April 2022: A quiet month

April was a very quiet month. Perhaps a little too quiet, as you can read further on in my update about ING.

Actually, I’ve been busy with other things and have paid little attention to my investments. Well, that really shows that these are really passive investments: investing just continues by itself. And that is of course the whole idea behind passive investments.

The interest income for both my Western European and Eastern European crowdlending platforms has continued in line. Investments in loans provide a stable income stream. With crowdfunding and stock exchange platforms, the fluctuations were a lot bigger. In the case of crowdfunding investments, this was not because the investments themselves had become more or less valuable, but mainly due to exchange rates, since a large number are in British Pounds. And the stock market wouldn’t be the stock market without fluctuations, of course.

Portfolio overview April 2022

Last month my portfolio increased by € 732.40 and my average rate of return over all platforms is 14.2%. 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

I have grouped by P2P platforms into two groups, one containing all platforms based in Western Europe and one containing all platforms based in Eastern Europe. In the table below you can see the balance between them.

Crowdlending (west)

In the table and paragraphs below you can see which platforms make up my “Western Europe group”.

 Flender

At Flender the auto-invest has done its job well again. More than 300 euros has been invested, and the free amount has again fallen below 100 euros. Last month more than 400 euros was not invested, but I did not invest that manually. Investing manually would amount to investing in loans that would not meet my self-imposed criteria for the auto-invest, and I don’t think that’s a wise choice. But just being patient turned out to be the right thing, at some point it will be invested again for you.

My investments at Flender returned € 18.06 last month, and my average return rate is now 5.9%.

 Funding Circle NL

The two remaining projects on Funding Circle NL continue to pay interest and principal nicely, and my returns are still fine here. It’s just a shame that you can no longer come here as a private investor. Interest and principal is deposited directly into my bank account every month, which is why the interest is steadily decreasing every month.

My investments at Funding Circle NL returned € 4.58 last month, and my average return rate is now 8.7%.

 Lender & Spender

Lender & Spender is one of those platforms that has little to report, and that’s actually very positive. Not extremely high returns, but almost 4% and very stable so speaks for itself I think. My investment of 3,543 euros was automatically spread over 3919 loans, so less than one euro per loan. Now that is spreading you risks! Below you can see how many loans my money is divided over, and completely automatically because you can’t choose yourself. But I wouldn’t want that either, this works more than well.

Only € 17,91 is in default, and I think that is mainly because this is an entirely Dutch platform that provides loans to Dutch consumers. And whichever way you look at it, we’ve got it quite good here in terms of stability.

My investments at Lender & Spender returned € 11.46 last month, and my average return rate is now 3.8%.

 Max Crowdfund

Max Crowdfund is quite popular. This Dutch platform published another project from Germany last Thursday and I thought I could invest some free money in it after work. Wrong thinking, within 4 hours the entire 4-ton project was fully financed by 200 investors.

Those are the moments when you miss an auto-invest, but otherwise I’m perfectly satisfied with this platform. I started here about a year ago and the returns continue to grow slowly. The only thing is that the minimum investment amount is 100 euros, so if you don’t invest large amounts it may take a while before you can reinvest the interest received.

My investments at Max Crowdfund returned € 4.46 last month, and my average return rate is now 4.8%.

Crowdlending (east)

In the table and paragraphs below you can see which platforms make up my “Eastern Europe group”.

 Bondora

At Bondora, the average net return is now 7.4% for 3 months, which I think is good news. For the last year and a half, it had been steadily declining, creeping towards the maximum return you get from Go&Grow. The chance was that as an investor you would receive less than 6.75% interest, but fortunately the tide seems to have turned. Hopefully it will even rise again soon, because the better Bondora does the easier it is for them to continue to offer this form of investment.

At Go&Grow you can in principle withdraw your money at any time, but you will receive a maximum of 6.75% interest and of course no savings account can compete with that. Mind you, this is still investing so it will never as safe asa savings account, but it does feel good. The openness in terms of statistics and public reports also contributes to this.

My investments at Bondora returned € 19.71 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.8%.

