June 2021: crowdlending is slowly picking up

The return of my crowdlending investments was dealt a lot of blows last year by, among others, Envestio and Kuetzal. Since that time, my crowdlending return has slowly increased again and is now at 4%. Not comparable with the 12% it was before, but fortunately it is still positive.

It is often said that loans in Western Europe are less lucrative to invest in due to the more stable economies and associated lower interest rates. Lender & Spender is, for example, a Dutch platform that provides consumer loans with low interest rates and investors are therefore also promised a lower interest rate. But my general crowdlending return and (as a specific example) my return at Lender & Spender are both around 4%. This shows that interest rates in the east are a lot higher, but the associated risks may be even higher. If I only look at the platforms in Western Europe, my average return is even 6.6%.

I am regularly asked whether I will also add crypto coins to my blog as an investment. I doubt that. On the one hand, I do think that the larger cryptocoins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are here to stay, with the great advantage that the stock is finite and therefore no inflation occurs. Normal money such as euros and dollars can be ‘reprinted’ at will and therefore lose their value over time. And on the other hand, I think it remains a very risky category. There are hundreds of different coins and new ones are added regularly, and no doubt many of them are doomed to fail. Of course you don’t know in advance which ones will fail or not…

I have a few crypto coins to “play” with but not that substantial that I am considering adding them to my blog. I recently received a tip about a new coin that you can mine for free on your phone: Pi. On many sites they question whether this is a scam or not, but just about everywhere you read that there is not much risk involved. You don’t have to share a lot of data, it’s not an attack on your phone, so it seems like a case of ‘if it doesn’t help, it doesn’t hurt’.. To mine, you just have to click a button in the app every day, and occasionally you will see an ad.

So it seems like a nice opportunity to come into contact with cryptos (for free), although you can’t cash in the mined coins yet. The future will tell, maybe it won’t work and maybe they’ll be worth something someday. Until I’m tired of it, I still manage to tap a button every now and then. If you have any doubts, do not participate, or google for more information about this. Would you like to try it? You can only be invited, follow this link https://minepi.com/ferryblog and then use my username (ferryblog) as your invite code.

Portfolio overview June 2021

Last month my portfolio increased by € 4,615.39 and my average rate of return over all platforms is 13.6%. 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

Crowdlending (west)

 Flender

Last month I received two messages from Flender that a loan had been repaid in full. The auto-invest does its job well here, so I don’t really have to worry about this. Almost all of it has been reinvested.

I’ve tweaked my auto-invest settings slightly, excluding the ‘C’ ratings. In the category ‘6-12 months’ and ’13-24′ months, investments are now only made in loans with an A+, A, B+ or B rating. I had already turned off longer durations. Flender has no buyback guarantees but the losses are very low here, but I prefer to play it safe and go for the ‘safer’ loans.

My investments at Flender returned € 20.94 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.8%.

 Funding Circle NL

My investments at Funding Circle NL returned € 9.68 last month, and my average return rate is now 8.7%.

 Lender & Spender

Lender & Spender continues to walk calmly and stably. Just under 1% of the loans invested in are behind on payments. The return is around 4% and that may not sound that high, but investing here in the Netherlands feels a lot safer than in an Eastern European platform. And the difference with savings accounts is of course also greater now that banks are increasingly charging negative interest rates. Moreover, there are a surprising number of platforms that yield an equal or even lower return.

My investments at Lender & Spender returned € 9.83 last month, and my average return rate is now 3.8%.

 Max Crowdfund

At Max Crowdfund I received the first interest payment on the loan “571397 – Commercial to Residential 10-Bed HMO Opportunity”. Not a shocking amount, € 1.13, but every little bit helps of course.

I invested 300 euros in a new loan, this time for a project in Germany. Hopefully there will be a new project soon, then I can invest the remaining 200 euros in it and my entire investment can pay off.

