…all human wisdom is summed up in these two words, ‘Wait and hope’
Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
This is my one hundred and first 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 $3,000,000. This should be capable of producing an annual income from total portfolio returns of about $103,500 (in 2025 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 $2,400,000.
Portfolio summary
| Vanguard Lifestrategy High Growth Fund | $872,847 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Growth Fund | $44,907 |
| Vanguard Lifestrategy Balanced Fund | $79,365 |
| Vanguard Diversified Bonds Fund | $92,975 |
| Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS) | $587,322 |
| Vanguard International Shares ETF (VGS) | $758,819 |
| Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200) | $315,276 |
| Telstra shares (TLS) | $2,403 |
| Insurance Australia Group shares (IAG) | $10,402 |
| NIB Holdings shares (NHF) | $8,208 |
| Gold ETF (GOLD.ASX) | $230,121 |
| Bitcoin | $1,647,888 |
| Raiz app (Aggressive portfolio) | $25,543 |
| Spaceship Voyager app (Index portfolio) | $4,247 |
| BrickX (P2P rental real estate) | $4,443 |
| Plenti Capital Notes | $84,000 |
| Total portfolio value | $4,768,766 (+$210,243) |
Asset allocation
| Australian shares | 27.0% |
| Global shares | 24.5% |
| Emerging market shares | 1.0% |
| International small companies | 1.3% |
| Total international shares | 26.8% |
| Total shares | 53.8% (-26.2%) |
| Total property securities | 0.1% (+0.1%) |
| Australian bonds | 3.3% |
| International bonds | 3.4% |
| Total bonds | 6.7% (+1.7%) |
| Gold | 4.8% |
| Bitcoin | 34.6% |
| Gold and alternatives | 39.4% (+24.4%) |
Presented visually, the pie chart below is a high-level view of the current asset allocation of the portfolio.
Comments
This month the portfolio recovered from two months of losses, and posted overall gains of $210,000, growing around 4.6 per cent.
This growth was dominated by a recovery in the price of Bitcoin, which grew by 14 per cent through the month. Together with further growth in the value of gold holdings, this overshadowed relatively trivial gains in the overall equities component of the portfolio.
As global markets assessed the changing economic picture around the implementation of, or exclusions from, US tariff changes, equity markets encountered substantial volatility. Capital markets as well, including US Treasuries, experienced higher levels of daily movements.
Gold also continued its strong growth, and the value of portfolio gold holdings has in fact more than doubled since October 2022, even taking into account the forced liquidation of some physical holdings in past months.
Most asset classes advanced during the month, with the exception of international shares, which fell around 2 per cent.
Continue reading “Monthly Portfolio Update – April 2025”