Marts has been one crazy month. The coronavirus has spread to the whole of Europe region and it has now also reach an infected big parts of America. Despite the many different ways of handling the coronavirus the different countries around the world are seeing the devastating impact of the virus. I hope that anyone reading this and your family is safe and healthy. I myself am safe and healthy being advised to stay indoor by the government. This means virtual school for better or worse.
The world economy is drowning and countries around the world are trying to compensate the citizens from unemployment and businesses from financial losses. Therefore the stock market has also seen some significant price fluctuation, mostly downwards.
Since the Envestio scam, I have been looking for a stockbroker that I can use for some continuous purchases. This of course means that I need a broker with very low or no fees. Since the start of Marts, I started using Trading212. I also made a review of the broker which you can read here. So far there have been no problems, and I can purchase fractional shares with zero fees. Which is perfect with my small investments which has been about €10-€50 per trade.
In this portfolio update, you will see some unexpected turnouts from P2P lending. We have once again lost money to another platform: Grupeer. Since the coronavirus started spreading to the European region I started to withdraw from the smaller platforms and platforms with short-term-, payday-, and personal-loans. I will go more in detail in the P2P lending section.
General Comments to Portfolio and Income
Due to Grupeer apprering to be a scam I have lost €424,68 of which my deposit was €400. So we can always debate whether the €24,68 is a part of my loss, but I have included it in this reporting.
Since I found Trading212 I have started to purchase some stocks. Mostly dividend kings and aristocrats. So far the portfolio is not in a positive return. however, I did not expect it to in this pandemic. Actually, I expect the prices to drop even more as the USA seems to take the coronavirus rather unserious. I will follow Warren Buffett’s famous word as long as my financials allow it.
Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.
Warren Buffett
The situation is complex and it is unknown when the virus will die down or if it will return. Furthermore, as the situation gets worse in the USA the stocks I currently invest in will depreciate. With the trust in dollar-cost-averaging, I hope to see a bright future when the USA recovers.
The current pandemic has hit all my investments, including cryptocurrencies. Many have described Bitcoin as gold 2.0 (never believed that), and with the current events is seems that Bitcoin cannot be compared to gold. Bitcoin has followed the stock market closer than the gold price.
Portfolio – Marts 2020
Now, there has been a lot of talking about the performance of this months portfolio. Every investment has been dropping, P2P lending, index funds, crypto, and stocks.
So without further ado, let us jump to the numbers!
Total Portfolio Value:
- Portfolio value: €4702 (-18,6%)
- Net worth: €8.841 (-10,5%)
- Investment income: €-413 (-940%)
- Average interest rate: -36% (-586%)
The total portfolio dropped 18 percent compared to last month. Comparing to hte stock market where most indexes have lost about 30 percent of their value, I actually think P2P lending has saved me from a bigger decrease in portfolio value (not thinking of Grupeer ofcource).
Since I got a lot of criticism for how I documented the Envestio scam, I have now redone the reporting to fit the style of the critics to hope it fits you all. I have set a limit of how far the graph will show in negative numbers. This is simply because we would be able to see the graph if it was allowed to go all the way to -€1313 (lost from Envestio scam). I hope you understand.
Because of the recent scams, I am battling some bigger losses to my overall portfolio. You can see from a post made by Kristaps Mors that I have lost about 28% of my portfolio in the 2 P2P lending scams. While this is true, it ultimately wasn’t money that I couldn’t afford to lose. While it is never fun to lose money it is better to learn from the mistakes instead of weeping. I don’t think P2P lending is a bad investment as long as the platforms which you invest is legitimate. Currently, the baltic platforms are not showing the best example of what P2P lending could be.
The above stated is also why I am trying to get a smaller exposure to especially short-term-, personal-, and payday-loans. Even from the repetitive platforms. the pandemic and recent events have put some lack of trust in the less transparent companies.