My investments at Max Crowdfund returned € 3.83 last month, and my average return rate is now 1.3%.

Crowdlending (east)

 Bondora

Last month, Bondora released the results for 2020, and those don’t seem to be wrong numbers:

Turnover increased by 5% to more than 21 million euros, and the net profit of 3.4 million represents a margin of 16%. More than 44 thousand investors have also joined.

So this seems like very good news for investors. Investor net returns have been slowly declining lately, but the company itself appears to be in good shape. And that is of course one of the most important things, you want a platform where you store/invest your money is also stable and cannot just fall over.

Bondora is one of the rare P2P investment platforms where your invested money is not locked, and where you can withdraw it at any time. At least, only if you go for the Go&Grow option there. Of course, that only has value if the company is strong and cannot just fall over, but that seems to be fine for the time being.

My investments at Bondora returned € 19.29 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.8%.

When you register through this link you’ll receive a 5 euro bonus. Just give their Go & Grow option a try for a few months, and don’t try the other advanced options.

 Brickstarter

At Brickstarter I have not yet invested more than 300 euros, and the San Telmo II project in Cadiz, Spain is fully funded for 72%. But because I have already invested 250 euros in this, I will wait a little longer, because I want to ensure sufficient spread. It’s interesting enough that EvoEstate chose this project as a ‘skin in the game’ project: that means that the owners of EvoEstate are behind it in such a way that they invest private money in it.

As I write this I see an email announcing a new project: “Ático Mercado Central” in Alicante. Immediately followed by an email from EvoEstate that also declares this a ‘skin in the game’ project. I have now invested 200 euros in this, so that I have some left over for a next project. In this way I ensure a little more spread: I have now invested in 4 projects and I would like to have that a little higher.

My investments at Brickstarter returned € 2.40 last month, and my average return rate is now 4.4%.

 Bulkestate

At Bulkestate I have adjusted the settings of my auto-invest. The maximum was 500 euros per project, I have lowered this to 250 euros. The auto-invest had invested 340 euros in repayment in a single project, and I would like to see that more spread out. There are quite a few projects that pay off quite late, and I’d rather not have large amounts in a single project.

The auto-invest settings are very limited here, you can only set a maximum amount, minimum return and maximum duration.

My investments at Bulkestate returned € 5.83 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.0%.

 Crowdestate

My investments at Crowdestate returned € 6.81 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.0%.

 Crowdestor

At Crowdestor I received a repayment for the Timberland project of 136 euros. The rest is expected in July.

It is hoped that other projects will also pay back, but Kabuki Restaurant, for example, has run into such a rough patch that Crowdestor has canceled the deal and is trying to get the money back. However, I fear that the chance is not very great.

Every time a substantial amount is released I withdraw it. I want to keep or bring the value of all my platforms below 5000 euros, but I have set my limit at 2500 euros for platforms that I consider a somewhat greater risk.

My investments at Crowdestor returned € 11.34 last month, and my average return rate is now 16.8%.

 EstateGuru

My investments at EstateGuru returned € 21.95 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.1%.

 EvoEstate

At EvoEstate, one of my loans was fully repaid for the first time. The term was 16 months instead of the expected 14, but the ultimate return of 9.43% is really nice.

Last month 11 new projects were added, and the great thing about EvoEstate is that this platform does not finance the projects itself, but invests for you through other crowdlending platforms. Currently there are 16 platforms connected, and they are therefore ‘accessible’ via 1 EvoEstate account. I myself prefer to invest directly in all kinds of platforms, but other investors may prefer this. Brickstarter, Reinvest24 and Max Crowdfund are platforms in which I invest myself, but which are also affiliated with EvoEstate. I have disabled these platforms in my EvoEstate auto-invest, so that I only invest in platforms where I do not invest directly.

My investments at EvoEstate returned € 19.41 last month, and my average return rate is now 4.3%.

