# An update on investments



## Tjnewie (3 January 2015)

Hi there, 

Inspired by the other ppl putting their progress out there, I thought I would also do an update. 

I came to the forums for advice about 18 months ago when I was just starting out, and although an infrequent poster I have been reading regularly!

My plan 18months ago was to start a portfolio that may mean I can retire at some point in the future! I had $5k at that stage. I am pretty chuffed that a couple of years on, through regular savings etc my portfolio is now sitting at about 20k. 

Made up of....
Argo -10k
Amp -1.4k
Gfl - 3.2k
Rfg -2.7k
Tag- 2.8k
So, goal wise I guess am tossing up where to go now... More of the same, or mixing it up a bit?

Have my eye on mvf and maybe grabbing some tls, wow etc for dividend. Also will be likely to have a little person in the next couple of years, so will need to think a bit about an investment for that!

Any thoughts or feedback will be very welcomed!


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## Bill M (3 January 2015)

Hello Tjnewie, I had a quick look at your portfolio.

You have done well overall but TAG seems to be a bit of a dog. I don't know what your plans are with that one but I wouldn't go anywhere near it because there are no dividends and share holder returns are negative. I might be missing something but at first glance I wouldn't go near it.

Have you thought about ETF's? Look at high yielding ETF's, might be a good option for you. I have RDV and VHY and they pay good distributions and appear to be professionally run. I wait for pullbacks and then put in some $$$. Of course it's all up to you, good luck.

TAG shareholder return


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## Tjnewie (3 January 2015)

Bill M said:


> Hello Tjnewie, I had a quick look at your portfolio.
> 
> You have done well overall but TAG seems to be a bit of a dog. I don't know what your plans are with that one but I wouldn't go anywhere near it because there are no dividends and share holder returns are negative. I might be missing something but at first glance I wouldn't go near it.
> 
> ...




Whoops! Auto correct has foiled me again! It's actually meant to be TGG!

Thanks for the thoughts, I will check them out!


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## sydboy007 (3 January 2015)

Considering the likely continued fall in the AUD you might want to look at investing in some foreign investing ETFs or LICs.

They provide either a turbo charge of rising markets with a falling dollar or a hedge against a market fall.

Another option is inflation linked bonds.  They're pretty much the only investment that gives you a hedge against inflation.  Slow and steady, boring maybe, but they do provide a decent yield.  Still some bonds affering over 6% yield which aint bad in the current climate.

www.fiig.com.au can give you some info on the different types of bonds you can invest in.

The other option I've read about is to pick say

* ASX index fund - eg ASX200 or 300
* Foregin Shares - plenty of ETFs and LICs to do this
* Bonds - ETS / Managed funds etc
* Commercial property - ETFs or LICs

decide on your asset allocation %

Then either rebalance based on a time basis or when the allocation balance breaches a certain target.

This way you are automatically selling high and buying low.


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## robusta (5 January 2015)

Well done I've had an eye on TGG for a while now, love there contrarian long term approach and also GFL being mostly Berkshire Hathaway with a couple of smaller value investing funds thrown in. Looks like you are on the right track.


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## Tjnewie (5 January 2015)

Thanks for the feedback! It's reassuring to hear reassurance that I am on the right track!

I had added the TGG and GFL when they were both at quite a nice discount to NTA and opted to go with the LIC approach rather than an EFT at that time. I am keen to explore some more of these options though, and will check out the suggestions above. I am conscious of having some good international exposure to balance the heavy Aussie load in the portfolio at the moment. Both of these appear to be quite solid and give a good mix of US and rest of world exposure overall. I have been reading up about this and still seem a bit clueless, but in terms of a buy and hold, does an unhedged eft make as much sense as a hedged one? If I went down this path would probably be looking at a mix of the 2 vanguard options for unhedged US, and rest of the world. 

Also, thanks for the tip re bonds will explore this a bit more!

Due to the recent Rfg scale back I have a bit more cash in the investment account than I was expecting, so might do a little shopping!


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