Peering over the hill...

savingholmes

Well done. It all adds up.

Grogged

The MrsG February SIPP Update

 

This is the story of the good SIPP MrsG which started her voyage in June 2020 with an investment of £1,440 and a transfer from a previous plan.

As MrsG earns no income, her maximum contribution per year is £2,880, which the kind tax man will top up to £3,600.

 

The aim is to get a pot of £50,000 by retirement in 2035 (on track to meet this).

 

Currently contributing £200 per month (£160 + £40 tax relief).

 

The portfolio is fully invested, with the aim of keeping a running cash balance of £5 to cover the quarterly charges.

 

Weight Symbol Investment

84%                        Equities

6%          VMID    FTSE 250 UCITS ETF

21%       VHYL      FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield UCITS ETF

25%       VWRL    FTSE All-World UCITS ETF

30%       VEVE     FTSE Developed World UCITS ETF

16%                        Bonds

19%       VAGP    Global Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF Distributing

 

February              £12,985

January                 £12,723

 

February started well, making up the losses inflicted by Gamestop and its friends. But these quickly fell away towards the end of the month as rising bond yields played havoc with equity prices in general and especially the in-favour high techs and Tesla’s of the world.

For reasons (ok, round numbers), we upped the number of VAGP to 100 shares, which is what we expect to hold in December.  Bonds are currently nearly 20% of the portfolio value but should trend down to the desired 16% during the rest of the year.

 

Average monthly income fell by nearly a £1 to £10.09 after 9 months – it will not get a boost until the next quarterly dividend (of about £52) in April.

The estimated annual income is £121 after charges.

Total return to date is 5.6%, estimated annual return is 6.4%.

This is expected to even out at about 4% when the portfolio has been running for a full 12 months.

 

Annual values are calculated as (current value / portfolio age) * 12.

They will be a little patchy until a full 12 months have elapsed.

 

The bond funds pay dividends monthly and the equity funds quarterly.

 

The current weighting is 84/16 equities/bonds.

The plan is to move to 80/20 by retirement.

 

Each £160 monthly payment buys one VEVE share, the rest is deposited as cash, with a £40 government top up 8 weeks later.

This flexibility allows the right weightings to be maintained going forward.

The portfolio is kept balanced after every monthly and dividend payment.

 

The aim is for simple 5 fund portfolio that replicates much of what a LifeStyle fund would do, but at a cheaper cost overall.

 

The portfolio is held with Vanguard, which whilst not the cheapest, is close for the level of investment and peace of mind.  It also helps that there are no transaction costs, so every penny can be invested.

 

Stay safe,

G.

Grogged

The February Update

February’s update is sponsored by brrr! monthly.

Usual money stuff first; gossip, tea and biscuits follows...

 

Mortgage

End 2020              £87,985

Feb 2021              £86,658

Change                 £1,327

%Change             1.5%

Overpaid             £3,069

Feb 21 OP            £60

 

The goal for 2021 is to pay off £10,000, with a view to paying it off in full in 9 (stretch of 8) years.  We’re scheduled to pay £8K off through normal payments.  I will look to make between 2 and 4 extra payments throughout the year.  Our NW mortgage is structured so that if you OP by at least £500 you get to either instantly reduce eth term or monthly payment.

Currently at £121 of the £2,000 target for 2021.

 

EF/Cash

End 2020              £24,550

Feb 2021              £27,000

Change                 £2,450

%Change             10%

Target                   £27,300

In Feb 21              £1,085

 

R@tesetter have announced that they are closing and will repay all outstanding loans and interest in April.  Whilst we’ll get less than £100 back in total, at least it will be in one payment, rather than monthly over the next 4 years.

The plan for 2021 is to add a month to the EF and continue this every year going forward.  This will enable early retirement if needed (although not by much!).

Each month I aim to open a new 12 month high interest (lol) account to try and maximise the EF savings.  This will ultimately provide a years buffer, the excess will be held in PB, etc.

That plan went to pot a bit, as we actually moved £5,000 into PB, rather than opening a new monthly account.  With average luck, we should “win” 3 times a year, which would match or beat the current high interest savings rates on offer.  That £75 (3x £25) works out at 0.7%.

