Damien’s July 2026 portfolio review – Assessing value

The background to my portfolio

Back in March 2015 I decided to invest £50,000 of my own money using 80-20 Investor. The purpose was twofold, firstly to show how you can use 80-20 Investor to invest and outperform the market with only a few minutes of effort every now and then. Secondly, no other investment commentator, journalist or research provider invests their own money for fear of failing. This is a sorry state of affairs and is precisely why I committed to openly running my own portfolio for 80-20 Investor members to see.

Since then I have periodically changed my portfolio using the fund data provided by the 80-20 Investor algorithm and associated research. I always disclose the changes at the time they are made.

Performance update

The chart below shows how my portfolio has outperformed since I started the challenge in March 2015, over 11 years ago. The green line is the performance of my portfolio, while the red line is the benchmark showing the average return achieved by professional fund managers given the same asset mix. To accurately calculate this, I have used the average return for each sector in which my portfolio is invested. The blue line shows what the average multi-asset fund with comparable equity content achieved. In other words, the red line would show the extra performance added by just the asset mix of my portfolio (where I was invested i.e. European equities etc) over picking a typical multi-asset fund (the blue line), while the green line (which is my actual performance) shows the impact of being in the right funds at the right time, as identified by the 80-20 Investor algorithm.

As we reach the half way point in the year I thought it an opportune time to review my portfolio, despite it not being a full month since my last review. Nonetheless the chart below shows the performance of my portfolio since my last review on 11th June.

 

To give this a bit more context here is the performance of the portfolio across the whole of June as shown below. June was a volatile month, thanks to a combination of growing AI exhaustion, unexpectedly hawkish interest rate guidance from the US Federal Reserve and the SpaceX IPO proving something of a liquidity drain.

The table below shows the performance since my last review on 11th June, and since the start of June. One of the main drags on my portfolio's performance has been the slump in the price of gold. This can be seen by the performance of iShares Physical Gold ETC but also Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income which has an exposure to gold (albeit a modest exposure). The latter also has exposure to commodities, including oil, which in total accounts for approximately 10% of the fund's assets. This boosted the fund's performance in the first quarter of the year but has hampered it in recent months as a stronger US dollar proves a drag on the asset class.

The stronger dollar has also started to prove a headwind for emerging market assets, which has hampered Artemis Global Income and Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income. Meanwhile a bout of profit taking and volatility in Asian chipmakers has hurt BNY Mellon Asian Income (but not to the same extent as its peers - see later). At the other end of the scale Artemis US select has performed well since it entered my portfolio in June.

Name	Performance since my last review (11th June 2026)	Performance since my start of June 2026
Artemis US Select	7.33	5.43
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	3.01	2.78
BNY Mellon Asian Income	2.42	-2.21
UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income	1.72	2.67
iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	1.19	0.13
Artemis Global Income	1.06	-3.07
abrdn High Yield Bond	1.03	1.09
iShares Physical Gold ETC	0.73	-6.98
Schroder Strategic Credit	0.66	0.57
M&G Global Strategic Value	0.43	-0.89
TwentyFour Monument Bond	0.28	0.39
Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income	0.24	-1.93
Man Japan Core Alpha	-0.39	-0.36

As usual, the table below shows which funds within my portfolio are in the current BOTB or BFBS tables and which are not. Those funds in blue are still in the BOTB while those in grey are not in the BOTB but are in the BFBS list. Meanwhile, any funds in red have dropped out of both shortlists.

