── Fun, Fun, All the Way ──
Not every top-up has to be a serious thesis meeting in my own head. Sometimes investing should just feel a bit fun — especially when you're backing businesses and themes you actually enjoy. Today's Trading 212 SIPP add is exactly that: a UK-flavoured basket of five names — JDW, MICC, FAN, CURY and SVT — some of it solid and steady, some of it a hopeful punt, and all of it bought in the same spirit: buy things you like, understand why, and let long-term compounding do the heavy lifting. Fun, fun, all the way. Happy days.
── JDW: A Pint of Pure British Value ──
Where else to start but JD Wetherspoon (JDW) — the beloved British institution that has served cheap, cheerful food and a proper pint to this country for decades. I'm putting a few pounds into the pub trade for the long term, and honestly, it's a cheery one. Wetherspoon's is a value story all over: fighting to keep prices down when everyone else is putting theirs up, a huge estate of community-worthy locals, and a brand that millions of us actually like spending time in. It's high street Britain, done its own way, and owning a little of it feels like backing the kind of familiar, everyone-knows-it business the whole country enjoys. It's also the most genuinely 'fun' part of my portfolio — and I don't apologise for that for a second.
── CURY: High Street Tech & White Goods ──
Currys (CURY) is another familiar British high-street name — the electronics and white-goods retailer we've all wandered through, whether for a laptop, a fridge-freezer or a kettle. It's the kind of business that feels perennial: people always need a new screen, a washing machine, or that slightly-too-optimistic new smart thing. I'm adding a small slice for the long term, with my eyes open that retail is a competitive, hard-fought trade — but also that a well-positioned UK retailer with a durable high-street and online presence has a real place in a broad portfolio. It's steady, understandable, and unglamorous in the best way.
── SVT: The Boring Water That Keeps Flowing ──
And because it's never all fun and games — and the quiet corner is what actually anchors a portfolio — a bit of Severn Trent (SVT). A regulated UK water utility is about as boring as investing gets: essential, dependable services that almost everyone pays for, a defensive income, and a steady dividend you can set your watch by. It's the exact opposite of a pub or a buzzy retailer, which is precisely the point. In the 'fun, fun, all the way' spirit, boring is the ballast that let's the fun be fun. Together, a pub, a retailer and a water company actually make a nicely sensible little UK trio.
── FAN: A Bit of Wind Behind My Sails ──
FAN is a clean-energy themed fund — essentially a ticket to a portfolio of global wind and renewables names, all through one ETF-style holding. Energy transition is one of the few sectors where the very long-term outlook genuinely feels structural: the world is going to keep wanting greener power for decades, and owning it via a broad fund means I don't have to bet on any one company getting it right. It's a thematic tilt, a bit more adventurous than a plain index, and a nice way to make one corner of the SIPP feel forward-looking. Fun, and a little bit hopeful about what the future's powered by.
── MICC: The Small Unknown, for the Fun of It ──
Last, a small and frankly rather speculative UK position I'm chipping in for the fun of it: MICC. This one I'm keeping deliberately small, because it's a high-upside, higher-risk punt rather than anything I'd build a plan around. I'm not going to dress it up as a sure thing — that would be daft — it's a tiny slice of optionality, bought knowing full well it could do very little. That's the honest deal with speculative small names: keep them tiny, keep them separate from the serious money, and never let them threaten the plan. The serious stuff (my index funds and the steady compounders) does the heavy lifting; this is just a bit of fun on top.
── Fun, Fun, All the Way — But Sensibly ──
So that's today's batch: a pint at the pub, a new kettle, the water bill and a windfarm, plus a tiny speculative lottery ticket in a small cap. Across all of it, the same old rules I keep coming back to at 66: know roughly why you own each thing, keep the speculative bits small, add regularly, and — the bit that actually does the work — give it time. Fun doesn't have to mean reckless. Buying things you enjoy, and that most people understand, can be both pleasurable and a perfectly sensible way to build a portfolio you actually like owning. That matters more than people think — the investments you enjoy holding are the ones you keep holding. Fun, fun, all the way, and let the compounding do the rest.
As ever, nothing on this site is financial advice. I'm a 66-year-old UK investor sharing what I do with my own SIPP. Every one of these — high-street shares, a utilities stock, an energy fund and a speculative small cap — can go down as well as up, and the small caps especially are high risk. Past performance doesn't guarantee future results. Do your own research, understand what you own, and never invest money you can't afford to lose. I sleep fine owning this lot. Make sure you would too before doing anything similar.