9th March 2021

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It’s the last month of the tax year and it is worth considering where I am at and my plans for the next tax year.

I have only deployed £13000 into my ISA allowance this year and that has all been with CrowdProperty. That leaves me with £7000 allowance not yet deployed. CrowdProperty isn’t the place to top up at the moment. Due to the popularity of the platform it is really slow to deploy the funds I already have deposited with them. It may take most of the next tax year to fully deploy them at this rate. Although I would love to put more money into CrowdProperty, it doesn’t make financial sense if it just sits there not ‘working’. I am limited to only one IFISA each year so that rules out any other IFISA product this month.

I haven’t invested in a stocks and shares ISA this year so this could be just the opportunity do do that. I have already got Stocks and Shares ISAs with BMO and L&G from previous years. Instead of topping these up I think it would be just the right time to jump across to the ISA product in my FreeTrade account. At the time of writing stocks are taking a battering and this could be just the right time to be out of the market for a few days as I transfer my general investment account across to an ISA account. I will endeavour to transfer all £7000 across in the remaining part of this month. The rest of my FreeTrade portfolio I will transfer next month.

FreeTrade. While transferring my assets from my general account to my ISA account, this is a great opportunity to rebalance my portfolio. I am going to cash in some of the gains from my growth stocks and up my investments into high yielding dividend stocks. I’d like at least £100 in dividends coming in every month at this point, instead of the £10-20 that I am currently getting.

ElfinMarket. I have definitely decided to open an IFISA account with ElfinMarket in April. The income is steady and stable and will be tax free. I have check in their terms and conditions and I should be able to withdraw my current investment and transfer it over to the ISA account without much problem. Again I think a nice round number of £100 per month, interest would be nice. To achieve that I will need around £10,000 deposited based on how much I am earning on my current deposit levels.

Crypto Lending. I had around £1000 in USD stable coins and a further £1000 in GBP on the NEXO platform earning me 10% APR. Although this is very good interest, I have decided to convert it all to BTC for the rest of the current crypto bull run. There are much more gains to be had in BTC for the coming months than a mere 10% per annum. As the bull run comes to an end and BTC tops out I will convert a significant amount of my BTC back to stable coins to earn a stable interest moving forward.

Crypto Staking and Yield Farming. I’ve had a fun couple of weeks learning my way around this investment sphere. Conclusion… Staking is relatively low risk and very passive. There are excellent returns to be had with very little downside risk, unless a platform rug-pulls. Yield farming on the other hand can have extra+ordinary returns, but with significant downside risk and a lot of time invested in tracking your investments. I will be staying away from Yield farming, but am happy to invest further in Staking. I’m also going to stick to the more established players in the market.

JuicyFields. I’m really torn between 2 strategies here. It is a nice business model, but I am not 100% secure in my faith in the platform. for that reason I feel the need to take out my original investment as early as possible leaving only profits moving forward. I can continue with my original plan of investing small and having a small regular income coming in. I will be able to get my original investment back after around a year and still be able to grow my income slowly. Alternatively I could invest big and them withdraw my original investment after 4 months leaving a sizeable amount to provide a steady and increasing income. 🤷‍♂️ I will need to ponder further on this one. In the mean time I will continue with the smaller principle with a longer time frame strategy.

February 2021

The depths of winter in the UK, just before spring erupts. Covid Vaccinations are in full swing, with the glimmer of hope that the restrictions placed on the population will be relaxed progressively through the year.

It’s been an interesting month, with theWallStreetBets group battling with the short traders, both in the stock market and the crypto markets. Fascinating to watch but definitely one to avoid getting drawn into. To me it looked like lofty anti-establishment ideals covering up classic pump-and-dump schemes.

My investment strategy is developing and maturing somewhat. My scattergun approach last year has shown me which areas to concentrate on and which to pause or pull back from. I’m still interested to learn about new income streams, so there is a few new areas being investigated.

So on with the detail…

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Investments

A real rationalisation of my investments this month.

TheSunExchange project this month is the same one as 2 months ago. It is outside of South Africa and has the income denominated in USD to protect it from currency fluctuations. It also has a fixed payout, unrelated to monthly changes in energy consumption, which will provide more stability to the income through the year. Invested £543

CrowdProperty still has £9000 of un-deployed assets, so no further investment. I have though of investing the money elsewhere for a short time until the assets are able to be deployed, but I am not sure I want to be that aggressive.

