Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote: “Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink”. He was describing the unfortunate lot of a becalmed mariner, who finds himself surrounded by an ocean full of salt water, but sorely lacking in drinkable fresh water.
The older I’ve gotten, the more I think money and water share a lot in common.
We take it for granted.
It is a basic need for survival.
It is easily lost via splashing out, leaks, or evaporation when you’re not paying attention.
The more you have, the healthier and happier you are… to a point.
Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. Sometimes a very bad thing.
And much like Coleridge’s ancient mariner, while there may be plenty of it sloshing around our immediate environment, often times it feels like a commodity in scarce supply!
How I money
Contingency fund
I maintain a dedicated, fee-free, current account at a bank backed by the FSCS guarantee. The funds it contains are instantly accessible via debit card or internet banking whenever I experience an unexpected need for cash.
When water is poured into a glass, it first fills to capacity, then overflows.
My contingency fund works in a similar way.
All my personal cash flows are channelled into this account. Any excess balance, over an arbitrary threshold, is then automatically swept into my bills account.
What I like about this approach is the contingency fund is self-healing. It automatically replenishes itself, without my needing to think about it.
Long ago, I used to just hold a four-figure balance in my everyday banking account. Simple answers are usually the best ones, right?
Having my account frozen while on an overseas holiday cured me of that habit.
To give credit where it is due, the bank’s fraud prevention systems did this by design, acting when they observed someone attempting to withdraw money in a country I hadn’t previously visited.
The only problem: that person was me!
I subsequently established a stand-alone account with separate debit card access.
During the Global Financial Crisis, I witnessed some banks forced into shotgun weddings and others going broke.
I concluded it would be prudent to hold this account at a separately licensed bank to the one I use for my everyday banking.
Contingency funds should be held at a separately licensed bank to your everyday banking account.
Reward credit card
I apply a general principle of using a reward credit card for all my personal spending. The only exception to this principle is when a vendor charges a penalty or surcharge that would exceed the reward value.
Spending on the reward card is much like a water faucet. The more use it gets, the faster my money flows away.
The card I use is affiliated with a large chain of grocery stores. A typical year’s worth of household spending yields sufficient rewards to cover the family grocery bill for a month.
In the dim distant past, I faithfully used a card that accrued frequent flyer miles. At one point I even scored some “free” tickets to the Caribbean!
However once the school holiday travel constraints were applied, the notion of a family’s worth of reward seats on the same flight became a pipe dream.
A direct debit from my bills account automatically pays off the full balance of the reward credit card every month.
Reward cards fund a month of free groceries each year, providing the balance is paid off in full each month.
Bills account
I maintain a second fee-free current account, held at a different bank, which is separately covered by the FSCS guarantee. Money held here is instantly accessible via debit card and internet banking.
Anyone who has attempted to put a toddler through the bath will know that bath time is one of the highlights of their day. Much fun is had as water enthusiastically gets squirted, splashed, and spilt around the bathroom!
After much study, I have concluded there is little correlation between the amount of water splashed around the bathroom and the volume of water originally contained in the bath.
Therefore more is generally preferable to less, to achieve a successful outcome managing finances or bathing toddlers.
My bills account provides the funding for all my expenditure that shouldn’t be made via the reward card. Here reside the direct debits and standing orders for things like utility bills, tax payments, and paying off the reward card balance.
This account also provides the funds for any non-leveraged investment purchases I may make.
Many banks over incentives for opening a current account with them. Shopping around can earn you up to £200.
Tax-advantaged investment account
From a financial well-being perspective, after the NHS, in my opinion tax-advantaged Stocks & Shares ISA accounts are one of the best things about being a resident of the United Kingdom.
At the time of writing, these magical accounts allow after-tax funds (up to a generous annual limit) to be invested in any listed company, under a promise that any income or capital gain earned from that point onwards will be entirely tax-free.
That is a very generous tax arrangement that very few jurisdictions are willing to match.
An ISA is like a sealed terrarium, where a finite amount of water is added to some soil and seeds, then it is left alone in the sun. Over time the garden flourishes without need of further intervention, creating a self sustaining eco-system.
Of course there is an ever present regulatory risk, that at some point the government won’t honour its promise. Until then annual ISA limits are an investing superpower that should be fully utilised.
I hold a Stocks & Shares ISA with a low cost brokerage firm.
Beware brokers who charge hefty platform fees, particular those based upon the value of your holdings.
Taxable Investment account
I maintain a second brokerage account for share investments made in excess of the annual ISA contribution limits.
If the tax-advantaged investment account above resembled a bucket, then a taxable equivalent resembles a watering can. Both happily hold water, but the watering can’s spout provides an easy means for water to escape. Taxes similarly drain on investment returns.
