In 2025, my investment portfolio returned +25.52%, exceeding the S&P 500’s +17.88% total return for the year. This was not a smooth ride: my portfolio experienced a 26.8% drawdown after “Liberation Day”, the early-April tariff shock that drove a sharp, event-driven risk-off move in markets, before recovering as I deployed cash into positions I wanted to own at better prices. This post explains my portfolio performance in 2025, where I underperformed, and what I’m taking forward into 2026.
The Macro Backdrop: “Liberation Day” Volatility and a Year of Recovery
In early April 2025, markets repriced quickly around the U.S. administration’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement (April 2, 2025), including a baseline 10% tariff framework and additional reciprocal measures that initially spooked risk assets. While I cannot attribute my portfolio’s exact drawdown to any single headline, the timing aligned with that broader volatility regime.
My key execution advantage in that window was simple: I had cash available and the temperament to deploy it when the tape looked ugly. The drawdown mattered, but the recovery response mattered more.
Here was my portfolio update post Liberation Day.
Portfolio Performance Attribution: What Drove the +25.52%
1) SoFi (SOFI): A Major Driver of Outperformance, Then a Full Exit
SoFi was once again a meaningful contributor to my portfolio performance in 2025. I closed the position at an average price of $23.50, crystallizing gains rather than letting a large winner continue to dominate portfolio risk. SoFi contributed the most to my portfolio performance in 2025 even with other positions I was in pulling me down.
SoFi itself had a strong 2025, posting a ~+65% total return on the year. From a fundamentals standpoint, the company spent 2025 continuing to emphasize member growth and fee-based revenue expansion, dynamics it highlighted in its 2025 reporting.
How I think about the decision:
- A large winner can be a gift, but it can also become an unintended “single-name factor exposure.”
- Exiting the position is not a statement that a company is “done.” It is often a statement about position sizing discipline and portfolio construction.
2) Post–Liberation Day Buying: BRK.B, JEPQ, VOO, VGK, and MCHI
After the April drawdown, I added to a basket of holdings that served different roles in the portfolio:
- S&P 500 ETF (VOO): The baseline engine. VOO’s 2025 total return was roughly +17.8%, consistent with the index’s overall gain.
- Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B): A quality, cash-generative conglomerate with a long-standing capital allocation culture. BRK.B’s 2025 total return was about +10.9%.
- NASDAQ Covered Call ETF (JEPQ): A yield-oriented equity strategy designed to monetize equity volatility via a covered call strategy; in 2025, it returned about +15.2% (total return).
- Europe Equity ETF (VGK): A geographic diversifier; VGK delivered about +35.9% in 2025.
- China Equity ETF (MCHI): A single-country exposure with distinct geopolitical and policy risk; MCHI’s reported 2025 NAV total return was +31.07%.
What this basket did for me: it let me add risk in a more structured way, mixing core beta (VOO), quality/capital allocation (BRK.B), income/volatility monetization (JEPQ), and international diversification (VGK, MCHI), instead of trying to “make it all back” with one aggressive trade.
I have since exited JEPQ to avoid covered call ETFs, however I did appreciate the returns I captured with it in 2025.
3) A Headwind: Alternative Asset Managers Underperformed (and I Still Averaged In)
A meaningful part of my 2025 process was continuing to dollar-cost average into “alternative / private markets” platforms—even though, on a mark-to-market basis, that allocation underperformed and detracted from results during the year. The common thread across these businesses is that they sit at the center of an ongoing shift: more capital moving into private credit, private equity, infrastructure, and retirement-oriented solutions, with the asset managers monetizing that demand through recurring management fees plus performance-based economics when realizations and fund performance cooperate.
Importantly, 2025 was a reminder that the stocks of these firms can be volatile and cyclical even when the long-term secular story remains intact:
- Blackstone (BX): -7.84% total return in 2025.
- KKR (KKR): -13.32% total return in 2025.
- Apollo (APO): -11.12% total return in 2025.
- BlackRock (BLK): +6.55% total return in 2025, positive, but still well behind the S&P 500.
My takeaway: averaging into alternative asset managers is a long-duration bet, but the market can deliver years where the equities trade poorly even if the businesses continue to build AUM, distribution, and product breadth. I am comfortable DCA’ing into that volatility only because I am pairing it with more diversified, repeatable exposures elsewhere in the portfolio.
The Q4 Drag on Portfolio Performance: Vertex, Inc.
My portfolio underperformed in Q4 as I initiated a larger position in Vertex, Inc. (VERX), a tax technology company, and the stock is down ~13% since I bought it.
Vertex operates in enterprise tax technology, particularly solutions supporting indirect tax determination, compliance, and audit readiness. In 2025, the company reported continued growth metrics (including Q3 revenue growth and a stock repurchase authorization), but that did not prevent the stock from declining during my holding period.
My takeaway: Even when you like a company and the business fundamentals look defensible, entry timing and market regime can dominate outcomes over a quarter or two, especially when you build a position quickly.
Risk Management: What I Did (and What I Did Not Do)
My “risk management” in 2025 was primarily behavioral and procedural, not complex:
- Maintained deployable cash and used it opportunistically after the April shock.
- Dollar-cost averaged into selected exposures instead of trying to time perfect bottoms.
- Don’t get emotional even when companies I own exceed my target, do not jump back in.
Notably, this is not the same as hedging. It is closer to a discipline of:
- Ensuring I’m not fully dependent on perfect timing, and
- Ensuring I have the liquidity to take advantage of dislocations.
Closing Thoughts: What I’m Carrying into 2026
2025 reinforced several beliefs:
- Outperformance is usually lumpy. A handful of decisions drive most of the spread versus the benchmark.
- Cash is not trash when it creates optionality. The ability to buy after a drawdown can be a real edge.
- Position sizing matters as much as selection. I closed SoFi at $23.50 because concentration cuts both ways.
- New positions can dominate quarterly outcomes. Vertex was a reminder that initiating a “large” position late in the year can define Q4 portfolio performance, good or bad.
Disclaimer:
This post contains mentions of publicly traded securities. This post is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or trade said securities. Please visit my personal portfolio to see my financial positions for clarity of my biases or inclinations.