March 2024 update - Millionaire!

 In this update we have:

• Reached Millionaire status on my net worth
• Harvesting gains from Crypto
• Platform Incentives
• Holiday plans

Overview:

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Net worth update: 

Current net worth: £1,030,167
Up £28k from last month, and up a massive £70k from 2 months ago!! 

My last blog post was probably a bit premature as a couple of days after it, I breached the millionaire net worth figure! 

When I started out on this journey less than 10 years ago with a rough net worth of just over £100k I didn't think I'd be saying that as a 37 year old with two small kids that I'd be a millionaire! Also I'm not sure whether it is mainly due to "millionaire" status not being the same as it was when I was young (thanks inflation/money printing! #BitcoinSolvesThis), or whether it is testament to our concerted saving and investing over the past few years, probably a mix of both. Either way I'm extremely proud of what me and wife have achieved, and now the focus flips on what that amount can buy us in terms of our freedom and time. 

My next milestone will hopefully be something that isn't an arbitrary financial figure, maybe how many countries we've visited, how many books I've read or how much weight I've lost.

Pension: 
For the first time ever, my pension is now worth more than my house equity.

In total for the year I have made £44k worth of pension contributions! The plan now is to dial this back somewhat.

I've also made an additional pension contribution of £15k in order to get me just under £50k adjusted net income. This means I get the full higher rate pension tax relief and also avoid having to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge. 

Platform incentives: 

As detailed in my last blog post, I've moved my old workplace pension across to Interactive Investor (cheaper fees and £1.5k cashback) and a good chunk of my ISA from Vanguard to Hargreaves Lansdown (cheaper fees and £1k cashback).

I've received the £1k from Hargreaves already, withdrawn and used it to pay into my pension. The £1.5k from Interactive Investor is paid after 12 months (boo!).

Crypto: 
I've used the opportunity of the record high Bitcoin price as well as the end of the tax year to take some profit up to the CGT allowance on my Bitcoin holdings. I'll use this to buy FTSE Global All Cap in my ISA once the new tax year starts. At the moment I have roughly £10k to deploy straight away into ISA holdings which will set me up nicely for the year.

Premium Bonds:
After a flurry of prizes during the summer I've had a couple of months without any wins at all. So I've decided to withdraw the vast majority of my Premium Bonds and use them to top up my wife's ISA holdings.

Pension Tax Relief rebate:
I plan on doing my tax return for 23-24 in a few weeks time, mainly so I can get the pension tax relief back as soon as possible. I'm expecting around £4000 back, which I can use to pop into my ISA.

Other news:

UK Budget changes:

There was a few measures in the latest UK Budget that might change my strategy going forwards, although I'm having to take it all with a pinch of salt as it may not even happen given there's a high change the Tories won't be in power this time next year and I'm also anticipating what changes a Labour government would make.

High Income Child Benefit charge - This measure increased the taper from £50-60k up to £60-80k. I'm still tempted to make pension payments on anything above £60k in order to avoid this charge, which would have me contribute £20-35k to my pension. This would be less than the past couple of years, but still considerable.

British ISA - Novelty idea, but I can't see it ever happening given the chances of the Conservatives being in power next year. However, saying that, a tax efficient way of saving is still a tax efficient way of saving. So if it does somehow happen and I've got the means to fill my ISA then I might find myself going down this path

Work:

I've started making enquiries into contracting work as a means of stepping off the full time hamster wheel. My current role is currently very flexible in terms of hours worked and locations/working from home, but I'm keen on at least exploring what the Cyber Security contracting market is like and what I can expect if I go down this route.

Updated charts:

Total Net Worth broken down by category

As you can see in the below chart, the last few months have really increased the climb of the total. For the first time ever our pensions are now worth more than the equity in our property.

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Monthly Net Worth difference

The below chart is insane. I've not dropped below £10k net worth increase per month for the past 6 months, with the average being £23k, and the total being a massive £138k!

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Current FIRE bridge/Pension income access strategy:

With me depositing an additional £15k into my Aviva pension (access at 55), the yellow bars have spiked up in comparison to last month.

This next year, my priority is to get those red bars up, which means prioritising ISAs, GIAs and Premium Bonds rather than Pensions.

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Family

It's Easter half term at the moment and we've got a fun packed schedule with the kids.

Over Easter weekend we are flying out to Billund, Denmark to spend 3 days at Legoland and the Lego House.

The week after we are getting an AirBnb with my family; my parents, brother, sister, their spouses and kids. In total there will be 12 of us staying in the same house. We did this a couple of years ago in the Peak District and my kids still talk about how many good memories they have of it, so I'm keen to get them making some more memories this time.

The kids have been very busy again this month; my son has moved up to Level 6 Swim England in Swimming, has been formally invested into Cubs, and my daughter has been busy getting ready for her dance show.

I'm also very very proud of how my kids reading is coming on, we have a couple of book worms! Every spare moment at home they snatch a book and start reading which makes me really proud that they are reading for pleasure and not for academic pressure. My son (8) managed to smash out the entirety of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in a week! (636 pages!!!!). We are big on them reading before seeing films first, in order that they can make the pictures in their heads before the films do it for them. I'll be carrying this on with the rest of the Harry Potter series and Lord of the Rings.

I've started on the allotment again this week, getting my daughter to help plant some beetroot and cavolo nero kale (going for the expensive veg rather than carrots!)

Quote

New section, but I'm going to start ending my blogs with a favourite quote of mine.

It's not technically a quote, but rather lyrics this time. From one of my favourite bands, the song gives me goosebumps everytime I hear it, and the lyrics are just bang on and summarise a lot of why I am pursuing FIRE in the first place.

For me, this song and the lyrics summarise the ephemeral and fragile nature of life, and making the most of what you have whilst you can. Something that runs deep in my life, being intentional with everything that I do.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day

You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.

Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town

Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.

You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.

No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking

Racing around to come up behind you again.

The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,

Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.

Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way

The time is gone, the song is over,

Thought I'd something more to say.

Until next time!