Tag FIRE

šŸ—“Month #32

Brambler John Leave a comment

June 2022

The fallout from the collapse of the Terra system is still being felt. 3 Arrows capital has filed for bankruptcy. Celsius has halted withdrawals as it hits a liquidity crisis. BlockFi is also on the rocks. Luckily for me I exited BlockFi a number of months ago, and I managed to take my BTC out of Celsius a few days before they closed the doors to withdrawals. A lucky escape!

What else is new? My first full months income from BullRide comes through this month. Also my Helium miner arrived and has been deployed, giving me my first income from Helium mining.

On with the investment detailā€¦

Investments

ElfinMarket. My rock of an investment gets its normal monthly allocation. Invested Ā£1000

Free Trade. My net investment this month is actually around zero. The funds arrived from exiting my general investment account on FreeTrade. I re-invested the Ā£1500 into my ISA account. In a bid to give myself even dividend coverage through the year, I put most of the transferred funds into another green energy fund called Algonquin and also topped up my Iron Mountain holdings. Also to note is my Enterprise products shares got re-classified as not suitable for the ISA so I had to sell these and re-invest the money there as well. The money from Enterprise went towards topping up Forsight Solar and Greencoat Wind which pay dividends at the same time. Invested Ā£0

JuicyFields. This is my risky play this month and probably one I would not recommend as it makes me slightly uncomfortable. On the NEXO platform I have enough collateral to take out a loan at zero % interest so I have utilised this to put more money into JF. The intention is to take out the whole principle in 108 days to pay back the loan and let the profits ride. Letā€™s see how that turns out! šŸ˜³ Invested Ā£3825

Total Invested Ā£4825

Monthly Income

I am expecting slightly lower income this month. Last month had a stellar return from JuicyFields as there were 5 weeks return instead of the usual 4. This wont be repeated this month so there is a drop off of income. That said, there will be some compensation from a rising income from YieldNodes and new income streams from BullRide and my Helium Miner.

On with the detailā€¦

TheSunExchange. The shortest month of daylight hours is upon us in the Southern Hemisphere so we should be around the lowest point for income from the solar panels. Looking at the last 2 years July has been the lowest month. This month and last month have been less than expected as the Nhimbe Fresh project has had problems with their International Bank, which hopefully will be resolved soon. Income Ā£31.84

BullRide. After 9 days of income last month, this is the first full month of revenue from my electric scooter in Norway. We are getting into the summer months and Iā€™m not sure how the use alters throughout the year, but I assume there is some seasonal effect. The income seems to be higher at the weekends than in the weekdays so there is a recreational use effect. I am fairly happy with the return though for the month. I think I will need to see a few more months to make a judgment call on buying more scooters or not. Income Ā£44

CrowdProperty Income from loans completing seems to be back to normal with a nice and steady return. Looking at my deployed funds I seem to be taking on new loans at a similar rate to loans completing so I am at a static position overall. Income Ā£68

ElfinMarket Income has held above the Ā£100 mark for the second month so I can expect this to continue rising from here on in. At the end of this tax year I will be close to Ā£200 a month and will need to make a decision on how much collateral I want to have tied up in the platform as it is becoming a significant investment. Income Ā£101

Euro P2P The income keeps tricking in from my P2P European investments. Income Ā£14

YieldFarming and Staking Almost all my income in this category is now from YieldNodes. The returns are monthly and paid out at the beginning of the month for the previous month. I have set my profits to be 50:50 split between withdrawal and re-investment so the capital is growing and I am slowly de-risking. I have also included my Helium miner in this group which is making a small contribution of about Ā£22 this month. Income Ā£461

Crypto lending across NEXO, Celsius, and Luno is in a period of flux. I have taken all my BTC out of Celsius and transferred it to NEXO, just 2 days before they halted withdrawals from Celsius. My hope is that NEXO wont be next to fall under the contagion running through crypto lending platforms. My income on the NEXO platform is massively reduced this month as most of my collateral is supporting the loan I took out and so it no longer attracts interest. As the loan is paid back over the next few months the income should return. LUNO is also undergoing some changes, they have stopped the interest product for UK customers and so this income stream is stopping. I will have to decide what to do with the funds sitting there. I have a few ideas but that will be something for July. Income Ā£104

JuicyFields has only had the usual 4 weeks return this month so we are a chunk less than last month. Itā€™s still a significant amount of my monthly income just under Ā£1000. Next month should be really similar, but then in August I have another 5 week month. I help out on the companies Telegram chat and have negotiated a small payment, so this will be contributing to the income here from September. September is also when my risky loan purchase of plants matures so the income that month should be stunning if everything goes to plan. Income Ā£983

