My TOP 3 Investments For 2022 (Yearly Returns & Outlook)

At the beginning of last year, I wrote about my top 3 investments and told you what returns I was expecting for the full year of 2021.

Well, it’s about time for an update, as a lot has happened since then.

So in today’s post,

• We’ll discuss my top 3 investments for 2022
• We’ll have a look at my actual investment returns last year and compare them to my previous return expectations
• And lastly, I’ll make some new (unqualified) return predictions for the current year.

Please remember that none of this is investment advice, just my personal opinion based on my own experience as an investor.

My Living Expenses and Savings Rate

So, my situation is probably very different from yours, my wife and I have very low living expenses. That’s partly due to our minimalist lifestyle as well as our inexpensive rent.

Just to give you an idea, our shared monthly living expenses are about 1.000€/month right now.

Also, my wife started her full time job as a graphic designer in January 2021, so we’ve had significantly more income to invest. As a result, we currently have a monthly savings rate of about 75-80%.

Still, we’re planning kids in the future, which likely means getting a bigger apartment and obviously that means our expenses will increase at some point.

You should also know that I’m self-employed, and as a result I’m not expecting to receive a pension once I’m old. Funding my own future retirement is another reason why I’m investing my money. If things go well, I might even be able to retire early.

My Top 3 Investments for 2022

Now that you have a bit more background information, let’s have a look at my top 3 investments for 2022 and how they performed last year.

ETFs

By now it should not come as a surprise that the majority of our investment portfolio, somewhere around 60%, is invested in ETFs.

These exchange traded funds passively track a global index and enable us to easily invest into the stocks of thousands of the most successful companies from all across the world, all while keeping fees extremely low.

Our strategy is very simple. We just buy a single ETF, the accumulating Vanguard FTSE All-World (ISIN: IE00BK5BQT80, Ticker: VWCE) at the beginning of every month.

And every once in while if we have some more available cash and we see an opportunity to buy more shares at a discount if the market goes down for example.

We’ve only been buying the accumulating ETF, which automatically reinvests dividends instead of paying them out, since the start of last year.

But, we still have plenty of distributing ETF shares we purchased from 2018-2020 as well, so we’re still receiving dividends on a regular basis.

Our 150.000€ ETF Portfolio

Here is what our ETF portfolio looks like at the beginning of 2022:

Close to 50% are in the distributing Vanguard FTSE All-World, 34% in the accumulating version of the same ETF and 16% in the distributing xTrackers MSCI World.

The two distributing ETFs are still perfectly in line with our investment strategy, so it wouldn’t make sense to sell them and to have to pay taxes on all profits already.

Dividends

Here’s how the dividend payments we received from our ETFs grew over time:

In 2021 we received a total of 1.665€ in dividend payments, compared to only 1.049€ in 2020, 508€ in 2019 and 180€ in 2018.

What’s worth noting is that only 66% of our ETF portfolio pays out the dividends, the remaining 34% we have in the accumulating ETF automatically reinvests them into more shares of the companies within the index.

Predicted vs. Actual Returns in ETFs (2021)

Before we have a closer look at my total returns from my ETF investments in 2021, this was my prediction from last year:

I think asset prices will keep going up, also helped by a post-pandemic market recovery. A lot of that is of course already priced in, but I still think the stock market is going to do well.

That of course doesn’t mean that there won’t be any price corrections throughout the year, but I still expect the value of my ETFs to be higher at the end of 2021.

To put that into numbers, I’m expecting around 10% returns for my ETF, the Vanguard FTSE All-World in 2021.

My Top 3 Investments (2021)

Let’s see how it went.

In 2021, our ETF portfolio including paid out dividends, grew an unbelievable 29.449€ in value.

That’s because 2021 was an exceptionally strong year for the stock market, with yearly returns of 29%, three times as much as I expected.

Just keep in mind that we invested a lot more in 2021 compared to any year before, also because I realized some profits from crypto I had been holding since 2017.

Still, I can’t believe those numbers. Last year was definitely out of the ordinary as far as market returns are concerned.

