Like unto gulls, they were borne on the waves around the black ship.Homer The Odyssey Bk.XXII 403-425
This is my one hundred and eighteenth monthly portfolio update. I complete this regular update to check progress against my goal.
Portfolio goal
My objective is to maintain a portfolio of at least $3,250,000. This should be capable of producing an annual income from total portfolio returns of about $112,000 (in 2026 dollars).
This portfolio objective is based on an assumed safe withdrawal rate of 3.45 per cent.
A secondary focus will be maintaining the minimum equity target of $2,600,000.
Portfolio summary
| Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund | $1,004,618 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund | $49,528 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund | $83,310 |
| Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund | $87,561 |
| Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS) | $676,200 |
| Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS) | $1,176,321 |
| Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200) | $345,949 |
| Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX) | $265,987 |
| Bitcoin | $1,328,066 |
| Plenti Capital Notes | $84,000 |
| Financial portfolio value (excluding Bitcoin) | $3,773,474 (-$14,362) |
| Total portfolio value | $5,101,540 (+$104,410) |
Asset allocation
| Australian shares | 27.8% |
| Global shares | 32.0% |
| Emerging market shares | 1.1% |
| International small companies | 1.2% |
| Total international shares | 34.3% |
| Total shares | 62.1% (-17.9%) |
| Australian bonds | 2.5% |
| International bonds | 3.4% |
| Total bonds | 5.9% (+0.9%) |
| Gold | 5.2% |
| Bitcoin | 26.0% |
| Gold and alternatives | 31.2% (+16.2%) |
Presented visually, the pie chart below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the full portfolio.
Comments
The portfolio continued to grow at the headline level this month, increasing by around $104,000, or 2.1 per cent.
This growth, however, was entirely due to a re-pricing of Bitcoin holdings, with the underlying traditional financial portfolio contracting marginally, with losses of $14,000 or 0.4 per cent.
The chart below sets out the performance of both the full and ‘financial assets only’ portfolios since the commencement of the journey.
Australian shares declined by around 2.4 per cent across the month, with gold also falling by around 3.2 per cent.
A key trend over the month was the continuing grinding higher of long-term government bond yields, and cash rates, with the former being partly reflected in the value of bond holdings falling by 1.7 per cent.
Across the month, international equities grew by around 1.9 per cent, with US markets touching new highs within the month.
Bitcoin rose significantly, by 9 per cent, with its performance continuing to diverge from the general performance of the traditional financial assets.
This month, a small new investment was made in global equities (through the Vanguard exchange traded fund VGS), in accordance with the decision to regularly reinvest excess distributions and cash holdings.
The close of the third quarter of the year means that distributions from the ETFs and funds held will accrue and be paid out in coming weeks.
Initial indications of the ETF providers’ estimated distributions show that payments are slightly above median payouts. Should the Vanguard retail funds making up the remainder of the portfolio display only average long-term performance, they suggest total final third quarter distributions of around $21,000, about $1,300 or 7 per cent higher than projections.
What the years have gathered: trends in taxable investment income
This month I completed my tax return for the last financial year.
This taxation record data provides an independent lense through which to track trends in investment income, and progress towards the financial independent objectives set. The primary way progress is tracked is through progress to the goal, and biannually, through analysis of portfolio income, however, formal taxation records provides a useful ‘cross check’ on the trends observed there.
Continue reading “Monthly Portfolio Update – September 2026”
