July 2017. Vacation time. A time where each family prepares for their yearly summer vacation. My 8y old daughter also made a year end school presentation about our family plans for the summer of 2017. It’s also a time to reflect on how we grow the money for our foster child. We will do twice a year for My foster child portfolio.
Why investing money for a foster child ?
As outlined in our Portfolio of our foster child, during the past twenty years I have travelled the world and seen more than 20 countries. One key insight that did touch my heart, was the poverty of kids in certain countries. In order to have a better life, it is SO important to have the right education to achieve a better lifestyle. I have seen kids living on the streets, kids who had been burnt in their faces to continue their lives as beggers, kids who were starving, etc…I have seen kids in life conditions that I will never forget in my life.
For that reason I have decided to support a child within Nepal through the organisation Cunina. Cunina shares the same dream as I do have. They believe that every child is unique, is talented and deserves a chance to develop these talents. That’s why I support Anisha now in Nepal. I received recently a new picture.
If you want to learn more about Cunina’s fantastic work, go to their website www.cunina.org or download the English brochure of Cunina.
My commitment to Anisha is to pay her education (30 Euro per month) until she graduates from university. Then my relationship with Cunina will end. However that does not mean my relationship with Anisha needs to end. Twice a year I share pictures of major events, vacations and school results of the kids. Anisha is today 10 years old, my daughter is 8 and my son is 12. Kids consider her part of our family. For her birthday in August, we always send a special birthday card as you can find them in Belgian shops together with pictures of school results, our vacation period or other lifetime events. We want to show her interesting places in Belgium or the world, experiences our family does and share our family stories with her.
Our dream is to visit Nepal with the family and visit Anisha one day after she graduates. My personal dream would be to be present at her graduation but I realize that may be difficult. As our relationship grows through letters and sharing family moments, nothing stops us for building out our relationship over time. Maybe we can offer her a Belgian vacation one day when we collected enough money to pay for her airplane ticket to Belgium…time will tell.
In the meantime we save money for a purpose. It can be the start of Anisha’s emergency fund, an airplane ticket to Belgium, …who knows. An emergency fund is critical to start a good life. It gives peace of mind, money to invest in additional education, a buffer to rely on in bad times. Read one of our latest blog post How to correctly size your emergency fund ? if you don’t know how to start with the foundation of every Financial strategy.
Portfolio Update
Today I put monthly 25 EURO in a KEYPLAN and you can read below what has been the return so far. KEYPLAN is our FIRST conservative investment strategy in our Portfolio Investment strategy.
In February 2015 I started this monthly investment plan.
The money invested so far is 1000 Euro and today it has generated 17,04 Euro which equals to 1%. The diversification of the money is spread amongst 11 different funds. The funds you invest in, are either chosen by yourself or advised by KEYTRADE BANK. Please be aware that this strategy aims two factors: TIME and BUY ON FIXED TIMES. The funds do not generate any dividend income and the strategy of compounded interest does not apply here. The only extra income is my monthly 25 euro each month that purchases new participations in the funds. It is important to remain invested for at least 5 years, otherwise this strategy cannot be successful.
Below you can find the overview of the different funds performance.
The biggest losing position dragging the overall performance down is Carmignac Portfolio Commodities A. Here you can see the last 3Y graph of this fund.
Going forward we will just continue to invest small amounts in this conservative strategy. We will see what it gives us as Return on Investment in 10 to 15 years. I am not thrilled about the current portfolio performance but it all depends on where the market goes. Investing consistently is the best way to beat the market.
I also use this conservative investment strategy as complement for my emergency fund as savings accounts do not generate any high returns or money. Here my portfolio has a 14% return on investment.
Final Note
You can’t change the complete chaos and all problems in the world on your own but I have a strong belief that EACH ONE OF YOU can change one other person’s life in the world. I see many people spending money on materialistic things …but does that make them any happier? Each person decides for himself of course but if you can change someone’s life towards a better life, this world would definitely be a better place.
That purpose in life means YOUR LIFE DID HAVE A SOCIAL IMPACT. As usual we end with a final quote. A quote which fits this blog post.
Good luck with your investment strategy ! For whatever purpose you invest for…
3 Response Comments
Very nicely done. I hope that one day I can do something very similar. Help the less fortunate. You are a lovely person for doing so. Good on you and keep up the excellent work!
Great story and great commitment. So many people talk about acting, but seeing someone actually put it into place is inspiring. I hope you and Anisha get the chance to meet up one day so you can see how much you changes someone’s life, but also so you can share in each other’s good fortunes.
Thank you very much ! I hope it can post our first encounter on this blog at that time