December saw my net worth increase by 1%, mainly a result of gains in equities, pension funds, and foreign exchange movements during the month.
The value of my investment portfolio increased by around 1% with sharp falls in early December more than offset by increases towards the end of the month. There were also a number of larger dividends earned during the month and a large capital gain was realised. I've done a separate post summarising December's purchases & sales.
I updated the fx rates used to assess net worth, following a sustained strengthening of HKD/USD against GBP.
My pension fund unit values also increased around 1% despite weakness in early December
Property rental income was paid in full & on time.
Cash balances were higher, with investment sales exceeding purchases. Savings were also reasonable, despite some travel & Christmas related expenses.
Year to date net worth growth: 28%
Year to date savings rate: 64%
I'll follow this with a 2014 full year review post, and a separate look ahead to 2015.
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
December 2014 Investment update
During December i made a few purchases and one notable sale.
Purchases:
Continuing my recent trend of adding to existing ETF positions, i purchased additional units of IAPD.L (Asia Pacific high dividend) and VUKE.L (UK FTSE100 tracker).
The increase in IAPD was mainly to keep balance to the overall geographical mix of my portfolio, following a number of recent purchases of UK, Europe & Emerging Markets. The VUKE purchase was a little more opportunistic, following a fairly sharp fall in the UK index during early December. Both have been delivering solid reliable dividends over 4%.
The unit prices for these purchases were around GBP19.38 for IAPD, and GBP27.84 for VUKE.
Sales:
During the month i sold my entire holding of the 3049.HK (the CSI300 China index tracker). Following a very sharp rise in China equities over the last couple of months, i decided to carry out a long overdue rebalancing to reduce my overall exposure to China / RMB.
I currently have a reasonable holding of the HK Index tracker, along with a large amount of China government bonds. In addition, my HK pension fund is heavily weighted towards HK equities, which in turn are made up of both a large amount of China H shares, and companies heavily dependant on the China economy.
In selling my direct exposure to China equities, it reduces my the proportion of my investment portfolio allocated to HK / China to around 25%, making the overall portfolio roughly 50% USA, UK & Developed Europe, 25% HK & China, and 25% other Asia Pacific & emerging markets.
I sold for around HKD7.08 per share, realising around a 33% capital gain, most of which arose over the last couple of months.
Purchases:
Continuing my recent trend of adding to existing ETF positions, i purchased additional units of IAPD.L (Asia Pacific high dividend) and VUKE.L (UK FTSE100 tracker).
The increase in IAPD was mainly to keep balance to the overall geographical mix of my portfolio, following a number of recent purchases of UK, Europe & Emerging Markets. The VUKE purchase was a little more opportunistic, following a fairly sharp fall in the UK index during early December. Both have been delivering solid reliable dividends over 4%.
The unit prices for these purchases were around GBP19.38 for IAPD, and GBP27.84 for VUKE.
Sales:
During the month i sold my entire holding of the 3049.HK (the CSI300 China index tracker). Following a very sharp rise in China equities over the last couple of months, i decided to carry out a long overdue rebalancing to reduce my overall exposure to China / RMB.
I currently have a reasonable holding of the HK Index tracker, along with a large amount of China government bonds. In addition, my HK pension fund is heavily weighted towards HK equities, which in turn are made up of both a large amount of China H shares, and companies heavily dependant on the China economy.
In selling my direct exposure to China equities, it reduces my the proportion of my investment portfolio allocated to HK / China to around 25%, making the overall portfolio roughly 50% USA, UK & Developed Europe, 25% HK & China, and 25% other Asia Pacific & emerging markets.
I sold for around HKD7.08 per share, realising around a 33% capital gain, most of which arose over the last couple of months.
Monday, 1 December 2014
November 2014 Review
November saw my net worth increase by 1.6%, mainly a result of gains in equities and pension values during the month.
The value of my investment portfolio increased by around 3% with noticeable increases in China, along with recoveries in the UK & Europe indices. I added to my emerging markets exposure which is looking relatively cheaper at present.
My pension fund unit values also increased around 3% following a stronger month in equities markets.
Property rental income was paid in full & on time.
Cash balances were higher, with a good savings rate (despite planned travel) and lower underlying expenses more than offsetting the month's investment.
Year to date net worth growth: 27%
Year to date savings rate: 65%
The value of my investment portfolio increased by around 3% with noticeable increases in China, along with recoveries in the UK & Europe indices. I added to my emerging markets exposure which is looking relatively cheaper at present.
My pension fund unit values also increased around 3% following a stronger month in equities markets.
Property rental income was paid in full & on time.
Cash balances were higher, with a good savings rate (despite planned travel) and lower underlying expenses more than offsetting the month's investment.
Year to date net worth growth: 27%
Year to date savings rate: 65%
SEDY.L Purchased
Following my recent trend of re-investing in existing portfolio components, i added to my holding of the iShares emerging markets high dividend ETF earlier in November.
This ETF has been struggling with falls in some emerging markets along with adverse fx movements impacting some of the components. That being said, it has continued to be a solid dividend payer, consistently yielding well over 4%.
I'm trying to avoid adding new ETFs to my portfolio at present as it is already quite large and well diversified, so instead i'm looking to re-invest to (a) maintain a reasonably well balanced portfolio in terms of geographical / industry mix; but also (b) to opportunistically take advantage of market pull backs as buying opportunities, as was the case last month with investments in UK & Europe ETFs.
The unit price for this purchase was around GBP15.45, making it the cheapest tranche of this holding to date.
This ETF has been struggling with falls in some emerging markets along with adverse fx movements impacting some of the components. That being said, it has continued to be a solid dividend payer, consistently yielding well over 4%.
I'm trying to avoid adding new ETFs to my portfolio at present as it is already quite large and well diversified, so instead i'm looking to re-invest to (a) maintain a reasonably well balanced portfolio in terms of geographical / industry mix; but also (b) to opportunistically take advantage of market pull backs as buying opportunities, as was the case last month with investments in UK & Europe ETFs.
The unit price for this purchase was around GBP15.45, making it the cheapest tranche of this holding to date.
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