Essential Propts Action Forum

We've reached yet another milestone 💚💚💚

With the big dividend payouts in September we have reached a new high of 1253.28$ for 09/2024. This marks the second time (after 06/2024 were I've reached a >1000$/month in dividend payment outs. 💰 I couldn't be happier, especially since this portfolio is only 10 months old.

For those you read my recent posts and are aware of my goals for this year and beyond, but here is a quick reminder.

My initial goal for 2024 was to have about 400$/month, when I saw how things progressed, I updated that to 500$/month, but looking ahead we are expected to end up with more than 800$/month, which would simply be insane. (TTM >650$/month)🤪

(For clarification I don't calculate that as TTM, but rather as the average of trailing 6 months, trailing 3 month, future 3 months, future 6 months. This is simply because I am still building my positions aggressively so that the trialing months significantly under-represent the status quo. I am aware of the uncertainty of future dividend payouts, which is why they are approximated conservatively. )

At the moment the total value of the portfolio stands at just above 170k$ with the plan for >180k$ end of 2024

>270k$ end of 2025

>370k$ end of 2026

I also decided to sell off one property and throw most of the money into the marker. If that happens the above number will be updated with my next post. I did lose my job recently, but hope something else comes up rather shortly, fingers crossed. 🤞This obviously also affects my investments.

My overall goal is to consistently have 4k$/month at my disposal for retirement (ideally without dipping into the principal of the investment). About 2k$/month will be provided by rental income and thinking that I will be more than one third to the 2k$/month needed from dividend payouts by the end of the year gets me very giddy.

This is the list of all dividends for this month:

$MAIN 21.81$

$MAIN 26.70$ (special dividend)

$JEPI 124.34$

$JEPQ 117.50$

$SPYI 102.43$

$QQQI 68.05$

$O 104.41$

$SPLG 67.10$

$SCHD 620.95$

________________

Total: 1253.28$

I also did some changes to the portfolio in minimizing the positions I hold.

I sold $MAIN (+0,01 %) , $EPR (-0,18 %) , $EPRT (-0,51 %) and $VICI (+0,15 %) not really because I don't thing they are good companies, but rather to stock up on securities I surely want to hold forever ($SCHD , $O (-0,83 %) and $SPLG ) with some cash flow options like $QQQI and $SPYI sprinkled in for good measure.

I am sure there will be people saying that judging from that list, the portfolio is too conservative... and I would somewhat agree with you, but my objective is to build mainly a dividend portfolio that will consistently help with my expenses in retirement.

That being said, I am planning on expanding my $SPLG and $SCHD positions as well as adding to my cash for a potential market downturn so don't judge me too harshly.😜

Happy investing 📈, happy compounding💸!

#fire
#retirement
#financialfreedom
#dividends
#compoundeffect
#nextstop250k$

#1000dividendspermonth

Hello dividend hunters, sharing 2 packs today. Feel free to share your thoughts. ~Not financial advice.

1. #reit - diversified REIT pack with 10 reits covering diferent sectors and specially the care sector (health and continuous care) which has a chance of being a growing sector over the next years - https://www.trading212.com/pies/lua2LbG5mCkbey1Mr8oABEgUWZX2k

$O (-0,83 %)
$VICI (+0,15 %)
$LTC (+0,03 %)
$UHT (+0,2 %)
$CHCT (-1,1 %)
$OHI (+0,43 %)
$CCI (-1 %)
$EPRT (-0,51 %)
$ARE (-2,33 %)
$PSA (-1,7 %)

2. #bdc - diversified BDC pack with 5 bdc stocks - https://www.trading212.com/pies/lua2LbG5mCkbey1Mr8oFLkbICASIN

$GAIN (+0,32 %)
$BXSL (-0,58 %)
$MAIN (+0,01 %)
$OXSQ (+0,37 %)
$ARCC (+0,05 %)

Dear fellow investors,

This month I will reach another milestone in my investment journey, breaking 800$ in monthly dividend payments for the very first time. I couldn't be more excited....

Wooohooo 💲💲💲

This is due to receiving payouts for the following assets:

641 x $SCHD

281 x $O (-0,83 %)

311 x $JEPI

211 x $JEPQ

179 x $SPLG

89 x $MAIN (+0,01 %) (two payouts this month!)

