Financial Review July 2013

July was a good month for my investments. Net worth increased moderately. High income produced excellent savings and the principal component of my mortgage repayments combined with reasonable gains on my equities and commodities and the impact of a further decline in the AUD was offset by the rise in the NZD.

Here are the details:

1. my Hong Kong equity portfolio appreciated. During the month, there were no new purchases (although Fairwood purchased at the end of June only showed up in July). I hold shares in CMR which is currently suspended following an attack by a short seller alleging fraud. I am currently assuming a 100% loss on this position;

2. my AU/NZ equities appreciated;

3.my ETFs increased in line with the local markets. There were no new purchases;

4. my commodities increased. Silver is my only position which I added to during the month;

5. all of my properties were occupied with all tenants paying on time. Unfortunately, I have a number of minor repair bills which need to be paid, as well as the cost of repainting etc on a change of tenants and the associated agency fee. One property is now debt free;

6. currency movements were positive, with gains in the NZD offsetting losses in the AUD;

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 rose slightly with money coming in than going out due to new investments. I currently hold 57.02 months of expenses in HKD cash or equivalents. This is above my target floor of 24 months.

For the one month period, my net worth rose by 3.03%. The year to date increase is 5.83%. This means that my investments have lost a small amount money this year. My retirement date has been fixed for 30 September.