After 3 months of non-stop work, the effects of Brexit are finally starting to slow down. I’m happy to say that this update is going out only a week after the end of March, a far cry from my January/February update!

Overview

If you aren’t familiar with the Income Portfolio, check it out before you read on. This series is primarily focused on monthly portfolio updates.

Overall March was a hugely positive month for the portfolio, with one small exception. Genie Energy ($GNE) suspended its dividend in early March. At the time, it represented about 9% of my portfolio. I’ll dedicate a paragraph to the $GNE transaction later in the post. On a more personal note, as work has begun to return to normal levels I have had more free time to get interested in new topics. I’ll discuss these in more depth at the end of the post. My savings rate also increased. This is by necessity. Due to the Covid lockdown, construction has ground to a halt in Ireland. With the associated delays, it is looking increasingly more likely that I will have to re-apply for a mortgage, hence the increased savings.

Crunching the Numbers

Savings: €1,600 saved. A 33% increase from February.

Pension: €562.50 contributed. Half by my employer, half by me. My contributions cost me €168.75 in after-tax income.

Income Portfolio: $561.87 contributed in March. Figures for the income portfolio will be stated in USD as that is the primary currency the stocks are denominated in. Currency risk will play a role in the returns for this portfolio but as we know from our risk post, that can work both ways.

Passive Income: In March I added an estimated $20.59 in future yearly dividends.

The Income Portfolio Returns

As a benchmark, the S&P 500 returned 4.24% in March. The Income Portfolio returned 7.05% in March. Needless to say, I’m delighted with that performance. It was also a busy month for dividends received.

Dividends Received: 

• SIMO – $0.60 received.
• PFE – $0.66 received.
• HNNA – $1.32 received.
• EVR – $0.52 received.
• NC – $1.28 received.
• NEM – $0.94 received.
• JNPR – $1.15 received.
• HVT – $0.57 received.

Total Dividends Received = $7.04

Stocks Added in March

There were two new positions opened in March.

NEM– Newmont Corp

• Number of Shares – 2
• Purchase Price – $54.52
• Dividend Yield at Purchase – 4.04%
• Closing Price – $60.27
• Return – 10.55%

RIO– Rio Tinto

• Number of Shares – 1
• Purchase Price – £63.30
• Dividend Yield at Purchase – 5.69%
• Closing Price – £55.50
• Return – -12.32%

I also added to positions in CRWS, CSCO, GNE (before selling later in the month), NC, and PFE. For an up to date and more complete picture of the portfolio, you can view it here.

GNE Sale

As I touched on above, I closed my position in Genie Energy in March. Due to poor Q4 2020 results, GNE suspended their dividend in order to rebuild its cash reserve. Whether or not that is the whole truth, I can’t say. What I can say, however, is that as of now it is not currently paying a dividend and has no place in my Income Portfolio. I don’t regret buying GNE, each time I bought it had a good (and growing) yield with solid fundamentals behind it. Overall, I lost 6.55% on the position (including received dividends). Far from a disaster, but I’m glad I sold when I did. At the time of writing, if I had not sold my overall loss would have been in the region of 15%.

I’m not sure if I will revisit GNE in the future. Although they have not cut their dividend, they have suspended it. On one hand, a suspension for a quarter would not be the end of the world, but if the dividend isn’t reinstated for some time that’s a different story. The main concern I have is how quickly they decided to suspend the dividend. Although Q4 2020 showed a loss, overall for 2020 the financial results were positive. I can understand a company suspending its dividend after a string of poor quarters but after a single poor quarter, it is a bit harder to swallow. I’m not going to waste too much energy wondering what I will do if they reinstate the dividend, there is a chance it may not come back at all. As such, I’ll worry about GNE if they ever do decide to pay a dividend in the future.

April Stock List

All of the below stocks are on my list to purchase in April. I have added €300 to the account for the month, plus the proceeds from the GNE sale.

• RIO
• NC
• NEM
• RGR
• TX
• SPTN
• MTEX
• CRWS

As you can see, quite a few new names on the list. April will see some new additions to the portfolio. As always, I will provide the initial performance of each in my April update.

Other Interesting Items

As I mentioned earlier, I have returned to normal working hours after doing 12+ hour days in Q1. This has given me a bit more free time to pursue other things in the evening. On the physical side, I have started running again in preparation for sport returning sometime in the summer (hopefully). On the mental side, I have started a new book and started listening to some new podcasts.

@WolfofHarcourtStreet recommended I read 100 Baggers by Chris Mayer. I have become more interested in Growth stocks lately, and from what I have read so far this book is a great introduction to the world of growth investing.

@Kevinrose has started a new podcast, MoFi, which focuses on crypto and the cutting edge of finance along with some more traditional finance topics. I would highly recommend you check it out here. As a result of episode 2, I have started farming Chia, a new Cryptocurrency that launched recently. I’m not hugely interested in crypto in general, but I’m starting to warm to it. In any case, Bram Cohen the inventor of Chia has a solid track record of network protocols and has a plan to bring Chia Network public via a stock exchange. The concept is an interesting one, and at a minimal cost, I can participate in something that may (or may not) have a huge impact on the financial world in the future. Time will tell.

As always, this post is not a recommendation to buy the above list of stocks. It is for informational purposes only. Before investing your hard-earned money, make sure you do your research.

The Stoic Trader