Sunday, January 20, 2019

Dividend Warrior 2018 Portfolio Performance Quick Review - $24k Annual Dividends Milestone!

Happy New Year everybody! 2018 has been a strenuous year, fraught with problems in the global arena and heightened market volatility. Trade tensions between US and China, Fed rate hikes every quarter, a breakdown in Brexit negotiations, trouble in the Big Tech world (I'm looking at you, Facebook!), slowdown in semi-con industry, US government partial shut-down, Elon Musk tweeting 'funding secured' to take Tesla private and the oh-so-frequent Trump tweets to spice things up. There is a reason why this particular post of mine received the highest views in 2018. Apparently, investors out there need some reassuring words (-__-")


Now, time to get into the nitty-gritty stuff. Below is a snapshot of my Singapore dividend portfolio's year-on-year performance.
  • Market value of portfolio decreased 2.25% from S$436.5k to S$426.7k. 
  • Total annual dividends increased 15% from S$20.7k to S$23.8k (Almost $2k per month)
  • Time-weighted Returns (including dividends): -1.79%
  • Time-weighted Returns (excluding dividends): -7.02%

Current top 3 holdings


A $124k cushion against future market volatility

Most investors expected REITs to crash and burn spectacularly as the US Fed hiked rates in 2018. With a good understanding of their fundamentals, I held onto my REIT positions and even accumulated a little more during the market correction in October 2018. As per usual, I stayed calm and collected CD throughout 2018. Since the start of 2019, my conviction was rewarded as REITs appear to be staging a come-back. Time in market is better than timing the market. It's all about consistency. I guess this can no longer be considered a 'lesson' for me since I have become numb zen more confident in dealing with such volatility after 9 years in the market. Anyway, 2018 was a walk in the park compared to the horrors of 2016.

Consistent Actions Creates Consistent Results
Dividend Warrior
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7 comments:

  1. BKPJanuary 22, 2019 at 3:41 AM

    DW - Couldn't agree more, REITs are still a great place to invest despite rate hikes from the FED. One reason I think people get scared is the lack of understanding between nominal and real interest rates and what this means for REITs. I have written about this at my blog if you are interested. Also, I wonder what you think about health care REITs moving into a possible down market?

    Cheers
    BKP
    https://thisweeksmarketreflections.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. KennethJanuary 23, 2019 at 10:48 PM

    Took you 9 years to achieve $24k in annual dividends. That's no mean feat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Singapore Dividend CollectorJanuary 23, 2019 at 11:08 PM

    Go on the DW!! $24k is amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dividend Tech WarriorJanuary 24, 2019 at 3:08 PM

    Hi Unknown,
    Thanks! :)
    Yup, building a $440k portfolio from scratch was definitely challenging on an average salary. Had to make some lifestyle sacrifices along the way.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dividend Tech WarriorJanuary 24, 2019 at 3:13 PM

    Hi Singapore Dividend Collector,

    Thanks for the support! :)
    May we collect ever-increasing dividends in the years to come!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dividend4retirementJanuary 25, 2019 at 4:18 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. BostonLeeJanuary 28, 2019 at 3:30 PM

    Hi DW,
    What are your picks for 2019?

    ReplyDelete

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