Dad on FIRE

  Finance update I've been tracking my net worth across all pots for approaching a decade now. It's been very handy to see how the numbers go up/down (thankfully more up than down!), as well as celebrating milestones (paying off mortgage and hitting the £1m threshold). In the past few months I've seen both my biggest monthly loss ( -£37k in February ) as well as my biggest monthly gain ( £62k in May ).  The average monthly change for the past 5 years has been about £12k, so thankfully things seem to have fallen back in line with this during June.  Breakdown for June: ISA  up £5k Pension  up £6k GIA /easy access savings up £2k Crypto  down £5k House price  up £4k Total : up £14.2k With my ISA full, I've now focussed on putting spare income split between my GIA and Premium Bonds. I'm very conscious that the Premium Bonds prize rate has just been lowered again, however I'm running out of pots to put it. In addition, I've set up a regular standing order in...

   Finance update After three months of negative returns, my figures have bounced back in style! I've tracked my pots for just over a decade now and May was the biggest jump I've seen. It almost justifies chucking everything I did into the markets for the past 3 months both via my pension at the end of the tax year as well as into my ISA at the start of this tax year! Overall networth is now £1.2m Breakdown for May: ISA  up £12k Pension  up £16k GIA /easy access savings up £4k Crypto  up £15k House price  up £5k Total : up £61.6k Another good chunk into my ISA in May, which means it is now full for the year,  the quickest I've ever done it! My priorities are now filling Premium Bonds, pound cost averaging into Crypto, and also contributing a few hundred a month into my kids JISAs. 2025/26 tax year: Total change over the past couple of months is now +£36k.  Non-Finance update Unpaid Parental Leave No weeks off during May. The big 6 weeks off comes ...

Choosing the right investment platform can have a big impact on your returns. Even small annual fees can erode thousands from your investments when compounded over time. Use the interactive chart below to see how different platform fees stack up — and how much more of your money you can keep (and invest!). Given the chart detail, this page is best viewed on a desktop or if you're on a mobile, either turn it to landscape or select the desktop version of the page. Thanks! ISA & SIPP Fees ISA Fees SIPP Fees Up to £200k Up to £1M Data sourced from Interactive Investor, Vanguard, AJ Bell, Fidelity and Hargreaves Lansdown (and accurate as of 29/05/2025). Calculations are bassed on Funds rather than Shares, which in some cases may be cheaper. For "ISA and SIPP" fees, 50% allocation into eac...

    Finance update Third month in a row for negative returns with the reaction to the Trump tariffs taking full effect! Checking halfway through the month I was down £50k for the month, but in the end it was only  half of this, down £25.7k Breakdown for April: ISA  down £10.6k Pension  down £14.6k GIA /easy access savings down £9.2k Crypto  up £4.4k House price  down £7.5k Total : down £25.7k You'll see a big chunk of money going into my ISA (grey bar), and I think I lucked out on the timing here. With the markets reaching the pit of the dip a day or two after the new tax year started. I'd imagine there's a few FIRE followers who have lucked out here, effectively buying the dip by moving money from cash/other savings into thei S&S ISAs. My plan for the next month or so is to carry on ploughing into my S&S ISA. I'm expecting a tax relief rebate coming in that should cover off at least £5k of that. The quickest I have managed to fill my ISA has b...

  Finance update Another negative month for returns, but it could have been worse (just wait for my April update with the impact of the Trump tariffs!). Ended up down £6200 . Breakdown for March: ISA  down £5k Pension  down £6k GIA /easy access savings down £5k Crypto  up £2k House price  up £5k Total : down £6k The big moves for the month came from me moving a lot of savings into my pension. Mainly to duck under the higher rate tax threshold and also to swerve the High Income Child Benefit Charge. 2024/25 tax year review! At the end of the 2024-25 tax year, my net worth has gone up by £140k. This is broken down as follows: ISA Contributions: £20k Market gains: £20k Pension Contributions: £34.5k Market gains: £23k GIA / Premium Bonds Contributions: £0 (Despite putting in over £10k here I've left this at zero as I've moved the bulk of it into my pension in March so didn't want to double count contributions on both assets) Market gains: £6.7k Crypto Contributions:...