May 2025 Report

In May, the Australian Dollar rose from USD 0.6392 to USD 0.6431 meaning that USD investment returns are a bit better than AUD investment returns. Stock markets rose (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 5.81%

S&P 500: 6.29x%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 1.30% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Benchmarks

ASX 200: 4.38%

Target Portfolio: 3.70x% (forecast - depends on HFRI result)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 3.17%

We gained 2.27% in Australian Dollar terms or gained 2.90% in US Dollar terms. So the only benchmark we are expected to beat is the HFRI. We underperformed the target portfolio because of the very high private equity returns of 14% for venture and 11% for buyout that fed into it. By comparison we earned 0.89% on our private equity investments.

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. All asset classes but gold had positive returns with the strongest returns from Australian small cap and the largest contribution from hedge funds, mainly due to a rebound in Pershing Square Holdings.

Things that worked well this month:

• Six investments gained more than AUD 10k: Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L, 37k), Unisuper (23k), PSS(AP) (15k), Regal Partners (RPL.AX, 14k), WCM Global (WCMQ.AX, 12k), and Bitcoin (12k).

What really didn't work:

• Regal Investment Fund (RF1.AX) lost AUD 10k.

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give the same statistics for four benchmarks. This month, we have added the Vanguard 60/40 ETF portfolio to the set of benchmarks. The middle block gives our performance relative to the indices. 

These are now measured from the end of May 2020. Our alpha relative to the ASX200 fell to 3.1% with a beta of only 0.48. We still have much lower volatility, resulting in a information ratio of 1.43 vs. 1.11. We capture much less of the downside moves than the upside moves in the market. We also have very good performance relative to the Vanguard 60/40 portfolio with the same volatility but 4% p.a. more return. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. Our USD volatility is at least less than that of the MSCI index, but our return is more than three percentage points lower.

We moved strongly towards our target allocation as we completed redeployment of cash from the sales in April. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, 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.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We make an annual concessional contribution to Moominmama's superannuation to reach the annual cap on contributions. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. I am now receiving TTR pension payments from both Unisuper and our SMSF and contributing more than the total of these back to my superannuation accounts. (around AUD 4k net contribution per month). It was another busy month. I made the following additional moves this month:

• I made a UK pension contribution for the 2024-25 financial year.
• I bought 200 shares of Berkshire Hathaway B (BRK/B). I think Greg Abel may find better things to do with the cash pile than Buffett did and, as he is an operations guy, rationalize some of the existing subsidiaries.
• I bought 40k shares of a Metrics private credit LIT (MOT.AX). The idea is that this will fund TTR pension payouts next financial year. It is trading about 7% below NAV so has some margin of safety.
• I sold 1,000 shares of the gold ETF PMGOLD.AX. We hold 13k shares now.
  
• I bought net 2.5k more shares of an ASX200 ETF (IOZ.AX). Yes, I'm getting more comfortable with passive investing for the long equity portion of our portfolio. We now have 3k shares.
  
• I bought 2,000 more shares of the WCM Global Quality managed ETF (WCMQ.AX). We now have 13k shares.
• I bought 10k more shares of the Pengana private equity LIT (PE1.AX). We now have 87k shares.
• I bought net 60k more shares of the WAM Capital LIC (WAM.AX). We now have 100k shares.
• I bought 1,175 more shares of a bitcoin ETF (IBTC.AX). We now have 8k shares. Roughly 0.8 BTC.
• I bought 300 more shares of 3i (III.L) after it sold off on what looks like a great earnings report. Earnings on stated NAV were 25% up 25% on the previous year. It trades way above NAV, but that is because NAV is stated pretty conservatively I think. We now have 3,800 shares.
• I bought 500 more shares of Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L). Their reduction of their position in Universal Music, increase in positions in tech stocks, and possibility of strong performance for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac together with the price being way below NAV, encouraged me to add to the position. We now have 5,500 shares.

April 2025 Report

April was our third down month in a row, though the loss was less than in the previous two months. I also went through something of a mental health crisis involving insomnia. I am already beginning to feel better. As a result of the crisis I closed all our investments listed on North American markets. I also decided to continue in my job on a full-time basis for now rather than quit or go part time. Also, because the information ratio of our SMSF is now lower than both Unisuper and PSS(AP), I am redirecting our non-concessional contributions to the latter funds instead of to the SMSF. On the other hand, the SMSF's rate of return since inception still beats the professionally managed funds (8.4% p.a. vs. 5.7% and 6.6%). But I got that extra return by taking on more risk. I now think that was too much risk for my health.

