Friday, December 2, 2022

November 2022 update ($763,017 +$61,502 or +8.8%)

↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $11,201 or +10.2% 
↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $9,760 or +8.4%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $15,713 or +5.5%
↑ Global Small Cap Index is up by $7,981 or +6.1%
↑ Growth fund is up 812 or +1.3% 
↑ EUR is up to USD by 5.0%, so for my portfolio its $12,345 
↑ GBP is down to USD by 6.0%, so for my portfolio its $61,502 
Grand total gains: $61,502 USD

November 2022 Financial Independence
Financial Independence November 2022 update

Friday, November 11, 2022

October 2022 update ($701,515 +$41,544 or +6.3%)

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $4,622 or -4.1%
Grand total losses: $4,622 USD

↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $8,387 or 7.9%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by    $21,198 or 8.0%
↑ Global Small Cap Index is up by $9,734 or 8.1%
↑ Growth fund is up  767 or 1.3%
↑ EUR is up to USD by 2.1%, so for my portfolio its $4,519
↑ GBP is down to USD by 2.7%, so for my portfolio its $1,560
Grand total gains: $46,166 USD

October 2022 Financial independence nest egg update

Saturday, October 1, 2022

September 2022 update ($659,971 -$68,922 or -9.5%)

 ↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $11,698 or -9.3%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $7,260 or -6.3%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $26,824 or -9.2%
↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $13,816 or -10.3%
↓ Growth fund is down by 2,316 or -3.7%
↓ EUR is down to USD by 2.0%, so for my portfolio its $4,442
↓ GBP is down to USD by 4.2%, so for my portfolio its $2,566
Grand total losses: $68,922 USD

Financial Independence September 2022 update

Observations:   After investing $120 K USD this year, I am down $110 K from a year ago. This means loss of $230 K (25% loss) USD in the past twelve months.


Thursday, September 1, 2022

August 2022 update ($728,894 -$17,915 or -2.4%)

↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $1,054 or +0.8%
↑ Growth fund is up by 1,014 or +1.6%
Grand total additions:  $2,068

↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $3,903 or -3.3%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $8,164 or -2.7%
↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $3,038 or -2.2%
↓ EUR is down to USD by 2.0%, so for my portfolio its $4,821
Grand total losses: $19,926 USD

August 2022 Financial Independence

Monday, August 1, 2022

July 2022 update ($746,809 $37,100 or +5.2%)

↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $3,673 or +3.0%
↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $6,196 or +5.4%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $21,115 or +7.6%
↑ Global Small Cap Index is up by $10,129 or +7.9%
↑ Growth fund is up by 2,677 or +4.5%
Grand total additions: $43,791 USD

↓ EUR is down to USD by 1.9%, so for my portfolio its $4,685
↓ GBP is down to USD by 3.3%, so for my portfolio its $2,006
Grand total losses: $6,691 USD

July 2022 Financial Independence update

Friday, July 1, 2022

June 2022 update ($709,709 -$66,333 or -8.5%)

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $5,702 or -4.3%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $12,156 or -9.3%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $24,883 or -8.2%
↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $14,153 or -10.0%
↓ Growth fund is down by 3,586 or -5.3%
↓ EUR is down to USD by 1.0%, so for my portfolio its $2,342
↓ GBP is down to USD by 5.4%, so for my portfolio its $3,511
Grand total losses: $66,333 USD

June 2022 Financial Independence update

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

May 2022 update ($776,042 -$887 or -%0.1)

↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $1,392 or +1.1%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $127 or +0%
↑ GBP is up to USD by 2.3%, so for my portfolio its $1,588
Grant total additions: $3,107 USD

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $902 or -0.7%
↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $25 or -0.0%
↓ Growth fund is down by $554 or -0.8%
↓ EUR is down to USD by 0.9%, so for my portfolio its $2,512
Grand total losses: $3,994 USD

Financial Independence May 2022 update

Thursday, May 5, 2022

April 2022 update ($776,929 -$61,670 or -7.9%)

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $1,073 or -0.8%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $2,799 or -2.1%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $29,025 or -14.5%
↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $12,297 or -8.0%
↓ Growth fund is down by 1,043 or -1.5%
↓ EUR is down to USD by 4.5%, so for my portfolio its $12,722
↓ GBP is down to USD by 3.8%, so for my portfolio its $2,710
Grand total losses: $61,670 USD

April 2022 financial independence update

Thursday, April 14, 2022

March 2022 update ($838,599 +$84613 or +%11.2)

↑ Financial independence savings for last month $68,000
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $17,567 or +6.2%
↑ Global Small Cap Index is down by $1,406 or +0.9%
↑ Growth fund is up by 3,054 or +4.5%
Grand total additions: $90,027 USD

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $1,059 or -0.7%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $757 or -0.5%
↓ EUR is down to USD by 0.9%, so for my portfolio its $2,544
↓ GBP is down to USD by 1.5%, so for my portfolio its $1,084
Grand total losses: $5,444 USD

Financial independence March 2022 update

Thursday, March 10, 2022

March Trade and protection against inflation

I have been saving $2,000 a month for the past two years plus and was able to accumulate $52 K USD.

