July 2025 continued the uptrend from June 2025 and markets moved to multiple new all time highs. My portfolio also hit new all time highs with the market and it seems like the problems caused my the tariffs are in the rearview mirror for the markets.
If you haven’t already read my posts before, I achieved Financial independence back in late 2020 early 2021 with a portfolio of roughly $1.3m invested in mainly ETFs. This ballooned to $1.7m during the peak of the markets in early 2022 before coming back down to Earth later in 2022. The portfolio has since regained new all time highs as markets rally beyond the previous highs.
This post will be part of a monthly series of portfolio updates that summarizes how my portfolio performed, what trades I executed, what my monthly expenses were, and my general outlook on the economy/markets. This is by no means financial advice so do not look look at me for sage advice. I make stupid trades and make even worse losses quite frequently.
This is simply the performance of my portfolio and how it has performed on a month to month basis.
Monthly Highlights – July 2025
- Net worth is over $2.2m as of July 2025 Month end
- +$50k for the month
- In July, we traveled all over Europe before coming back to Bali life at the end of the month.
Market Moves
| 7/30/2025 | 6/30/2025 | % Change | |
| Dow Jones | 44,461 | 44,095 | 0.82% |
| S&P 500 | 6,363 | 6,205 | 2.48% |
| Nasdaq | 21,130 | 20,370 | 3.60% |
| Russel 2000 | 2,232 | 2,175 | 2.57% |
What is in my portfolio?
My portfolio is quite simple and straight forward. I have my holdings primarily spread out between a few ETFs, fixed income, and various single name stocks.
ETFs
Again, my primary holdings are in a few ETFs. My primary holdings are in VTI, VGT, and VCR. I’ve always been a big proponent of big tech and have been heavily invested in the Nasdaq for over a decade. This has paid off very well for me given the massive bull market of the 2010s and is essentially what allowed me to FIRE so quickly.
I used to hold more dividend generating stocks as I was really into this type of investing at a period of time. I currently do not have many dividend specific ETFs as I prefer growth more than income. This kind of goes against the ethos of financial independence but I have enough money coming in from other sources that I don’t need to focus so much on consistent income from my investments.
As markets rallied again to all time highs, I didn’t add much to my position like I did in May 2025. I’m comfortable holding a bit more cash than normal and will wait for more opportunities to arise.
Single name stocks
Some of the single name stocks I own are the following
- RDDT
- ANET
- TEM
- NFLX
- RITM
- ASML
- ARES
These single name stocks make up less than 5% of my total portfolio. I tend to not buy much single name stocks anymore as there’s no point to take on unnecessary risks when I’m already so diversified with my ETFs.
Real Estate
I currently own no real estate. I used to own property in the US but have sold it in 2022 before rates started rising. I am not a big fan of real estate. While it definitely can be a good investment, I don’t think it beats investing in the markets. In addition, real estate is highly illiquid with high transaction costs that few people consider.
Finally, as someone that travels around the world and does not like to be tied down to one location, real estate doesn’t make sense as managing it from afar creates a bunch of headaches. I much prefer to have my money liquid and in the stock market.
Fixed Income
I also purchased I-Bonds in 2022 at the height of inflation peak when I-Bonds were paying 9.5%. The rates have come down significantly since then as inflation itself has come down and I no longer bother with I-Bonds.
In the recent high interest rate environment, I had allocated a small portion of my portfolio to fixed income products, specifically purchasing treasury bills with 3-6 month expiry. These were paying out 5.5% which was a great guaranteed income generator. In recent months on the back of anticipated FED rate cuts, this rate was always going to come down which meant stocks should increase.
Well the FED cut rates for the first time since COVID in Sep 2024 which means treasury bill returns will be decreasing for the foreseeable future. My last treasury bill expired in July 2024 and that cash was used to buy the market. I suspect I will not buy any fixed income products for the foreseeable future.
Market Commentary – July 2025
July has historically been a positive month. In the last 20 years, the S&P 500 has returned an average of 2.3% and the Nasdq in the month of July. July 2025 was no different.
A year ago, if there was a 15% universal tariff against EU goods, markets would have gyrated. In July 2025, markets breath a sigh of relief because it’s not higher so the party can continue. It feels like the markets are treading a thin line ripe for cutting but it appears that markets have also priced in bad news is not that bad anymore.
Earnings have blasted past expectations for Q2 with Meta, Microsoft, and Google crushing expectations. Tech drives the market and this is an all clear that even with tariffs weighing down the market, companies in the Mag7 can still perform.
Up Months | Weak Months | Best 3 Months | Worst Months | |
| NYSE Composite | March, April, July, October, November, December | January, February, May, June, August, September | April, July, November | June, August, September |
| S&P 500 | February March, April, May, July, August, October, November, December | January, June, September | April, July, November | June, September |
| Nasdaq 100 | January, March, April, May, July, August, October, November, December | February, June, September | March, July, November | February, June, September |
Markets returned 2-3% for the month which is in line with the historical July averages. Markets seemed to take a breather on the last trading day of the month even though Meta and Microsoft crushed earnings the day before. I think market is primed for a bit of a sell off to support in August as markets just went straight up for the last month
On the QQQ, preliminary support would be around $560 with the next level to watch at $540. There is also a big gap at $530 that would be nice to fill so if markets fall to that level, I will definitely be accumulating.
