January 2021

The start of 2021 and no let up of the volatility seen last year. New Covid lockdowns in the UK and abroad. A transfer of power in the US as Biden is inaugurated with a shift in world dynamics.

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Investments

Let’s start with TheSunExchange. My regular investment this month went to the same project that I invested with in November. It’s a big project and has taken time to reach its funding goals. A few days after my investment, the funding round completed and they are already installing the solar array. Invested £321

CrowdProperty still has plenty of funds not yet deployed. I’m not expecting to need to add further funds for a number of months, though I may top up in March to capture this years ISA allowance. That will allow me to fund a different IFISA next year. Invested £0

ElfinMarket received my regular investment. I’m thinking of investing next years IFISA into ElfinMarket, I have a few months to think about it. Invested £100

In the world of Euro P2P lending I have decided to rationalise my investments. I have turned off my Auto-Invest settings on Viventor, IUVO and LenderMarket. As the loans complete I intend to withdraw my funds and redistribute to my other platforms. Let’s wait and see how that goes. On a macro scale the Covid pandemic still has a while to run and this is impacting the P2P lending market. I’m not keen on adding any further funds at present as I’m not in favour of the risk profile. Invested £0

In the crypto lending world, I see this as a great year for BTC. I have held off investing in the Invictus IML fund for the same reasons as last month regarding high gas fees. I have however invested a chunk into BTC. With Celsius I have bought and deposited £1815 worth of BTC. In NEXO I have deposited BTC to the value of £973. As with last month this was a conversion of NEXO tokens to BTC. A few days later I then deposited £1432 worth of BTC also to NEXO. Across NEXO, BlockFi and Celsius I now hold a total of 0.54 BTC. I would like to hold a whole BTC but I’m not sure how realistic that is. I see BTC in an accumulation phase while it remains below $50k. After that I will probably stop adding funds to this investment. Total invested £4220

Lastly this month I have invested in JuicyFields. I am still not very confident in this venture but there are only positive signs at the moment. Invested £135

Total invested £5276

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Monthly Income

On checking last months figures I have made a minor adjustment down, but last months income remains just above the £200 mark. The month of January has seen another significant jump, catapulting past the £250 mark. Let’s see the breakdown…

TheSunExchange has hit the peak sunshine month for the Southern Hemisphere, so the earnings reflect this. The total number of live projects remains the same and most of them posted an increase in earnings for the month. The next project is up and running and will go live in the early part of February. Hopefully this will partially offset the drop in earnings from the other projects. Income £46

CrowdProperty has started to complete on a number of my initial loans so the income is becoming more regular, with an increase to £27 this month. I would expect at my current investment level for this to flatten out around the £40 per month. With the whole £16000 deployed, this would rise to £100 per month. EstateGuru continues to perform, bringing in a further £6. Income £33

ElfinMarket continues to punch above its weight considering the size of investment. Income £10

Euro P2P has had a great month. A number of platforms posted increased earnings, namely Debitum, ViaInvest and RoboCash. Moncera and Lendermarket have always had good earnings and this continued. Income £37

Invictus IML although is designated in USD and therefore not benefitting from the rise in BTC, has had a great month. Increased Volatility in the crypto space has lead to higher margin lending rates and so the fund has made some great gains this month. Income £35

Crypto lending has had a great month primarily due to the increases in the price of BTC. The interest rates have remained the same, but the value of the earned BTC and ETH has gone up markedly. Interest rates are similar across NEXO, BlockFi and Celsius. My BTC holdings in both NEXO and Celsius increased this month adding to the increase in income. I have a small amount of interest coming in from LUNO but this is insignificant at the moment. Income £84

FreeTrade brought in its second highest dividend this month but considering the amount invested is still reasonably small. The main reason being that I have heavily invested in growth stocks this year due to the market conditions. Income £19

Total Income £268