March 2021: Spring at the stock market

Finally, spring has arrived! Hopefully it will now be the last mile, and it will not be long before the terraces can be opened. Spring has also arrived on the stock market, the AEX has risen by 6.5% in a month to over 700 points.

This month I have withdrawn a lot of money from a few platforms. I want to focus more on platforms in Western Europe, closer to home. At the beginning of February I added a Dutch platform, now I plan to add a Belgian or French platform. I know that I have quite a few southern neighbors among my readers, so tips are welcome. Do you have experience with one or more Belgian or French platforms, or are you considering starting there? Let me know which platform you’re considering or already joined. Of course I have to have a good feeling about it, that’s always one of the most important criteria.

My list of crowdlending platforms is now getting very long, it is starting to look a bit like a hobby that got out of hand. Maybe I will soon split this into two categories, one with platforms from Eastern Europe and one with the Western European platforms. The interest rates in Eastern Europe are a lot higher, but so are the risks of course. I think it would be interesting to be able to make those differences transparent.

Portfolio overview March 2021

Last month my portfolio increased by € 106.70 and my average rate of return over all platforms is 12.9%. The table below shows the details for each category.

Passive income per month

The extreme highs and lows on the stock market prevent me from adequately determine the passive income that my investments can generate when I stop working. That is why I now calculate the 6-month moving average of my passive income.

You can find my definition of passive income on my portfolio page.

Activities

To show you how little effort is involved when investing via crowdfunding and crowdlending I have added an overview of the manual actions in the last month:

I did check the platforms every now and then, but this was purely for fun. It wasn’t necessary to get these interest payments and return rates.

Crowdlending

The XIRR column contains the annualized rate of return since my first deposit into that platform. Click on a column header to sort the table by that column, twice to reverse the sort order. I have an overview page for each platform, you can click on the magnifier glass to visit that page.

 Bondora

Last month Bondora celebrated its 13th anniversary, it is one of the oldest P2P platforms.

I like the principle, which is a bit different from other platforms. That is, if you look at Go & Grow: investing through the other options does not seem to be a good idea. Many investors report significant losses online when investing manually. The percentage of problem loans appears to be quite high:

If I check the figures to see how many outstanding loans are in arrears, it comes to 58%. That could explain the slowly declining overall return. For the past three months, I’ve been tracking the overall performance of Bondora’s statistics page. In those three months, the return has decreased by 0.1% every month.

My portfolio at Bondora is already close to my 5k limit, so I’m going to withdraw some of it. So far I have not encountered any problems with Bondora, but if the return continues to fall then it will be difficult for them to get that 6.75% return for Go & Grow (although that is a maximum, they indicate that the return of Go & Grow “up to 6.75%”). Until now, it remains one of the most accessible platforms, there are not really other options where you can withdraw your money at any time. Not that that’s possible if a platform really gets into trouble, but I don’t feel that is close to Bondora yet.

My investments at Bondora returned € 27.28 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.8%.

 Brickstarter

Last month the news came from Brickstarter that the building ‘San Telmo’ has been sold. I invested over 500 euros in this in December, and now it has sold after 71 days. They are still in the process of handling, and will come up with all the details later. In addition to the rental income, it is also Brickstarter’s intention to sell properties at an increased value, so I am curious at what price it was sold and what the final profit for this project will be.

My investments at Brickstarter returned € 3.85 last month, and my average return rate is now 2.6%.

 Bulkestate

My account value has dropped at Bulkestate. Now that I look at the numbers, I see that in the previous two months the monthly increase was a lot higher than normal. I suspect there was a mistake somewhere, and that it has now been corrected.

The collateral for the ‘Aleksandra Apartments’ project will be auctioned, ending on April 19. This was the first project in which I invested via this platform, in 2019. I invested 1000 euros here, so I hope to see some of it again. The LTV (Loan To Value) is 70%, so there is a chance. Although that is of course never guaranteed, certainly not nowadays.

Last month my account value at Bulkestate decreased by € 263.65, and my average return rate is now 5.4%.

 Crowdestate

Last month I withdraw 1000 euros from Crowdestate. I want to use this to join a new platform soon. Nowadays I am looking closer to home for interesting platforms, and now I want to add a Belgian or French platform to my portfolio.

My investments at Crowdestate returned € 25.63 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.3%.

 Crowdestor

On March 2, I received a repayment of 62 euros at Crowdestor for the ‘Mafia Stars’ project. As a result, I was able to withdraw 440 euros. Now I’m only 100 euros above my 5k limit. There is 120 euros available, so I could include that. But on the 20th a major project will be repaid, if all goes well of course. I will wait a while for that, so that I can withdraw a little more and get well below my limit.

My investments at Crowdestor returned € 69.17 last month, and my average return rate is now 17.4%.

 EstateGuru

Throughout April, EstateGuru has a cashback promotion where new investors receive a cashback bonus of 1%. You should never be tempted to invest money by these types of promotions, but if you were already planning to do so, it is of course a nice extra.

