March 2020 update ($441,319 -$82,344 or -%15.7)

↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000

Grand total additions: $2,000 USD

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $18,457 or -15.3%

↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $19,297 or -17.2%

↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $15,901 or -12.4%

↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $22,499 or -20.7%

↓ Growth Fund is down by $6,111 or 12.1%

↓ GBP is down USD by 4.7% or $2,079 for my portfolio

Grand total losses: $84,344 USD

 Observations:

  The economy shutdown imposed by differed governments due to the COVID-19 is start taking its toll. The markets recovered slightly but I expect further fluctuations, as it became transparent how many people lost their jobs.

     I previously wrote that I bought some shares in kids name into tax efficient account. I almost managed to catch the bottom. The shares are currently down 4% (in comparison with market average 12.4%). Among US, Emerging markets (BRICS) and EU, the former weathered the storm best and the latter worst. 

     I came to conclusion that investing in EU four years ago was a mistake. My assumption was that although EU is not a free economy, it would manage any crisis (pandemic, financial or otherwise) better. An example – how China did with COVID-19. During COVID-19 EU fell to individual countries fighting for themselves – borders restored, policies different, responses are. So-called international companies were only supporting the countries were they headquarters are, ignoring the rest.  It is total and absolute chaos in EU.

    Who benefited from coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)?

While there is panic and confusion in the West, not everyone has lost out. Jeff Bezos shares in Amazon rose quite a bit.

    Jeff's share in Amazon appreciated almost $4bn.  Bezos sold $3.4bn worth of Amazon shares in the first week of February, just before the stock price peaked.

his timing was near-perfect. The share sales, which represented about 3% of his total holding, were much greater than Bezos had made in previous months. The stock sold was as much as he had sold in the previous 12 months.

     Other US executives that have been either lucky or smart by selling large chunks of their shareholdings in February include Larry Fink, the chief executive of fund manager BlackRock, who saved potential losses of $9m, and Lance Uggla, CEO of data firm IHS Markit, who sold $47m of shares on 19 February that would have dropped to $19m if he had held on to them.

     In total US executives sold about $9.2bn in shares of the companies they run in the five weeks before the start of the stock market rout. Selling before the 30% collapse in the market saved them from paper losses of $1.9bn.