In this article, I want to share with you what is inside my $8,000 dividend portfolio. You’ve seen this portfolio in most of my articles about my income updates, but I’ve never really talked about each of the stocks I own. So we’re going to do just that and a review of the goals and plans for this portfolio this 2022.
2021 vs. 2022 Holdings
Before we begin, let’s talk about what were my holdings at the beginning of 2021, and how that changed going into 2022. Some stocks, I’ll talk more about them because I may have a lot to say about them. While for some stocks, I’ll go briefly over since there might not be much to talk about.
In January of 2021, I held these 10 stocks in my portfolio:
| COMPANY | TICKER |
|---|---|
| AT&T Inc | T |
| AGNC Investment Corp | AGNC |
| Gladstone Commercial Corp | GOOD |
| Gladstone Land Corporation | LAND |
| Global Net Lease | GNL |
| New Residential Investment Corp | NRZ |
| PIMCO Dynamic Credit and Mortgage Income Fund | PCI |
| Realty Income Corp | O |
| Stag Industrial | STAG |
| Schwab US REIT ETF | SCHH |
Throughout the course of 2021, these holdings have changed. I’ve closed some positions and added new ones, increasing my holdings to 15 stocks as of December 31, 2021.
| COMPANY | TICKER |
|---|---|
| Arbor Realty Trust Inc | ABR |
| AT&T Inc | T |
| Abbvie Inc | ABBV |
| Enterprise Products Partners LP | EPD |
| Gladstone Commercial Corp | GOOD |
| Global Net Lease | GNL |
| Lument Finance Trust Inc | LFT |
| Main Street Capital Corp | MAIN |
| New York Community Bancorp Inc | NYCB |
| Orion Office REIT Inc | ONL |
| PIMCO Dynamic Income Fund | PDI |
| Realty Income Corp | O |
| Stag Industrial | STAG |
| Schwab US REIT ETF | SCHH |
| Store Capital Corporation | STOR |
These Stocks Remained in My Portfolio
| COMPANY | TICKER |
|---|---|
| AT&T Inc | T |
| Gladstone Commercial Corp | GOOD |
| Global Net Lease | GNL |
| PIMCO Dynamic Credit and Mortgage Income Fund NOW: PIMCO Dynamic Income Fund | PCI NOW: PDI |
| Realty Income Corp | O |
| Stag Industrial | STAG |
| Schwab US REIT ETF | SCHH |
AT&T (T) – Last year, AT&T announced that they will make big changes to their business. But the main thing that T holders have been looking forward to is their planned spinoff of WarnerMedia with Discovery. T remained in my stock portfolio, even though the stock has plummeted throughout 2021, because I am on the boat of optimism for their plans.
I believe that their refocus of their communications business, improvement on 5G implementation and media business spinoff will prove to be a good long term move for them.
While I think that’s good for their business, I’ve come to terms that that won’t be good for my portfolio. One concern I have though is with their dividend cut when the spinoff is finalized this Q2 2022. When that happens, dividend investors who got in prior to the cut will lose out since the yield will be lower.
Right now, I’m at a big loss for AT&T and I held because I didn’t want to lose too much. If prices for AT&T go back to my average price, or at least close to it, I’m thinking of reducing my positions to half or entirely closing it. That way, the loss is minimized. Plus, I will have “milked” AT&T of dividends until they make the cut.
Gladstone Commercial Corp (GOOD) – GOOD is one of those stocks that I love because of the consistent dividends they provide. The stock’s price has been stagnant for a couple years at around $17. It was during the pandemic that we saw growth for the price, soaring to as high as $26. This was so because of their focus on industrial properties, a segment that saw growth due to the ecommerce boom
Global Net Lease (GNL) – This stock used to be a monthly dividend payer, but they shifted to a quarterly dividend stock, and I’ve held it already for a very long time now. They cut their dividends though in 2020, from 53 cents to 40 cents, due to the pandemic.
