June Update: Exercising Options, Mostly Market Moves
After a strong May, June went the other way. Total net worth was down about £81k (−4.5%) to £1.72m, and the liquid side took most of the hit, down £92k (−19%) to £398k.
Here is the move by category, same grouping as the chart on the homepage:
| Category | May | June | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current | £39k | £12k | −£27k |
| Savings | £50k | £25k | −£25k |
| ISA | £306k | £284k | −£21k |
| GIA | £95k | £76k | −£19k |
| Pension | £177k | £189k | +£11k |
| Illiquid | £1.13m | £1.13m | flat |
| Total | £1.80m | £1.72m | −£81k |
| Liquid | £490k | £398k | −£92k |
Inflows
On the way in it was almost entirely salary this month, nothing else really. No bonus, no dividends worth mentioning. Beyond the paycheck, the rest of the movement across the portfolio is the market rather than new money going in. The pension was the one category that grew, up £11k, and that is mostly market plus the usual contributions.
Outflows
The big move this month was deliberate. I exercised a chunk of options, which is what drove most of the cash drawdown you see across Savings, Current and the ISA. I wrote up the full reasoning in Exercising options now vs paying more tax later: the short version is that I paid tax now to lock in CGT treatment on future gains rather than carry option-shaped exposure and pay income tax on everything later. It is a forward looking move, not spending, so the lower cash balance is doing exactly what I wanted it to.
The flip side is that I expect a larger influx of cash later this year or next year to compensate for this, so the dip in the liquid accounts should be temporary rather than a permanent step down.
Day-to-day spending has actually been quieter. I am eating at home a lot more and eating out a lot less, so general expenditure is down. Once you set the options exercise aside, most of the remaining movement in ISA and GIA is market related rather than money leaving, with both down a touch as the market handed back some of May's recovery. The illiquid bucket was effectively flat: the equity position is still held at its last mark and gold barely moved.
I want to do a proper breakdown of both spending and stock holdings in a future post. The ISA in particular is mainly split between a speculative bucket and a plain index bucket, so it will be interesting to pull it apart and see what is actually doing the work versus what is just along for the ride.