Statement of intent

StuartGMC

TPA and SMF2
Many thanks for the nice comments :beer:

I have been reading details on some of the Children's based Investment Trusts to see if we should get into those for our DD; she is already 11, so need to look very carefully at this in terms of the likely return, or consider boosting her savings in the interim so she can take advantage of a Cash ISA at 16. These will be additional to our own savings and investments.

I have to say, I do like the Trustnet web site for monitoring our Funds ISAs as it will "scan" then and give you a breakdown across all your investments in terms of industry sectors, geographic and asset types. I've taken out our own cash savings as these distorted the graphical outputs, so use it only for our investments.

I still use iii as the supermarket for our investments in their Funds ISAs and don't think we'll switch to their Stocks & Shares variant unless I really feel we need investments in Investment Trusts, ETFs and individual equities wrapped in the tax-free vehicle. As these may be relatively small investments I think they may sit outside it

Still a year away from having much more cash per month to put into the Funds ISAs (we'll drop cash into a Cash ISA each later in the 09-10FY) but am going to now plan out the actions I need to take over the next few months in terms of research. Likely to need to get some money invested into an EU fund and need to look at a possible low risk one which tracks the FTSE Allshare plus then look at UK Gilts (although my BlackRock Absolute Alpha probably covers this within the ISA). Less sure about property even now. A few specialist funds that would be of interest include renewable energy (low presently with oil price but likely to lift I think with increasing oil price long term) and green/ethical investments in forestry, plant derived medicines etc. As you can see, much to do there... and, this all assumes no major upsets.

One thing we do need to consider is probably income protection insurance related to critical health issues. We haven't had this previously as it was just too much to cover each month; need to decide if this is suitable or that the monthly fee would be better in an ISA.

Wow, that should consume all my spare time and some!

setmefree2

Stuart - how's your DW?

StuartGMC

setmefree2 wrote: »

Stuart - how's your DW?

Should have updated you all, sorry. DW is very slowly improving, but to put in context is driving about a mile so it limits the distance she then has to walk. Not environmentally sound but needs must. Hope that the specialist check in mid-April will give us more information and formal diagnosis.

Have just seen our new Council Tax bill, £1409.90 for Band D which is a 3.9% increase on 2008/9. We are lucky that we have one of the lowest charges by District in the country (OH works there too) which helps. Spreadsheet updated now for April.

Just need to dial in two grocery bills for time away, and know these will be up a little due to operating without a fridge for two weeks and having to throw some food out.

I also realise I need to check on the Google Adsense on my web site to pick up on their recent changes. Certainly income has dropped from it recently as I think they have reduced the commissions offered per click through. Still, it should be compensated a little because it is in US$ so hope to get at least £60 "free" this year.

setmefree2

StuartGMC wrote: »

Should have updated you all, sorry. DW is very slowly improving, but to put in context is driving about a mile so it limits the distance she then has to walk.

Poor thing That must be so frustrating:o

gpjuicer

Thanks so much for the spreadsheet! Still navigating my way around it but think I will find it extremely useful. Is there a way to record daily spends other than groceries/clothes I can record-like swimming, days out and other frivolitiies so I can work out what I spend monthly on these?

StuartGMC

gpj
You can simply copy the sheet for say groceries, then re-name it and the headings to something like "family treats" and then simply link the output from the cell for monthly total, back to the outgoings sheet just like groceries.

To do the latter, just click in the cell you want the value to appear in on "Outgoings" and enter = (don't press return) then use mouse to click to sheet and select cell in that sheet you want to have value taken from, press return and it should be "done".

Have fun!

gpjuicer

think I have worked it out! Thanks!

MoneyQueen

Hi Stuart,

Just wanted to wish your DW to get well soon

and just wanted to say that I hope things get better very soon..

MQ

StuartGMC

MQ
Many thanks.

All
I have provided a quick summary for March by updating post #1 here and it pretty much captures much of what we all try to do here; aiming to OP, hit a target and then things come along to impact upon your planning leading to calls upon some of the emergency monies etc.

However, there are some positives too in terms of our Funds ISAs which for the investments held at the moment plus loss from one fund we choose to exit in Feb 2008 are "only" 36% down, which is much better than a few weeks ago.

Here's hoping for a more "normal" April :rolleyes:

SmlSave

Welcome back Stuart.