Monthly Review - April

My net worth increased by 2.6% in April.

The year to date increase is 12.3%.

Once again, I was slightly surprised to see that my investments showed a net increase in local currency (which was further boosted by a slight weakening of the US$). Here's the breakdown:

1. my holdings of funds were mixed. Vietnam continues to disappoint while the rest were a mixed group. Overall there was a small net increase before currency adjustments and a slightly larger one after currency conversion. My Thai fund (purchased a matter of weeks before the coup) is finally back into positive territory;

2. my investment in silver went up and went down to end about where it started;

3. my direct holdings of equities were mixed and ended up about square before currency movements and slightly ahead after currency movements;

4. my properties generated net income (rents were higher than expenses). With having 100% occupancy for the first time since the third quarter of 2006 and the Hong Kong government giving a waiver on rates for the first two quarters, the cash flow is well above the level of the expenses and this was a meaningful contribution to the month's result;

5. my savings for this month were good although my income (which fluctuates from month to month) was towards the lower end of the typical monthly range and we had some unexpected medical expenses (treated as an expense for now but which will be recovered through insurance in a couple of months).

The only movements in investments this month were:

A. regular monthly contributions to Asian and European smaller companies funds;

B. sweeping up miscellaneous cash that his built up in certain bank accounts and applying it to (i) a very small addition to my position in silver and (ii) a small partial repayment of an overseas mortgage. I am quite pleased that I am now in the habit of monitoring these cash balances and utilising them instead of letting them sit in unproductive low or no interest bank accounts for prolonged periods.

So far 2007 is shaping up to be a great year financially. However, I am not satisfied with my asset allocation decisions on my funds/equities - a subject for another post.