137 x $EFC (+0 %)

67 x $EPR (-0,18 %)

67 x $SPYI

13 x $QQQI

Looking ahead, it seems like September might be my first 1k$ dividend month 🤪🤪🤪.

Fingers crossed 🤞🤞🤞

For those among you who follow my story, know that I just started (again) in Dec 2023 and already had to upgrade my goals to 150k$ invested and average dividends of >500$/month. Both goals are within reach and very likely to be achieved before 2024 comes to an end.

I am very happy with sticking to the plan (DCA-ing into a selected few ETFs and stocks) in hopes for #fire (Financial Independence Retire Early).🔥🔥🔥

I am planning on making some adjustments to the portfolio over the next couple of weeks and months and hopefully later this summer I will share my whole portfolio with more information about my investment strategy as well as the (as of recent) popular Sankey diagram of monthly money flow here on getquin for scrutiny and further constructive feedback. So stay tunes for that.

The list of updated key take-aways are as follows:

1. Select your ETFs and stick with them

- Core:

$SPLG (alternatives are $SPY (+0,09 %) and $VOO (+0,06 %) ), chosen because of slightly lower expense ratio and lower prices (hope for more inflow), trading volume is not a concern as this was bought for the looooong "buy and hold"

- Dividend 💸:

$SCHD (alternatives are $VIG (-0,2 %) and $VYM (-0,43 %) ), chosen because seemed undervalued at the time of purchase, great dividend and decent dividend growth

- Growth 📈:

Still not chosen, open to suggestions

I maintain that it will probably be $QQQM (alternatives are $VGT (+0,48 %) , $SCHG , $SPGP , $DGRW , $VUG (+0,49 %) )

- REITs 🏠:

Not yet chosen, as here I am not even sure any longer if I actually want to invest in REIT ETFs or not just keep my exposure to the few REITS I already own ($O (-0,83 %) , $VICI (+0,15 %) , $MAIN (+0,01 %) , $EPR (-0,18 %) , $EPRT (-0,51 %) ...)

If I decide to venture into this field, it will probably be $SCHH (alternatives are $XLRE and $VNQ (-1,04 %) )

- Misc 🗠:

$O (-0,83 %) The Monthly Dividend Stock

$JEPI / $JEPQ for monthly dividends in the covered call space

$SPYI / $QQQI to potentially replace $JEPI and $JEPQ

$VICI (+0,15 %) / $MAIN (+0,01 %) for additional monthly dividends in the REIT / finance space

I might also entertain the idea of investing in some individual stocks like $AMZN (+1,9 %) . $NVDA (+2,32 %) , $MSFT (+1,59 %) , but that will depend on the constitution of the growth ETF I will buy.

2. Learn 🎓

Educate yourself and don't simply "trust" Youtubers. Read investment books (e.g. 'The Intelligent Investor' by Ben Graham, 'The Little Book Of Common Sense Investing' by John C. Bogle, 'Patient Capital' by Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner) and listen to many different voices in the investment arena. Be curious, but cautious... If it says: "100% win rate guaranteed!", it's probably best to stay away from it.

3. Don't try to time the market ⌚️

As one youtuber says: "Time in the market beats timing the market." I am sure we are all guilty of trying to buy at the best price on a particular day/week... If you are in for the long haul, it doesn't matter. DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) for the win. 🏆

4. ETF over stock picking

Of course you can have huge winners if you pick individual stocks and if you have some insights that allow you to buy before the hype, great, I am very happy for you. Who wouldn't want to have invested in $KO (+0,08 %) , $TSLA (-6,59 %) , $AMZN (+1,9 %) , $GOOG (+1,15 %) or $NVDA (+2,32 %) in their early days?! But that doesn't happen very often. If you invest in solid ETFs covering a wide array of markets, you will do just fine (especially with a long investment horizon). I have certainly tried to "pick' some stocks that looked promising for their upward potential, but only two have given me solid returns ($NEP and $CFLT (+1,98 %) ), whereas so far there are many losers (e.g. $IONQ , $OTLK , $SACH , $EPR (-0,18 %) ).

