Tag: Financial Independance

Portfolio news – June 2017 changes

June again, some portfolio news again. Just one new position this month Austrian real estate company Conwert. Mainly active in Germany and Austria, mostly in Germany. Big in residential real estate. Which is boring , hence good. The real estate market in Germany is much more stable and boring compared too the Netherlands, rents are more affordable so not everyone is forced into buying a home. The real estate itself reflects a more real value if you like. It doesn’t go up like crazy.

Some hotspots exempt like Munich. What this means people tend to rent much longer , stable income and there is a real demand for renting. Which attributes a lot to the stability of the market. Dividend at the moment is around 0,30 EUR , and with a share price of around 17 at the moment this is a dividend yield of 1,76% , again not spectacular but there is room to grow here.

Only thing I completely missed was the takeover bid from Vovonia , silly me. We’ll see how this plays out. It’s a nice way to get some exposure into mainly , the German real estate market without buying a rental unit yourself.

The rest of the money and an extra amount went into the Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS index fund. Which I did to balance the portfolio 50/50 , so 50% index and 50% dividend stocks I pick. Science wise the consensus is that beating an index fund is near impossible as an amateur. So as I want to compare my own performance and not totally throw away my hobby, it’s only common sense to have it 50/50.

June 2017 – Dividend

June is over again which means dividend time. This month has been another good month , in comparison with last year the dividend is up 112%. Seems like a high number but it’s mainly new positions which pay out dividends for the first time. It’s the building of the portfolio which makes this rather large percentage appear.

The first goal of this portfolio is to pay for my fixed monthly costs. Think mortgage , utility bills etc. We are nowhere near this goal but it’s progressing nicely. Every Euro automated income is welcome.

So I am pretty happy with the progress and it’s fun working on this goal. Now the numbers. Excluding the dividend tax which I pay but deduct from my taxes at the end of each year.

27/06/2017 VANGUARD DIVIDEND APPRECIATION ETF EUR 1,37
26/06/2017 RDSA Dividend Coupon EUR 41,94
20/06/2017 HAL Trust EUR 71,00
14/06/2017 Icahn Enterprises L.P. EUR 1,35
09/06/2017 Emerson Electric Company EUR 4,32
09/06/2017 Emerson Electric Company EUR 0,65
08/06/2017 Microsoft Corporation EUR 7,03
07/06/2017 Unilever Certificate EUR 3,59
02/06/2017 Porsche Automobil Holding SE EUR 10,10

Totaal EUR 141,35

Portfolio news – May 2017 changes

Well this post is a bit overdue, but not too late. In May I added one new position to my portfolio and used the remainder of the cash to buy ETF’s , specifically the Vanguard FTSE all world ETF.

The new addition is a Dutch investment company called HAL investments, It’s the investment vehicle of one of the most famous Rotterdam shipping family’s, Van der Vorm. They used to own the Holland America shipping line , hence the name HAL. It’s not my usual investment but for me it’s an interesting one. It’s not as much about the company’s they own which are available on the stock exchange. It’s the ones that are not.

For small time investors like myself it’s hard getting in on good company’s that are not listed on one of the exchanges. This is were HAL becomes interesting. They own parts of Coolblue, infomedics and others.

The family holds most of the shares which is a nice vote of confidence. They pay a healthy dividend which contributes nicely to my goal of living off the dividends that come in every year.

the downside is they are a bit heavily invested in the exploration for oil & gas, which has not been that great of a sector the past few years. Still they manage to make a nice profit anyway.

It’s been going strong since 1989 and I believe they will do a good job investing in company’s for years to come. Hopefully they will make more investments in company’s without a listing.

Portfolio news – November 2016 changes

In November I added to my position of Ahold, in the weeks leading up to my monthly buying spree 😉 this went down somewhat faster and has now become a buy in my humble opinion. The numbers are still adding up and for me this is buying with a discount. The main reason for the drop is the overall exposure to the dollar and eastern Europe, although I see a lot of upside there for the next few years. So I now own a larger piece of this nice stock at a discount.

For next month the buying list is not there yet but I am thinking about adding some more to the ETF part of the portfolio, this part has been neglected for a few months now as I enjoy reading and figuring out things myself. It’s a bit of a hobby as well and it helps me training my focus and gives me energy. But and this becomes more and more evident. It’s not the most profitable options. Because of it’s cost base and lack of sufficient spread of risk over markets and sectors. With ETF’s this is all worked out better. And it’s a bit easier.

So I will add some more to my portfolio , but it will kind of take the fun away. So I will keep doing the research as well and backing this up with buying the stocks. Simply because I enjoy it.

November 2016 – Dividend

This months dividends are small , but there’s still some. The year is almost over and over the next few weeks I will think about the goals for next year. They will be small and manageable and fun. I will keep you all updated on all things in life. But that’s for another post. This one is about dividends. So without further delay, November dividends:

14-11-2016 ONEOK Inc EUR 4,87
10-11-2016 Apple Inc EUR 4,66

Total 9,53

Not much but all little bits help. On to next month.

Debt reduction versus Cash flow and future risk

It’s something I have been thinking about a lot lately, since borrowing money is cheap at the moment and it’s getting easier to refinance existing debt to lower rates this has me puzzling.