Fund	Allocation	Risk	Sector	ISIN Code
abrdn High Yield Bond	12	Lower	Sterling High Yield	GB00B79RR984
Artemis Global Income	12.5	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	5	Medium	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B2PLJD73
Artemis US Select	8.5	Higher	North America	GB00BMMV5105
BNY Mellon Asian Income	7.5	Higher	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	GB00B8KT3V48
iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	7	Medium	UK All Companies	GB00B7W4GQ69
iShares Physical Gold ETC	7	Medium	Commodity & Energy ETF	IE00B4ND3602
M&G Global Strategic Value	6.5	Higher	Global	GB00B6173L33
Man Group Man Japan Core Alpha	7.5	Higher	Japan	GB00B0119B50
Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income	9	Medium	Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares	GB00B78H4K93
Schroder Strategic Credit	7	Lower	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00BJZ2ZC09
TwentyFour Monument Bond	4.5	Lower	Specialist	GB00B3V5V897
UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income	6	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00BL0RSN63

This month there are three funds on the red list, having fallen out of the BOTB and BFBS tables, namely:

• Man Group Man Japan Core Alpha
• M&G Global Strategic Value
• BNY Mellon Asian Income

Interestingly iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK), which was on last month's red list, but given a stay of execution, has reentered the BFBS list, for now at least. Since my last review a bout of AI exhaustion and investor rotation into value-oriented stocks saw the FTSE 100 start to outperform its global peers. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues, especially given the political changes in Westminster in the coming months.

Looking at the funds on this month's red list, Man Group Man Japan Core Alpha has been a holding in my portfolio since the start of 2025.

However, since the start of the second quarter of 2026 the fund has lagged its peers, trading sideways despite the Nikkei 225 rising to new all-time highs.

While the fund hasn't lost money, its bias towards value, rather than growth sectors such as tech, has seen it lag its peers from the same sector. In fairness that observation could be levelled at my portfolio more generally. Its greater exposure to areas of the market offering value, as opposed to a having bias towards growth stocks, has meant parts of my portfolio have lagged as tech stocks soared in recent months.

Given that the underperformance of the M&G fund has been ongoing for a while I will move into an alternative Japan fund. In doing so I will also slightly reduce my Japan equity exposure to be more in line with that of the BOTB. The chart below shows the performance of the M&G fund against two alternative choices from the BOTB and BFBS tables.

Fidelity Japan is in July's BOTB while the M&G Japan Smaller Companies fund is in the BFBS table. While I don't place too much emphasis on short term performance, the M&G fund has proved less volatile in recent weeks than the Fidelity Japan fund, For that reason I favour the M&G Japan Smaller Companies at this point in time.

When it comes to M&G Global Strategic Value, the fund has outperformed its sector average since I've held it, although it has had a difficult few weeks. When looking for a replacement a natural like-for-like choice from the same sector would be Schroder QEP Global Active Value, which is in this month's BOTB. However, as the chart below shows, up until mid-June there was little to choose between the two funds in terms of year to date performance. In addition, M&G Global Strategic Value was in June's BOTB, so while its short-term performance has faltered, I will keep it on my watch list for now.

That leaves BNY Mellon Asian Income. The chart below shows the fund's performance since it first entered my portfolio back in April versus the sector average and the fund it replaced.

While the fund has unperformed its peer-group average it has experienced smaller drawdowns over that time. The fund was in the BFBS list as recently as last month plus I'm loathed to make a change right now, just as Asian equities appear to be experiencing a bout of volatility. Also given the other changes in my portfolio, which I will come on to, I don't want to make too many changes in one go. So for now I will place the fund on my watchlist until next month.

As mentioned, I plan on making two further fund switches this month. Both of these changes ultimately reduce my exposure to two funds that have been strong performers in my portfolio, both of which are still in the BOTB, but who have struggled of late. Firstly Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income, which has been a strong performer within my portfolio since I've held it, as shown below.

However, as you can see the fund has struggled in the last two months, due to its exposure to commodities (including gold) as well as emerging market assets. Both have been hurt by the rising US dollar. While there is no need to panic, as mentioned earlier, the slump in the price of gold has proved a drag on my portfolio. As you will know, the iShares Physical Gold ETC is a core holding within my portfolio which I do not alter for diversification purposes. When metals were soaring to new highs at the start of 2025, my gold holding and Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income benefited. As gold's fortune has changed I plan to take some profit from my Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income and reduce my exposure to commodities. I will invest the proceeds into another multi-asset fund, namely CG AJ Bell Global Growth which is in this month's BOTB.

