Performance and Costs
On this page, I provide updates on the performance and costs of the example portfolios I’ve set up using my own money.
Click on the green links to jump to the relevant portfolio.
£10,000 Higher-Risk Rated Portfolio
£50,000 Higher-Risk Rated Portfolio
£10,000 Medium-Risk Rated Portfolio
£50,000 Medium-Risk Rated Portfolio
£10,000 Higher-Risk Rated Portfolio
Data sourced from Refinitiv Eikon and David Ryder.
This portfolio has done well in a short period of time. IT WILL NOT CONTINUE TO GROW AT THIS SPEED! It will have periods when it falls or flattens out – like it did between July and October 2023. I ignored it then and got on with my life, and that’s exactly what I’ll do next time it happens. The only action I’ll take will be to rebalance once a year.
Scroll down the page to see more of my observations on this portfolio’s first year and a bit.
| Date | Portfolio Value | Dividends & Interest | Gross Change £ | Gross Return | Total Costs | Net £ change | Net Return |
| 01/11/2024 | £11,854.25 | £109.81 | £2,106.63 | 21.37% | -£180.75 | £1,925.88 | 19.54% |
| 01/10/2024 | £11,753.89 | £109.25 | £2,005.71 | 20.35% | -£174.76 | £1,830.95 | 18.57% |
| 01/09/2024 | £11,730.72 | £108.63 | £1,981.91 | 20.11% | -£168.77 | £1,813.14 | 18.39% |
| 01/08/2024 | £11,588.59 | £107.95 | £1,839.11 | 18.66% | -£162.78 | £1,676.33 | 17.01% |
| 01/07/2024 | £11,737.58 | £79.39 | £1,959.53 | 19.88% | -£144.82 | £1,814.71 | 18.41% |
| 01/06/2024 | £11,429.64 | £75.89 | £1,648.09 | 16.72% | -£138.83 | £1,509.26 | 15.31% |
| 01/05/2024 | £11,197.73 | £72.39 | £1,412.69 | 14.33% | -£132.84 | £1,279.85 | 12.98% |
| 01/04/2024 | £11,542.51 | £68.89 | £1,753.96 | 17.79% | -£126.85 | £1,627.11 | 16.51% |
| 01/03/2024 | £11,237.27 | £65.48 | £1,445.32 | 14.66% | -£120.86 | £1,324.46 | 13.44% |
| 01/02/2024 | £10,842.53 | £61.99 | £1,047.08 | 10.62% | -£114.87 | £932.21 | 9.46% |
| 01/01/2024 | £10,707.08 | £39.61 | £889.26 | 9.02% | -£108.88 | £780.38 | 7.92% |
| 01/12/2023 | £10,459.29 | £36.64 | £638.49 | 6.48% | -£102.89 | £535.60 | 5.43% |
| 01/11/2023 | £10,043.70 | £33.63 | £219.89 | 2.23% | -£101.90 | £117.99 | 1.20% |
| 01/10/2023 | £10,160.20 | £30.74 | £333.50 | 3.38% | -£88.91 | £244.59 | 2.48% |
| 01/09/2023 | £10,261.31 | £27.85 | £431.72 | 4.38% | -£75.92 | £355.80 | 3.61% |
| 01/08/2023 | £10,326.95 | £25.37 | £494.89 | 5.02% | -£62.93 | £431.96 | 4.38% |
| 01/07/2023 | £10,121.41 | £6.32 | £270.29 | 2.74% | -£49.94 | £220.35 | 2.24% |
| 01/06/2023 | £9,891.42 | £4.23 | £38.21 | 0.39% | -£36.95 | £1.26 | 0.01% |
| 11/05/2023 | £9,857.44 | £4.23 | £4.23 | 0.04% | -£36.95 | -£32.72 | -0.33% |
Data sourced from Refinitiv Eikon and David Ryder.
My observations so far
- Performance: The performance is positive but a little meaningless as it’s been just over a year since I set up the portfolio. If anything, it’s risen too much in a short period of time hence the flattening out of growth over the past couple of months was entirely to be expected.
- Rebalancing: I made small adjustments for the annual rebalance in May 2024; i.e., making sure that my portfolio continues to copy the model or “ideal” portfolio for my level of risk and amount to invest. This allows me to ignore all the fuss and noise that goes on in the world and live my life without thinking about my investment portfolio until the next annual rebalance. Click here to see the step-by-step video of my rebalancing.