Market Value of Portfolio
Here is a history of my portfolio value. As you can see, it’s moved in line with the markets as should be the case since most of my holdings are in ETFs that track the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
| Ticker | Quantity | Market Value |
| VGT | 1550 | $1,070,229 |
| VTI | 2080 | $646,651 |
| VCR | 400 | $147,824 |
| VDC | 350 | $75,642 |
| TQQQ | 500 | $44,105 |
| FBGRX | 400 | $78,800 |
| VHT | 250 | $60,370 |
| ARES | 100 | $18,553 |
| RITM | 2500 | $30,075 |
| ANET | 35 | $4,313 |
| RDDT | 100 | $16,059 |
| ASML | 50 | $34,736 |
| Total Stocks | $2,227,356 |
Trades executed for the month of July 2025
July 2025 was not an active month of trading for me. I was mostly traveling around Europe and didn’t have much time to really analyze potential trades that I wanted to take risk on. Markets were also rallying to all time highs but is generally a time I like change my DRIP settings to off (hold that dividend cash and reinvest for another dip).
I have some cash lying around from covered calls that were exercised as they were in the money. Markets rallied past those strike prices unfortunately so I had a bit of FOMO looking in but it’s cash I will keep for the inevitable pullback.
I’m also okay with being more cash heavy in this market. I feel like while markets won’t crash as fast as they did in April, being more liquid in the future might prove well as volatility will continue to be elevated. Therefore, if the price of these ETFs go above the strike price of my covered calls, I’m okay being forced to sell and pocketing the gains.
Summary of stock and ETF purchases
| Ticker | Transaction | Quantity |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
Portfolio withdrawals and expenses
Withdrawals from my portfolio is an important part of the financial independence ethos. The 4% withdrawal rate rule is one of the main concepts of the FIRE movement which I try to adhere to. Generally, I prefer to sell from my portfolio when markets are near or at all time highs to capture, and only when I actually need the cash.
For the month of July 2025, we spent most of the month in Europe to enjoy the European summers. This included a long stop in Greece where we had a wedding in Milos and then island hopped to neighboring Sifnos and Serifos. I absolutely love the Greek islands, and especially the Cycladic islands.
Serifos was a new island for me and easily one of the most beautiful islands in all of Greece. The views are out of this world and the island retains that wild and untouched vibe that many of the other islands are slowly losing.
I truly believe it’s the most special place in all of Europe and there’s nothing like them in the world. I’ve probably spent a cumulative 4 months traveling around the Cyclades now and it never seems enough.
I made no withdrawals from the portfolio as I had enough cash coming in from my blog as well as leftover cash from other sources. My blog generates money every month to the tune of $5k or more and I cover exactly how I earn money from blogging in other posts.
My July 2025 Blog Earnings
I always give a run down on my monthly blogging income on these monthly portfolio reports because this is about my blog after all. My blog generates quite a lot of money from many years of hard work that it is a huge supplement to my FIRE portfolio.
My full 2024 blog earnings report has finally been released via my post in the links above. I made a total of $72k from blogging in 2024 which was an absolute monstrous and record year. 2024 was the last hurrah for traditional blogging and the last of the good days before the major Google algorithm changes.
I earn money from blogging primarily from ads and sponsorships. My ads are managed by Mediavine which I joined in May 2024. In addition to Mediavine advertisements, I also earn money from Affiliate programs, sponsorships, and travel planning. More details on these things in my how to make money blogging posts.
Joining TravelPayouts
I joined TravelPayouts in June 2025 as it’s been majorly hyped by all other bloggers in the travel space. TravelPayouts is a affiliate program aggregator that allows you to combine affiliate programs like Booking.com, GetYourGuide, Trip.com, Rentalcars etc. all in one platform. They also have numerous AI tools that help automate the process of adding affiliate links to your blog.
I’m testing it out for a few months to see if it provides any additional benefit. Most of my affiliate programs in the past have been from Booking.com but travelpayouts will automatically add other affiliate programs to my blog posts in hopes of boosting income
Here is a breakdown of my monthly earnings.
| Category | Amount Earned ($) |
|---|---|
| Mediavine Ads | $1,950 |
| Sponsorships | $3,100 |
| Affiliate Programs | $1,200 |
| Travel Planning | $0 |
| Grand Total | $6,250 |
| Category | Amount Earned ($) |
|---|---|
| Mediavine Ads | $2,220 |
| Sponsorships | $2,400 |
| Affiliate Programs | $580 |
| Travel Planning | $300 |
| Grand Total | $5,500 |
Blogging income has really recovered in Q3 2025. The acopalyse brought on by AI is still coming make no doubt about it but it seems like Google has taken a bit of a breather in the last few months. My search traffic has increased substantially which clearly means Google is tweaking something on their end.
I won’t complain about the additional traffic but with Google, you never know when they’ll change something leading to a collapse in traffic. j
