Bad start to the year

[monabri]

I finally did my monthly housekeeping. 2018 was a not so good year for equities.

My overall portfolio total return in 2018 (inclusive of all expenses outgoing and dividends incoming) was -1.2%.

This is not what I hoped for but actually represents a really good result. The FTSE All-share returned -9.5% in 2018!

https://www.ftse.com/Analytics/Factshee ... nual=False

The last three months have been torrid, and I am strapped in ready for turbulence in the next few months as the Brexit event unfolds.

My goals for 2019 with the portfolio are. 1: Add a physical gold ETF as an uncorrelated asset. 2. Keep fully invested and keep buying Vanguard ETFs and pound-cost averaging no matter what turbulence occurs. 3. Reduce the number of single share plays to follow: I am finding I am having modest success following events around a single company very closely and adjusting my holding. Basically trading in and out as my valuation band estimate is over and undershot, which is (so far) profitably scratching my stockpicking need.

Pretty darn good!

Are you adding VWRL only (as you mentioned VWRL in an earlier post) or other Vanguard offerings? If you haven't seen them, you might be interested in the videos produced by " Pensioncraft". They have done some very good informative videos ..typically 15 mins in length. They discuss the Vanguard funds and also look at cross correlation, risk mitigation their selections. Mr Nakisa is a really excellent presenter imho.

Its interesting what you say about trading in/out of individual holdings ( definitely not HYP(*) but you gotta have a hobby, eh ?).



(*) I'm convinced that HYP 'IS' a hobby in it's own right

[tjh290633]

Price changes in my portfolio for the first 7 days of the year:

Epic   Change
MKS    11.33%
TSCO    9.47%
WMH     9.00%
KGF     8.34%
SMDS    8.25%
PSON    7.10%
MARS    5.58%
BP.     4.81%
SGRO    4.62%
LLOY    3.63%
RIO     3.53%
LGEN    3.46%
BA.     3.40%
AV.     3.30%
TW.     3.05%
UU.     2.69%
NG.     2.60%
IMI     2.60%
BLND    2.55%
S32     2.28%
RDSB    2.03%
GSK     1.88%
VOD     1.77%
BHP     1.71%
TATE    0.52%
SSE     0.46%
AZN     0.43%
CPG     0.42%
RB.     0.28%
BATS    0.26%
ULVR   -0.22%
IMB    -1.26%
ADM    -1.32%
DGE    -2.15%
BT.A   -2.98%

A bit early to prejudge the year, of course, but WMH was the biggest faller last year.

TJH

[andyalan10]

Just like "shares go up in December", which happens in a surprisingly high proportion of years, there is also the "when the market goes up in January it is more likely to be up in the whole year".

Can't find UK figures, but CNBC are already running a similar story for the S&P, based on the first 5 trading days, and it all goes to help sentiment.

Good Luck All

[daveh]

Price changes in my portfolio for the first 7 days of the year:

Epic   Change
MKS    11.33%
TSCO    9.47%
WMH     9.00%
KGF     8.34%
SMDS    8.25%
PSON    7.10%
MARS    5.58%
BP.     4.81%
SGRO    4.62%
LLOY    3.63%
RIO     3.53%
LGEN    3.46%
BA.     3.40%
AV.     3.30%
TW.     3.05%
UU.     2.69%
NG.     2.60%
IMI     2.60%
BLND    2.55%
S32     2.28%
RDSB    2.03%
GSK     1.88%
VOD     1.77%
BHP     1.71%
TATE    0.52%
SSE     0.46%
AZN     0.43%
CPG     0.42%
RB.     0.28%
BATS    0.26%
ULVR   -0.22%
IMB    -1.26%
ADM    -1.32%
DGE    -2.15%
BT.A   -2.98%

A bit early to prejudge the year, of course, but WMH was the biggest faller last year.

TJH

A good start for the year for me too - up 4.5% so far in January - but very early days. Last year I was down in 9 months, up in 3 with the best month being April (up 7%). My portfolio remained in the black (just) until the end of September, but fell mightily in the last three months falling ~12% over the last three months of the year. A good start but it could all change very quickly.

[Dod101]

Talk about short termism! We have had 6 trading days and two hours since the start of the year.

Dod

[monabri]

I would suggest a new posting for 2019. The original posting ("Bad Start to the year") started in Feb 2018 and has been added to.

[PinkDalek]

I would suggest a new posting for 2019. The original posting ("Bad Start to the year") started in Feb 2018 and has been added to.

Or change the ongoing header as above (a temporary measure depending on how others reply)!