My Investments Update – April 2026
Here is my latest monthly update about my investments. You can read my March 2026 Investments Update here if you like.
I’ll begin as usual with my JP Morgan Personal Investing (previously Nutmeg) Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension).
As regular readers will know, in June last year I transferred most of the money in my former Nutmeg Fully Managed portfolio (just under £25,000) to a new Nutmeg Income Portfolio. I discussed this in detail in this post, but basically money in this port is invested to generate an income from share dividends and other sources. This is then paid monthly. Capital appreciation is targeted as well, but these portfolios are aimed primarily at older people (and others) who want/need their investment to generate a regular cash income.
In January my JPM Investing income portfolio generated £75.54 of income, which was duly paid in to my bank account on 24 March 2026. That means I have now received tax-free income of £273.68 in 2026 and a total of £745.14 since I opened the account in June last year. That’s about what I would have expected based on JPM’s projected annual return of just under 5% for income ports at my chosen risk level (five).
The less good news is that my income portfolio declined in value in March. It’s now worth £27,320 compared with £28,866 at the start of last month, a fall of £1,546. You don’t need to be an investment expert to know that this is mainly due to events in the Middle East. Nearly all of my share-based investments have been affected by this. Clearly it is disappointing, but as I always say, you do have to expect ups and downs when investing. As the screen capture below shows, my income port is still up by a respectable £1,716.97 (6.71%) after fees since I opened it last June.
I still have a smaller, growth-oriented pot using JPM Investing’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £4,606 compared with £4,974 (rounded up) a month ago, a fall of £368. Here is a screen capture showing performance over the last year.
Finally, at the start of December 2023 I invested £500 in one of Nutmeg/JPM’s thematic portfolios (Resource Transformation). In March 2024 I also invested a further £200 from referral bonuses (something I no longer receive). As you can see from the one-year screen capture below, this portfolio is now worth £934 compared with £996 (rounded up) last month, a decrease of £62.
Overall in March the value of my JPM investments fell by £1,976 or 5.55%. Against that I did, of course, receive £75.54 in income from my income portfolio. In total, then, I am £1900.46 down for the month.
On a more positive note, excluding income generated, the overall value of my JPM investments is still up by £3,385 or 11.47% since the start of April 2025. If you add to this figure the £745.14 of income generated by my Income portfolio to date, that gives a total profit for the last 12 months of £4,130.14 – still not a bad return in these uncertain times.
As I said above, some volatility is always to be expected with stock market investments, but in the longer term they tend to even themselves out (and typically outperform bank savings accounts, although that is never guaranteed). In general the worst thing you can do is panic and sell up when downturns occur (as happened last month). You are then crystallizing your losses rather than giving the markets time to recover. This is something I discussed last year in this blog post. Obviously nobody knows what will happen in the Middle East, but hopefully some sort of resolution will occur soon, if only because President Trump desperately needs an exit strategy to pacify his critics back home. Once a bit more stability returns to the region, we will hopefully see world stock markets rise again. Though of course there is no guarantee about this.
You can read my full original Nutmeg/JPM review here. If you are looking for a home for your annual ISA allowance, based on my overall experience over the last nine years, they are certainly worth considering. They offer self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs), Lifetime ISAs and Junior ISAs as well.
- As mentioned, Nutmeg have rebranded as J.P. Morgan Personal Investing and their website is now at www.personalinvesting.
jpmorgan.com.
Moving on, I also have investments with P2P property investment platform Housemartin. As discussed in this post, the company rebranded last year from Assetz Exchange.
My investments with Housemartin continue to generate steady returns. Housemartin focuses on lower-risk properties (e.g. sheltered housing). I put an initial £100 into this in mid-February 2021 and another £400 in April. In June 2021 I added another £500, bringing my total investment up to £1,000.
Since I opened my account, my HM portfolio has generated a respectable £309.64 in revenue from rental income. I have made a small net loss of £20.25 on property disposals. Capital growth generally has slowed, in line with UK property values generally.
At the time of writing, 17 of ‘my’ properties are showing gains, 3 are breaking even, and the remaining 24 are showing losses. My portfolio of 44 properties is currently showing a net decrease in value of £76.05. That means that overall (rental income minus capital value decrease and loss on disposal) I am up by £213.34. That’s still a respectable return on my £1,000 and does illustrate the value of P2P property investments for diversifying your portfolio. And it doesn’t hurt that with Housemartin most projects are socially beneficial as well.
