Damien’s May 2025 portfolio review – Going from strength to strength

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 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 suggestions provided by the 80-20 Investor algorithm and associated research. I always disclose the changes at the time they are made.

Performance update

As is usual in my portfolio reviews, the chart below shows how my portfolio has outperformed since I started the challenge in March 2015. 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 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 you can see my portfolio continues to outperform its benchmarks even after the Trump tariff market crash.

My portfolio has experienced an incredible 5% rally since my last portfolio review in April, as shown in the chart below. It has also outperformed its benchmarks.

It means that the level of outperformance exhibited by my portfolio is the largest since its inception. Not only that but my portfolio would now be ranked 27th out of 142 funds in the Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares sector if it resided in it, putting it in the top quartile for performance. That is the highest position since I've been running my portfolio. That is an amazing result, given that most of the funds that are ranked higher have much larger equity components than my portfolio. It once again goes to prove that ordinary armchair investors can outperform professional fund managers.

In fact, UK investors have invested over £70 billion pounds with funds managers that have underperformed my portfolio over the last 10+years.

Turning our attention to the individual holdings in my portfolio the table below shows the performance of each fund since April's portfolio review.

As you can see, there have been some incredible performances, especially from Ninety One UK Special Situations and Artemis Global Income, as global trade tensions eased. Other top performers include those funds exposed to Chinese equities, emerging markets equities and US technology stocks.

It is one of the strongest monthly performances for the portfolio since the pandemic, with every fund producing a positive return since my last portfolio review.

Name	% return over the last month (since April review)
Ninety One UK Special Situations	11.45
Artemis Global Income	10.09
Jupiter China	6.99
Invesco Asian (UK)	6.99
M&G Global Dividend	6.01
Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index	5.58
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity	5.11
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	5.11
Aviva Inv Global Equity Income	4.1
iShares Physical Gold ETC	3.85
abrdn High Yield Bond	2.16
Man Japan Core Alpha	2.05
Schroder Strategic Credit	1.66
Premier Miton Tellworth UK Select	1.48

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 orange are not in the BOTB but remain 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	14	Lower	Sterling High Yield	GB00B79RR984
Artemis Global Income	12.5	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561
Aviva Inv Global Equity Income	10	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB0030441918
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	8	Medium	Flexible Investment	GB00B4YPY060
Invesco Asian (UK)	5.5	Higher	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	GB00B1W7HW60
iShares Physical Gold ETC	6	Medium	Commodity & Energy ETF	IE00B4ND3602
Jupiter China	3	Higher	China/Greater China	GB00B1DTDX49
M&G Global Dividend	5.5	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B46J9127
Man Group Man Japan CoreAlpha	3	Higher	Japan	GB00B0119B50
Ninety One UK Special Situations	4	Higher	UK All Companies	GB00B1XFJS91
Schroder Strategic Credit	8	Lower	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00BJZ2ZC09
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity	6	Higher	North America	GB00BD5FHW12
Premier Miton Tellworth UK Select	5.5	Lower	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BNY7YM73
Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index	9	Medium	Global	GB00B59G4Q73

That means that the following three funds are on the red list, having fallen out of the BOTB and BFBS tables:

• Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index
• Barclays Global Markets Adventurous
• Aviva Inv Global Equity Income

The last 6 weeks have been incredibly volatile in investment markets and my wait-and-see approach last month paid off, with the portfolio rebounding and outperforming the wider market. My last portfolio review had the title of "waiting for the dust to settle". The question then is, has the dust settled? In reality it's a touch too early to say, although most equity markets have recouped the losses incurred following Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs.

Of the three funds listed above the Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index and Barclays Global Markets Adventurous were both in the BOTB as recently as March, before Trump's tariff tantrum. Over the last month both have rallied more than 5% from their lows in April.

