Vistafolio Review: April 2023 — Successfully Combating Covid’s Ugly Shadow

Monthly, we update our wholesale investors on what’s happening in the market. Running what’s probably the only late-night trading desk from New Zealand, we’re well-positioned to feel the pulse of the market’s direction.

So, what stood out for John and me across April 2023?

Let’s start with the Covid shadow. This dreadful overhang that made investing difficult and disheartening across much of 2022:

• In 2020 and 2021, central banks and governments released too much money.

• That led to pernicious inflation which has proven hard to manage. It has taken a jackhammer to living standards.

• Of course, the monetary response followed the lockdowns. What I felt at the time was that the extent of both of these was heavy-handed. We now see that this is true.

This year, we appear to be turning a corner. April reinforces that. Our portfolios are well-positioned:

• All the predictions about company earnings cratering were wrong.

• Inflation is slowing. We may even be nearing peak interest rates over the next 6 to 12 months.

• With the markets already pricing that far ahead, we are seeing good recovery progress. It remains a great time to invest.

Vistafolio performance*

For the month of April 2023, we were up 4.47% across the composite portfolio (total aggregate return across all portfolios following the strategy).

This brings our return for the year to date so far (1 January to 28 April, 2023) to 7.85%.

Our average annualised return since inception is 15.78% p.a.

Please see our performance chart for more details.

Real estate

Clients have noticed (in their trade notes) that we’ve been buying a lot of real estate-based positions over the past 18 months.

Good reason for this. The fast-rising interest rates have put fear under listed property. Too much so. And that has given us a discounted buy price. In some cases, more than 50% below the last registered valuation.

While we wait, good dividends have been continuing to flow. Typically anywhere from 4% to 10%.

Over the next 6 to 12 months, we should see further growth in these positions. Providing the outlook for inflation continues to tame.

It’s time to have your say

I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading our analysis.

Your prosperity is our focus — which is why we are always working hard on adapting our investment strategy for the market ahead of us.

By the way, I have a small favour to ask:

• Would you like to write a review of our work here at Vistafolio?

• Do you want to let us know what you think of our approach?

• We truly value your feedback. It encourages us. It helps us to do better. It helps us to reach further.

So, if you’d like to leave us a review, it’s quick and easy. It will only take two minutes of your time.

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