- A further consideration is that property investments on Housemartin are less likely to be affected by stock market downturns, as happened in March due to the war in the Middle East. This again demonstrates the potential value of such investments for diversifying your portfolio during challenging times.
The net fall in capital value of my Housemartin investments is obviously a little disappointing. But it’s important to remember that until/unless I choose to sell the investments in question, it is largely theoretical, based on the latest price at which shares in the property concerned have changed hands. The rental income, on the other hand, is real money (which in my case I’ve reinvested in other HM projects to further diversify my portfolio).
To control risk with all my property crowdfunding investments nowadays, I invest relatively modest amounts in individual projects. This is a particular attraction of Housemartin as far as i am concerned. You can actually invest from as little as £1 per property if you really want to proceed cautiously.
- As I noted in this blog post, Housemartin is particularly good if you want to compound your returns by reinvesting rental income. This effectively boosts the interest rate you are receiving. Personally, once I have accrued a minimum of £10 in rental payments, I usually reinvest this money in either a new HM project or one I have already invested in (thus increasing my holding). Over time, even if I don’t invest any more capital, this will ensure my investment with Housemartin grows at an accelerating rate and becomes more diversified as well.
My investment on Housemartin is in the form of an IFISA so there won’t be any tax to pay on profits, dividends or capital gains. I’ve been impressed by my experiences with Housemartin and the returns generated so far, and intend to continue investing with them. You can read my original review of Assetz Exchange/Housemartin here and my article about the rebranding to Housemartin here. You can also sign up for an account directly via this link [affiliate].
In 2022 I set up an account with investment and trading platform eToro, using their popular ‘copy trader’ facility. I chose to invest $500 (then about £412) copying an experienced eToro trader called Aukie2008 (real name Mike Moest).
In January 2023 I added to this with another $500 investment in one of their thematic portfolios, Oil Worldwide. I also invested a small amount I had left over in Tesla shares.
In January this year, as Oil Worldwide hadn’t exactly been setting the world alight, I decided to switch my entire investment in this to another smart portfolio, InTheGame. This port, focusing on the computer gaming industry, has been the top performer for some time in my eToro virtual portfolio.
Unfortunately just as I switched away from Oil Worldwide, President Trump decided to invade Venezuela. This gave the oil industry a significant boost, which I would otherwise have benefited from. Meanwhile InTheGame has gone south, partly due to the recent fall in AI stocks along with the war in the Middle East. At the time of writing the value of my investment in this has fallen by nearly 17%. Hey ho! This does of course demonstrate that there are never any guarantees when investing and unexpected events can thwart the best-laid plans…
As you can see from the screen captures below, my original eToro investment (total value £888.36 in pounds sterling) is today worth £1,070.78, an overall increase of £182.42 or 20.53%.
- Note: eToro now displays the value of investments in your native currency, although you can change this if you wish.
You can read my full review of eToro here. You may also like to check out my more in-depth look at eToro copy trading. I also discussed thematic investing with eToro using Smart Portfolios in this post.
As mentioned above, my new investment in InTheGame is currently down by nearly 17%. My copy trading investment with Aukie2008 also fell in value in March, but it’s still showing an impressive overall profit of 56.36%. Of course, I have held this investment for quite a bit longer.
My Tesla shares, which I purchased as an afterthought with some spare cash I had in my account, are also down this month, but still showing an overall profit of over 234% since I bought them. If only I had put a bit more money into this!
You might also notice that I have small holdings in Prosus NV, a Dutch internet group, and South Bow, a Canadian energy infrastructure company. To be honest I don’t understand how I acquired these, but I assume they are some sort of bonus I was awarded. In any event, I am happy to have them in my portfolio.
- If you would like more information about setting up an eToro account, please click on this no-obligation website link [affiliate]. Don’t forget that you also get a free $100,000 virtual portfolio, which you can use to experiment with trading and investing strategies. I have certainly earned a lot from mine.
As an experiment, at the start of April last year I put £50 into an investment ISA with Trading 212. As mentioned in my blog post about dividend investing, I put it into the (Almost) Daily Dividends Portfolio, a ready-made portfolio or ‘pie’ on Trading 212. As you can see from the screen capture below, my portfolio is now worth £59.87. That’s a decrease of £1.97 since last month but an increase of £9.87 or 19.7% over the eleven-month period since I opened it. It has even accrued a grand total of £1.08 in dividends, most of which has now been (automatically) reinvested.
