I like the ETF and it really seems to be an option for old age, but through $HTGC (-0.77%)
$OBDC (+0%) and $PSA (+0.45%) I already have enough cash flow in my portfolio.

Will be reallocated to the div growth category

$HTGC (-0.77%)

Record total investment income for the full year 2024 of USD 493.6 million, an increase of 7.1% compared to the previous year

Record net investment income "NII" for the full year 2024 of USD 325.8 million, an increase of 7.2% compared to the previous year

Record gross financing for the full year 2024 of USD 1.81 billion, an increase of 13.0% compared to the previous year

Q4 2024 NII of USD 81.1 million, or USD 0.49 per share, covers 123% of base cash distribution

Q4 2024 total gross debt and equity obligations of USD 619.5 million

Q4 2024 total gross financing of USD 468.5 million

Conservative balance sheet management with net GAAP leverage of 83.9% and net regulatory leverage of 69.9

Including the advisor funds managed by its wholly owned subsidiary Hercules Adviser LLC, Hercules had more than USD 1.1 billion in available liquidity at year-end.

Announced a new additional cash distribution for 2025 of USD 0.28 per share, payable over four quarters

Undistributed net income of USD 163.6 million or USD 0.96 (1) per outstanding share

Approximately USD 4.8 billion in assets under management, an increase of 14.2% compared to the previous year (2)

$ASML (-0.72%) is out, as I want to focus more on stocks with a healthy trend in the growth part of my portfolio. See the weekly chart.

At the moment I am running a 75/25 strategy with which I feel most comfortable, 15K divided as follows:

Growth 75%: $AVGO (-3.16%)
$COST (+0.22%)
$7011 (-3.2%)
$MUV2 (-0.6%)
$GOOG (-2.32%)
$MUX (+1.91%) (mutares is under observation by me) $2768 (+0%)

Dividend 25%: $OBDC (+0%)
$HTGC (-0.77%)
$PSA (+0.45%)
$JEGP (+0.05%)

Hercules has been going great, now I'm taking ⅓ of the position out for the time being in order to $OBDC (+0%) & $PSA (+0.45%) to the same size as $HTGC (-0.77%) build up.

The year 2024 is over in stock market terms and I would also like to review the year.

I started with a portfolio value of just over €53,000.

I knew that a reallocation of around €20,000 was still to come and had therefore set my sights on the target of €100,000.

This was very ambitious, as I naturally didn't know what the year would bring. After all, there were already enough economic and political uncertainties at the start of 2024.

As I only really started investing in 2021 and 2022 was therefore my first full year on the stock market, I made a lot of mistakes at the beginning, had fluctuations in my strategy (once one was in place) and of course also made a few losses.

That's why it was important for me to stay true to my strategy in 2024 and not throw everything overboard again. Because, as I always say, going back and forth empties your pockets.

Some of you may also remember my early days, when I had a lot of savings plans in place, but they weren't particularly high and were constantly being changed. At the beginning of 2024, my portfolio contained a total of 47 individual share positions and 3 ETFs.

My goals for 2024 were therefore

• Stay true to the strategy
• No new stocks in the portfolio, rather clear out
• 100,000€ portfolio value
• 2000€ net dividend
• Investment of €17,000 (without reallocation)

2024 went as follows for me:

January: +4.0%

February: +1.3%

March: +3.0%

April: -0.4%

May: +0.5%

June: +1.7%

July: +1.7%

August: +0.9%

September: +1.0%

October: -0.4%

November: +3.4%

December: -1.7%

TTWROR 2024: +15.8%

Dividend (already in the performance): € 1956.56

Invested: €24,900

Reallocation: €21,700

Thanks to a special payment from my old employer, to which I was still entitled, I was surprisingly able to invest around €5,000 more than I had originally thought.

Did I achieve my goals?

Not all of them.

With the dividends, I'm ~€43 below my target. That's a shame, but it motivates me to step on the gas even more and crack the €2400 net dividend in 2025. That would be €200 net per month, which corresponds to an increase of 22.66%. Again, very ambitious, but you should set yourself ambitious goals.

However, I was already able to break the €100,000 barrier in September. This was of course due to the strong market. I ended the year with just over €111,500. I have remained true to my strategy, but a few new stocks have slipped into the portfolio (and a few out).

The cheering contribution to the €100,000 was here:

https://app.getquin.com/de/activity/XGtdQzCdYF

New in the depot:

$NESN (+4.08%) Nestle

$CTAS (-0.09%) Cintas (savings plan)

$RACE (-0.5%) Ferrari

$D05 (+0.91%) DBS

$UNH (-6.94%) United Health

$V (-0.16%) visas

$CSNDX (-1.63%) Nasdaq 100 (savings plan)

$XEON (+0.01%) As an overnight money substitute for fixed planned money for loan repayment in 6 years or special repayment if the interest rate on the balance falls below the loan interest rate of 0.75%. Is topped up with special payments from the employer during this period.

