It has been a good H1 for my portfolio so far.
2023 Performance YTD
My Portfolio: 25.88%
Vanguard 500 Index: 16.81%
Performance since inception (Jan 2021)
My Portfolio: -6.54%
Vanguard 500 Index: 22.7%
(Based on an arbitrary starting amount of $10,000)
You know the first half of the year must be good for investors when NASDAQ post best start to a year in four decades. The S&P 500 returns 16.38% YTD while the DJIA has a paltry return of 3.84% YTD. Among the popular tech stocks, NVIDIA probably holds the crown position for the highest return YTD of more than 189%. With such a strong performance in H1, you might be left wondering how H2 plays out based on historical data. If you are interested, you might like to check out my previous post.
I also posted a poll in my Telegram group on what most of my subscribers think about us being in a new bull market given that the S&P 500 index is now more than 20% off the lows in October. If you are interested in joining the poll, join the channel.
In terms of my own portfolio's performance, I am quite pleasantly pleased with a 25% return YTD as it outpaces the market's return. As my portfolio has a higher beta, it tends to be a double-edged sword. When the market is down, my portfolio has a tendency to be down more. When the market is up, my portfolio tends to outperform. The reason for the high beta is due to some of the portfolio constituents I have like tech ETFs and Bitcoin. I am aware of this high volatility and accept it as part of my portfolio metrics for now. However, I will also gradually reduce the beta of my portfolio with some adjustments as I age. It's crucial to gradually reduce the risks you are taking in your portfolio as you enter a different phase of life. If you are curious what I will be doing when I am approaching 40, you may like to check out this post.
For an overview of the YTD performance of the constituents in my portfolio, refer to the below table.
Most of my portfolio constituents do really well in 2023. The underperforming constituents like ARKK and ARKG both have decent returns of 41.29% and 20.76% respectively after a very disappointing 2022. The more stable constituents like BRK.B and URTH still manage to have double digit returns which really helps the portfolio. Of course, the clear outperforming asset here is Bitcoin with an 84.45% return. I still think Bitcoin is severely undervalued and there should be a lot more room to grow from here.
The disappointments with China stocks never end. It has been almost 3 years of constant drops for the China stocks. Even after a disappointing return of almost -26% for Alibaba and -23% for MCHI, both continues their dip this year. Alibaba has a YTD return of -5.38% while MCHI has a YTD return of -4.91%. They are the only constituents in my portfolio which are in the red. I have already reduced my exposure to Alibaba at the start of 2023 with a lesser allocation of my portfolio's funds to it. I am now thinking of further reducing it comes January 2024 when I rebalance my portfolio again.
A good 2023 performance so far. Hopefully, the year ends well with even better returns.
I also do share additional content in my Telegram channel. 180+ like-minded investors have already joined this channel. What are you waiting for?