Meanwhile, at -6,46% currently, 2022 isn’t looking quite as easy:

Based on historical data, I’m expecting long-term returns averaging 7% per year from my ETFs, with a lot of ups and downs in between.

My 2022 ETF Investment Strategy

As for 2022, we plan to invest an average of 2.000€ per month using our simple 1 ETF strategy.

You can find a list of all of my favorite low-cost brokerage accounts right here.

• ETF Investing for Europeans in 2022 (Incl. Broker Tutorials)

I’ll tell you my opinion about which way the market will move this year at the end of the post.

P2P Lending

Let’s get to my number two investment for 2022, which unsurprisingly is P2P lending.

Here I’m lending out my money to lending companies and borrowers from all across the world, via different crowdlending platforms, for an average interest rate of 10% per year.

And I have to say, 2021 was a really good year for the sector. My investments ran very smoothly.

Crowdestor was the one exception. There, most of my loans are late and repayments seem to be taking forever.

My P2P Portfolio for 2022

Here is what my P2P portfolio looks like at the start of 2022:

Platform	Allocation	Current Value	Notes
Mintos	22,59%	6.969€
Crowdestor*	20,23%	6.241€
Robocash	11,48%	3.543€
Lendermarket	10,87%	3.353€	1% bonus
Viainvest	10,84%	3.346€	10€ bonus
Iuvo Group	8,80%	2.716€	0,75% bonus
Bondster	6,48%	2.000€	1% bonus
Bondora Go & Grow	5,85%	1.806€	5€ bonus
EstateGuru*	1,33%	412€	0,5% bonus
EvoEstate*	1,33%	410€	0,5% bonus
Mintos Invest & Access*	0,19%	59€
Total	100%	30.857€

Predicted vs. Actual Returns in P2P Lending (2021)

Before we take a look at my returns for the year, this was the prediction I made:

I think the sector will do a lot better once the world returns to normal, hopefully by Mid 2021. I’m expecting yearly returns of around 11% from crowdlending and I also hope that my investments here will provide a bit of stability in case we do see a correction on the stock market.

My Top 3 Investments (2021)

Who would have thought, we’re actually seeing a correction in the stock market at the moment, during which I appreciate being diversified into P2P lending as well.

Luckily, the performance of the loans I invest is not affected by market movements in the short-term, like we’re seeing right now. But let’s see if I actually got anywhere close to my return expectation.

I earned a total of 2.512€ in interest from my investments in P2P lending last year, so an average of 209€/month.

With an internal rate of return of 15,40% in 2021, Lendermarket was by far the best performer, followed by Robocash (12,12%) and Viainvest (12,02%).

Meanwhile, with an IRR of only 6,59%, Crowdestor was the biggest disappointment. That’s due to the majority of my loans being late and recoveries taking a long time, which is why I started withdrawing loan repayments since March last year on the platform.

My investments in peer-to-peer lending finished 2021 with a combined internal rate of return of 9,64% for the year. While that’s 1,36% below my expectations, I’m still very satisfied with the returns.

My 2022 P2P Investment Strategy

I’m planning to increase my investments in P2P lending in 2022. At the very least, I would like to get them back to my target allocation of 15% of my portfolio.

I already started by adding Bondster as a new platform.

Additionally, I’m moving some of my cash buffer to Bondora Go & Grow on a monthly basis, which in my opinion is still the best and so far most reliable way to earn a stable interest rate of 6,75% from P2P lending, while keeping a high degree of flexibility due to instant withdrawals.

In my opinion, Bondora also handled the crisis in 2020 really well, which further grew my confidence in them.

What I find interesting is that it feels as if a lot more people are becoming interested in peer-to-peer lending again compared to 2020 and 2021. That’s probably because the stock market stopped going up in a straight line and doesn’t feel like easy money any more.

So I’m very excited about this sector in 2022.

• The Best Bonus & Cashback Offers in P2P Lending

Crypto

My number 3 investment is in digital assets in the form of crypto. These are by far my most volatile and highest risk investments, so I try to limit them to around 10% of my portfolio.

