Saturday 11 June 2011

Net Worth Update: May 2011

A bad month for stock investments, with my geared stock portfolio dropping into negative equity. One of my biggest single holdings is a listed private equity fund (IPE), which is trading well below it's supposed NAV, and is worth less than half what I paid for it pre-GFC. With the Aussie economy in the doldrums everywhere except the mining sector, I don't think this investment will "come good" any time soon.

Our SMSF also had a bad month, as it is mostly invested in the Vanguard High Growth Fund (with a large domestic and international (mainly US) share exposure) and also some ASX200 CFDs (IQ) which are back down to our entry price. I bought another 3 of these CFDs last week, in the hope that this is a temporary market correction and we'll see a return to growth in the Australian economy once the Queensland natural disasters impact on the GDP washes through this quarter, which should see some market confidence later in 2011. With the mining boom and very low unemployment levels being sustained for several years now, one would expect market confidence to return at some stage - probably just when most investors have given up and decided stock market returns will remain poor.

Fortunately the valuations for our Sydney properties continue to rise, contrary to the national property market this year, and some areas of weakness in the Sydney market.

Overall my net worth is back down to the level seen at the start of 2011.

Assets___________$ Amount______$ Diff_____% Diff 
Stocks_*_________-$21,661____-$38,326______n/a % 
Retirement_______$376,174________$894_____0.24 % 
Properties_______$987,531_____$17,035_____1.76 % 

Debts____________$ Amount_____$ Diff_____% Diff 
Home Mortgage(s)_$360,295______-$140_____-0.04 % 

Net Worth________$981,786____-$20,256____-2.02 %
* the Stocks figure is portfolio value - margin loans. As my portfolio value (and margin loan debt) is around $500,000 relatively small movements in the stock market produce huge percentage swings in the net value of my stock portfolio each month.

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