I didn't get around to posting the end-of-year results at the time, but on 31-Dec-21 the combined portfolio stood at an all-time high and the 2021 full-year return was +8.2%.
On the plus side, I didn't suffer at all from the panic seen over the last six months by holders of the likes of Fundsmith and SMT etc, because I've never been over-exposed to the Nasdaq and its so-called 'tech' stocks.
Here's the combined portfolio position on 31-Mar-22 :-
It's been a long while since my last post, what with spending a few months in Europe in the van during the winter, including being away over the Christmas period.
Anyway, we're now 9 full years into the grand plan - see posts passim - and here are the usual two graphs of progress against the 2013 targets.
I'm posting this brief review several weeks later than usual - I've been very busy on many fronts - but here's the Combined Portfolio spreadsheet summary at close of business on 30 June 2021 :-
click on the graphic for a larger image ...
It's been a very long time since my last update on the campervan, but I've continued to work on it and things started to come together quite quickly towards the end, if there ever is an end to converting a van, which I doubt.
I don't suppose this project will ever be completely finished, there'll always be things to repair, modify or add, but most of what was originally intended has now been done, along with several examples of 'scope creep' in the form of stuff I just kept adding to the workload as I went along.
We've already been away on two separate week-long trips in the van, and after each we made a few modifications to the vehicle, just to make life easier and more convenient.
So this post is by way of being a Van Tour. Twenty weeks since I bought the van, the post shows what it looks like now.
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| on a campsite at Aldbrough in Yorkshire ... |
Following on from Part 5, I've been continuing with the project across several fronts.
One thing about this conversion is that it's very difficult to actually finish anything, because to complete X means that Y needs to be done beforehand and suitable provision made for Z to follow etc.
For example, it's been over a month now since we made our cabinet carcasses for the RH wall and we've now also built a similar unit to fit over the kitchen area on the LH side, but we couldn't install them permanently until we'd run all the necessary cables behind.
We're still adding equipment to the design but I've now bought and installed all the cables I'll think we'll need, and I've also run a few extra lengths here & there for any additions we might want in the future.
So the RH wall cabinets are now fitted. I've also been working on the control panel in the lower half of the rearmost cabinet. It has two fascia sections, one side fixed and the other hinged for access to fuses and to be able to complete all the wiring etc.
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| RH wall cabinets with the control panel in blue ... |
And we're making progress elsewhere, too.
The end of March represented the 8-year point in our 10-year term 'Grand Plan'. Here are the usual two graph plots:-
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| Savings Pot to Mar-21 |
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| SIPP Pot to Mar-21 |
There's been a good recovery from this time last year ...
