December 2019 Savings Report
By Money Mage · · Frugality, SavingsHappy New Year lovely readers! I hope you had a awesome break over the festive period.
We had a complete shutdown in the Money Mage household. We did nothing, and it was bliss.
This post marks the 1 year Birthday of Money Mage. I can’t believe this Savings Report marks 12 months ago since I wrote How to be mortgage free and retiring early! It’s been an awesome year!
This is the next in my Savings Report series. You can get them all the best of Money Mage
You may be wondering where my 2019 review is. It’s coming - Next week! Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it!
Here are this months savings figures.
December 2019 Savings Rates
| Date | SR | SRp |
|---|---|---|
| December 2019 | 71.0% | 77.8% |
| November 2019 | 66.89% | 74.25% |
| October 2019 | 65.9% | 73.4% |
- SR = Savings Rate
- SRp = Savings Rate inc. Pension
Towards Financial Independence
Our Financial Independence number is quite conservative. This table shows the number of years to achieve Financial Independence in various cases.
| Date | FIh | FIp | FI |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2019 | 4.3 | 12.6 | 17.6 |
| November 2019 | 4.7 | 12.9 | 17.6 |
| October 2019 | 4.9 | 13.1 | 17.7 |
- FIh = Years to FI based on Total Assets.
- FIp = Years to FI excluding the house, but including illiquid pensions.
- FI = Years to FI excluding the house and other illiquid assets.
What’s pretty awesome is FIh is tracking down really quickly - this shows the overall plan is well on track.
FI is tracking down slowly. This is expected as I am aiming to fill my personal £40K pension allowance so FIh and FIp will be affected first. The other-MM’s earnings are not big enough to hit their £40K pension allowance.
December 2019 Recap
December rounded off an awesome year. I’ll do a separate roundup of our year early next week.
It’s been a pretty quiet month all round. We both rounded off a bunch of work, and then rolled into an extremely lazy festive period.
We stayed at home with the dog. Walks every day. Computer games. TV. Food. It was honestly one of the best breaks I’ve had. I actually managed to completely shut down for 2 weeks for the first time in a decade. It was awesome.
Finance wise, some additional deferred expense came through from October’s Trip to Rome. There was also some increased expenditure on food due to the Christmas break. Increased the wasit line too. Remember if you want shed the weight, build a habit, not a fad!
I made my first blog income! A huge milestone that I am over the moon about!
I also got some free shares from Trading212 worth over £20! If you sign up to Trading212* you will get a free share in a global company worth up to £100. Doesn’t sound like much, but you’d need £7K in a Marcus account for a year to earn that!
The first monthly direct debit for regular investment into a Stocks and Shares ISA came out this month. It’s to build a liquid bridge over the next 10 years. It’s in Vanguard for low fees. Investing in Vanguard LifeStrategy 80 and a small holding in Vanguard’s FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield $VHYL.
I’ve met my minimum spend on my AMEX, so I now have a companion voucher and nearly enough air Avios for an awesome free first-class flight to Tokyo for both of us. We’re planning this for 2021. If you want a referral to the BA Premium AMEX get in touch mm at moneymage.net. You can get 3,000 Avios worth over £30 if you spend wisely.
Going Well
- Managed to completely shut down and rest over the festive break. Which is a first for over 10 years! The new job was the primary reason.
- The new job didn’t bother me at all over Christmas, which is a first. Usually I am working, even if I am not working.
- Stopped tinkering. I’d been tinkering.
- I made my first blog income. Slow like the tortoise.
- The other-MM was gifted a bottle of 12 Year Suntory by one of his customers. Worth over £95! I’ve been to Tokyo, and they love their Whisky! I had a customer out there who worked so hard he used to leave the office at midnight, go for a wee dram, then sleep in the internet cafe….
- Money Mage continues to go well. I’ve hashed out a plan for 2020 which you’ll start to see ticking in. I won’t divulge you’ll just have to wait and see!
- Reading! I’m back into reading a little more. I’ve been reading some science fiction in the evenings as a wind-down. I’m still on the Confederation Series by Peter Hamilton.* - Both the other MM and I are avid Sci-Fi readers, the other MM more than I!
Should do better
- On the drinking front, I had another blowout on the last day before the holidays. I’m going to have a quarter off the booze.
- Running was still poor in December. I managed to get out once over the break.
- Ate too much over the festive period, but don’t we all?
December 2019
December has been a pretty good month, with increased pension contributions hitting our accounts.
Month on Month net worth increased by a whopping 3.12%. This is due to Nationwide showing a house price rise, a big uptick in pension contributions and pension growth.
Year on Year is up a very healthy 24.59%. More detail in next week’s review of 2019.
| Type | MoM% | YoY% |
|---|
I am really pleased with the Pension situation in 2019. I am utilizing my Pension Allowance as a way to accelerate RE at 55. Over 30% of that growth is solely down to growth and not contributions.
I am also really pleased with my S&S ISA contributions which are now even visible, but only as a sliver, on our asset allocations. This will increase quite a bit through 2020. I am using this to accelerate my FI number above. Compared to Pension contributions, this is tiny, but when my Pension pot is looking on track to grow to the near the lifetime allowance I’ll dial back pension contributions.
Asset Allocations
Here you can see asset allocations this month compared to December 2018.
Whilst equity exposure appears very low, all pensions are in global trackers funds. Investment in equities is almost solely via pensions. Although I am now also contributing to an S&S ISA via Vanguard LifeStrategy 80 and a small holding in Vanguard’s FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield $VHYL.
Lifetime
This chart shows our net worth growth since the other-MM started work and I graduated.
The little bit of bump earlier year was due to a change in my job. This meant reduced pension contributions during probation. It’s now starting to tick up again as expected.
Whilst we’re mortgage free, and on the path, FI let alone FIRE still seems a very long way away. Subscribe now and follow me on Twitter @moneymagery. I hope you like the charts, I am a fan of Tufte*.
How is your journey to FI going?
