Our Investments
A timeline of how our approach evolved, from the global financial crisis (GFC) trough to the Sandwich Meridian, with current details and performance for our managed portfolios.
History
How We Got Here
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2008
Starting In The Global Financial Crisis
Bryce started as an adviser in 2008 in the middle of the global financial crisis. A fresh faced 20 year old adviser trying to give investment advice to people who’d just lost a significant amount of their retirement savings during a global recession.
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Early Career
Boom / Bust Cycles And Loss Minimisation
From day one, Bryce needed to understand that financial markets, particularly equities, operate in boom / bust cycles. While it would take a further 18 years to refine what would become The Virtuous Collective’s investment philosophy, Bryce understood from an early point in his career that assertive index strategies work particularly well during early to mid bull markets, but the best contributor to long-term performance is minimising losses during crash periods.
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GFC Trough
Assertive Index Growth, AMP North
The bottom of the GFC trough was, in hindsight, a historically favourable time to commence a growth index strategy, and that is exactly what Bryce was recommending. Unless Bryce’s earliest clients had a natural aversion to risk, or had specific requirements not available in a typical index fund, Bryce’s weapon of choice was the AMP North Index Growth fund, which would later be replaced by the lower-cost AMP MyNorth Index Growth fund. Many of Bryce’s earliest clients did not accept this advice. Those who did took a more assertive growth-index path than the defensive-to-balanced stance common at the time. That is narrative history only, not a verified performance claim or a result promised to anyone reading this page.
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2018
First Real Wobble And SMSF Property
Global share markets had their first real wobble since the GFC in 2018. It was at this time that Bryce began to consider alternative strategies such as self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) property investment strategies. Bryce has never formally recommended real estate (as it isn’t a “financial product”) but has never shied away from his personal beliefs on the strategy, particularly following periods of high interest rates and long stretches of plateauing property values. The coronavirus lockdowns and reduction of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cash rate to 0.1% causing widespread debt fuelled speculation helped!
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2020
Sandwich Model Portfolios
The modelled Reuben path uses MyNorth half-year proxies for calendar 2020–21; full detail is on the Quantitative Review.
In 2020 we began to offer model portfolios, famously named after sandwiches. The Defensive 50 (50% growth assets) was referred to as the Tuna Salad Wrap. The Balanced 70 (70% growth assets) was referred to as the Club Sandwich. The flagship portfolio, the Growth 85 (85% growth assets) was referred to as the Reuben Sandwich. These portfolios would no longer follow the index blindly but try to outperform it over long-term averages.
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2021 →
Two-Phase Strategy And The Sandwich Meridian
We were recommending the Reuben Sandwich until 2021 and then moved into a 2 phase investment strategy with a short-term allocation to the defensive Tuna Salad Wrap with a plan to move to the assertive Reuben Sandwich when equity prices corrected closer to long-term averages. The trigger for this has been formulated in the Sandwich Meridian. As at August 2026, we have yet to deploy the defensive to growth transition.
Three Hypothetical Strategies
Model balances, not investment returns
These three hypothetical paths compare how contributions and different investment assumptions affect a superannuation balance. They cover 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2025 and are model illustrations, not actual client outcomes or forecasts.
Strategy A: AustralianSuper Balanced
The comparator uses the AustralianSuper Balanced input series, with modelled ongoing employer contributions.
Strategy B: AMP And The Sandwich Portfolios
This path follows AMP North, then MyNorth, then the modelled Reuben window and Tuna Salad Wrap. MyNorth calendar-half returns stand in for unavailable Reuben data in 2020 and 2021. Tuna uses model returns in 2022 and separately managed account returns from 2023.
Strategy C: Strategy B With Property
This educational self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) hypothetical follows Strategy B until 2021, then adds a modelled property funded partly with borrowing. Its closing balance combines property equity, cash and the remaining Sandwich portfolio. Borrowing magnifies gains and losses, and the model depends on the stated property growth, rent, costs and cash flow assumptions. It is not a financial product return or a recommendation.
Employer contributions are the Superannuation Guarantee (SG), reduced by the modelled contributions tax. See the Quantitative Review methodology and fee assumptions for the inputs and limitations.
The lines include ongoing Superannuation Guarantee (SG) contributions. They must not be read as product performance, client outcomes or forecasts. Strategy C is an educational SMSF property hypothetical; it is not an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) product return and is not a recommendation.
Strategy C is an educational SMSF property hypothetical; it is not an AFSL product return and is not a recommendation. See Fee Assumptions for the fee comparison limitations.
Annualised Performance
Annualised Model Rates Of Return
Time-weighted return (TWR) geometrically links each calendar-year return after removing the modelled 1 January contribution. It measures the model path independently of external contributions. Extended internal rate of return (XIRR) uses dated model cash flows, so both the amount and timing of contributions affect its money-weighted annual rate. These answer different questions and need not match.
A compound annual growth rate (CAGR) calculated from opening and closing balances would include the effect of added savings. It is not an investment return when contributions are included. The balances below include contributions; the two annualised return measures account for them using the different methods described above.
| Strategy | Time-weighted return (TWR) | Money-weighted return (XIRR) | Closing Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy A | +8.43% | +8.41% | $756,037 |
| Strategy B | +9.03% | +8.84% | $798,527 |
| Strategy C | +11.54% | +11.76% | $1,158,492 |
Managed Portfolios
Sandwich SMA
Three separately managed portfolios with distinct investment allocations. This is the current Sandwich structure and has applied since the inception of these separately managed accounts (SMAs) on the HUB24 investment platform. HUB24 is the platform name.