My investments at EstateGuru returned € 41.35 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.2%.

 EvoEstate

At the beginning of this month, EvoEstate was suddenly offline. After a few hours they sent an email that there were problems with the data center where the platform is hosted. It quickly became apparent online that OVHcloud in Strasbourg, France, did indeed seem to have some problems:

Fortunately, at the end of the day, Evoestate was already able to get things up and running elsewhere.

My investments at EvoEstate returned € 3.13 last month, and my average return rate is now 4.0%.

 Fast Invest

Fast Invest now sends weekly emails that I don’t have to worry about delayed payments. I am still waiting for the payment that should have been made on January 7th. In December, a payment was deposited into my account fairly quickly, but since then it doesn’t seem to be going so well.

If you request a payment now, you will see that there is a maximum number and maximum amount per week. So you cannot have all your free money refunded at once. I call that worrisome!

I did make another withdrawal, although it will take a while before it could be on my account. I want to try to cut my position in half, it seems that they are not fully financially under control and I think that risk is too great. But for now that seems to take a while..

My investments at Fast Invest returned € 13.09 last month, and my average return rate is now 13.0%.

 Flender

My investments at Flender returned € 20.86 last month, and my average return rate is now 7.5%.

 Funding Circle NL

My investments at Funding Circle NL returned € 12.09 last month, and my average return rate is now 8.7%.

 Grupeer

No news about Grupeer, stay away is the motto.

Last month my account value at Grupeer did not change, and my average return rate is now 8.3%.

 Iuvo

Unfortunately, no news from Iuvo about the progress of the lawsuit over the Polish lender CBC / KFP. It is annoying to have to wait so long, I fear that I might have to write off a part of this in a while.

My investments at Iuvo returned € 0.01 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.0%.

 Lender & Spender

My investments at Lender & Spender returned € 10.05 last month, and my average return rate is now 4.4%.

 Max Crowdfund

Halfway through the month I was finally able to make my first investment through Max Crowdfund.

The minimum amount that you can invest here is 100 euros, and then in steps of 100 euros. This makes it difficult to reinvest received interest.

There are also costs associated with investing, 0.1% of the amount you invest. That is clearly shown before you make the investment:

Last month my account value at Max Crowdfund did not change, and my average return rate is now 0.0%.

 Mintos

My Euro account at Mintos is now close to my 5k limit. I still doubt whether I will withdraw money, or transfer something to my other accounts there (in KZT and RUB). In other words, I use my 5k limit for Mintos as a whole or per account there. The Mintos platform itself is by far the largest in Europe, so I’m not worried about its viability. It is mainly about properly selecting originators. And if I had no faith in Mintos then I would not have participated in their crowdfunding campaign via Crowdcube.

My investments at Mintos returned € 76.48 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.8%.

 NEO Finance

NEO Finance has added extra filter criteria to the auto-invest, for investments in the secondary market you can filter by ‘debt status’:

My advice is to avoid risks and only invest (or have them invested) in loans that have no problems and no payment problems. Not even if there are payment guarantees.

NEO Finance has also added a C rating for loans, so with a higher risk (and corresponding higher interest). This can of course be fun for the ‘adventurers’ among the investors, but in that case I would use the Provision Fund. You do pay a fee for this and your return is therefore lower, but you are assured of repayments. High returns are fun, sleeping more peacefully at night is even better.

My investments at NEO Finance returned € 12.36 last month, and my average return rate is now 2.0%.

 PeerBerry

PeerBerry has released an app to make investing even easier.

I think PeerBerry is one of the platforms that requires the least ‘maintenance’. Check it now and then, but you don’t really have to worry about it. That’s why I don’t really see the need to install the app, I do most of it via my laptop. But if you only use a phone or tablet, it can of course be very useful.

My investments at PeerBerry returned € 10.01 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.5%.

 Reinvest24

The Bauskas project will be relieved on Reinvest24 shortly. This project is being refinanced by the company as they can get a lower interest rate elsewhere. On Reinvest24 this was 13%.

I invested in this in July and August last year, when the investment costs were still 2%. I am curious what the actual return will be in the end, I plan to calculate that as soon as the repayment is in.

Due to the new strict lockdown in Estonia, ‘Restaurant and wine boutique commercial space in Kadriorg’ has asked to halve the rent for the next 2 to three months. Reinvest24 has sent a survey with various options to the investors. As far as I am concerned, it is fine, in these times of crisis you have to share the burdens a bit.

My investments at Reinvest24 returned € 18.61 last month, and my average return rate is now 4.7%.

 Robocash

Robocash changed the interest rates of the loans, one of the reons is the large number of new investors. The interest rates are directly related to the term:

A good time to check your auto-invest settings again to see if everything is still running as you want.

My investments at Robocash returned € 11.60 last month, and my average return rate is now 12.1%.

 TFG Crowd

I just want to emphasize again that I am very concerned about TFG Crowd. I keep little money in this, but I will not stop so that I stay informed of what is happening here.