FreeTrade has had an excellent month. There was a surprise extra dividend of Ā£63 from Ferrexpo adding to a busy month for dividends. I should be back to more modest amounts for the next 2 months and then another busy month in September. Income Ā£143

Total Passive Income Ā£1952

If things keep ticking along as they are I should be consistently above Ā£2000 per month for the rest of the year. I am considering going back into my work pension so my deployable capital will decrease significantly. The flip side is that my monthly passive income is now reaching self sustainability. As long as I donā€™t need to withdraw any funds for monthly expenses, I should be able to compound my returns and my income should continue to grow nicely.

šŸ—“Month #31

Brambler John 1 Comment

May 2022

Covid hasnā€™t gone away, but its impact is now reserved to supply chain issues from enthusiastic lockdowns. In countries that have decided to live with Covid its effect on society is limited as immunity levels are high in the community.

The Ukraine war has taken a pivot. Russia has pulled out of the North and is redirecting all its efforts to the East. They are also blockading the ports to the South which is limiting the exports of grain and other goods. This is going to produce a worldwide food shortage the likes of which we havenā€™t experienced.

The biggest story for my investments though is the total collapse of the Terra ecosystem within crypto. I had 200 LUNA tokens locked and staked that at one point had been worth just over $100 each. Over the course of 24 hours they became completely worthless. I also had some UST tokens that were the bulk of my yield rewards. The LUNA I could do nothing about as my tokens were locked. The UST I was able to exit at a discount as the UST de-pegged from the USD. The resultā€¦ The LUNA were not earning much income so the biggest effect is the loss of capital. The UST I have withdrawn and redeployed. It will reduce my yield earnings going forward but at least I was able to salvage something.

One of the positives from redeploying my UST is that I now have joined the 1Bitcoin club šŸŽ‰. Next on my hit list is to build up my Ethereum holdings which currently sit at around 4.3 ETH

What else is new? I have discovered BullRide which is an Electric Scooter leaseback company. I have bought a scooter on the secondary market and it has started to bring in an income, deployed in Norway.

On with the investment detailā€¦

Investments

ElfinMarket. My rock of an investment gets its normal monthly allocation. Invested Ā£1000

BullRide. This is my new experiment this month. I have bought an Electric scooter which has joined a fleet of scooters in Norway. I have leased it to a company that hires them out in the cities. I get a daily share of the fleets revenue. Itā€™s a 3 year lease that should bring in 2-3 times my initial outlay. Itā€™s a similar model to The Sun Exchange but on a shorter timescale. Invested Ā£978

Staking and Yield Farming. Luckily I decided to move some UST from Anchor at the beginning of the month over to Yield Nodes. I wish I had moved it all but hindsight is wonderful. In total I moved Ā£2013. The money I put into Aperture finance for the delta neutral strategy I was able to withdraw and sell the UST at a discount. It got transferred over to BTC which I placed on NEXO. Mostly I have spent the month licking my wounds and so no new money has gone into Staking and Yield farming. Invested Ā£0

Free Trade. Doubling down on my Ferrexpo investment I have increased my holding yet again. They seem to be surviving the Ukraine war, and so I am hopeful for the future. I have also decided to sell my remaining shares in my General account and transfer the money over to the ISA account. I see no reason to earn any dividend income that would need to be taxed. The sale only went through at the end of the month so the funds wont be cleared for transferring until next month. Invested Ā£500

Total Invested Ā£2478

Monthly Income

Despite my disastrous loss of capital in the LUNA ecosystem and my withdrawal from UST income on Anchor and Aperture finance, my income has significantly broken above the Ā£2000 mark. Iā€™m expecting a dip next month as the income from JuicyFields will be significantly lower, but this should be partially offset by an increase from YieldNodes and the start of income generation from BullRide.

On with the detailā€¦

TheSunExchange. As we move into the winter months in South Africa there is always a bit less sunshine . Income Ā£37

BullRide. My scooter was bought on the secondary market so revenue started the very next day. I managed 9 days of revenue which so far indicates I should at least get my return on investment back. With regards to making a profit I will need some more data. Income Ā£12

CrowdProperty This months income is again on the modest side as only a few loans are paid back. None of them have defaulted but they are taking their time to complete. Income Ā£13

ElfinMarket Income for this month breached the Ā£100 for the first time. It has moved into the realms of a significant investment psychologically. Income Ā£103

Euro P2P lending is fairly static as expected. I am still a number of months away from exiting the platforms with the long term loans. Income Ā£11

