This month has passed very fast for me. And I don’t think it was because it’s 2-3 shorter than the other months, but because I was living it too casually. And I don’t say it in a negative way. As described last week in my post about happiness, focusing on short-term activities that just make us feel good is a really nice complement to our long-term goals. And doing so brought me closer to the state of clear mind I’m after. Not completely, but closer.
Basically, this month I was chilling-out. It’s a really nice state after the somewhat hectic year of 2018. Not hectic financially, but personally – I had lots of planning and decision making to do, so it was draining all the energy left after the working hours and the commute. Nowadays, I’m taking the willpower recharge more seriously, so I can enjoy the daily life more. Good training, diet, and sleeping patterns are all of great help there.
Regarding MonkWealth, I made some changes in the header. I added a link to the Become an Investor series, as I’m getting increasingly proud of the knowledge I’m sharing there. I also added the Categories drop-down and the Things I Use, as an overview of the platforms I use for my investments. Lastly, if you’re new to investing or FIRE and haven’t checked the Glossary page yet, I’d highly recommend going through the terminology there.
Financial Update
The financial side is fine as well. Didn’t have any big expenses this month and my investments grew putting me higher in the green, after the last end-of-year plunge.
Nothing significant to add here as well. No major updates, no significant changes, no new plans for the future. Just keeping myself healthy and strong while working towards my FI goals. I’d like to add that the 50% mark will be a big milestone and some changes may follow, but for now, I’m just focused on getting there. The accumulation phase can’t be sped up rapidly, but can be enjoyed while it lasts.
I mean, I’m continuously on the lookout for new investment opportunities that may speed up the process, but I keep the urgency and FOMO amounts to an absolute zero.
Talking about where I allocate my money, let’s take a closer look at the chart.
Asset Allocation, February 2019
46% stocks, 3% P2P, 4% crypto, and 47% cash. Almost symmetrical.
Not that many changes here as well. Some percentages shifted, but there was nothing more exciting than the standard earn, save, invest approach.
The stocks were rising steadily, I received interest payments from my P2P investments, but the biggest winner this month was the crypto allocation. All the coins I’m holding went on a rise this month. I’m talking about more than 30% growth over February only. In moments like these I wished I put some more money on the December dip, but then I remember that I’m not just trading for quick profits, so I’m fine with continuing to HODL. Given the nature of the market, I’d expect another bull run there. It’s been pretty quiet for a while.
Really happy with the P2P early returns as well. As you know, I allocated a portion of my portfolio in P2P lending for the predictable >12% returns and I’m really satisfied with how the auto-invest tools of the platforms work. It’s literally set-and-forget type of thing, unless you want to be more involved. I personally don’t, at least for now. And it’s also nice to see what types of things you’re funding. First there are the short-term and consumer loans, but I have an especially fun time reading the details and seeing the pictures / websites / videos of the real estate projects I’m funding.
By the way, if you want to know which platforms I use for the different types of investments I’m making, check out the Things I Use page. You can also make some profit by signing-up using the links provided there.
FIRE Progress, February 2019
And lastly, my FIRE Progress this month went from 31,02% to 33,44%. Officially less than two thirds to go! And good rate of growth, two months in a row already. January was a serious recovery from the last-year’s stock market dip and this month the trend continued. When things seem stable I expect growth of a percentage per month, so anything above that makes me really happy. If I allocate more money in riskier assets I can increase the rate, but can’t influence the direction. 🙂
With that said, what do you invest in? What’s your asset allocation like? I’d really like to hear how my readers walk their path to FIRE.
So leave your comments below, subscribe if you want to get notified each time I publish new post (every week), and follow me on Facebook and Twitter for more updates.
Until next week.
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I’m a huge fan of symmetry (it just sooths my brain somehow)! – So naturally, I love that Pie chart 😛
Just out of curiosity: what are you saving all that Cash for?
Yeah, the pie chart was beautiful last month. 🙂
Actually, I’m not saving cash anymore – what you see in the chart are leftovers from the days I still wasn’t investing. If you see my first financial update (from October 2018), you’ll see that there was a bigger portion in cash. And it will only shrink with time, as most of the surplus is put to work towards the end of each month.
Also, I hold cash because of lack of investment opportunities I believe in so much that I can dump a lump-sum immediately. If nothing comes up during the year, I will need to reevaluate what to do with my savings (or a portion of it – I’d always keep at least 20-25k in cash or liquid savings account).
I see! We’re in similar places then (in terms of holding opportunity money and DCAing).
How did that down payment pan out? You bought a house/home then? 😉
No, I’m still not a homeowner. I wonder if I should include it in my portfolio once it happens, as it wouldn’t be an income-producing asset, but it will be a store of value.