Composition dates describe allocation snapshots (27 August 2026); performance is measured to 31 July 2026, so the later composition is not the allocation history underlying those returns.
Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) are not Managed Investment Schemes in their own right. The SMA models themselves are not separate financial products. Investors typically have direct beneficial ownership of the underlying holdings (via the platform), not units in a separate Managed Investment Scheme (MIS) for the model itself. These Virtuous Collective sandwich portfolios, Tuna Salad Wrap (VCO001), Club Sandwich (VCO002) and Reuben Sandwich (VCO003), are available only to The Virtuous Collective (VCO) clients. Platform Product Disclosure Statements (PDSs) and related platform documents are provided with the Statement of Advice (SOA). The platform, products and underlying holdings are actively managed and therefore change frequently; compositions shown are point-in-time. Read the Financial Services Guide (FSG).
Performance as at · The Virtuous Collective Managed Portfolios
Tuna Salad Wrap
Defensive 50 · HUB24 VCO001
Composition as at 27 August 2026
Current composition
| Investment | Weight |
|---|---|
| Platform Cash Account | 1.00% |
| Realm High Income Fund – Wholesale Class | 8.00% |
| Alexander Credit Opportunities Fund | 9.50% |
| Yarra Australian Bond Fund | 7.50% |
| Fortlake Real Income Fund | 6.00% |
| Ares Global Credit Income A | 8.00% |
| Franklin Global Aggregate Bond A | 4.50% |
| Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF | 4.00% |
| Acadian Australian Equity Long Short-Class A | 8.00% |
| Merlon Australian Share Income Fund | 5.00% |
| Plato Global Alpha Fund | 7.00% |
| FIA Institutional Global Equity Focused Fund Z | 5.00% |
| Vinva Global Alpha Extension B | 7.00% |
| Quilla Risk Overlay Trust | 4.00% |
| Fidelity India | 3.00% |
| Dexus Global REIT Income Fund | 2.50% |
| QIM Private Assets Fund | 5.00% |
| Gyrostat Absolute Return Income Equity Class A | 5.00% |
Club Sandwich
Balanced 70 · HUB24 VCO002
Composition as at 27 August 2026
Current composition
| Investment | Weight |
|---|---|
| Platform Cash Account | 1.00% |
| Realm High Income Fund – Wholesale Class | 5.00% |
| Alexander Credit Opportunities Fund | 6.00% |
| Yarra Australian Bond Fund | 4.00% |
| Fortlake Real Income Fund | 6.50% |
| Ares Global Credit Income A | 5.00% |
| Franklin Global Aggregate Bond A | 2.50% |
| Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF | 7.00% |
| Paradice Equity Alpha Plus Fund | 7.00% |
| Acadian Australian Equity Long Short-Class A | 7.00% |
| Chester High Conviction Fund | 4.00% |
| Plato Global Alpha Fund | 8.00% |
| Arrowstreet Global Small Coms No.2 I | 3.00% |
| FIA Institutional Global Equity Focused Fund Z | 6.50% |
| Vinva Global Alpha Extension B | 10.00% |
| Quilla Risk Overlay Trust | 5.50% |
| Fidelity India | 4.00% |
| Dexus Global REIT Income Fund | 3.00% |
| QIM Private Assets Fund | 5.00% |
Reuben Sandwich
Growth 85 · HUB24 VCO003
Composition as at 27 August 2026
Current composition
| Investment | Weight |
|---|---|
| Platform Cash Account | 1.00% |
| Alexander Credit Opportunities Fund | 5.50% |
| Fortlake Real Income Fund | 6.00% |
| Ares Global Credit Income A | 4.50% |
| Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF | 7.00% |
| Paradice Equity Alpha Plus Fund | 7.00% |
| Acadian Australian Equity Long Short-Class A | 8.50% |
| Chester High Conviction Fund | 4.00% |
| Macquarie True Index International Equities Fund | 4.50% |
| Plato Global Alpha Fund | 8.50% |
| Arrowstreet Global Small Coms No.2 I | 4.50% |
| FIA Institutional Global Equity Focused Fund Z | 8.00% |
| Vinva Global Alpha Extension B | 11.00% |
| Quilla Risk Overlay Trust | 7.50% |
| Fidelity India | 4.00% |
| Dexus Global REIT Income Fund | 3.50% |
| QIM Private Assets Fund | 5.00% |
Portfolio performance
| Portfolio | 1m | 3m | 6m | 12m | 36m | SI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuna Salad Wrap | 0.20% | 3.23% | 3.90% | 5.54% | 7.30% | 31.46% |
| Club Sandwich | 0.32% | 3.77% | 3.49% | 4.61% | 7.65% | 34.50% |
| Reuben Sandwich | 0.25% | 4.43% | 4.27% | 4.87% | 8.32% | 39.51% |
m means months and p.a. means per annum (per year). 36m is annualised (% p.a.); other periods are cumulative. SI means since inception. Tuna SI uses the source-reported since-inception return from November 2022. Club and Reuben SI use the available monthly history from January 2023. A dash means the figure is unavailable.