When we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work and when
we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.
Wendell Berry
This is my ninety-sixth 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).
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 $2,300,000.
Portfolio summary
| Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund | $910,869 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund | $46,326 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund | $80,874 |
| Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund | $91,446 |
| Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS) | $566,130 |
| Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS) | $787,977 |
| Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200) | $328,086 |
| Telstra shares (TLS) | $2,100 |
| Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG) | $10,756 |
| NIB Holdings shares (NHF) | $6,816 |
| Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX) | $181,423 |
| Secured physical gold | $28,784 |
| Bitcoin | $1,650,745 |
| Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio) | $25,318 |
| Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio) | $4,275 |
| BrickX (P2P rental real estate) | $4,711 |
| Plenti Capital Notes Market Loan | $89,000 |
| Total portfolio value | $4,815,636 (+$507,442) |
Asset allocation
| Australian shares | 26.9% |
| Global shares | 25.2% |
| Emerging market shares | 1.0% |
| International small companies | 1.3% |
| Total international shares | 27.6% |
| Total shares | 54.4% (-25.6%) |
| Total property securities | 0.1% (+0.1%) |
| Australian bonds | 3.4% |
| International bonds | 3.4% |
| Total bonds | 6.8% (+1.8%) |
| Gold | 4.4% |
| Bitcoin | 34.3% |
| Gold and alternatives | 38.6% (+23.6%) |
Presented visually, the pie chart below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the portfolio.
Comments
This month the portfolio has seen outsized growth, of $507,000 or 11.8 per cent, due to substantial increases in the price of Bitcoin. This is the largest monthly growth in both absolute terms and in percentage terms since the record of this journey began at the close of 2016.
Even in the relatively earlier phases of the journey, where regular contributions were being added to a smaller absolute portfolio, it was unusual for the portfolio to shift in percentage terms by as much as experienced this month.
An expansion of this kind can easily be reversed in the future, as the past volatility of Bitcoin attests. For the moment, however, it has catapulted the total portfolio to an unanticipated level, at least temporarily changing its nature. Over the past year, for example, the portfolio has grown by over 50 per cent.
Looking only at the traditional financial assets, the monthly expansion in this value is significant, but not unprecedented across the journey, with these appreciating around $80,000 in net terms.
Australian equity holdings returned around 3.7 per cent over the month, with international equites returning around 4.0 per cent. Bond holdings also increased in value by around 1.3 per cent.
By contrast the value of gold securities fell by around 4.3 per cent, retreating from previous gains.
Bitcoin grew in value by around 35 per cent, building on already strong gains since August. This means that Bitcoin is at the highest proportion of the portfolio it has ever attained, representing over a third of portfolio assets and the single largest asset class.
Continue reading “Monthy Portfolio Report – November 2024”