2024-01-11 09:00:00 ET
Summary
- The markets had a rough start to the year, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declining in the first week of January.
- The Dividend Harvesting Portfolio performed well, finishing up 8.28% and generating $32.10 in dividend income in the first week of 2024.
- The portfolio remains diversified and focused on generating consistent cash flow while mitigating downside risk.
One week down and fifty-one weeks to go. It's a new year, and the markets are off to an interesting start. The S&P 500 declined by -0.96% in the first week of January, while the Nasdaq fell -2.19%. It almost felt as if investors pushed off tax-loss harvesting and profit, taking a week to defer the tax liabilities to the 2025 tax season. While I thought something like this would have occurred heading into the end of 2023, I remain unphased as my strategy isn't going to change. Every week, I am going to deploy $100 into this portfolio and continue building out the underlying positions and forwarding a stream of dividend income. The January Fed meeting is approaching, and I am interested in watching Chairman Powell's speech and listening to his tone. I wouldn't be surprised if the markets are getting ahead of themselves with how many rate cuts they are making in 2024. The Fed didn't waiver from their plan in 2023, and they are not suggesting that the amount of rate cuts the market is pricing in will occur. I think it could be a tug of war over the next couple of months, and I will be deploying capital no matter what occurs.
After 149 weeks, I have allocated $14,900 to the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio. The first week of 2024 has concluded, and the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio finished up 8.28% ($1,233.49) on invested capital with a balance of $16,133.49. We're setting the tone with the offense in 2024, as $32.10 of dividend income was produced in week 1. I started 2024 by allocating capital toward Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY ) and the Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (PFFA). After 47 years of annual dividend increases, Walgreens ( WBA ) slashed its dividend by almost -50%. The combination of WBA reducing its dividend, the purchases I made, and reinvesting the dividend income generated increased my forward projected dividend income by $3.89 (0.3%) to $1,316.50, which is a forward yield of 8.16%. WBA was the third company to reduce its dividend on me so far if my memory serves me correctly, and I am sure that they won't be the last. This is a critical aspect of why I have built this portfolio to be extremely diversified, as the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio was able to take the reduction on the chin and still increase its forward dividend income despite the unwanted news.
The overall performance of the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio since inception
Another week has passed, and I wanted to address something from the comment section of last week's article ( can be read here ). Someone respectfully offered their opinion that this process would be too much work as there are too many positions to make reasonable investment decisions. I also respectfully responded to the comment in last week's article, but I wanted to address the concept of being as diversified as I am.
Nobody should make investment decisions because of how I allocate my personal capital or how anybody else allocates their capital. Everyone should do their own due diligence and make decisions that are for their personal needs and goals. The reader's comment is legitimate, and they may not be in a position to allocate as much time as myself to following a large number of positions. From the beginning of this series, it has been clear that my intention was to disprove the misconception that you need to have a large amount of seed capital to make income investing work. I said I would start from the ground up and allocate $100 per week, build out an income-producing portfolio from scratch in a new account, and document every dollar allocated and every dividend produced.
My investment objectives were to build a portfolio that would generate ongoing income while mitigating downside risk. As a secondary objective, I would look for capital appreciation. This has become a personalized ETF that I have built for myself that now has 92 individual positions. The main reason I have added so many positions, including ETFs and CEFs, is because I wanted the portfolio to be extremely diversified. I can't time markets, and I can't predict what macroeconomic or geopolitical events will occur on a daily basis. I wanted to build a portfolio that could navigate any external factors that were occurring and based on its performance over the previous 149 weeks, I would say this objective has been accomplished. Since starting this series, we have endured the war in Ukraine, supply chain issues, inflation, the Fed taking rates higher than they have been in four decades, a regional banking crisis, and elevated geopolitical tensions globally. Despite everything I just listed, the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio has mitigated downside risk and generated an ongoing stream of income for me.
For many investors, allocating capital toward an S&P 500 index fund could be the best idea, as you can place your capital on a set-it-and-forget-it methodology. I love S&P 500 index funds and have 100% of my retirement account allocated to one. Please don't try to replicate anything that I do or anyone else does, as this series is meant to provide an idea of what is possible through a dividend income investing strategy. The big difference is I am using real money, and this isn't a theoretical series, this is a live series with real results for better or worse. I accept all of the risks and am fine with the results from these investments, no matter where the account is at any given time. I have a tremendous amount of time to stay on top of all my investments, not just this portfolio, and I believe that I have structured the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio in an extremely beneficial way in 2024 and 2025.
The Dividend Harvesting Portfolio dividend section
Here's how much dividend income is generated per investment basket:
- Equities $374.05 (28.741%)
- ETFs $296.85 (22.55%)
- REITs $260.89 (19.82%)
- CEFs $231.21 (17.56%)
- BDCs $153.50 (11.66%)
Collecting dividends can serve many functions in a portfolio. Some investors utilize dividends to supplement their income and live off of them. I'm building a dividend portfolio for myself 30 years into the future. In 2022, I collected $507.80 in dividend income from 533 dividends. In 2023, I collected $978.11 in dividend income from 660 dividends. We're on to 2024, and after the first week, I have collected $32.10 from 12 dividends. This is 3.29% of the total dividend income generated in 2023 from 1.82% of the dividends produced.
These dividends allow me to gain additional equity in my investments while increasing my future cash flow in down markets. This style of investing isn't for everyone, but if you're looking to generate consistent cash flow while mitigating downside risk, this method has worked for me. The Dividend Harvesting Portfolio finished strong in 2023, and I am looking to generate $1,500 of dividend income in 2024 while getting to the point where I never dip below $100 of monthly dividend income being generated.