- Interest and cashback. I had the money sitting in the account uninvested for a few weeks. This earned interest that I have not included under “Dividends and Interest” because I’m assuming that you will invest your money straight away. I have included interest payments received on the small allocation I’ve left to “cash”, i.e., money that I’ve not bought any funds with – I’ve just left it there to cover charges/fees etc.
I also have not included the £50 “cashback” that the platform paid into my account as that offer might not be available to you and I don’t want to mislead or confuse. - Costs: I have tried to show the fees you would incur if you were to set up an account like this on its own. I have other investments on this account which enables me to spread costs across them. However, I’ve shown the performance here as if it were only one account and had to cover the full monthly fee and all relevant trading costs, i.e., the worst-case scenario.
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£50,000 Higher-Risk Rated Portfolio
| Date | Portfolio Value | Dividends & Interest | Gross Change £ | Gross Return | Total Costs | Net £ change | Net Return |
| 01/11/2024 | £49,763.71 | £105.26 | £953.48 | 1.95% | -£69.13 | £884.35 | 1.81% |
| 01/10/2024 | £49,639.99 | £105.26 | £829.75 | 1.70% | -£58.84 | £770.91 | 1.58% |
| 01/09/2024 | £49,591.58 | £105.26 | £781.34 | 1.60% | -£48.54 | £732.80 | 1.50% |
| 01/08/2024 | £49,051.71 | £105.26 | £241.48 | 0.49% | -£38.25 | £203.23 | 0.42% |
| 01/07/2024 | £49,006.59 | £0.00 | £91.10 | 0.19% | -£28.00 | £63.10 | 0.13% |
| 26/06/2024 | £48,915.50 | £0.00 | £0.00 | 0.00% | -£28.00 | -£28.00 | -0.06% |
Data sourced from Refinitiv Eikon and David Ryder.
Launched in June 2024, this portfolio is very young and there’s nothing to conclude at this stage.
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£10,000 Medium-Risk Rated Portfolio
| Date | Portfolio Value | Dividends & Interest | Gross Change £ | Gross Return | Total Costs | Net £ change | Net Return |
| 01/11/2024 | £9,912.53 | £108.84 | £245.13 | 2.51% | -£119.88 | £125.25 | 1.28% |
| 01/10/2024 | £9,837.90 | £107.64 | £169.30 | 1.73% | -£119.88 | £49.42 | 0.51% |
| 01/09/2024 | £9,822.32 | £66.28 | £112.36 | 1.15% | -£119.88 | -£7.52 | -0.08% |
| 01/08/2024 | £9,814.34 | £54.18 | £92.28 | 0.94% | -£119.88 | -£27.60 | -0.28% |
| 17/07/2024 | £9,776.24 | £18.90 | £18.90 | 0.19% | -£119.88 | -£100.98 | -1.03% |
Data sourced from Refinitiv Eikon and David Ryder.
Launched in July 2024, this portfolio is very young. The platform I used for this portfolio charged 12-months of platform fees up front, hence the negative start to performance.
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£50,000 Medium-Risk Rated Portfolio
| Date | Portfolio Value | Dividends & Interest | Gross Change £ | Gross Return | Total Costs | Net £ change | Net Return |
| 01/11/2024 | £51,447.45 | £105.26 | £836.75 | 1.65% | -£69.13 | £767.62 | 1.51% |
| 01/10/2024 | £51,512.21 | £105.26 | £901.52 | 1.78% | -£58.84 | £842.68 | 1.66% |
| 01/09/2024 | £51,377.67 | £105.26 | £766.97 | 1.51% | -£48.54 | £718.43 | 1.42% |
| 01/08/2024 | £51,061.75 | £105.26 | £451.06 | 0.89% | -£38.25 | £412.81 | 0.81% |
| 23/07/2024 | £50,715.96 | £0.00 | £0.00 | 0.00% | -£28.00 | -£28.00 | -0.06% |
Data sourced from Refinitiv Eikon and David Ryder.
This is probably the most useful portfolio to share because it’s lost value since I bought the funds that it holds. As such, it is an excellent example of investments going down as well as up.
I’m not worried. I’m investing over several years, so a few months’ negative performance is going to happen. In fact, it might end the year even lower. No problem, I’ll keep rebalancing on an annual basis and getting on with my life while my investments get on with theirs.