That being said, I am not against holding individual stocks and I am sure that the likes of $NVDA (+2,32 %) , $MSFT (+1,59 %) , and $AMZN (+1,9 %) will continue to deliver amazing returns, but these are also top of the list in weighted S&P500 or Nasdaq ETFs... ($SPLG , $VOO (+0,06 %) or $QQQM , $SPGP etc.). Just saying!😉

5. Tailored investing

We are all different and our your time horizon, risk appetite, age, income and other factors most likely vary massively. My life, 47yo, being single without kids, being in a somewhat safe and well-paid job, having paid off properties that generate a decent income stream, wanting to retire in 3-5 years and not needing much is very different to someone who just starts their investment career and/or have a family or are already retired or or or.

Make a plan of what you want the investment to do for you and work towards it. In my case, I want to achieve #fire (Financial Independence Retire Early) as soon as possible, being able to live off dividends entirely. I recon I will need about 50k/ year (lots of safety built in). So building a strong dividend portfolio is my main goal. Sprinkle in some growth opportunities and we have a party. 🥳

Let me know what your goals are and how you plan to achieve those. Also if you have some input on which other ETFs and/or stocks to pick, I am all ears 👂👂.

Hi community,

I've been active here for just about a month, and started my investing journey on January.

Since I'm quite new to the investing world, I would like to have some feedback on my portfolio, and discuss my strategy and future plans too.

I read and learn a lot from you, especially the evergreens :)

I think it'll be a little bit of a read, but I'm writing this also as a reminder to my future self, in case I lose focus somewhere down the line :)

So, I'll start from me, my goals, strategy and then go into the reasoning behind the positions and then into plans.

About me

Almost 28, F, software developer. Own a small apartment bought and renovated in 2020-2021 with really really good mortgage rate and tax reimbursements in an city with a rich university presence .

This I bought and renovated as future asset (lots of young people needing apartments here to go to uni) and to not pay so much more in rent, as my mortgage payment is ~1/3 of a rent in a mostly shitty apartment for a single renter.

In the past 5 months I've been reading a lot on finance and markets as well as learning to screen stocks by analysing fundamentals, reading SEC's, white-papers and operational resumes of the companies I do research on and want to watchlist/buy.

Goals

My goals are really simple:

• Being able to finally move in with my partner in another state with much lower taxes and much higher RALs (partner already lives there), and being able to afford a home together as soon as possible (more expensive there)
• Less working in 7 -10 years
• Close the pension gap (might be less of a problem once goal 1 is reached)

Strategy

As per goals, investment term is long term, mostly buy/hold.

To reach my goals, I want to follow a mixed strategy of value, growth and dividends. Yes, I know, young and dividends. But.

To reach my goals dividends are needed: for this year I'll be able to provide a good savings rate of 1500-2200 euros every 3 months in 2024, then it'll largely depend on how things go for 2025-2026. I'll have some known expenses and possibly some still uncertain, a couple of which could be big, so I need to preserve my cash allocation and saving rates could stop.

Enough dividends with a null/reduced saving rate can be used for some buying power or used for covering interest of loan/margin when free cash flow is unavailable or reduced, but rates need to go down for good before I can consider this.

Then again, the dividend compound effect will enable me to reach and sustain all my three goals eventually, but only if paired with value and growth options.

Positions and future possibile positions

Onto the portfolio I have built so far! Currently US heavy, will always be US heavy, but in the last section I have plans for that, you'll see.

The allocation is 60/40 ETF/Shares with +-10 tolerance accounted for.

ETF allocations:

• 60% S&P500 $VUSA (+0 %)
  
• 28% Semiconductors $n/a (-0,41 %)
  
• 12% MSCI World Health $WHCS (-1,86 %)
  

Shares allocations go more by sector, region and value/growth/dividend ratio.

I'm actually investing a bit anti cyclically in Utilities ($NEE (-1,95 %) , $ENEL (-2,09 %) , $BEPC ), Solar/Solar related ($NEE (-1,95 %)
$ENEL (-2,09 %)
$BEPC
$NXT
$SHLS ) and Energy ( $NXE (+5,33 %) ) and ready to buy some dips in my current positions, or grow them if they please me with their performance.

Won't consider Oil and Mainstream by choice, except maybe for $PBR (+0,79 %) or $BIPC due to dividend.

