November brought a new record for the freedom fund, and the anniversary of Mr W finishing his last office job. All our accounts have soared to new highs with my S&S ISA topping £200k for the first time. I am expecting a choppy ride ahead, but I’m happy to enjoy it while it lasts. Despite spending nearly £700 on materials for the van conversion this month, our spend remained below £2,500 and well below what a 4% SWR would give us as passive income.
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Before we start insulating the van, we wanted to fit a reversing camera to help us navigate narrow lanes and tight parking spots without incident. Having looked at various options, we decided on a camera mounted in the high level brake light at the top of the rear door, together with a display which mounts on the windscreen just like a conventional rear view mirror. There are a lot of complete kits available on Ebay, but by buying the camera kit and display separately, we managed to save a few quid (around £90 total rather than the £120-£130 for a kit).
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Freedom Fund: £920,254
Hypothetical monthly income @4% SWR: £3,068
Actual monthly expenses: £2,436
October was a busy month and it turns out that it was good that we took the opportunity to get out and about and catch up with friends and family, as we are now back in lockdown in the UK for at least a month.
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Summer is well and truly over, the heating is back on and it’s time to see how the numbers stack up.
Freedom Fund: £924,193
Hypothetical monthly income @ 4% SWR: £3,081
Actual Monthly Expenses: £1,913
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We finally made a start on converting our Ford Transit Custom into a camper van. The first step was quite a brave one – fitting an opening privacy glass window in the sliding door. This is not something we had any experience of, but there are plenty of YouTube videos showing how others have done it, so how hard could it be……..
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August was an expensive month for us, mainly for vehicle related reasons and due to it being TV licence renewal month (my almost irrational hatred of subscriptions or monthly payment commitments of any kind means we pay this in full annually). It was also the month we visited a restaurant with friends for the first time in 6 months!
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Last weekend I sold my car, and survived the dance of suspicion that is the private car sales process. Since we got the van in January, we have not had a vehicle with more than 3 seats and neither was particularly dog friendly.
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It’s spreadsheet time again. The first week of every month, I update a spreadsheet which tracks 2 things; the value of our freedom fund and our expenses for that month.
This month, I am typing my update from one of my favourite places – in a hammock in my garden. The view is restful, and the numbers aren’t bad either…….
Anyone who has spent time researching and reading about FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) will have a pretty good idea of how to calculate how much is enough in investments to allow them to stop working for money if they choose. Continue reading
Choosing to live a simpler life has meant the pandemic and subsequent lockdown in the UK has had less of an impact on us than many people.
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