LM portfolio as at 21/08/2020:
| Code | Sector | Date Bought | Cost | Value | Gain/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LM009 LM009-2 |
Gas, Water & Multiutilities | 05/02/2019 04/02/2020 |
£2020 | £1870 | (7.84%) |
| LM012 LM012-2 |
Real Estate Investment Trusts | 20/05/2019 28/11/2019 |
£2030 | £2430 | 19.37% |
| LM023 | ETF | 19/05/2020 | £1020 | £1040 | 2.28% |
| LM024 LM024-2 |
ETC | 01/06/2020 23/06/2020 |
£2030 | £2150 | 6.01% |
LM009 is teetering on the edge of being sold. It's showing weakness - much like the FTSE 100 - and the loss has increased from last week. I may well pull the plug this week...
My lovely partner and I are in the middle of making a large financial transaction involving four walls and a roof. The broker friend we're dealing with for the mortgage has been brilliant, worth every penny we don't have to pay him (although I see from the paperwork he gets a decent commission from the lender so all is good).
One day last week he came to me asking for a whole host of documents and financial information so that he could find us a good mortgage deal.
Luckily I had pretty much everything available within less than an hour. Many years of reading and following good financial advice means my affairs are in good order and not particularly complicated.
For example, I've kept records of every single item of expenditure for the last 10 years on a series of spreadsheets. Sounds like a lot of work but, like everything, if you do it as you go along it becomes part of your daily routine and no real effort at all.
Initially I carried a notebook around with me and jotted down each cash transaction as it happened. This made it simple to enter each purchase into a spreadsheet when I was next at a PC.
As time went on, it wasn't necessary to use the notebook anymore as often I could remember what I'd spent the previous day. Nowadays transactions are mostly contactless on a debit card and there are fewer cash purchases so it's simply a case of logging in to internet banking and entering the values to the spreadsheet.
When I recently started to listen to Dave Ramsey's podcasts, and subsequently began to follow his "Baby Steps" system, these spreadsheets came in very handy for a new (to me) concept - writing down and sticking to a budget.
Mr Ramsey refers to a budget as "giving every dollar a job".
Following a zero-based budget means there is often money remaining each month and this spare cash is tucked away in a savings account.
All my income is split up so I know exactly what I will definitely spend each month, leaving some contingency money for the things that crop up that I can't predict.
On the last day of the month, the day before payday, the remainder of the balance of my current account is swept straight into a separate savings account. The result is a zero balance ready for the next day's pay.
The simplicity of it is fantastic and so helpful in making my bank statements easy to follow. Each month has the same equation; income minus expenses = zero.
I can't believe it's taken me years to come across the idea of zero-based budgeting.
When I sent all my documents to the broker he was easily able to follow them and two days later we received our mortgage in principle.
Without clear statements and good document organisation, I'm not sure we'd be in this position. So a little effort regularly over the years means much less stress when making a large purchase.
Well, less stress so far anyway...