 

The Australian Dollar rose from USD 0.6240 to USD 0.6392 meaning that USD investment returns are better than AUD investment returns. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 0.98%

S&P 500: -0.68%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 0.18% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Benchmarks

ASX 200: 3.63%

Target Portfolio: 0.58% (forecast - depends on HFRI result)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 0.48%

We lost 0.93% in Australian Dollar terms or gained 1.49% in US Dollar terms. So we outperformed the US Dollar indices and underperformed the Australian Dollar benchmarks.

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. Performance was mixed, with rest of the world stocks having the worst rate of return and the most negative contribution to overall return followed by Australian small cap in terms of rate of return. Gold performed best, but private equity made the most positive contribution to total return (with gold in second place).

Things that worked well this month:

• 3i (III.L) was the star performer, gaining AUD 45k. Gold gained AUD 32k and Australian Dollar Futures 10k.

What really didn't work:

• Defi Technologies (DEFI.NE) was the biggest loser at AUD 52k. Bitcoin lost 33k, Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L) 18k, Aspect Diversified Futures 11k, Regal Partners (RPL.AX) 12k, and Winton Global Alpha 10k.

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give the same statistics for three indices. The middle block gives our performance relative to the indices. 

These are now measured from the end of April 2020 and so are quite different to last month's data as they include one month of the post-pandemic rebound in the baseline value. Our alpha relative to the ASX200 fell to 3.15% with a beta of only 0.49. We still have much lower volatility, resulting in a Sharpe ratio of 1.12 vs. 0.93. We capture much less of the downside moves than the upside moves in the market. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. Our USD volatility is at least less than that of the MSCI index, but our return is almost three percentage points lower.

We moved away from our target allocation partly because we changed the allocation and partly because of our trades. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We make an annual concessional contribution to Moominmama's superannuation to reach the annual cap on contributions. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. I am now receiving TTR pension payments from both Unisuper and our SMSF and contributing more than the total of these back to our superannuation accounts. (around AUD 4k net contribution per month). I made the following additional moves this month:

• I sold all our position in Defi Technologies (DEFI.NE and DEFTF). We made a 90%+ IRR on the investment, which is some consolation, despite giving up the potential for more profit.
• We sold all our position in the Fidelity Bitcoin ETF (FBTC) (for a 17% IRR) and opened a much smaller position in Australia in the Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (IBTC.AX). Our allocation is now just 1.7% of net worth, which removed my anxiety entirely. My mistake was buying too much bitcoin at relatively high prices after first entering the investment at a reasonable price. This made me anxious about losing money and I sold out near a local low. Maybe we will do better next cycle. As a result of these two moves, we now have a huge pile of cash to re-invest - near AUD 700k.
• I bought 500 shares of IOZ.AX, an ASX200 ETF. This is to begin to match the new target allocation that has a larger allocation to long-only shares. 
• I bought 40,000 shares of WAM Capital (WAM.AX), which is a small cap Australian stock fund managed by Wilson Asset Management. It has a very good track record. Another move to match the new target. We will gradually buy into these positions, which are both still very small.
• I did a quick trade of 5,000 RF1.AX shares (bought these by mistake in the wrong account!). I bought 15,000 RF1.AX shares in the SMSF.
  

March 2025 Report

March was a second down month in a row. The Australian Dollar rose from USD 0.6208 to USD 0.6240 meaning that USD investment returns are a bit better than AUD investment returns. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): -3.90%

S&P 500: -5.63%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: -0.91% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Benchmarks

ASX 200: -3.12%

Target Portfolio: -2.04% (forecast - depends on HFRI result)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: -2.45%

We lost 3.20% in Australian Dollar terms or 2.72% in US Dollar terms. So we out-performed the international stock indices, roughly matched the ASX 200 but underperformed HFRI and the target and 60/40 benchmarks. The SMSF lost 3.94%. Better than the previous month but still bad.

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. All asset classes lost money apart from gold, which gained 7.4% in AUD terms. Australian small cap was the worst loser, down 16.5%.

Things that worked well this month:

• Only gold gained more than AUD 10k. It was up AUD 48k.

What really didn't work:

• Eight investments lost more than AUD 10k. The worst was Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L) down AUD 53k.

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give the same statistics for three indices. The middle block gives our performance relative to the indices. 

Because these are measured from the pandemic crash bottom in March 2020 the numbers have changed significantly from last month. Both our performance and that of the benchmarks jumped strongly. But the ASX performance was particularly strong and we now underperform the index. We still have much lower volatility, resulting in a Sharpe ratio of 1.24 vs. 0.98. Our alpha relative to the ASX200 fell to 3.65% (from 4.48%) with a beta of only 0.49. We capture much less of the downside moves than the upside moves in the market. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. Our USD volatility is at least less than that of the MSCI index, but our return is three percentage points lower.

