Hiya! Again, this post shall be a couple days short off the end of the month. These entries tend to take a little while and so I therefore coincide the writing of them with my days off.
August 2017 Summary
Ledger
Name - Cost - Date
Books - 11.22 - 1/8/17
Headphone cable - 10.98 - 7/8/17
Food - 14.38 - 7/8/17
Stationary - 43.27 - 15/8/17
Medicine - 4 - 16/8/17
Food - 10.7 - 22/8/17
Birthday Present - 19.68 - 22/8/17
Total (£) - 114.23
Overall, a fairly okay month. Positives are that I managed to spend just 10 euros on holiday, and not be tempted by the wealth of shopping opportunities available in Florence. It was very enjoyable holiday actually, Florence is a beautiful city, and the food was fantastic! However, that aside, some disappointing expenditures this month. The prime example being the £10.98 spent on the replacement headphone cable. I listen to music, podcasts, etc all the time, so when my headphone cable broke I panicked and made an impulse purchase. Looking back, I could have at least attempted fixing the original cable myself, or failing that bought a replacement though Ebay for, no doubt, a much cheaper cost. Live and learn. Another slightly disappointing expenditure was the amount spent on (necessary, I expand why in my focuses for September section below) stationary. The bulk of this comes from a new calculator for £30. I could have looked out a second hand deal, again, I'll have to learn from this.
More positive is the amount spent on food. I once again experimented with vegan meals, and managed to prepare 10 meals for £10.70!
To conclude, as stated above, an okay month. I believe improving on my ERE/Frugal mindset is a short term imperative. I am quite lucky that due to a lack of any substantial bills I'm afforded a fair amount of leniency in the amount I can spend on unnecessary purchases whilst still maintaining a high savings rate. If were in a position where I had to move out and pay these standard bills, I would fall quite abit short of that golden 75% savings rate. Lucky that I'm nowhere near to moving out then!
.
Investments
A total contribution of £336.84p into my various ISAs this month. Of this, £334.51 was invested into my LISA, and £2.33 (big spender
) into my standard ISA. The £2.33 is just to cover broker fees and the like. The current worth of my ISAs combined now stands at (as of writing)
£7884.10p
Speculation
I contributed a total of £150.19 into my various cryptocurrencies. The sector also experienced something of a bounce, resulting in the total value of my cryptocurrency portfolio being (as of writing) 1185.41 euros. This converted into GBP is:
£1095.
Altogether, the total value of my normal and speculative investments combined currently stands at
£8979.10p.
I also have been stockpiling cash this month in preparation for a large planned expenditure in September. The total value of this cash amount is:
£572.86 . I did not conclude this in my total savings as, well, I won't have it soon
. Quite exciting that if I had instead invested this amount I would have reached roughly £9.5k in savings, making it almost certain (bar market collapses in either the crypto or standard financial sectors) that I would have been able to reach £10k in savings before my 20th birthday in mid-Sept! The powers of ERE.
Focuses for September
I have decided on my next life step. I have chosen to study towards a Financial Advisory Diploma. It is a distance learning course, meaning that I will be able to study according to my own schedule, which suits me perfectly. It will cost £895
. A large initial outlay, but hopefully one that will pay off in due time. You know what they say, speculate to accumulate
I will continue working part-time in my hated job over the 12 months of the course, meaning that whilst the amount I am able to save will be reduced, at least I will be able to save something and not eat into any of the savings (The stationary costs this month are for the required equipment to study this course).
My reasons for this step? I have decided that the military was not for me. I cannot exactly pinpoint the reasons why. They are clearer in my own mind, but any attempt to set them out in this entry would inevitably leave both me and the reader very confused, so I will not bother
I have chosen to study towards a diploma in finance as it is a subject I have a genuine interest in, the career prospects are decent and, well, I need to do something. I cannot allow myself any further period of doing nothing, it's not good for me in any way.
Anyways, that's it I suppose. Thank you for sticking with me the last few months, and especially for sticking with me through this long, winding journal entry. I am excited, whilst apprehensive for the future, but with ERE (the mindset and the community) I believe I have the best tools going forward. Cheers!