Damien’s September 2025 portfolio review – Higher highs

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 and is extending its lead over both of them setting new all-time highs along the way.

Looking at the performance of my portfolio since my update in August, it has enjoyed yet another strong month and outperformed its benchmarks. In the period from August 8th to September 9th, my portfolio returned 1.57%, compared to 1.44% for the 50k Challenge Benchmark and 1.11% for the Average Managed Multi-Asset Fund. This divergence between my portfolio and the benchmarks shows that my portfolio's performance was driven mostly by the funds I am invested in, rather than the asset mix, especially in September.

The outperformance of my portfolio over its benchmarks is (again) at the widest it's been since the portfolio's inception. As I wrote last month, I continue to be exceptionally pleased (and proud) of the portfolio's performance, both over the short-term and the long-term as it continues to go from strength to strength.

Of course not everything always goes according to plan. Last month, I switched out of M&G Global Dividend and into Fidelity Global Dividend. While I acknowledged that it was a like for like switch within the same sector, the M&G fund it replaced has since re-entered the BFBS tables and has outperformed the Fidelity fund over the last month, as shown in the chart below. However, it is still too early to determine whether the switch will end up being net positive or negative for my portfolio's performance over a longer timeframe.

Turning my attention to the individual holdings within my portfolio, the table below shows the performance of each fund since the last review. Once again, there have been some strong performances, especially from those funds with exposure to Asian equities. Jupiter China was the top performer with an incredible return of 7.38%, followed by my gold fund. Japanese equities also performed strongly. The latter two asset classes have continued to benefit from the weakness in the US dollar. Meanwhile, UK and European equities took something of a breather, partly a result of political/fiscal uncertainty in the UK and Europe. As a result, both Artemis SmartGARP European Equity and Ninety One UK Special Situations prop up the performance table this time around.

Name	% return over the last month (since August review)
Jupiter China	7.38
iShares Physical Gold ETC	6.71
Man Japan Core Alpha	4.33
Invesco Asian (UK)	3.26
WS Havelock Global Select	2.45
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity	2.11
Artemis Global Income	1.88
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	1.39
Schroder Strategic Credit	0.52
abrdn High Yield Bond	0.23
Premier Miton Tellworth UK Select	0.2
Fidelity Global Dividend	-0.13
Ninety One UK Special Situations	-0.46
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	-0.98

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	13	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	6	Medium	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B2PLJD73
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	8	Medium	Flexible Investment	GB00B4YPY060
Fidelity Global Dividend	5	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B7778087
Invesco Asian (UK)	5.5	Higher	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	GB00B1W7HW60
iShares Physical Gold ETC	6.5	Medium	Commodity & Energy ETF	IE00B4ND3602
Jupiter China	3	Higher	China/Greater China	GB00B1DTDX49
Man Group Man Japan CoreAlpha	2.5	Higher	Japan	GB00B0119B50
Ninety One UK Special Situations	10.5	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
WS Havelock Global Select	6.5	Higher	Global	GB00BFM7DN78

That means that two funds are on the red list this month, having fallen out of the BOTB and BFBS tables. They are:

• WS Havelock Global Select
• Premier Miton Tellworth UK Select

Regular 80-20 Investor members will know that I tend to only make changes to those funds that fall into the red list. First of all, I am pleased to say that my faith in Barclays Global Markets Adventurous has been rewarded as the fund has re-entered the BFBS. I had considered switching the fund with Jupiter Merlin Balanced Portfolio from this month’s BOTB, but this was prior to Barclays Global Markets Adventurous re-entering the BFBS. In any event, the performance of the two funds has been almost identical over the last three months (as shown below), so it would not have warranted being out of the market during a potential fund switch.

Of the funds on the red list, I plan to maintain my holding in WS Havelock Global Select. Had I carried out my portfolio review a few days ago, before the latest 80-20 Investor data update, the fund would have been in the BFBS. As such, it is too early to make a decision on replacing it. However, Premier Miton Tellworth UK Select remains on the red list, and it's time to remove it. The fund has been an incredible performer for me in the low-risk end of the portfolio, often providing positive returns during equity and bond market sell-offs since its first inclusion back in February 2022. Its performance has even earned the fund a place on the Consistent funds shortlist.

However, it's important not to grow sentimentally attached to an investment (known as the endowment bias). The chart below shows the performance of the fund so far in 2025 versus its peer group average. What has worried me is that the fund's performance only started to stall in June 2025, which was when the fund was taken over by Premier Miton. That is a worry. So sticking with my process, I am finally removing the fund from my portfolio.

I plan to make a like for like switch into L&G Multi-Asset Target Return, a Targeted Absolute Return alternative from this month's BOTB. The new fund is also a lower-risk fund, so the switch means that my overall portfolio risk profile will remain the same. My portfolio's asset mix will also remain the same as last month, which means that it still differs from that of the BOTB, with a lower UK equity exposure and a higher US equity exposure. However, UK equities and European equities remain my top two holdings (as per the BOTB). But as long-term subscribers know, I am not too concerned if my asset mix deviates for a period of time, especially when my portfolio is performing so strongly.

Fund switch

100% out of Premier Miton Tellworth UK Select and then 100% into L&G Multi-Asset Target Return

My portfolio

My portfolio now looks like this:

Fund	Allocation	Risk	Sector	ISIN Code
abrdn High Yield Bond	14	Lower	Sterling High Yield	GB00B79RR984
Artemis Global Income	13	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B5N99561
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	6	Medium	Europe Excluding UK	GB00B2PLJD73
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	8	Medium	Flexible Investment	GB00B4YPY060
Fidelity Global Dividend	5	Medium	Global Equity Income	GB00B7778087
Invesco Asian (UK)	5.5	Higher	Asia Pacific Excluding Japan	GB00B1W7HW60
iShares Physical Gold ETC	6.5	Medium	Commodity & Energy ETF	IE00B4ND3602
Jupiter China	3	Higher	China/Greater China	GB00B1DTDX49
Man Group Man Japan CoreAlpha	2.5	Higher	Japan	GB00B0119B50
L&G Multi-Asset Target Return	5.5	Lower	Targeted Absolute Return	GB00BD97XY71
Ninety One UK Special Situations	10.5	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
WS Havelock Global Select	6.5	Higher	Global	GB00BFM7DN78

 

My Portfolio asset mix

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

• UK Equities 15% (15%)
• North American Equities 11% (11%)
• Asian Equities 4% (4%)
• Chinese Equities 4% (4%)
• Emerging Market Equities 4% (4%)
• Japanese Equities 6% (6%)
• European Equities 14% (14%)
• Other International equity 6% (6%)
• Commodities and energy 6% (6%)
• UK Fixed Interest 4% (4%)
• 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	21
Artemis Global Income	20
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	9
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	12
Fidelity Global Dividend	8
iShares Physical Gold ETC	10
Schroder Strategic Credit	12
L&G Multi-Asset Target Return	8

 

Higher risk

Fund	Allocation %
Artemis Global Income	18
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity	8
Barclays Global Markets Adventurous	11
Fidelity Global Dividend	7
Invesco Asian (UK)	8
iShares Physical Gold ETC	9
Jupiter China	4
Man Group Man Japan CoreAlpha	4
Ninety One UK Special Situations	14
T. Rowe Price US Large Cap Growth Equity	8
WS Havelock Global Select	9