2023 Portfolio In Review

Let's take a look under the hood and see how my portfolio has performed after it was beaten up in 2022.

Please note that a common benchmark used in investing is the performance of the Standard and Poor ( S&P) 500 index.

The S&P 500 in 2023 increased 25.46% or +25.46% year to date (YTD).

The NASDAQ Composite Index declined 40.3% or +40.3% YTD.

Why am I sharing my own portfolio's performance with you?

In our society, I believe we don't talk about the concepts of money or investing enough. It's often considered a taboo topic. I frankly think that's a reason why many of us struggle with it.

I'm an amateur investor, who makes PLENTY of mistakes, and who mismanages my own time, and am learning alongside you.

I hope it will provide you with a layer of transparency that is utterly lacking in this area.

Investing is not always sunshine and rainbows, there are plenty of dark days, months, and even years. I believe it is what you do, or what you do not do, that has more of an impact in the long term.

I’ll see you all in six months for my 2024 Portfolio Year in Review. If you want to take a glimpse of how the portfolio faired in 2022, check it out here, and for my 2023 Mid Year In Review, click here.

You’ll see that I underperformed in some areas and ‘beat the market’ in other areas. What you will not see in the breakdown is my position sizing. Said different, how large is each investment in each account. Position sizing is extremely important in calculating returns. You can have $1 invested in bitcoin and it doubles in size to $2, you’ve technically received a 100% return but in reality, only made $1. It is crucial to understand both position sizing and asset allocation and how the relate to crafting your financial portfolio.

✅  RRSP: 10.63%

✅  TFSA: 9.75%

✅ Non-Registered Funds: 8.89%

❌ Stock Options -4.23%

✅ Bitcoin: 162%

✅  Fine Art: 7.6%

✅  Fine Wine: 7.4%

✅  Fine Whiskey 25.3%

👉 Real Estate: 0%

Here's a breakdown of my portfolio since 2021 (3 years) if you’ve been following along:

2021

Non Registered: 21.58%

TFSA 16.03%

RRSP: 19.38%

S&P 500: 26.89%

At first glance, you may notice that my portfolio lagged and underperformed the benchmark (S & P 500), and yes it did.

2022

Non Registered: -4.39%

TFSA -12.76%

RRSP: -0.71%

S&P 500: -19.48%

Rough year across the board in 2022 as all my traditional investments lost money (unrealized). However, they lost less than the benchmark. Which meant that I outperformed the market.

2023

Non Registered: 8.89%

TFSA 9.75%

RRSP: 10.63%

S&P 500: 24.46%

At the time of writing, this year has been a banger of a year for the benchmark and my investments have appreciated but not at the same rate as the market.

Now after those 3 years, assuming that I started with $100 in each vehicle, how much would I have in each one after those three years?

Total return after 3 years

Non-Registered: $126.58

TFSA: $111.09

RRSP: $131.13

S&P 500: $127.16

Despite underperforming the market in 2021 and 2023 (in terms of gains), the non-registered and RRSP funds outperformed the market in 2022 (in terms of a smaller loss), leading to a slight outperformance after three years with my RRSP and net neutral with the non -registered vehicle. As for my TFSA, I will need to reconsider my allocation as it's lagged.

Take home point: Don't let the sexy gains skew your thought process, protect your capital on the downside, as losses affect your returns more than your gains do.