Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Monthly Review - March 2008

The best word to describe my investments in March is ugly.

As a group, my mark to market investments declined in value during February. Here are the details:

1. my actively managed funds lost money. Vietnam continues to plumb new depths and the rest didn't do much better. I currently have investments in actively managed funds investing in Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Eastern Small Companies and European Small Companies;

2. my equity ETFs went sideways. I currently have exposure to Hong Kong and India;

3. my residual equity portfolio appreciated;

4. my commodity investments fell during the month. I sold the rest of my silver position and took a loss on a small position in platinum. I continue to hold a commodity ETF and lean hogs and nickel ETCs. All of these declined;

5. my properties are all fully rented and tenants are paying the rent on time. I have both a positive cash flow and a surplus of income over expenses (which represents an increase in net worth). The cash flow and the surplus have benefited from recent cuts in interest rates;

6. currency movements were close to neutral.

The only investment movements this month were the sale of the balance of my silver and my position in platinum.

My income was at the high end of expectations this month. My spending was high due to the payments for a family holiday (no effect on net worth as I had adequately provided for the expense) and the resulting savings helped to offset the losses on my investments.

The end result was an increase in net worth of 0.4% for the month. The year to date increase is 3.3%.

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