AHEAD: Starting next month, my Instagram monthly recaps will only show the most important facts and figures on the slides of the Instagram post. The detailed text version will appear here on getquin. This makes it easier to absorb the information and makes the Instagram posts clearer.
I will divide the monthly review into a portfolio update and a review for private finances. I could also create a separate review for dividends and reinvestments. My aim is to motivate people to take responsibility for their own finances and to build up their wealth. The whole thing is based on my experience reports from my personal everyday financial life, tailored to the respective target group for each sub-post. Let's see how well I succeed.
Here is the last All-In-One post.
While many have continued to panic about Trump, I think I have understood that the whole tariff issue is only intended to depress the markets so that the USA can refinance itself at much lower interest rates when a good USD 7 trillion of the USD 36 trillion of national debt matures this year. That's why I preferred to keep on hiking, while the portfolio rewarded me with plenty of dividends for the month.
I present the following points for the past month of April 2025:
➡️ SHARES
➡️ ETFS
➡️ DISTRIBUTIONS
➡️ AFTER-PURCHASES
➡️ CASHBACK
➡️ P2P CREDITS
➡️ CRYPTO
➡️ AND OTHER?
➡️ OUTLOOK
➡️ Shares
So the second of April was the aforementioned day of liberation. And it was indeed one, the day of liberation from the excessive overvaluations in US equities. Unfortunately, there was also other collateral damage, but in the end there will be none, as it is all just book losses.
The trap in the US government budget that I would like to briefly point out is the national debt to GDP ratio of 123%, as of March 2025. In Germany, it is around 63%. This is stiflingly high and means that economic output is not enough to keep the national debt in check! Therefore new new "money" has to be printed for refinancing. And this money reaches us through asset price inflation. The illustration is, of course, highly simplified, but that is why we invest.
A look at my portfolio shows me that my individual shares $NFLX (-0.52%) my previous class leader $AVGO (-0.47%) has at least just caught up in terms of performance. Nevertheless, Broadcom remains the largest position in terms of volume. Who knows for how much longer?
Netflix's performance has recovered to +184%, Broadcom's is +182%. I'm watching the spectacle, but I'm letting the savings plans continue. Nothing more will be done here, as Beate Sander once said: the horses stay in the stable. Behind the two draught horses $WMT (-1%) 3rd place in terms of volume and $SAP (-0.47%) in 3rd place in terms of performance with +110%. In the last review, I reported that the waste disposal service provider $RSG (-0.81%) had risen steadily. It is now losing a few places again, but rising $V (-0.1%) and $MA (-1%) are rising together and both are already knocking on the door of the top 5 from the outside. The performance of both is similar and decent with +44%/+42%.
As always, the last places in the main stock portfolio are occupied by the same suspects. $NKE (-0.6%) , $TGT (-1.16%) and $HTGC (-0.89%) are the smallest positions. In terms of performance, Nike and Target are the worst performers at -40%.$DHR (-1.9%) as well. But that leaves me cold. In the current macro situation, this is hardly to be expected otherwise. The "neighbor indicator" fits, because most of the shoes on their doorstep (larger family) are Nike shoes. I'm thinking about adjusting my savings plans so that these values receive a higher proportion of my net salary.
➡️ ETFs
The impact of Trump's tariff policy was also clearly felt in the prices of my ETFs in April, leading to significant losses. It is important to remain calm in such volatile times and continue to invest strategically. Such phases are part and parcel of long-term asset accumulation.
➡️ Distributions
In April, I was pleased to receive 19 distributions on 8 payout days. This additional income stream is a valuable addition to my normal earned income, for which I am very grateful. I recommend everyone to build up this kind of additional income in order to become more financially independent from their traditional main job.
Traditionally, April is not a low-distribution month for me. This time, however, the distributions from my three large ETFs were not paid out at the end of March but in April, which distorted the distributions for both months. This effect made April the second-highest distribution month since I started investing. Otherwise, April is always slightly below the distributions of March.
➡️ Additional purchases
From the refunds below, I bought two one-off savings plans on the $GGRP (-0.34%) and $JEGP (-0.94%) executed. I would have liked to buy more, but I still don't want to touch the nest egg or reserves.
➡️ Cashback
In April, I received a cashback on my electricity bill and a travel allowance from my employer. Part of this was used to pre-finance future expenses and to top up sinking funds, while the other part was invested in an old portfolio via the aforementioned one-off savings plans.
➡️ P2P loans
With Mintos, there were no interest or redemption payments. I always withdraw incoming funds with availability. How are you doing with P2P? Are you also withdrawing from the investment?
➡️ Crypto
April was also a very volatile month for crypto investors. The unrest caused by Trump's tariff policy depressed crypto prices, similar to March. However, prices gradually recovered, indicating that the money supply is already increasing again. This is happening through new debt being purchased in the form of government bonds by the FED, which is essentially the equivalent of 'printing' money. Historically, the $BTC (-0.46%) usually follows this development with a delay of just over 10 weeks, as it is strongly correlated to the money supply at 90%.
I am following the whole thing with interest. My preferred theory of cryptocycles still fits in with the current trend. We are moving back towards 100K and I expect a bullish crossover in Bitcoin. The limit orders are still in the market, even if it will be a long time before they trigger. Of course, I hope that the "normal" bear market will then resume. In a few months' time, we will know whether we will have seen another clear double top in the current bull market.
Here are two key figures from my crypto wallets: monthly performance: +5.5%, performance since the beginning: +56%.
➡️ And what else?
I'm continuing to delve deeper into the use of LLMs and am currently working on my prompting technique. The posts on my Instagram channel that I have published since March have been created with the help of AI, I have used AI to give me ideas for image generation, to have them created naturally and many of the quotes are also AI-generated. I use several LLMs and see significant differences in the outputs. This makes it more diverse and even allows me to merge multiple results. The models are also learning my writing style better and better, with longer generated texts you can still clearly read the generic, but I myself understand better and better how I can use the new technology to improve my productivity instead of letting it replace me. This also applies to my job.
As in the previous month, I am also focusing much more intensively on the topic of nutrition. I avoid added sugar as much as possible. So there was no chocolate bunny for me at Easter and I'm not hungry for chocolate or other sweets. That's a real miracle.
I've also increased my weekly exercise routine once again and am paying close attention to how my body is coping. Instead of two weight training sessions at home, I now do three, instead of three running sessions a week I do a lot and every morning I do some general fitness/cardio and core exercises for my stomach to warm up. The clear aim is to continue building muscle and strengthening my heart health. And I enjoy it, even though the temperature in my apartment has already risen towards 25° Celsius on some days.
I've been hiking twice in Saxon Switzerland, once just under and once over 30 km. On hiking days, I like to leave at 4 a.m. on the first Saxonia Express train. In the fall and early spring, this is even the perfect time to enjoy the sunrise on the sandstone cliffs. For me personally, this is pure healing for the soul and a real quality of life. I can enjoy it without depressing thoughts in my head because I know that my finances are in order and running on autopilot.
➡️ Outlook
May will be a no-spend month for me, simply because I feel like taking on the next challenge. Later in the year, I want to start a Hartz IV/citizen's allowance experiment. I should be able to do this most of the time, as my expenses in March and April were both under €1,000. I'm already looking forward to the evaluation at the end of the challenge.
Links:
Social media links can be found in my profile, also feel free to check out the Instagram version of my review.
