Fire & Ice: the cost of family holidays

Last weekend, the Lady and I were sitting at home enjoying a quiet Saturday morning after the busy Christmas and New Year holidays.  It’s one of the favourite times for me, when there’s a bit of peace and quiet and no need to rush off somewhere.

I hear the postman drop off the mail and in the bundle of bills and letters was a lovely glossy brochure for family ski holidays for 2020.  And like a fool I opened it and proceeded to have a look with the Lady.  We can’t ski this year with the Little Lady being so young, but we can always go in 2020 and before that we can dream…

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Month-End accounts: December 2018 (2)

So December is been and gone and it’s now 2019.

The market gods looked unfavourably on us all this December with stock markets hitting lows.  My net worth was down about 1.3% which might not sound like a lot but it feels like a lot to me, it is over £10,000 after all!

Month-End accounts: December 2018

I decided to wait until the full end of the month before doing my month-end accounts.  I honestly couldn’t be bothered and it takes me maybe too long to do a good job and the analyse the results.  I’ll wait until the new year and then post.

Instead, GFF will be basking in the warm blow of a woodfire and the love and adoration of his Gentleman’s Family.

It’s a good time for me to think less about money and more about what’s important in life.  Remove distractions from life and focus on what’s truly important – and that would be eating mince pies and drinking coffee all day. 🙂

 

Have a good Christmas everyone!

Thanks, GFF

How to Survive a Bear Market Attack!

The cold winds of Autumn have put an end to our Summer of booming optimism.  Now, it’s coming to Winter and you should be on the look out for Bear Markets!  Instead of hibernating this year and letting us enjoy a Santa Rally, global warming has meant that they are awake, cranky and desperately hungry (for your money!)

But how to best survive a Bear Market Attack?  Find out more…

Overdraft sad face: why spendthrifts are good for the economy and good for me

Just thinking about what I wrote yesterday and I think that I’ve been a bit unfair.  One of the things about time and money is that it’s nobody else’s business what you do with it – in some cases even if what you are doing is illegal, dangerous or just plain stupid; it’s your time and money and you can do what you like – just try not to inflict the negatives onto other people.  As someone who was on to this a long time ago said better “Private vice, public benefits”.

Overdraft Sad Face: the embarrassment of riches

I read this article on the BBC which is all about the how spending money you don’t own is a recipe for disaster or to put it another way “Overdraft woes: ‘We were one bill away from disaster'”.  Since the general consensus in the UK is that you are not responsible for your own financial decisions, the nasty banks are making money out of hard working debt slaves families.

GFF sees this as a symptom of a much greater problem and one that deserves a bit of discussion

The Dangers of Double Counting

I’ve just uncovered a mistake in my Expenses Spreadsheet.  It tracks all of my Income, Outgoings, Assets, Liabilities and Transfers.  I’ve been keeping it in some form for 17 years and if I spent as much time as I have working on it, learning the piano, I’d be a maestro!

Graphs I like: Income vs. Outgoings

One thing that the Gentleman loves and always has is a good graph!  
If a picture says a thousand words, then a graph says a thousand data points!  A good graph can summarise a lot of thought and allow you to understand something that is truly complex with just a few lines.

Stocks and Shares – more like Shocks and Scares?

This week has seen some pretty volatile movements in the stock markets.  I’ve not been paying much attention to the news but I’m sure it’s a combination of US sanctions, problems in the Middle East, blood letting FAANGs and new next financial crisis beginning.  It almost makes you take you eye off the Brexit shenanigans!

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Calm

 

After a cold, wet, windy and frustrating business trip to London last week, I got to come back home to my loving family.  And who doesn’t want to give a stinking, stressed and near psychotic Gentleman a great big hug?