Category: Investment returns

What a miserable month.  Or so you’d think from all the media commentary post the Brexit referendum. But was it so bad, for those of us measuring results in pounds, actually?

Clearly the big event was the UK deciding to leave the EU.  Or rather, deciding that it doesn’t want to stay in the EU under the current arrangements.   Politically the UK has descended into ultrashambles.  But FTSE is approaching its all-time peak, closing June above 6500, and S&P was almost exactly flat.

What else happened in June? Who cares… or that’s what I feel like as the Brexit vote ramifications sink in.  We won’t forget June 2016 in a hurry, football fans or not.

Continue reading “My portfolio performance – June 2016 – Brexit” →

I’m cheating slightly, and capturing my May returns on the 29 May, during the UK’s holiday weekend.  This leaves out the last trading day of May, Tuesday 31/5.  In effect this means that 31/5 will become part of my June 16 returns, so it will catch up with me.

May has been pretty uneventful from an investment perspective.  The FTSE-100 index stayed at around 6300, and S&P remained close to 2100.

What else happened in May?

• The Brexit referendum campaign started to feel like it is the Remainers’ to lose.  Certainly the economic argument feels settled. This leaves the sovereignty and immigration arguments still to play for, along with the foibles of random news events and turnout on the day.
• At the time of writing nothing else of note appears to have happened in May, whatsoever.

Continue reading “My May 2016 portfolio returns” →

April was the first month for me where the portfolio damage (and buying opportunities!) of August and December last year felt truly behind us.  The FTSE-100 index reached 6350, and S&P crossed 2100.

What else happened in April?

• The Brexit referendum campaign seemed to swing slightly against the Brexiteers, coincidentally around the time President Obama was meeting Prince George in a bathrobe.
• The Panama Papers scandal broke.  In which the UK’s PM was vilified for his father having been an investment manager and having done what UK tax authorities pushed investment managers to do for most of the last 50 years – he set up his structure in an internationally-compatible way.
• The oil price rose to $45/barrel.  This is over a third up from a low in mid-January of $32.

In early April, I finally received the funds for a couple of illiquid assets which I sold some months ago.  Aside from a very small portion of these funds which Mrs FvL will ‘invest’ in furnishing the Dream Home, I’ve halved these proceeds: one half has reduced my margin loan and the other half has been added to my investment portfolio.  Accordingly I have slightly tweaked my target allocation – it has shifted from 100:50:-50 equity:bonds:cash to 100:45:-45, reflecting the slightly smaller debt load and a slight increase in the equity mix to mirror the drop in risk.

Continue reading “My April 2016 portfolio returns” →