Crypto lending across NEXO, Celsius, and Luno has taken a significant hit. There has been a massive sell off in the crypto world following the LUNA collapse. It has now stabilised but has hit my income significantly. Income Ā£184

YieldFarming and Staking has been the most troublesome of my investments. It has the potential to be a massive income stream but is fraught with risks. I lost my income stream from LUNA, UST on Anchor and UST on Aperture finance all within 24 hrs. I was able to rescue the UST and redeploy it, but for now the LUNA is worthless. On the plus side my confidence in YieldNodes has increased significantly and I have increased my investment there. It is now responsible for all my staking income. Income Ā£347

JuicyFields is the investment that just keeps giving. The company is going from strength to strength and transparency is now really good. This month had 5 harvests so had an extra income from a large week. Next month will be a month without the boost and should be about Ā£500 less. Income Ā£1508

FreeTrade has had a strong month, up 85% on the same time last year. There should be a continued strong run through to the Autumn. I am on the search for a companion to Iron Mountain which is a solitary earner in October. I think I have found a green energy company with dividends at the appropriate intervals. My aim is to get my dividends over the psychological hurdle of Ā£100 per month by the end of the year. Income Ā£78

Total Passive Income Ā£2299

Despite such a disastrous loss of capital in the LUNA ecosystem, my income was only minimally hit. In fact this month turned out to be my best month yet, breaking strongly above the Ā£2000 mark. Iā€™m not sure if that is sustainable next month but I am well on course for my yearly target of being above Ā£2000 on a monthly basis by November.

šŸ—“Month #30

Brambler John Leave a comment

April 2022

Vive la France!

France has gone to the polls to elect their president. In the final run-off between the top 2 candidates from the first round, Macron faced off against Marine La Penne. Luckily for Europe, France rejected the far right narrative and voted Macron back in for another term. All is not lost in European politics.

The war in Ukraine continues, with an increase in support for Ukraine from western allies, notably the US, UK, Poland and the Baltic states. Europe also is still funding the Russian state through Oil and Gas purchases which is causing a problem. Russia has cut off supplies of gas to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay in Rubbles. Germany being one of the most dependent European nations on Russian gas is slowly extracting itself from dependency giving them more freedom to support Ukraine. Rhetoric from Putin is increasing, threatening Nuclear retaliation for NATO support of Ukraine. All very troubling.

On a financial front, inflation is ramping up with supply chain issues and the fall out of money printing from the Covid pandemic. Mix in the increase in oil and gas prices due to the war and we are in a perfect storm.

The stock market has been very gittery, with tech stocks taking a big hit. The crypto market is also struggling. Crypto seems to be in sync with the regular stock market at the moment, reacting to macroeconomic factors.

On with the investment detailā€¦

Investments

Same as last month, the ISA restrictions has given me a choice between Elfin Market and FreeTrade. Elfin Market got the nod. Then I had a moment of clarity and it dawned on me that I could make a Free trade investment as well as long as it was after April 6th, so the next tax year.

Itā€™s nice to be back in yield farming. Iā€™ve put in some new money but also moved some money over from my crypto holdings into yield farming. Itā€™s definitely the most interesting investment area.

ElfinMarket. My last investment of the year for Elfin Market. Iā€™ve had a good think about the platform and decided to continue next year putting Ā£1000 per month in the IFISA product. Iā€™m now sitting at Ā£14000 with an income approaching Ā£100 per month. Another year of invested money will put me in the Ā£26000 range with hopefully an income of Ā£200 per month. That might be a good place to stop. Invested Ā£1000

Staking and Yield Farming. I havenā€™t invested further in YieldNodes as I am waiting for the first months return. Luna staking is also static. What I have done thatā€™s interesting is investing in an automatic delta neutral strategy for UST. Iā€™ve moved over $2000 UST from Anchor protocol to Aperture Finance using a delta neutral strategy on mirror KO (coca cola). The new money invested has gone to some more high risk yield farming strategies. Invested Ā£500

Free Trade. A delayed investment to make sure I was in the new tax year. This months investment went high risk, straight into Ferrexpo. Itā€™s price is significantly depressed due to its mining facility being in the Ukraine. I will do very well if it comes through the war intact. Invested Ā£500

Total Invested Ā£2000

Monthly Income

The new phase of my income generation looks to be on the cusp of happening. After zig-zagging in an ever tighter range for the last year itā€™s finally started on an upward direction. A generous increase this month should be accompanied by a further increase next month which will take me over the Ā£2K mark for the first time this year. It should dip the next month but hopefully stay above the Ā£2K mark.