The higher the interest rates, the greater the risks. And very high interest rates are sometimes offered to lure investors, and often not with the best of intentions. TFG Crowd now offers interest rates from 14% to 28%:

Obviously this is not proof that it is a rogue platform, but my gut says it is better to avoid this platform.

My investments at TFG Crowd returned € 10.30 last month, and my average return rate is now 17.4%.

 TWINO

At TWINO I took out 660 euros last month. I have been phasing out this platform a bit since I read in the auditor’s report that there are some concerns regarding the long-term viability of the platform.

My investments at TWINO returned € 28.11 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.7%.

 Viainvest

My investments at Viainvest returned € 22.98 last month, and my average return rate is now 12.0%.

Crowdfunding

 CrowdAboutNow

Last month my account value at CrowdAboutNow did not change, and my average return rate is now 0.0%.

 Crowdcube

The UK competition authority (CMA) has published the preliminary decision on the merger of Crowdcube and Seedrs. They plan to block the merger because they believe that the merger will, among other things, reduce the options for entrepreneurs. Probably there will still be objections, according to Crowdcube the merger offers economies of scale that are also beneficial for entrepreneurs seeking financing.

It doesn’t really matter to me whether the merger continues or not, although bigger isn’t always better. Sometimes companies can gain too much power, more competition is actually always better.

Last month my account value at Crowdcube did not change, and my average return rate is now 0.0%.

 Seedrs

Seedrs also indicates that they will do fine if the merger with Crowdcube does not go ahead.

Next Tuesday, the secondary market on Seedrs will open again, this is a week long every month. I happened to see that shares of Seedrs themselves are also being offered, and as so often at a hefty additional price. Most stocks cost double the current value, a bit opportunistic I guess. But there is an investor who apparently wants to get rid of it: he has offered a substantial package with a 40% discount:

Maybe this is because of the merger news, or that investor just needs money. It is a bit strange.

My investments at Seedrs returned € 246.00 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.5%.

Stock

My ING portfolio has done very well this month. Things did not go as well at DEGIRO and Binck Bank, but these are actually the normal fluctuations you can expect on the stock exchange.

 BinckBank

Binck Bank will soon continue as Saxo Bank, which has been the parent company of Binck Bank for a few months now. Saxo Bank also has a Dutch banking license, so your money here remains guaranteed by the deposit guarantee scheme. They indicate that because of this they can, among other things, charge sharper rates, but that remains to be seen of course.

Last month my account value at BinckBank decreased by € 160.20, and my average return rate is now 115.6%.

 DEGIRO

At DEGIRO I received dividends this month from Johnson & Johnson and Suncor Energy. The dividend is paid 4 times a year, which is of course a nice extra.

I am now thinking about using either my DEGIRO account or my Binck Bank account to build a stock portfolio with only stocks that pay a nice dividend, so that I can use my three stock exchange platforms to try and compare three different strategies .

Last month my account value at DEGIRO decreased by € 445.37, and my average return rate is now 57.2%.

 ING

After writing my previous blog update, I immediately made my (new) monthly deposit to my ING investment account. Then I realized that this is obviously not a convenient sequence, so now I always want to do that mid-month. That is the time to always buy a few ETFs. This month I made a little extra deposit and then I was quite surprised … And not only by the € 3.67 in dividend I received last week for my AEX ETFs.

The gold ETF I have (WisdomTree Physical Gold ETF) was no longer available to purchase. There is of course nothing wrong with the ETF, it is purely ING that has decided that you can no longer buy it. You can still sell it, and you can also just hold it. Buying and selling ETFs is free at ING, and I think they do that by only making the most traded stocks and ETFs available.

That doesn’t matter much to my strategy, I can just switch to another large reliable ETF in precious metals for new purchases. It is just a little more calculation for the overviews, but that is a small effort and rarely has to be done.

There is another gold ETF available (Gold Bullion Securities), but it is listed in USD in London. That’s why I chose to take an ETF in silver instead of gold. My choice fell on ‘WisdomTree Physical Silver ETF’. I have previously been asked why I chose gold, and not platinum or silver, and the answer is that it was mostly a feeling issue. I don’t think it makes any difference to the investment strategy.

There is also a big advantage to choosing the silver ETF: it is a lot cheaper. The gold ETF costs about 140 euros each, and the silver ETF only about 20 euros. That makes it much easier to invest with small amounts, and so I can follow my strategy much more precisely.

Because I had been less into precious metals so far, this time I used my deposits to buy the silver ETF, 13 pieces. In my portfolio, the breakdown is now 56% economy and 44% precious metals. As of now, I will have a strict separation of deposits and purchases for the two categories, so if I can’t fully utilize my precious metals disturbance, for example, I will keep it for the next month. So I don’t use it to buy an AEX / economy ETF. Okay, maybe next month will be another exception, but only if I can get the ratio a lot closer to 50% -50%.

In six months’ time I want to look at the relationship between the two categories, and then rebalance if necessary. But I don’t want to do that more than once or twice a year.

My investments at ING returned € 312.96 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.6%.

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And finally…

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