Every quarter we create a breakdown the dividends and how many shares we accumulated for each stock we own. This helps us evaluate our portfolios and gives you a chance to see the results of what we teach.
Since we have a lot of data to process at the end of the year we offset our quarterly updates by a month. So our Q4 is for September, October, and November.
Let’s dig into the dividend data for our High Yield Portfolio. Keep in mind that the current total value of this portfolio is only about $105,000.
Podcast Video
If you want informative tidbits as we go through each stock in this portfolio, watch Episode 81 of our podcast. You can also listen on your favorite podcast platform.
Dividend Chart
If this chart is too hard to read on your device, click here to access it directly.
Takeaways From The Data
Dividend Increase From Last Quarter
In Q3 we collected $4,557.95 in divies in our sweet freedom portfolio. This quarter we had $5,368.03, which is a increase of 17.8%.
What’s more, with December still left to go, we stand at $14,907.44 total dividends for 2024. 2023 yielded $13,684.75. That leaves us up 8.9% from last year with a full month yet to go. Our projected divies for December are $1,926.86. If we hit that mark, we’ll be up 23%. YUMMERS.
Enough of the back patting, what else did we learn from the last quarter?
Your Portfolio Needs YieldMax ETFs
If you don’t have any exposure to YieldMax ETFs in your portfolio, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. We even recommend them for conservative portfolios.
>> Check Out Our Conservative Portfolio Quarterly Dividends <<
To minimize your risk, only allocate a small portion of your portfolio (5%), get into the right ones, and don’t reinvest until you recoup your initial capital.
CONY, NVDY, or YMAX have been excellent for us in 2023, and they performed well the past quarter too.
- CONY has paid us $18.95 per share in divies in 2023, which is more than the ETF costs.
- NVDY has paid us $18.44 per share in divies.
- YMAX has paid us $6.74 per share in 2024.
The YMAX yields have actually gotten a lot better since they went to a weekly payday in the past quarter which is contrary to what I expected. I’m happy I was wrong.
JEPQ Was A Better Pick Than JEPI
Another quarter of data shows us that I was correct in picking JEPQ instead of JEPI. All the “experts” rave about JEPI, but the data says otherwise.
YTD JEPQ is up 26.28% and JEPI is up 16.9% and during the last quarter JEPQ was up 12.91% vs JEPI being up 5.42%.
I got a lot of shit from people for suggesting that JEPQ was the better option. So it’s nice that 2024 has backed up my claim. Plus JEPQ has a 9.36% yield vs JEPI’s yield of 7.07%. #WINNING
We Were Right To Sell Our Bond Funds
Our call on bond funds DSU, PDI, and YYY was spot on yo.
In the last quarter I actually had to sell all 3 because the data showed them as overvalued. We have not abandoned bond funds; we just rotated into better valuations. PHT was where we parked some of our profits.
BDCs Have Been Very Profitable
BDCs are still just amazing investments. FSK, HTGC, TRIN and MAIN have done so well for us, that we had the profits to start 2 positions in 2 more deeply undervalued BDCs: PTMN and RWAY.
DRIP has been turned off and on so many times among FSK, TRIN and HTGC. When the price gets too high, we take cash. And we used this cash to our advantage. Allowing us to get into PTMN and RWAY basically on divies alone.
Sure we risk overexposure to BDCs, but I suspect 2025 will be kind to lenders given the policies that have been floated by the new administration. My sector concentration changes based on economic data and macros.
Use Your Cash Strategically
We never have cash just sitting around. When we sell assets or take our dividends in cash, they either go into other investments or we park the money in BulletShares until a buy comes along.
In the past quarter we sold DSU, EQNR, PDI and YYY. We used the proceeds and dividends from overpriced investments to start positions in AIPI, CIVI, PHT, PTMN, RWAY, SRV & UPS.
Your money will grow at a much faster rate if you use it strategically.
Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment
When we get a hunch on something or see a new asset that has a good concept, we try it out. This is how we find what works and doesn’t. It also helps us improve our strategy. Obviously, you should wait until you’re more experienced and have excess capital. But, you can at least learn from what we test out.
Our TSLY vs CRSH experiment is still ongoing. To date, it looks like a failure as we are down $250 in CRSH and only up $167 in TSLY. We shall see how this turns out. I’ll let you know.
How Much Is Your Portfolio Generating In Dividends?
I truly hope you had as much success as we did this quarter. Let us know in the comments!