Left my securities account:

$AAL (-0.25%) Anglo American PLC (+37%)

$IBM (-0.47%) (+26%)

$BAC (-0.56%) Bank of America (+45%)

$UKW (-0.76%) Greencoat UK Wind (0 to 0 due to dividends)

$SBUX (-0.91%) Starbucks (+10%)

$BIGG (-0.98%) Bigg Digital Group (-95%)

Unfortunately, I sold IBM and Bank of America too early, but I am still satisfied.

What else has happened?

• I bought Bitcoin from TR to estimate the costs. Conclusion: savings plan is always around 3-4% higher. Not worth it, if at all then individual purchases
• Weingut Dürnberg: First dividend received and prospects look reasonable. Depending on how the grape harvest turns out next year, a dividend will be paid again and investments can still be made.
• The conservatory and paving the courtyard are done. The house construction is more or less finished, everything else will take time and are small things, but now I have to start saving again as I only have a small nest egg and my deposit. All other funds have been used up as the costs were twice as high as originally planned.
• Podcast with @Koenigmidas is running rather slowly this year due to personal time constraints. You can find the latest episode here: Link zur Folge (also available on Amazon)

Outlook for 2025

So what are my plans for 2025 in terms of finances?

• Investment of €15,000
• Net dividend of €2,400
• One slightly greater focus on high dividend stocks (e.g. to increase $HTGC (-0.77%) to increase the cash flow a little faster)

What are your targets for 2025? Did you reach your 2024 targets and to what extent did you change your targets after reaching (or not reaching) your 2024 targets?

Feel free to let me know in the comments, as I always find it very exciting to see how ambitiously others set/change their goals.

I wish you a good start to 2025 and every success with all your plans and goals.

As with everything, of course, if you're not interested, feel free to keep scrolling and/or use the block function. 😊

Portfolio feedback requested

I (early 50s, so still a good 15 years to work on the portfolio) would like to hear your opinion. I've been with Trade Republic since January, mainly because of the 4%. But then I started saving a few ETFs, then buying and selling a few shares. So I played around. At the moment my portfolio has three or rather four different parts. Let's put it this way, the family treasury has given me around €10k to play with. The rest remains in call money.

Of this 10K I would like to have a part to play, individual stocks, §IWDA, other ETFs that are close to me because of my work, XRP.

But that's not my topic here.

I want to build a dividend portfolio. Reduce working hours or improve pension, we'll see where the journey takes me. For now, I would reinvest all payouts.

The composition from December would look like this:

$MCD (+0.5%) 15%

$EXSH (+0.33%) 9%

$MAIN (-0.54%) 9%

$ARCC (+0.18%) 9%

$HTGC (-0.77%) 9%

$O (+1.37%) 9%

$CSWC (-0.93%) 5%

$PFE (+1.91%) 5%

$KAP (-0.56%) 5%

$JEGP (+0.05%) 5%

$TGT (-2.56%) 3,5%

$GAIN (-0.91%) 5%

$QYLE (-1.07%) 5%

$VHYL (-0.58%) 1%

What do you think about the composition? Should something go in/out?

My aim would be to distribute the monthly distributions evenly. I'll have to play around with the ratios a bit.

My problem is that the months of January, February, April and May look too poor. What would you suggest that pays out in these months?

Roast me!

Golden October is the time when the trees put on their golden dress. A dreamlike time that has something magical about it. I took full advantage of this nature by doing a lot of hiking, especially in Saxon Switzerland, which is where the cover picture of the review post on Instagram comes from. While I climbed the sandstone cliffs via the iron ladders, steps and fittings to then enjoy the view from the cliffs, my investments continued to diligently generate returns for me. Time for a look back.

I present the following points for the past month of October 2024:

➡️ SHARES

➡️ ETFS

➡️ DISTRIBUTIONS

➡️ CASHBACK

➡️ AFTER-PURCHASES

➡️ P2P CREDITS

➡️ CRYPTO

➡️ WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT

➡️ OUTLOOK

➡️ Shares

My largest single position in terms of volume $AVGO (-3.16%) has only moved up a little compared to the previous month. But that's perfectly OK after the stock has performed well in the past. A look at the performance makes things more exciting. My $NFLX (-1.73%) which stood at +98% from its acquisition price last month, has now jumped to +115%. I noticed in passing that the number of subscribers has probably continued to grow well, as have the other key figures. Very good, keep it up! The streaming service, which I was the last person to subscribe to before 2018, is developing extremely well. And also $SAP (-1.87%) is growing steadily, can you still remember when the share price collapsed in 2020 after the forecasts had to be lowered? I have held on to the stock and am constantly buying more. One of my few German shares.