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

I started my speculative investments in Bitcoin and Ethereum back in 2017, got super hyped when they tripled in value that same year, only to see them crash below my entry price one year later.

I definitely went through a roller coaster of emotions, as I didn’t realize any profits during that entire period.

Luckily, I didn’t start selling any of them until the end of 2020, when they were back to their previous highs. That’s when I took out my initial 20.000€ and left the rest invested, fully knowing it could go either way. At least now I could be more relaxed about it.

Predicted vs. Actual Returns in Crypto (2021)

Before we have a look at how they did, this was the bold prediction I made one year ago:

When looking at previous cycles, I do believe there is a good chance that the value of Bitcoin and Ethereum could go a lot higher until the end of 2021, especially in the current environment of limitless money printing.

So my prediction for this more speculative part of my portfolio is that it will outperform everything else and potentially even double until the end of 2021, with a lot of volatility and sharp crashes in between.

My Top 3 Investments (2021)

So, how did it go?

Well, there were definitely plenty of rallies and painful crashes. But ultimately, from start to finish of the year, the value of Bitcoin grew by 73% and Ethereum went up 449%.

Since I had four times more Bitcoin than Ethereum, these two grew by a total of 148% in 2021, beating my own very bullish expectations.

Not only that, I also used 2021 to finally sell smaller remaining positions in projects I thought had a less bright future and reinvested that money into what I believe to be more promising projects: Solana, Avax, Polkadot and Luna.

I decided not to talk about these in my videos and on the blog over the past year, as I didn’t want to influence anyone to start speculating on even riskier assets within an already high risk asset class, crypto. I hope you understand.

Some of these did extremely well, especially Solana and Avax, so this portion of my crypto portfolio grew even more. As a result, my total yearly performance from crypto in 2021 was actually >200%.

Which is absolutely insane, so I’ve been taking some profits off the table along the way. I reinvested these into ETFs and P2P lending.

My 2022 Crypto Investment Strategy

75% of my crypto investments are still in the two largest assets Bitcoin and Ethereum. I would like to keep it that way, as the other projects carry even more risk.

I’m only planning to invest more into this sector if we see a major crash. Otherwise, I’m happy with my current 10% allocation.

If you’re new to the space, please make sure you do your own research and look at Bitcoin and Ethereum first, before dabbling in smaller projects.

Also, never invest money you absolutely can’t afford to lose.

You can find a list of my favorite exchanges here.

Which Investment Will Perform Best in 2022?

A lot has happened in 2021. In line with last year’s post, here are my unqualified predictions for how each of my investments is going to do in 2022.

We’ll check in next year to see how close I got or if I was completely wrong.

Even though my ETFs are currently down more than 6% already in 2022, I still think they’ll end the year with positive returns overall.

But I don’t think this year will be anywhere near as bullish as 2021. So I’m expecting a yearly return of around 5% from my ETFs in 2022.

Meanwhile, I’m expecting more stable returns from my investments in P2P lending this year, ideally somewhere close to 10%.

Sure, I could aim for even higher returns by going all-in on platforms and loans with the highest interest rate, but that also means taking on a lot more risk.

I prefer spreading my risk by diversifying my investments in P2P lending over what I consider the best platforms and lending companies based on their track record and their financial statements.

As for crypto, I think the performance will be influenced by how the stock market does and if investors are more risk-on or risk-off this year. If the stock market gets back to its all-time high this year (which I do expect), then I think there’s a good chance Bitcoin and Ethereum will pass their previous all-time high as well.

So my prediction for this speculative part of my portfolio is that we’ll see yearly returns of 50% by the end of 2022. Once again with plenty of price movements in both directions.

There you have it, those are my predictions for my top 3 investments in 2022. Obviously this is just my own opinion and not investment advice, so please do your own research as well.

Which asset class do you think will perform best this year? I’d love to know in the comments!

My TOP 3 Investments 2022 (The Video)