A list of my past dividend income and updates can be found below:
- Dividend Income Update 2022
- Dividend Income Update 2021
- Dividend Income Update 2020
- Dividend Income Update 2019
- Dividend Income Update 2018
- Dividend Income Update 2017
- Dividend Income Update 2016
- Dividend Income Update 2015
- Dividend Income Update 2014
- Where it all started – April 2014
December & Review of 2023
Dividend Income (Dec) – RM343.79
Dividend Income (2023) – RM18,757.11
Dividend Yield – 4.58%
2023 was good for me. I ended the year with RM18.7K in dividends, giving me a 4.58% yield.
Made some adjustments to my MY stock portfolio and will continue to do so in 2024. The main focus will be on building up that dividend income.
Besides my MY portfolio, things have also been going well on the US side.
Total Y-O-Y growth for all my assets is around 30%.
I would like to touch a little on my total portfolio and would like to show everyone my asset allocation.
All my assets can be categorised into two main categories – Safe and Growth
Safe Assets (54%)
FD and savings – 13%
ASM, EPF & PRS – 24%
Bonds – 17%
Growth Assets (46%)
US stocks, MY stocks, crypto, P2P
For a little privacy and to avoid disclosing my exact numbers, I’ve lumped my growth assets into one. 😉
And so, the above is what my allocation looks like. It is very conservative considering my age. I’m still (relatively) young. Ideally, I would like to have about 60% in growing assets, maybe even 70%.
Financial Independence but not Retirement
Relating to FI/RE, I realise that I may be reaching my goal soon. And maybe it is time to update the FI/RE guide as well.
As this wasn’t an overnight achievement, there isn’t much excitement on my part. Perhaps more of a gradual anticipation.
I am, however, a little disillusioned. So I have a few questions for everyone:
1. What is your FI/RE number?
2. What do you plan to do with said amount?
I’m considering dumping into EPF (reaching the RM1M mark to enable withdrawals) and leaving the rest in stocks. OR leaving >50% in stocks and the rest in Safe Assets.
3. What jobs have you considered taking once you are financially independent?
I don’t like to be idle and I’m considering so many different jobs.
a. Work and travel
b. Working a simple job nearby with whoever is hiring
c. Becoming a personal trainer as I enjoy working out
d. Go into the financial planning field and utilise my CFP
e. Live off-grid and farm
Feel free to leave your thoughts via comments on this page. I’d love to hear from everyone and get some suggestions.
I posed question No. 3 on my socials a few days ago and we had some nice comments and discussions from everyone on Facebook and Instagram. Feel free to have a look!
For stock investing, I use Rakuten. If you want to open a trading account with Rakuten Trade, let me direct you to my review on them hERE. Don’t forget to use my referral link for extra rewards.
As always, Facebook, Instagram, and now ! Follow, and keep up to date.
October & November
Dividend Income (Oct) – RM378.68
Dividend Income (Nov) – RM865.31
Dividend Income (2023) – RM18,413.32
Dividend Yield – 4.45%
Note: A slight mistake was made whereby October’s numbers were included in the last update’s Total. Rectified now.
The dividend yield of the portfolio is at 4.45%. We’ve surpassed last year’s RM16K in dividends last month.
Made some big changes to the portfolio.
Sold: Axis REIT, Nestle and TGUAN.
Bought: Matrix, SunREIT
Finally going to say goodbye to my beloved Nestle.
Reasons for selling is to re-optimise the portfolio. We’re sitting on RM75K in cash right now. I’ll be updating the portfolio’s holdings at the end of the year.
Looking to add more Matrix for the dividends and capital appreciation. And more into Maybank and Scientex soon if and when a drop occurs. We’ll bring dividend yield into the 5-6% territory.
No major updates on the US front, still about the same for VOO. eToro’s portfolio has gone up by a bit though.