 Brickstarter

During the pandemic there was a significant decline in tourism and Brickstarter focuses on buying apartments in tourist locations and then renting them out. As an investor you then receive your share of the rental income, and also of the increase in value if the property is sold again after a while. To compensate for the drop in income, they had temporarily switched to renting out the apartments for a few months instead of a few days.

Brickstarter now wants to embrace that temporary solution more, as it turns out it’s just as profitable. Even more so, because in that case the management costs are a lot lower. In addition, no permit is required for renting out and cheaper properties can be bought because they do not have to be located in the middle of the touristy heart of the town.

I also think this is fine for investors, because then there is more choice in terms of types of projects and you can therefore spread out more. And diversification is the ‘magic’ word in investing.

My investments at Brickstarter returned € 5.71 last month, and my average return rate is now 4.8%.

 Bulkestate

Bulkestate is coming soon with a new kind of investment: “Flash”. The interest rate is a lot lower than what you expect at Bulkestate, it is ‘only’ 2%. The idea behind this is to make investing more attractive by offering projects with a lower risk and a lower LTV (Loan To Value).

Most notably however, there is a price attached to it. To make investing more attractive for young people, they have devised withholding an amount of up to 10,000 euros, and this does not go to the borrower but into a prize pool. Then a random investor is drawn that will receive that prize. So with an investment of 100 euros you can not only achieve a return of 2%, but also have a chance to win a considerable amount of money. I wonder if this will become popular.

Last month my account value at Bulkestate did not change, and my average return rate is now 4.8%.

 Crowdestate

My investments at Crowdestate returned € 19.98 last month, and my average return rate is now 8.5%.

 Crowdestor

At Crowdestor I still receive weekly interest and a small repayment of 1 of my 7 open projects: “Renewable Energy”. If all goes well the payments for the “Hostel Renovation | Round 2” project will also start again, the borrower has signed an agreement with the municipality to accommodate Ukrainian refugees for a fee of 18 euros per room.

If there is a nice rounded amount uninvested I will put it in their “Flex” which is a bit similar to Bondora Go&Grow. You can receive a nice interest here and still withdraw your money at any time for a small fee. All other options are too risky for me.

My investments at Crowdestor returned € 6.26 last month, and my average return rate is now 13.2%.

 EstateGuru

Last Wednesday EstateGuru‘s campaign opened on the Seedrs platform, where you can buy shares in EstateGuru yourself. I did this myself 2 years ago, and now there is a possibility again. At the very least, the campaign may be closed by the time you read this. The target half a million euros was already reached after about 2 hours, and after a day and a half the counter is already at 200%: more than a million euros invested by almost 800 investors.

I myself have decided not to invest extra. The extra share issue will make my shares worth a little less, but the increase in value so far has more than made up for that: my EstateGuru share has increased in value by 55% in those 2 years. And with this capital injection, I expect that will only increase in value.

My investments at EstateGuru returned € 13.77 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.6%.

 EvoEstate

Last week EvoEstate and InRento were down for a day or two. There was initial speculation that it could have been caused by those internet cables that were cut near Paris but the websites are back up and running saying they have switched to another hosting provider and that there could be some ‘minor technical issues’.

Later, an email was also sent to all investors, stating that it was caused by a server update.

Personally, I think it’s better if they send those kinds of notifications in advance, so that you can’t unexpectedly no longer reach a platform… And the least you can do is show a ‘maintenance page’ or post a message on social media …

My investments at EvoEstate returned € 2.65 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.2%.

 Fast Invest

Fast Invest has not paid out the withdrawals for a year, according to its own words due to problems at the borrowing companies. But you can also not withdraw the free uninvested amount while this should always be available. Therefore, stay far away from this platform, this just isn’t right.

Last month my account value at Fast Invest did not change, and my average return rate is now 11.5%.

 Grupeer

Grupeer’s 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 5.7%.

 Iuvo

Iuvo has renamed IuvoUP to IuvoSAVE, six months after introduction.

