Portfolio Update – My Investments in 2021 (January)

Welcome to my portfolio update for January 2021!

It will be a bit different from my usual monthly income updates you’re probably used to. I’ll still show you how my investments performed, but I decided to change the format a bit in the new year. I hope you’ll like it!

I noticed a lot of you are interested in investing as a whole. Not just P2P lending, but also ETFs and other investments. And I do want to highlight the importance of diversification, as I don’t want newcomers to think I’m all-in on a single asset class, P2P lending.

I also recently made some changes to my asset allocation, so I want to use this opportunity to explain my reasoning for it.

Ok, let’s get into it!

My New Asset Allocation

I used January to do a bit of thinking. I’m 30 years old right now, and my wife is only 27. She recently started a new job, so we now have more money coming in on a monthly basis.

While I do like increasing my cashflow from investments month after month, it doesn’t make sense rationally.

I’m not using any of my investment income for my living expenses.

Instead, I reinvest it regularly into more shares of my ETF or to grow my P2P portfolio.

But here is the problem with that: I still have to tax what I receive in interest from P2P lending and dividend distributions via ETFs right now, year after year.

I would much rather keep my profits invested for as long as possible, until I actually need the money.

Don’t get me wrong, the fact that I receive monthly cashflow from my investments is great and very motivating. But, when I think about it logically, it doesn’t make a lot of sense right now for most of my investments to do that.

So, after doing some calculations and talking to my wife, we decided that the following portfolio allocation would make the most sense for us:

In case you’re interested, this was my asset allocation back in November 2019. As you can see, quite a few things have changed since then.

I will go into more detail about every asset class as we get to each one.

Let’s start with my largest investment, ETFs.

ETFs

As you know, I like to keep this as simple as possible. This strategy has not changed.

My wife and I only buy a single, low-cost exchange traded fund, the Vanguard FTSE All-World, at the beginning of every month.

• Here are the brokers we use

However, one detail did change: We started buying the accumulating version in January.

I’m talking about this one:

• Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF Accumulating (ISIN: IE00BK5BQT80)

While the total performance is the same as the distributing version of the ETF, it automatically reinvests the dividends it receives from the companies in the index instead of paying them out to us.

In most European countries, this is a more tax-efficient way to invest into ETFs.

If you’re interested in the subject and the differences between ETFs, make sure you read my recent post:

• Finding The Best ETFs in 2021 (European Investor)

But let me be clear. Even though we’re shifting new investments to the accumulating ETF, we’re not selling any of our existing shares in the distributing version.

We don’t want to realize and have to fully tax the capital gains we’ve made so far, but rather want to keep them invested for as long as possible, until we actually need the money.

And this way, we still get some of the joy that comes from having dividends paid out to your account every quarter!

Ok, let’s see how my ETF performed in January.

First let me say that I don’t really care about the short-term performance of my ETFs. I’m a long-term investor with a time horizon of 10 years or more.

Nonetheless, I decided to start sharing this part, wether the market is up or down. That way, you’ll get a better feeling for the kind of volatility you’re dealing with when you invest into ETFs.

In January, my Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF was up 0,65% (in €). February is looking even stronger already!

It seems like the stock market is very optimistic about a quick economic recovery from the crisis. We’ll see how the rest of the year goes.

Let’s move on to my second largest investment after ETFs, P2P lending.

P2P Lending

As I mentioned, for P2P lending I decided that an overall allocation of 15% makes the most sense for me right now.

To make that happen, I decided to cap my investments on each small- to medium-sized lending platform at 2.500€. That comes with the added benefit that it will be easier to compare their performance on a monthly basis.

There is one exception. I’m going to keep three times as much (7.500€) on Mintos, as it is the largest, most diversified peer to peer lending platform in my list.

With this change, I’m still receiving a nice amount in monthly interest payments, but most of my portfolio will be allocated in the most tax efficient way.

I’m still very excited about this sector and its future, especially as we start seeing more regulation this year!

Here is how my money is allocated right now in the sector:

Let’s have a look at each platform individually.

Mintos

• Income (Jan. 2021): 78,49€
• IRR: 12,51%
• Invested since: 27.09.2018

In line with my new strategy, I’m currently in the process of reducing my investment on Mintos to about 7.500€.

I want to keep the largest part of my P2P portfolio invested here, as it is still the largest European platform.

Mintos updated the risk scores for the lending companies on the platform in the end of January, something that they are now doing every quarter.

If you’re wondering how the number is calculated, here is how heavily they weigh each aspect:

• 40% loan portfolio performance
• 25% loan servicer efficiency
• 25% buyback strength
• 10% legal structure

Crowdestor

• Income (Jan. 2021): 32,87€
• IRR: 9,63%
• Invested since: 03.04.2019

Taking the size of my investment into account, my monthly earnings were pretty low on Crowdestor.

According to my dashboard, 21 out of 43 business loans are currently late, so that’s likely why. Hopefully this is going to change over the next few months.

Lendermarket

• Income (Jan. 2021): 39,76€
• IRR: 13,93%
• Invested since: 21.11.2019

Lendermarket is still my best performing platform right now.

The interest rates seem to be back to their previous levels for the most part (14%), while Estonian loans with longer durations are still offered at 15,1% interest per year.

The Creditstar Group, which offers all the loans on the platform, published its interim report for Q4/2020. According to the report, Creditstar generated a net profit of 6,55 million euros in 2020, which is great to see.

The full financial report, audited by KPMG, should be available by Mid 2021.

