It\u2019s been a while since my last post, but a lot has happened. First of all, I officially work one hour less per week now. I thought such a small change wouldn\u2019t be very noticeable, but the effect is huge. My Fridays have become wonderful. I start by taking the kids to school, which gives me a massive boost for the whole day. Then I start work at 9 and finish at 4. For reference, on the other days I work from 8 to 5. And every Friday is payday!!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then came a raise \u2014 unfortunately a small one, because my employer \u201clost\u201d one hour of my time, so he couldn\u2019t increase my salary too much. But instead of the usual yearly bonus, he now pays part of it weekly into my workplace pension. The idea is that it doesn\u2019t cost him a huge amount at once, and I get an extra 20% boost from HMRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My employer was also kind enough to make an additional sizeable contribution to my workplace pension, which pushed me much closer to the moment when my investments will theoretically generate \u00a31k per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On top of all that, I\u2019m adding as much as I can from my pocket money into my ISA \u2014 buying myself freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another change is that I realised my experiment with buying individual growth or dividend stocks just isn\u2019t for me. I was buying and selling too often, which, as we all know, affects investment returns. Overall, I managed to get 9% in a bit over 7 months. But I understood it\u2019s not my thing, so I\u2019m moving everything into one global fund. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I\u2019m writing this, I\u2019m in Poland visiting for Christmas and New Year. In the photo from the post, I\u2019m showing how many kilometres we drove from our home in the UK to our destination in Poland. Almost exactly 1000 miles. Why by car? Mainly to save money. Sure, we lose about 28 hours of our holiday, but we keep around \u00a32000 in our pocket. Why so much? Plane tickets for a family of four at this time of year cost around \u00a32000. A rental car for about 12 days is roughly \u00a3500. Meanwhile, the round\u2011trip crossing plus fuel for the car cost us around \u00a3500. At this point in my life, I can\u2019t earn \u00a32000 in 28 hours, so everything points to travelling by car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m closing 2025 with the following financial results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Workplace Pension \u2013 \u00a352,180 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
– ISA \u2013 Stocks and Shares \u2013 \u00a313,030 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Trading 212 I still have Main Street Capital (MAIN) \u2013 \u00a3325.49, and I\u2019m about \u00a323 down, so I\u2019m waiting until it goes into the green and then I\u2019ll switch it into a global index fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7 years and 10 months until completing the 1K quest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In October 2033 it looks like the capital in my workplace pension and ISA will be able to generate \u00a31000 per month using a 4% withdrawal rule. Unfortunately, it will still be too early for me to access the workplace pension because I won\u2019t be 57 yet, but thanks to this I\u2019ll have peace of mind and a few more years to strengthen my investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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