PIMCO Dynamic Income Fund (PDI) – This used to be PIMCO Dynamic Credit and Mortgage Income Fund (PCI), but they were reorganized into PIMCO Dynamic Income Fund (PDI), alongside PIMCO Income Opportunity Fund (PKO), on December 10, 2021.
I’ve held this stock for a long time now too ever since it was in TDAmeritrade. Honestly, I rarely take a look at this stock because it continues to keep paying me dividends. I think one reason why there are those who shy away from this one is because there hasn’t been any growth to its dividends for the past 6 years. But I added a small amount to it last year, so I might add more this year.
Realty Income Corp (O) – One of the core REITs in my dividend portfolio for its growing dividends. They have been performing well throughout this pandemic, so that meant the stock price went up, making it a little harder for me to add more to this position. But in case I can’t really buy O, I would look into National Retail Properties (NNN) as a backup REIT that rivals O.
Stag Industrial (STAG) – Another big REIT mover throughout 2021. The gains I’ve made from this stock is amazing. But because it’s so amazing, it made it harder for me to buy more of it due to investors loading up STAG. Their dividends stayed at 12.08 cents per share last year, but they’ve increased it for 2022 to 12.17 cents.
It actually dipped to $39 in October, but I had not planned to buy more of it since I was focused on other areas. So that’s a missed opportunity there. But that’s okay, because I can simply stay back and let the stock grow by itself.
Schwab US REIT ETF (SCHH) – The first and only REIT ETF in my dividend portfolio. I haven’t been paying too much attention to this stock ever since I bought it. When I did, all I thought was I needed a safe REIT play in case individual stocks tanked. And I found SCHH during my research. I haven’t been adding to it as much as I’d like, similar to STAG, because of the price appreciation.
These Stocks Left My Portfolio
| COMPANY | TICKER | SHARES at CLOSE |
|---|---|---|
| AGNC Investment Corp | AGNC | 13 |
| Gladstone Land Corporation | LAND | 21 |
| New Residential Investment Corp | NRZ | 15 |
AGNC Investment Corp (AGNC) – One of the two Mortgage REITs that I’ve decided to let go last year. It took me a while to think of closing this because I believe I was too attached to the length I’ve held it. I was too blinded to the fact that, while it was offering a 9% yield, the dividends they paid out were decreasing.
Gladstone Land Corporation (LAND) – When I purchased LAND, it was more on the thought that it was by the same company with GOOD, which is Gladstone. I just bought it without a thought, let it stay in my portfolio for a while, and get some dividends. But as I became more conscious about the stocks inside my portfolio, I knew I had to let go of some positions in order to free up cash. They were also paying out very low dividends, which was not worth it.
New Residential Investment Corp (NRZ) – The second Mortgage REIT I closed last year, alongside AGNC. While this was the better choice between the two, I thought to myself that there’s definitely another mREIT that performs better than AGNC and NRZ. They cut their dividend in half from 50 cents in 2019 to 25 cents in 2021.
These Stocks Got Added to My Portfolio
| COMPANY | TICKER | # of SHARES |
|---|---|---|
| Arbor Realty Trust Inc | ABR | 14 |
| Abbvie Inc | ABBV | 3 |
| Enterprise Products Partners LP | EPD | 20 |
| Lument Finance Trust Inc | LFT | 25 |
| Main Street Capital Corp | MAIN | 7 |
| New York Community Bancorp Inc | NYCB | 16 |
| Orion Office REIT Inc | ONL | 1 |
| Store Capital Corporation | STOR | 5 |
Arbor Realty Trust Inc (ABR) – This is the replacement I found to be better than AGNC and NRZ. It’s a quarterly stock that has been growing their dividends for the last 9 years. It was a great choice for me at least, because instead of having to monitor two mREITs, I just need to watch out for this.
