Unfortunately, that's it for this month's dividends - the last payment arrived today.

Then I want one too. This is the highest dividend payment I receive each year. And every year it's a few euros more. Of course, I always get the withholding tax back (annually, but you can also submit an application for the last 3 years), so it's worth it for this amount. The refund is done online, I have been using the account with the Swiss authorities for years without any problems. It is important that you have the tax voucher from the bank. Enter your details in the portal, upload the tax voucher, print out the application and have it stamped by your local tax office. Then send the whole thing to Switzerland and about 3 weeks later you have the money in your account. Everything is totally easy and takes about 15 minutes plus 2 trips to the post office.

... yesterday at

$NESN (-1.74%)

$O (-0.52%)

$MC (+0.33%)

the first positions yesterday.

I am aiming for an average dividend yield of over 2.5% across my entire portfolio. After picking up more of the (supposed) US tech dips recently, I wanted to diversify my portfolio geographically and sector-specifically again.

I had to weigh up between PepsiCo and Nestlé for a long time. In the end, I chose Nestlé to reduce my dependence on the US. While PepsiCo generates most of its sales in North America, Nestlé has a much more broadly diversified sales structure. I am keeping PepsiCo very high on my watch list due to its current correction.

I am planning my next investment steps in the financial and insurance sector, European mid-caps and Asian markets.

Have a relaxing weekend everyone!

The markets remain volatile and in times of crisis many investors look for stable investments. But which sectors and companies have historically proven to be particularly resilient or could even benefit?

Consumer staples - products that will always be needed

Companies such as Procter & Gamble $PG (+1.18%) Nestlé $NESN (-1.74%) or Coca-Cola $KO (-0.72%) benefit from their strong market position and stable cash flows. People are always buying household products, food and beverages.

Healthcare sector - crisis-resistant growth stocks

Companies such as Johnson & Johnson $JNJ (-0.01%) , Eli Lilly $LLY (+2.83%) or Novo Nordisk $NOVO B (-0.7%) supply medicines and treatments that are in demand regardless of the economic situation. There is a particular focus on the boom in diabetes and obesity therapies.

Providers - Stable income through basic care

Companies such as NextEra Energy $NEE (+0.17%) Duke Energy $DUK (+0.4%) or Southern Company $SO (-0.39%) are benefiting from the constant demand for electricity and water. Renewable energies are also playing an increasingly important role.

Commodities & gold - hedging against inflation & uncertainty

Gold mining companies such as Barrick Gold $ABX (-1.58%) or Newmont $NEM (-3.01%) often benefit in times of economic uncertainty, as investors flee to gold as protection against crises.

Defense & Armaments - Profiteers of geopolitical tensions

Rising military spending worldwide makes companies such as Lockheed Martin $LMT (+2.98%) or Northrop Grumman $NOC (+2.23%) into potential winners of long-term conflicts and global uncertainties.

This is just a small selection of companies. But hopefully it gives a small insight into the interesting crisis-proof sectors.

Defensive investors could now focus on consumer staples, healthcare and utilities for long-term stability. Opportunity-oriented investors could look to commodities, gold or defense if geopolitical tensions continue to rise.

#stockanalysis
#dividends
#growth#inspiration

The second month of 2025 is already over. Time is flying by again at breakneck speed and one event or statement follows the next this year. It's crazy what's going on at the moment and at the same time the market is somehow saying "I don't care".

Up down, up down, the markets are becoming more volatile and yet, or precisely because of this, my February was almost at +/-0.

But one thing at a time.

In February I achieved a plus of 0.8%. With my portfolio size, this corresponds to a value of almost €900. Not particularly good compared to the Dax (+3.77%), but still very respectable compared to the HSBC MSCI World (-2.49%).

Unfortunately, things do not look any better over the year (YTD).

The Dax is running away with 13.3%, while the MSCI World is bobbing along at 1.6%. Here, too, I was at least able to beat the World, but I still lag miles behind the DAX.

Overall, however, I am still very satisfied. As I don't have a lot of tech in my portfolio and my stocks are (mostly) rather stable, there is often no outperformance of the stocks and if there is, it is only marginal.

My high and low performers in February were (top 3):

$HSY (-0.39%) Hershey +15.63%

$T (-2.44%) AT&T +14.07%

$NESN (-1.74%) Nestle +13.10%

$ADM (-0.82%) Archer Daniels -8.57%

$UNH (-1.3%) United Health -13.16%

$TSLA (+10.24%) Tesla -27.59%

Dividends:

In February, I received a net €123.62 from a total of 10 distributions.

Compared to February 2024 (€99.26), this was an increase of 24.54%

Investments:

Due to the construction work on the house last year, the focus continues to be on building up the nest egg and saving up a "leisure account" again, as everything was really used up completely last year and only the custody account remained.