Mostly because I have always had a view of getting rid of it as soon as possible. Now that I have reduced most of my debt it’s been tempting to add a bit of debt in order to generate a bigger passive cash flow. Basically to invest more and get a bigger overall return on my investments. Now that brings a new factor to the table. My one and only debt at the moment is a mortgage on my house. The value of the house exceeds the outstanding debt by a fair sum, the interest is low and secure for the coming 22 years. After 22 years I will be mortgage free anyway. The risk is that I can’t generate enough income to pay the monthly cost.

Since I have been sick this is a risk, I now receive a goverment pay out which is not guaranteed , 2 scenario’s can happen. My condition stays as it is today and I will not be able to return to work , which gives me a stable income from the government. Which is lower than that I can make working in my old profession.

The second is that I return to a job , which will hopefully be possible. The people I work with already prepared me for the fact I can’t return full time and working in my old profession. So again a lower income. By reducing my monthly mortgage payment and interest burden even more agressivly I can minimize risk further.

On the other hand I can probably have I higher rate of return by investing the money in other asset categories, and thus create a cash flow that in the future will pay me much of my monthly costs. Meaning the mortgage and including food, insurance, etc.

For some reason I can’t really figure out a course of action where I feel absolutely comfortable. I know that when I would have been working the risks are much the same but my confidence is somewhat less since I have been sick and progress is going as slow. Maybe this is something to worry about later on in the proces. Well Just wanted to write about this little bit of doubt in my mind. If anyone has some useful advice please feel free to contact me.

October 2016 – Dividend

October is nearing the end and I am once again doing a round of dividends, it’s been a good month on the markets for me and I am slowly getting more insight in how to value company’s.
More on that later though. For now just the numbers.

28-10-2016 Dividend (Product: DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY ) EUR 3,91
26-10-2016 Dividend (Product: CISCO SYSTEMS INC. ) EUR 6,19
25-10-2016 Dividend (Product: GENERAL ELECTRIC ) EUR 4,30
14-10-2016 Dividend (Product: WHOLE FOODS MARKET IN) EUR 1,15
14-10-2016 Dividend (Product: W.P. CAREY INC. REIT) EUR 8,37
3-10-2016 Dividend (Product: COCA-COLA COMPANY (THE) EUR 4,46

Total EUR 28,38

Portfolio news – October 2016 changes

New name for the monthly posts , changes instead of additions. Why, well I sold one position in my portfolio. My favourite sneaker manufacturer Adidas. I bought it back in November 2015 and sold it last week. The question is why of course as I am very long term. First the appreciation is very substantial in this period. I can’t really add any more to the position without tipping the balance in the portfolio and as a result also the dividend percentage dropped significantly. For me the valuation just got a bit too high and the payout of selling was very attractive.

I will still follow the company and I am sure to buy it again at lower levels. As for the addition this month it has been BMW the German car manufacturer that will along with the rest of the established auto motive branch , according to all the experts lose from Tesla. But until that happens is a very good investment. It has had some downturn last year and at the beginning of this year and is now slowly getting out of that hole. It’s around 80 Euro at the moment which is not cheap but simply good value. Debt position is average and should increase.

Dividend is 3,20 Euro per share which is around 4%, fair result. Another reason is I am spotting a lot of people looking at BMW as their new car. Maybe not the usual market indicator but one famous fund manager always said, look around and buy what you see people buy and company’s you understand. Along those lines anyway. So it’s all about the Germans this month.

Portfolio news – September 2016 additions

So for this portfolio update I have added a brand new name to the collection. It’s ASML a Dutch company that makes machines to produce all these wonderful chips we all need in our phones, computers and other selected devices of choice. It has been on my list for some time now. It’s been expensive lately and still is, but I simply decided not to wait any more to add this to the portfolio. Also because I suck at timing highs and lows of any stock I wish to buy.

The company has paid out a dividend of Euro 1,05 which is nice , but as makes the current price a bit high in terms of dividend return, nevertheless still good enough. The dividend is not guaranteed , one could say that’s the case per default for any company. But it’s not a member of the dividend aristocrats family. So they will not try to pay out dividends if it doesn’t suit the company’s goals. The company’s debt is slowly decreasing which is always good. One of the other risk factors with these highly expensive and long term products is the problems that can occur with delivery times , but that is the case with all producers of this kind of high tech. For me it’s a solid investment for the future, and I hope I can add to the position in the near future.

September 2016 – Dividend

Another month , another bit of dividend coming in this month, not much to add except the figures. Figuring out how to get a bit more revenue out of the portfolio, but since I’m very slow, this process is also very slow. Totals without tax, which will be deducted and reclaimed again at the end of the year, so irrelevant for this overview.

7-9-2016 Dividend (Product: UNILEVER DR) EUR 3,20
8-9-2016 Dividend (Product: MICROSOFT CORPORATION) EUR 3,10
9-9-2016 Dividend (Product: VANGUARD DIV APPRECIAT) EUR 1,02
9-9-2016 Dividend (Product: EMERSON ELECTRIC COMPA) EUR 4,09
19-9-2016 Dividend (Product: RDSA dvd reinvestment plan) EUR 42,18
19-9-2016 Dividend (Product: ICAHN ENTERPRISES L.P.) EUR 1,29

Total 54,88