July 2021: relaxed summer times

The summer holidays are always a quiet period, and there is little general news. There is some interesting news about the individual platforms though, and especially the new alternative to Bondora Go&Grow is interesting (a hint: it concerns Crowdestor Flex). These types of products are particularly interesting for investors, because you can get a very attractive interest rate while your money is not tied up for a longer period of time as with other forms of investing.

More and more people are subscribing to be notified when I post my updates, and those are increasingly the busier days in terms of visitors. I now post an update once a month, and sometimes in between when there is interesting news or other important information for investors.

The monthly updates are getting longer and longer, so I’m curious what you as readers like better. One very large update once a month, or a few times a month an update where these are split by topic (with the option to subscribe to specific topics). The messages for important information or events remain natural. Send me a message with your preferences, and/or other ideas. I am also very curious in which subjects you are (mainly) interested.

But first, let’s go over the numbers and news together.

Portfolio overview July 2021

Last month my portfolio decreased by € -437.48 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

Crowdlending (west)

 Flender

With 7 new projects, there was again plenty to choose from at Flender this month. Fortunately I don’t have to do that myself because my auto-invest works fine here too. This one has invested twice for me this month.

Flender does not have a buyback guarantee but the quality of the loans is apparently quite good as the write-downs amount to about 1.2%. But despite that my return hovers around 7% here so I have nothing to complain about.

My investments at Flender returned € 21.86 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.9%.

 Funding Circle NL

Funding Circle NL only accepts investments from institutional investors, so my portfolio is slowly being reduced here.

My investments at Funding Circle NL returned € 8.87 last month, and my average return rate is now 8.7%.

 Lender & Spender

Little news about Lender & Spender, and when it comes to investing, no news is good news. The number of written off loans, loss items, amounts to 0.1%, which is exceptionally low. The total return may be just under 4%, but there are Eastern European platforms that can’t match this. Not even savings accounts. This is one of the first platforms I started investing in and I think it’s one of the most stable. And it is also a platform from the Netherlands, so not from Eastern Europe (which is more of a far-from-my-bed show for most investors).

My investments at Lender & Spender returned € 11.17 last month, and my average return rate is now 3.8%.

 Max Crowdfund

A new project will soon be available at Max Crowdfund. I noticed that this one is almost fully funded anyway, but according to Max Crowdfund this is a kind of introductory project from the developer. The project has been completed by existing relations of this developer. It seems that this developer is doing 5+ projects and wants to fund them through Max Crowdfund, and the next ones will be 100% available to investors on this platform. The project will be opened on Monday at 11:00, and if all goes well, 1 or 2 more projects will follow next week.

My investments at Max Crowdfund returned € 1.70 last month, and my average return rate is now 1.4%.

Crowdlending (east)

 Bondora

The net return at Bondora has dropped somewhat again, to 8%. Still higher than the current Go&Grow return of 6.75% and as I wrote last month Bondora seems to be in good shape, but I’ll keep an eye on this. I am very curious whether the return of the Go&Grow will decrease if this net return comes close.

My investments at Bondora returned € 18.78 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.8%.

 Brickstarter

Brickstarter sold 8 properties simultaneously, the total value of the transaction was 1.4 million euros. And even at the pre-targeted prices, so the expected gains have all been realized. That means a nice profit for investors, and of course also something to spend in a next project.

With this transaction, more than half of the projects at Brickstarter have now also been sold (with a profit). So the platform seems to work fine, and it’s also nice that (so far) you don’t have to wait for years to see a profit.

My investments at Brickstarter returned € 21.25 last month, and my average return rate is now 4.9%.

 Bulkestate

This month at Bulkestate I received my investment of 1000 euros back from the Aleksandra Apartments I project. Actually, this project should have been repaid last year, but in this time I think you can be happy if problem projects are still repaid. If all goes well, part of the interest will also be paid next week.

In addition, I also received a partial refund for Vienības Alley (Final stage). This project is actually too late to pay off, the loan has been extended until the end of the year and every time an apartment is sold, part of the loan is immediately repaid.

My investments at Bulkestate returned € 71.69 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.5%.

 Crowdestate

Good news for Crowdestate, they have received the payment institution license from EFSA, the Estonian Financial Markets Authority. This means more security and protection for investors. The investor accounts will also soon have their own IBAN number, which will also make deposits, etc., much easier. You can transfer money directly to your own account at Crowdestate instead of to Crowdestate’s account, stating your account number. They will also open up their API, due to the Open Banking regulations, so that you can also use and provide insight into your Crowdestate data via other applications or services if you wish.

The payment institution license also helps Crowdestate expand to other countries, they have now announced that they will also add Poland.

My investments at Crowdestate returned € 9.66 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.9%.

 Crowdestor

Crowdestor has introduced Crowdestor Flex, a new product similar to Bondora Go&Grow. Here too you can withdraw your money immediately, although there is a fixed amount of 1 euro per withdrawal. One of the big differences is that Crowdestor Flex has a fixed interest rate of 12% on an annual basis.

