I didn’t do a June review. No excuses, I just couldn’t be bothered. It seems to be a bit of a common theme. The figures in brackets are from May.

As usual I’ve got last month’s figures in brackets for comparison. I’ve got my Defined Benefits Pension in there based on twenty years worth of money if I start drawing it at 60. I track how I’m doing with my mortgage balance compared to my AVC balance. The reason for this is that I made a decision to mostly stop overpaying my mortgage. Instead I use that extra money to put more into my AVC fund. So hopefully I’ll start to see my AVC fund increase in value and more slowly my mortgage balance come down until they meet at some point and I have enough in my AVC fund to clear my mortgage when I retire. That’s the plan anyway.

Debts

Mortgage £86,135.23 (£87,006.60)

Assets

Cash £23,116.56 (£24,780.48)

Defined Benefits £137,586 (£137,586)

AVC’s £20.676.23 (£19,912.26)

Shares £82,838.98 (£82,037.05)   

House £278,089 (£278,089) 

Total £542,306.77 (£542,404.79)

Net Worth including house equity

£542,306.77 – £86,135.23 = £456,171.54 (£455,398.19)

AVC Fund vs Mortgage Balance

£20,676.23 – £86,135.23 = -£65,459 (-£67,094.34)

My cash seems to be dwindling month on month. I’m spending more than I should be, but I’m having a nice time doing it. I don’t think I’m being massively extravagant, but I am making sure I get out there and do things. I’ve got more cash than is really sensible anyway. My books don’t really balance just now on my incomings vs my outgoings. A terrible state of affairs really, but I’m loath to reduce the amount I’m investing each month. For now I’ll just to continue to reduce my savings slightly each month in this way. Inflation is eating away at them anyway, so I feel like I might as well have some nice experiences to show for it.

All in all things are pretty similar to what they looked like in May. Of course June was horrendous, so it’s nice to see the markets recovering a bit and my figures bouncing back. It feels like it’s going to be a long road to FIRE just now. I’m mentally adjusting my retirement age. I’m trying to persuade myself that if I need to work till 59 or 60, which is looking increasingly likely, that it won’t be the end of the world.

I hadn’t set myself any goals as I wanted to concentrate on the Ultra that I had in July. I’m happy to report that I successfully completed the 55km race comfortably within the cut off time. I think it’s safe to say I’m now hooked on ultras, and have already signed up for a mammoth 47 miler around Lake Windemere in May next year. I’m trying not to think too much about that as it’s crazily scary. Mind you I’ve been scaring the pants off myself this year with big races, so I might as well continue down that route. I’m blaming The Lionesses. I had seen about this race but dismissed it as too much for me. Then I watched the football and was so inspired I wanted to do something amazing. I woke up the next morning and remembered that I’d signed up. Plenty of time to worry about that though. Think I need to get a bit more serious about training though, as I don’t think this is something I will be able to wing.

It’s been a great summer with lots of trips away to do parkruns and see friends and family. I made it up to Gairloch in the Highlands for our annual camping trip. We had a great time and it was perfect for lots of walking and chilling out looking out to sea. Covid tried to ruin my 2 week holiday, but it didn’t stop me having a good time. I was supposed to be going to stay with a friend in Sheffield, but he got Covid, and then my friend and her daughter who were coming over to visit from Germany also got Covid and so had to delay their trip. We still managed to catch up though, albeit just for a flying visit.

I managed a daytrip to climb Ben Nevis with my brother and sister, which was lots of fun. So much so that my eldest and I are going back up to Fort William later in the month for a camping weekend. I’ll be able to tick off Fort William parkrun and we’ll do Ben Nevis together. It’s great to live in such a fabulous place with some many beautiful destinations not too far away from me. Hope everybody is having a great summer and has been enjoying this brilliant sunny spell that we’ve been enjoying.