Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past.

Niccolo Machiavelli

This is my seventy-sixth 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	$737,901
Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund	$38,046
Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund	$71,101
Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund	$88,334
Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS)	$369,990
Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS)	$512,253
Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200)	$280,551
Telstra shares (TLS)	$2,251
Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG)	$5,942
NIB Holdings shares (NHF)	$8,448
Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX)	$133,066
Secured physical gold	$21,067
Bitcoin	$465,899
Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio)	$21,067
Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio)	$3,330
BrickX (P2P rental real estate)	$4,484
Total portfolio value	$2,763,381 (+$124,630)

Asset allocation

Australian shares	35.4%
Global shares	31.1%
Emerging market shares	1.5%
International small companies	1.8%
Total international shares	34.4%
Total shares	69.8% (-10.2%)
Total property securities	0.2% (+0.2%)
Australian bonds	2.3%
International bonds	5.3%
Total bonds	7.6% (+2.6%)
Gold	5.6%
Bitcoin	16.9%
Gold and alternatives	22.4% (+7.4%)

Presented visually, the chart below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the portfolio.

Comments

The financial independence portfolio expanded by around 4.7 per cent this month, or nearly $125,000.

This brings the portfolio just beyond its final goal of $2.75 million, which it had previously reached and exceeded over a year ago.

This progress was made principally due to a rebound in the value of Bitcoin, following a series of banking failures across the United States and Europe, which lowered future interest rate expectations while increasing the attractiveness of bearer assets, with no counterparty.

Over the same period the capital value of Australian shares declined by around 0.3 per cent. By contrast the value of global shares, held mostly on an unhedged basis, grew by around 2.0 per cent.

Continue reading “Monthly Portfolio Report – March 2023”

The ship that will not obey the helm will have to obey the rocks.

Publilius Syrus

This is my seventy-fifth 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	$733,047
Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund	$38,883
Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund	$70,131
Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund	$86,372
Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS)	$370,609
Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS)	$485,700
Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200)	$281,250
Telstra shares (TLS)	$2,217
Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG)	$5,891
NIB Holdings shares (NHF)	$9,120
Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX)	$121,597
Secured physical gold	$19,290
Bitcoin	$386,363
Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio)	$20,535
Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio)	$3,266
BrickX (P2P rental real estate)	$4,480
Total portfolio value	$2,638,751 (+$30,840)

Asset allocation

Australian shares	37.0%
Global shares	31.5%
Emerging market shares	1.5%
International small companies	1.9%
Total international shares	34.9%
Total shares	71.9% (-8.1%)
Total property securities	0.2% (+0.2%)
Australian bonds	2.4%
International bonds	5.5%
Total bonds	7.9% (+2.9%)
Gold	5.3%
Bitcoin	14.6%
Gold and alternatives	20.0 (+5.0%)

Presented visually, the chart below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the portfolio.

Comments

This month the portfolio grew slowly, expanding in value around $31,000 or approximately 1.2 per cent.

The growth was primarily driven by an increase in the value of international equities, and a continued rise in the price of Bitcoin.

Global equities increases in value by around $27,000, or 3.7 per cent over the month. By constrast, Bitcoin holdings increased by around 7.5 per cent. Australian equities fell slightly over the month, by around 2.6 per cent.

This has all left the overall portfolio above its target for last year.

Amidst rising yields globally, the value of bond holdings continued to fall, decreasing by 1.8 per cent. The value of the gold component of the portfolio also was reduced, falling around 1.2 per cent.

Continue reading “Monthly Portfolio Report – February 2023”

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”