September was another slow month. History says that September is more often than not a volatile month. But, I did not see enough volatility and hence no deals to take advantage of. Let us see what the numbers say for September.

Main Takeaways this month

• Portfolio Increases (in green above)
  • As blog readers last month pointed out, many numbers are green this month also! I am thankful for that.
• Portfolio changes
  • No portfolio changes this month….still adding to the cash fund I set up July. I did spend some of this money on VTMGX and VWELX (Vanguard Wellington) on a small dip in Financials but no major buy as the markets were more or less flat.
• Passive Income Stream
  • Passive Income for September 2016 ($1176.74) is appx 10% higher that September 2015 ($1036.87). Where is the additional money coming from?
    • A decent portion of the increase is from VTMGX (Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund) dividend payout.
  • Why VTMGX?
    • I started diversifying my passive income streams across geographies last year and boosted it a lot more this year. The world is much more volatile nowadays and it is hard to predict where the next problem will come from.
    • So, I wanted to spread my portfolio’s risk across many countries of the world. 15% of my passive income investments is outside the US….when I see some good deals, I will increase my exposure outside the US but I will choose a different fund…I want another fund diversify fund risk and fund manager risk as well.
    • But, this will come later. If you want more details on VTMGX, please get it directly from the horse’s mouth: VTMGX.
  • My goal is to reach $750 pm by end of this year…September is done…and my monthly dividends are still at $557 pm.
    • Target Dividend: $9000 pa
    • Current Dividend (year to date): $6770
    • Balance to make up in the next 3 months
      • $9000 – $6770  => $2230 over the next 3 months
    • It all depends  on December being a good month….crossing my fingers!
    • I have kept some cash aside to invest in a dip….the temptation to get to $750 in passive income per month was very high in September and I could could not resist and burnt some of it…..But, I will wait this month for a market dip. October is historically volatile…so, maybe there will be an opportunity.