 Fast Invest

Fast Invest has still not executed my requested January 7th withdrawal. When asked, they indicate that they are now processing the November-December applications, so that they are getting closer and closer to my application. I’m curious how long it will last, the news doesn’t make me very happy yet.

My investments at Fast Invest returned € 7.65 last month, and my average return rate is now 12.7%.

 Grupeer

The Grupeer website remains active, but nothing else happens and investors still can’t access their money. Don’t even come close as an investor.

Last month my account value at Grupeer did not change, and my average return rate is now 7.6%.

 Iuvo

Iuvo nowadays regularly sends the audited annual figures of the affiliated originators, which is of course top in terms of transparency. Not many platforms do this.

Less is that the auto-invest here does not diversify well across the originators. You can set a maximum amount per loan, but no maximum amount or percentage per originator. I suspect that practically my entire portfolio ended up in loans from KBC. That company has run into problems, Iuvo is actively trying to save the investors’ money, but it is uncertain to what extent this will succeed.

Last month my account value at Iuvo did not change, and my average return rate is now 8.4%.

 Mintos

Diversification of your investments is important, and Mintos regularly sends an update on the diversification of your portfolio:

Spread itself is of course important, but insight into the spread is of course crucial. Mintos has clearly managed that very well, because in the mail they also indicate how they calculate the spread and how your portfolio is doing:

My investments at Mintos returned € 92.15 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.1%.

When you register via this link you’ll receive a 1% cashback bonus over all your investments in the first 90 days.

 NEO Finance

At NEO Finance, my return has now slowly climbed above 2%. This is due to the costs for the Provision Fund, because via the option you can choose to buy off risks in advance. This makes the platform less suitable for investing only in the short term, but in the longer term it does give a much safer feeling. Also because this platform is one of the few that has a real Electronic Money Institute license.

My investments at NEO Finance returned € 10.10 last month, and my average return rate is now 2.1%.

When you register via this link you’ll receive a 1% cashback bonus over all your investments in the first 3 months.

 PeerBerry

PeerBerry runs like a charm, I don’t have to worry about it and the yield is superb. Not unrealistically high, and most affiliated lenders are part of a group where they not only offer a buyback guarantee themselves, but also guarantee each other.

My investments at PeerBerry returned € 9.06 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.6%.

 Reinvest24

At Reinvest24 there are now 4 open projects to invest in, and I have invested my free money in two of them. My money is now in 11 projects, so quite spread out.

You pay 1% in advance per investment, but even with those costs, my return has now climbed to above 5 percent. Those costs have long since been recouped and I expect that the return will continue to rise for a while.

My investments at Reinvest24 returned € 15.21 last month, and my average return rate is now 5.6%.

 Robocash

Robocash regularly publishes financial figures which indicate that even at this time healthy profits are being made and the group continues to grow. All lenders are part of the same group, and they all guarantee each other and their buyback guarantee.

Unlike many other platforms, the Robocash group mainly finances the loans itself, only 12-13% of the loans they provide are financed via the P2P platform.

My investments at Robocash returned € 25.97 last month, and my average return rate is now 12.9%.

 TFG Crowd

The stats at TFG Crowd look pretty good at first glance:

But if you look closely, you will see green the repaid loans, and not the outstanding loans that are in terms of payments. In reality, 48% are on time, 12% late and almost 36% are in recovery.

The quick calculator then thinks: “hmm, if I add that up I get about 96%, what about the remaining few percent of your outstanding loans?”. Exactly, that’s what I thought too. I don’t have an explanation for it yet.

My investments at TFG Crowd returned € 1.45 last month, and my average return rate is now 16.6%.

 TWINO

At TWINO I have withdrawn 750 euros, and my account value is now around 2000 euros. That is an amount I am comfortable with here, so I’ll just let the auto-invest work for me here.

Almost a quarter of the loans invested in are in default, but TWINO has a payment guarantee whereby they take over the payments. Not all at once as with a buyback guarantee, but they simply follow the agreed payment terms. In this way they can spread these costs over a long term, which makes it easier for them to pay.

