Foundations
First allocator loops, Sheets as a living desk, and the habit of writing policy into config instead of improvising on busy days. Scaffolding for a system meant to last decades, not a demo weekend.
Locktight
A private command centre for long-horizon money — ISA, pensions, and the rules that keep them honest.
Locktight is my long-term investment overview, planner and command centre: seed-phase gates, sleeve caps, a tiered cash buffer, pension reminders, and a Google Sheet desk that stays readable under stress. Built on my own money and aimed at retirement — not a time-boxed experiment. Not a product, not for clients, and not financial advice.
Timeline
Build work started in early 2026. The live command centre has been in use from 1 August 2026. The milestones below skip routine deploys — they show the shape of the system.
Command centre goes live
Overview, planner and automation on my own accounts in earnest: seed-phase contribution routing, core–satellite sleeve caps, and a standing promise to prefer structure over noise.
The desk gets sharper
One hybrid strategy path, fail-closed sync when lineage cannot be verified, scheduled pension and tax reminders, and SNS action emails when the ladder or desk needs a human move.
Tax tooling outside the live bot
Offline Section 104 matching and futures reconciliation packs so historical records can be reviewed calmly — without turning the public page into a tax filing desk.
Steady growth under clearer rules
The operating contract is quieter: fewer competing strategies, clearer kill-switches on the sheet, and a system I intend to keep refining until retirement — not rebuild every quarter.
What changed
A lot of experiments came and went between January and going live. The lasting shifts are few and deliberate:
One strategy, written down
A single hybrid allocator module and policy files replaced competing mental models. If it is not in config, it is not the rule.
Seed phase and sleeve caps
Early money routes to core stability first. Satellite noise waits until the book is ready — removing a whole class of emotional top-ups.
Growth ladder with a high-water mark
ISA funding from crypto growth only on net-new steps above a tracked high-water mark — so the same profit cannot be skimmed twice.
Fail-closed over fake calm
If data lineage or key desk figures cannot be verified, the bot prefers to halt rather than look healthy on a stale sheet.
Sheets as the control plane
Google Sheets stays the operator UI — dials, transfers log, pension inputs — while AWS carries the scheduled compute and secrets stay out of the sheet.
Highs, lows, and the growth showing now
High — the desk got quieter
One command centre for ISA, pensions, and ladder actions. Less hunting across tabs; more time deciding whether a rule still earns its keep.
High — automation that respects gates
Schedulers fire, but seed-phase and kill-switches still win. The machine executes the contract; it does not invent a new one mid-week.
High — growth with a longer horizon
With clearer rules in place, Locktight feels less like constant redesign and more like a system that can compound quietly — the posture you need when the destination is retirement, not next month’s dopamine.
Low — sync friction taught humility
Early on, stale or partial sheet updates could look “fine” until you checked lineage. Fail-closed behaviour was the honest fix — slower sometimes, safer always.
Low — too many ideas at once
Calendar noise, extra strategies, and dashboard chrome competed with the few rules that matter. Cutting surface area hurt ego and helped the book.
Lessons so far
Write the contract before you automate it
Policy in YAML and a readable Control tab beat clever code that nobody can audit on a Sunday evening.
Halt beats a reassuring lie
A stopped bot with a clear alert is better than a running bot on unverified numbers.
Tax readiness is not the same as tax advice
Offline packs and statutory matching help me ask better questions of my own records. They do not replace a regulated professional when filing decisions matter.
Design for decades, not demos
If Locktight is meant to run until retirement, every new feature must earn its keep against complexity — not against boredom.
What I may try next
Still refining the live command centre — and planning decades ahead. Nothing below is a promise; only a short list of careful next steps:
Phase gates only when records are ready
Keep personal-skim / Phase 2 behaviour locked until the tax-record and registration stance I set for myself is genuinely settled — no shortcuts for convenience.
Leaner operator surface
Keep the dials that change outcomes; merge or freeze the rest so the sheet stays human-scale for the next twenty-plus years.
Household pension rhythms
Continue the reminder and review loops for household pensions so contributions and reviews stay calendar-real, not spreadsheet-aspirational.
Quiet compounding to retirement
Prefer longer soaks under fixed dials. Measure whether the system still earns trust — then keep building the same spine, not a new product every year.
Personal system
Built by Phil Stone
Private Locktight work in Northern Ireland. Meet Phil · Get in touch
Core automation sits on AWS serverless (Lambda, EventBridge Scheduler, DynamoDB, Secrets Manager, SNS) with Google Sheets as the reactive control plane. Strategy detail, balances, and results stay private.
Boundary: Locktight is Phil Stone’s personal long-horizon investment overview, planner and command centre for his own ISA, pensions, and related desk. It is not a commercial product and not a time-boxed trial. Investments can fall as well as rise. This page is an introduction only. It is not financial advice, not an invitation to invest, and not for clients. Pension, ISA and tax decisions depend on your own circumstances — speak to a regulated professional where you need advice.