Monthly Review - May 2011

May was a poor month for investments, but still saw a small amount of net progress towards the financial aspects of my retirement goals.

May was essentially a story of cash flows outweighing adverse market fluctuations. Equities, ETFs and commodities all declined during the month with a very small positive contribution from currency fluctuations, positive cash flow from the properties and a high savings rate being collectively sufficient to provide a small gain in net worth.

Here are the details:

1. my Hong Kong equity portfolio declined. There were no new investments in May;

2.my ETFs were down marginally in line with the local markets;

3. my commodities declined, led by a big drop in silver;

4. all of my properties are occupied, the tenants are paying on time. One overseas property has reached the point where a number of long term maintenance issues need to be dealt with. Fortunately the tenant (who has been there for over 7 years) is happy to stay while the work is being done. I have a small repair bill for one Hong Kong property due next month and I will have a much larger repair bill at some stage on a Hong Kong property suffering from a persistent leak;
5. currency movements were slightly positive, as both the NZD appreciated against the HKD/USD;

6. my position in bonds remains small. There were no purchases this month;

7. there were no outstanding derivatives;

8. savings were good with high income and moderate expenses. Fluctuations in income is inherent in the nature of my remuneration package. There were no major expenses;

My cash position was unchanged. Although I made no equity purchases this month, I had to settle a purchase made at the end of April. I currently hold 19.6 months of expenses in HKD cash or equivalents (compared to 26 months at the end of February).

For the month, my net worth increased 0.52%. The year to date increase is 11.75%.