay of around £1700 p/m.

It has been very reliant on strong investment returns, high-risk p2p lending and a stooz-pot larger than my gross annual income but going forward I intend to reduce my p2p exposure relative to other investments and take greater advantage of tax-relief on pension investments and the govt bonus on LISA subscriptions. A big crash in equities will make the spreadsheet look a lot less appealing but it will help those monthly subscriptions to my SIPP, S&S ISA, LISA buy a lot more.

MallyGirl

This has been the year of my investment light bulb moment. I have stoozed for years and used this to leave just £45k left on the mortgage with 10 years to go, but not really thought about investment or pensions. As I approached my 50th Birthday I realised it was somewhat overdue to start thinking about retirement- better late than never!
I have a number of personal/ dormant pensions from previous employment so I have opened a SIPP and transferred the first one in. Unfortunately I chose Interactive Investor just before the TD deal was announced so am now having to wait for all the platform changes to settle before I do any more transfers. Some of my old pensions have pretty high charges and limited investment options so I am taking control.
DH has built up more pension pot than me as I went part time till DD was 9. I made some big AVCs this year to address this a bit.
We now have £60k between us in S&S ISAs in VLS60 and will continue to add the max each year. This will help to keep the tax bill down and provide funds when we retire early at 60. We have some big expenses coming up which are DD related (2 yrs school fees if she changes for 6th form, followed by 5 yr degree) so we will definitely work till she graduates.
I have also dabbled in P2P which has been educational- no bad debt so far which is good.
I started this year knowing nothing but a lot of reading on here and a few books and websites has got me to a place where I feel comfortable with taking control of at least some of the pension funds. I now also know how our portfolio is distributed which has been eye opening. DH had no idea that one of his pots with over £200k in it was entirely in equities- he was probably asked a question about attitude to risk when he started it nearly 30 years ago and it has never been changed.
I look forward to continuing to learn