Damien’s June 2026 portfolio review – Taking profit

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.

May was a tricky month for my portfolio, although it would have finished the period in positive territory were it not for a slump on the penultimate day, as shown below.

The performance of the portfolio that day, and during the rest of the month, was hampered by the continued slump in gold. The table below shows the performance of each fund within my portfolio over the last month. Gold continued to fall as the price of oil rose in the face of continued geopolitical tensions. On top of that, a stronger US dollar, following the market starting to price in at least one interest rate hike in the US, put downward pressure on commodities generally.

Asian and emerging market equities also came under pressure as investors grew cautious of the AI trade and took profits in their holdings of global chipmakers. Interestingly, funds with limited tech exposure and/or a focus on value rather than growth stocks outperformed their sector peers. That includes Man Japan Core Alpha and M&G Global Strategic Value. Meanwhile, iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK) performed admirably due to the lack of tech stocks in the FTSE 100, which, for once, benefited the fund's performance. It is pleasing to see the new addition, Artemis US Select, performing well.

At the opposite end of the scale, previous high-flyer Artemis Global Income and BNY Mellon Asian Income were hampered at the end of the month due to their emerging market exposure and their exposure to chipmakers in particular.  Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income was also hampered by its emerging market exposure, with its performance being particularly disappointing.

Name	Performance since my last review (11th May)
Artemis US Select	3.84
M&G Global Strategic Value	2.11
Man Japan Core Alpha	1.6
iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	1.34
Fidelity Global Dividend	1
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	0.72
Schroder Strategic Credit	0.51
abrdn High Yield Bond	0.49
TwentyFour Monument Bond	0.46
Artemis Global Income	-0.67
BNY Mellon Asian Income	-1.18
Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income	-2.58
iShares Physical Gold ETC	-11.82

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	15.5	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	5	Medium	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B2PLJD73
Artemis US Select	5	Higher	North America	GB00BMMV5105
BNY Mellon Asian Income	7.5	Higher	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	GB00B8KT3V48
Fidelity Global Dividend	6	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B7778087
iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	7	Medium	UK All Companies	GB00B7W4GQ69
iShares Physical Gold ETC	8	Medium	Commodity & Energy ETF	IE00B4ND3602
M&G Global Strategic Value	6.5	Higher	Global	GB00B6173L33
Man Group Man Japan Core Alpha	7	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

Despite the continued market volatility, there are only two funds on the red list this month, having fallen out of the BOTB and BFBS tables, namely:

• iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)
• Fidelity Global Dividend

Despite the portfolio underperforming its benchmarks, I won't make any knee-jerk reactions. At the moment, I have 7 funds in this month's BOTB, which is one of the highest numbers for some time. The continued uncertainty surrounding the Middle East means that investment markets are extremely volatile over the short term. As I write this, President Trump is claiming a deal is about to be signed with Iran, possibly as soon as this weekend, despite there being no confirmation from Iran that there is a shred of truth to the claims. Nonetheless, Artemis Global Income has rebounded over 2% today, while Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income is up 1.2% and my gold holding has leapt almost 3%.

This just highlights why it is so difficult to make investment decisions at the moment. It is even more reason to stick with my investment process that has fared so well over the last 11+ years, even if that leads to short periods of underperformance. If a new trend becomes firmly established, then the portfolio will naturally shift as the constituents of the BOTB and BFBS tables do.

Of the two red funds, I plan to switch out of Fidelity Global Dividend while maintaining my holding in Shares 100 UK Equity Index (UK) for now. Fidelity Global Dividend has been on the fringes of the BFBS for some time and has finally dropped out of the BFBS tables. While this doesn't make it suddenly a bad fund, but as the chart below shows, its performance has started to flatline. The chart shows the performance of the fund versus its sector benchmark as well as Artemis Global Income, which resides in the same sector. I have included M&G Global Strategic Value, which is from the Global sector, for reference. However, as you can see it's starting to lag the Global Equity Income sector average.

I therefore plan to switch the fund with a fund from the same sector from this month's BOTB. There are three global equity income funds within this month's BOTB, one of which is Artemis Global Income. This fund already has a sizeable allocation within my portfolio, something I will come onto shortly. Therefore, the decision was ultimately between Schroder Global Equity Income and UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income. In the end, I opted for the latter as it has a lower UK equity exposure, which is an asset class I have been reducing, rather than looking to increase it.

On that note, I reduced my exposure to iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK) last month, and will likely look to do so in the future. However, its relatively strong performance last month, plus its lack of correlation to tech stocks, has been a benefit of late. As such, I will place the fund on my watchlist and review its inclusion next month.

That leads me to the second and final switch I plan to make this month. I first bought into Artemis Global Income in April 2024, and at the time, it made up just over 10% of my portfolio. The chart below shows the fund's performance since. Its meteoric rise since the start of 2025 means that the fund now accounts for 15.6% of my portfolio's assets. That makes it by far my largest equity holding. As such, it has helped drive the strong performance of my portfolio but, as the last month demonstrates, if it struggles then it can be an outsized drag on my portfolio returns.

The chart below compares the performance of the Artemis Global Income fund versus the Artemis US Select fund which I also hold. Despite global equities enduring a slump at the start of June, the impact was felt to a greater extent outside of the US and particularly in Asia and emerging markets.

I am happy to increase my US equity exposure in any event, as my portfolio's allocation is marginally below that of the BOTB. Also, by taking some profit from Artemis Global Income and reinvesting in the Artemis US Select fund, I will mitigate some of the risks posed by my portfolio's exposure to emerging markets in the current environment.

Artemis Global Income will remain the largest equity holding in my portfolio by some margin, but will no longer be 2-3 times larger than my other equity holdings.

Overall, the fund switches only impact just over 9% of the assets in my portfolio and the number of fund holdings remains at 13.

Fund switches

I am making the following fund switches:

• 100% out of Fidelity Global Dividend and 100% into UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income
• 20% out of Artemis Global Income and 100% into Artemis US Select

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	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

 

My Portfolio asset mix

My portfolio asset mix still has approximately 64% exposure to equities. Last month's figures are shown in brackets.

• UK Equities 8% (10%)
• North American Equities 18% (16%)
• Asian Equities 6% (7%)
• Emerging Market Equities 7% (5%)
• Japanese Equities 8% (9%)
• European Equities 10% (10%)
• Other International Equities 7% (7%)
• Commodities and energy 8% (8%)
• UK Fixed Interest 2% (2%)
• Global Fixed Interest 19% (19%)
• Cash 0% (0%)
• Alternative Investment Strategies 7% (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	18
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	7
iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	10
iShares Physical Gold ETC	10
Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income	13
Schroder Strategic Credit	10
TwentyFour Monument Bond	6
UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income	9

 

Higher risk

Fund	Allocation %
Artemis Global Income	16
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	7
Artemis US Select	11
BNY Mellon Asian Income	10
iShares 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	9
iShares Physical Gold ETC	9
M&G Global Strategic Value	8
Man Group Man Japan Core Alpha	10
Premier Miton Multi-Asset Growth & Income	12
UBS Global Enhanced Equity Income	8