August & September
Dividend Income (Aug) – RM983.15
Dividend Income (Sept) – RM3,772.99
Dividend Income (2023) – RM17,548.01
Dividend Yield – 4.43%
The dividend yield of the portfolio is at 4.43%. We’ve surpassed last year’s RM16K in dividends already. Don’t think we’ll get to RM20K this year but we’re getting there! If you’ve noticed, I’ve not been adding capital to my portfolio here for the past year, instead, I’ve just re-optimised the portfolio and it seems to be working.
The extra money has been dumped into my VOO on Rakuten Trade and most recently to ASM. You can find out more about my ASNB and ASM hERE.
I use Rakuten. If you want to open a trading account with Rakuten Trade, let me direct you to my review on them hERE. Don’t forget to use my referral link for extra rewards.
As always, Facebook, Instagram, and now ! Follow, and keep up to date.
June & July
Dividend Income (June) – Nil
Dividend Income (July) – RM2,056.25
Dividend Income (2023) – RM12,413.19
Dividend Yield – 3.13%
Received dividends from Scientex and TGUAN in July. The dividend yield of the portfolio is at 3.13%.
Scientex’s dividends have increased to a 4.6% yield from 3.46% last year.
TGUAN is maintaining its yield but the share price has underperformed.
VOO on Rakuten Trade is doing good as well:
April & May
Dividend Income (Apr) – RM1,925.87
Dividend Income (May) – RM1,627.53
Dividend Income (2023) – RM10,356.94
Dividend Yield – 2.61%
Received dividends from Sunway, TNB, FPI, Nestle, IGBREIT and AXIS REIT in April and May.
All dividends have increased or stayed the same, except for Sunway and AXIS REIT.
Nestle interestingly finally upped their dividends after many years. We should see it maintain/increase for the foreseeable future.
We moving up!
Updated my US Portfolio on Rakuten Trade as well:
Started DCA-ing religiously every month when the market was down. This is the result of about 6 months.
We’re up this month as well. USD continued its gain on MYR as well.
March
Freedom Fund Q1 Update – March 2023
Dividend Income (Jan) – RM2,252.27
Dividend Income (Feb) – RM2,274.42
Dividend Income (Mar) – RM2,231.85
Dividend Income (2023) – RM6,758.54
Dividend Yield – 1.70%
Received dividends from IGB REIT, Sunway REIT and Axis REIT in February.
Public Bank, Maybank and QL Resources in March. All dividends have increased or stayed the same.
We moving up!
Also, added Maybank shares to the portfolio, and sold Cypark.
I’d like to share a little update on my US Portfolio on Rakuten Trade as well.
Started DCA-ing religiously every month when the market was down. This is the result of about 6 months. Will be looking to buy only VOO for now via Rakuten Trade and continue with the DCA when the market drops. Sucks to see the value of our MYR.
If you want to open a trading account, let me direct you to my review on them hERE.
As always, Facebook, Instagram, and now ! Follow, and keep up to date. I use Rakuten
January
Freedom Fund as of January 2023
Dividend Income (Jan) – RM2,252.27
Dividend Income (2023) – RM2,252.27
Dividend Yield – 0.57%
Received dividends from Scientex, Axis REIT and TGUAN for January. Both Scientex and Axis REIT gave higher dividends compared to 2022 and TGUAN stayed the same.
If you’re looking to open a trading account, let me direct you to my review on them hERE.
As always, Facebook, Instagram, and now ! Follow, keep up to date. I use Rakuten Trade as my broker.
Acquisition and Disposals
Nil.
Scientex
January 2023 Dividends – RM1,900
January 2022 Dividends – RM1,500
Total 2023 Dividends – RM1,900
Dividend Yield – 2.30%
Axis REIT
January 2023 Dividends – RM196.02
January 2022 Dividends – RM195.19
Total 2023 Dividends – RM196.02
Dividend Yield – 1.13%
TGUAN
January 2023 Dividends – RM156.25
January 2022 Dividends – RM156.25
Total 2023 Dividends – RM156.25
Dividend Yield – 0.44%