Enterprise Products Partners Units

The other day, I finally ripped the band-aid off and sold out of $T (+0.48%) and $VZ (+0.48%).

Although locking in some losses definitely stung a bit, I think the move is an overall improvement in the portfolio from a long-term perspective.

Plus, it freed up a few thousand dollars for me to reinvest in some of my other stocks, and I wasted no time in doing so—it was quite the shopping spree.

Here are the details from the sale:

AT&T ($T (+0.48%))

• Number of shares: 101.57 shares
• Average Cost Per Share: $21.60
• Sell Price: $17.20
• Market Return: -20.37%
• Total Return: -2.89%

Verizon ($VZ (+0.48%))

• Number of shares: 43.87 shares
• Average Cost Per Share: $51.40
• Sell Price: $40.49
• Market Return: -21.23%
• Total Return: -9.63%

All I can say is thank goodness for dividends. They substantially helped mitigate the overall impact of the losses, and although I violated Warren Buffett's #1 rule of investing—never lose money—at least it wasn't a catastrophic amount.

After the sale, I had around $3,500 to reinvest back into the portfolio, which I divvied up across 5 different stocks:

• $CVX (+0.67%)
  
• $EPD
  
• $MAIN (+1.2%)
  
• $O (+0.48%)
  
• $V (+0.41%)
  

My aim in reinvesting was to avoid taking too many steps backward in my projected annual dividend income, which was challenging considering both $T (+0.48%) and $VZ (+0.48%) were two of the higher-yielding stocks in my portfolio.

However, I managed to make it work, and the end result was only a minor decrease in my projected annual income ($17 to be exact).