On with the detailā€¦

TheSunExchange. Nothing unexpected this month. A small drop from the last couple of months as we move away from the summer sun. Income Ā£59

CrowdProperty Another disappointing month with only a modest income. I get regular updates on all the projects and they are progressing steadily. Supply chain issues are definitely affecting the industry. At least the market is very buoyant so when the projects eventually finish they easily sell or get refinanced. Income Ā£13

ElfinMarket A steady rise this month taking the income here over the Ā£90 range. A further increase over the Ā£100 will happen next month. Iā€™ve decided to continue with my IFISA allocation to Elfin Market for another year. This time next year should bring the income level above the Ā£200 per month which is probably where I will stop. Income Ā£93

Euro P2P lending limps on. Most of my remaining loans are fairly long term so it is taking time to exit the platforms. Income Ā£12

Crypto lending across NEXO, Celsius, and Luno has continued to be stable. My BTC position continues to creep up, slowly increasing the income. In June there should be a jump in income from NEXO, as I have been locking my NEXO tokens up for a year for a higher interest rate. I have locked them up in tranches once a month. The first tranche should mature in June and then monthly there after. Income Ā£309.

YieldFarming and Staking has had a healthy increase in income this month as the first return from YieldNodes comes in. There was a small decrease from Anchor as I transferred almost a third of my UST to Aperture Finance. Earnings from LUNA staking is consistent with last month. Income Ā£510

JuicyFields is bringing in my largest income now. A small increase from last month which should be the trajectory from now on. I am following a plan of partial withdrawal and partial re-investment. This should ensure my goal to withdraw my initial investment and also increase my monthly income. I am anticipating August as the month I become risk free with this investment. Income Ā£826

FreeTrade has dropped this month. Income is ticking along with a zig-zag performance. Income Ā£46

Total Passive Income Ā£1856

Iā€™ve finally broken out of the ever tightening trend, with a clear upward momentum on my income from passive investments. I havenā€™t broken above the anomalous result from April 2021, but I should be there next month.

šŸ—“Month #29

Brambler John Leave a comment

March 2022

The news is still dominated by the war in Ukraine. Whole scale regime change and take over of the country has stalled due to solid resistance from the Ukraine people. Reorganisation of the Russian mission to concentrate on the East and South of the country is underway. War crimes committed by Russian forces are being documented in many areas. Talks of war crime tribunals are in the air.

Anonymous, the decentralised hacking group has joined the war against Russia and are attacking their infrastructure and vital systems. They have published the names and addresses of all the Russian military personnel on the internet. There is nowhere to hide! A truly modern war.

Sanctions have been extreme. Europe is preparing to live without Russian Gas and Oil supplies. Prices are sky rocketing. Inflation was already on the cards after the disruption of Covid, but with the war it is looking like it could be quite damaging.

Some of my investments are affected and others not so much. My stocks and shares are mostly in green energy companies which have had a boost from the expected increase in investment over the short term. My legacy energy companies have also risen due to the supply chain shortages pushing up the prices, increasing profits. The only one adversely hit was my Ferrexpo Iron Ore mining company which has its mining facilities in the Ukraine! The mine is still operating but ability to ship to its customers is severely disrupted. All the uncertainty has severely hit the share price.

Crypto had an initial wobble at the start of the war but has since recovered and has been making some mild positive movements. My lending portfolio is stable and I have been dabbling in the staking and yield farming arena again.

On with the investment detailā€¦

Investments

Due to ISA restrictions I have had to make a choice between Elfin Market and FreeTrade. I have decided to continue with Elfin Market till the end of the tax year and pause new investments into FreeTrade until April.

As promised I have rekindled my interest in yield farming. Initially I put some money into the new Mars Protocol on the Terra/Luna ecosystem, but I soon took it out again as the APYs started to drop dramatically. It was no longer worth the risk. What I did do though was invest in a product I looked at over a year ago, but was unsure of its legitimacy. I have been looking on and off since then and have decided to take the plunge.

