I started switching out some of my bond ETFs into a defensive investment trust, Ruffer Investment Co. Monevator recently did a two-parter on the 60/40 strategy but I was already getting a bit antsy about the portion of bonds I held in my portfolio and wondering what I could do. Despite not holding anywhere near 40%, I was feeling it was still on the high side.
I won’t ditch them completely but will likely switch some more into other defensive investment trusts.
Current share/IT portfolio can be found here.
(Entire portfolio here)
Future Fund
After removing the funds needed to buy my house, my Future Fund has dropped to £227,413. It’s not half as bad as I originally envisaged – as suggested by regular commenter Jane In London, I asked my Mum for the max amount she would loan me (that I could still cover with the eventual sale of my BTL) so this meant that I didn’t have to dip so far into my own funds.
I had to sell some equities (from my S&S ISAs) to release some cash and fortunately, I sold little bits of my portfolio over July and August when numbers were green.
I’ve been dreading doing this graph update.
Regular commenter Kid Cocoa suggested rebasing the graph, as if the house money was never part of my Future Fund, so that its removal didn’t cause me any distress. I did that and this is what it looks like:
[edit – original post had the wrong graph]
Looking good, with the markets bouncing back after the drop in September.
However, for consistency and because I feel like I need to see the consequences (and feel the pain) of my actions, this is what the graph actually looks like:

Oof! Looks almost like the crash back in March 2020, although there’s very little hope for another V-shaped recovery, haha!
My Future Fund’s value is now what it was in March 2021 so I’ve only really lost 7 months. My FIRE plan is still intact and unchanged – this is fine, I don’t feel so stressed about it any more.
Anyway, as horrid as the graph looks, I am already looking forward seeing it go back up again.
Dividends and Other Income
A more average month for dividends:
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