As we enter the home stretch of 2014 I wanted to give an update about my portfolio and holdings in my taxable and ROTH accounts. November has brought about my highest ever portfolio value in both accounts as my total investment balance in my taxable account reached $111,328.59 and my total investment balance in my ROTH account reached $26,000.53. Of course, the total account value changes frequently with each trading day and is not my primary concern as it is dividend income that I’m really after.
November saw me make two trades for the month as I added to my ROTH account 25.4919 shares at $62.61 for a total investment of $1,596.05 in The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) and added to my taxable account 27.0861 shares at $58.93 for a total investment of $1,596.18 in Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (KRFT).
Both of my portfolios also saw a new smaller position in Halyard Health, Inc. (HYH) added as a result of a spin off from Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB). For now I plan to keep HYH in both portfolios and will see what, if any, dividend policy the company will adopt. In the past, I have kept my spin off shares in my accounts as dividend payments have been initiated in each. This applies to my shares of AbbVie Inc. (ABBV), Allegion plc Ordinary Shares (ALLE) and Mondelez International, Inc. (MDLZ). It’s always nice to see your portfolio grow simply from stock spin offs.
November also saw my first dividends received in new Canadian bank holdings Royal Bank of Canada (RY) and The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD). I’ll be highlighting my dividend income for the month in a few days.
A lot of action has occurred in the month of November and all this without any energy names. I have several names in that sector on my watch list and we’ll see what December buys I’ll end up making.
What about your portfolio progress? Please let me know below.
Disclosure: Long BNS, KRFT, HYH, KMB, ABBV, ALLE, MDLZ, TD, RY
Nice work there, DH. I am envious in that I sure wish I had started the DGI process when I was your age. I would certainly be sitting pretty right now. I was pushing 60 when I decided that DGI was the way to go. Heck yeah, the income I receive is still very helpful but it could have been so much better.
Your portfolio is looking good. Come retirement time, I’m guessing you will be a happy camper.
Steve
Dividend Gravy recently posted…November 2014 update
Hi DG,
Thanks for the kind words. I’m sure you have heard it many times before that it’s better late than never when it comes to dividend growth investing. After all, we’re living longer these days and even people in their 60s can easily enjoy the compounding effects of dividends for two or three decades. All things being equal your future self will still be happy you started when you did. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
DivHut,
Good progress! No matter the market fluctuations, those dividends keep on coming. I just reported my first dividends received for last month and I am in the process of researching and buying more stocks. I’ll be sure to post up all the action when I’m done.
Take care.
– HMB
Hi HMB,
I’m happy with the progress so far. I’m not too concerned with the market fluctuations as much as making sure the dividends keep rolling in. After all, I held every one of my positions during the crash of 2008/9 and kept buying each month like I’m doing today. Look forward to seeing your dividend progress. Thanks for commenting.
It appears that everyone is reaching the all time high in their portfolio. With regular addition of fresh capital its inevitable to have a higher value of portfolio and most importantly the continues growth of passive income. Great job DivHut!
FrugalitytoFinancialFreedom recently posted…$100 ShareBuilder Challenge
Hi FtFF,
With the Dow and S&P reaching record highs each week for almost six weeks in a row it’s no surprise that many portfolios are also at record levels. A rising tide raises every boat. Adding fresh capital is just one part of the equation. Capital appreciation is the other. I remember adding fresh capital each month during 2008 and 2009 only to see my entire portfolio continually get smaller in terms of market value. The dividend income was another story as that kept rising. As you noted, the most important aspect of any dividend growth portfolio is the amount of passive income it generates. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Nicely done. My total portfolio is also worth roughly $140K after removing the margin amount. It’s quite amazing actually. The S&P 500 is up 50% over the last 2 years. This has been one of the biggest bull runs ever. 🙂 I haven’t bought any new stocks recently but I’m planning to invest in renewable energy early next year.
Liquid recently posted…Early Financial Literacy
Hi Liquid,
Good job with your portfolio progress as well. It’s fun to see capital appreciation at work but I have to admit it’s more fun seeing passive dividend income rise over the years. Curious to know the names you plan on buying in the renewable space. That’s a sector that doesn’t really get talked about much on the dividend blogs. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
DivHut,
Lots of activity in your accounts for November! Congrats on reaching your highest portfolio value ever.
The only way is up, pal!
Good luck for December,
NMW
No More Waffles recently posted…Savings Rate for November 2014
Hi NMW,
Thank you for the words of encouragement. It’s always nice to see a portfolio value go up but I realize that it’s simply a measure of how the market is doing rather than a measure of my passive dividend income received. November did see a lot of activity for not having any energy names. Sometimes a “boring” portfolio can have lots of action. Thank you for commenting.
