Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Work Hours
Monday to Friday: 7AM - 7PM
Weekend: 10AM - 5PM
A little later than normal reviewing my dividend portfolio for the month. It’s been a busy period for me and going on 24/7 call is not helping either as all my time and energy seems to be going into my “9 to 5” job.
Still, I have a plan of investing at least €1250 a month into dividend stocks. I have also committed to using “extra” money that I make from my blog or freelance writing for investing. Typically, I use the extra money I earn to invest in different assets classes or instruments outside of my main investment plan.
I have recently started to learn about Closed-end funds which give me a chance to get access to opportunities not available through regular stocks. While there are a few more risks they offer the potential for higher total returns.
I must admit, I am no expert when it comes to CEF’s and I am still very much in the learning phase, but I have been adding to funds such as the Enhanced Equity Income Fund who have a total average annual return of 15% over the past 10 years at NAV prices.
Portfolio Overview
By constantly adding cash to my account every month I am slowly edging towards my goal of being able to live off my dividend income. My PADI is 8.14% towards my goal after tax which was helped by the recent dividend hikes from ABBV and Blackstone. $ABBV 8% dividend hike means that it has now grown its dividend over 250% since 2013.
$MO is by far the largest dividend payer and makes up 16% of my overall dividend. This is far more than my long-term goal where a company will contribute no more than 5% of my dividend income. However, I am still in the early stages of my accumulation phase and every €1000 makes a big difference.
My Portfolio – USA Companies
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dividendtalk
There has been one addition to my US portfolio, Viatris ($VTRS). If you would like to learn more about the company, I would advise watching this video from my friend Ian Lupoch who covers the company in far more dept than I will in this piece.
My Portfolio – European Companies
For the first time this year, there have been no new additions or changes to the European segment of my portfolio.
Dividends
In October received a total of €98.19 after tax in dividends from 3 different companies and 4 CEF. This is up from $84.58 for the same period in 2020
- Altria €78.03
- Realty Income €10.38
- Glanbia €4.70
- CEFs €5.08
This brings my total amount of dividends received this year to €1680.76 exactly with still 2 months of the year left to go.
Usually, I track my portfolio in a gsheet that I copied from the measure of a plan and amended to suit my own needs. The spreadsheet is fantastic and the author clearly did a lot of work to produce such a high-quality tracker. However, for those looking for something a little more simplistic, then check out https://app.divitrack.io/
Option Trading
Here are my closed option trades for October
In total, I earned $608 in option premium from 5 different companies. I have been selling covered calls on $WISH, $UAL, $CCL and $MO .
$WISH, $UAL and $CCL are all assigned to me over the last couple of months. I am happy to own both $UAL and $CCL relatively long term but I am starting to wonder what I should do with $WISH. At the moment I am reducing my breakeven point but the premiums are becoming so low, it starting to feel like it is not worth it. I am thinking about taking the loss on this company and learning the lesson that I should only wheel companies I do mind owning long term. $MO is part of my dividend portfolio and have no intention of selling the company. I am just happy to try and earn a small additional income as it trades sideways for now.
Here is a current look at the trades I have open for November
Almost €100 is great, but combining that with €608 euro in options is sheer amazing. You’re one of a handful of bloggers who are using options to supply their dividend income. Everytime I see this it reminds me that I have to start investigating this strategy (again).
Thanks for sharing!
Hey Mr Robot, Yea the dividend income is coming along nicely and I am super happy with the income from options. Just remember that I have been assigned $WISH, $CCL and $SOLO. All of which are below my cost basis. If I was to sell them the profit of course would be less which is why its important for me to only pick companies I don’t mind holding for more than a year.
Thanks Deren for a detailed review.
Regarding the CEF you have mentioned: I opened its portfolio holdings and it’s seems that taking the $QQQ (Nasdaq 100 ETF) and $SCHD (dividend growth) ETF will do the work for much less expense ration.
As to the options: not clear whether it’s worth to be assigned to any of the contract you buying or selling – isn’t will be less expensive just to buy a CALL option when you are selling PUT contact and close the contract? And if you still want to buy a stock you can just buy the same stock in the market? Basically the same true for selling CALL contracts but in seems that are covered by owning the stock.
Thanks for Stopping by Vladi,
Many different ways to skin a cat but I have wrote and spoke about ETFs in Ireland and the TAX headache they cause. Lookup deemed disposal.
I should be more clear and will maybe write a little bit about my strategy in the next one, but the preference is not to own the stock but I want to only choose stocks that I would not mind owning if assigned.