We moved away from our target allocation in large part due to the switch out of TIAA Real Estate but also due to losses at Pershing Square and other hedge funds. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. I am now receiving TTR pension payments from both Unisuper and our SMSF and contributing more than the total of these to the SMSF (around AUD 4k net contribution per month). I made quite a lot of additional moves this month:

• I did a trade in shares of Metrics Income Opportunities Fund (MOT.AX). Buying 15k shares for a couple of days generating around AUD 1,400 in profit.
• I sold 50k shares of URF.AX (US residential real estate fund) to fund the trade. Wilson Asset Management (via WAR.AX) exited this fund, thinking that the potentially gain going forward was not that great. We still have 150k shares.
• I bought 16k shares of CD3.AX (private equity) with the proceeds of these first two moves. It is trading very far below NAV.
• I sold 17k shares of TGF.AX (Tribeca Global Resources) and bought 5k shares of Regal Partners (RPL.AX). That has not been a good move so far.  
• I did a couple of trades in Bitcoin futures for about a breakeven.
• I started a trade in James Hardie (JHX.AX) shares. It's not gone well so far. 
• I did some tax loss harvesting trades, selling in some names and buying in others. That resulted in a net sale of around 3k Cadence Opportunity Fund (CDO.AX) shares.
• I switched all my holding of TIAA Real Estate to CREF Social Choice (a 60/40 balanced fund) in my US retirement account. From the perspective of April, this was not a good move!

February 2025 Report

February was the first down month after positive months. In dollar terms it was our third worst investment result after June 2022 and March 2020. The Australian Dollar fell from USD 0.6237 to USD 0.6208 meaning that USD investment returns are slightly worse than AUD investment returns. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): -0.57%

S&P 500: -1.30%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 0.77% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: -3.60%

Target Portfolio: -0.97% (forecast)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: -0.68%

We lost -4.11% in Australian Dollar terms or -4.40% in US Dollar terms. So we underperformed all benchmarks.

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. Gold gained most while RoW stocks, futures (including bitcoin), and Australian Small Cap all had terrible performances.

Things that worked well this month:

• Gold was the only investment to gain more than AUD 10k. Domacom Investments also did well with a property in Perth being radically up-valued to 57% above the IPO. I bought post-IPO after the price had already declined. There have also been large distributions. Profit is now  AUD 9k on an initial AUD 7k investment.

What really didn't work:

• Bitcoin, Defi Technologies, and Regal Partners were all terrible. The latter was surprising as I felt their earnings report was good and it only slightly missed forecast earnings. Unisuper also lost more than AUD 10k.

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give the same statistics for three indices. The middle block gives our performance relative to the indices. Our rate of return remained higher than the ASX200 despite such a disastrous month and we have much lower volatility, resulting in a Sharpe ratio of 0.99 vs. 0.58. Our alpha relative to the ASX200 fell to 4.46% (from 4.94%) with a beta of only 0.47. We capture much less of the downside moves than the upside moves in the market. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. Our USD volatility is at least less than that of the MSCI index, but our return is more than three percentage points lower.

We moved towards our target allocation due to the poor performance of the overweighted asset classes, which previously had performed well. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. I am now receiving TTR pension payments from both Unisuper and our SMSF and contributing more than the total of these to the SMSF (around AUD 4k net contribution per month). I made the following additional moves this month:

• I sold 10k shares of Hearts and Minds (HM1.AX) as it neared the after tax NAV.
• With the proceeds I bought 3k shares of WCM Global (WCMQ.AX), which is a global stock actively managed ETF.
• I also bought another 100 shares of FBTC, Fidelity's bitcoin ETF. 
• I did a follow on investment of USD 2,500 in Chowdeck, a Nigerian food delivery app. This is their Series A investment round. Previously, I invested in the seed round at a lower valuation.

January 2025 Report

In January, the Australian Dollar rose slightly from USD 0.6196 to USD 0.6237 meaning that USD investment returns are a little better than AUD investment returns. It was our second best month ever in absolute Australian Dollar terms (after November 2024). Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 3.38%

S&P 500: 2.78%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 1.35% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: 4.57%

Target Portfolio: 2.82% (forecast)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 2.19%

We gained 4.59% in Australian Dollar terms or 5.12% in US Dollar terms. So we outperformed all benchmarks.

The SMSF returned 6.11%, compared to Unisuper at 2.16% and PSS(AP) at 1.72%.

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. RoW stocks (mostly Defi Technologies) gained 8.4% and made the largest contribution to returns followed by gold. Several asset classes lost money, futures including bitcoin lost the most and made the most negative contribution to returns.

