My Investments Update – October 2023
Here is my latest monthly update about my investments. You can read my September 2023 Investments Update here if you like
I’ll start as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension).
As the screenshot below for the year to date shows, my main Nutmeg portfolio is currently valued at £20,945. Last month it stood at £21,188 so that is a fall of £243.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,295 compared with £3,325 a month ago, a fall of £30. Here is a screen capture showing performance since the start of this year.
The net value of all my Nutmeg investments has fallen this month by £273 or 1.11% month on month. That’s obviously a bit disappointing, but both pots are still comfortably up on where they were at the start of the year. Their total value has risen by £1,320 (5.76%) since 1st January 2023.
Of course, all investing is (or should be) a long-term endeavour. Over a period of years stock market investments such as those used by Nutmeg typically produce better returns than cash accounts, often by substantial margins. But there are never any guarantees, and in in the short to medium term at least, losses are always possible.
You can read my full Nutmeg review here (including a special offer at the end for PAS readers). If you are looking for a home for your annual ISA allowance, based on my overall experience over the last seven years, they are certainly worth considering. They offer self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) and Junior ISAs as well.
I also have investments with the property crowdlending platform Kuflink. They continue to do well, with new projects launching every week. I currently have around £2,000 invested with them in 15 different projects paying interest rates typically around 7%. I also have just over £100 in my cash account after another loan was recently repaid.
To date I have never lost any money with Kuflink, though some loan terms have been extended once or twice. On the plus side, when this happens additional interest is paid for the period in question.
As mentioned last time, Kuflink recently changed their terms and conditions. As from Monday 21st August there is an initial minimum investment of £1,000 and a minimum investment per project of £500.
Kuflink say they are doing this to streamline their operation and minimize costs. I can understand that, though it does mean the option to ‘test the water’ with a small first investment has been removed. It will also make it harder for small investors (like myself) to build a well-diversified portfolio on a limited budget. As mentioned, my current portfolio of £2,145 comprises 17 different investments ranging from £50 to £200. If I was starting out again now, that same amount of money would only stretch to four deals!
One possible way around this is to invest using Kuflink’s Auto/IFISA facility. Your money here is automatically invested across a basket of loans over a period from one to three years. The rates on offer from August 1 2023 are shown in the graphic below.
As you may gather, you can invest tax-free in a Kuflink Auto IFISA. Or if you have already used your annual iFISA allowance elsewhere, you can invest via a taxable Auto account. You can read my full Kuflink review here if you wish.
Moving on, my Assetz Exchange investments continue to generate steady returns. Regular readers will know that this is a P2P property investment platform focusing on lower-risk properties (e.g. sheltered housing). I put an initial £100 into this in mid-February 2021 and another £400 in April. In June 2021 I added another £500, bringing my total investment up to £1,000.
Since I opened my account, my AE portfolio has generated a respectable £141.06 in revenue from rental income. As I said in last month’s update, capital growth has slowed, though, in line with UK property values generally.
At the time of writing, 8 of ‘my’ properties are showing gains, 2 are breaking even, and the remaining 16 are showing losses. My portfolio is currently showing a net decrease in value of £31.41, meaning that overall (rental income minus capital value decrease) I am up by £109.65. That’s still a decent return on my £1,000 and does illustrate the value of P2P property investments for diversifying your portfolio. And it doesn’t hurt that with Assetz Exchange most projects are socially beneficial as well.
Obviously the fall in capital value of my AE investments is disappointing. But it’s important to remember that until/unless I choose to sell the investments in question, it is largely theoretical, based on the most recent price at which shares in the property concerned have changed hands. The rental income, on the other hand, is real money (which in my case I have chosen to reinvest in other AE projects to further diversify my portfolio).
To control risk with all my property crowdfunding investments nowadays, I invest relatively modest amounts in individual projects. This is a particular attraction of AE as far as i am concerned (especially now that Kuflink have raised their minimum investment per project to £500). You can actually invest from as little as 80p per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
My investment on Assetz Exchange is in the form of an IFISA so there won’t be any tax to pay on profits, dividends or capital gains. I’ve been impressed by my experiences with Assetz Exchange and the returns generated so far, and intend to continue investing with them. You can read my full review of Assetz Exchange here. You can also sign up for an account on Assetz Exchange directly via this link [affiliate].
Last year I set up an account with investment and trading platform eToro, using their popular ‘copy trader’ facility. I chose to invest $500 (then about £412) copying an experienced eToro trader called Aukie2008 (real name Mike Moest).
In January 2023 I added to this with another $500 investment in one of their thematic portfolios, Oil Worldwide. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares.
My original investment totalling $1,022.26 is today worth $1,193.36, an overall increase of $171.10 or 16.73%. in these turbulent times I am quite happy with that.
