November 2022 Update: Electricity, Net Worth, Portfolio

We got a refund on our electricity. Hallelujah.

In 2016, I got it into my head to track our electricity in a spreadsheet. Weirdly, we're required to do our own meter readings and report them to the power company, and since the meter was right there in the apartment, I figured I'd track it. Every Sunday and first of the month, I dutifully snap a photo of the meter. Each photo's numbers gets plugged into a weekly or monthly spreadsheet, which tells me the change week over week or month over month. Add in some spreadsheet functions, and I can see how we're doing in a given year and how our usage has changed over time.

Image: Chart of average weekly electricity usage over time. Does not include heat, which is a separate bill.

Until recently, our average had steadily been moving upwards. This felt inexorable until we made some drastic changes. The main one has been reducing the shower's heat. As I've written before, this means lukewarm rather than luxurious. I also only run the shower when rinsing; while lathering up, the water is off. Both of us are in and our pretty quickly.

Long story short, we managed to save enough electricity to warrant a small refund from the power company. This was a nice boost to November and a pleasant surprise in a sea of horror stories about electricity prices.

All in all, I recommend this practice of proactive electricity usage tracking. Obviously, if I had a smart meter, this might be easier, but this current process forces me to stare at results and ponder why one week was higher or lower, which has prompted changes.

Net Worth

Image: Chart of our net worth in USD since 2013

Our net worth rose 5.33% in USD and .52% in EUR to $128,316 and €123,857 respectively. Liquid net worth stands at $99,626 and €96,164.

Euro Strength

The main driver of the discrepancy between USD and EUR returns was the strengthening euro. Last month, the euro could buy $0.98871, while now it can buy $1.036. That blunts the upward movement of gains in a USD portfolio.

It's fine by me though. One small benefit is that credit card purchases made on US credit cards are cheaper to pay off since the value of the debt has shrunk over time thanks to the currency movement. Yes, I track this.

Portfolio Performance

Image: November portfolio performance as a percentage. Green line = Wiseguy portfolio, yellow = individual US-listed stocks, red = S&P 500, blue = IRA

My portfolios, with the exception of my IRA, outperformed in November. The Wiseguy Portfolio did especially well, rising just under 8%. This was led by the strong performance of the Avantis International Small Cap Value ETF at 12.82%(!), the Vanguard Long Term Bond ETF at 8.55% and the abrdn Physical Gold Shares ETF at 8.45%.

Image: Breakdown of returns within the Wiseguy Portfolio in October and November vs. Vanguard's S&P 500 fund.

Portfolio Changes

Image: My IRAs in blue vs. the S&P 500 in red in 2022

After the last day of November, the trend following rules were hit, and I bought Vanguard's Total World Admiral Shares in my IRA. It is entirely possible that I'll get whip lashed out of that position if the market resumes a downward trajectory. Them's the breaks with trend following.

Near the end of November, I sold Exxon Mobile for a small profit. The proceeds were sent to the Wiseguy Portfolio at the start of December. I'm not good at holding oil extraction companies and should probably avoid them. Berkshire and the small cap ETFs have significant exposure to energy commodities as is.

Other Factors and December Outlook

We received the yearly family subsidy for my wife's piano lessons. That will be stored in our high yield savings account.

December is shaping up to be a mixed bag, savings wise. Christmas is generally expensive, but I also receive my holiday bonus. However, some of my wife's customers were laggards paying their invoices in November, which meant fewer euros being carried over to December. Some of our expenses were also unexpectedly high in November.

We expect visitors from the US for Christmas, which is worth some spending and fun. It's such a pleasure to have anyone visit us over here, and we may do some small scale Europe travel. We will certainly get some kind of Christmas tree.

We also plan to make a donation to our local food bank, whose services we personally witness since they're in our neighborhood. More than food, they provide other nourishment for those who are having bad luck in their lives.

Until next time, count your blessings and help others where you can.

March 2022: Net Worth, Q1 End Portfolio, Stock-Picking?

This is late.

In March, our net worth rose by 2.83% and 3.38% to $124,495 and €111,555 respectively.

Long story short: the stock market rallied in March, and my positions were brought along for the ride. I also sold off some of the camera stuff that I mentioned in February, which brought in some cash.

Here's my portfolio at the end of March:

A few notes:

• Berkshire Hathaway has grown into the largest position in the portfolio, overtaking my tax advantaged IRAs. Berkshire has done very well this year, and it's helped bolster the portfolio against some of the volatility.
• My tax advantaged accounts are still in a money market fund since the Vanguard Total World Stock Index is still below its 10 week moving average.
• A lot of positions are in significant drawdowns from their previous highs.

Do I Want to Keep Picking Stocks?

With all that, I'm considering whether I want to keep picking stocks. I devote a lot of time to this practice, and the results I get are - thus far at least - fine. Not disastrous. Not brilliant. I've basically performed as well as VT has over the past few years, while also spending a lot more time on the project.

At the same time, I have other activities I'd much rather be doing. I have a side hustle I'd like to build up. I'd like to spend more time developing my "hopes and dreams" career. When I listen to podcasts, they're usually investing podcasts. When I do research, it's often stock research. What if I could get rid of those activities and just focus on the stuff that truly brings me joy?

But then I remember I'm an expat and I'd be signing up for tax and reporting hassles. Doesn't mean I won't change this up at some point, but a decision that I could just choose were I living in the US is much more complicated.

This is the dilemma faced by American expats in Europe. I kind of want to get off this train, but the alternative is misrepresenting my actual address to a US brokerage and putting a lot of my assets in it in order to have access to US ETFs. I'm not comfortable with that, but I'm getting tired of waking up and thinking about or worrying about stocks and stock prices and trying to determine where I should put my money every month. I could just buy a few ETFs and be done with it, but then I'd be creating my own tax data and all that crap.

This is stupid. This is all so stupid, and these governments can't be bothered to actually fix the problem for us.

April Outlook

Well, April is almost over, so I have a good idea what's up.

My stocks have performed badly, but basically in line with the overall market.

We've spent some money on travel. We likely won't save much because of it. There's a family medical emergency in the US my wife is attending to, and that kind of stuff supersedes stock investments.

I've made a little money on the side, but I've also spent a good amount, so it's kind of a wash. On the whole, this camera switch has been expensive.

I also went to France for a weekend on someone else's dime. But it felt dishonorable to rely on their money the whole time, so I paid for some of it myself.

Until next time. Stay healthy, save what you can, and remember that your relationships are wealth.