I've never posted this here before, because my portfolio is actually always publicly viewable on my profile—but now I'd just like to introduce my portfolio.

Please note: This is a dividend-paying portfolio! The goal is to receive monthly dividends to supplement my income. A secondary goal is medium- and long-term capital appreciation, but at a minimum, to offset inflation (though, of course, I’d be happy with significantly more). The portfolio aims to avoid excessive volatility so that, in the event of a liquidity crunch (if necessary!), I can liquidate positions without taking too much of a hit during market downturns.

Background: I’m 51 years old, married, and have two children aged 7 and 9 (their investment accounts aren’t shown here). I haven’t been actively working for about two years—I only take on occasional real estate projects that interest me. I’ve sold my small business, and I don’t receive a statutory pension. Our primary family income consists of rental income and my wife’s modest salary.

The portfolio (as I see it): I have a “core” consisting of an actively managed fund from Fürstlich Castell’sche Bank (which is essentially their asset management service for “less affluent clients”) combined with the $TDIV (+0.12%) (dividends and conservative growth) and $WINC (-0.34%) (boosted dividends via CC). Below that are individual stocks that either pay high current dividends or offer reasonable dividend growth. With $WAWI (+2.61%) and $MPCC (-0.28%) I have a few riskier shipping companies in my portfolio (you’ve got to have a little fun, after all) and, as small-cap picks, a few exotic stocks—also with a focus on dividends (I’m still working on expanding the position sizes here to at least 5,000 each).

Why a fund and not an ETF as the largest position? Well, that’s a separate issue. This is my primary bank, which I use mainly for my real estate financing. I’ve had the same account manager there for 25 years, who can make decisions with virtually no consultation. That’s worth its weight in gold, which is why I can’t evaluate this holding based solely on the TER.

Important note: I invest primarily in real estate; this portfolio accounts for only about 14% of my total investments. The rest consists of rental properties. So I have an extremely high weighting in real estate; the overall allocation could probably be described as ultra-conservative. Here are the key figures for this asset class: total market value of approximately 6.5 million euros, outstanding loans of approximately 1.4 million euros, annual net rental income of about 275,000 euros, 56 residential units (mainly in Leipzig)—and a few more are being added right now.

I look forward to your feedback—perhaps you have suggestions on how you would further develop this portfolio given my situation.

Dividend stocks pay dividends—always a welcome thing, even if withholding tax is deducted.

I bought a few more shares in order to have an even number of shares. Tendentially, globalization is increasing, so I see this as a long-term position with a good dividend yield.

As a logistics specialist, I am considering expanding this area in my portfolio.

I currently have :

$KCC (+1.74%)
$DHL (-1.04%)
$MPCC (-0.28%) and a very small position $HAUTO (+0.48%)

I am clearly in the black with all positions.

From my professional experience, I see clear potential in the sector, but I lack inspiration.

What is your top stock in the sector, or where would you like to invest?

I was too anxious and everything was already too expensive for me to buy more. But it was actually clear that the US/Iran conflict would escalate.

It was clear that shipping stocks - especially tanker stocks - would rise due to the longer route around Africa and the associated higher revenues.

It was clear that oil producers outside the Gulf region would rise, as oil transports through the Persian Gulf would be blocked for the time being and the oil price would rise as a result.

My shipping companies $TRMD A (+0.28%) , $WAWI (+2.61%) and $MPCC (-0.28%) are well up today. Petroleo Brasileiro $PETR4 (+2.15%) is well up.

Why hadn't I bought more shares in all of them and why are these four companies among the smaller positions in my portfolio?

Because I was too anxious and too hesitant. Crap!

At the turn of the year I had already mentioned that I would try to shift a little more from real estate investments into securities, as I already have a very strong imbalance towards real estate.

The first part has now worked. I sold a small apartment that no longer really fitted into my real estate strategy. The money is now (partly) going into the portfolio and into securities that pay out dividends (to overcompensate for the rental income that no longer exists). However, part of the proceeds will probably go into a new real estate project as an equity share, which will then have relatively strong debt leverage, but is not yet signed at the moment.

$TDIV (+0.12%) , $WINC (-0.34%) , $BATS (-1.56%) and $RIO (-1.14%) are all additions. $MPCC (-0.28%) is a new addition.

I've wanted to add a container shipping company to the portfolio for a while now. $ZIM (-0.53%) I would have liked to, but they are now out of the running following the takeover. I have therefore opted for $MPCC (-0.28%) even though they have become quite expensive again in the meantime.

With $WAWI (+2.61%) (Wallenius Wilhelmsen) and $TRMD A (+0.28%) (Torm) I have now mapped the ferry, tanker and container areas. Maybe I'll add bulk goods at some point.

I am aware that the whole sector is a cyclical business, which is also sensitive to customs duties, crises and political developments. Nevertheless, I believe that globalization cannot be stopped in the long term and that the need to transport bulk goods is more likely to increase than decrease.