This account is held at a separate stockbroking firm to where I keep my ISA. As with the bank accounts, this mitigates some of the risk and inconvenience involved should a broker go broke or my account gets frozen for some reason.
Taxes take their toll on investment returns, but the tax tail should never wag the investment dog.
Line(s) of credit
Directly owned real estate investments have contributed materially to the growth of my net worth.
The ability to buy income generating assets using other people’s money, while retaining all the benefits of ownership, is a powerful thing indeed. Like any great power, it must be used carefully or it will end in tears.
Property investments remind me of ice cubes, as the investor’s equity is difficult to access while held in that form, just like water when it is frozen solid.
Many people use fixed-term or variable rate mortgages to finance real estate investments. These arrangements require the borrower to make regular repayments over an extended period of time. Each payment covers the interest charges for having borrowed the money, and sometimes a portion of the principal borrowed also.
A less common approach is the use of a Line of Credit facility.
These are secured loans like a mortgage, but operate more like a bank overdraft. The arrangement has an overall lending limit that cannot be breached. Within which the borrower is free to determine for themselves what (if any) repayments will be made during the life of the loan, and when.
Interest is only charged to the actual monies borrowed. There are no penalties for overpaying or redrawing capital. The price of this flexibility is higher interest rate charges.
When I am considering the purchase of directly held property investments I prefer to use flexible line of credit facilities where possible.
I never cross-securitise property loans, as this potentially creates a mess when the time comes to sell one of the properties securing the loan.
Home equity lines of credit provide great flexibility, but that flexibility comes at a price of higher interest rates.
Free cash flows and rebalancing
Closing the loop on my circular flow of money, the free cash flows generated by my investments are channelled back into my Contingency Fund.
The exception to this is tax-advantaged dividend income within my Stocks & Shares ISA. This income remains within the ISA wrapper, where it can be put work its compounding magic safely shielded from the eroding impact of tax.
During my accumulation phase, I rebalanced primarily via the investment of additional funds into asset classes where my current holdings were under-weight.
Now I periodically validate whether my actual asset allocations differed markedly from my target allocation. If this proved to be the case then I would likely take corrective action, but fortunately this has not (yet) proven necessary.
Funding my semi-retired lifestyle
One of the hardest mental adjustments to make when I shifted to a semi-retired working pattern was the notion that I would be consuming, rather than reinvesting, the free cash flow generated by my investments.
After 30+ years of accumulating, that represented a huge shift in mindset.
Even today, three years into my new working pattern, I still feel slightly guilty each time I withdraw the quarterly dividend payments from my brokerage account rather than reinvesting them.
I can only imagine how much stronger those feelings would be, were I to follow a “safe” withdrawal rate approach of selling down capital to fund lifestyle costs!
Unanswered questions
Eagle-eyed reader will have spotted the absence of pension accounts from this “How I Money” overview.
There are a few reasons for this, which would probably require a post of their own to discuss properly.
For now I’ll just observe that pensions can be a powerful tool in the personal finance toolbox.
For the right person.
In the right circumstances.
Indeed, they remain one of the most tax-advantaged ways to invest in the United Kingdom.
Like any tool, pensions work best when used for their intended purpose.
Time horizons, geographic arbitrage choices, and lifestyle preferences are all factors that determine whether pensions are the right investment vehicle for you.
Ask the audience
I’ve shown you mine, now it is your turn!
How do you money?
References
- Financial Services Compensation Scheme (2018), ‘Banks & building societies‘
- Monevator (2018), ‘Compare the UK’s cheapest online brokers‘
- MoneySavingExpert (2018), ‘Cashback Credit Cards‘
- MoneySavingExpert (2018), ‘Top bank accounts with perks for switching‘
Dr FIRE 7 November 2018
It looks like I money very similarly to you! I have several current accounts for different things, (cashback from bills, emergency money, a main account, etc) and a credit card to make use of reward points (mine is also affiliated with a large grocery store; I wonder if we have the same one, haha). I make use of ISAs, saving in a Lifetime ISA for a house in the near future and in a stocks and shares ISA for retirement in the not-so-near future. I also am paying into a company pension; for me, the tax relief and employer contribution make it worthwhile. I’d be interested in reading a future post about why you apparently haven’t got much money in a pension.
Interesting to see that actually spending the money you were previously reinvesting is easier said than done! I’ve read similar things from other bloggers who have retired early. I guess you can’t really prepare for that feeling until the day comes.
{in·deed·a·bly} 7 November 2018 — Post author
Thanks for reading Dr FIRE.
