Hello, fellow investing and money enthusiasts. Another month has already passed and it feels like we are in a whole new world. It felt like COVID was coming to an end and the world was getting back to normal but nothing is less true. This month we saw the start of a Russian invasion into Ukraine. I don’t want to get too political here or pretend that I know a lot about the subject. Let’s just hope that this does not escalate any further and grows into a bigger disaster than it already is. Conflicts like these cause unnecessary loss of life for all parties involved just because some people want to show how powerful they are, in my opinion.
We also saw turbulent financial markets as a result of Russian military aggression. Although a lot lower on my list of concerns, this is of course still the topic of this blog! 2022 is only two months old but I feel like the tone has been said for the rest of the year. COVID, a war in Europe, inflation, … will probably not make it the best year for investors. That being said, let’s stick to the plan as much as possible starting with a dive into my portfolio update for February 2022.
Don’t forget that you can always find an up-to-date overview of all the ‘numbers’ in my portfolio on the My Portfolio page.
Portfolio overview
Although this exact day was not a very good one with a loss of €1650, we still end February in the green! I also passed the €100.000 mark again. There is not much spare room, let’s be honest, but it feels good seeing six numbers as my net worth.
My ETF portfolio has a value of around €27.200, which is slightly lower than last month but not bad at all considering the circumstances. The cryptocurrency part of my portfolio went up by several thousand euros, to my surprise, and is now standing just shy of €40.000. After initially going down by quite a lot after news of the Russian invasion broke, we saw Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies showing a lot of strength. Maybe more and more people see value in crypto with the Russian Rubble crashing?
Last month, I said that I did not have the brightest outlook for financial markets in 2022 and this was before peace in Europe was disturbed. This means that, right now, my outlook is even worse. My biggest concern is, of course, all of our futures when things escalate further…
Monthly Cash-flow
February was the first full month at my new job. I am now earning ~€2300 net + ~€150 meal vouchers. The below screenshot is thus not totally correct anymore. I did not have the time yet to make an updated version.
Portfolio Allocation
- Cash: Saved -€634.15
- Stocks: Invested €0 – €284.34 depreciation
- Crypto: Invested €1000 – €4 263.57 appreciation (!)
I feel like I have some explaining to do here; The negative cash saved is a result of two things. I took €1000 from my savings account to invest in cryptocurrencies when prices went down a lot because of the bad news. I do have to be honest and say that the phrase “invest when there is blood in the streets” got a little bit too real here…
The second reason I did not manage to save any cash this month is that I paid a deposit of €2000 for dental braces (more specific it is called Invisalign for those interested). I will get 60% back from my insurance, but this could take several weeks. I have been contemplating getting braces for some time now and have finally taken the plunge. It will cost a lot of money unfortunately as further payments will be needed as well. Any sugar daddy’s out there?
I was not able to invest anything in ETFs. This has been the case for several months now. I still need to get a bigger cash reserve first. Luckily I finished a web design project as well in February which is why I have a bit more cash in my ‘Personal Company’ right now.
Overview
Even though we saw a lot of bad news in February and I also spend quite a lot of money, the portfolio still managed to gain value. The next months have the potential to see a lot of volatility depending on matters that are out of our hands. Fingers crossed that the next portfolio update can be posted in better circumstances.
Good luck to all of you out there.
