A Curate’s Egg

My performance for the second quarter of 2021 arrived last week and I’m giving myself a small pat on the back.

As at 5th July 2021.

All the gains this year came in Q2. But the market in general has been strong so it’s relevant to compare my portfolio with a benchmark: the MSCI world index. In Q2 the index was up 7.05% and I managed 9.38%. In the year July 2020/21 the index gained 25.10% and my portfolio went up 34.68%. Looks quite good but in another part of the forest things are not going so well.

I have no precise data on my ISA but it seems to have gone up by about 5% annually in the last three years. This is very poor considering I reinvest the dividends and add the maximum to capital. The fees are modest, shares in Vietnam and a few other investment trusts have done well but Glaxo and Marks & Spencer have been a drag.

Both portfolios are funds of funds with shares in a few individual companies, all managed by me. I think you might hire me to advise you if you only saw how I performed in my first portfolio and I think you’d be sacking me if I managed your funds as poorly as I have managed my ISA.