All Seasons Portfolio – Page 11 – All Seasons Portfolio

Portfolio Update – December 2019

Post author:Nicholas
Post published:January 11, 2020
Post category:Monthly Update
Post comments:3 Comments
Reading time:8 mins read

Total Portfolio value: € 3,745.64
YTD development: +5.28%
MoM development: +1.28% from € 3,698.28
Current average fee: 0.25% p.a.

I hope that you had a good and joyful end to 2019, and a perfect start of 2020! Feels amazing, doesn't it, with a new year and a new decade? For me, this marks the first 12-month anniversary of this blog and my All Seasons Portfolio, for which I took my first shaky steps in December 2018. And look where we are now!

My year is actually of to a rocky start (a case of food poisoning, leaving out all the details), but the year can only get better from there. I am slowly but surely growing the reader count of this blog, for which I am ever so grateful. And my portfolio is actually performing decently as well.

The end of 2019 felt quite uneventful, but that might only be that everything happens at once now in 2020 with the American assassination of Qasem Suleimani, the Iranian general (spoilers), but all in all, investors and markets were in a good mood in December.

However, leading indicators of economic growth show a lack of growth going forward and that companies' profits aren't really increasing at the same pace as their stock prices. I guess we will see more of the results of such tendencies during 2020. Good that we have prepared with a risk adjusted portfolio such as the All Seasons Portfolio.

Insight – Why would anyone in their right mind buy Government Bonds with negative yield?!

Post author:Nicholas
Post published:December 21, 2019
Post category:Insights
Post comments:13 Comments
Reading time:30 mins read

Yields are low and negative due to central banks' efforts to spur on the economic growth
There are still buyers of assets with negative yield, such as institutional investors
Government bonds are a liquid asset held instead of cash or other assets with risk for decrease in value, such as stocks in a bear market
Government Bonds make up 55% of the All Seasons Portfolio, and at the bottom, I summarize my ETFs

Soon, I have one full year’s history of the All Seasons Portfolio since starting in December last year with my first investment. I have come a long way since, starting from zero and now having accumulated a portfolio valued at EUR 3,700 in only 11 months. The main takeaway, which you should adopt, is to be disciplined and to continuously set aside an amount every month to invest. That will quickly accumulate, and you will also have that money working for you with compound interest.

As I already mentioned in the relevant blog post, in November, I made an addition on the Long-Term Government Bond part of the portfolio. This time, I purchased the iShares $ Treasury Bond 20+yr UCITS ETF USD (Dist) (EUR).

When posting about buying government bond ETFs during this first year, one particular question has always been brought up. It is a very valid question considering the current market conditions with low and negative interest rates. Why should you include government bonds in the portfolio, who in their right mind buys and holds bonds with negative interest and why do they do so?

Portfolio Update – November 2019

Post author:Nicholas
Post published:December 8, 2019
Post category:Monthly Update
Post comments:2 Comments
Reading time:17 mins read

New investment: Long-Term Government Bonds
Average portfolio fee: 0.25% p.a.
+3.95% YTD growth (up from 4.17% in September)
Total portfolio value EUR 3,698.28
Request for input for a coming post on investing in bonds with negative yield

Welcome back to a new update of my All Seasons Portfolio built by ETFs available outside the US. This time, with an update on the November 2019 development.

Outside, winter is making its first appearance here in Sweden with cold weather and some days with snow fall. That good enough reason to keep warm inside and binge watch TV series or read, and prepare for Christmas.

It reminds me that I have soon completed a full year since starting with the All Seasons Portfolio strategy. 21 December 2018 I wrote my first post on how to get started with the All Seasons Portfolio. This past year has taught me a tonne, and I will write a special blog post on the most important teachings and summarizing the first year.

Portfolio Deep Dive – Why invest in Commodities and about Invesco Bloomberg Commodity ETF

Post author:Nicholas
Post published:November 16, 2019
Post category:Insights
Post comments:2 Comments
Reading time:14 mins read

Let's take a slight break from the normal routine, shall we? Up until now, I have only posted on this blog once per month with my monthly updates. In those updates, I have included some additional flavor on different investment related subjects, such as tips to invest your pay raise in March or about why you as an European should consider investing in America back in April.

Today, I want to have a slightly different approach. Rather than combining this post with a monthly update, I will do a deep dive in certain aspects of my portfolio, in its own article. This way, it will be easier to truly focus on one subject, while hopefully maintaining your attention.

My portfolio currently consists of 10 different ETFs (October 2019). When I am done building my portfolio, it will be composed by 23 different ETFs according to my plan. However, let us today dive in a bit deeper into one of these ETFs that I intend shall have an approximate share of 7.5% of the portfolio value in the All Seasons Portfolio, namely Invesco Bloomberg Commodities UCITS ETF.

Portfolio Update – October 2019 – Should you really avoid debt?

Post author:Nicholas
Post published:November 3, 2019
Post category:Monthly Update
Post comments:0 Comments
Reading time:8 mins read

Good to have you back for the 10th portfolio update of my All Seasons Portfolio. October has been a good month and I hope that you too have enjoyed the autumn so far. With the falling darkness and bad weather, at least portfolio growth sheds some light in our lives.

The past months, I have been struggling with adding new funds to the portfolio, and I haven't made any new additions since June really. Now, however, I have added about EUR 264 and went shopping for Mid Term Government Bonds. I did this in spite of my anticipated cash outflow coming in November to the tax authorities, by increasing my indebtedness and took a loan to pay my taxes. But aren't loans a bad thing?

Many are taught from a young age that debt is an inherently bad thing and that it should be avoided at all cost. The truth is, however, that you can accelerate your life and portfolio growth with a moderate amount of debt. Debt in itself is not dangerous, but rather the monthly cash flow that follows to service the debt can be disastrous.

Portfolio Update – September 2019 – Graphs that show that the strategy works

Post author:Nicholas
Post published:October 5, 2019
Post category:Monthly Update
Post comments:3 Comments
Reading time:8 mins read

Preparations have now started in my household, for the autumn and winter ahead. Shorts and light shirts are packed in my storage unit, and out have long johns, turtle necks and thick warm jackets come. Dreadful moment when you realize that colder weather is coming. Here in Stockholm, Sweden, it is already touching 0 degrees Celsius during night time. I have vowed to myself that I will, one day, retire in a southern country, with a warmer climate. Tuscany or Sardinia are high up on my wish list. If you are from a Mediterranean country, hook me up with tips!

Before I can retire, I fear I have a few years left in the work force (being still 26). If I want to head down that road sooner, I would need to build some more to my wealth, which, coincidentally, is part of the purpose with my All Seasons Portfolio, that is besides educating about finance. Regardless, it is important to have goals, short term goals and measurable progress when investing. Tuscany is my end goal.

As was the case in August, I have not been able to add any new funds into my account. It pains me a bit, because I enjoy seeing the numbers grow and I am a strong believer in saving and investing. But, I still have a chunky EUR 4,000 to contribute to the tax authorities in November, so prioritizing that for the moment.

I use the low-cost broker DEGIRO - one of Europe's leading online brokers - for my All Seasons Portfolio. To build your own All Seasons Portfolio, on DEGIRO you can find a great variety of ETFs listed on for example Xetra, LSE, Euronext, and Borsa Italiana. This even includes a selection of 200 commission-free ETFs (conditions apply)! Open an account and familiarize yourself with the platform today!

What is the All Seasons Portfolio Strategy and how am I implementing it? In theory, this strategy allows you continuous capital gains but limits the downside and big losses. Click here to find out more and read about how I will actually implement the strategy in practice to achieve the profits but avoiding much of the drawdowns.