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