My Investments Update – May 2025
Here is my latest monthly update about my investments. You can read my April 2025 Investments Update here if you like.
I’ll begin as usual with my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is the largest investment I hold other than my Bestinvest SIPP (personal pension).
As the screenshot below for the year to date shows, my main Nutmeg portfolio is currently valued at £24,532. Last month it stood at £25,065, so that is a fall of £533.
Apart from my main portfolio, I also have a second, smaller pot using Nutmeg’s Smart Alpha option. This is now worth £3,934 compared with £4,027 a month ago, a fall of £93. Here is a screen capture showing performance for the year to date.
Finally, at the start of December 2023 I invested £500 in one of Nutmeg’s new thematic portfolios (Resource Transformation). In March I also invested a further £200 from referral bonuses. As you can see from the YTD screen capture below, this portfolio is now worth £770 compared with £783 last month, a fall of £13.
As you can see, April was a roller-coaster month for my Nutmeg investments. There were some big dips in the early part of the month, followed by a partial but nonetheless welcome recovery. Overall I am down by £639 over the month. This is mostly due to the continuing instability in world markets, caused by the trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump and other economic factors.
Nonetheless, the value of my Nutmeg investments is still up £838 in the last twelve months. And their value has increased by £2,920 or 11.10% since the start of January 2024. So the recent falls do need to be taken in context. Ups and downs are always to be expected with stock market investments, and over time they tend to even themselves out. In general the worst thing you can do is panic and sell up when downturns occur, as you are then crystallizing your losses. This is something I had cause to discuss recently in this blog post.
You can read my full Nutmeg review here. If you are looking for a home for your annual ISA allowance, based on my overall experience over the last eight years, they are certainly worth considering. They offer self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs), Lifetime ISAs and Junior ISAs as well.
Moving on, I also have investments with P2P property investment platform Assetz Exchange. As discussed in this recent post, the company recently rebranded as Housemartin.
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 £245.97 in revenue from rental income. I have also made a profit of £4.78 on property disposals. Capital growth has slowed, though, in line with UK property values generally.
At the time of writing, 18 of ‘my’ properties are showing gains, 1 is breaking even, and the remaining 18 are showing losses. My portfolio of 37 properties is currently showing a net decrease in value of £54.67. That means that overall (rental income and profit on disposal minus capital value decrease) I am up by £196.08. That’s still a decent 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.
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 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 full 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.
As you can see from the screen captures below, my original investment (total value £888.36 in pounds sterling) is today worth £975.36, an overall increase of £87 or 9.79%.
- 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 recent post. The latter also reveals why I took the somewhat contrarian step of choosing the oil industry for my first thematic investment with them.
As you can see, my Oil WorldWide investment has seen a downturn in April and is actually worth marginally less than when I invested. That’s clearly disappointing after last month’s improvement, but reflects the global economic turmoil caused largely by US President Trump’s tariffs.
Thankfully my copy trading investment with Aukie2008 has been doing better, with an overall 33.82% profit. To be fair, I have held this investment a little longer.
My Tesla shares, which I bought as an afterthought with a bit of spare cash I had in my account, have done particularly well since I bought them, with an overall profit of 158.24%. 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!
- eToro also offer the free eToro Money app. This allows you to deposit money to your eToro account without paying any currency conversion fees, saving you up to £5 for every £1,000 you deposit. You can also use the app to withdraw funds from your eToro account instantly to your bank account. I tried this myself and was impressed with how quickly and seamlessly it worked. You can read my blog post about eToro Money here. Note that it can also serve as a cryptocurrency wallet, allowing you to send and receive crypto from any other wallet address in the world.
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.
Finally, just for fun I put £50 into an investment ISA with Trading 212. As mentioned in my recent 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 account is already in profit, and has even accrued 2p in dividends!
Moving on, as I said last time, I am no longer writing for the Mouthy Money website, as they have decided to take their content creation in-house. From a personal perspective I am obviously disappointed about this, but I had a good run with them and wish them every success going forward. You can still read all the articles I contributed to Mouthy Money over the years by visiting my profile page on the website. How long they will keep this in place I really can’t say!
In April I did have a guest post on my friend Sally Jenkins’ writing blog. Sally asked me some questions about my writing career for a regular feature she runs on her blog. I enjoyed answering the questions, which included “What are the most important qualities required by a writer?” and “What writing resources have you found most useful?” If you have any interest in writing, hopefully you may find this of interest.
In Why Now Could Be the Ideal Time to Take Advantage of Your New Tax-Free ISA Allowance, I pointed out that everyone received a new £20,000 ISA allowance from the start of the new tax year on 6 April 2025. My article sets out some good reasons for taking advantage of the new allowance sooner rather than later, especially in light of persistent rumours that the government plans to restrict the allowance (for cash ISAs at any rate) in the autumn budget.
Why Has My Bank Abandoned Me? is an opinion piece by a writer friend who has asked to be known at SD. In it she laments the changes at UK banks in recent years that have hit older customers (in particular) hard. I could certainly relate to some of the experiences she describes in her article. Take a look and see if you agree.
I’ve already mentioned my post about Why UK Retirees Shouldn’t Panic Over Trump’s Tariffs and Market Wobbles. In this I pointed out that whilst the recent downturn is disappointing for investors, the worst thing you can do is panic and sell up, as this will crystallize your losses. In this post I draw a parallel with the Covid crash and point out that this was followed by a sustained rise in stock market values. Of course, nobody knows how current events will play out, but hopefully the upward trend seen over the last couple of weeks will continue. In any event, historically stocks and shares have delivered better returns than savings accounts over most periods of five years or longer.
Tow Like a Pro – Caravan Safety Tips From the Experts was a guest post from my friends at Compass, who are specialist leisure and caravan insurers. The post reveals the most common causes of accidents with caravans and sets out some top tips for staying safe when towing one.
Finally, How to Publish Your Book (and Earn Royalties) was a guest post from my writing friend Sally Jenkins (as mentioned earlier I had a guest post published myself on Sally’s blog in April). In her article, which generated a lot of interest, Sally set out the main options for getting a book published and making money from it. She also revealed some resources she has used herself in her successful freelance writing career.
I’ll close with a reminder that you can also follow Pounds and Sense on Facebook or Twitter (or X as we have to call it 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. For the time being anyway, Twitter/X will remain my primary social media platform, but I will 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!