Category: Investment returns

Dec ’25: 2025 in review

FIRE v London6 Comments

It’s over. The year of 2025, the thirteenth year I’ve been systematically tracking my investment portfolio every month, is over.

One of the reasons I blog is to track my performance with a bit more discipline and rigour than I might manage otherwise. And part of that process is to review the portfolio not just monthly, but with a bit more depth each year.

Seven questions to assess my portfolio

For the last few years I have answered seven questions – with a variety of analyses that I don’t conduct every month. These seven questions are as follows:

Q1 – How did markets do?

Q2 – How did I do, vs my benchmark?

Q3 – What is my progress towards my retirement goals?

Q4 – How tax efficient is my portfolio?

Q5 – What fees am I paying?

Q6 – How complex is my porfolio?

Q7 – What key risks am I taking?

What’s the answer? Lots to like this year

This year is no different, insofar as I have considered each of these seven questions. But rather than simply copy/paste last year’s post, with minor updates, I’m going to cut to the punchline.

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Nov ’25: Coastal Folly loan repaid

FIRE v London6 Comments

Trump dominated the headlines again. This time partly due to some very biased editing by the BBC of a Panorama show about Trump before the US election.

There was also the omnipresent UK Budget. Which has had more than enough coverage. I did a ‘damage assessment‘ at the time and haven’t revised/updated my view since.

Back at home, the Christmas season started early. I found myself dining at two of London’s impressive skyscraper restaurants in one week.

I also managed a trip up to Oxford, where the Christmas lights were out in force.

Other London highlights included a performance of the Crucible in South London, and a dinner at George’s club in Mayfair.

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Oct ’25: Trim, trim & trim

FIRE v London1 Comment

October in the markets was one of those slightly giddy months. My portfolio crossed through a big number threshold, and kept going up.

The market stats don’t quite tell the whole story. On a constant currency basis, markets rose 2.8%. Non-UK currencies (AUD, EUR, USD) rose (versus the GBP) about 1.7% too. So my weighted benchmark rose 4.6%, measured in GBP. My (leveraged) portfolio‘s rise of 5.3% is roughly in line with that.

A 5% gain in one month is pretty extraordinary, but it does happen. While October was the best month since January 2023 (+6.6%), I have had 7 better months in the last 13 years.

However, what the market stats don’t show is what it really felt like in October.

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