This is the last post in a series of posts that discussed my dividend investing process, which started at my investment principles and lead us here, to a view to my portfolio. Given that this post in the series happens to come at the end of the month, when I regularly present my asset allocation and holding on The Dividend Guy Blog, I thought it would be the perfect way to finish the series off.
My Portfolio
My portfolio is comprised of a number of different assets, all of which make up a specific piece of my overall target asset allocation. Here is how my portfolio is structure as of January 25, 2008.
Some notes on my portfolio for this month:
1. I no longer track the portfolio performance from month to month using my benchmark. I am concerned with long-term returns and will not let day-to-day and month-to-month performance sway me from my plan.
2. I have shifted some money from equities to fixed income to bring my asset allocation in line with my targets. This meant moving money from the Canadian equity and US equity funds to a bond fund. Each of these transactions happened in my employer pension plan.
3. As I have said a number of times in the past, my heavy banking exposure has hurt me in the past (see asset allocation charts below). I am working on getting this in line.
4. I need to add more securities to my U.S. and Canadian portions. I have too few securities which is exposing me to too much company specific risk. I will be looking to do this one my asset allocation meets my target allocation.
My Asset Allocation
At the end of each month, I also present my asset allocation to see how it is doing compared to my target asset allocation. This is a useful exercise as I am able to adjust pension plan and employer savings plan investments to areas where focus is needed to get closer to my target allocation. Point #2 above represents the actions I took in this regard. As of January 25, 2008, here is how my asset allocation is tracking to my targets:
Some notes on my asset allocation:
1. As mentioned above, I am working on getting my fixed income allocation in line with my target allocation. My Canadian allocation is also out of whack and will be managed to reduce the amount of Canadian exposure over time. This will not be by selling anything, just not by adding anything to it for the time being.
This is the last post in the process series. If you are interested in seeing the other posts, please have a look in the sidebar and each post describing my overall process is listed. Thanks for following along and all your comments along the way.
Michael James
Not many people would be willing to make their portfolio public. It was interesting to take a look. I had some questions about your table.
What is the purpose of the entries with zero value? Maybe you’ve just sold them or are considering buying them?
What is “My Current Yield”? Is it the dividend yield based on the price you paid for the stock?
Dividends4Life
Great series! I looked forward to reading each day.
Best Wishes,
D4L