Monthly Portfolio Update – May 2026

Posted on June 1, 2026June 1, 2026 by The FI Explorer

I now suggest that in addition we each give him a large tripod and a cauldron. Later we will recoup ourselves by a collection from the people, since it would be hard on us singly to show such generosity with no return.

Homer, The Odyssey, Bk.13

This is my one hundred and fourteenth 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 $3,250,000. This should be capable of producing an annual income from total portfolio returns of about $112,000 (in 2026 dollars).

This portfolio objective is based on an assumed safe withdrawal rate of 3.45 per cent.

A secondary focus will be maintaining the minimum equity target of $2,600,000.

Portfolio summary

Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund	$997,919
Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund	$49,823
Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund	$85,002
Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund	$91,999
Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS)	$665,779
Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS)	$1,085,623
Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200)	$340,266
Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX)	$280,130
Bitcoin	$1,142,705
Plenti Capital Notes	$84,000
Financial portfolio value (excluding Bitcoin)	$3,680,541 (+$105,837)
Total portfolio value	$4,823,246 (+$67,667)

Asset allocation

*Australian shares*	*29.0%*
Global shares	31.9%
Emerging market shares	1.2%
International small companies	1.3%
Total international shares	34.3%
Total shares	63.4% (-16.6%)
Australian bonds	2.7%
International bonds	3.6%
Total bonds	6.3% (+1.3%)
Gold	5.8%
Bitcoin	23.7%
Gold and alternatives	29.5% (+14.5%)

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

Comments

This month the portfolio continued to recover, growing by approximately $68,000 in headline terms, or around 1.4 per cent.

This growth is attributable to appreciation in financial assets, with the narrower financial portfolio alone increasing by $106,000 or 3.0 per cent. This places the financial portfolio technically at the highest level ever reached, just above the level attained at the end of February.

The chart below sets out the performance of both the full and ‘financial assets only’ portfolios since the commencement of the journey.

The contributors to this strong performance were positive movements in global equity markets, combined with some currency benefit. This in turn has helped the global equity portfolio to reach its highest ever level, in absolute dollar terms, rising by 5.6 per cent. The global equity portfolio is also around 54 per cent of the total equity portfolio, a level not seen since the second half of 2017.

Australian equities were slightly positive across the month, rising by 1.0 per cent, while bond slightly rose in value by 0.8 per cent.

Across alternative asset classes, Bitcoin also drifted lower by around 3.2 per cent across the month and gold continued its recent negative performance, falling by around 1.0 per cent.

The month, as previously, small additional new investments were made in global equities (through the Vanguard exchange traded fund VGS), in accordance with the decision to regularly reinvest excess distributions and cash holdings.

Harbour dues: proposed changes to capital gains taxation

This month also saw the delivery of the Federal budget, and announcement of a set of potential reforms to the taxation of a range of assets and some trusts.

The impact of these will differ according to every personal circumstance, but I have been considering what they mean – if anything – for my longer-term financial independence portfolio and status.

Monthly Portfolio Update – April 2026

Posted on May 1, 2026May 1, 2026 by The FI Explorer

On the gathering tide of darkness ride

The argosies of the sky,

And spangle the night with their sails of light

As the streaming star goes by.

J.R.R Tolkien The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star

This is my one hundred and thirteenth 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 $3,250,000. This should be capable of producing an annual income from total portfolio returns of about $112,000 (in 2026 dollars).

This portfolio objective is based on an assumed safe withdrawal rate of 3.45 per cent.

A secondary focus will be maintaining the minimum equity target of $2,600,000.

Portfolio summary

Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund	$970,555
Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund	$48,659
Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund	$83,390
Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund	$91,304
Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS)	$657,749
Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS)	$1,016,641
Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200)	$337,076
Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX)	$285,330
Bitcoin	$1,180,875
Plenti Capital Notes	$84,000
Financial portfolio value (excluding Bitcoin)	$3,574,074 (+$103,919)
Total portfolio value	$4,755,579 (+$188,076)

Asset allocation

*Australian shares*	*29.0%*
Global shares	30.6%
Emerging market shares	1.1%
International small companies	1.3%
Total international shares	33.1%
Total shares	62.0% (-18.0%)
Australian bonds	2.7%
International bonds	3.6%
Total bonds	6.3% (+1.3%)
Gold	6.0%
Bitcoin	24.8%
Gold and alternatives	30.8% (+15.8%)

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

Comments

This past month the portfolio rebounded from the previous losses, expanding by $188,000 or around 4.1 per cent.

As a result a five month downward trend in the overall portfolio value was broken. From the perspective of the financial portfolio, movements through April partly reversed about half of the losses of the prior month.

This leaves the financial portfolio within around two per cent of its highest ever value, despite the ongoing elevated levels of geopolitical instability.

In sharp contrast, the full portfolio has only just returned to levels first reached in late 2024, due to prolonged falls in the price of Bitcoin.

The chart below sets out the performance of both the full and ‘financial assets only’ portfolios since the commencement of the journey.

Driving the strong performance this month has been a rebounding in global equity markets, of around 5.2 per cent, as well as growth in the price of Bitcoin (7.7 per cent), after significant falls over the past six months.

Australian equities continued to deliver small positive returns, with capital appreciation of around 1.1 per cent and payments of quarterly income of around 1.0 per cent.

The general economic picture over the medium-term is clouded by uncertainty over the full impacts of closure of the Straits of Hormuz, and the flow on ramifications to global supply chains, liquid fuels, and prices. It is possible that even as equity markets provide broadly positive signals, the effects of the crisis will persist and cascade through everyday markets and consumer experiences for months or years ahead.

Gold holdings drifted lower by around 4.5 per cent per cent, continuing a retreat since the end of January.

