January 2026 Report

We had very strong investment performance in January, especially in USD terms. The Australian Dollar rose from USD 0.6674 to USD 0.6989 meaning that USD investment returns are better than AUD investment returns. Stock markets rose (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 2.98%

S&P 500: 1.45%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 0.75% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Benchmarks

ASX 200: 1.78%

Target Portfolio: -0.74% (forecast - depends on HFRI result) - this is negative because of the rise in the AUD and the negative performance of venture capital this month.

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 0.53%

We gained 2.84% in Australian Dollar terms or 7.70% in US Dollar terms. So we crushed all benchmarks. 

The SMSF again outperformed, returning 3.25% beating Unisuper (0.82%) and PSS(AP) (0.33%). 

Here is a report on the performance of investments by asset class:

The asset class returns are in currency neutral terms as the rate of return on gross assets and do not include investment expenses such as margin interest, and so the total differs from the Australian Dollar returns on net assets mentioned above. Only US stocks lost money. Gold had the highest rate of return and largest overall contribution. Australian Dollar futures contributed to the strong Futures result.

Things that worked well this month:

• Gold was the greatest gainer at AUD 116k - the greatest monthly gain for gold so far. In all, seven investments gained more than AUD 10k: L1 Global Long Short (GLS, AX, 41k), Tribeca Global Resources (TGF.AX, 36k), Australian Dollar Futures (23k), Pengana Private Equity (PE1.AX, 17k), Regal Investment Fund (RF1.AX, 17k), and 3i (III.L, 13k).

What really didn't work:

• Only one investment lost more than AUD 10k: Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L) with a loss of AUD 28k.

We moved towards our target allocation. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 68% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity and credit, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

Moominmama receives employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We also make monthly concessional contributions to Moominmama's superannuation to reach the annual cap on contributions. There will still be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II and III. I am receiving monthly pension payments from both Unisuper and our SMSF. I made an AUD 13k concessional contribution to our SMSF to bring my concessional contributions for the tax year up to the 30k cap. I will decide how much to more to contribute as non-concessional contributions to superannuation later in the financial year. I made the following investment moves this month:

• I sold 9k WAM Capital (WAM.AX) shares.
• I sold 500 3i shares (III.L).
• I sold 1,000 shares of the gold ETF, PMGOLD.AX.
• I bought almost 7k Hearts and Minds (HM1.AX) shares.
• I bought 19k shares of Tribeca Global Resources (TGF.AX).

Here are the income and spending accounts * for this month:

Other income includes Moominmama's salary and employer superannuation contribution and Moominpapa's payment of Division 293 tax :( There was a larger than normal transfer into of superannuation as I made the concessional contribution mentioned above. Spending was low - we spent the first 2/3 of the month in China and Vietnam. As a result dissaving was only AUD 3k for the month. The 4% rule says we could dissave AUD 23k per month :) Next month's spending is going to be a lot higher as we pay school fees. As a result of all this, net worth increased by AUD 193k to AUD 8.386 million.

* Results are shown separately for retirement and non-retirement accounts as well as housing, which nowadays doesn't have much activity. The grey lines are additional notes. Total investment income is split into investment income before exchange rate moves and the contribution of exchange rates. Other income is non-investment income including salaries, employer superannuation contributions, and net tax returns. Investment income is shown pre-tax. Tax credits include franking credits on Australian Dividends and imputed tax on superannuation returns. These are taken away from investment income to get changes in actual net worth. Inheritances include gifts from relatives. Saving is from non-investment income, transfers, and inheritances.