It’s been awhile since we last provided an update on our dividend portfolio. This wasn’t by design, but we really didn’t have much to report and our time has been occupied with our work-camping jobs and the never ending array of activities we have to prepare for.
Since our last update the markets have moved back up and now appear to be wavering ahead of the next federal reserve meeting which will bring yet another rate increase. Our portfolio has remained in relatively good shape, aside from the Weber (WEBR) debacle, and we continued to add shares to our existing positions as funds became available. And of course, we also reinvested all dividends received.
As for the Weber position, in our last update we discussed the options of either selling out of the position, since they no longer pay a dividend, or doubling down to get to 100 shares in order to sell covered call options and generate some income in leu of dividends. We decided to go the route of adding to our position and generate income, but soon after we wrote that blog the largest shareholder offered to purchase the rest of the company for a measly $6.25 per share. This put us in a bind as the shares were already trading over that price and our cost basis is also much higher than that. Not a great position to be in! As a result we did not make any purchases and our position remains the same as it has been. We would like to get to the 100 share mark, but we were obviously not buying above the bid price.
For now we are just holding steady in the position until we get more information. There is another earnings call coming soon and we should get more insight into this offer and how the company is operating. While the environment for consumer discretionary purchases isn’t good, there could be some positive news with things like shipping and material costs easing, which could help margins and earnings. Also, the U.S. dollar has eased up a bit which could help further going forward since they are a multinational company and a weaker U.S. dollar is a positive in the currency exchange. Either way we will eventually need to make some sort of decision so we can start generating some income with these funds.
Here is where our dividend portfolio currently stands:
| Symbol | # Of Shares | Change Since Last Update |
| ABBV | 13.721 | 0.126 |
| ABR | 21.456 | 3.573 |
| BKH | 3.135 | 0.027 |
| DOW | 9.638 | 0.130 |
| FRT | 6.174 | 1.060 |
| GIS | 5.214 | 0.035 |
| IBM | 3.194 | – |
| IRM | 12.822 | 0.164 |
| JEPI | 8.416 | 2.238 |
| JNJ | 6.228 | 0.039 |
| K | 2.089 | – |
| KHC | 5.245 | – |
| KMB | 2.091 | 0.021 |
| KO | 2.091 | 0.016 |
| MAIN | 9.321 | 3.101 |
| MMM | 7.272 | – |
| MO | 11.93 | 1.226 |
| MPW | 11.727 | 1.280 |
| O | 5.231 | 1.038 |
| QYLD | 30.677 | 3.867 |
| SCHD | 5.028 | 2.028 |
| SO | 2.129 | 0.021 |
| SPTN | 6.291 | 0.046 |
| T | 14.212 | 0.212 |
| VTRS | 10.208 | 2.000 |
| WBD | 3 | – |
| WEBR | 50.613 | – |
| XOM | 5.259 | 0.045 |
Since our last update we have added shares to the following positions: ABR(3), FRT(1), JEPI(2), MAIN(3), MO(1), MPW(1), O(1), QYLD(3), SCHD(2) and VTRS(2).
We have also reinvested dividends totaling $121.78 via DRIP for ABBV, ABR, BKH, DOW, FRT, GIS, IRM, JEPI, JNJ, KMB, KO, MAIN, MO, MPW, O, QYLD, SCHD, SO, SPTN, and XOM.
Year to date we have reinvested $487.12 in dividends back into our portfolio which currently sits at $12,674 and has a yield on cost of 5.00%. With the markets making a move upward over the last couple of months the top line value of our portfolio increased $1,973 and the new purchases and reinvestments increased our YOC by 0.23%. This is a very nice increase and great progress!
With the additional shares and reinvestments our dividend portfolio will now provide forward annual dividends of $625 or $52 per month on average. This is an annual increase of $67 or $5.50 per month average from our last update. Again, great progress!
We have come a long way since we started this portfolio in the middle of last year. If you think about monthly dividends in terms of covering expenses our little portfolio has gone from covering a couple of cups of coffee each month to now being able to pay our internet bill. It will be fun to make these types of comparisons as the portfolio and the projected annual dividends income (PADI) continue to grow. For us it would be fun to say our PADI covers something like our health insurance or how about in the future when we get to the point where we are covering our site fees!
We have a larger overall portfolio, but being able to cover some significant expenses from this portfolio alone would be a huge step on the long term financial independence road. It’s never a bad thing to keep growing even if we are already retired!
The point of all of this is to show that anyone can build a nice dividend paying portfolio even with limited funds. We typically average about $200 of investable cash per month for this account and while we understand that might be a lot for some folks it’s not really about the amount. It’s about just getting started so you can begin the compounding growth process as soon as possible. This is even more important for people in their 20’s and 30’s who have decades worth of time value on their side. If these folks start making $25 per month investments today it will make more money for them over their lifetime than our $200 per month investments will ever make for us. There is no substitute for time!
We would like to start providing monthly updates for our dividend portfolio in addition to our overall monthly financial updates. Until now our divided portfolio updates have been kind of random and lacking in historical information. Now that we have some data history I have been working on building a few spreadsheets so we can begin providing some year over year comparisons as well as some other progress and projection graphs in future blogs.
Aside from tracking our own journey and growth, our hope is that some of our regular readers or other people who find our blog and are not investing will begin to think about getting started. We are not financial advisors and we don’t give financial advice to people. We do, however, encourage everyone to take control of their financial future and work towards being able to live their best life without worrying about money and what will happen if they lose their source of income from an employer.
We look forward to sharing this information with everyone as we continue on our journey to build this portfolio into a source of long term income.
Happy investing!!
Joe
P.S. If you haven’t heard we started an online store called StuckonCamping where you can get some of our designs on stickers, magnets, shirts, hats, tote bags and more! Check it out for camping, hiking, RV and other outdoor designs!
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