The wave that is always turning
Right into the front of the ship
Is said to cause everyone’s heart
The most trouble
Pindar, Nemean, VI.52-56
This is my seventy-fourth monthly portfolio update. I complete this regular update to check progress against my goal.
Portfolio goal
My objective is to achieve and maintain a portfolio of at least $2,750,000 by 31 December 2024 or earlier. This should be capable of producing an annual income from total portfolio returns of about $94,800 (in 2023 dollars).
This portfolio objective is based on an assumed safe withdrawal rate of 3.45 per cent.
A secondary focus will be achieving the minimum equity target of $2,200,000.
Portfolio summary
| Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund | $734,301 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund | $39,255 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund | $70,774 |
| Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund | $87,970 |
| Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS) | $380,543 |
| Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS) | $456,983 |
| Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200) | $288,097 |
| Telstra shares (TLS) | $2,179 |
| Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG) | $6,189 |
| NIB Holdings shares (NHF) | $9,414 |
| Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX) | $123,055 |
| Secured physical gold | $19,529 |
| Bitcoin | $361,020 |
| Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio) | $20,910 |
| Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio) | $3,215 |
| BrickX (P2P rental real estate) | $4,477 |
| Total portfolio value | $2,607,911 (+$166,421) |
Asset allocation
| Australian shares | 38.2% |
| Global shares | 30.8% |
| Emerging market shares | 1.5% |
| International small companies | 1.9% |
| Total international shares | 34.3% |
| Total shares | 72.4% (-7.6%) |
| Total property securities | 0.2% (+0.2%) |
| Australian bonds | 2.5% |
| International bonds | 5.6% |
| Total bonds | 8.1% (+3.1%) |
| Gold | 5.5% |
| Bitcoin | 13.8% |
| Gold and alternatives | 19.3 (+4.3%) |
Presented visually, the chart below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the portfolio.
Comments
The portfolio has had a significant month of growth over January – expanding by 6.8 per cent – or $166,000.
This is the largest increase since March last year, and the seventh largest monthly increase on record. It returns the portfolio to the levels last seen through the middle of last year.
Last month the portfolio goal was revised from $2.62 million to $2.75 million to reflect inflation and a slight lowering of the safe withdrawal rate. The increase in the portfolio this month exceeded that lift in the target, meaning the end goal is nearer in net terms than at the end of last year.
Just over half of the monthly growth was due to a rebound in the price of Bitcoin, which increased in value by 33 per cent since the beginning of the year.
The other substantial contribution was from an expansion in the value of Australian and global equities. These increased around 5 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.
Gold holdings also recorded a small increase in price (1.8 per cent), and bonds also made a minor gain – of 2.1 per cent – following previous sustained falls.
Continue reading “Monthly Portfolio Report – January 2023”