Another month passed by, so it’s time to get a grasp on what’s been going on with my investments in March.
I’ll be quick this time and get straight to the numbers.
Table of Contents
Quick Recap of March Numbers
- Portfolio value: 97,391 € (-5%) – details HERE
- Monthly Transactions (Deposits – Withdrawals): 2346 €
- Monthly growth from investments: – 5,702 €
- Passive income: 245 € – details HERE
Now, let’s get into the details.
Portfolio Performance
* Referral or Affiliate links, please, make sure you read my disclaimer at the bottom end.
** 20 % discounted as future withdrawal tax payments
So… I am back below the 100K for the second time since this day 🙁
At a glance, one would assume that March hasn’t hit me that badly as global markets have, but the big picture behind March’s numbers is looking utterly ugly.
I am confident that equity stocks will go up sooner or later, and that as long as I don’t sell anything I haven’t theoretically lost anything neither. It’s all clear on this side.
But, on the P2P side, the spectrum looks colourless. The industry, as a general (and especially in the Baltics), seems to be going through a dark period, where several companies are struggling to face investors demands from the panic withdrawal of cash caused by the consequences that COVID-19 brings to us all. More detail down below on the Alternative Investment Portfolio section.
In March, I earned 245 EUR of passive income. Long are those days when I hit 500-600 EUR per month.
The GBP/EUR currency ratio shrinks from 1.16 to 1.13, reducing the value of my Euro portfolio.
Stocks & Shares ISA (Core Portfolio)
My stocks & shares ISA growth shrinks for the fourth month in a row. -4,162.9 € incurring a -7.3% decrease.
Stocks kept on falling and I continued with my stock/bond new rebalancing plan, which is simple, sell bonds to buy stocks. Currently, I have a 70/30 proportion. Financial advisors recommend setting the split ratio following a simple formula: 110 – your age. In my case, I am 34, so I will be gradually selling more bonds until I get close to the 80/20 ratio. Investments from ISA is the only part of my portfolio I am proud of at the moment.
I did not pay myself anything this month out of my payslip as I had maxed out my ISA already. The new tax year begins on the 6th of April, so I’ll continue to buy more stocks soon.
My top ETF investment so far is the USD Treasury Bond UCITS ETF (VUTY) + 21.8%.
The worst ETF so far is Global Value Factor UCITS ETF (VVAL) – 48.93%, a nice hit for the value investing philosophy.
2020 returns so far:
- S&P 500 Index : -19.8 %
- My Stocks & Shares ISA: -10 %
Alternative Investment Portfolio
Most of my alternative investments have turned the tap off, which puts my current strategy on hold.
Since January, I have been withdrawing funds from my P2P investments and used this cash to buy dividends stocks, sadly, that no longer will be possible for at least the next three following months.
Furthermore, Grupeer, which is my largest P2P investment, seems to be by the edge of bankruptcy. So far, they have stopped payments and withdrawals, and several questions in regards some suspicious LO originators and loans haven’t been answered. Some employees appear to no longer be working at Grupeer and the CEO is apparently working on a plan. Hopefully, that means that an SPV (special purpose vehicle) is organised to manage payments between LO and investors.
We’ll see how that ends.
What’s sure for certain is that there are some lovely write-off coming soon.
Property Partner is handling the situation in a more professional manner I’d say, or at least that’s my impression, time will tell. Rental dividends are cut in full for the next three months for all properties and will be reviewed after that period. Student properties are empty, but some of them may be used by the Gov and NHS during this pandemic, but I’ll be lucky if I get any real income from it. Residential properties will keep paying a dividend, so I may get a larger lump sum on a later stage. Property prices are on the fall. More details on how this is affecting the value of my property portfolio here. I think it can take up several years before I can enjoy any positive gains. Hopefully, the platform will survive that long!
Crowdestor has also suspended interests and principals. It’s hard to say what’s going to happen here. A Facebook group is set with the aims of getting lenders and borrowers in touch.
My share of holiday rental properties from Spain purchased via Evoestate will take a nice shit hit too. At the moment, it doesn’t look anyone will have holidays anytime soon, so wish me luck here too.
BS has hit the Housers‘ fan too, having most of the properties in Italy and Spain the outcome is probably clear, losing more money.
Outstanding payments keep mounting up at Robo.cash, although they are still ensuring buyback guarantees (until they won’t?).
Estateguru and Crowdestate seem to be doing fairly ok for now, but delays on payments from borrowers are ramping up too.
Ratesetter is also facing large withdrawal amounts and investors are experiencing some delays in getting the cash into their bank accounts.
FastInvest runs majestically well – but…. will that last?
So, as you can see, good fun is coming up during next few months for sure.
Ok, leaving the brown behind, let’s step on my next temporal browny, my …
Dividend Portfolio
My dividend portfolio continuos its bleeding, now at higher speed.
I am pretty much ok with this, as most of my shares are strong large-cap blue-chips companies, but the fact of being in a “P2P lockdown” will affect the future performance of this portfolio, as my chances of dollar-cost averaging are near to nothing (that cash you see on my net worth page is kept in the bank as a possible house purchasing in Spain, and it’s not money I am willing to invest).
So, so, so! The shit keeps hitting the fan guys!
The only thing that relieves me right now (in terms of investments) are dividend payments.
Now, I come to understand what Rockefeller meant when saying this:
“Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It’s to see my dividends coming in”
— Tony @ OneMillionJourney.com (@JourneyMillion) February 17, 2020
– John D. Rockefeller
Dividend Payments
As the portfolio increases, so should my dividend income, so why not to start having income recaps? 🙂
3M (MMM): 5.61 €
Johnsons & Johnsons (JNJ): 2.88 €
Kroger (KR): 3.11 €
Ford (F): 0.23 €
Total Income in March: 11.83 €
There’s a lot to grow, but it will get better little by little.
New Holdings And Purchases
In March I added Microsoft (MSFT), Mastercard (MA), Wallgreens Boot (WBA) and a Property ETF ishares developed markets property yield.
I think Microsoft and Mastercard need no introduction at all. Two solid based companies that nearly every investor in the world owns a share of.
Wallgreens Boot (WBA) is an American pharmaceutical retailer and dividend aristocrat that has increased dividends over the last 44 years in a row. This company appears to be undervalued as investors fear Amazon entering the healthcare industry.
Besides this new holding, I increased my stake on Disney, Johnson and Johnson, Exxon and 3M.
All of this add a total contribution of 3245€ in March.
My dividend portfolio is too USD focused at the moment. I should start looking at UK and EU companies, but there are so many great US companies that look so tempting!
The €45K Project Fund
Yup, besides all this corona thing, I am still a non-smoker. Best of all is that despite having some down days, I have not considered for a second to lit up a cigarette. Aquientaces of mine who recently stopped smoking have come back to the habit recently, so that shows how firmly I have beaten the nicotine trap as it will soon be one year since I stopped. At least some good news on this side of the sinking ship, and blogging definitely helped 🙂
In March I deposited what is likely to be my last contribution to Abundance Investment. For the 2019-2020 tax year, the whole €45K Project Fund has been invested in Abundance. Don’t ask me where I am going to put this £50 moving forward because I have no idea.
What ethical investment I could invest £50 on a monthly basis from now on? 😕 Preferably not a scam (important to note).
So far, I have recovered the 1.91% of my loss = 861.5 EUR
44,138.5 EUR left to go.
See further details and the portfolio chart in the Abundance page
Related content: How I FIRED 45k with algo trading, Investing Ethically, Recovering €45K through Investing in Myself First
This is it for this month, be back on May. On the meantime…