The new addition to the platform is stocks. Currently i am at a lose to whether I want to show which stocks i am investing in. Simply because it would most likely be overwhelming to look at. As the future progress I will try to include more and more stocks, which will just make the list longer.
| Month | Portfolio value | Income | XIRR (interest incomes) | ROI (Capital gains) |
| Jan-19 | 4691 | 21 | 4,8% | -27% |
| Feb-19 | 5082 | 37 | 7,5% | -36% |
| Mar-19 | 5434 | 24 | 9,1% | -34% |
| Apr-19 | 6080 | 25 | 8,0% | -31% |
| May-19 | 5086 | 32 | 7,6% | -18% |
| Jun-19 | 5391 | 30 | 5,7% | -12% |
| Jul-19 | 5126 | 38 | 10% | -17% |
| Aug-19 | 5620 | 45 | 8% | -21% |
| Sep-19 | 5585 | 44 | 6,9% | -24% |
| Oct-19 | 5727 | 41 | 7,1% | -28% |
| Nov-19 | 5869 | 43,1 | 6,9% | -28% |
| Dec-19 | 6103 | 44,81 | 8,1% | -25% |
| Jan-20 | 5474 | -1280,86 | -8% | -19% |
| Feb-20 | 5781 | 47,36 | 7,0% | -29% |
| Mar-20 | 4702 | -413 | -36,0% | -40% |
Saving rate and Emergency Fund
Despite the sad news of corona and the world economy, my saving rate was 50% in Marts. Apparently self-isolation is good for the personal finances. I hope that I can keep the saving rate.
P2P Lending
- Started investing: Sep-18
- Average interest rate: 11%
- Portfolio value: €1.772 (-32%)
- Income this month: €3,47 (-72,8%)
P2P lending got another slap in the face this month. The Baltic platforms seem to be spreading some serious trust issues. We need some actual regulation and some third-party audits of the platforms. While I have ranked the different platforms, the current regulation could be made a lot better. The ratings of the platforms you see on different blogs/sites should not be trusted. Do your own research. Remember, I am just sharing my experience I am not a financial adviser.
This month looks extra hard on the P2P lending portfolio. however, I did withdraw over €400. Therefore the whole downturn seen in the graph is not from losses. However, with the current situation of the stock market, I think that dividend and appreciation can benefit me more than P2P lending in the short/medium-term (1-5 years).
| Platform | Portfolio value | Interest income | XIRR |
| Mintos | 1142,2 | 3,47 | 3,0% |
| EstateGuru | 501,83 | 1,83 | 0,0% |
| Grupeer | 0 | -424,68 | -100,0% |
| BitOfProperty | 0 | 0,79 | 6,2% |
| LenderMarket | 79,98 | 1,21 | 14,4% |
| Swaper | 48,33 | 0,81 | 12,6% |
| Total | 1772,34 | -416,57 | -10,6% |
You might be wondering: So Jonas (Me, ThePoorInvestor), is P2P lending still a good investment? To that my answer is: Yes, if you can manage to evade the scammers. Which I guess is the equivalent to saying “is X a good stock investment” with the answer “Yes if it goes up in value”. I will not back down from P2P lending myself. However, I will remain on Mintos and Estateguru for now.
While I think Lendermarket and Swaper is good platforms I fear for the short-term loans as a result of the pandemic and unemployment.
Mintos
- Started investing: Sep-18
- Average interest rate: 11%
- Portfolio value: €1.142,2 (-16,8%)
- Income this month: €3,47 (-72,8%)
So the value reflects the initiation of withdrawals. I’m selling my loans on the secondary market like most others. I’m planning to keep the “good quality” loan originators and just sell off the riskier once. I am still following my auto-invest strategy, however, I want a smaller exposure in the short-term loans, hence the withdrawals. The reason for the very low income this month is because of secondary market fees. Currently, I am selling the poor loan originator loans at a discount. This is because I would rather lose some of my earnings than lose my principal because of bankrupt loan originators.
I think Mintos is one of the best platforms currently and they are keeping investors informed in a semi-transparent way, unlike most other platforms.
You can sign up to Mintos by clicking this link.
EstateGuru
- Started investing: Jan-20
- Average interest rate: 4,39%
- Portfolio value: €500 (+0,36%)
- Income this month: €1,83
First month with interest on Estateguru. The platform is what I find the most trustworthy. They provide very detailed information about there projects and the progress of payments. Furthermore, I like that the loans are back by collateral and not a buyback guarantee. While buyback guarantees are great, they are not that promising in the financial instability we have currently.
I hope that the lenders from Estateguru is financially stable to make it through this tough time.
You can sign up to EstateGuru by clicking this link. You will get a 1% cashback on all of your investments in the first month and 0,5% in the following 2 months. The bonus for 1% will work until the end of April, after it will be 0,5% all 3 months.