$NXT and $SHLS are soaring right now, and are a really good combo of solid and innovation. (Cannot see the daily here on getquin tho)

$BEPC results compared to sector are solid, company strategy is very good, a little bit hated by market it seems. The same reasoning applies to $NEE (-1,95 %) , plus manatees! $ENEL (-2,09 %) also but without manatees and without good management (it's Italy after all), but still solid with a great moat and good div.

$NXE (+5,33 %) is super long term, I've read all the reports, primary concern is debt until building ops facilities is done and op can start for real. They are sitting on uranium next big thing and have good connection with the territory and authorities.

$HAUTO (-2,83 %) is actually filling the role of the best overall VGD stock, we will see after the div in March.

$BBVA (-2,39 %) really good bank and financial, my entry point in the financial sector at good value and also global.

$AMZN (+1,9 %)
$META (+0,4 %) and $NOVO B (-2,39 %) can speak for themselves as megacaps

Plans and ideas

So, after boring you for so long, the actual question/discussion section of this rant.

ETFs

Here I'm considering a possible 5% satellite, in the shape of Asia (ex-China)/Japan. I'll probably add one of $XMUJ (+0,14 %) , $DXJ (-0,58 %) or $V3PL (-0,05 %) , all distributing.

I like $DXJ (-0,58 %) maybe the most for its holdings but is sampled, $XMUJ (+0,14 %) good ter, phisycal full also, holdings a bit worse than $DXJ (-0,58 %) .

$V3PL (-0,05 %) seems to perform worse, but is more pan Asia, although not much value brought to the portfolio compared to the other two aside from region allocation.

Shares

In the short term, I want to add position for the REIT sector, as they are trading at a discount right now, and probably will shake off the priced in May FED cut that will in my opinion not happen (June I think more likely).

My watchlist consists of:

• $WPC (-0,72 %) simply solid, good spinoff, focus on industrial and forget offices for now, I like working from home much more too
• $VICI (+0,15 %) do not like casinos much, but they deliver so much it's hard to ignore
• $O (-0,83 %) classic solid dividend stock, global expansion with Decathlon is a good sign for me, but overbought I think (or maybe I'm just a contrarian)
• $EPRT (-0,51 %) could be a good bet on GD duo (growth/dividend) at least in the short term
• $IRM (-2,58 %) "Steel mountain" still goes on when every other REIT is deep red, the world is far from needing them, I cannot look at public service without crying as a developer
• $DLR (-0,61 %) as the technology REIT, still unsure of the moat
• $CCI (-1 %) as the telecoms REIT, will it be still profitable 10 years from now?
• $CTRE (+0 %) as a possible alternative to the defunct $MPW (-3,98 %) option

If you know some interesting ones or want to share some thoughts on some of those, it would help. Also, I have no idea of the possible allocations and will need to discuss it most likely.

Other things I'll closely watch to open a position will be:

• $CTVA (-2,13 %) like the sector, the mission and the moat, is soaring now but I'll need more data to decide if growth is sustainable. What do you think?
• $CRWD (+0,57 %)
  $CSCO (+0,49 %)
  $NET (-2,04 %)
  $PANW (+0,4 %) classic and AI cybersecurity will be needed a lot in the coming years I think, all are solid and cover different aspects. Which couple would you recommend that fit my strategy better?
• $TM (+0,61 %)
  $8058 (-1,08 %)
  $8001 (+0,02 %)
  $8031 (-1,33 %) are my prime picks for expanding Japan. I'm actually playing a duo, depending on etf choice (holding allocations will matter in asset size in portfolio). I admit I'm a little biased for $TM (+0,61 %) , EV's are not for the right now (1-3y) and they know it. Converting to EVs will be easy for them too. Others are classic Japan super holdings, you get everything and something. Which do you think would be the best pair, and with what etf?
• $GILD (-2,32 %) speaks for itself, still cannot comprehend why this stock is so hated by the market. Do not actually have others medical strong candidates, suggestions that fit are super welcomed

First of all, thanks to you, who made it this far. And read all of this shit.

Every other suggestion is more than welcome of course, and I'd love to discuss further in the comments if you want to drop by!

Thanks :)