Investing July 28, 2026 0 Comments

Q2 2026 Passive Portfolio: Why This ‘Slow and Steady’ Strategy Could Outsmart Market Chaos—Again

You ever get so deep into your investment groove that updating your portfolio slips right off the radar? Yeah, guilty as charged here. I’ve been so committed to my passive investing game plan that the Q2 deadline on July 1st zipped past me like a ghost. Meanwhile, the markets? Just a faint buzz—oil prices dancing up and down, AI doom and gloom headlines flashing by like reruns. It’s not apathy; it’s a realization that the perennial “What’s the next big thing?” question is more a riddle wrapped in a mystery than anything else.

So what’s been really moving the needle this year? Gold stepping back while commodities surge forward, and those underdog emerging markets and property making waves no one saw coming. Is it chance, or just the market’s way of keeping us guessing yet again? As for me, I’m content to hold the whole deck and let the chips fall where they may—because sometimes, the best move is simply to stick with the slow and steady path that’s been quietly churning since 2011.

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I forgot to update the portfolio! I’ve been leaning so hard into my passive investing persona that I fell asleep at my spreadsheet and didn’t twig when the 1 July Q2 deadline sailed by.

The markets are a distant background rumble to me right now. Oil price up, oil price down. Another day, another prophecy of AI doom.

It’s not that I don’t care. It’s just that the question being asked, it cannot be answered.

The question? Always being some variant of, “What’s the next big thing?”

Answers on a postcard

Here’s the story of the year so far, told in straight lines:

Data from justETF. The chosen ETFs are proxies for the Slow & Steady portfolio’s holdings, plus gold and commodities.

Gold is the loser year-to-date, commodities the winner.

Meanwhile, previously unloved emerging markets and property are the cream of the equities crop.

Who had that marked on their card for 2026?

Here’s the story again, told in wobbly lines of uncertainty:

Gold (red line) hit a new high in early March before dropping 23%.

Buying opportunity or time to get out?

Commodities (grey line) looks like it’s commanded by the Grand Old Duke of York. The changeable duffer perpetually marching his hard assets up and down hills. You want some?

Emerging markets (blue line) have now beaten the MSCI World over the last three years. That’s a comeback worthy of the WWE, given how the new challengers had been roundly pummelled by the developed market champs for 15 years following the Credit Crunch.

Me? I’m happy to own it all and let the chips fall where they may.

Portfolio-o-vision

Here’s the portfolio holdings and long-term annualised returns since kick-off in 2011.

The Slow & Steady is Monevator’s model passive investing portfolio. It was set up at the start of 2011 with £3,000. An extra £1,360 is invested every quarter into a diversified set of index funds, tilted towards equities. You can read the origin story and find all the previous passive portfolio posts in the Monevator vaults. Last quarter’s instalment can be found here.

All returns in this post are nominal GBP total returns unless otherwise stated. Subtract about 3% from the portfolio’s annualised performance figure to estimate the real return after inflation.

The full growth picture looks like this:

In real-terms, the portfolio is still 2.6% below its December 2021 peak. Another quarter or two of progress could push it to higher ground once more.

It has to be said though that we’re coming up for five years underwater since inflation spiralled. By contrast, recovery from the Global Financial Crisis took less than three years for a 60/40-type portfolio.

Unfortunately, trad 60/40 portfolios have a history of suffering like this during severe bouts of inflation. Consider adding some additional protection to yours.

New transactions

Every quarter we plough another £1,360 into the market’s black earth and hope we’ll harvest plenty of corn later. Our stake is split between our seven funds, according to our predetermined asset allocation.

We rebalance using Larry Swedroe’s 5/25 rule. That hasn’t been activated this quarter, so the trades play out as follows:

Emerging market equities

iShares Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund D – OCF 0.18%

Fund identifier: GB00B84DY642

New purchase: £108.80

Buy 40.8946 units @ £2.66

Global property

iShares Environment & Low Carbon Tilt Real Estate Index Fund – OCF 0.18%

Fund identifier: GB00B5BFJG71

New purchase: £68

Buy 25.5016 units @ £2.67

Developed world ex-UK equities