- Published on
2025 May - $750k portfolio update
- Authors
- Name
- Solo FIRE
💡Monthly Highlights
The stock markets have recovered significantly from the tariff lows in May. This was not surprising as the US president does not have omnipotent power, if things go south, there will be so many related parties that get hurt (thinking huge pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, investment banks, corporate leaders, etc.), who will get involved and try to negotiate deals that will benefit all sides, resulting in a market recovery. At the end of the day, if a depression cannot be prevented, they can always turn on the money printer which will rescue the markets and minimize the losses. This fact hasn’t changed for a very long time.
As small individual investors, we have no control over whatever happens in the political or economical environment, but that doesn’t matter as long as we can control our emotions and always pick the strongest companies that will stay in business no matter what happens.
One noticeable change I made to the portfolio is the purchase of UNH stock at $253 per share, building a 3% position. While there are still significant uncertainties around the stock, it was clear that a significant portion of the price drop was driven by emotions. This was obvious when the UNH stock dropped 20% for a second time, within 2 days, when the WSJ published the article about the UNH criminal investigation just at the right time. If you have been following the market closely for long enough time and had gone through several bear markets, you would have observed this pattern very easily when major media taking advantage of stock crashes to gather as much attention as they can, which usually drive the panics to the extreme and deepen the crash further. There are no better opportunities to buy other than these times.
That said, it is still extremely important to ensure the company still has strong fundamentals, valued at bargain prices and has a great chance to recover. I think this is the case for UNH being one of the largest companies in the healthcare industry. I will closely monitor this position as the company does have a ton of problems, and I may end my position any time if the company fails to improve.
In addition, I have made a few stock sales in my portfolio this month to raise funds for new purchases. In case you don’t know, I only sell stocks when there are obviously better opportunities to re-invest my capital. It does NOT mean the stocks I sold are bad. In fact, I still think these stocks or funds will deliver very good returns, likely 10%+ annually over the long term. Any stock that’s ever been added to my portfolio must pass strict selection criterias, if you are interested in what those criterias are, make sure to follow my content on Blossom and check out my free tutorials on Youtube.
1️⃣ Blossom Portfolio including TFSA, RRSP, Non-registered accounts
1. Trades in TFSA
🔴Sold 70 shares of VGG @ $89.62 (with 26.2% gains)
🔴Sold 70 shares of CP @ $101.44 (with 3.1% gains)
🟢Bought 52 AMZN @ US$185.62
TFSA account value was up 3.4%, changing from $165,546 to $171,941, the principal contribution amount is $81,815. My TFSA portfolio performance is closely tracked here.
2. Trades in RRSP account
No trades in RRSP account. RRSP account value changed from \114,424.
3. Trades in non-registered account
💸$1500 new contribution
🔴Sold 16 shares of ADBE @ US$401.09 (with 3.7% gains)
🔴Sold 91.284 shares of VGG @ $93.32 (with 31.4% gains)
🟢Bought 53 shares of UNH @ US$253.75
Margin loans in the Interactive Brokers non-registered account totaled $7,580, down from $7,729.73 last month. This accounted for about 3% of the total value of the IBKR account. With an effective after-tax interest rate of 2.44%, the margin loan is very cost effective to take advantage of market opportunities but it still comes with significant risks, and I intend to gradually pay this down now that the market has recovered. I personally only use the margin when the potential upside is significantly greater than the potential downside.
IBKR (net of margin) account value changed from $239,550 to $255,800
Wealthsimple account value changed from $195,243 to $207,759
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Non-registered total changed from $434,793 to $463,559
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All account value changed from $710,982 to $749,924
2️⃣ Smith Maneuver Portfolio (not tracked on Blossom)
This is a leveraged portfolio investing borrow fund from my HELOC. This is a strategy with higher risks, not recommended for new investors.
🔴Sold 36 shares of CNR @ $136.41 (9.9% loss)
🟢Bought 198 shares GOOG CDR @ $24.87
Here are my current holdings:
CSU $9,880.00
ATD $9,367.19
IFC $7,153.69
MEQ $4,868.25
GOOG CDR $14,342.75
AMZN CDR $8,875.50
VISA CDR $8,315.52
META CDR $5,267.01
Total: $68,069.91 (Invested principal is $63,700)
HELOC balance: -$65,488.95
HELOC interest rate paid: prime + 0.25%= 5.2%, after-tax rate: 2.96%
You can checkout my full Smith Maneuver setup here
See all my previous monthly portfolio updates here
(All $ represents CAD)
Comments and Questions
Make sure to leave your comments/questions on my original Blossom post and I will try my best to answer them.
DISCLAIMER: SoloFIRE is not a registered financial advisor. This post contains author's personal opinion only and it should NOT be considered financial advice.