Our retirement portfolio posted a strong gain of 3.29% in July and is up 12.72% for this year. The S&P 500 index rose about 2.38% last month The benchmark for this portfolio, Invesco’s High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD), lost another 0.60% after the -1.97% drop in June.
Since its inception in January 2017, the initial investment of $100,000 in this portfolio would have grown to $166,762 which is well ahead of our dividend ETF benchmark ($134,075).
Leaders and laggers in July are:
- W.P. Carey +8.13%
- Realty Income +5.67%
- Coca-Cola +5.40%
- General Mills -2.57%
- Intel Corp -4.31%
- UPS -7.99%
The portfolio growth chart also clearly displays the results of the quality of the stocks in this portfolio and the smaller draw-down compared to the SPHD. The worst year performance for this retirement focussed portfolio has been -1.45% versus -10.35% for the benchmark. This should give less stress to any “retirement investor”.
The composition of this conservative portfolio for retirees is constructed based on the following principles:
- Diversification in several sectors and minimum exposure to 20 stocks
- Average dividend yield 3.5% – 4.5%
- Dividend growth rate 4%+
- Dividend score above 60
- Average loss ratio 1.8-2.5 (see defensive aristocrats)
It is time to check on the average dividend yield this month. Based on the initial investment amount of $100,000, the retirement portfolio was able to generate an annual dividend income of 3.29% or higher. For this year, the dividend amount received so far is $2,491 representing 1.68%.