Things that worked well this month:

• Bitcoin (AUD 65k), Defi Technologies (DEFI.NE, 53k), gold (44k), Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L, 39k), 3i (III.L, 26k), Unisuper (14k), US Residential Masters (URF.AX, 11k).
  

What really didn't work:

• WAM Alternatives (WMA.AX) was the worst performer but only lost 3k.
  

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give the same statistics for three indices. The middle block gives our performance relative to the indices. Our rate of return is now higher than the ASX200 and we have much lower volatility, resulting in a Sharpe ratio of 1.01 vs. 0.53. Our alpha relative to the ASX200 increased to 4.95% with a beta of only 0.46. We capture much less of the downside moves than the upside moves in the market. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. Our USD volatility is at least less than that of the MSCI index, but our return is more than two percentage points lower.

We moved further away from our target allocation this month as "futures" and rest of the world stocks allocations continued to grow. We are now most overweight rest of the world stocks followed by futures, which includes bitcoin. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. I am now receiving TTR pension payments from both Unisuper and our SMSF and contributing more than the total of these to the SMSF (around AUD 4k net contribution per month). I made the following additional moves this month:

• I sold out of our remaining position in Cadence Capital (CDM.AX). I got tired of waiting for something to happen in this fund. We still have a position (about 2.5% of net worth) in Cadence Opportunities (CDO.AX), which sometimes performs better than CDM. 
• I bought 200 shares of the Fidelity bitcoin ETF (FBTC).
• I sold 1,000 shares of the Perth Mint gold ETF (PMGOLD.AX).
• I bought 3,000 shares of the WCM Global Quality active ETF (WCMQ.AX).
  

December 2024 Report

The numbers in this report may change a little once all data on private investments becomes available. I will write an annual report after all the data are in. In December, the Australian Dollar fell from USD 0.6515 to USD 0.6196. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): -2.33%

S&P 500: -2.38%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: -0.20% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: -3.10%

Target Portfolio: 0.57% (forecast)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: -0.67%

We gained 1.50% in Australian Dollar terms or -3.48% in US Dollar terms. So we underperformed the USD benchmarks and outperformed the AUD benchmarks.

The SMSF returned 3.58%, compared to Unisuper at 0.43% and PSS(AP) at 0.05%.

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. RoW stocks (mostly Defi Technologies) gained 8.4% and made the largest contribution to returns followed by gold. Several asset classes lost money, futures including bitcoin lost the most and made the most negative contribution to returns.

Things that worked well this month:

• Defi Technologies (DEFI.NE) gained AUD 37k, followed by gold at 17k, Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L) at 15k, and Pengana Private Equity (PE1.AX) at 13k.
  

What really didn't work:

• Bitcoin lost AUD 30k, followed by Australian Dollar Futures at 22k, and 3i (III.L) at 10k.
  

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give the same statistics for three indices. The middle block gives our performance relative to the indices. Our rate of return is now higher than the ASX200 and we have much lower volatility, resulting in a Sharpe ratio of 1.00 vs. 0.54. Our alpha relative to the ASX200 increased to 4.71% with a beta of only 0.46. We capture much less of the downside moves than the upside moves in the market. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. Our volatility in USD terms is now a little lower than the MSCI World Index, but our rate of return is much lower.

We maintained our distance from the target allocation this month. We are now most overweight rest of the world stocks. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. I am now receiving TTR pension payments from both Unisuper and our SMSF and contributing more than the total of these to the SMSF (around AUD 4k net contribution per month). I made the following additional moves this month:

• I bought AUD 30k worth of shares in Regal Investment Fund's (RF1.AX) capital raising.
  
• I bought 100 shares of FBTC, Fidelity's bitcoin ETF. We now have a total position of around 5 bitcoins.

November 2024 Report

In November, the Australian Dollar rose from USD 0.6564 to USD 0.6515. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 3.77%

S&P 500: 5.87%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 1.51% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: 3.96%

Target Portfolio: 2.43% (forecast)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 3.01%

We gained 5.89% in Australian Dollar terms or 5.10% in US Dollar terms. So we outperformed all benchmarks apart from the S&P 500. This was the best month ever in dollar terms with a return of AUD 332k (previous best 192k in July 2022, 333k in currency neutral terms, previous best 225k in April 2020). In percentage return terms this was only the 16th best month, but the highest since 2015. We simply have a less volatile portfolio these days. We also went over the next million Australian dollar milestone.

The SMSF returned 11.38%, its best performance to date, compared to Unisuper at 1.76% and PSS(AP) at 2.29%. I had to extend the y-axis on the rate of return graph twice:

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 so the total differs from the Australian Dollar returns on net assets mentioned above. RoW stocks (mostly Defi Technologies) and futures (mostly bitcoin) both gained more than 20%. Gold was the only asset class that lost money.