I am quite impressed with how this investment has been faring, despite the small amount I put in (which means I may be missing out on some smaller dividends). If I increased my investment I would almost certainly become eligible for more dividends, and even more the longer I remain invested. If I had any spare money at the moment, I would consider doing this. Of course, I do now have an income-focused portfolio with JPM Investing as well (see above).
Moving on, 
In Beat the Postage Stamp Price Rise, I pointed out that the cost of stamps is rising (again) on Tuesday 7 April 2026. That will be the SEVENTH rise in the price of first class stamps in just four years! Standard and large-letter stamps don’t have values printed on them and will still be valid after the April price rise comes in, so my top tip is to stock up now while stamps are still at the old price.
I also posted an updated version of Get a Free Share Worth up to £100 with Trading 212. Anyone who hasn’t done this before can get a free share worth up to £100 just by signing up for a new Trading 212 investment account via my link. The current offer closes on Tuesday 28th April 2026.
Also in March I published Are River Cruises Suitable for Solo Travellers. This was a follow-up to my earlier posts about how to save money on cruise holidays and the pros and cons of river cruises (for older travellers in particular). In this post I addressed a question asked by several readers as to whether river cruises are a good choice for solo travellers. The article sets out the pros and cons as I see them. My view, as expressed in the article, is that they can be, but it does depend on your travel style and budget.
What Is An Annuity – And Who Should Consider Buying One? discusses a subject that confuses many people. In simple terms, an annuity is a financial product that converts a lump sum of money – typically from your pension pot – into a guaranteed regular income for life (or for a fixed period). You buy an annuity from an insurance company. In return for handing over some or all of your pension savings, they promise to pay you a regular income, usually monthly, for the rest of your life. In the article I look at the pros and cons of annuities, and whom they are (and aren’t) likely to be suitable for.
How to Save Money on Travel Insurance covers a subject on many people’s minds at this time of year. Travel insurance is one of those expenses that can feel like a grudge purchase – until you need it. For UK travellers, especially older holidaymakers, having adequate cover is essential. In this article I set out some ways you may be able to save on travel insurance without compromising your safety or security. I also discuss saving money on travel insurance as an older person, and the issues that can be caused by war and civil unrest (especially relevant for destinations in or near the Middle East at the moment).
Finally, in March I published Don’t Miss Out – Use Your £20,000 ISA Allowance Before It’s Too Late! As I say in the article, the end of the tax year on 5 April 2026 is fast approaching and so is the deadline to utilize the annual tax-free Individual Savings Account (ISA) allowance. Unless you take action in the next few days, this opportunity to maximize your tax-free savings for the 2025/26 financial year will be gone for ever.
- And speaking of deadlines, time is also running out to take advantage of EDF Energy‘s enhanced switching offer. Until 6 April 2026 you can get a FREE £75 (increased from £50) credited to your energy account when you switch to EDF via my link at https://edfenergy.com/quote/refer-a-friend/sunny-koala-9462. Terms and conditions apply.
I’ll close with my customary reminder that you can also follow Pounds and Sense on Facebook or Twitter (or X as it is now). Twitter/X is my number one social media platform and I post regularly there. I share the latest news and information on financial matters, and other things that interest, amuse or concern me. So if you aren’t following my PAS account on Twitter/X, you are definitely missing out!
- I am also on the BlueSky social media network under the username poundsandsense.bsky.social. Twitter/X remains my primary social media platform, but I also post details of my latest blog posts, third-party articles and other financial news and resources on BlueSky for those who prefer to follow me there.
As always, if you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them below. I am always delighted to hear from PAS readers 
Disclaimer: I am not a qualified financial adviser and nothing in this blog post should be construed as personal financial advice. Everyone should do their own ‘due diligence’ before investing and seek professional advice if in any doubt how best to proceed. All investing carries a risk of loss.
Note also that posts on PAS may include affiliate links. If you click through and perform a qualifying transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the product or service you receive or the terms you are offered, but it does help support me in publishing PAS and paying my bills. Thank you!
The Advantages of Buying an Annuity
The Disadvantages
