October 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

It’s time for our October 2023 dividend portfolio update and unfortunately there aren’t many positives to report. The markets continued to sell off for the third straight month and our dividend portfolio continued to take hits on all fronts. If there is a silver lining for investors it’s that there are buying opportunities everywhere as we have entered correction territory.

We arrived at our new location and started our winter work-camping gigs. This has made it hard to keep up with the markets and any news. Additionally, our investable income has really slowed which has limited our ability to add to positions. The timing couldn’t be worse in that respect because now is the time to take advantage of opportunities.

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September 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

Well, let’s get this dividend portfolio update out of the way. As you probably know, and maybe experienced, September was an awful month for investment holdings. Pretty much everything was down with the only exception maybe being oil and refinery stocks. On the bright side that means it was also a great time to buy and build up some positions.

There wasn’t much in terms of news in September. This put the focus squarely on the federal reserve and that’s never a good thing. There is no better market killer than that band of bumbling idiots. While they didn’t increase the funds rate this time around they opened their mouths which is usually just as bad. As expected, in the aftermath of the fed meeting and the J. Powell news conference, brought to you by Apple iPad, the markets tanked.

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August 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

Another month in the books and that means it’s time for another dividend portfolio update! After two solid months of gains our dividend portfolio took a small step back in August.

For most of the month it looked like the pullback would be sizable. However, after the fed summit in Wyoming and chairman nimrod’s speech the markets brushed off the worry and moved backup. While we didn’t recover all of the downside it was good to see the markets holding strong once again.

There were a couple of events that impacted our dividend portfolio in August. The biggest by far was J&J completing the spin off of Kenvue. The deal was very enticing with the opportunity to receive 8 shares of Kenvue in exchange for each share of J&J. That would have created a nice position for us in the new company. But in the end we decided to stick with our J&J shares as the company is just a machine. It is also our third largest holding and more importantly they are not adjusting the dividend after the transaction. We will probably look to add Kenvue into or portfolio down the line.

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July 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

The summer is flying by and it’s hard to believe it’s already time for our July dividend portfolio update! Going into the month we were prepared for a weakness after a strong performance in June. However, the markets had other plans as our dividend portfolio zoomed to new highs. This time it was the big guns like J&J, Abbvie and even MMM that rebounded from lows and added some much needed spark to our portfolio. Of course there always has to be a few dogs and this month it was telecom a AT&T and Verizon fulfilling that role.

That brings us to the steaming pile of garbage that is Warner Brother Discovery. I had high hopes for this company after the spinoff from AT&T. Their presence in streaming and large portfolio of content should have push growth and set the company and investors up for success. But those hopes have pretty much been dashed as this company turned into a giant turd that can’t seem to do anything right.

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June 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

It’s time for another dividend portfolio update! The month of June was a strong month for the stock market and not too shabby for our dividend portfolio. This was a welcome change from last month when we had the largest percentage loss ever for our portfolio.

While our largest holdings are still underperforming a few rebounded this month. Additionally, we had great action in some of our other holdings that helped to buoy our portfolio until those larger holdings regained some traction. One of the holdings that’s been on a tear is ABR, which was up over 15% the past month and 30% over the last 3 months.

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May 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

The month of May was pretty brutal for our little dividend portfolio. It seemed that everything we own was going in the wrong direction. As such, we took the biggest monthly hit we have ever had for this account. That’s how it goes sometimes. Maybe the month of June will be kind and give us a nice rebound. Looks like it’s off to a good start, but will it hold?

Looking at the performance of our dividend portfolio we see that our largest holdings like ABBV, JNJ, FRT and, our own personal anchor, MMM all suffered significant losses for the month. The good news is this gives us a nice buying opportunity for some stocks positions we haven’t added to in a long time. The bad news is we need cash in order to take advantage of this opportunity.

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April 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

Time flies when you are having fun and feels like April was over before we could even get ourselves completely settled in and back on track.

As the markets struggled for direction so too did our dividend portfolio. At times it seemed like April was going to be a banner month as earnings overall were turning out somewhat better than expected. Then our account took a hit with the earnings release for Abbvie (ABBV) which is the largest position in our portfolio. The subsequent drop in the stock price was a bit odd as the numbers were actually pretty good, but the erosion in the sales of their flagship drug after losing patent protection was just too much and the stock sold off.

Over the last couple of trading days the markets rallied and ABBV recovered a small portion of the drop. Our portfolios roller coaster ride ended slightly in the positive for the month which we are always happy to see. Of concern going forward is the continued volatility, continued fed incompetence and yet another bank failure which could have further negative impact on the economy and the markets.

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