August 2017 – Dividend

August has past again, and so it’s time for the monthly dividend update. Yet again the echange rate between the euro and dollar is causing a bit of a downturn in the number of Euro’s paid out.
I have been doing some digging into ways to compensate for the currency fluctuations and haven’t come up with a decent solution for what in effect is still a tiny portfolio. The focus however will shift towards company’s paying out dividends in the Euro country’s. Which will tackle it as well.

For now the numbers :

21/08/2017 NSI EUR 12,48
17/08/2017 Apple Inc EUR 5,38
14/08/2017 ONEOK Inc EUR 6,37
04/08/2017 Amsterdam Commodities EUR 12,00

Total EUR 36,23

Portfolio news – July and August 2017 changes

An new portfolio update, this time it’s 2 months in one, why ? Well as you might know I buy dividend paying stocks and ETF’s. The first category because I like to research company’s and it keeps me busy. Nowadays it’s a sort a replacement for work as I can easily do it at my own pace and no deadlines. It also ‘trains’ my reading, analytical skills and maths , hopefully.

The ETF’s are the best option science wise, as research shows it’s important to have low costs, a large diversification and long term strategy. This is all combined in these nice ETF’s. In order to get my portfolio into the desired 50/50 divide between my own hand picked stocks and the ETF’s I have just been buying ETF’s these last 2 months. It’s not there yet but I am getting there. Hence the lack of updates in July.

It’s a bit of an experiment , learning if I can do better than the ETF’s. Which according to science is near impossible. But a man needs a hobby right ? Until next time. Happy investing!

July 2017 – Dividend

August 2017 again, so it’s time for the monthly dividend rundown. Dividend slightly behind compared to last year. Mainly because of exchange rates, the dollar is pretty cheap at the moment which reflects in the 17% degrease in dividend amount. This is because I have to convert the dollars back to euros. Maybe I should check the possibility of hedging against these risks. Now the list 🙂 Until next time !

Overview :

28-07-17 Dow Chemical Company EUR 3,93
27-07-17 Walt Disney Company EUR 0,60
26-07-17 Cisco Systems EUR 6,94
25-07-17 General Electric Company EUR 4,51
14-07-17 W.P. Carey Inc USD EUR 8,55
06-07-17 Unibail-Rodamco EUR 5,10
05-07-17 Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF EUR 1,43
03-07-17 Coca-Cola Company EUR 4,74

Totaal EUR 35,80

How running saved my life.

How Running saved my life, and still does. As most of you know by now in the beginning of 2016 I suffered an encephalitis. Which I survived because of my physical condition and the quick response by my girlfriend and parents. But without my condition even that swift response probably wouldn’t have been swift enough.

After my return from hospital my main concern was keeping my newly acquired job, which I enjoyed a lot. In the back of my head I knew it was too big a strain on my energy and it wasn’t the best thing to do but I went full steam ahead. Jobs are important and I wasn’t giving up. At the revalidation centre it was noticed I was way too tired but from my own perspective I already was taking it way to easy.

Anyway at the end of June my contract ended and I finally had to let go. Resulting in lots of time in bed and on the couch sleeping and resting. This was brick wall I had slammed into.
Physically and mentally this is very hard. After my contract ended I could really put my focus on my revalidation. Only now I understood what the phrase “taking it really easy, one small step at a time” meant for me.

Mentally it gets dark really fast,because all the fatigue is coming out at once , your mind tends to play games. It’s now really up to you to find the motivation to get up, make a plan and stick to it.
Work gives that routine automatically. It’s the start of a grieving period, all at once.

Basically the same mistake I made with one of my greatest hobby’s , running. It helped push the fatigue away for a few hours and made me think I could beat it. Once I had crashed I also had to put running aside for a while.
But In this case I had experience with over-training and runner fatigue. So out with the old plans and I started to make new ones. Targeted at just enjoying walking and some short and slow runs. It really helped me in countering the darkness in my mind and it helps in balancing those episodes out. The training schedule also helps creating a nice framework to organise your days around.

It keeps you physically and mentally healthy, so running is in a lot of ways still saving my life.

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.

May 2017 – Dividend

It’s the end of May again, Another round of dividends, comparing the amount with last year it’s around 180% more, due to new additions to the portfolio such as Munich Re. Still it’s a nice increase and one for the future. The goal is expanding the dividend income and this month is a nice example.

For the most part it’s recurring dividends however, it’s just that Munich Re is a big chunk in this picture.

The numbers:

18-05-2017 Apple Inc EUR 5,68
18-05-2017 Accell Group EUR 7,20
15-05-2017 K+S EUR 12,00
15-05-2017 NSI EUR 14,00
15-05-2017 ONEOK Inc USD 5,54
12-05-2017 ASML Holding EUR 4,80
11-05-2017 Amsterdam Com EUR 22,50
04-05-2017 Bayer EUR 13,50
02-05-2017 Muenchener Re EUR 129,00

Total 214,22

The search for employment new style

Well it’s been a while since my last update , last few months I have been looking for a ‘job’ , a bit of a testing ground for the workload I can still manage. I had a first meeting 2 weeks ago and the meeting went well, unfortunately there wasn’t a project which was adequate for me to participate in.

It was my first job interview in my new situation and it went well, although the next few days I experienced some backlash. It was very good as you can see how people react and how my explanation of my position can be viewed and where I can improve.

A week later I had another job interview which went very well , I can start this week for a few hours a week. I am very excited. It’s a big step in the right direction. I will be working on things that need to be done but aren’t time sensitive. On my own pace in a very quiet environment. Very good !

Next step will be to get all the paper work sorted, which should be fine. Good news all round. Until next time.

Portfolio news – April 2017 changes

So what’s new, this month I sold my stake in Accell, the company was in take over negotiations with a large automotive and industrial group named PON.

Within a day the price went up with about 26% , I didn’t want to sell at that time since the dividend was due and I estimated a value of about 33 Euro’s per share was about right. So after a month of negotiations and due diligence Accell withdrew from the negotiation table.

Not a problem so far , PON had upped the bid to 33,75 excluding the divided , they came up from 32,75 including the dividend. This apparently wasn’t enough. Still not a problem for me since I am in it for the long term. But at the same time the CEO quits. Which is not a good thing. It creates unrest and instability. Which I really don’t like. So I decided to sell my position in Accell.

It was a nice ride and a good profit. But still I would have preferred to hold on without the turmoil. All will be fine after this I think. And I will pick the stock up at a lower price point, which it will bound too go to.

In addition I added to my Ahold Delhaize position , which is now at it’s maximum percentage within my portfolio. Again mainly to balance everything a bit. I also sold a few call options on my portfolio as part of my strategy to increase my results. This will earn me an extra 0,45% this month.

The rest of the money went into a index fund , the Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS. Which is part of the idea that index funds will always outperform stock picking and especially trading.