Investing during Coronavirus – The Impact to my Portfolio – Is Now the Time to Invest?

Investing during Coronavirus – The Impact to my Portfolio – Is Now the Time to Invest? Discussing how much my dividend income has been impacted and my YTD Portfolio returns.

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For those of us that missed the 2008-2009 recession, Coronavirus’s impact on the market may be the stock market correction of our lifetime. It will obviously have a lasting impact.

In this Dividend Investor’s case, it has already had a massive impact on my dividend income and my portfolio returns.

In this post, I will discuss how much my dividend income has been impacted, and I will detail my year to date portfolio return. Later on I provide my opinion on if now is the time to invest.

Investing During Coronavirus

Dividend Income is down -$68.28 Annually due to 1 Dividend Cut

Unfortunately, my forward annual dividend income is down from its recent high of $644.15.

It seems like every time I get close to reaching $700 in annual dividend income, something happens to pull my portfolio back. 

This time around it was Coronavirus that set my annual dividend income back. 

Thanks to the pandemic, my annual dividend income is down $68.28 because Sir Royalty Income Fund cut its dividend. I had 65 shares paying $5.69 per month, so this will impact the rest of the dividend income updates planned for the year.

After reaching $644.15 annually in forward dividend income recently, my projected dividend income is back down to $579.14. This puts my projected annual dividend income below my target goal for the year.

Fortunately, though, I have only experienced one dividend cut so far (knock on wood). 

My target of $628.27 annually should still be within reach if I can save more money.

My Portfolio return is down -23.53% YTD

Normally I don’t share my portfolio returns.

However, since we’re all in the same boat this year, I thought I’d let you in on how the RTC portfolio is performing…

I regret to inform you that my portfolio is down -23.53% year to date.

It was much worse at one point.

As any Investor would know, my portfolio is down along with the rest of the market because of Coronavirus.

Since I am a long term dividend growth Investor, I have not sold a single share. 

In fact, I have been buying a few shares on down days. There are a few high quality stocks to buy now out there.

But I must admit that the pandemic has changed my investment behaviour.

My investment behaviour is different

Of course, dividend investing is still my main investment strategy.

But because of the dividend cut I experienced from Sir Royalty Income Fund, and based on how some of the smaller caps stocks in my portfolio reacted, I believe investors should invest in only the highest quality dividend stocks.

I am only looking at dividend kings and stocks with low dividend payout ratios.

Furthermore, my buying frequency has become more scarce and calculated.

Back when I was working full-time with a stock sharing plan, it made sense to dollar cost average into stocks every two weeks.

But now that I work part-time and my income fluctuates, I let my dividend income and savings build up longer before investing. This also helps to reduce my investment fees.

Investing during Coronavirus – Is Now the Time to Start Investing?

Well, according to Warren Buffett’s famous quote, it’s time to start investing…

“Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful” -Warren Buffett

In other words, it’s time to buy stocks when everyone else is selling.

Obviously there are very serious concerns regarding the Global economy. This Coronavirus situation and its impact will go down in the history books.

But if you’re truly an Investor, meaning you are investing for at least 5 to 10 years, then now is the perfect time to start investing.

Since I do not plan on touching the money I invest until early retirement, I have been nibbling at stocks on down days.

“the time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets.” -Baron Rothschild via Forbes

Investing During Coronavirus – Concluding Thoughts

During the recent bull market, I was often so bullish on stocks that I could use my own entry point as a gauge of when to buy.

For example, I could buy a small amount of stock before the stock was undervalued. Then I could wait for the price of the shares to go below my initial price and average down.

But the landscape for investing has changed, perhaps forever. Coronavirus could impact the world in many ways forever.

Related Post: Coronavirus: Future Predictions on how it will change the World Forever

If you are investing during Coronavirus, in my opinion, risk tolerance is more important than ever.

Therefore, in my humble opinion, it is best to focus only on the highest quality stocks, reduce investment fees, and realize you are investing for the long term.

As for my portfolio, even though my forward dividend income is down by $68.28, and my portfolio return is a dismal -23.53% so far this year, I will be sticking to my long term plan.

Frankly, this stock market correction could end up being a blessing in disguise. With stocks at their cheapest prices in 5 years, and with dividend yields higher, this could end up being the boost I need to get back on track to reach my goal to live off dividends.

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I am not a licensed investment or tax adviser. All opinions are my own. This post contains advertisements by Google Adsense. This post also contains internal links, affiliate links, links to external sites, and links to RTC social media accounts.

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