EstateGuru is certainly on my radar for further investment, but it’s not where my focus is at the moment

ElfinMarket received my regular £100 investment again this month. With the slow deployment of assets in crowd property it is becoming more likely that Elfin Market will get a significant chunk of next years ISA allowance. Invested £100

Euro P-2-P lending hasn’t received any investment. I have shifted some assets from Lendermarket to RoboCash. I am planning to continue to rationalise which platforms my funds are in. With regards to ongoing investment, I am not sure the risk Vs rewards is really worth it.

Invictus IML is still prohibitively expensive to invest in due to the high gas fees on the Etherium network, so again no investment.

In the crypto lending world things are really hotting up. This has seen a new high for BTC just above $58K followed by a correction as low as $43K. Wild stuff. I added to my BTC holdings, choosing Celsius for this months deposit. Invested £1237

New to this months investments is Staking and Yield Farming in the crypto world. The summer of 2020 was big for yield farming on the ETH network. This is now playing out on the new Binance Smart Chain (BSC), so I thought I would dive in. I’ve tested the waters, staking some CAKE tokens on the PancakeSwap platform. Invested £500

FreeTrade has had its regular investment. Invested £500

Lastly this month, JuicyFields received an increased investment as my confidence has grown with the platform. The first returns have hit my account on the 1st of March, though this won’t show up in this February summary. This is looking good for now. Invested £346

Total invested £3226

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Monthly Income

This months income posts another healthy boost, breaching the £300 mark for the first time. crypto in various forms is responsible for this, so we will have to see how successful this is once this years bull market reverses. For now it is worth riding the wave. So on to the details…

TheSunExchange is now on the downward path towards winter for earnings. This month is down from last months peak, even with another project coming online. Income £40

CrowdProperty saw another solid month. No contribution from EstateGuru though this month. Income £28

ElfinMarket continued to post a standard return. Income £9

Euro P2P couldn’t match last months results but posted a steady amount in line with previous months. Income £12

The Invictus IML fund had a great month growing at its largest rate to date. Income £38

Crypto lending reflects the increase in price of the underlying assets namely BTC and to a lesser extent ETH this month. NEXO contributed a healthy £67. BlockFi added another £37. Celsius followed up with £17. And finally Luno almost made it to £1. Income £121

Yield Farming is the new addition to the income flow this month. Despite only investing for 7 days at the end of the month, my £500 brought in over 10%. This will be something to invest heavily into in the coming months I think. Income £51

Lastly this month there is the dividend income from FreeTrade. A little down from last month but not by much. Income £17

Total Passive Income £320.03

January 2021

The start of 2021 and no let up of the volatility seen last year. New Covid lockdowns in the UK and abroad. A transfer of power in the US as Biden is inaugurated with a shift in world dynamics.

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Investments

Let’s start with TheSunExchange. My regular investment this month went to the same project that I invested with in November. It’s a big project and has taken time to reach its funding goals. A few days after my investment, the funding round completed and they are already installing the solar array. Invested £321

CrowdProperty still has plenty of funds not yet deployed. I’m not expecting to need to add further funds for a number of months, though I may top up in March to capture this years ISA allowance. That will allow me to fund a different IFISA next year. Invested £0

ElfinMarket received my regular investment. I’m thinking of investing next years IFISA into ElfinMarket, I have a few months to think about it. Invested £100

In the world of Euro P2P lending I have decided to rationalise my investments. I have turned off my Auto-Invest settings on Viventor, IUVO and LenderMarket. As the loans complete I intend to withdraw my funds and redistribute to my other platforms. Let’s wait and see how that goes. On a macro scale the Covid pandemic still has a while to run and this is impacting the P2P lending market. I’m not keen on adding any further funds at present as I’m not in favour of the risk profile. Invested £0

In the crypto lending world, I see this as a great year for BTC. I have held off investing in the Invictus IML fund for the same reasons as last month regarding high gas fees. I have however invested a chunk into BTC. With Celsius I have bought and deposited £1815 worth of BTC. In NEXO I have deposited BTC to the value of £973. As with last month this was a conversion of NEXO tokens to BTC. A few days later I then deposited £1432 worth of BTC also to NEXO. Across NEXO, BlockFi and Celsius I now hold a total of 0.54 BTC. I would like to hold a whole BTC but I’m not sure how realistic that is. I see BTC in an accumulation phase while it remains below $50k. After that I will probably stop adding funds to this investment. Total invested £4220

Lastly this month I have invested in JuicyFields. I am still not very confident in this venture but there are only positive signs at the moment. Invested £135

Total invested £5276

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Monthly Income

On checking last months figures I have made a minor adjustment down, but last months income remains just above the £200 mark. The month of January has seen another significant jump, catapulting past the £250 mark. Let’s see the breakdown…