I thought it might also be interesting to update you on how my eToro virtual portfolio is faring (I wrote about my virtual portfolio a few weeks ago in this blog post). Overall, this is down by $2558 in value, largely due to some big losses experimenting with commodity trading (I decided this wasn’t for me). It is very interesting to see which investments in my virtual portfolio have been doing well and which poorly, though.
I can’t get all of the investments in this port into a single screen capture, but here are the top performers…
And here are the worst-performing ones…
As you can see, the best performing investment in my virtual portfolio is Oil Worldwide. This continues to forge ahead since it was rebalanced in July by eToro. The second best is my copy trading portfolio with Aukie2008. I am obviously glad I have both of these in my real money portfolio as well!
By contrast, the two renewables smart portfolios I hold, Golden Energy and Renewable Energy, are currently showing substantial (thankfully virtual) losses.
Renewable Energy has actually lost over 35% in value since I notionally invested in it. This certainly does seem to confirm that investing in renewables is risky and by no means a guaranteed route to profit, despite all the green energy hype at the moment. I am tempted to suggest that Just Buy Oil might be a better strategy 😉
- This article in the Financial Times explains some of the reasons renewable energy stocks are struggling right now.
You can read my full review of eToro here. You may also like to check out my more in-depth look at eToro copy trading. I also discussed thematic investing with eToro using Smart Portfolios in this recent post. The latter also reveals why I took the somewhat contrarian step of choosing the oil industry for my first thematic investment.
- eToro also recently introduced the eToro Money app. This allows you to deposit money to your eToro account without paying any currency conversion fees, saving you up to £5 for every £1,000 you deposit. You can also use the app to withdraw funds from your eToro account instantly to your bank account. I tried this myself and was impressed with how quickly and seamlessly it worked. You can read my blog post about eToro Money here.
I had two more articles published in September on the excellent Mouthy Money website. The first was Will a Heat Pump Save You Money? The government is pushing heat pumps hard as a method for achieving its Net Zero target, but do the sums add up for hard-pressed consumers? In this article I took a ‘deep dive’ into the pros and cons of heat pumps and set out my personal views on whether or not they represent good value for money.
I also wrote Get Your Will Written Free of Charge in October. For those who may not know, October is Free Wills Month, when some solicitors in England and Scotland offer members of the public aged 55 and over the chance to have their wills written or updated free of charge. In my article I explain how the scheme works, and also explain why I believe everyone should have their will drawn up by a qualified solicitor.
As I’ve said before, Mouthy Money is a great resource for anyone interested in money-making and money-saving. I particularly like the ‘Deals of the Week’ feature compiled by Jordon Cox (‘Britain’s Coupon Kid’) which lists all the best current money-saving offers for savvy shoppers. Check out the latest edition here 
I also published two new posts on Pounds and Sense in September (I was away quite a lot last month, which didn’t leave much time for blogging!).
The first was a revised and updated guest post by my friend and near-neighbour Sally Jenkins titled Make Money From Public Speaking.
Sally is a successful author and makes a steady sideline income speaking about writing and related subjects (including a little while ago to my local U3A group!). I added a few thoughts of my own at the end of the article. There is definitely money to be made in this field; so if it’s something that might appeal to you, do check it out.
My other post last month was a review of a new money-saving shopping app called JamDoughnut. This app lets you earn cashback on gift vouchers from over 150 shops and restaurants, for which you get up to 20% cashback. You can then use the gift vouchers as money at the retailer concerned and pocket the cashback. Read Save Money on Your Shopping With JamDoughnut for more info (and a special bonus offer!).
The opportunity to get a free share worth up to £100 by signing up Trading 212 is now closed (for the time being anyway). I hope you took advantage if eligible and your free share is doing well. The opportunity to Get a Free ETF Share Worth up to £200 with Wealthyhood is still open. This DIY wealth-building app is aimed especially at people new to stock market investing. The minimum investment to qualify for the free share offer was raised recently from £20 to £50 – but on the plus side, they now guarantee that your free ETF share will be worth at least £10.
Finally, a quick reminder that you can also follow Pounds and Sense on Facebook or Twitter (or X as we have to learn to call it now). Twitter/X is my number one social media platform these days and I post regularly there. I share the latest news and information on financial (and other) matters, and other things that interest, amuse or concern me. So if you aren’t following my PAS account, you are definitely missing out!
That’s all for today. As always, if you have any comments or queries, feel free to leave them below. I am always delighted to hear from PAS readers
Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this blog post should be construed as personal financial advice. Everyone should do their own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek professional advice if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.
Note also that posts may include affiliate links. If you click through and perform a qualifying transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the product or service you receive or the terms you are offered, but it does help support me in publishing PAS and paying my bills. Thank you!