Well, I'm excited as I have generated 46.98% of the total dividend income in the first week of January 2024, as I did throughout the entire month of January 2023. I am excited for the next several months to progress, so I can see what the YoY progress looks like in the chart below. I am expecting that by April, I will generate at least $100 of dividend income per month going forward.
January started off strong, and The Dividend Tracker is indicating that next week should also be a strong week for generating dividend income. I am projected to generate around $45 in dividend income in week 150 and around $120 for the month of January. I am not basing any future purchases on when dividend income will be generated, but after seeing these metrics, I have a good feeling that triple-digit income will become a normalized occurrence in the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio.
Nothing has changed since last week, and there are 29 positions generating at least 1 share annually through their dividends. The amount of dividend income that will be produced from the new shares is roughly $99.12. My long-term goal is to have every position within the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio generating at least 1 share on an annual basis from their dividends. I have no idea when this will be accomplished, but I do think it is realistic that I can move another 10-15 positions over to the green side of the table below throughout the year.
The Dividend Harvesting Portfolio Composition
REITs are finally coming back down to my 20% threshold for a single sector. For a while ETFs were over 20%, and they are now sitting at a portfolio weight of 18.2%. Over the next couple of weeks, I will try not to allocate capital toward REITs, but if an opportunity presents itself, I may not be able to help myself. My cash position is sitting at $184.76, and I am trying to figure out what investment vehicle I should use for idle cash as I build the reserves. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. At some point, I am going to deploy the cash reserves, I am just waiting for the right opportunity.
Individual equities now represent 38.16% of the Dividend Harvesting portfolio while generating 28.41% of the dividend income. REITs, ETFs, CEFs, and BDCs make up 61.84% of the portfolio and generate 71.59% of the forward income. I plan on adding to every asset class within the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio throughout 2024, but in the early stages, I will try to divert capital away from REITs.
Verizon ( VZ ) had a strong week as it appreciated by 5.63%. Shares of VZ bottomed at $30.14 and have climbed back to $40.20. Verizon's momentum has allowed it to reclaim its place as the largest position within the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio, knocking Altria Group ( MO ) out of the top spot. I think VZ and MO are still trading at attractive valuations, and I am interested in adding more to both positions at some point.
I am providing a deeper dive into the top 10 positions in the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio with the table below. I am continuing to add additional data and am now including how much dividend income the overall portfolio generates and what percentage of the overall dividend income each position in the top-10 contributes.
I have allocated $4,813.74 to the top 10 positions in the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio, and they have generated $459.68 in dividend income. Overall, these positions have generated 9.55% of my original investment from their dividend income. These positions are now worth $5,422.06, which is an ROI of $608.32 or 12.64%. These positions are projected to generate $423.38 in annualized income, which is a forward yield of 8.8%. The top-10 holdings within the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio represent 33.61% of the total portfolio value while contributing 32.16% of the total dividend income being generated.
Week 149 additions
In week 149, I added to my positions in:
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF
Bristol Myers Squibb
- Just like Pfizer ( PFE ), I think BMY has bottomed and could be a strong candidate for a rebound in 2024. Over the past year, shares have dropped -27.38%, and they look as if a bottom formed back in November.
- BMY is trading at a forward P/E of 6.94, and their forward P/E will be in the mid-single digits over the next several years.
- BMY has been on an acquisition spree as it agreed to purchase cancer drugmaker Mirati Therapeutics ( MRTX ), schizophrenia drug developer Karuna Therapeutics ( KRTX ), and radiotherapy developer RayzeBio ( RYZB ) for around $20 billion to expand their pipeline.
- In the TTM, BMY generated $13.07 billion in cash from operations and $11.95 billion in FCF. They are trading for 8.9x their FCF, which is a low valuation in my opinion.
- BMY's dividend yield is 4.6%, and their dividend has had 7 years of consecutive growth. I think that BMY is an interesting play for 2024 and 2025.
Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF
- I think many preferred stocks are undervalued, and PFFA is my favorite ETF in the preferred space. I think Jay Hatfield is a terrific fund manager and has done an excellent job navigating a difficult macroeconomic environment.
- Shares of PFFA are up 8.06% over the past year, and I think preferred shares are going higher in 2024. I want to lock in more shares at a yield on capital that exceeds 9%. Currently, shares of PFFA have a 9.59% yield.
- I wanted more exposure to preferred shares and plan on adding more shares of PFFA in 2024.
Week 150 Gameplan
Week 150 is reader suggestion week. Please leave all your suggestions in the comment section, as I will be adding a new position or adding more to an existing position from the reader's suggestions.
Conclusion
The Dividend Harvesting Portfolio is off to a strong start in 2024. It is up 8.28% ($1,233.49) on invested capital while generating approximately $1,316.50 in forward dividend income, which is an 8.16% portfolio yield. While WBA cut their dividend by almost -50% after 47 years of annual dividend increases, my forward dividend income still grew in week 149. By being diversified across different positions and sectors, the dividend reduction barely impacted how much dividend income was being produced from the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio. I am excited to see how 2024 progresses as I feel it's going to be a strong year for the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio. Please leave all of your comments and suggestions below as I try to interact with everyone in the comments section.
For further details see:
Dividend Harvesting Portfolio Week 149: $14,900 Allocated, $1,316.50 In Projected Dividends