Monthly Update: November 2016

A short monthly update of my portfolio.

Indicator	As of 31-10	As of 30-11	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	4,046	4,196	3.7%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	38,000	40,234	5.9%
AEX GR	1,410	1,428	1.3%
USD.EUR	0.911	0.944	3.7%
Portfolio value	€ 24,323	€ 25,634	5.4%

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.

Monthly Update: October 2016

A short and late monthly update of my portfolio. I will post November tomorrow! :)

Indicator	As of 30-9	As of 31-10	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	4,121	4,046	-1.8%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	38,302	38,000	-0.8%
AEX GR	1,407	1,410	0.2%
USD.EUR	0.890	0.911	2.4%
Portfolio value	€ 24,806	€ 24,323	-1.9%

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.

Monthly Update: September 2016

A short monthly update of my portfolio.

Indicator	As of 31-8	As of 30-9	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	4,120	4,121	+0.0%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	38,461	38,302	-0.4%
AEX GR	1,413	1,407	-0.5%
USD.EUR	0.893	0.890	-0.4%
Portfolio value	€ 24,735	€ 24,806	+0.3%

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.

Recent buy: Omega Healthcare Investors

On September 15 I purchased 41 shares of Omega Healthcare Investors for $34.87 per share. I currently own 100 shares of OHI. This purchase will add roughly €90 to my annual dividend income. I believe OHI is reasonably priced, has great growth potential and has been a stellar dividend growth company in recent years.


As a result of my purchase I am overweight OHI in my portfolio Fresh capital and selective dividend reinvestment will hopefully reduce the weight to a more normal level of around 5% to 7% for bigger positions.

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

Great Total Return Prospects For This Transformed Healthcare REIT

Lately, I've been following the healthcare REIT sector more closely because most companies in this sector are stable income producers, have solid business models and great demographic trends ahead of them. Recently I wrote about OHI here and about Ventas here.

Another interesting REIT is Sabra Health Care REIT. In my next article for Seeking Alpha I discuss Sabra and whether it can be a good addition to your portfolio at its current price.

Check it out here: http://seekingalpha.com/article/4002687-great-total-return-prospects-transformed-healthcare-reit

Ventas: Wait For The Valuation To Cool Down

Ventas is a real estate investment trust with a highly diversified portfolio of seniors housing and healthcare properties located throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It is part of the "Big 3" in healthcare REITs (including Welltower, HCP and VTR). Lately, I've been following this sector more closely because most companies in this sector are stable income producers, have a solid business model and great demographic trends ahead of them. Let's take a look at Ventas and discuss whether it can be a good addition to your portfolio at current prices.

Read the rest of the article here: http://seekingalpha.com/article/4001126-ventas-wait-valuation-cool

Catch up post! (inactive in past few months)

I might have mentioned in one of my earlier posts or replies that my wife and I bought a house. The builders will start soon and are expected to be ready in Q2 2017. Because of this purchase my cash flow towards investments has been limited the past months (exactly zero to be precise). Even though my portfolio kept chugging along just fine, I didn't feel the need to update this site each month.

However, this post is meant to offer a short update on the portfolio.

Total return
In the table below I have presented some benchmarks to review how my portfolio has performed year-to-date.

Indicator	As of 1-1	As of 31-7	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3821,6	4114,51	+7,7%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	35.726	38.361	+7,4%
AEX GR	1.328	1.387	+4,4%
USD.EUR	0,9208	0,9017	-2,1%
Portfolio value	€ 22.570	€ 24.458	+8,4%

In the past few months the markets went up and down quite violently sometimes. Right now the markets have gained between 4,4% and 7,7% year-to-date (total return). My portfolio gained a little bit more! Since I didn't deposit any new money in the last few months I can safely compare the change %'s. In the end it's not bad at all to see the growth in the portfolio without me doing (hardly) anything at all.

Portfolio activity
I have done a few things:

• 3 new shares of RDS (DRIP)
• 1 new share of Accell (DRIP)

Sold my position in:

• TGH. My shares were called at $12.50 because of a covered call option play. Current stockprice is $11.37 so it's actually not bad I guess.
• Baxalta: sold my shares because of the merger with Shire. I didn't research the merger and didn't want to end up with a few shares of Shire. The price had run up quite nicely in the prior months.