Pensions

End 2020              £221,400

Feb 2120              £226,400

Change                 £5,000

%Change             2.3%

Target                   £350,000

In Feb 21              £3,344

 

Pension (as dividends if taken today)

Annually              £2,515

Target                   £8,761

Monthly               £210

The state pension would be added on top of that (another £9K at today’s rate).

This could be boosted by drawing down on the capital, etc.

 

The big ii pension portfolio is managed on the same philosophy as MrsG, except it currently has triple the number of funds in it.  These all do the same job as the Vanguard funds but pay better dividends and are all long term holds.  There has been a bit of rebalancing, which have been timed around dividend dates.  Where transaction costs have been incurred, they have been covered by the incoming dividend payment.

 

We are mortgage neutral with our savings, so if needs be, at least the mortgage is covered.

 

Grogged Towers News

 

The new humidifier appears to have worked out, the number of dry coughs has fallen, so yay!

It was a cold month, so we had the heating on more than normal, the snow only seems to stay around on the days it fell, but the frosts were wicked…

My new office space is working well, and the garden looked very pretty covered in snow and frost. 😊

I had a major purchase in a new monitor, but overall, apart from the normal direct debits and three food shops the rest of the days were NSD!  We had an extra Morry shop to get the bits that A!di don’t do, we seem to need the extra about every six months now.

From what Uncle Boris is saying, expect to be jabbed in the next 6 weeks.  We’re not expecting the lockdown winddown to affect us greatly to start with.  I think we’ll be cautious until we see how Covid idiots 3.0 affect the path to normality.

In MSE news, we’ve switched to N0wTV broadband, which save us a third compared to dark V0da…

Car insurance and home contents are up next.

February has also been a ready month for us, we’ve both enjoyed getting back into reading more and have found some new authors and I feel that one will have a prosperous career…

In biscuit news, I’ve decided to limit my nemesis to plain digestives.

And I played around with the spreadsheet… I’ve managed to simplify a number of formulas using XLOOPUP, IFS, MIN and MAX.  It’s amazing how useful MIN and MAX can be to simplify large IF conditions and IFS can also help out to make the logic more readable.  This has particularly helped out with forecasting and has sadly proved that if I want to retire 10 years early I’ll need a helping hand from Mr Lottery or Mrs PB…

Stay safe,

G.

Grogged

Got well and truly hit by the rule of three today... 😟
Starting with a blocked sink, so the dishwasher filled the sink and was just stopped from flooding the kitchen...
After dismantling and cleaning the U-bend, sink still filled, so had to call a plumber.
...which revealed that whilst the broadband was activated on Monday, the phone hadn't...
Then had a work issue that took most of the day to resolve.
On the plus side, BG had a plumber booked, arrived and fixed by 9.30. 😃
And N0wtv say phone should be fixed tomorrow.
Unwound with a whiskey Mac and music night.
(and catching up on people's diaries)
Fingers crossed for you all, G.

savingholmes

Glad things are headed in the right direction... Lots of positives despite your rule of 3 today

Grogged

Spendy day today, car insurance renewed (£60 saving) and home and contents (half price - ouch!), plus two lots of £40 cash back (said it tracked), plus Amaz bonus points offer.
Just waiting for roast pork, crackling and all the trimmings Sunday dinner to cook (and eat! 😆), followed by a bit of pottery throwdown later...

caeler

It’s the final tonight! 

Grogged

Our faves gone, looking to Jodie now...

Grogged

Well the cashback tracking doesn't appear to have worked, so I'm busy chasing those up...
In brighter news, MrsG made a huge batch of chocolate crispies and cornflakes as we haven't eaten as much for breakfasts as we thought....
On the work front, noises are being made about flexi-working once everything returns to normal.
So looks like the majority of us will be 2-3 days a week at home permanently.
If that happens then I think we'll go from two cars to one, as we should be able to juggle who needs it around who's home.
ATB,
G.

QueenJess

Annoying with the cashback.  That's always my fear when I put the odd big order through (usually car insurance or something once a year).  Fingers crossed it works out.

Yummy to the chocolate crispies and cornflakes.  DS and I love making these, but despite DS loving chocolate and cereals, he won't eat them for some reason and DH says they are "too unhealthy".  So basically I end up scoffing the lot myself!  Means I don't make them very often!