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

7 comments:

BKP said...

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

Kenneth said...

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

Singapore Dividend Collector said...

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

Dividend Tech Warrior said...

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.

Dividend Tech Warrior said...

Hi Singapore Dividend Collector,

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

Dividend4retirement said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BostonLee said...

Hi DW,
What are your picks for 2019?