Twice a year I prepare a summary of total income from my financial independence portfolio. This is my sixteenth portfolio income update since starting this record. As part of the transparency and accountability of this journey, I regularly report this income.
My primary goal is to maintain a portfolio of at least $2,870,000. This should be capable of providing a passive income of around $99,000 (in 2024 dollars).
A secondary focus is maintaining a minimum equity target of $2,300,000.
Portfolio income summary
Investment
Amount
Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth (retail fund)
$20,096
Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth (retail fund)
$907
Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced (retail fund)
$1544
Vanguard Diversified Bonds (retail fund)
$199
Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS)
$8,149
Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS)
$18,386
Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200)
$4,622
Telstra shares (TLS.ASX)
$48
Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG.ASX)
$127
NIB Holding shares (NHF.ASX)
$180
Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio)
$316
Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio)
$0
BrickX (P2P rental real estate)
$16
Total Portfolio Income – Half-Year to June 30, 2023
$54,993
The chart below sets out the income or distributions received on a half-yearly basis from the financial independence portfolio over the past eight years.
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come To the holy city of Byzantium
W. B. Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium
This is my ninety-first 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 $2,870,000. This should be capable of producing an annual income from total portfolio returns of about $99,000 (in 2024 dollars).
A secondary focus will be achieving the minimum equity target of $2,300,000.
Portfolio summary
Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund
$852,923
Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund
$43,791
Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund
$77,301
Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund
$89,201
Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS)
$524,203
Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS)
$730,180
Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200)
$303,515
Telstra shares (TLS)
$1,929
Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG)
$9,046
NIB Holdings shares (NHF)
$8,820
Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX)
$157,415
Secured physical gold
$24,605
Bitcoin
$1,009,797
Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio)
$23,565
Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio)
$4,011
BrickX (P2P rental real estate)
$4,552
Plenti Capital Notes Market Loan
$34,000
Total portfolio value
$3,898,854 (-$64,355)
Asset allocation
Australian shares
30.9%
Global shares
29.0%
Emerging market shares
1.2%
International small companies
1.5%
Total international shares
31.7%
Total shares
62.6.%(-17.4%)
Total property securities
0.1%(+0.1%)
Australian bonds
2.7%
International bonds
4.1%
Total bonds
6.7%(+1.7%)
Gold
4.7%
Bitcoin
25.9%
Gold and alternatives
30.6% (+15.6%)
Presented visually, the pie chart below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the portfolio.
Comments
This month an important series of benchmarks were narrowly passed, despite a fall in the overall portfolio headline of over $64,000.
The portfolio has now passed its target level, when only traditional financial assets are counted.
Previously – taking into account the substantial current value of Bitcoin holdings – the overall target was easily met, but from this month, even excluding the entire value of these volatile holdings, the target has been met.
In other words, assessed as a more conventional portfolio, the journey of asset accumulation has this month reached its notional end point.
It did this through some small movements in Australian shares, and through a slightly larger growth in the value of international equities (around 2.4 per cent).
Gold continued to fall slightly this month, and there was significant fall in the value of Bitcoin holdings – of around 12 per cent. Bonds produced a capital gain of around 1 per cent.
This month I invested some surplus funds, which would in the past have been invested in equity index funds, into a further purchase of Plenti Capital Notes, at an approximate yield of 9.0 per cent.
It deserves noting that yields of this kind are not offered without an appreciable risk to the capital. At this stage and in my personal circumstances, however, this is a useful relatively short-term vehicle for funds I am happy to put at some risk, and which I have no need to access.