TheSunExchange has hit the peak sunshine month for the Southern Hemisphere, so the earnings reflect this. The total number of live projects remains the same and most of them posted an increase in earnings for the month. The next project is up and running and will go live in the early part of February. Hopefully this will partially offset the drop in earnings from the other projects. Income £46

CrowdProperty has started to complete on a number of my initial loans so the income is becoming more regular, with an increase to £27 this month. I would expect at my current investment level for this to flatten out around the £40 per month. With the whole £16000 deployed, this would rise to £100 per month. EstateGuru continues to perform, bringing in a further £6. Income £33

ElfinMarket continues to punch above its weight considering the size of investment. Income £10

Euro P2P has had a great month. A number of platforms posted increased earnings, namely Debitum, ViaInvest and RoboCash. Moncera and Lendermarket have always had good earnings and this continued. Income £37

Invictus IML although is designated in USD and therefore not benefitting from the rise in BTC, has had a great month. Increased Volatility in the crypto space has lead to higher margin lending rates and so the fund has made some great gains this month. Income £35

Crypto lending has had a great month primarily due to the increases in the price of BTC. The interest rates have remained the same, but the value of the earned BTC and ETH has gone up markedly. Interest rates are similar across NEXO, BlockFi and Celsius. My BTC holdings in both NEXO and Celsius increased this month adding to the increase in income. I have a small amount of interest coming in from LUNO but this is insignificant at the moment. Income £84

FreeTrade brought in its second highest dividend this month but considering the amount invested is still reasonably small. The main reason being that I have heavily invested in growth stocks this year due to the market conditions. Income £19

Total Income £268

Next to come under the spotlight is the Margin Lending Fund from Invictus Capital. The fund lends out USD pegged stablecoins to cryptocurrency margin traders. Bringing in a healthy interest on a daily basis.

The third in my analysis series. Elfin Market is a unique company in the P2P sector, based around a credit card. A start up business with plenty of potential.

Crowd Property is the next platform to come under the microscope. It is my favourite P2P platform with the safest fundamentals and a very acceptable 8% pa tax free. See how it’s works and my investment journey so far.

The Sun Exchange gets my first in depth look at the investment platforms that I am using to reach my goal of financial independence. It’s my only purchase and lease-back platform and has a 20 year income stream.

December 2020

The end of a quite remarkable year. The world will never be the same again. 🦠

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Investments

A shift in focus is evident in my investments this month.

My regular investment with TheSunExchange turned out to be on the pricier side, so £542 went in this direction. The project is their first outside South Africa and has a slightly different payment structure. This one will pay out a regular amount every month regardless of generation, so won’t ebb and flow with the seasons. It is also using USD as the base currency, insulating it from the effects of ZAR exchange rates. My income will still be in BTC though. Invested £542

No property development investments this month. CrowdProperty has over £9000 not yet invested, so there is little point adding any more to the platform at the moment. As you can see from the chart property partner is now off my list of investments, having closed the account last month. Invested £0

ElfinMarket saw my regular £100 standing order. As did FreeTrade, with a further investment of £500.

In the world of Euro P2P platforms, I topped up my investment in ViaInvest. Nothing extra in this realm. Invested £371

Crypto is the big winner this month. I am very bullish on the crypto market in 2021. If BTC follows previous cycles then this will be an extraordinary year. As mentioned previously the fees of making multiple small investments were significant so I have opted to make larger investments less often. For that reason I didn’t top up my IML fund or add to my NEXO TUSD fund. What I did do is buy a load of BTC. New money has gone into BlockFi and now I am diversifying into the Celsius platform. The significant chunk that has gone into NEXO is actually a transfer. I have held a lot of NEXO tokens for years and they recently sky-rocketed in value. I have sold a portion of them and bought BTC placing it on the NEXO platform to earn interest. Invested £2495

Finally this month I have made 2 small investments into coffee loans (EhicHub) and Cannabis farming (JuicyFields). Just to see what happens. Invested £173

Total monthly Investment £4392

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Monthly Income

Following on from last months fantastic earnings, seeing me catapult past my £150 target and bring in £182, I have had another good month with a rewarding increase in earnings.

TheSunExchange is coming into the peak months for solar generation, earning £42 this month. January should also be good, but after that the days will be getting shorter. Income £42

Development loans had a great month earning £30. It was a good month for CrowdProperty, but EstateGuru made a considerable contribution. Income £30

A steady increase from ElfinMarket and a good month from Euro P2P lending. Income £25

Crypto is where the big gains have come from. The IML fund had a steady month, but my BTC interest is where the performance has really jumped. Not only do I have more assets earning interest, but the value of BTC has soared over the last month resulting in the £GBP value of the BTC interest growing significantly. A whopping rise to £70 in interest from my crypto assets. Income £92

Finally I had a modest month from FreeTrade. As mentioned last month I will be shifting my focus towards dividend paying stocks on FreeTrade in the coming few months. Income £9

Total income £201

With the end of 2020 and a year of charting my progress via the free WordPress platform and domain, I have decided to move the website over to a new domain name: http://www.thelazyway2fire.com

This has mostly been a smooth process except all the bog posts up to now have dates at the end of December 2020 🤷‍♂️. So apologies for this minor hiccough.