Things that worked well this month:

• Bitcoin and Defi Technologies gained AUD 226k and 182k, respectively. These are 3-4 times more than the biggest monthly gain on an individual investment previously. Also gaining more than AUD 10k were 3i (III.L) at 36k, Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L) at 29k, PSS(AP) 12k, and Unisuper at 11k.
  

What really didn't work:

• Gold (-AUD 24k), Tribeca Global Resources (TGF.AX, -20k), and Regal Investment Fund (RF1.AX, -13k) all lost more than AUD 10k.
  

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give results for three indices. Our performance fell back this month compared to the ASX200 but, as we have much lower volatility, we have a higher Sharpe ratio of 0.93 vs. 0.55. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. We have a positive alpha relative to the ASX200 of 3.97% with a beta of only 0.47.

We moved away our target allocation this month as our bitcoin and Defi Technologies positions grew. We are most underweight cash and most overweight futures. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. This month we received tax refunds of AUD 27k. I made the following additional moves this month:

• I paid an AUD 37.5k capital call from Aura.
• I sold 10k shares of Hearts and Minds (HM1.AX).
• I sold 400 shares of the Putnam BDC ETF (PBDC).
  
• I redeemed AUD 60k of units in the Winton Global Alpha Fund.
• I took part in the Regal Investment Fund (RF1.AX) share purchase plan, buying AUD 30k of shares.
  
• I bought 500 shares of the Fidelty Bitcoin ETF (FBTC). We now have 5,500 shares, which is close to 5 bitcoins.

October 2024 Report

In October, the Australian Dollar fell from USD 0.6913 to USD 0.6564, so US Dollar returns are lower than Australian Dollar returns this month. This was an average month in terms of investing activity. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): -2.21%

S&P 500: -0.91%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: -0.15% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: -1.29%

Target Portfolio: 2.71% (forecast)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: -0.27%

We gained 2.09% in Australian Dollar terms or lost 3.10% in US Dollar terms. So we underperformed US Dollar indices and the target portfolio but outperformed ASX and Vanguard benchmarks.

The SMSF returned -0.75% compared to Unisuper at 1.47% and PSS(AP) at 0.79%.

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 so the total differs from the Australian Dollar returns on net assets mentioned above. RoW stocks (mostly Defi Technologies) lost a lot of money and private equity a little. Gold had the highest rate of return and made the greatest contribution to overall return.

Things that worked well this month:

• Gold and bitcoin gained AUD 62k and 41k respectively. The gain in gold is a new record amount for a gain in a single investment in one month. Regal Investment Fund (RF1.AX) gained 12k.
  

What really didn't work:

• Defi Technologies lost AUD 44k more than offsetting the gain in bitcoin. Australian Dollar futures lost AUD 21k.
  

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give results for three indices. Our performance fell back this month compared to the ASX200 but, as we have much lower volatility, we have a higher Sharpe ratio of 0.88 vs. 0.55. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. We have a positive alpha relative to the ASX200 of 3.33% with a beta of only 0.46.

We moved towards our target allocation this month. We are most underweight cash and most overweight rest of the world stocks. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. This month we had returns of capital from my investment in Integrated Portfolio Solutions (AUD 41k) and Aura VF1 (6k) and lots of dividends. We were also issued shares in Dash - the company acquiring IPS. I made the following additional moves this month:

• I sold 50k shares of Cadence Capital (CDM.AX) and bought 25k shares of Cadence Opportunities (CDO.AX). These were in different accounts. Until last month these two funds returns became more and more correlated until suddenly there has been a change in behaviour and an outsize gain in Cadence Opportunities. CDO is supposed to have a shorter term horizon and be more opportunistic.
  
• I bought 500 shares of the Fidelity bitcoin ETF (FBTC).
• I sold 1000 shares of the Perth Mint gold ETF (PMGOLD.AX). So I swapped this amount of gold for bitcoin.
  

September 2024 Report

This was an average month in terms of investing activity. Spending fell steeply again to AUD 7.4k but it is going to be up strongly in October.

In September, the Australian Dollar rose from USD 0.6772 to USD 0.6913, so US Dollar returns are higher than Australian Dollar returns this month. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 2.36%

S&P 500: 2.14%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 1.19% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: 3.30%

Target Portfolio: 1.07% (forecast)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 1.28%

We gained 1.65% in Australian Dollar terms or 3.76% in US Dollar terms. So we only underperformed the ASX200.

The SMSF returned 1.11% compared to Unisuper at 1.12% and also PSS(AP) at 1.12%. The fund went over AUD 1.4 million for the first time.