Crowdestor indicates that maximum spread is automatically ensured, but I myself am less charmed by the projects on this platform. Those projects have such high interest rates and associated risks, although the same also applies to the loans from Bondora.

Because I had 176 euros uninvested at Crowdestor, I decided to try Flex to see how it works. In addition to a new block with information on the dashboard, there is also a separate page with an overview:

As with Bondora Go&Grow, the interest is credited daily. Crowdestor has compensated for this by having the borrowers pay the interest for 30 days in advance. So you could also say that Crowdestor itself has the interest on average for half a month, but well if that makes the Flex package work then I don’t think investors have a problem with that.

Just like Bondora Go&Grow shields you from risk loans, this could also be a great opportunity to use Crowdestor. I therefore think that I will either withdraw any released amounts or deposit them in Flex. I think the projects here are quite high risk, and besides, your money could be blocked for months or more than a year. The somewhat lower interest rate of 12% is then still somewhat lower, but if you can always withdraw your money, I think it is worth it if you want to invest via Crowdestor. In addition, Crowdestor has always deposited the payouts into my bank account very quickly so far, so you could always have your money from Flex back in your bank account within a few days if you wanted to.

My investments at Crowdestor returned € 22.26 last month, and my average return rate is now 16.6%.

 EstateGuru

One of the projects at EstateGuru has been declared in default. This project from Sweden consists of several phases, in three of which I have invested (420 euros in total). Fortunately, there is a first rank mortgage as collateral, and EstateGuru has a good reputation for recovering investor money from problem loans. The borrower still has a week to get over the bridge, after which action will be taken.

My investments at EstateGuru returned € 29.87 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.1%.

 EvoEstate

The auto-invest at EvoEstate has meanwhile ensured that my investments are spread over 19 projects. EvoEstate does not finance these projects itself, instead you can (automatically) invest via EvoEstate in projects at the 17 affiliated P2P platforms.

My investments are spread over 8 platforms and 6 countries.

My investments at EvoEstate returned € 49.85 last month, and my average return rate is now 5.7%.

 Fast Invest

Fast Invest is still months behind in paying out the withdrawals. It is simply not a good sign for a business if you as an investor cannot withdraw your own uninvested money, so I would leave this platform aside for now.

My investments at Fast Invest returned € 4.30 last month, and my average return rate is now 12.5%.

 Grupeer

Grupeer’s website remains active, but nothing else happens and investors still can’t access their money. So 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 7.3%.

 Iuvo

This month Iuvo is 5 years old. To mark the occasion, they have introduced a ‘Silver Club’ with a few benefits such as lower fees on the secondary market. However, you have to invest at least 10,000 euros for it, and that is only reserved for the larger investors. If you want to invest a lot of money, you do not want to invest it all via one platform, it is wisest to spread it over multiple platforms and investment forms.

From now on, lender Easy Credit also places so-called “Super Easy” loans. The interest rates are between 4.8 and 5.12%. This does not sound very high, but these loans are used to finance loans with an A rating, and there is also a buyback guarantee on both the invested amount and the accrued interest. This buyback guarantee already comes into effect if the loans are paid 3 days late.

Last month my account value at Iuvo did not change, and my average return rate is now 8.2%.

 Mintos

Good news at Mintos, they managed to get all the investor money back from Aforti. This originator failed to meet its payment obligations and buyback obligations in 2019 and was suspended by Mintos. After a lawsuit, Aforti’s assets were confiscated, and eventually all of the investors’ funds have been paid off.

This again shows that all investments have some degree of risk, and that buyback guarantees are only as good as the companies behind them. But also that a P2P platform such as Mintos is very active to protect investors and do everything to secure the invested money.

I went through my auto-invest settings again, which is a good idea to do regularly. Mintos assesses the originators every quarter, but a changed assessment does not mean that that originator is automatically disabled in your auto-invest… Mintos could still make an improvement here. But checking the settings every now and then is not a lot of work, you have to be aware of it. Fortunately, Mintos does send an email every time they have adjusted the reviews.

It is useful that you can check how many loans meet your set criteria when setting up. This way you can go for the safer options and still ensure that there are loans that can be invested in.

Also good news is that Mintos will probably get the EMI license (Electronic Money Institution) at the end of August. Not only for Mintos, but also good news for investors. Not only does it mean tighter rules, more transparency, and therefore a more reliable platform, but your money will also fall under the government’s guarantee system (up to 20,000 euros).

Mintos also expects to add 12 new lenders to the platform in the third quarter. They are already the largest platform in Europe with 45% market share, so they continue to improve and grow.

My investments at Mintos returned € 59.27 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.1%.

