Monthly Review - April/May 2013

Following my tech disaster, I have now recovered most of documents or data that were lost when both my laptop's hard drive and my external backup drive failed. This represents a review for April and May and is likely to be at least slightly inaccurate as not all of my financial records have been recreated.

April and May were volatile months for my investments. The end result over the two month period was a modest decrease in net worth. High income producing excellent savings and the principal component of my mortgage repayments combined were not enough to offset modest losses on my equities and commodities and the greater impact of the decline in the AUD and NZD.

Here are the details:

1. my Hong Kong equity portfolio fell slightly. Over the two month period, I purchased shares in Hutchison Wampoa, Sinopec and China Starch. I sold my shares in Sino Oil and Gas. I hold shares in CMR which is currently suspended following an attack by a short seller alleging fraud. I have increased the provision for loss from last traded price from an arbitrary 100%

2. my AU/NZ equities fell slightly with most of the damage being Westpac. I sold my shares in Paladin and added shares in Chorus to he portfolio;

3.my ETFs fell in line with the local markets;

4. my commodities fell fell slightly. I finally sold my Lean Hogs and Nickel ETCs, sold my platinum and added some more silver;

5. all of my properties were occupied with all tenants paying on time. There will be  short vacancy at the end of May and beginning of June while I wait for a new tenant to move in. I have cut the rent on a unit in a building which is being refurbished to retain the tenant and settled the balance of the refurbishment levey and two small repair bills. After all these events, cash flow was slightly negative but will be back to positive in June. One property is now debt free;

6. currency movements were strongly negative and were the most significant , with both the NZD and the AUD falling strongly against the HKD/USD;

7. my position in bonds remains small;

8. there were no open derivative contracts at month end;

9. savings were high with high income and  low expenses;

10. there were no transfers to Mrs Traineeinvestor this month.

My cash position fell with more money going out than  coming in due to new investments. I currently hold 53.1 months of expenses in HKD cash or equivalents. This is above my target floor of 24 months.

For the two month period, my net worth fell by 0.32%. The year to date increase is 6.01%. My retirement date has been fixed for 30 September for reasons that have nothing to do with finance - financially, I am past the point where I can afford to retire.