Abbvie Inc (ABBV) – Getting this stock was one of my many attempts in 2021 to start diversifying my portfolio. I’ve been hearing about ABBV for a very long time now as a good dividend stock in the Healthcare sector, so I had to take a look. The stock is priced above the hundreds, so it was a hard purchase to make, given the monthly contributions I make. I rarely purchased dividend stocks above $50, much less $100. It was a big leap, but it proved to be a good move because ABBV moved higher since I bought it.
Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) – The first stock in my diversification goal that is focused in the Energy sector. I’ve seen this in other dividend investors’ portfolios too, so I decided to look more into it. I wanted to have a little bit of exposure in some sectors, so this one was a good introduction for me. The stock kept moving sideways throughout 2021, so many investors shied away from it. Luckily, this was a new stock, so I got it at a fairly cheaper price than its ATH price of $30.
Lument Finance Trust Inc (LFT) – One of the newest stocks in my portfolio that’s in the Financials sector. I found this while doing a simple research on dividends stocks that I can afford. So I did a little bit of research. They were doing well in the middle of 2021, and stayed around the $4 levels. But now they have gone down to the low $3. I’m going to take a look at it again in the middle of this year, and if they perform better, I’ll hold and maybe add more. If not, I’ll close the position.
Main Street Capital Corp (MAIN) – One of the Financial dividend stock that I really love to own. I used to own this one before I became serious with dividend investing. I sold it all back then because I wanted to trade penny stocks, which worked out well for a while, but I got tired of it. So here I was, being reintroduced to MAIN in 2021.
I really love the growth they experienced last year. So much so that it got harder for me to buy more of it. So I paused buying financials in the meantime. But if there is a door to get in below $40, I would do so.
New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYCB) – The last dividend stock in the Financials sector I bought in 2021. This performed in the opposite way of LFT, dipping to $11 in mid-2021, to now at $13. From what I learned, NYCB wasn’t performing really well for the past 10 years, but in 2021, the merger with Flagstar would aim to help them transition from a community bank to a real bank. They could expand and diversify their offerings, resulting in increased revenue for them and dividends to shareholders.
Orion Office REIT Inc (ONL) – I got this stock as a result of Realty Income’s acquisition of Vereit. It’s a REIT focused on owning, acquiring and managing a diversified portfolio of mission-critical and headquarters office buildings. For every 10 shares of O you held, you get 1 share of ONL, which is how much I got. They don’t have any declared dividends yet, since they company is very new. And you could say that the lack of history is a big factor why this stock fell in price. People were just selling them right when they got them. I plan to keep it for a while and see where it goes. It’s free stock, so there’s really nothing to lose.
Store Capital Corporation (STOR) – Another new REIT I’ve added to my portfolio. And I’m quite bullish on this because of how they are focused in tenants that have three reliable sources of payment, which in turn pays more consistent rent payments. Also, I believe in the ecommerce boom, which helps drive profit for STOR’s tenants, so it made sense for me to look for dividend stocks that benefit from that.
Goals for My Portfolio in 2022
There are a couple of things I have in mind for this dividend portfolio. As mentioned in My 2022 Financial Goals, my aim is to get this portfolio to a value of $10,000 or more. This is a good amount to strive for because it’s not an exaggerated level and is a workable level based on my current financial standing. It’ll be achievable as well since I’m increasing my monthly contribution to $200. By the end of the year, that would be $2,400 in contributions, in addition to whatever dividends I receive for the year.
Another plan is to increase my REIT holdings in order to combat inflation and take advantage of REIT rallies right now. I like that most REITs pay monthly dividends because I can reinvest them back to my portfolio and grow it faster.
But in the event that REITs become too expensive, then I will focus on other sectors instead. Some of the sectors that I’ve considered after REITs are Financials, Communications and Consumer Staples.
The long-term goal for this portfolio is to grow it into a true passive income source that could take care of my personal expenses. The only challenge I can think of in growing this is if I end up stopping my monthly contributions. I don’t have control on what the market does or when these stocks would cut their dividends, so I’m not going to let those things worry me.