• Get 1% cashback on your investments on Lendermarket after 60 days via my link.

Viainvest

• Income (Jan. 2021): 28,64€
• IRR: 12,24%
• Invested since: 11.10.2019

I finally published my full Viainvest review last month, so if you haven’t read it yet, make sure you check it out.

• Get a 10€ signup bonus on Viainvest via my link.

Iuvo Group

• Income (Jan. 2021): 26,46€
• IRR: 13,40%
• Invested since: 05.10.2018

Bondora Go & Grow

• Income (Jan. 2021): 10,73€
• IRR (incl. withdrawals): 6,67%
• Invested since: 01.09.2018

One of Go & Grow‘s main advantages has always been being able to access your funds quickly, which is exactly what I did in January.

I withdrew 2.000€ from my Go & Grow account and the money was back on my bank account the same day.

• Get a 5€ bonus on Bondora when you sign up via my link and invest 10€ or more.

Robocash – My Newest Addition

On January 19th, I added Robocash to my P2P portfolio!

Originally, I wasn’t planning on adding another platform, but I really liked what they offer.

I’ll keep this part short for now, as I’ll publish a separate post about Robocash soon anyway. But here are a few reasons why I added them:

• The Robocash Group has been around since 2013, and the platform since 2017.
• Robocash offers 12% interest per year on its loans, combined with a buyback guarantee and a group guarantee. It activates after 30 days and includes outstanding interest.
• They offer investments into loans from countries like Singapore, which I haven’t seen on any other platform before.
• The Robocash Group is profitable according to their financial statements, which are audited by KPMG.

As you know, I really like platforms where the lending companies have a profitable business model, which they can prove via audited financial statements.

Long story short, I’m excited about this addition.

I’m planning to increase my Robocash account to 2.500€ over the next few days.

• Income (Jan. 2021): 2,21€
• IRR: 5,89%
• Invested since: 19.01.2021

My Robocash Auto Invest Settings

When I first set up my Auto invest on Robocash, I selected all loan originators:

Well, I quickly realized that it doesn’t diversify automatically, as all of my money was going into loans from Singapore, even when others were available as well.

Since I was targeting loans from Singapore in the first place, that wasn’t a big deal. That being said, I still like to diversify my investment over several loan types and countries whenever possible.

As a result, I stopped the 1st Auto Invest on Robocash for now and created two more, each with one or two of the other loan originators:

You should consider the same if you want to diversify your funds over all available lending companies and countries on Robocash.

• Use this link or the referral code advE to get 1% cashback on all your Robocash investments after 30 days.

EstateGuru

• Income (Jan. 2021): 4,95€
• IRR: 5,89%
• Invested since: 12.10.2020

One of my real-estate loans, #5327 Development loan – 1.stage (Finland), was paid back early on EstateGuru.

• Use this link for a 0,5% Bonus on EstateGuru for the first 3 months.

My Income From P2P Lending in January

Platform	Income	IRR	Invested	Value
Mintos	78,49€	12,51%	7.029€	9.001€
Crowdestor	32,87€	9,63%	6.148€	6.967€
Lendermarket	39,76€	13,93%	2.498€	2.979€
Viainvest	28,64€	12,24%	2.177€	2.502€
Iuvo Group	26,46€	13,40%	1.562€	2.503€
Bondora Go&Grow	10,73€	6,67%	900€	1.227€
Robocash (new!)	2,21€	6,95%	1.000€	1.002€
EvoEstate	0€	0,50%	730€	733€
EstateGuru	4,95€	5,89%	500€	509€
Mintos I&A	0,31€	10,17%	64€	170€
Total	224,42€		22.608€	27.594€

I earned a total of 224,42€ in interest from P2P lending in January.

That’s a 0,82% return on investment for the month, so P2P lending did slightly better than my ETFs in January 2021.

P2P Withdrawals – How Long Did They Take?

This part might be interesting to you as well.

I issued a withdrawal for 6 platforms on Monday, January 25th, to see how long they take right now. Here is when they arrived on my bank account:

• Bondora: Monday (same day!)
• Mintos & Iuvo Group: Tuesday
• Crowdestor: Wednesday
• Viainvest & Lendermarket: Thursday

So no complaints or surprises there. Every withdrawal arrived within 3 business days.

Alternative Investments

Ok, let’s jump to my last category and see how my alternative investments did in January. I’m talking about Bitcoin and Ethereum.

I see them as an alternative to precious metals like gold, with a lot more risk but also significantly more potential upside.

Nonetheless, this is a highly speculative asset class. So please never invest more than you can afford to lose into cryptocurrencies!

As I told you in my top 3 investments for 2021, I recently sold part of them to realize some profits and rebalance my portfolio.

It looks like I will have to rebalance more often. Both of them did exceptionally well in January:

• Bitcoin: +13,79%
• Ethereum: +78,96%

Still, their prices can also go down just as quickly, so let’s see how the rest of the year goes.

Alright, that’s it for my investments in January!

What do you think of the new format? And my new addition, Robocash?

Let me know in the comments below!

You might enjoy these posts:

• PeerBerry Review – Worth It In 2021? (My Personal Opinion)
• Finding The Best ETFs in 2021 (European Investor)
• Viainvest Review – 15 Months Later (2021)
• My TOP 3 Investments for 2021 (How They Performed Last Year)
• How To Buy ETFs – My Investment Strategy
• How To Track Your Investments In P2P Lending

My Investments in 2021 (January) – The Video