When the rest of the world is mad we must imitate them in some measure.
John Martin, 1720
This is my forty-sixth monthly portfolio update. I complete this regular update to check progress against my goal.
Portfolio goal
My objective is to reach a portfolio of $2 180 000 by 1 July 2021. This would produce a real annual income of about $87 000 (in 2020 dollars).
This portfolio objective is based on an expected average real return of 3.99 per cent, or a nominal return of 6.49 per cent.
Portfolio summary
| Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund | $724,599 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund | $41,459 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund | $78,259 |
| Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund | $111,658 |
| Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS) | $224,190 |
| Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS) | $63,441 |
| Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200) | $228,870 |
| Telstra shares (TLS) | $1,481 |
| Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG) | $5,549 |
| NIB Holdings shares (NHF) | $4,896 |
| Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX) | $120,877 |
| Secured physical gold | $19,452 |
| Ratesetter (P2P lending) | $8,326 |
| Bitcoin | $168,470 |
| Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio) | $16,979 |
| Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio) | $2,772 |
| BrickX (P2P rental real estate) | $4,459 |
| Total portfolio value | $1,825,737 (-$23,159) |
Asset allocation
| Australian shares | 41.7% |
| Global shares | 22.6% |
| Emerging market shares | 2.2% |
| International small companies | 2.8% |
| Total international shares | 27.6% |
| Total shares | 69.4% (-5.6%) |
| Total property securities | 0.2% (+0.2%) |
| Australian bonds | 4.4% |
| International bonds | 9.0% |
| Total bonds | 13.4% (-1.6%) |
| Gold | 7.7% |
| Bitcoin | 9.2% |
| Gold and alternatives | 16.9% (+6.9%) |
Presented visually, below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the portfolio.
Comments
The portfolio has suffered a modest decline over the past month and fallen in value by $23,000. This has broken a five month period of overall recovery and growth, with the portfolio experiencing a contraction of around 1.3 per cent.
These falls have occurred simultaneously across major components of the portfolio, including Australian and international shares, gold and Bitcoin. This is a relatively rare occurrence.
Continue reading “Monthly Portfolio Update – September 2020”