This is my seventy-second 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).
A secondary focus through 2022 will be achieving the minimum equity target of $2,100,000.
Portfolio summary
Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund
$734,665
Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund
$39,052
Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund
$70,528
Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund
$87,212
Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS)
$373,659
Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS)
$440,759
Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200)
$282,996
Telstra shares (TLS)
$2,121
Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG)
$6,056
NIB Holdings shares (NHF)
$8,760
Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX)
$118,146
Secured physical gold
$18,782
Bitcoin
$279,557
Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio)
$20,104
Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio)
$3,231
BrickX (P2P rental real estate)
$4,642
Total portfolio value
$2,490,270 (+$10,340)
Asset allocation
Australian shares
39.4%
Global shares
31.6%
Emerging market shares
1.6%
International small companies
2.0%
Total international shares
35.2%
Total shares
74.7%(-5.3%)
Total property securities
0.2%(+0.2%)
Australian bonds
2.6%
International bonds
5.8%
Total bonds
8.4%(+3.4%)
Gold
5.5%
Bitcoin
11.2%
Gold and alternatives
16.7%(+1.7%)
Presented visually, the chart below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the portfolio.
Comments
This month has seen a small overall gain in the portfolio, of around $10,000. As a result, the portfolio grew by around 0.4 per cent, and ends the month quite close to the position it started.
A year ago, the portfolio briefly reached around $3.04 million, on the back of sharp gains in the value of Bitcoin. Today, a different story is in evidence, with Bitcoin holdings being a weak performer over the month, following the FTX collapse and bankruptcy.
As a result, the portfolio continues to track at a lower level than achieved in early 2021, and is still below the overall revised portfolio goal of $2.62 million.
The most visible movement this month was the fall – by around 22 per cent – in the price of Bitcoin, following relevations of the insolvency and use of customer funds of FTX and associated Alameda Research.
This brought further focus on other potential vulnerabilities in exchanges. This fall came after a period of relatively low volatility in the price of Bitcoin, and this lower volatility regime seemed to reinsert itself again following the falls, with trading ranges that are quite narrow in historical terms.
By contrast, most other elements of the portfolio showed growth.
Australian equities advanced around 6.4 per cent. Gold holdings increased by 2.1 per cent, and bonds reversed some previous losses, ending up around 1.8 per cent. International equities, however, slightly declined (by 0.2 per cent).