While I would ordinarily look to review their position in the portfolio I plan to maintain them for now. In line with past reviews I don't often remove a fund immediately if it drops out of the BOTB and BFBS. Also the recent market volatility does cloud the picture somewhat, with momentum swinging back and forth across equity and bond markets. So I will place both funds on my watchlist for now, and review their position next month. However, I obviously reserve the right to carry out a review before then if I feel the need and investment markets have settled further and we see more stability in the BFBS tables.

With regard to Aviva Inv Global Equity Income, the fund only just missed out on appearing in the latest BFBS tables, thanks to its recent recovery. Again, I think it's too early to make a change given the market backdrop. More importantly given the portfolio's overall performance, especially since the start of April and across the trade tariff market tantrum I don't think there is a need for any radical changes at the moment.

A wait-and-see approach has fared well since the start of April and with most funds in my portfolio still in the BOTB and BFBS tables, there is no compelling need to alter things at this moment in time.

That does mean that I will leave my portfolio unchanged for the second month in a row, which is something of a rarity, and my portfolio's asset mix has now deviated from that of the BOTB. That's because my portfolio has a higher exposure to US equities versus that of the BOTB. Also my portfolio has a lower exposure to UK and European equities. However, with momentum it usually pays to let your winners run and I plan to do that for now.

Of course I accept that if the trade war escalates then everything could change and the recovery we've seen in US equities could collapse. I will therefore keep monitoring the situation and, as mentioned earlier, reserve the right to carry out another portfolio review before the end of the month if I feel it is warranted.

Fund switches

• None

My portfolio

My portfolio remains:

Fund	Allocation	Risk	Sector	ISIN Code
abrdn High Yield Bond	14	Lower	Sterling High Yield	GB00B79RR984
Artemis Global Income	12.5	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561
Aviva Inv Global Equity Income	10	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB0030441918
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	8	Medium	Flexible Investment	GB00B4YPY060
Invesco Asian (UK)	5.5	Higher	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	GB00B1W7HW60
iShares Physical Gold ETC	6	Medium	Commodity & Energy ETF	IE00B4ND3602
Jupiter China	3	Higher	China/Greater China	GB00B1DTDX49
M&G Global Dividend	5.5	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B46J9127
Man Group Man Japan CoreAlpha	3	Higher	Japan	GB00B0119B50
Ninety One UK Special Situations	4	Higher	UK All Companies	GB00B1XFJS91
Schroder Strategic Credit	8	Lower	Sterling Strategic Bond	GB00BJZ2ZC09
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity	6	Higher	North America	GB00BD5FHW12
Thesis TM Tellworth UK Select	5.5	Lower	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BNY7YM73
Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index	9	Medium	Global	GB00B59G4Q73

 

My Portfolio asset mix

My portfolio asset mix now has approximately 63% exposure to equities. Last month's figures are shown in brackets.

• UK Equities 12% (12%)
• North American Equities 24% (24%)
• Asian Equities 4% (4%)
• Chinese Equities 5% (5%)
• Emerging Market Equities 0% (0%)
• Japanese Equities 5% (5%)
• European Equities 8% (8%)
• Other International equity 5% (5%)
• Commodities and energy 6% (6%)
• UK Fixed Interest 4% (4%)
• Global Fixed Interest 19% (19%)
• Cash 0% (0%)
• Alternative Investment Strategies 8% (8%)

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	18
Artemis Global Income	16
Aviva Inv Global Equity Income	13
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	10
iShares Physical Gold ETC	8
M&G Global Dividend	7
Schroder Strategic Credit	10
Thesis TM Tellworth UK Select	7
Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index	11

 

Higher risk

Fund	Allocation %
Artemis Global Income	17
Aviva Inv Global Equity Income	14
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	11
Invesco Asian (UK)	8
iShares Physical Gold ETC	8
Jupiter China	4
M&G Global Dividend	8
Man Group Man Japan CoreAlpha	4
Ninety One UK Special Situations	6
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity	8
Vanguard FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index	12