At the end of April 2015, my portfolio stood at $94,021.37 across all my accounts combined. Comparing to my portfolio balance of $90,105.87 at the end of March 2015, this represents an increase of $3,915.50 for the month of April which represents a 4.34% increase for the month.
Of the increase, new investments accounted for $1,964.50, thereby giving a net portfolio increase of $1,951.00 or 2.16% for the month. This follows a decrease of almost 3.65% in March.
I continued my weekly sharebuilder purchases in April. In addition to that, I added to my National-Oilwell Varco, Inc (NOV) position. I had started a position in NOV in March and added a bit again after the stock dropped after results in April. After a great month for new investments in March (over $5,000), I did not invest as much in April.
Here is a graph showing the growth of my portfolio since 2009. As always, it is satisfying to see the graphs going higher each month/year. It reinforces the fact that I am making progress towards my goals.
Disclosure: Long on all stocks mentioned above.
Dividend Growth Journey 
Nice to see the continued growth in portfolio value, DGJ. That chart sure is headed in the right direction.
R2R
Thanks R2R. It is always great to see the chart go upwards over a period of time.
Nice, consistent growth!
Thanks DE. I see that you have setup two portfolios in March and April and congrats on receiving your first dividend. Congrats on investing over $45K since then and wish you all the best towards your goals.
Hi DGJ,
It’s awesome seeing the numbers climb higher and higher! Keep it up and I look forward to reading your April Dividend Summary soon 🙂
Best wishes,
-DL
Thanks DL. I am hoping to hit the $100K mark soon and that will be a great milestone.
Simply awesome looking chart, DGJ. Good boost in the portfolio for the month, keep at it and thanks for sharing!
Thanks Ryan. April was a nice month in general for the market. So I am just riding the wave. Let’s see if “Sell in May….” holds true in May. If yes, it will provide some good buying opportunities.
Great portfolio growth and accompanying chart too. While this growth is nice we mustn’t forget that the real prize is the cash generation our portfolios can produce. Stock prices fluctuate dramatically on a day to day basis but it’s our dividend growth that we really need to focus on. Great job and thanks for sharing.
DivHut,
You are right. The key figure is the dividend income that the portfolio can produce.
But again, the portfolio value has to increase over time so that the dividend can increase as well (or the other way around). These kinda go together (more often than not). Let’s say a stock is at $100 paying $3 dividends (3% yield). If for whatever reason, the stock drops to $50, the company may not be able to afford the same $3 dividend. They might do it for a quarter or a year. But not for long. The stock price dropped for some reason (most likely lack of profits etc) and therefore, the company has to cut the dividends at some point. Things like this happened in recently with energy stocks. So either the stock price has to catch up or the dividends has to fall.
Therefore, even though we are investing for dividends, the portfolio value does have some bearing on the dividend income over the long term.