portfolio returns – FIRE v London

My portfolio went up over 3% in January. But then came down again.

The same happened in February. I concluded the month feeling somewhat ‘humped’ by the market, twice. Hence my post about two-humped camels (Bactrian camels, as it turns out – ahem).

So as the end of March approached, with my portfolio again up about 3%, I kept expecting a correction. But as at the time of writing, no correction has yet occurred.

Meanwhile, the news in March seemed full of vaccines. The UK has now vaccinated over half its adults. The US, about a quarter. The EU, is bringing up the rear, with about half of that. The headlines were full of vaccine wars, blood clots, second doses, you name it.

The other key story in London was the horrible news about 30-something Sarah Everard who was abducted and killed on one of the popular green spaces, Clapham Common, by a stranger – a policeman no less. The story hit the headlines because of how rare this sort of stuff is these days. There are only around 20 women killed in the UK every year by strangers, which suggests 5 or fewer per year in London.

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I have a distinct feeling of deja vu, regarding the February markets.

Just like January, my new real-time portfolio tracker showed – erm, assuming I kept regular track of it which of course I shouldn’t – steady climbs in the month. Just after half way through the month I was up almost 4% on the start of the month. In 3 weeks.

And, just like January, the month end gods poured cold water on those mid month returns. In January, the deluge left me underwater. In February, it was – almost literally – a wash. The graph looks like two camel humps, each hump ending up at the neckline. My final result was within my tracking margin of error – certainly given that some of my accounts don’t give me online access.