 NEO Finance

As of July 1, NEO Finance (so far the only platform in my portfolio with an EMI license) has adjusted the minimum investment amount and made it dependent on the ratings of the loans. Until now, 10 euros was the minimum amount for all investments, now the minimum amount for most loans has been increased to 20 euros. For the safer loans with an A+ rating, this is even increased to 50 euros.

If your auto-invest is activated before July 1, the minimum amount will still be 10 euros, but if you adjust the settings, the new minimum amounts will apply.

My investments at NEO Finance returned € 1.59 last month, and my average return rate is now 2.0%.

 PeerBerry

PeerBerry announced last week that 2020 was a very positive year for them. The net profit amounted to 142,174 euros. The number of investors has risen to 40,000 and their loan portfolio has also grown enormously:

My investments at PeerBerry returned € 9.47 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.6%.

 Reinvest24

Reinvest24 has two new projects to invest in, and there is also quite a bit available on the secondary market. So far I am quite happy with this platform, and my returns continue to climb slowly.

Reinvest24 recently added Germany to the list of markets, but most recent projects come from Moldova. According to the platform, this is because the market is recovering faster there compared to other countries.

My investments at Reinvest24 returned € 15.21 last month, and my average return rate is now 5.7%.

 Robocash

My investments at Robocash returned € 1.04 last month, and my average return rate is now 12.4%.

 TFG Crowd

Last month my account value at TFG Crowd did not change, and my average return rate is now 16.2%.

 TWINO

Last month, loans worth 15 million euros were financed on TWINO, bringing the platform back to pre-crisis levels.

Of all outstanding loans at TWINO, 4% are in default, and 17% are in arrears. That means 79% are fully up to date and have no backlogs, which I don’t think is a bad thing in this day and age.

My investments at TWINO returned € 15.84 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.7%.

 Viainvest

At Viainvest in the uninvested money increased to 138 euros in recent days. It often happens that it increases a bit, and within a few days it is fully invested again.

Loans on this platform have an interest rate of 12%, and are provided and secured by the VIA SMS Group of which the Viainvest platform is a part. Since this month Viainvest has adjusted the buyback guarantee, which now takes effect after 60 days instead of 30 days. This does not change much for investors, because the buyback guarantee also covers and pays out the accrued interest.

My investments at Viainvest returned € 26.39 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.9%.

Crowdfunding

 CrowdAboutNow

No news about CrowdAboutNow. There are still no stock campaigns, and on top of that I made an investment through Crowdcube this month. And after all, you can only spend your money once .. Or invest.

 Crowdcube

At Crowdcube I have now made my second investment after Mintos: I invested 2000 euros in Meatless Farm.

This company makes plant-based meat substitutes, which is a market that already has a number of companies, but which also has enormous growth potential. I also think that it is inevitable that a lot of meat will be replaced because of the enormous impact on the environment due to the ‘production’ of meat. The originally British company is now based in Amsterdam and has opened a factory in Almere, so it also feels a bit like investing locally.

Crowdcube has now opened the beta version of Cubex, a kind of secondary market facilitation for stocks. You can indicate for thousands of companies whether you are interested in buying or selling shares, even for companies that do not have or had no campaign at Crowdcube. If there is sufficient interest, Crowdcube will try to facilitate those transactions.

 Seedrs

Brickowner has another new campaign on Seedrs, and about half the target has already been invested. Brickstarter was my first investment through Seedrs, back in 2018. Since then, the share price has gone up quite a bit, so it doesn’t look like it was a good investment. Until now, of course, because you never know how things will turn out.

My investments at Seedrs returned € 27.02 last month, and my average return rate is now 8.4%.

Stock

 DEGIRO

At DEGIRO I have invested in a digital security ETF as well as in individual companies in that market. The ETF is doing well (+28%), the individual companies have done even better: Arista Networks (+64%), Crowdstrike (+151%), Fortinet (+107%), and Zscaler (+80%). Next month I’m going to cash in those individual gains and then I’ll just stick with that investment in the ETF.

Last month my account value at DEGIRO decreased by € 710.54, and my average return rate is now 41.1%.

 ING

Since rebalancing at ING last month, I have deposited my monthly amount again. I invest half of that in an ‘economy ETF’ (iShares Core MSCI World UCITS) and the other half in precious metals (WisdomTree Physical Silver).

Because the rebalancing is so recent, the balance between the two is still 50%-50%.

My investments at ING returned € 93.18 last month, and my average return rate is now 13.6%.

 Saxo Bank

The dire shortages in the chip sector have done wonders for ASML’s share price. Exactly a year ago I bought it at Saxo Bank (formerly Binck Bank) and since then the value has almost doubled.

I also bought Aegon shares in May last year, and that was also a great buy. Since then, the value has increased by 65%, and on top of that I also get paid dividends from time to time. This month I received no less than € 40.80 in dividend. I also received the same amount for Aegon in August. It can therefore also pay off to build up a portfolio of shares that pay a nice dividend.

Last month my account value at Saxo Bank decreased by € 247.21, and my average return rate is now 103.1%.

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.