ElfinMarket. Following the plan, I invested Ā£1000 into my IFISA account. Iā€™m at Ā£13000 of this years ISA allowance. As my investment goes out on the first day of the month, April will also belong to this tax year so my total will be Ā£14000. For this reason I have had to halt my FreeTrade investment to avoid going over the Ā£20K limit. Invested Ā£1000

Staking and Yield Farming. Iā€™m not sure if I should make a separate category for this, but I have put some money into YieldNodes. They have a huge and diverse set of investments, mostly based around running nodes for crypto networks. Iā€™m not 100% secure in this investment but as it has been running for 3 years, I think I can extract my initial investment with a 50:50 split between compounding and withdrawing the profits within a reasonable timeframe. I have marked the investment in full though in fact most of it has come from redistributing some of my crypto holdings in LUNA. While on the subject of LUNA I have also decided to stake my LUNA holding which brings in some monthly revenue. Invested Ā£4600

Total Invested Ā£5600

Monthly Income

Income has had a small uptick due to a steady rise across most of my income streams. They are setup nicely for continued positive movement in the next few months

On with the detailā€¦

TheSunExchange. We are off the January peak but surprisingly there was only a minor reduction in earnings this month compared to last. Income Ā£71

CrowdProperty Income was almost identical to last month. Some projects have seen delays due to Covid so as these work through to completion there should be a small increase in earnings in the future. Income Ā£44

ElfinMarket income is back on the increase. A nice jump this month with the promise of something in the Ā£90s next month. Getting towards the pleasing psychological milestone of crossing the Ā£100 mark which should hopefully come in May or June this year. Income Ā£77

Euro P2P lending is remarkably stable, posting the same modest returns the last 3 months. Fairly insignificant but it all counts in the end. Income Ā£11

Crypto lending across NEXO, Celsius, and Luno has had an increase this month due to the rising prices of BTC and ETH. Luno has decided to stop their savings product for UK citizens so I will need to move my funds off the platform by the end of June this year. I have been slowly increasing my BTC holdings at NEXO by transferring my JuicyFields earning there. Iā€™m not far from having a whole BTC to my name. (Small pleasures šŸ˜Š). Income Ā£309.

YieldFarming and Staking is still dependent on my UST on the Anchor protocol, but as planned I have staked my LUNA holding giving me around 8% APY. This has doubled my income from this sector. At the end of the month I invested a chunk in YieldNodes which wont pay out until the first of May for the earnings of April. So I expect another increase in next months earnings. Income Ā£160

JuicyFields is going to plan, with a mixture of withdrawing and compounding of the profits each harvest. This is ensuring a steady increase in profits each month and also reducing my exposure and risk, until I am entirely invested only with profits. I have reached the first milestone this month, with my total profits reaching Ā£5540 which is more than my initial investment of Ā£5410. The next milestone is to withdraw all of my initial investment, Iā€™m currently at the Ā£2400 mark. Only Ā£3000 more to go. I should reach there around August/September time. Income Ā£799

FreeTrade has had a small increase which is normal for March as there are a number of dividends that pay out this month. Income Ā£75

Total Passive Income Ā£1549

The graph above continues to be pleasing to the eye šŸ‘. Next month should see the addition of an income stream from YieldNodes. As long as crypto holds its value then we should be getting pretty close to my Ā£2000 a month target for the year. Definitely I will be there in May due to a 5 week JuicyFields month, the challenge will be to see if I can maintain it in June.

šŸ—“Month #28

Brambler John Leave a comment

February 2022

There is only one piece of news that is dominating the world right nowā€¦ the invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine by their neighbour Russia.

This blog isnā€™t meant to be political, but the world has changed and the ramifications will be felt across the globe and for many years to come. Mostly because the democratic world has finally woken up to the threat of Russia under the rule of Putin and are responding very strongly against the invasion while stopping short of formally going to war (for now)

Sanctions are severe and will cut off Russia from the democratic world and its institutions. Europe is heavily dependent on Russian energy, so these measures are not without consequence. But currently support from the European people suggests this is a price we are willing to pay to stop a man and regime from trying to oppress its neighbourā€™s.

The knock on effect to the investment world is huge. Trade is disrupted, an energy crisis is upon us, the banking system is disrupted, Ukrainian products are no longer being shipped etc, etc.

In general most of my investments are not too badly affected.

On with the investment detailā€¦

Investments

A bit more interesting this month, but not much. I have identified some more yield farming opportunities but Iā€™m not going to pull the trigger till March.

The Sun Exchange has another interesting project. Itā€™s huge again and these tend to have the best returns. It also has a battery component to the solar array. Invested Ā£750

ElfinMarket. Following the plan, I invested Ā£1000 into my IFISA account. Iā€™m at Ā£12000 of this years ISA allowance. Invested Ā£1000

FreeTrade. Back to my dividend yielding renewable energy plays this month. I topped up my position in TRIG with Ā£500. This will be my last investment with FreeTrade this tax year. Combined I need to make sure my ElfinMarket and FreeTrade donā€™t breach the Ā£20K limit for my ISAā€™s. Invested Ā£500

Total Invested Ā£2171

Monthly Income

Iā€™ve identified some yield farming plays which I will engage next month, all within the Terra ecosystem. Iā€™ve also looked at some other interesting projects. One maybe for April.