It was interested in how to protect my portfolio against raging inflation (the UK official inflation in 2022 is 6.7%, actual over 8%, the USA official inflation in 2022 – 7.9%,  actual is over 10%).  From many assets – equities, bonds, real estate, precisions metals, art, etc.… historically the best protection were commodities. 

My current Vanguard branch stopped dealing with retail /personal investors and only deal with professional ones. This means that I can keep my account and top it up but a new fund minimum opening threshold is $ 1 million.  While idea to diversify and invest in commodities fund is still alive, I invested some additional money into one of my existing funds.

I admire some of the EU legislation. For example, I transferred money from GBP to USD to pay for the extra shares.  I thought, at the time, that the exchange rate given by the bank was reasonable.  I bought the USD at 1.3158 , the exchange rate on the day was  between 1.3114 to 1.3187.   According to EU legislation the banks have to report how much money did they make on that transaction.  My bank made 1.5%, so the bank made $1,500 for every $100,000 USD of money transferred.  It made me thinking.

While Europe has the fourth war during the past one hundred years on its territory. Western europeans citizens will pay heavy price for their leaders’ inability to negotiate and make a deal. I actually think they will push economy into a recession with a high inflation.

In the mean time I took some risk and invested some money from my emergency fund.  All together I invested $120 K USD. This covers my target savings rate until end of 2024.  It pushed my cumulative nest egg from $753 K to about $820K, at the time of the trade.   If I could earn inflation adjusted interest of 3%, without further additions I should have $1,500 K by the time I retire. This is today’s money. 

 

March 2022 Trade and protection against inflation


 

Monday, February 28, 2022

February 2022 update ($753,986 -$18,889 or -%2.4)

↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000
↑ Global Small Cap Index is down by $339 or +0.2%
Grand total additions: $2,339 USD

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $5,844 or -3.9%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $7,809 or -5.2%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $6,076 or -3.0%
↓ Growth fund is down by 1,499 or -2.1%
Grand total losses: $21,228 USD

February 2022 Road to financial independence


Monday, January 31, 2022

January 2022 update ($772,875 -$33,564 or -%4.2)

↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000
Grand total additions: $2,000 USD

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $648 or -0.4%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $5,437 or -3.5%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $10,986 or -5.2%
↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $12,433 or -7.6%
↓ Growth fund is down by 3,378 or -4.6%
↓ EUR is down USD by $2,683 or -0.9% for my portfolio
Grand total losses: $35,564 USD
January 2022 Journey to Financial Independence

Saturday, January 1, 2022

December 2021 update ($806,438 +$29,631 or +%3.8)

↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000
↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $1,843 or +1.2%
↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $7,277 or +4.9%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $8,983 or +4.5%
↑ Global Small Cap Index is up by $5,872 or +3.7%
↑ Growth fund is up by 920 or +1.3%
↑ EUR is up USD by $2,736 or +0.9% for my portfolio
Grand total additions: $29,631 USD

December 2021 Financial independence update

November 2021 update ($776,808 -$22,737 or -%2.8)

↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000
↑ Growth fund is up by $2,513 or +3.5%
Grand total additions: $4,513 USD

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $2,772 or -1.8%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $5,162 or -3.3%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $1,524 or -0.7%
↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $8,182 or -4.9%
↓ EUR is down to USD by $7,965 or -2.6% for my portfolio
↓ GBP is down to USD by $1,645 or -2.3% for my portfolio
Grand total loses: $27,250 USD

November 2021 Financial Independence update

October 2021 update ($799,545 +$29,063 or +%3.8)

 ↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000
↑ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is up by $2,393 or +1.6%
↑ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is up by $6,305 or +4.2%
↑ US 500 Stock Index Fund is up by $13,242 or +7.0%
↑ Global Small Cap Index is up by $5,801 or +3.6%
↑ Growth fund is up by $2,047 or +2.9%
Grand total additions: $31,787 USD

↓ EUR is down to USD by $2,724or -0.9% for my portfolio
Grand total loses: $2,724 USD

October 2021 Financial Independence update


September 2021 update ($770,481 -$29,802 or -%3.7)

↑ Financial independence savings for last month $2,000
Grand total additions: $20,000 USD

↓ Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $4,283 or -2.7%
↓ Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $5,197 or -3.3%
↓ US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $9,340 or -4.7%
↓ Global Small Cap Index is down by $5,173 or -3.1%
↓ Growth fund is down by $1,481 or -2.1%
↓ EUR is down to USD by $5,298 or -1.7% for my portfolio
↓ GBP is up to USD by $1,030 or -1.4% for my portfolio
Grand total loses: $31,802 USD

September 2021 Financial Independence update