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 so the total differs from the Australian Dollar returns on net assets mentioned above. RoW stocks (mostly Defi Technologies) lost money, why all other asset classes gained. Australian small cap had the highest rate of return, while futures including bitcoin made the greatest contribution to overall return.

Things that worked well this month:

• Bitcoin gained AUD 28k and was followed by gold (24k), Tribeca Global Resources (TGF.AX, 17k), WAM Alternatives (WMA.AX, 15k), and Regal Investments (RF1.AX, 12k).
  

What really didn't work:

• Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L) lost AUD 16k and Defi Technologies (DEFTF) lost AUD 14k.
  

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give results for three indices. Our performance fell back this month compared to the ASX200 but, as we have much lower volatility, we have a higher Sharpe ratio of 0.83 vs. 0.57. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. We have a positive alpha relative to the ASX200 of 2.74% with a beta of only 0.46.

We moved towards our target allocation this month. We are most underweight cash and most overweight rest of the world stocks. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. I made the following additional moves this month:

• In addition to the quarterly contribution to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund, I made an additional investment of USD 5k in Kyte and a new investment of USD 3.75k in another start-up.
• I sold 2,000 shares of PMGOLD, the Perth Mint gold ETF, and added to the cash pile in our offset account.
• I sold our remaining holding in the Longwave Small Australian Companies Fund.
  
• I did a trade in Clime Investment Management (CIW.AX) after Geoffrey Wilson recommended it.
  

August 2024 Report

This was a relatively quiet month with little investment activity. I was busy working on my teaching. We spent AUD 6k less than last month though we spent around AUD 9k in travel expenses for a future trip. Flying a family of four internationally costs a lot.

In August, the Australian Dollar rose from USD 0.6531 to USD 0.6772, so US Dollar returns are a lot higher than Australian Dollar returns this month. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 1.64%

S&P 500: 2.43%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 1.26% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: 0.67%

Target Portfolio: -0.49% (forecast)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 0.30%

We lost 0.87% in Australian Dollar terms or gained 2.79% in US Dollar terms. So we beat all the US Dollar indices and underperformed all the Australian Dollar indices!

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 so the total differs from the Australian Dollar returns on net assets mentioned above. Returns varied radically across asset classes. RoW stocks (mostly Defi Technologies) gained more than 13% and contributed the most to the overall return. Several asset classes lost money, with futures being the worst in terms of RoR and contribution to return.

Things that worked well this month:

• Defi Technologies (DEFI.NE) was the top performer, gaining AUD 54k. Australian Dollar futures contributed AUD 13k.
  

What really didn't work:

• Bitcoin lost AUD 39k. I discovered Defi Technologies due to my interest in bitcoin and Defi has so far more than offset my bitcoin losses. In total, I have lost AUD 47k on bitcoin and made AUD 143k on Defi Technologies. Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L) was down again, losing AUD 11k. Chipotle was to blame this time, losing its CEO to Starbucks.
  

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give results for three indices. Our performance fell back this month compared to the ASX200 but, as we have much lower volatility, we have a higher Sharpe ratio of 0.82 vs. 0.53. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse. We do beat the HFRI hedge fund index in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. We have a positive alpha relative to the ASX200 of 2.74% with a beta of only 0.46.

We moved away from our target allocation due to the gains in Defi Technology. We are most underweight cash and most overweight rest of the world stocks. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

The SMSF did have a winning month:

Unisuper did a little better and PSS(AP) a little worse.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. I only made one additional move this month:

• I bought 5k shares of Regal Partners (RPL.AX) after what I thought was a great annual report. The market agreed for a few hours and then changed its mind...

July 2024 Report

This was a better month, ending with us outperforming all benchmarks apart from the ASX200 and MSCI. Spending hit almost AUD 25k this month, the highest since the month we bought our house in January 2015. We paid quarterly school fees, half the cost of a new air conditioning system and went on holiday in Queensland. A lot of the Queensland trip was already paid for before July but probably a couple of thousand in expenses wasn't.

In July, the Australian Dollar fell from USD 0.6671 to USD 0.6531 so US Dollar returns are lower than Australian Dollar returns this month. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 1.64%

S&P 500: 1.22%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 1.27%

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: 4.20%

Target Portfolio: 1.79%.

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 3.06%.

We gained 3.55% in Australian Dollar terms or 1.37% in US Dollar terms

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 so the total differs from the Australian Dollar returns on net assets mentioned above. Returns varied radically across asset classes. RoW stocks (mostly Defi Technologies) gained more than 20% and contributed the most to the overall return. Gold had the second highest return and contribution. Only hedge funds lost money due to the fall in Pershing Square Holdings.