In general it has been really turbulent due to the war, but mostly my investments are insulated from the worst of it.

On with the detailā€¦

TheSunExchange. As with last year, January was the peak income so we have come off that peak for February. I have 2 projects invested but not yet earning so there is some upside coming in a few months. Income Ā£72

CrowdProperty Income is very steady. The auto invest feature is managing to fund as many new projects as the ones completing so my invested funds are very stable. Without manually investing I wonā€™t be able to increase my position here unfortunately. Income Ā£44

ElfinMarket income had an unusual month. For some reason there was a small drop in income. Next month is back up so it seems to be just a blip. Income Ā£70

Euro P2P lending is just waiting for me to exit my positions. Itā€™s a very risky market at the moment with lots of platforms struggling due to loans in either Ukraine or Russia. Income Ā£11

Crypto lending across NEXO, Celsius, and Luno has stabilised. Rates are steady and the market is fairly static. There was a minor rally at the start of the war but not very much. Income Ā£232

YieldFarming and Staking is still entirely dependent on my UST on the Anchor protocol. Next month I am going to stake most of my LUNA for 8% APY which will increase the income. Iā€™m also going to put some funds on the new Mars Protocol. But for now itā€™s just Anchor. Income Ā£69

JuicyFields is back to a 4 week month so the income is not as high as last month. I am continuing a mixture of withdrawing and compounding. If the Ā£5410 invested I have almost withdrawn Ā£2000 so my risk is reducing all the time. Iā€™m fairly confident I will reach my goal of withdrawing my initial investment whilst maintaining an ever increasing revenue stream by the summer. Income Ā£763

FreeTrade is back to more normal dividend levels. All my energy plays both in renewable and also gas/oil should do well and have all jumped in value, letā€™s see what happens to the dividends. My biggest position is in Ferrexpo which mines most of its Iron Ore in Ukraine!!! Itā€™s price has been decimated due to disruptions caused by the invasion. Hopefully it will come out the other side of the war in good health. Iā€™m tempted to increase my holdings. Income Ā£70

Total Passive Income Ā£1335

Iā€™m liking the look of the graph above šŸ˜. Iā€™ve been consistently over Ā£1000 since July last year. Iā€™ve identified the Terra ecosystem as my next venture for yield farming and Iā€™m specifically looking at the Mars Protocol leveraged yield farming. It looks really interesting.

šŸ—“Month #27

Brambler John Leave a comment

January 2022

In with the New year. 2022! Lots going on on a macro level creating a lot of uncertainty. The end of money printing, the start of inflation that has been on the cards for a while. Potential rises in interest rates. A major amount of sabre rattling between Europe/US and Russia over Ukraine with the potential for war.

šŸ¦  Corona Virus seems to be almost removed from the public consciousness. Omicron and the vaccines in combination seem to have reduced the threat to a manageable level so society is opening up again with a move towards minimising restrictions.

On with the investment detailā€¦

Investments

Another modest month. Identical to last month

ElfinMarket. Following the plan, I invested Ā£1000 into my IFISA account. Iā€™m at Ā£11000 of this years ISA allowance. By the last payment at the start of April I will have put Ā£14000 in. Invested Ā£1000

FreeTrade. This months investment is in a different direction. I started a position in the Vanguard all world ETF. It received Ā£500 of new money. I also exited my position in Coinbase and Riot blockchain. It didnā€™t make sense to have exposure to crypto here as well as directly. The proceeds bought more Atlantica, a dividend play. Invested Ā£500

Total Invested Ā£1500

Monthly Income

I spent the month of January sitting on the sidelines of yield farming and staking. So another quiet month.

On with the detailā€¦

TheSunExchange. As predicted January had the most sunlight of the year. The Nhimbe Fresh project has started generating and the income does not disappoint. It was worth the wait. I didnā€™t hit Ā£100 this month but thatā€™s not surprising as I havenā€™t expanded my portfolio very much. Income Ā£82

CrowdProperty Income is steady. Income Ā£28

ElfinMarket income is continuing to increase with a continued investment. This month the income has had a nice increase. Income Ā£77

Euro P2P lending continues to bring in a small bonus with its reduced funding. Income Ā£11

Crypto lending across NEXO, Celsius, and Luno has had a rubbish month. Rates are steady but the market has continued to fall all month. Income Ā£226