On the other side of the coin, it's stumbling a bit. The negative performances of my flops are increasing again, but that doesn't bother me because I $NKE (-0.48%) , $DHR (+1.24%) and $DHL (+0.55%) also see them as successful in the future. Perhaps one or two of them still need to cut costs.

➡️ ETFs

My beloved core unit of retirement provision is growing and growing and steadily paying out more. The rock in the surf, the $VWRL (-0.91%) already accounts for 13.95% of my entire securities portfolio. I can only say again and again: invest significant portions of your income each month in bread and butter ETFs via a fully automated savings plan, then poverty in old age will no longer be an issue in the future. Speaking of old age, at the beginning of November I read a post on Instagram from Finanztip that shocked and annoyed me. They actually advised people to pay into their state pension voluntarily. Was that just a faux pas, or did I just dream it? No, the contribution really exists. They stand for taking your own finances into your own hands and building up assets for old age or in general. For me, this means that this channel is losing its seriousness again, although they were one of the triggers for me to start building up assets after I finished my retraining.

I closed a position in another asset class and used it to buy two more dividend-paying ETFs in one of my old custody accounts. With this $GGRP (-0.99%) I cover the missing first month of the quarter for income in this custody account and with the $JEGP (+0.05%) I have added an ETF to my portfolio that pays out some dividends but also relies on option premiums. The distribution is monthly. I'm curious to see how this develops. This means that from now on all my custody accounts every month. every month. That's fun, because I want passive cash flow!

➡️ Dividends

I was able to collect 21 distributions on 9 payout days in October. I am grateful for this additional income stream.

In the meantime, I have published my extra article on how I deal with reinvestments. As the returns from all custody accounts from the past months of this year already exceed my planned reinvestment amount on average, I now see the opportunity to adjust the planned amount that I want to reinvest via a savings plan upwards. As announced, I am taking $UPS (+0.29%) and $HTGC (-0.77%) in the savings plans as early as December! These are certainly small amounts, but they are helping to make the snowball bigger and bigger.

➡️ Cashback

In October, I redeemed €17 in Payback points at Rewe, got points back and transferred the discount value on the shopping list to my clearing account to invest it immediately via a one-off savings plan. This is in addition to the "You should at least have all the bread-and-butter ETFs!"the second piece of wisdom I preach all the time. If you get a discount, voucher or other benefit somewhere when shopping or ordering online, then invest it, whether directly via payout or indirectly (as I do). In this way, retailers and others help to finance your wealth accumulation and you protect yourself from what it is actually intended for, namely consuming more than necessary.

A statement by Youtuber Balthasar Becker also fits in with this: "I didn't make the rules, I just interpret them in a way that suits me". Or in my words: "I cleverly use the advantage that others give me to lure me in, but in my favor and not theirs."

Always remember, dear readers, even in a tight corset you have a margin in which you can move freely. And you should always use the leeway in your favor. So, enough of the sermon.

Payback was joined by a new payout from the health insurance bonus program. Another €22, which I simply get from my morning sports program and cold training. More about the cold at the end.

➡️ Subsequent purchases

I bought small amounts of ETFs from the above-mentioned inflows from Payback and premium refunds from the KK.

I took a mid three-digit amount from another source and used it to buy two new ETFs for an old portfolio, as already mentioned under "ETFs".

➡️ P2P loans

I'm fed up with this asset class. The constant rounding differences annoy me, as do the defaults. I started trading on October 31st. On the one hand, I deleted the account with EstateGuru despite the last defaulted loan of €50. Consequently, €50 was written off. Bondora Go and Grow also had to go. This is where the mid three-digit amount mentioned above came from, which went into the ETFs for the old custody account.

Peerberry and Mintos cannot yet be canceled. Apparently it is not possible to simply accept the losses by closing the account.

➡️ Crypto

There was still nothing for me to do in October. But now, as I write this article, the US election is already through and $BTC (+0.72%) jumps to new ATHs. I am slowly becoming more attentive again. My strategy is well known, I play the crypto cycles. I want to sell all altcoins as soon as the prices I want are reached, and I may accept losses on one coin ($LTC (+1.38%) ). According to my original plan, I also wanted to sell all the Bitcoin, but I'm now thinking about keeping some of them. In future, I want to reaccumulate Bitcoin in the next bear market in order to play the cycle again. However, I have only invested very small amounts in crypto, which are negligible; for me, crypto remains a zero-sum game. Perhaps it looks completely different for someone who lives in Africa, for example, and doesn't have a bank account.