Things that worked well this month:

• Defi Technologies (DEFI.NE) was the top performer, gaining AUD 61k. This is a new record for the most any one investment has gained in a month. Also gaining AUD 10k or more were: Gold, 38k, Bitcoin, 30k, 3i (III.L), 10k, and Regal Partners (RPL.AX), 10k.
  

What really didn't work:

• Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L) lost AUD 32k. It fell steeply after Universal Music Group – one of its main holdings – fell sharply following its earnings report. Nothing else lost AUD 10k or more.
  

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give results for three indices. Compared to the ASX200 we have a slightly lower average return but also lower volatility, resulting in a higher Sharpe ratio of 0.89 vs. 0.53. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse and worse than either the MSCI world index or the HFRI hedge fund index. We do beat the HFRI in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. We have a positive alpha relative to the ASX200 of 3.59% with a beta of only 0.45.

We moved towards our target allocation. I raised the desired level of cash and reduced all the other asset classes accordingly. We are most underweight cash and overweight rest of the world stocks. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

It's time for a check-in with the SMSF. This was a good month with a return of 6.15% after a few months of underperformance:

Performance since inception has been 9.8% per year compared to 6.7% and 7.2% for the Unisuper and PSS(AP) benchmarks. Volatility has been greater than either of these, but that includes volatility to the upside. Compared to Unisuper, we have captured 81% of its upside but only 29% of its downside. Put another way we have a beta of 0.43 to Unisuper but 6.8% of alpha annually.

We receive employer superannuation contributions every two weeks. We contribute USD 10k each quarter to the Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. We made the following additional moves this month:

• We made our annual concessional superannuation contribution to the SMSF for Moominmama. AUD 22.5k this time.
  
• I sold all our 96k shares of Platinum Capital (PMC.AX) following the announcement of their restructuring plan. I bought 17.5k shares of Pengana Private Equity (PE1.AX) and 6k of Regal Funds (RF1.AX) in place of our SMSF holding. I am transferring most of the proceeds of the sale in my own brokerage account to our offset account.
  
• I bought another 250 shares of the Fidelity bitcoin ETF (FBTC) in the SMSF.
  
• I bought 400 shares of the Putnam BDC ETF in the SMSF.
  
• I redeemed all units of the Longwave Australian Small Companies Fund in my name – 118k units worth about the same number of dollars. I reinvested half in the First Sentier Imputation Fund and sent the rest to our offset account. I also redeemed AUD 25k of Moominmama's holding. This funded her superannuation contribution above.
  
• By the end of the month we had around AUD 125k in our offset account, which is a big change.
  

June 2024 Report

I was dissatisfied with my investment return of only 5.69% last year and so decided to eliminate some of my boring funds and take on more risk. Well, this month we got a lot of intra-month volatility, so at least it wasn't boring!

In June, the Australian Dollar rose from USD 0.6650 to USD 0.6671 so US Dollar returns are slightly better than Australian Dollar returns this month. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 2.26%

S&P 500: 3.59%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: -0.20%

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: 1.08%

Target Portfolio: 1.59%

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 1.04%.

We lost -0.51% in Australian Dollar terms or -0.19% in US Dollar terms. So, we underperformed all benchmarks.

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

The asset class returns are in currency neutral returns as the rate of return on gross assets and so the total differs from  the Australian Dollar returns on net assets mentioned above. Returns varied radically across asset classes. Futures (including bitcoin) lost the most and detracted the most from total return. RoW Stocks gained the most (mostly due to Defi Technologies) and contributed the most to total return.

Things that worked well this month:

• Defi Technologies (DEFI.NE) was the top performer, gaining AUD 29k. The next three best were 3i (III.L, 11k), Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L, 11k), and Unisuper (10k).
  

What really didn't work:

• Bitcoin lost AUD 45k and is one of the main reasons we underperformed this month. Tribeca Global Resources (TGF.AX) lost 13k.
  

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give results for three indices. Compared to the ASX200 we have a slightly lower average return but also lower volatility, resulting in a higher Sharpe ratio of 0.87 vs. 0.61. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse and worse than either the MSCI world index or the HFRI hedge fund index. We do beat the HFRI in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. We have a positive alpha relative to the ASX200 of 3.45% with a beta of only 0.45.

We moved away a bit from our target allocation. We are most underweight private equity and futures and large cap stocks and overweight RoW stocks and hedge funds. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer contributions to superannuation every two weeks. We are now contributing USD 10k each quarter to Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. It was another busy month. We made the following additional moves this month:

• I sold 500 shares of 3i (III.L), which brought our invested capital close to zero.
  
• I sold 50k shares of Cadence Capital (CDM.AX). Another example of a boring fund, though in this case it is boring in practice, not theory. I added 18k shares of Cadence Opportunities (CDO.AX) instead, though recently it hasn't performed much differently to CDM.
  
