Status Quo

Status Quo by Harry (Howard) Potts on Flickr

It’s been a volatile year so far. First from the start of the year until the 12th of February my portfolio lost about 7 200 euros (-11.3%). Then, since the 12th of February until today the 15th of March my portfolio has gained about 5 200 euros (+9.0%), so my total YTD performance is a loss of about 2 000 euros (-3.1%).

The percentages don’t directly add up because percentage changes don’t work symmetrically; A loss of 50% (100 -> 50) will require a gain of a 100% to get back to original value (50 -> 100).

Portfolio development YTD. Cost basis in red, value in blue. No change.

During these 3 months I’ve also made additional monthly contributions to the portfolio in the value of 2 100 euros (700 euros per month). From the chart it's possible to see that my monthly additions to the portfolio did not hit the bottom of the market. Such is life I guess? With a more active approach I could have been able to time the market? Maybe not.

My additional contributions in fact very closely cancel the effect of the loss I’ve made. My current portfolio value stands at about 63 800 euros, which is exactly the same as it was on 31st of December 2015. After all the turmoil, that’s an interesting result.