IuvoSAVE is a bit between “normal” investing in loans and Bondora Go&Grow. You choose whether you want to invest your money with a term of 3 months at 5%, or with a term of 6 months at 6% (annual interest rates). That in itself is already a fairly short term, so your money is not fixed for very long. But you can also withdraw your money at any time, although there is a 1% fee involved.

My investments with Iuvo are tied up by a Polish lender that went bankrupt, and lawsuits are pending to recover the money. But if something comes back, I’ll invest it through IuvoSAVE. I don’t think the lower interest rates are a problem at all, given the shorter maturities and high liquidity.

Last month my account value at Iuvo did not change, and my average return rate is now 7.0%.

 Mintos

Due to the sanctions, it is difficult to impossible to receive repayments on loans in Russia, and Mintos is looking at alternatives. A question was sent to all investors as to whether it is acceptable to set up an alternative route if additional costs are involved, as this could amount to as much as 20%. It is (still) a purely informational question, and these were the possible answers:

Actually, I think it is acceptable to get the money back and pay 5% to 20% costs for it, but as an investor you can also indicate that you prefer to wait and hope that after the sanctions everything will be back to normal and that you can rather wait.

I’d only be surprised if the situation only gets worse there, and I’d rather get 80% to 95% of my investment back than lose it.

It has strengthened my view that investing in currencies other than the euro only entails uncertainties and risks. In the short term it sounds nice, because you can also realize much higher profits due to currency fluctuations. But in the long run, I don’t think it’s worth all that uncertainty and effort.

My investments at Mintos returned € 175.83 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.2%.

 NEO Finance

At NEO Finance almost 600 euros has not been invested. This is because most available loans in the safer risk classes have a maturity of several years, from 4-5 years up to 10 years. And I don’t want to lock up my money that long. You can of course try to sell an investment on the secondary market later, but I would only do that ‘out of necessity’ and not as a fixed strategy.

But I am not going to expand my auto-invest, at some point there will undoubtedly be loans that meet my criteria. Things might seem to be going against you for a while, but that’s no reason to lower your standards.

My investments at NEO Finance returned € 13.02 last month, and my average return rate is now 3.8%.

 PeerBerry

PeerBerry has resumed monthly payments for Ukrainian longer-term loans. In addition, nearly 11 million euros in loans were repaid from Ukraine and Russia that were affected by the war.

For the redemption they assume a period of 2 years, and until they can receive money from Russia again they will use a part of their profit for the redemptions. That is one of the advantages of a platform where several lenders belong to the same group and they guarantee each other’s loans.

My investments at PeerBerry returned € 7.80 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.2%.

 Reinvest24

Together with 6 other real estate platforms, Reinvest24 has founded AREIP: the “Association of Real Estate Investment Platforms”. Max Crowdfund is also included. Their goal is to communicate jointly with financial authorities, to have more standardization, but also to have a central market environment in the longer term. That still sounds a bit fuzzy, but it seems that there will be some kind of replacement for EvoEstate. Only it is not 1 aggregator, but a set of platforms that will probably all publish each other’s projects. However, I expect that this will be a multi-year plan.

My investments at Reinvest24 returned € 14.28 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.3%.

 Robocash

Robocash has released their first quarter results this year.

The war has reduced profits by 80%, but still USD 1.5 million in plus. Their expansion into the Philippines is going much better than planned and this has compensated quite a bit.

My investments at Robocash returned € 14.05 last month, and my average return rate is now 12.6%.

 TFG Crowd

At TFG Crowd I wanted to withdraw the free amount, it is only 38 euros, but I no longer intend to invest via this platform. More than enough red flags. However, the minimum amount that you can withdraw is 50 euros. It may be possible if you close your account, but I don’t want that either. Almost 900 euros have still been invested and even though that is all ‘in recovery’, there is still a minimal theoretical chance of seeing some of it back. And so I can still follow the platform a bit. Luckily I’ve already withdrawn more here than I’ve ever deposited, so the only thing that can really be lost is a bit of profit.

Last month my account value at TFG Crowd did not change, and my average return rate is now 13.0%.