• I sold 25k shares of Tribeca Global Resources (TGF.AX) and bought the same amount in a different account realising a capital loss. This has been a very underperforming fund since inception, with one good year, but I haven't given up yet.
• I sold 50k shares of the US Residential Property Fund, URF.AX.
• I sold 2k shares of WCMQ.AX.
• I sold 5k shares of Hearts and Minds (HM1.AX).
• I sold 7k shares of Platinum Capital (PMC.AX).
• I sold AUD 7.5k of the Longwave Developing Companies Fund. This was once CFS and then FS. The manager has changed now to Longwave. I plan to run down the holding in my wife's account to fund capital calls for venture capital funds and her retirement contribution for next year.
  
• I bought 1,000 shares of the gold ETF PMGOLD.AX.
• I bought 15k shares of Defi Technologies (DEFI.NE).
  
• I bought 7k shares of Regal Partners (RPL.AX). This hasn't turned out to be a good move so far.
• There were also some largely unsuccessful futures trades.
  

May 2024 Report

In May, the Australian Dollar rose from USD 0.6494 to USD 0.6650 so US Dollar returns are much stronger than Australian Dollar returns this month. Stock indices and other benchmarks performed as follows (total returns including dividends):

US Dollar Indices

MSCI World Index (gross): 4.12%

S&P 500: 4.96%

HFRI Hedge Fund Index: 1.87% (forecast)

Australian Dollar Indices

ASX 200: 0.75%

Target Portfolio: 0.56% (forecast)

Australian 60/40 benchmark: 0.36%. 

We gained 1.22% in Australian Dollar terms or 3.62% in US Dollar terms. So, we beat all the Australian Dollar benchmarks and the HFRI index but not the MSCI or S&P 500 indices.

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

The asset class returns are in currency neutral returns as the rate of return on gross assets and so are larger than the Australian Dollar returns on net assets mentioned above. Returns for most asset classes were positive. Futures had the highest rate of return and made the largest contribution to returns while gold had the lowest return and private equity detracted the most from returns.

Things that worked well this month:

• The top 3 investments this month were: Bitcoin (AUD 49k), Pershing Square Holdings (PSH.L, 13k), and Tribeca Global Resources (TGF.AX, 9k).
  

What really didn't work: 

• Nothing was particularly bad this month.
  

Here are the investment performance statistics for the last five years:

The top three lines give our performance in USD and AUD terms, while the last three lines give results for three indices. Compared to the ASX200 we have a lower average return but also lower volatility, resulting in a higher Sharpe ratio of 0.92 vs. 0.64. But as we optimize for Australian Dollar performance, our USD statistics are much worse and worse than either the MSCI world index or the HFRI hedge fund index. We do beat the HFRI in terms of return, but at the expense of much higher volatility. We have a positive alpha relative to the ASX200 of 3.61% with a beta of only 0.45.

We are fairly close to our target allocation. We are most underweight private equity and Australian large cap stocks and overweight real assets and hedge funds. Our actual allocation currently looks like this:

About 70% of our portfolio is in what are often considered to be alternative assets: real estate, art, hedge funds, private equity, gold, and futures. A lot of these are listed investments or investments with daily, monthly, or quarterly liquidity, so our portfolio is not as illiquid as you might think.

We receive employer contributions to superannuation every two weeks. We are now contributing USD 10k each quarter to Unpopular Ventures Rolling Fund and less frequently there will be capital calls from Aura Venture Fund II. This was a bit quieter month than April. We made the following additional moves this month:

• I sold all 1,000 shares of PBDC and all 350 shares of the Bendigo Bank hybrid security. I expected to keep these longer, but new opportunities came up. Made AUD 356 on the Bendigo trade or about 1% in a month and USD 725 or about 2% on PBDC so it was better than holding cash.
  
• I bought 65k shares of Defi Technologies (DEFI.CA). I ended up buying 35k on the Canadian CBOE exchange and 30k on the US OTC market, as there was a public holiday in Canada. Brokerage is lower for buying in Canada.
  
• I bought another 5k shares of Platinum Capital (PMC.AX).
• I bought 3k shares of Regal Partners (RPL.AX).
  
• I bought another 100 shares of FBTC and six bitcoin futures trades, all of which made money (total of USD 1,645).
  
• I invested USD 7.5k in three new investments syndicated by Unpopular Ventures. This may seem like very small investments but I have now invested USD 32.5k in their syndicated investments. I am treating this like gradually buying into a fund that holds these different investments. These are in addition to our rolling fund investments. It's just random chance that three investments that met my criteria were offered in a single month. My last syndicated investment was in September 2023.