➡️ What is really important

The long-term wealth accumulation of each and every one of us is certainly automated thanks to savings plans and standing orders. This is precisely why it is important to focus on the important things in life. It's just too short and the end is sure to come.

At the beginning of the month, I returned from my trip to Berlin, which I mentioned in my last review. It was a complete success, it was important for me to convey to the child that you have to leave your comfort zone in order to realize the dreams you have. It takes effort, but it pays off. Only those who leave their comfort zone will surpass themselves. And of course we also had a great time together.

I'm also getting used to the cold. From taking cold showers and preparing for ice baths to running in the cold. My landlord issues me with hot water and heating consumption information at the beginning of each month. I have noticed that my hot water consumption (since I started taking cold showers) has more than halved. That's great! I'm curious to see how much further it will fall. As well as taking cold showers, I'm currently preparing for ice swimming on Fridays after work, which is my current area where I leave my comfort zone. So I actually go swimming at one of the open-cast mining lakes around Leipzig. It takes a few minutes before I have to get out again quickly. It tends to be around 4-5 minutes. Both activities hardly cost me any effort. They even give me a boost of energy. And with the current temperatures, I also go running several times a week in the evening and regularly go hiking. So I also demand a lot from my body and have noticed how it has become much more efficient in recent years since losing a lot of weight in 2020.

➡️ Outlook

It is now the beginning of November and the Trump wave has flooded our portfolios. I hope that there will be no further major sell-off. I am also awaiting my utility bill for the current year. Hopefully there will be a credit again. Because this should be invested.

Links:

Social media links can be found in my profile, you can also check out the Instagram version of my review.

Hello everyone,

today there is a long announced #offtopic from me.

It's about the question of what the planned reinvestment of my distributions is that I mentioned (especially in the reviews).

I want passive cash flow! I want the money to rain down from the sky, fully automated! And this money should also find its way back to the stock market fully automatically. Simply to keep feeding the passive income stream so that it gets bigger and stronger. This should work until one day I use the distributions to cover my living costs.

But how do I go about it?

In order to know how much I can reinvest each month at best, I first need to record all my incoming distributions, from which I can then calculate an average value for all monthly distributions per month. I compare this value with the previous year's values. This comparison enables me to obtain the increase in my income and thus estimate it for the new calendar year. The monthly return figure estimated here for the following calendar year is my planned reinvestment figure.

As I said before, I want to set up a fully automated system with the reinvestment that runs by itself. This also means that manual intervention on my part should not be necessary, although there may be exceptions.

So the question is: when do I actually have to intervene in the automated reinvestment of my distributions myself? Of course, this is only the case if the actual distributions received from my investments in a month are lower than the planned amount of my reinvestment. And for this scenario, I have two aces up my sleeve to avoid having to intervene after all. On the one hand, I leave distributions from particularly high-yield months for the weaker months so that the process can continue. If these reserves are not sufficient, I have a second ace up my sleeve. My current employer gives me half of the Germany ticket tax-free. I haven't included this bonus in my personal budget planning. This means that the money is not intended to cover expenses. So if there isn't enough available for the planned reinvestment, I'll use this allowance for that. And in the event that the allowance cannot be used, it goes into a provision for reinvestment.

The system I use is not complicated and has fortunately already proven itself in practice. Looking back on the first three quarters of 2024, my distributions were always large enough for everything to work fully automatically, except in January and February. For the two months affected, I was able to keep the engine running thanks to the provision. It's running like clockwork. Things are also looking good for October. So not only is the system running, I could even have planned more optimistically.

The follow-up question is certainly: how do I use my reinvestments, or more precisely: what do I invest my distributions in? There are two strategies that I pursue. On the one hand, I use the distributions to strengthen the savings plans from the net salary of my smaller-volume positions so that the positions can build up more quickly. On the other hand, I use some of the reinvestments to finance entire savings plans that I don't have to use my net salary for. This is the case for me, for example, with oil stocks such as $XOM (-0.73%) and $CVX (-0.58%) but also with others such as $DLR (-3.48%) and $GSK is the case.

Conclusion: The system works as described and is simple. I only have to check a few days before executing the savings plans to see whether the clearing accounts are sufficiently filled. I can even increase the size of the planned reinvestments for the following year, which makes me very happy. $UPS (+0.29%) and $HTGC (-0.77%) will be included in the savings plans, starting this December. The snowball of passive income is thus getting bigger and bigger, making me increasingly free from active earned income. That makes me happy! I couldn't have imagined something like this at the zero hour of my wealth accumulation.