With the new domain and the new year, I plan to go into a bit more detail on each of the investment platforms that I have chosen and why. So look out for these in the coming months

November 2020

The month of Judgement! ⌛️

It’s been a year since I decided to come out of my defined benefits pension scheme. I set myself the goal of achieving a passive income of at least £150 per month by November 2020 through investing my pension and any other spare cash in income generating investments.

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Investments

Before we look at my income this month we need to look at my investments as usual.

Another project invested into on TheSunExchange. As an investment I really like this model and am very pleased to continue investing here. I had been reinvesting my income from TheSunExchange in new projects every month. This month I changed tact. The income comes as BTC. Instead of investing it straight back in, I have decided to withdraw it to a crypto platform called LUNO where you can earn interest (similar to NEXO and Celsius). Not only will this grow the income due to interest, but I think BTC is going to have a stellar year this year so I am looking for the asset to increase in value as well.

CrowdProperty saw my usual £500 investment at the beginning of the month. Later in the month I then deposited a further £10,000. I would like CrowdProperty to be a significant portion of my portfolio moving forward. I think instead of regular small investments, more sporadic larger investments will allow me to structure my portfolio better. I don’t intend to invest further in CrowdProperty for a while. It might take a number of months to fully utilise all the funds, also I can direct my investments in the next few months to other projects.

I have been very disappointed with my investment with Property Partner. Rental income completely dried up this year and was only standing at 2-3% pa anyway. For this reason I decided to sell my positions at a loss and redirect the funds elsewhere. I withdrew £621 from the platform.

ElfinMarket saw my usual £100 deposit. I am considering putting a large amount into this project next tax year, wrapped in an IFISA.

My investment in Crowd2Fund has been stagnant all year as the platform paused all investments due to Covid. Now it has restarted the returns are only 4% which does not really tick the Risk-Reward box. For this reason I also withdrew my £100 investment from this platform, to be re-invested elsewhere.

I was able to top up my RoboCash investment as planned this month, adding a further €400. I am going to reassess my Euro P2P investments over the next few months and decide which platforms to stay in and which to exit. I feel I have too many investments spread too thinly here.

In crypto my regular investments were made. $200 to the IML fund, $100 of TUSD to NEXO and a random amount of BTC in BlockFi. There are significant fees involved with buying, trading and moving crypto around. I am considering moving forwards that I will make larger purchases, less frequently to offset this.

My regular FreeTrade £500 was invested in the stock market.

New investments this month are a bit experimental. One is with a crowdfunding platform for loans to Coffee growers in Mexico, EthicHub. The returns are quoted at 15% pa and has the advantage of being crypto based which appeals to me. The other investment is with JuicyFields, a crowdfunded cannabis growing business. This is purely play money and I am not recommending anyone to follow this investment. The returns are favourable, and it looks to be fully licensed and legal, but I will look closely at this platform over the next year.

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Monthly Income

Well… did I make it? Yes! 🌟🎉

Continued growth in income from TheSunExchange as expected. I think I might break the £50 mark in December or January.

The best months income from Property development loans. CrowdProperty is only just reaching a point where projects that pay back at the end of the loan term are starting to complete. This should start to look very healthy in the next year.

ElfinMarket seems to be on a steady monthly increase in income as the funds deployed increase.

EuroP2P had its best month yet, generating £20.

Crypto again is my top performer. The IML fund had a great month as margin lending rates really shot up this month leading to a healthy growth in the IML fund. My Crypto lending has really shot up in value. Not only do I have more invested, but the interest on the BTC and ETH has risen in value as the value of the assets have grown extraordinarily this month.

Dividends from FreeTrade are back to an acceptable level. Most of this year I have been investing in growth stock due to the pandemic. Moving forward I need to transition my investments into dividend generating stocks to boost my monthly income in this area.

Total income £182.77. This more than surpasses my goal of £150 and considering I have not maxed out my stock dividend potential this is very pleasing. The graph below looks a very pleasing shape, with a nice steady growth in income.

As all my income is being reinvested, by the time I hit retirement the value created by this years investments should have at least doubled, benefitting from the compound interest effect