Thats a nice size of portfolios. Congrats on getting started on the first dividends from RY and TD.
cheers
R2R
Roadmap2Retire recently posted…Recent Buy
Hi R2R,
Thank you. I was happy to see my first dividends roll in from those two banks. It should definitely help my ROTH numbers start to snowball as I have added four new companies total to that account, TD, BNS, RY and UL. Thank you for commenting.
Keith,
Great job building your portfolio! I had a very busy November, mostly buying oil stocks as they fell. Picked up shares of XOM, COP, NOV, and BBL but sold SDRL after the dividend was eliminated. That was painful, the stock lost over half it’s value plus I lost $1200 a year in dividends. Gonna take awhile before I make that up, but I did add half of the dividends back with my purchases.
Enjoy the season,
KeithX
Hi KeithX,
November can easily be summed up in one word: energy. It seems that every dividend growth blogger initiated or added to energy positions last month. The SDRL announcement was tough to receive I’m sure, but yielding double digits you just knew the writing was on the wall about a dividend cut or elimination. Curious to know where you plan to deploy the cash from the SDRL sale. Thanks for sharing your recent buys and sell.
Great progress divhut. You portfolio of dividend payers is at a nice level. I have been focusing on energy stocks in a big way and very overweight at this point. Congrats on your current progress.
cheers, Mr.StockFox
Mr. Stock Fox recently posted…Dividend Income Update Nov 2014
HI MSF,
I think many of the dividend bloggers are getting overweight energy in recent days. Stick with the high quality names and longer term you should be OK while collecting some nice current yield in the meantime. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
I have been just reinvesting my dividends into more shares or stocks I own and I have been trading a small amount of cash. With all the things going on with traveling and football, it has been hard to keep track of all of it. Hopefully, I will start to get things under a little better control. However, the beauty of dividend reinvesting is that I do not have to keep track of it constantly, it just takes care of itself.
Keep cranking,
Robert the DividendDreamer
dividenddreamer recently posted…Just Do It!
Hi DD,
My thoughts exactly. Once you create a dividend portfolio it pretty much runs on auto pilot. It does require some attention, of course, but for the most part those dividends are being cranked out no matter how busy or free you are in life. I too am reinvesting all my dividends automatically. There’s no better way to feed your snowball than with reinvesting. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
DH,
It has definitely been hard to ignore energy over the past few weeks. I did some shopping but I’m done having reached the levels for now that I’m comfortable with.
For me, it’s time to reload the cash and wait for other opportunities to present themselves, like late 2013’s dip in REITs and retail. It would take another substantial pullback in energy — at least 10 percent less than my cost basis — for me to consider increasing my positions.
Best,
DWC
Hi DwC,
I feel that many of the dividend growth bloggers have become overweight in energy because of recent dips in oil and other commodity prices. As you suggested a pause might be good measure unless prices drop significantly from here. Nothing wrong with building up a cash position for those future opportunities that inevitably come. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
It has been hard to ignore the energy sector lately. I’ll probably be pulling the purchase trigger a few times in December too. Congrats on your current progress. 🙂
Tawcan recently posted…On the road again – December dividend stock considerations
Hi Tawcan,
Thank you for the kind words regarding my progress. You and every other dividend growth blogger has been jumping into the oil patch. I’m still on the sidelines regrading that sector for December but I may just start a position in one of the energy names just to get my feet wet. Thank you for commenting.
Looks like you had a great month. Also, didn’t realize that the KMB spinoff had gone through. This stock has been on my watchlist for a while now, but never really initiated a position.
Dividend Growth Journey recently posted…Sharebuilder Purchase – 12/2/2014
Hi DGJ,
I have been happy with the overall value of the portfolio as I’m sure many dividend growth bloggers are as well. With the market marching higher almost every month it is hard not to participate in these gains. I’ll be holding my HYH shares from the KMB spin off for now. They aren’t paying a dividend but may one day adopt a dividend policy. I’ll have to wait and see how that pans out. Thank you for stopping by.
Good progress DivHut. I made several purchases in energy stocks in month of November that I’ll be posting soon.
Some day passive dividends will be able to cover your expenses and you will be FI!
Cheers!
Passive Income Mavericks recently posted…Dividend Income Update – November 2014
Hi PIM,
I have been very happy with my portfolio progress. Of course, as dividend growth investors we are more interested in the passive income our stocks can generate more than just capital appreciation. Here’s to a strong 2014 finish and continued success for our entire DGI community in 2015. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.