Sounds like a sensible setup. I missed out on LISAs, being just that little bit over the arbitrary upper age limit when they were introduced. Talk about age discrimination!
indeedably fan 7 November 2018
Really like your posts and have to say this is one of my favourite FIRE blogs I subscribe too!
You mention:
All my personal cash flows are channelled into this account. Any excess balance, over an arbitrary threshold, is then automatically swept into my bills account.
How is this done?
Martin Lewis has said about possibly using a credit card as a contingency fund, this obviously takes a degree of accounting and I dont personally do this
I do use short term credit on credit cards via 0% balance transfer deals as a form of arbitrage, but ensuring I reserve funds to pay off when due so do not incur high interest
You mention property investments, it would be great if you could do an article on this and share your knowledge?
{in·deed·a·bly} 7 November 2018 — Post author
Thanks for your kind words “fan“.
An automated balance sweep is a service offered by some banks/building societies to automatically shift money over an arbitrary customer defined limit into another account. A mortgage offset account would be a good example of where this sort of facility would prove useful. Generally the two accounts have to be held at the same bank, sometimes even the same branch of the bank.
The primary purpose of my contingency fund is to smooth out the ride in terms of cash flow. My investment income tends to exhibit a “lumpy” earnings profile. Examples may include void periods between tenancies, major property maintenance outgoings, or periods of weak demand experienced by my business.
I don’t think credit cards would be a good fit for providing that sort of capability.
For a more traditional “emergency fund” however, a credit card is probably a good candidate providing the borrower has access to sufficient liquid assets to pay off the balance at the end of the billing cycle.
Caveman 7 November 2018
Looking at this it initially strikes me that there are a couple of big differences in how you and I approach money – but also a lot that’s the same.
So I do pensions – with my focus on maxing out my employers contributions as that is free money. I hate all debt including mortgages so again we differ there.
Where we agree is on the magic of ISAs, and also in terms of efficient use of multiple current accounts (although my organising logic is different).
What really strikes me though is that it’s not the specific similarities and differences, but the importance of having a “how-I-money” philiosophy and plan. As long as you’re thinking about what you want to do that and executing behind that plan I think you are ahead of most people when it comes to finances.
{in·deed·a·bly} 8 November 2018 — Post author
“As long as you’re thinking about what you want to do that and executing behind that plan”
You nailed it Caveman.
[HCF] 27 December 2018
More than a year ago I was tackling the same topic as part of a chain post (see here). It is interesting that I reviewed it just now and not much has changed. Except I got educated on “investments” combined life insurance and fixed the problem just the other month. It also fits into the ASAP principle I like to use for everything 🙂
I accept that complexity is something that is essential when the things get… well more complex. Now we have your pattern for future analysis.
Truth is said, pensions are? (were?) good tools for some folks. I am not one of them. I also have many reasons but let’s just say that I don’t count on it and if somehow I will end up with any, it will be a nice to have pocket money 🙂
{in·deed·a·bly} 27 December 2018 — Post author
Thanks for sharing HCF. It will be interesting to watch your money map evolve as you add investments, retirement savings, and so on to the picture.
That is a fascinating thread you linked to, is very interesting to see no two people have the same approach to managing their money. I liked the Sankey visualisations a couple of them used, quite an effective method to show where the money comes from and where it ultimately goes.
David Andrews 9 October 2019
I money in a very similar fashion to yourself except for pensions. Having reached a point where my day to day expenses are quite low and all the debt is paid off I use the Salary Sacrifice option available through my employer. I sacrifice as much as possible from my salary to my pension as it’s tax efficient and my employer also pays in half the employer’s NI that they save. The result is that I pay significantly lower income tax. I hold quite a few current accounts ( usually in order to qualify for linked savings account or other incentives such as free cinema tickets). I meet the funding requirements of the multiple current accounts buy “flowing” funds from my main current account to the next current account and so on before it returns to my main current account again. I’ve “stoozed” a significant amount of credit card “debt” but it’s all on 0% cards and I retain the equal amount of funds in interest bearing accounts. I don’t receive much interest but I do get a kick out of “borrowing” from a back at 0% and then loaning them back the same money for a better return. It was a bit of a pain to set this all up but I received quite a few account opening incentives and now it’s all “automagically” managed by direct debits. My mortgage is fully offset but I retain it as it’s an offset interest only mortgage at a low rate. Keeping the mortgage allows me easy access to a line of credit should I need it for an emergency or investment opportunity.
{in·deed·a·bly} 9 October 2019 — Post author
Thanks for sharing your approach David. I commend your enthusiasm for gaming the system, I like the principle but when it comes to execution I find myself opting for the simple life.