The shouting, wounds, and blood were in plain view, the cause was hidden: fortune ruled the rest
Tacitus, Annals, Bk.I
This is my sixty-fifth 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 $2,620,000 through 2022. This should be capable of producing an annual income from total portfolio returns of about $91,600 (in 2022 dollars).
This portfolio objective is based on an assumed safe withdrawal rate of 3.5 per cent.
A secondary focus through 2022 will be achieving the minimum equity target of $2,100,000.
Portfolio summary
| Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund | $780,458 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund | $41,461 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund | $74,230 |
| Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund | $90,708 |
| Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS) | $389,075 |
| Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS) | $315,367 |
| Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200) | $295,734 |
| Telstra shares (TLS) | $2,153 |
| Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG) | $5,752 |
| NIB Holdings shares (NHF) | $8,496 |
| Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX) | $120,610 |
| Secured physical gold | $19,357 |
| Plenti (P2P lending) | $23 |
| Bitcoin | $609,240 |
| Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio) | $20,349 |
| Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio) | $3,252 |
| BrickX (P2P rental real estate) | $4,711 |
| Total portfolio value | $2,780,976 (-$115,727) |
Asset allocation
| Australian shares | 37.0% |
| Global shares | 24.5% |
| Emerging market shares | 1.5% |
| International small companies | 1.9% |
| Total international shares | 28.0% |
| Total shares | 65.0% (-15.0%) |
| Total property securities | 0.2% (+0.2%) |
| Australian bonds | 2.4% |
| International bonds | 5.5% |
| Total bonds | 7.9% (+2.9%) |
| Gold | 5.0% |
| Bitcoin | 21.9% |
| Gold and alternatives | 26.9% (+11.9%) |
Presented visually, the chart below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the portfolio.
Comments
This month twin winds hit the portfolio, leading to an overall loss of $115,000, or 4 per cent.
As a result, over half of the gains of the previous month were erased.
The portfolio is currently within sight, though a bit above, its total value twelve months ago. The past year has been a relatively volatile period in absolute terms, reinforced by the growth in the overall size of the portfolio, and its exposure to Bitcoin.
The value of the portfolio continues to be above the revised portfolio goal of $2.62 million, as it has since late July last year.
This month Bitcoin declined significantly, falling around 13 per cent, representing the largest part of the overall decline. By contrast, gold enjoyed a positive capital return of around 4 per cent over the month.
International share holdings also fell by 2.8 per cent amidst strong signs of monetary tightenings to come in developed economies. Australian shares produced a negative return of around 0.5 per cent, once distributions were accounted for.
Continuing the negative picture, bond holdings fell by 2.6 per cent. This means in dollar terms the bond portfolio holdings are at their lowest value since late 2015, and are also close to their lowest level ever as a proportion of the portfolio.
Continue reading “Monthly Portfolio Update – April 2022”