Motif Investing – DOW 30 – Portfolio Update

I haven’t posted an update since last July.  I  wanted to take a look at how it’s doing.  I originally posted my Motif Review back in the middle of last year.  If you haven’t checked out Motif yet then I’d recommend taking a look.  You basically get to purchase a basket of 30 stocks for one commission fee.

My thoughts after my original purchase for this Motif was: “what if I could have a higher yielding stock like AT&T but get the growth from companies like Visa”?  Well I created a Motif that is based on the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones 30 Index to do just that.  However, I’ve placed a much higher weight in AT&T for a higher yield.  The goal is to keep the yield of the portfolio above 4%.

My first purchase was in June of 2014 and I bought every stock in the Dow 30 and I weighted them accordingly.

My second purchase and third purchase went in heavy on AT&T since I basically wanted to add more telecom exposure.   What this did was boost the yield of my Motif and put a heavier weight on AT&T.

I made my fourth and latest purchase back in December.  I didn’t post about it but I added $3k to the Motif.

Here’s a look at how the Motif has stacked up against the S&P 500 over the last year for anyone interested.  I don’t usually compare these metrics but it’s easily available.  Keep in mind that none of the dividends have been reinvested in this portfolio.  In fact I have been withdrawing them and using them in my other accounts.  So you could basically tack on a little more to the return since my Motif has a higher yield than the S&P 500.

Now I’ve got a screenshot below of the current portfolio.  You can see that AT&T has the majority of the weight and is responsible for the majority of the returns.

You will notice a 31st company at the bottom of the portfolio which was spun off from Dupont and is not getting re-invested in.

The total yield of this portfolio is right at 4%.   60.5% of this portfolio is AT&T, up from 57.5% before the last purchase.  The account is up over 15% since inception.

What I really like about this Motif portfolio is that I can have a relatively small balance and still collect a lot of dividends each month from different companies.  These dividends aren’t large but it’s awesome to see them keep coming in like clockwork.

Adding to, buying an entirely new Motif of 30 stocks or re-balancing is $9.95.  Buying only one company in the Motif is $4.95.

I’m contemplating re-balancing the portfolio and adding a higher percentage of IBM.  I don’t have a major position in a tech stock and IBM is on so many screens.  They churn out major cash and have been acquiring a lot of smaller companies.  They have “artificially” been boosting their numbers by doing major share buybacks in recent years which has kept investors away.  I believe now is the time to start a position and the companies they are purchasing will start growing IBM again as the legacy revenues continue to dwindle.  What do you guys think?  Should I leave it alone or do some re-balancing?

 

There you have it.  I’m pretty happy with this account and can’t wait to add more money soon.