https://youtu.be/8bgTCuFCyu8 Welcome to quarter 3 of 2023, if you’re anything like me then you’re still wondering what the hell happened to 2019. The end of June means it’s time for the Q2 review, so let’s get straight into it… This is how we’re looking – if you ignore the artificially inflated Q3 & 4 from last year (when I was holding some non-retirement cash in my premium bond account temporarily), we’re hitting all-time highs! I’m riding an upward trend in the markets. The diversified fund that I keep most of my ISA and SIPP holdings in, Vanguard’s FTSE Global All Cap, has had a strong ..read more

https://youtu.be/WmVBrQKW-xs You can’t lurk around the FIRE subreddits for long without coming across a question about matched betting as “side hustle.” I’m not going to spend any time explaining what matched betting is, you can find that out here! I interviewed someone who’s pursuing financial independence, and who spent years doing matched betting to get his take on whether it’s worth it! Let’s dive straight it. When did you start matched betting, and for how long did you do it? My involvement in matched betting spanned 4 years from early 2017 through to early 2021 although this includes fai ..read more

https://youtu.be/kWFkOPnOQAo One of the more common challenges that someone who’s openly pursuing financial independence and early retirement will hear from people who aren’t, is “why would you want to retire early?” In fact, that and similar questions are why so many people don’t talk about their financial ambitions with friends and family – the oblique criticism isn’t worth it. But today is a great example of why I want to retire early… Today was a stupendously beautiful day. The sun shone down through a literally cloudless sky. Seriously, take a look at the output from my solar panels for t ..read more

https://youtu.be/ctdTWcVitoU Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been in the headlines this week, as two “micro-trials” are being planned to place in England. Unfortunately, neither of those trials will be in Yorkshire, they’ll be run in central Jarrow (in the north east) and in East Finchley (in northern London). This is the first time trials like this will have been run in England. The idea is to give 30 people £1,600 per month for 2 years, and closely monitor them to see how it impacts their lives. A control group will also be recruited and monitored – but they won’t be paid anything. I can’t ..read more

https://youtu.be/tFKRFzpLjJQ Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are a way for individual investors to add real estate to their portfolio without needing enormous piles of start-up cash to personally buy properties, or having the joy of getting a phone call at 9pm on a Friday night, from one of your tenants because there’s a water leak (this actually happened to a friend of mine recently – while I was out with him). REITs are an investment vehicle that appeal to me, as there are business property REITs – and while I have moral scruples about being a residential landlord, I have no such conce ..read more

https://youtu.be/9pYJagc7ny4 I was discussing financial independence and early retirement with a friend recently; they had an interesting initial strong negative reaction to the idea; that wanting to retire early was selfish. So, what are ethical considerations of early retirement? Can we pursue the personal freedoms offered by achieving financial independence without abandoning our and societal responsibilities? Aggressive Saving for Financial Independence For most of us, one of the key requirements of financial independence is diligently saving a significant proportion of our income. Can we ..read more

https://youtu.be/GJmmHzKDeRk There are two key things you’ll need to do to achieve financial independence: Decrease your expenses. Increase your income. There are literally millions of articles on budgeting and being thrifty. But significantly fewer (legitimate articles) focus on how to increase your income. Negotiating an increase in salary, either when starting a new job, or while still in your current position, is something I’ve managed several times throughout my career. So, here’s some advice on how to get a raise. Research What Your Role is Worth As much as I love a cunning turn of phr ..read more

https://youtu.be/13bcofbN2GE Hi! This being the first post, I should probably tell you something about me, and more importantly about the goals of Yorkshire Finances: 1. Document my own savings and investing journey. I’ve been investing since 2011 (what a time to start putting money into the market!), but I’ve only started properly tracking performance with a focus on Financial Independence and Retiring Early (FIRE) over the last few years. It’s great to have a reliable record of my thoughts, feelings, and decisions at the time… So that I can look back with the benefit of hindsight, at just ho ..read more

https://youtu.be/P1XRksw8ZGY A number of headlines over the last couple days are “shocked” that the rate inflation in the UK is still stubbornly over 10%. Media outlets all led with stories about inflation; the BBC, The Times, The Guardian, and even the Express (although that headline did have to share space with news about the Royal Family). Many of you might not have been quite so shocked, as your experience that your money isn’t buying as much as it used to is borne out in retrospective statistics. In turn this has led to speculation in the press about an upcoming interest rate rise in Ma ..read more

https://youtu.be/9SbsMwT27tg Is having solar panels and battery storage fitted to your home a good financial investment? I'll share the total cost of my purchase and installation, and a full 12 months of energy use so that you can decide whether or not it's worth investing in a home solar PV and battery system. Firstly, I have a south-east facing roof which gets sun almost all day, and there are no trees or buildings blocking that sunlight. This is something you will need to take into account when deciding whether or not solar is a good investment for your home. Any good solar panel installer ..read more