The trees are already green in all their glory, it's getting significantly warmer again and the Easter bunny has long since done his job. More people are taking advantage of the good weather to go hiking and the first home-grown tomato plants have been sold. Time for a look back at April.
➡️ Shares
As an analogy to shares, Beate Sander once said that she doesn't let her best horses out of the stable, and I see it the same way when it comes to shares. The tax consequences would be too disadvantageous for me just to take profits. In terms of volume $WMT (+1.1%) has returned to third place in terms of volume, and the following places in the top league don't show any major change either. These boring shares, such as $FDX (-0.59%) , $NOVO B (-2.39%) , $FAST (-0.43%) , $NFLX (+2.19%) and so many others appeal to me. They grow steadily and generate sales, pass on the cost increases to the end consumer and just keep digging their moat. Even the back seats, the $HTGC (-1.01%) or $CP continue to fit into the concept for me.
Looking at the performance makes me proud of my rockets $AVGO (-1.21%) and $NOVO B (-2.39%) which can boast more than +100% performance. Also $NFLX (+2.19%) is up almost 75%, a share that many people wrote off not so long ago.
And my flops? $DHR (-0.38%) , $SBUX (-1.15%) and $NKE (+0.26%) are my 3 stocks with -20% to -30% price performance. That still leaves me cold. Starbucks stores are still well stocked, Nikes are still selling and Danaher will continue to find sales for its biotechnology and diagnostics products.
This month I have again bought individual shares of $HTGC (-1.01%) to further increase the income stream.
I am focusing on the dividend growth strategy, but also have stocks that pay out nothing or a lot, as there is not only black and white, but also many shades of gray in between.
➡️ ETFs
This month, €133 from refunds, expenses and cashback from Payback went into the $ISPA (-1.36%) and the $IWDP (-0.6%) . I see better times ahead for both dividends and real estate. We still need to be patient until this sticky inflation is over. That will take some time yet. But that suits me. Favorable entry prices are perfect for building up assets.
➡️ Dividends
I received 22 distributions on 7 payout days. This is a good result for a month that is poor in dividends for me.
➡️ Cashback
REWE had another great Payback campaign. They gave 20% back for redeemed points. I like to call Payback a money-printing machine because of promotions like this. Every cent counts when building up your wealth. So I redeemed the equivalent of 26 euros in Payback points at REWE and immediately moved them from my grocery account to a clearing account in line with my cashback pension strategy. Again, more money to invest instead of spending it. I also received a voucher from Penny for €5, which I will redeem in May. Payback is currently running another campaign with multiple points vouchers.
Mother Nature provided me with beer bottles as cashback while I was hiking and on my way home from work. The full deposit bottle bag will be taken away in May. It's not a lot of money, but at least a little more for the depot than planned.
➡️ P2P loans
In April, only interest and repayments were paid out at EstateGuru. I deducted all cash balances from all platforms. It was 20€. Better to have than not, they were included in the ETFs I bought.
➡️ Crypto
I sold my first home-grown tomato plants at the end of April. I used the proceeds to buy $SOL (-0.01%) bought tokens. Why? Solana will be the only coin that I will not sell tax-free and I also see greater potential for price appreciation here. In contrast to $ETH (-0.75%) it is performing. But this is not investment advice, I could be wrong. Otherwise I'm in a "beware" position with regard to my strategy and will wait and see.
➡️ Mail from the landlord and compensation
My landlord, a municipal housing association in a large city in eastern Germany, has recommended that I voluntarily increase the advance payment for hot water and heating due to increased producer prices, expiring state subsidies and the expiring reduction in VAT. According to my calculations, I can expect a cost increase of €9 and €17 per month. As my reimbursements from the utility bill are decreasing over the years, I have decided to increase the advance payment for hot water and heating by €15 from June 1.
This way, I can secure the refunds for the next few years, which I always use to make additional purchases. This means that in future my warm rent will be 19.5% of my net salary with a travel allowance from my employer. Living at €409.96 warm in my 49 m² prefabricated apartment is still very cheap, without a doubt. I think many others can only dream of that.
At the same time, my municipal utilities have reduced the price of electricity considerably. According to Check24, there are two cheaper providers, but I've never heard of them. My working price is now even cheaper than that of other well-known providers such as Vattenfall. The annual electricity bill I received in April included a €147 refund, so it was now time to reduce my advance payment. The increase in the above-mentioned ancillary costs was offset by further reductions in my flat-rate provisions. I can still maintain my investment rate from my net salary of €1,000 and I'm very happy with that.
➡️ Outlook
There will be more dividends again in May thanks to my German payers $SAP (-0.16%) and $DHL (-1.76%) . I also hope to receive my income tax refund. Have a great month of May. Don't forget your mothers.
