August 2026 Financial Review: Portfolio Insights & Trends

August was another fabulous summer month in the UK. The lack of rain became a nasty drought, with hosepipe bans across much of the country – including my Coastal Folly’s Wessex Water supplier (for the first time in over 50 years). But lawns aside it made for an enjoyable month.

I spent quite a bit of time on the south coast. I finally ticked off the Isle of Wight’s Osborne House from my bucket list, and also made it down to Portland’s lighthouse – Dorset’s southerly point.

A grand historical building with a yellow facade, featuring multiple towers and a clock, surrounded by neatly trimmed gardens and topiary. A gravel pathway leads to the entrance.

A coastal lighthouse with a white and red striped tower next to a white house, set against a clear blue sky and ocean.

Markets in August

Markets didn’t move much in August. My markets moved, on average and after currency movements, up 0.5%. The most notable component was a slight drop in bonds, with Trump/Hormuz-driven inflation looking more persistent than it had appeared a month earlier.

A financial table showing market performance metrics for Aug 26, including equity, fixed income, cash/loan, and currency against GBP for Australia, International, UK, and USA, along with target weightings.

The equity trend of the year – the SaaSpocalypse – is now starting to feel like old news. Some stocks that were hammered by it are now trading up above their pre-1-Jan stock price. Hubspot remains very bruised, as does (not shown) XeRO – in which I have a significant position.

Line graph comparing stock performance of Atlassian Corp and competitors HubSpot, Workday, and Salesforce over one year, with data presented for each company including current price, change, percentage change, and previous close.

My portfolio in August

My portfolio returned 1% in August, a little more than the markets I track.

Government debt costs remain a recurring theme in the finance/business pages. The longer term debt costs for US and UK have been rising, with the UK’s approaching 6%. I took the opportunity to buy some 20 year 4.25% UK gilts, at around a 6% yield (5% through coupon, 1% through capital gain to maturity). This is a government-backed 3x my money, before inflation. Most of this purchase was funded by selling down my NWBD position – a long term income play with a nasty bid/offer spread.

A graph depicting the UK gilt yield curve, showing gross redemption yields (%) by years to maturity, with low-coupon gilts (<2%) represented by blue dots and higher-coupon gilts (≥2.5%) represented by orange dots.

August was as usual a relatively light month for dividends. September will be much juicier.

Table displaying delta values across different asset types: Equity, Fixed Income, and Cash, for regions including Australia, International, UK, and USA, along with their Grand Total.

My overall portfolio remains roughly in the same balance/imbalance I’ve sustained for a while – slightly overweight USA Equities, slightly underweight UK equities and bonds. My leverage is almost exactly on target. Not a lot going on, all in all.