Another month over so I get to update the Ultimate Dream Fund. It still seems strange that 2016 is over and a new year full of hope has started. Again, it has been another turbulent month for my investments to be honest. Quite a few large ups and downs! However, as I don’t intend to sell any of my investments any time soon, it doesn’t matter quite so much. It is difficult to log on and see such varying numbers each day though. But, I shall plod along as I do, and hope the Ultimate Dream Fund continues to grow.
The Ultimate Dream Fund is named because it is our dream to retire early, and we need the funds to make that happen! One day, this fund will provide us with the money to live on when we leave our 9-5 jobs and time will be all ours. That’s the biggest motivator for achieving our goal. Being able to spend our time with our family is what we’re doing this for; there’s nothing more meaningful to us than that. Recent events have highlighted this even more than ever.
I’m going to post updates on our fund for two reasons. One, so that I can show that living a frugal lifestyle means that we can retire earlier than we should do and still live a good life on the journey. Secondly, to keep me motivated for the long haul. This journey is going to take us a long time, but it’ll be worth it in the end. This plan also includes us being mortgage free, so that our monthly outgoings are reduced and manageable. With some budget projections, once we are mortgage free, we could make our monthly outgoings under £1,000 without too much effort.
Although the dividends I received in December were small, they have already been reinvested so that they are working hard for us already. Receiving dividends throughout the month means that I get multiple small pay checks each month. For doing nothing! I still love the dividend investing approach. Over time, the percentage reinvested will increase and so the amount needed to be saved from income will decrease, or we’ll be able to speed up the process! November’s dividend income post will be tomorrow. All of this is within my stocks and shares ISA which is with Hargreaves Lansdown. It is very easy to use and I’d definitely recommend them. You can get information about that here or even open an ISA today.
As of December 31st, our Ultimate Dream Fund looked like this:
This is an overall increase of just £808.94 for the month of December. But, it does show what the markets can do. I only transferred just over £250 into the fund during the month but it has increased much more than that. If only every month was just as positive! Unless something really drastic happens, we will be in the £12,000’s by the end of January.
Finally, here is the fund’s progress since I started it in June 2015:
How was December for your savings/investing targets? Did you meet your end of year target?
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