YieldFarming and Staking income has remained low. My funds are all sitting in Terra LUNA which initially was gravity defying, but has succumbed to the pull of the bear market and dumped like a stone. I still plan to convert it to UST at some point. Income Ā£66

FreeTrade is having another quiet month. Income Ā£32

JuicyFields has had a 5 week month so the income is great this month. The following months should only expect 4 harvests each so will be a bit less than this month. I am continuing a mixture of withdrawing and compounding with an aim to be de-risked by the summer. Income Ā£926

Total Passive Income Ā£1450

The graph above looks to be achieving some level of stability. Iā€™ll be wanting to reengage an upswing to the income in the coming months if I am to reach Ā£2000 passive income by the end of the year. I suspect it will require something significant in the crypto world of yield farming. Time to do some more research.

šŸ—“Month #26

Brambler John Leave a comment

December 2021

Christmas has come and gone, as has the New Year. The world of finance tends to have a quiet month as lots of people exit positions at the end of the year. Crypto had a minor uptrend followed by a sharp correction. My gut feeling is that the top of this cycle hasnā€™t happened yet. Lots of people think the cycles are extending so we will have to wait and see.

šŸ¦  Corona Virus came home once again, this time on Christmas Day. My son has got ā€˜luckyā€™ for the third time. He is currently topping the leaderboard in the house.

On with the investment detailā€¦

Investments

ElfinMarket. Following the plan, I invested Ā£1000 into my IFISA account. Invested Ā£1000

FreeTrade. This months investment again went to top up another big dividend payer in the renewables sector, JLEN Enviro. It received Ā£500 of new money. Next year I might move my focus towards building up my ETFs. Invested Ā£500

Total Invested Ā£1500

Monthly Income

Due to the market volatility in the crypto world I pulled out of all my yield farming. There seemed little point earning a few hundred pounds in yield if the underlying assets were loosing thousands. For this reason my yield farming income has almost disappeared this month. This has had a significant impact on my earnings.

On with the detailā€¦

TheSunExchange. The longest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere is December so the income is reaching a peak. January tends to have more sunlight overall though. The Nhimbe Fresh project has started generating so there is a small amount of income this month and should be a full month in January. Income Ā£66

CrowdProperty Income has started to return, thankfully. Income Ā£41

ElfinMarket income is continuing to increase with a continued investment. This month the income has had a modest increase of Ā£5. Income Ā£60ļæ¼

Euro P2P lending has continued to bring in a small bonus with its reduced funding. Income Ā£15

Crypto lending across NEXO, Celsius, and Luno has had an slowing of pace this month as the bull run stalls once again with a massive flash crash. I have liberated all my BTC and ETH from BlockFi and moved it to NEXO, so BlockFi is no longer on my list of platforms. Income Ā£346

YieldFarming and Staking income has almost disappeared. Iā€™ve liquidated most of my yield farming positions and moved all the funds on to the Terra network. Instead of putting it all in UST on Anchor, it is sitting in my Terra wallet as LUNA. I plan to slowly convert the LUNA to UST and put it on the Anchor protocol in the coming months. Income Ā£63

FreeTrade is having another steady month. Income Ā£54

JuicyFields now has income on a weekly basis for a full 16 week cycle. Most months will be like December with 4 harvests, with the occasional 5 harvest months like January. My plan is to partially withdraw profits and partially reinvest to increase the size of the harvests. I will have de-risked completely by the middle of the year. Income Ā£599

Total Passive Income Ā£1248

Considering the almost complete removal of yield farming income, December was pretty good. with its re-introduction I should be back on track for my planned income growth for the year.

Annual Assessment 2 years inā€¦

Brambler John Leave a comment

November 2019 was the point I came out of my very good work pension, with the aim of investing to beat the gains that it could offer.

My work based pension scheme is a mixture of a Final Salary and an Average Salary pension Scheme. Up until 2015 it was Final Salary. Since then it has been Average Salary. They are very good as pensions go. Each additional year of membership will give me approximately Ā£150 income per month at the point that I can draw the pensions, 60 for the old pension and 67 for the new one.

So my investing has a primary goal of earning me Ā£150 per month for each year of investing. 2 years in I should be gaining at least Ā£300 per month of income.

Looking at the graph it is blindingly obvious that I am beating my pension.

Am I an investment Guru?

I think the answer is fairly obviously NO!

I know a little bit about investments and how they work. I have learnt a lot more over the last 2 years and I am certainly better informed now than then.

Did I get lucky?

In some ways the answer is yes. The timing of the crypto bull run has made a significant impact on my wealth creation.

Are my current income streams sustainable?