(Image generated with Lovart.ai, modified in Photoshop)

The second article on the refund of withholding tax on Norwegian shares. You can find the first part with instructions and preparations for registering with the Norwegian authorities here: , Quellensteuerrückerstattung Norwegen Teil 1 . Once again, please note that this application is only possible for tax residents in Germany.

As a placeholder $EQNR (+3.08%) , $HAUTO (+0.48%) , $VAR (+1.73%) , $MOWI (-1.92%) , $MPCC (-0.28%) , $TEL (-0.64%) , $AKRBP (+1.62%) , $TOM (-1.44%)

Open the start page Altinn – Start - the language to English and if you have activated the automatic Google translator you can even go to German - log in, go to International, then log in without social security number/D-number, enter user name and password and log in. To find the right form, enter RF_1534 in the search, then the form Request for refund of withholding tax on dividends will open. You have a kind of "menu field" on the left-hand side which you can use to switch to the individual pages of the form.

Fill in the two pages for the applicant. Don't forget the tax ID ( Tax Identification Number ), but this is a mandatory field anyway. In the large field Registered address in country of residence, enter only the street and house number.

You will now need the dividend vouchers showing the withholding tax deduction.

Then open the Dividends form. There you will see three lines for your entries, which can be expanded as required.

In principle, you must enter Yes in the first field for the question of stock exchange listing in Oslo. This is the case if the ISIN of your share begins with NO... . In the second field, enter the VPS number of the depositary of your shares. This is clearstream, the currently valid number is 153300000145. In some forums you can still find the old number beginning with 05. In the third field you enter the year for which you are applying for the refund, up to 5 years retroactively are possible. Then enter the ISIN of your share as you can see it on the dividend voucher and the name of the company according to the voucher. In the sixth field, enter the dividend payment in Norwegian kroner according to the receipt. The number formatting requires the decimal point to be entered as a period! Then enter the percentage tax deduction, in this case 25%. You can choose different percentages for the refund claim. Take 10% here! Even if it is tempting to enter the full 25%, it works but will be displayed as an error when the form is checked at the latest. Repeat the whole process until you have entered every single dividend statement. So do not add up the dividends from one year, each payment must be entered individually.

This is actually the main task if you have several shares from Norway in your custody account. Once this is done, continue to the payment details page. Under Account Type, click on Other account and enter Euro as the currency, unless you have a corresponding foreign currency account with your bank. Then enter the IBAN and, to be on the safe side, the BIC and the name of the bank.

If there is anything else you would like to say about the application, you have the opportunity to make a note at the bottom of the page.

That's almost it. At the top left above the form name, go to the menu item List - Forms and attachments. You can now upload all dividend statements here. Once again the important note: You can a maximum of 10 PDFs of 50 MB each attached. One PDF is the certificate of residence. If you still have more than 9 individual receipts, combine them into one PDF by company and attach it.

Done, click on check and if everything is ok the document will be sent and you will receive a confirmation in your account.

Finally, a few comments:

Pay attention to the time limit in the form, so that it doesn't end and you have to type in all the entries again from the beginning.

There are a few brokers in Germany who will do this work for you for a fee. There you would have to apply for advance exemption from withholding tax. According to my research, and also confirmed in writing, DKB definitely does this. However, this is only a partial exemption, i.e. this 10%. The remaining 15% must be reclaimed via the tax return.

You can apply directly to the Norwegian tax authorities free of charge.

If you would like to take the route I have described, then quickly obtain your certificate from the tax office and submit the application at the beginning of the new year. Experience has shown that the decision and the refund are possible within a short time. Later in the year, waiting times of at least 6 to 9 months are common. Fortunately, there is even interest on the amount to be refunded if the authorities take longer to process the application. The transfer of the refund may be subject to a fee at some banks, ask your broker how much this is.

I hope this has made you a little less afraid of the refund and if you have any questions, please use the comments function. Greetings from your grandpa 😉😇

$WAWI (+2.61%)

Today I put 700 shares $WAWI (+2.61%) into my portfolio today. Originally I wanted to buy a larger position in the $BOAT - ETF, but unfortunately it is probably difficult to buy this security in a regular German custody account as the ETF has not issued a fact sheet for the European market.

I am now building up a small portfolio of shipping stocks myself and will see how it develops or whether my fleet goes under.

So far I have bought:

325 x Torm ($TRMD A (+0.28%) ), tanker

750 x Wallenius Wilhelmsen ($WAWI (+2.61%)), car ferries and logistics

I would like to add the following in perspective:

Hafnia ($HAFNI (-0.51%) ), Tanker

ZIM Integrated Shipping ($ZIM (-0.53%) ), Shipping and Logistics

MPC Container Ships ($MPCC (-0.28%) ), container ships

Graphic created with lovart.ai, modified in Photoshop