The savings plans will of course continue unabated, but individual investments are probably not possible for the time being.

Purchases and sales:

I have parted with Mercedes ( $MBG (+1.59%) ) and Medical Properties ( $MPW (-0.62%) ).

I then added to Lockheed Martin ( $LMT (+2.98%) ), Hershey ( $HSY (-0.39%) ) and Petroleo Brasileiro ( $PETR4 (+0.17%) ).

My savings plans remain unchanged, but it is quite possible that I will stop them for the time being in order to build up investment cash again.

Savings plans (350€ in total):

• Realty ($O (-0.52%) )
• STAG Industrial ($STAG (+0.48%) )
• Gladstone Invest ($GAIN (+1.49%) )
• Hercules Capital ($HTGC (+0.7%) )
• Cintas ($CTAS (+0.18%) )
• LVMH ($MC (+0.33%) )
• Monster Beverage ($MNST (+0.21%) )
• Microsoft ($MSFT (+1.32%) )

Goals 2025:

My goal is to have €130,000 in my portfolio at the end of the year. The goal is to be achieved by reinvesting the dividend, making payments and, of course, increasing the share price. The share price increase is of course impossible to predict in any way, so the motto is: if the share price falls or does not rise enough, more cash is needed.

This comes from selling useless stuff on eBay, additional income from e.g. "neighborhood help" etc. The worse the share price, the more additional cash has to be raised.

Target achievement at the end of February 2025: 37.41%

So I'm on the right track (so far). I'm curious to see what else will happen in 2025 and hope that the crash, which seems to be getting closer and closer, will take a little longer (so that I can continue to accumulate cash).

How was your February? Are you happy so far? I think that, due to the volatility, the portfolios in February are far more spread out than they were in January or even at the end of last year.

As every Sunday, the most important news from the past week, as well as the most important dates for the coming week.

Also as a video:

https://youtube.com/shorts/qwz6dsaeNi4?si=uQ4zQHw4NJjDUFFf

Monday:

$MCD (+0.23%) McDonalds delivers surprisingly poor figures. In the USA, sales fell by 1.4 % in the 4th quarter; experts had only forecast a fall of 0.4 %. Adjusted profit also fell by 5 % to USD 2.04 billion. However, McDonalds grew worldwide and surprised analysts positively.

https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/handel-konsumgueter/fastfood-mcdonalds-mit-ueberraschend-hohen-einbussen-im-us-geschaeft/100106947.html

Tuesday:

Turnover at the French luxury goods conglomerate $KER (+0.67%) Kering declines significantly. The main reason for this is weak figures at the Italian subsidiary Gucci. Overall, turnover fell by 12% to 17.2 billion euros in 2024. The slump in consumption in China in particular is weighing on earnings. However, Pinault is seeing the first signs of recovery from China.

https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/geschaeftszahlen-im-newsblog-tui-erwirtschaftet-hoeheren-gewinn-jahresziele-unveraendert-/24098412.html

Wednesday:

$TMV (+1.33%) TeamViewer shines with strong figures and is optimistic. Double-digit growth is planned again from 2027. The Göppingen-based company aims to generate sales of one billion euros as early as 2028. On balance, Teamviewer generated a profit of 123.1 million euros in 2024.

https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/boerse/ticker/teamviewer-will-mittelfristig-zurueck-zu-zweistelligem-wachstum/0DB4980021007F08/

US inflation data is somewhat hotter than expected, causing the markets to slump. Experts were expecting an inflation rate of 2.9% for January, which turned out to be 3.0%.

https://www.handelsblatt.com/finanzen/geldpolitik/verbraucherpreise-us-inflation-steigt-im-januar-ueberraschend-auf-drei-prozent/100106814.html

$CSCO (+1.16%) Cisco raises its forecast and exceeds sales expectations. The reason for this is the high demand from companies for AI infrastructure. This is one of the reasons why Cisco is also increasing its dividend.

https://www.ariva.de/amp/ki-boom-hilft-netzwerkausruester-cisco-11534732

Thursday:

The world's largest and probably most controversial food company is growing again. $NESN (-1.74%) Nestlé is planning a dividend increase. Sales increased by 2.2 % excluding exchange rate effects. Profit fell by 2.9 % to 10.9 billion Swiss francs.

https://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/nestle-waechst-wieder-aus-eigener-kraft-ld.1870435

Friday:

The US economy 🇺🇸 suffered a double setback in January. Retail sales and industrial production were down. Retail sales fell by the most in two years. This was due to the low temperatures and customs duties. Industrial production fell, as economists had expected. The production of motor vehicles in particular was responsible for the decline.

https://de.tradingview.com/news/invezz:f6400bd08600c:0/

These are the most important dates for the coming week:

Monday: 00:50 GDP figures (Japan)

Wednesday: 20:00 FOMC minutes (USA)

Thursday: 08:00 Producer prices (DE)

Can you think of any other dates? Write it in the comments 👇

#bip
#japan
#fomc
#erzeugerpreise

$NESN (-1.74%) After the Hyundai disaster, I was able to sell Nestle ADR with a 7% profit after the last price increase. $NSRGY (-1.51%) Nestle ADR. Maybe I'll get back in when Swiss shares are tradable for me again, but the latest figures from Nestle didn't convince me either (dividend increased despite less profit and debt, I don't like this decision) and the price increase surprised me. But of course it's good for me.