The final change I will make this month is to further reduce my exposure to Artemis Global Income. The fund has had an incredible run but has stumbled recently as shown by the performance tables earlier. So I plan to take a bit of profit but more importantly bring my exposure to Artemis Global Income in line with my other equity holdings. As such I will reduce my exposure from 12% of my portfolio to 10%, and reinvest the proceeds into two of my recent winners, namely Artemis US Select and UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income to bring their allocations up towards the 10% market too.

Overall the fund switches increase my US equity exposure while reducing my Japanese equity exposure to be more in line with that of the BOTB. In reality the switches are more about changing the fund selection, and slightly reducing my portfolio's value tilt, rather than altering the asset allocation significantly.

Overall, the fund switches only impact just over 14% of the assets in my portfolio and the number of fund holdings will increase to 14, although I will look to consolidate these in the future.

Fund switches

I am making the following fund switches:

• 100% out of Man Group Man Japan Core Alpha and 33% into UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income and 67% into M&G Japan Smaller Companies
• 20% out of Artemis Global Income and 50% into Artemis US Select and 50% into UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income 
• 50% out of Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income and 100% into CG AJ Bell Global Growth

My new portfolio now look like this:

Fund	Allocation	Risk	Sector	ISIN Code
abrdn High Yield Bond	12	Lower	Sterling High Yield	GB00B79RR984
Artemis Global Income	10	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	5	Medium	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B2PLJD73
Artemis US Select	10	Higher	North America	GB00BMMV5105
BNY Mellon Asian Income	7.5	Higher	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	GB00B8KT3V48
CG AJ Bell Global Growth	4.5	Medium	Flexible Investment	GB00BD833W40
iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	7	Medium	UK All Companies	GB00B7W4GQ69
iShares Physical Gold ETC	7	Medium	Commodity & Energy ETF	IE00B4ND3602
M&G Global Strategic Value	6.5	Higher	Global	GB00B6173L33
M&G Japan Smaller Companies	5	Higher	Japan	GB00B7FGMR27
Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income	4.5	Medium	Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares	GB00B78H4K93
Schroder Strategic Credit	7	Lower	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00BJZ2ZC09
TwentyFour Monument Bond	4.5	Lower	Specialist	GB00B3V5V897
UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income	9.5	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00BL0RSN63

 

My Portfolio asset mix

My portfolio asset mix still has approximately 66% exposure to equities. Last month's figures are shown in brackets.

• UK Equities 8% (8%)
• North American Equities 21% (18%)
• Asian Equities 5% (6%)
• Emerging Market Equities 9% (7%)
• Japanese Equities 6% (8%)
• European Equities 9% (10%)
• Other International Equities 8% (7%)
• Commodities and energy 7% (8%)
• UK Fixed Interest 0% (2%)
• Global Fixed Interest 19% (19%)
• Cash 0% (0%)
• Alternative Investment Strategies 8% (7%)

Damien's higher risk and lower risk portfolios

Using the logic described in my post: Update to Damien’s alternative risk portfolios I created hypothetical higher and lower risk versions of my portfolio below:

Lower risk

Fund	Allocation %
abrdn High Yield Bond	17
Artemis Global Income	14
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	7
CG AJ Bell Global Growth	6
iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	10
iShares Physical Gold ETC	10
Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income	6
Schroder Strategic Credit	10
TwentyFour Monument Bond	7
UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income	13

 

Higher risk

Fund	Allocation %
Artemis Global Income	13
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	7
Artemis US Select	13
BNY Mellon Asian Income	10
CG AJ Bell Global Growth	6
iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	9
iShares Physical Gold ETC	9
M&G Global Strategic Value	8
M&G Japan Smaller Companies	7
Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income	6
UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income	12