Monthly Update: August 2016

A short monthly update of my portfolio.

Indicator	As of 31-7	As of 31-8	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	4,115	4,120	+0.1%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	38,361	38,461	+0.3%
AEX GR	1,387	1,413	+1.9%
USD.EUR	0.902	0.893	-1.0%
Portfolio value	€ 24,458	€ 24,735	+1.1%

However, since I am in it for the long haul I am not too interested in these daily or monthly fluctuations. What matters is that I keep focused on buying high quality companies which provide me with a steady stream of growing dividends.

Purchases

None.

Dividends received
Three separate companies paid me dividends during this month.

• DE: 18 shares @ $0.60 for a total of $10.80
• OHI: 59 shares @ $0.60 for a total of $35.40
• KMI: 48 shares @ $0.125 for a total of $6.00

Total: around €40 after tax, which is lower than last year due to the dividend reduction of KMI and the fact that I closed my TGH position. I guess next year will be better! :-)

Dividend increases or decreases during this month

OHI raised the quarterly dividend by a penny. Since I own 59 shares that will provide me with an extra 2 euro's per year. Ka-ching!

Yearly forward dividend
My 12-month forward dividend rate is now €930, compared to €920 last month. Nothing changed except the EUR.USD rate.

Seeking Alpha articles
Last month I wrote three articles on Seeking Alpha:

• Omega Healthcare Is A Buy At Its Current Price
• Ventas: Wait For The Valuation To Cool Down
• Great Total Return Prospects For This Transformed Healthcare REIT

Financial Review Of The Debt Structure Of The 4 Biggest Healthcare REITs

In the last few years there have been various occasions where speculation about possible interest rate hikes have impacted share prices in the short term, especially for REITs. Two years ago I wrote an article about the sensitivity of Omega Healthcare Investors and three other healthcare REITs to a possible interest rate hike. You can read the article here.

I concluded that OHI seemed less sensitive to interest rate changes because they only have to refinance a much smaller portion of their debt load before 2019. So this begs the question: at this moment, how do different healthcare REITs compare on the sensitivity to interest rate hikes? Which REIT is best equipped, from an operational perspective, to withstand rising rates in the future?

Want to read the rest of the article? Check it out here!

http://seekingalpha.com/article/4007273-financial-review-debt-structure-4-biggest-healthcare-reits

Medical Properties Trust: Hospitals Are Great Real Estate Investments, But Not Right Now

Medical Properties Trust (MPW) is one of the leading providers of real estate capital to hospital operators across the United States and Western Europe. MPW's portfolio is mostly invested in for-profit hospitals. It includes more than 200 properties across 29 states and five countries. In my latest article on Seeking Alpha I discuss whether MPW can be a good addition to your portfolio.

Link: http://seekingalpha.com/article/4004401-medical-properties-trust-hospitals-great-real-estate-investments-right-now