My investments at TWINO returned € 19.81 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.7%.

 Viainvest

Viainvest expands to Spain, and will offer Spanish real estate loans at 12% interest. These business loans are not covered by the buyback guarantee, but they do have real estate as collateral. If you want to invest in this, you have to adjust your auto-invest settings, these are not automatically expanded.

My investments at Viainvest returned € 20.68 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.8%.

Crowdfunding

 CrowdAboutNow

CrowdAboutNow still doesn’t have equity campaigns, it’s mostly loans and presale campaigns. They attract me less as an investor.

I have only one investment here and it did not change in value, so I have left out the income chart.

 Crowdcube

Crowdcube has announced Cubex, a secondary market where you can buy and sell shares. However, they are still rolling it out, you can sign up but it is not yet ‘open’. In any case, I signed up to be able to watch it later, I’m curious when it will be accessible. It would be a great opportunity to redeem shares obtained through crowdfunding in the interim, and I’m curious if it will be limited to Crowdcube or if it will become a broader platform.

I have only one investment here and it did not change in value, so I have left out the income chart.

 Seedrs

The value of my account at Seedrs is now about 25,000 euros, spread over 11 investments, so an average of just over 2000 euros per investment.

That is why I have decided not to make any new investments via this platform and to wait and see what will happen with these investments. I do have a theoretical unrealized return of about 8% here, but that could change if one of those companies I invested in goes down.

Last month my account value at Seedrs decreased by € 7.24, and my average return rate is now 8.8%.

When you want to try Seedrs for yourself, you can register via this link and you’ll receive £25 free investment credit after investing £150 or more within 30 days of signing up to Seedrs (around 175 euros).

Stock

 DEGIRO

My account value at DEGIRO is above 30,000 euros, but I have “only” invested 20,000 euros here.

However, for both my investments at Saxo Bank and DEGIRO, this is mainly due to the Corona crisis. The impact of this caused significant price falls on the stock market, and I seized that moment to get in. A happy accident you could say.

My investments at DEGIRO returned € 557.98 last month, and my average return rate is now 47.1%.

 ING

At ING I did the rebalancing, selling 4 pieces of the EAX ETF and getting 24 pieces of the ETF in physical silver. The plan is to do this again next summer. In any case, the economy/precious metals ratio is now 50-50 again, so it will become more visible in the coming months how those two markets are developing relative to each other.

It is still not possible to buy another ETF in precious metals from ING. Their excuse is that they are still waiting for information from the provider of those ETFs, and they are not allowed to list these ETFs without that information. It is of course a huge travesty that this can go on for months without being solved. Then you really can’t speak of a serious investor platform. At all other exchange platforms you have a wide choice of ETFs in precious metals.

Customer service asked if I wanted to make a complaint about that, and I did. When I asked how I got feedback about the handling of the complaint, the literal answer was: we don’t give that. Then you don’t take your customers seriously, do you? You can file a complaint, but there is no way to find out what the result of your complaint is, or even whether it is being looked at…

My investments at ING returned € 122.13 last month, and my average return rate is now 17.8%.

 Saxo Bank

The value of my account with Saxo Bank, formerly BinckBank, has risen above 30,000 euros for the first time. Not bad at all when you consider that I started here less than a year and a half ago, and I only have 10,000 euros in my own money. The rest is pure (unrealized) profit. Most of this is due to the LOIL ETF.

My investments at Saxo Bank returned € 3,609.13 last month, and my average return rate is now 113.2%.

And finally…

That was it for this monthly update. You can subscribe via the contact page and you’ll receive an email the moment a new update is published. Or just visit again next month, that’s up to you.

When you found this update interesting, consider hitting the Like button. Feel free to share it with your friends using the buttons below. Below you can also find the link to my previous posts, where you can find my tips and results of the previous months.