Grupeer
- Started investing: Aug-19
- Average interest rate: -100%
- Portfolio value: €0 (-100%)
- Income this month: €-424,68 (-100%)
So here we are. The elephant in the room. Grupeer is a scam. There is not much to say other than follow the discussion on telegram to see the evidence and where some of the insiders from the industry shares their knowledge. The same people who arranged the lawsuit against Kuetzal and Envestio is starting a lawsuit against Grupeer. You can follow the channel for steps to take now: https://t.me/grupeersummary and you can follow the discussion for the platform itself with all the evidence of fraud: https://t.me/grupeerdiscussion1
Don’t invest money you cant afford to lose!
Swaper
- Started investing: Sep-18
- Average interest rate: 10,25%
- Portfolio value: €48,33 (-37,37%)
- Income this month: €0,81 (72,3%)
Swaper has been totally untouched in my portfolio for a very long time. However, they are issuing short-term loans so I am withdrawing to avoid future losses. While Swaper does offer buyback guarantee I will not risk a default of the platform.
I think that Swaper will survive the pandemic. However, to minimize my risk Swaper is one of the platforms that I will exit.
You can sign up for Swaper by clicking this link.
BitOfProperty
- Started investing: Aug-19
- Average interest rate: 5,4%
- Portfolio value: €0 (-100%)
- Income this month: €0,79 (+0%)
- Total return: €18,01
BitOfProperty is a platform that I would for sure return to in the future if they survive the shortage of funding. Sadly, they are a newer platform and have only 4 projects. Therefore, I fear how well their financial situation will be now that most investors withdraw from the P2P lending market.
BitOfProperty allows the investor to purchase “bits of property” with a minimum investment of €50 per share. Their latest project is 100% asset-backed, which certainly makes the case more trustworthy. However, the size of the platform makes be doubt their success in the short-term. As I said, if they survive, I will most likely return.
Stock Portfolio
- Started investing: Mar-20
- Dividend Yield: 3,7%
- Portfolio value: €424
- Income this month: €0
The stock market is something I wanted to enter a long time ago. Actually you can revisit some of my first portfolio updates and see that I have owned several of Danish stocks. However, the problem for me has been the stock quantity versus fees before the transaction could be worth it was not present. The Danish broker I used would take a fee of 0,10% but a minimum of €7 per transaction. This meant that I would be required to purchase the stocks in rather big bulks for the transaction to be worth it. I Initially sold the stocks to put my money elsewhere.
However, I have now found Trading212 and currently trying them to implement a dividend growth strategy. So far my portfolio is not worth much, but I can buy fractional shares and they have zero fees. Which is absolutely perfect!
With only €424 I am already diversified across 7 sectors. Furthermore, it was done fee free.
Cryptocurrency Portfolio
- Started investing: Dec-17
- Average interest rate: 4,5% (+73%)
- Portfolio value: €1.359 (-32,1%)
- Income this month: €4,4 (+15,9%)
The speculation that bitcoin is digital gold is now. A quick google search gave this graph:
While it is a picture of 2018 the indication is quite clear. It follows the stock market much closer than the gold price. It is the same progression we have seen since the pandemic started.
With that being said, crypto and blockchain is still a wonderful technology and i think it has a place in the future present if people where more open to new things.
I would recommend you to purchase crypto through Binance. They are one of the largest platforms in the world while also having a lot of Altcoins.
Interest Income on Crypto
Want to lend out crypto for an interest in your favorite cryptocurrencies? Sign up through my link and you will get rewarded with $10 when depositing over $200 worth of crypto.
Index Funds
- Started investing: Jan-19
- ROI: -8,9%
- Portfolio value: €1.159 (+1%)
- Dividend this month: €3,22 (-87,87%)
Just like all the other investments index funds where hit hard as well. Tough luck, but they will recover, I guess. There is nothing to do here other than reinvest dividends and continue the plan.
How Others in the Community are doing
When looking at some of the big earning bloggers, I think my current forward movement is quite satisfying. I am only motivated to see that so many are earning so much from investing.
I still hope to be on top of the list someday, but for now, I will accept being at the bottom. As long as we are moving forward, I have nothing to complain about.
Blog Statistics
Naturally, when financial global distress breaks out, people will be less interested in learning about investing. People are more focused on keeping their jobs, paying bills and food.
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Conclusion of Marts 2020
Many things have happened in Marts 2020. Some good and some bad. Just remember to stay invested, because time in the market beats timing the market. Furthermore, stay safe from corona!
