Investment Review - December 2016

The results are in for the last quarter of 2016, and so here's the spreadsheet for the combined portfolio as updated on Friday 30 December.

Click on the graphic for a larger image.


Stock / Fund Purchases in the Period
None

Stock / Fund Sales in the Period
None

So no trading activity to report this quarter.    Earlier in the year, it looks like I was premature in cashing in some of the gains I'd made on commodity stocks, since they've continued to rocket throughout 2016, further aided by the weakness of sterling.  However, the deed's done and it's no use worrying about it now.

The portfolio growth continued its ascent in October, but dipped very slightly in November to bring an end to an unbroken run of monthly gains since February, i.e. after nine on the bounce.  However, things picked up again strongly in December to end the year at another all-time high.

Overall it was a decent performance in 2016, at least in GBP terms, with the pot value increasing from 68.4% to 119.4% in the twelve months (both valuations compared to my March 2013 baseline).  

The total investment return for the year, excluding the new money added to the pot, was +15.7%.   

I'm still sitting on a large cash pile because market valuations seem dizzyingly high to dip back in.   However, I think it's wise to expect some stronger headwinds in 2017 after such a steady run in 2016, and any corrections may throw up some more buying opportunities ...