New position in:

• TROW: decent valuation, dividend and good dividend growth prospects. I like the asset management business model and it' s actually some sort of leveraged play on the stockmarket as a whole.

Current cash position is good for 1 new position (or to add to an existing position).

Dividends

I've received € 427 in dividends in the past few months. This is slightly lower than last year but that was to be expected after a few dividend cuts (BBL, TGH, KMI) which seriously impacted dividend income in the past months.

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
2015	€ 29	€ 49	€ 128	€ 55	€ 69	€ 87	€ 31
2016	€ 53	€ 39	€ 119	€ 34	€ 59	€ 98	€ 25
Y-o-y change%	+83%	-20%	-7%	-38%	-14%	+13%	-19%

Outlook

I don't expect to deposit any new money to my dividend portfolio this year. I do plan to keep reinvesting the dividends and open a new position if the cash position is big enough.

Monthly Update: January 2016

The markets started the new year with a blast. There are a lot of worries about China and other developing economies, talks about global recession and whatnot. Since I am planning to buy a house in the near future my deposits are and will continue to remain zero. However I do still receive dividends which in time can be used to invest. In the table below I have shown some benchmark indicators of general market indices and my own dividend growth portfolio. It wasn't really a good month, but hey.

Indicator	As of 31-12	As of 31-1	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3.822	3631,96	-5,0%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	35.726	33.802	-5,4%
AEX GR	1.328	1.297	-2,4%
USD.EUR	0,9208	0,9174	-0,4%
Portfolio value	€ 22.570	€ 21.694	-3,9%

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
Four separate companies paid me dividends during this month.

• WMT: 20 shares @ $0.49 for a total of $9.80
• BAX: 22 shares @ $0.115 for a total of $2.53
• BXLT: 22 shares @ $0.07 for a total of $1.54
• PM: 17 shares @ $1.02 for a total of $17.34

Total: around €24 after tax, which is almost slightly lower than last year due to the dividend reduction of the combination BAX/BXLT. However, I did sell another (covered) TGH call which netted me €30. So total income including option premium is €54.

Dividend increases or decreases during this month

None.

Yearly forward dividend
My 12-month forward dividend rate is now €920, compared to €940 last month. Nothing changed except the EUR.USD rate.

Seeking Alpha articles
None.

Monthly Update: December 2015

So 2015 has come to an end. I'll write a post about the progress I made in the past year but for now I just want to present my dividend income for the month of December. In the table below I have shown some benchmark indicators of general market indices and my own dividend growth portfolio. It wasn't really a good month, and there's hardly any improvement in the new year.

Indicator	As of 30-11	As of 31-12	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3.883	3821,6	-1,6%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	36.277	35.726	-1,5%
AEX GR	1.412	1.328	-5,9%
USD.EUR	0,9444	0,9208	-2,5%
Portfolio value	€ 23.982	€ 22.570	-5,9%

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
Nine separate companies paid me dividends during this month.

• KO: 37 shares @ $0.33 for a total of $12.21
• INTC: 63 shares @ $0.24 for a total of $15.12
• AFL: 28 shares @ $0.41 for a total of $11.48
• IBM: 7 shares @ $1.30 for a total of $9.10
• XOM: 17 shares @ $0.73 for a total of $12.41
• UNP: 15 shares @ $0.55 for a total of $8.25
• TGH: 100 shares @ 0.24 for a total of $24.00
• RDS: 98 shares @ $0.47 for a total of $46.06 (DRIP 1 share)
• UNA: 37 shares @ €0.30 for a total of €11.17

Total: around €129 after tax, which is almost 60% higher than last year in December. It's (almost) my highest monthly income ever, so definitely a solid month in terms of income!

Dividend increases or decreases during this month

Still contemplating my positions in KMI and TGH.

Yearly forward dividend
My 12-month forward dividend rate is now €940, compared to €940 last month. Nothing changed.

Seeking Alpha articles
None.