Weekly Reviews / 8 March 2026

Week 1 Portfolio Summary

The first proper week of the portfolio focused on disciplined construction, spreading capital across quality companies, ETFs, a defensive income name, and gold.

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This week was the first proper week of the portfolio being put to work, so the main focus was not chasing quick gains but building the account in a disciplined way from day one. I spread the capital across a mix of high-quality technology names, broad market ETFs, a defensive income name, and a gold position, with the aim of giving the portfolio both growth exposure and some protection if markets turn volatile.

I think the portfolio held up reasonably well in what was not an easy week to start off with. Broadly speaking, the account finished the week close to flat to slightly negative on my entry levels, which I am happy with considering this was the first week and markets were not especially calm. The strongest early contributors were Berkshire Hathaway, Airbnb, Rheinmetall, the Nasdaq ETF and gold, while the weaker areas were mainly the higher-volatility growth names like Symbotic and IonQ. That tells me the portfolio is already doing what I wanted it to do: some of the steadier holdings are helping offset the more aggressive positions.

A few of the core holdings were relatively stable by Friday's close. Meta, Alphabet, and NextEra all finished the week broadly around my entry levels, which was encouraging given the market backdrop. Berkshire Hathaway was one of the stronger performers over the week, and Airbnb also added some positive momentum. Gold remained supportive as well, helping provide an element of balance and stability across the portfolio.

The weaker part of the portfolio came from the more speculative growth positions. IonQ and Symbotic both finished the week below my entry prices, so that area was clearly softer. That said, I am not overly concerned after only a few days, as these are exactly the types of positions I would expect to be more volatile in the short term. The key point is that position sizing was kept sensible, so even where there was weakness, it did not have a major impact on the portfolio overall.

On the ETF side, performance was mixed but still in line with the overall structure I wanted. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF was relatively steady, while the UBS Nasdaq-100 ETF showed slightly more strength over the week. That reflects the purpose of holding both: broad exposure to large-cap equities, while still leaning into the stronger growth areas of the market.

In Europe, the picture was also mixed. Rheinmetall was one of the stronger performers in the portfolio, while ASML was a little softer by the end of the week. Given that broader European markets had a tougher week overall, I was comfortable with how those positions held up. In that context, simply staying resilient was a reasonable outcome.

My main takeaway from week one is that the portfolio feels balanced enough to absorb some early volatility without throwing me off course. The speculative names moved around the most, which is expected, but the steadier positions and hedges helped keep the overall account under control.