The month as previously small additional new investments were made in global equities (through the Vanguard exchange traded fund VGS), in accordance with the decision to regularly reinvest excess distributions and cash holdings.

Weather margin: the role and effects of currency exposure on the portfolio

One of the less visible elements of portfolio performance over time, which has an increasing absolute dollar impact on portfolio performance as the portfolio grows, is the effect of currency exposures.

Monthly Portfolio Update – March 2026

Posted on April 1, 2026April 1, 2026 by The FI Explorer

Most men thought it would come, but no man prepared for it; no man considered it would come like a Thief in the night. . . . They have dreamed out their dream, and awakening have found nothing in their hands.

Daniel Dafoe

This is my one hundred and twelfth 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 $3,250,000. This should be capable of producing an annual income from total portfolio returns of about $112,000 (in 2026 dollars).

This portfolio objective is based on an assumed safe withdrawal rate of 3.45 per cent.

A secondary focus will be maintaining the minimum equity target of $2,600,000.

Portfolio summary

Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund	$931,054
Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund	$47,355
Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund	$82,469
Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund	$93,420
Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS)	$648,615
Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS)	$954,738
Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200)	$332,674
Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX)	$296,460
Bitcoin	$1,096,718
Plenti Capital Notes	$84,000
Financial portfolio value (excluding Bitcoin)	$3,470,785 (-$208,956)
Total portfolio value	$4,567,503 (-$136,493)

Asset allocation

*Australian shares*	*29.5%*
Global shares	30.2%
Emerging market shares	1.1%
International small companies	1.3%
Total international shares	32.6%
Total shares	62.1% (-17.9%)
Australian bonds	2.8%
International bonds	3.7%
Total bonds	6.5% (+1.5%)
Gold	6.5%
Bitcoin	24.0%
Gold and alternatives	30.5% (+15.5%)

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

Comments

This month the portfolio continued its sustained period of losses, the longest period of losses in the headline portfolio record to date.

The overall portfolio recorded a loss of $136,000, or 2.9 per cent.

The traditional financial asset portfolio experienced higher losses, of around $209,000, or 5.7 per cent. This fall represents the second largest monthly loss in financial assets, in percentage term after March 2020. In nominal dollar terms, it is the largest monthly loss the financial portfolio has ever incurred.

The combination of these two results means that at a portfolio level, the month was unremarkable, due to rises in the value of Bitcoin significantly offsetting broad losses in traditional financial assets. Yet when only the financial portfolio is considered, the losses were unusually high relative to any events since 2020.

The chart below provides the performance of both the full and ‘financial assets only’ portfolios since the commencement of the journey.

The dominant theme of markets has been volatility and losses, as macro-economic conditions and expectations deteriorate around geopolitical conflict and disruption in the Persian gulf.

While the value of bitcoin holdings have increased around 7 per cent across the month, the value of gold holdings have declined sharply, by 9 per cent. This fall in gold perhaps reflects some forced selling from previously significant state holders, and expectations of higher interest rates to respond to expected inflationary forces associated with oil and supply chain disruptions.

Australian equities have fallen around 7.2 per cent across the month, while global equities have also fallen, by 4.3 per cent.

This picture of generally correlated sharp asset movements is a common marker of financial market stress. As this occurred, however, the correlation between bitcoin holding and the financial portfolio have turned negative, and bitcoin has at least temporarily become a ‘negative beta’ asset, moving in the opposite direction to other financial assets.

As March closes, so does the the first quarter of the financial year. This means that quarterly distributions are being finalised across the ETF and retail fund holdings. Based on past average payouts and some estimated ETF distributions, it is projected that the portfolio will generate around $20,000 in total distributions in this quarter.

Fixing the plot: tracking portfolio income, distributions and expenses (2017-2026)

For the past six years portfolio updates have generally included a comparison of portfolio distribution and expenses, inspired by a similar chart in the classic financial independence guide, Your Money or Your Life published in 1992.

More recently, I have added in an estimate of portfolio income using the assumed safe withdrawal rate, and even demonstrated the impact of superannuation assets strictly outside the portfolio on this measure.

Typically this graph is examined on a month by month basis, observing small changes.

Line of Position – Reviewing the Bond Portfolio

Posted on March 15, 2026March 15, 2026 by The FI Explorer

There is no sin but ignorance

Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta

Bonds have played a limited role in the financial independence portfolio so far. Hollowing the examination of the equity portfolio last month, however, it seemed fitting to complete the picture with a detailed look at the development of, and trends in, the bond and fixed interest holdings.

The last detailed examination of the fixed interest and bond components of the portfolio was undertaken in October 2019. This found that the bond portfolio was reasonably well-diversified, broadly index-aligned, and doing its job of providing ballast against equity volatility — even if it had largely arisen in conditions of ‘benign neglect’.

More than six years have passed since that examination. In the intervening period, global bond markets have experienced some of the most dramatic conditions in recent decades. These include the pandemic-era collapse of yields to historic lows, a sharp rate-hiking cycle from 2022 that delivered real capital losses to bond holders worldwide, and a gradual recovery since. The four decade secular bull market in bonds that seemed at risk of ending in 2019 did, in a sense, end — quite violently.

Along the way, some of the key assumptions underpinning the rationale for holding bonds have been tested in ways not seen for a generation.

Recapping the structure and history of the fixed interest and bond portfolio

When the bond portfolio was last examined in detail in October 2019, total bond and fixed interest holdings stood at around $257,000, representing just under 15 per cent of the overall portfolio.

That figure had itself slightly declined from a peak of around $260,000 reached in January 2018.

The chart below tells the fuller story across nearly two decades looking at all fixed interest holdings (e.g. bond holdings and Plenti peer to peer and capital note investments).