 TWINO

My return at TWINO has been super stable at 9.7% for almost 2 years. That makes me happy, and also that they are reasonably transparent by publishing the annual figures of TWINO and also of the group to which it belongs on the site. For example, the annual figures for 2021 were published last month, unfortunately only in Latvian and I am not very good at that. So we have to wait a while for the translation.

In addition, they also have some figures for this first quarter:

So it looks like my returns here are completely in line with their overall returns and percentages.

My investments at TWINO returned € 19.82 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.7%.

 Viainvest

My investments at Viainvest returned € 23.51 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.9%.

Crowdfunding

 CrowdAboutNow

Little news about my investments through CrowdAboutNow. I still receive a delicious beer package every two months through the subscription at Beer in a Box, and the first interest payment on the loan to LOC Brewery is planned for December.

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

 Crowdcube

Also no news about my two investments via Crowdcube in Mintos and Meatless Farm. In these turbulent times, I do not intend to invest more money in risky startups.

My investments at Crowdcube returned € 21.57 last month, and my average return rate is now 0.7%.

 Seedrs

At Seedrs, the campaign had started last month to buy shares of the company behind EstateGuru. I already did this 2 years ago, and I don’t feel the need to invest again. According to an email from Seedrs, I only needed to invest 30 euros to keep my ownership percentage:

If only so little is needed the dilution will not be too bad either, plus I have invested enough via the Seedrs platform.

By the way, the campaign is popular and successful, after one day 200% of the target amount had already been achieved.

Last month my account value at Seedrs decreased by € 230.07, and my average return rate is now 8.7%.

Stock

 DEGIRO

At DEGIRO, I bought a number of ETFs that focus entirely on high-dividend stocks. It is striking that the only one in green is the dividend ETF that is completely focused on America. I think that’s the effect of the war. But these are all longer-term investments, so I’m not worried about it. This month, the holiday pay will be deposited, so maybe I’ll put another amount in each dividend ETF.

If you invest regularly, it does not matter that the price has fallen, because then the concept of cost averaging comes into play. The pieces that you have in your possession may have become worth less, but you can buy more cheaper and that averages out a bit in the long run. If the prices rise again, you make a little more return on those new pieces that you could get a bit cheaper.

Last month my account value at DEGIRO decreased by € 61.84, and my average return rate is now 27.8%.

 ING

Sometimes you have those “Aha” moments. This time I had that while writing this post when I got to ING. Totally forgot to make my monthly deposit and purchase of economy/precious metals ETFs.. I guess you get spoiled with platforms that automatically invest for you. So next month i’ll probably invest a double amount to make up for it.

You can have automatic investments at ING with a “Simple investment” account, where, for example, money is automatically deposited from your bank account every month. But you have to choose between 4 ING Sustainable Index Funds. But I can imagine that there are masses of people for whom this is a great option.

My investments at ING returned € 86.54 last month, and my average return rate is now 12.3%.

 Saxo Bank

At Saxo Bank, a large part of my huge appreciation has come from selling my LOIL ETF. I had bought this one for just over 2 euros each, and it peaked at 25 euros recently. Now it fluctuates around 20 euros, and I’m waiting to sell the last remaining amount. Who knows, maybe another peak will come.

The sales have also ensured that my free amount here is huge. I don’t know what I’m going to do with that yet, I haven’t seen the market or a stock drop massively yet. Except for the shares of Russian banks, but I don’t think anyone thinks that is a good investment at the moment.

Maybe I’ll withdraw a part and put it in local Dutch or Belgian P2P platforms. Then I can speed up the movement of my entire portfolio to the west.

My investments at Saxo Bank returned € 541.25 last month, and my average return rate is now 97.8%.

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. You can find my previous posts here: my tips, warnings, results of the previous months, and other articles.

Disclaimer: I share my experiences on this site, and blog about my results and things I encounter. It is for informational purposes only and cannot be considered professional advice. Investments bring risk and you should never invest funds that you are not willing to lose. I think my site is a nice start, but do your own research and make sure you understand the risks before you start to invest yourself. You can read more about this here.