I hope 2024 was fruitful for you and wishing you all the best for 2025! Investments-wise, I’m very happy with how 2024 went. I’d like to get back in to trading more — getting in and out of positions within a few hours/a few days — but for various reasons I’m not quite there yet, so I’m resting on the performance of my long-term fund. And in that, I’ve got no complaints. Read on to see how my portfolio has done over the last quarter 2024, as well as 2024 as a whole.
The Portfolio
If you’re new to the blog, I created a portfolio of 18 ETFs that I’ve decided is going to be my long-term investment strategy. These ETFs are across many sectors like healthcare, consumer staples (toilet paper, toothpaste etc.), food and entertainment, real estate, self-driving cars and more.
I allotted a percentage to each based on how risky I wanted the portfolio to be. I’ve got an eye on the future with this portfolio, for sure, but I also made sure that there was a substantial amount in more consistent ETFs. The goal is to match (or ideally beat) the market overall in good conditions, while not suffering too bad of losses in a bad conditions. For a break down of the ETFs I’m holding and the percentage I’m targeting for each, check out the portfolio page.
Quarter over quarter Changes
The last time I updated the portfolio was early October where I added more shares of IDRV, PBJ, PEJ, XLB and XLE. All of my moves are made purely in order to maintain my ratios within my portfolio — so when I add more money to the fund, I do so based on what I already have; not based on how each individual ETF is performing.
I built a calculator in excel that largely does all of the work for me. I simply update how much I want to add to the fund each month and it shows me which new shares to buy (and how many of each). So, based on that calculation, those were the ETFs I added.
Overall, The market was up about 3% over the last quarter and my portfolio was down roughly 1.5%. There’s been some clear stagnation in equities overall, and my portfolio is taking a bit of a hit. Times couldn’t be all good, so I’m prepared. In fact, it’s this type of market where I’m able to add more shares which will ultimately mean a larger fund in the future, so I’m taking it all in stride.
Speaking of, for this period I added shares of:
- IDRV – Self Driving & EV ETF
- PBJ – Food & Beverage ETF
- PSCT – Small-Cap Technology ETF
- VNQ – REIT ETF
- XLB – Materials ETF
- XLP – Consumer Staples ETF
- XLRE – Commercial Real Estate ETF
- XLU – Utilities ETF
- XLV – Health Care ETF
Here’s the break down for how each ETF changed over the last quarter:
Yearly and Overall Changes
Since January 2nd 2024, my portfolio is up roughly 14% with the S&P being up 24% over the same time period. Since it’s inception, the portfolio is up 35%, compared to 54% in the S&P. Unfortunately, I’m not accomplishing my goal of beating the S&P right now, but it’s relatively quite early in the fund’s “life” and I have yet to see how it performs during actual turmoil.
Also, I’m invested in ETFs that I don’t expect to perform now. Things like robotics and self-driving cars are future plays, so I’m not shocked to see them under-performing right now. In general, I’m quite comfortable with where the portfolio is, and am excited for the future.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of each ETF and how they’ve changed:
Conclusion
Like I’ve said, I’m happy with how things are going, and am looking forward to 2025. If the market remains strong, great! I get to see gains in my portfolio. If it’s down, fine! I get to add more shares to it, increasing it’s potential when the market recovers. And, a goal of mine is to start more active trading again in 2025, so hopefully that will just make everything increase that much more. Like I said, I’m excited.
Thanks for reading! How’s your portfolio doing? If you’ve got any thoughts or questions leave them in the comments! Also, I think, despite whether or not I add to the fund, I’m going to provide monthly updates for how it’s performing. It’ll be a nice check-in and we can see how we’re pacing vs each other and the market, so stay tuned for that!