No is the simple answer. I have some capital in long term traditional and safe investments. But not that much. I am maxing out my ISA allowance each year, which I will continue to do.

The rest of my investments are in highly speculative and higher risk investments. As these markets mature they might become less high risk by default. Alternatively I will need to rotate out of these into lower risk stable investments.

How did I get to my current position?

Not being an investment guru I have done a scatter-gun approach. I have invested an an enormous number of investments and got a feel for their risk and reward profile. Being happy with higher risk has resulted in a few failures. But each time I become a little wiser

I have systematically got rid of investments with a risk/reward profile I didnā€™t like. On the flip side I have continued to be interested in new opportunities that present themselves.

Things for the Bin and things to keep

Each sector that I have invested in has some merit, but sometimes only 1 or 2 platforms are worth staying in.

The Sun Exchange. This is not going to be as high a reward as I hoped. What I like though is the business model and the team. They have created an excellent product that feels safe. For this reason I will continue to add new funds in the next year. I will reassess on a regular basis. The investments are incredibly illiquid, so they are effectively locked.

Fractionalised property ownership. Although this can be put in an ISA in the UK or earned via crypto abroad, the returns are really modest at 3-5% per annum. The real value comes from sale of the properties 5-10 years down the line assuming a rise in prices. For me 5-10 year time horizons for an unknown gain is not a good fit so I have exited this sector

Crowd funded property development loans. This is a good sector with the right due diligence and a steady supply of investments. Only one platform fits this criterion in the UK. So I have stayed in CrowdProperty but I have exited all the other UK property development loan platforms. In the Euro zone the stand-out performer is Estate Guru, but the increased % return is offset by having to pay tax on the income. As I am trying to minimise the complexity of tax liabilities I will be exiting Euro crowd lending on property development.

UK P2P lending. The only platform worth considering outside of property development loans is ElfinMarket. Itā€™s a great business and wrapped in an ISA. They have very strict lending criteria which makes the investment fairly safe, with acceptable returns. Iā€™ll be staying in this one long term hopefully.

European P2P lending. This sector was very interesting, but over the last 2 years I have seen a number of platforms cease trading with resultant loss of funds for the investors. Compliance and regulation is a mine field. There seems to be a lot of bad actors in the sector. The rewards are good but the risk seems high. For this reason I am exiting most of this sector. I am not yet fully decided about leaving 1 platform with funds. If so, which one?

World wide P2P lending. I have looked at a variety of P2P lending platforms. EthicHub (coffee farmer loans) has a lot of potential but the method of funding is really difficult. For this reason this is on hold for now until they get it sorted. There are also a number of solar power companies to lend to but I am yet to invest with any of them.

Stocks and Shares. This is a complex one. On the one hand this should be a large proportion of my assets. On the other hand it needs to not be a full time job. I started with building up a massive portfolio of individual stocks, both dividend payers and growth stocks. This became a big user of my time. I also wasnā€™t utilising my ISA facility for this investment. I have moved almost all my funds into an ISA wrapper now and also rationalised my stocks. I now have a dividend heavy portfolio giving me a regular income. I also hold a few ETFs for long term growth and might hold a few individual stocks in the future. It has become much more manageable.

Crypto Lending. As with my other sectors this is full of options, but not all of them are low risk. Itā€™s a young industry and regulation is slow to be implemented. I think I have worked out who the big players are going to be and have already rationalised down to 2 main platforms. NEXO and Celsius are my current winners. All the others have gone.

Yield Farming and DeFi. This was a complete revelation to me. DeFi is where my main interest now lies. It is incredibly early in its development. I will continue to watch, learn and dabble in this space. As the current crypto bull run comes to an end I will transfer a significant proportion of my crypto assets to the Anchor protocol. On Anchor I will be able to earn safe steady yield on the UST stable-coin.

Juicy Fields. This is probably my most speculative play that I will stay in. On the surface it looks like a business model that should work. There are some red flags and so I have limited my exposure. No further new investments, and after I have removed my initial capital in 6 months, it will all be fun money, so no dramas.

Goals for the coming year

November for the last 3 years has yielded Ā£8, Ā£176 and Ā£1430 as a monthly income. There is going to be some serious consolidation this year, so Iā€™m not expecting the same sort of gains.

I would like my passive income to be comfortably above Ā£2000 every month. Hopefully approaching Ā£3000 on occasion.

I would also like to see my passive income supporting my lifestyle, so that I can reduce my hours at work and take home a smaller wage.

Almost forgotā€¦ Iā€™m going to take a serious deep dive into the decentralised Metaverse!

Hereā€™s to the next year of investing