Hi folks,

in the last few weeks I have bought shares in $NESN (-1.74%) and $NOVO B (-0.7%) and thus cracked the first 10k.

Now I would like to add another ETF to my savings plan in addition to Msci World.

At the moment, however, I'm still quite undecided as to which one it will be.

Do you have any suggestions?

experience - e.g. I would take this one again

or

that was actually a bad decision!

Thanks in advance!

Hello Community,

Today I'd like to discuss my somewhat confusing use of various brokers. Maybe one or the other can give me some support here.

Consorsbank

I started investing a few years ago when I was still living in Germany. I used a well-known but rather expensive broker ( #consorsbank ). ETF savings plans are partly free here and I use the $XDWD (+0.63%) (TER 0.19%) as well as the $XMAW (+0.8%) (TER 0.25%). These 2 ETFs are deliberately separated, as the latter is backed by another cash inflow, the increase in value of which I would like to view separately (rent of a paid-off rental apartment).

However, historically, one-off purchases (order costs: 10 Euro + 0.25%) and savings plans (order costs: 1.5%) some individual positions such as $GOOGL (-1.98%) , $MC (+0.33%) , $META (+0.53%) , $SHEL (+1.27%) , $BATS (-0.52%) , $INTC (-0.92%) or $ASML (-0.08%) . So a colorful portfolio without focus (e.g. growth or dividends only, USA only or other).

Current account is required at Consorsbank and therefore not closed, custody account not absolutely necessary.

SaxoBank

I moved to Switzerland almost 4 years ago and initially invested here via DeGiro, but due to the cost reduction I switched to SaxoBank and actually closed DeGiro completely. Order fees of 1$ + 0.08% for American shares. European ones are usually 3 Euro + 0.08%. However, the stamp duty which applies to all brokers in Switzerland (0.075 Swiss stock exchange, 0.15% foreign stock exchange).

ETFs continued to be saved via Consorsbank. Individual shares (apart from a few small savings plans) from now on with SaxoBank. This applies to both new and existing positions ($GOOGL (-1.98%) , $INTC (-0.92%) , $MSFT (+1.32%) , $AMD (+2.72%) , $NESN (-1.74%) or $NOVO B (-0.7%) )

No trading with fractional shares possible! Complete transfer from Consorsbank to SaxoBank therefore not possible!

InteractiveBroker

Via Getquin, as well as via a mentioned Reddit group for Swiss finance, I came across the possibility to invest very cost-efficiently with #ibkr which specifically offers the possibility to invest in American ETFs (e.g. $VT (+0.68%) or $VOO (+0.95%) ), which are not only significantly cheaper (TER 0.07%, or 0.03%), but are also tax-exempt due to a tax treaty between #usa and the #schweiz bring tax advantages.

The order fees are incredibly low (0.0035 USD per share) and, as it is not a Swiss broker, there is no stamp duty! Accordingly, another 0.15% (0.075 for Swiss stock exchange) less compared to SaxoBank! Another strong argument is that I can transfer money free of charge from my German bank #euro as well as from my Swiss bank #chf free of charge. However, I would not like to put everything on one card/broker. I haven't invested in IBKR yet, but I'm wondering how I should best divide up my brokers.

Trading with fractional shares is possible and therefore also a portfolio transfer from Consorsbank.

Quick side info:

My wife has her own account with Consorsbank (before moving to Switzerland) and #degiro her own custody account, which doesn't make it any less complicated.

Summary:

Consorsbank:

ETFs plus shares available, high fees for shares, fractional shares possible, based in Germany

SaxoBank:

Shares available, low fees but stamp duty, no fractions of shares, domiciled in Switzerland

IBKR:

nothing available yet, very low fees, no stamp duty, deposit Euro & CHF possible, American ETFs like $VT (+0.68%) fractional shares possible, domicile in the USA (or UK for Swiss investors).

Questions:

a.) In future ETF, e.g. $VT (+0.68%) with IBKR?

a2.) If yes, liquidate existing ETFs and reinvest in American ETFs?

b.) Transfer portfolio, especially Consorsbank?

b2.) If yes, how to divide between SaxoBank and IBKR? Only IBKR?

c.) Are there major risks with IBKR (based in the USA/UK?)