April is usually a dull month, post March dividends. But, this time, I did a rework of my portfolio to cash out profits from my equity funds and move them to MUNI funds. Dividends for rest of the year and going to look totally different than prior years. So, excited to see how the changes work out rest of this year. Let us see how the numbers look for April 2018.

Main Takeaways this month

• Passive Income Stream
  • My passive Income for April 2018 is 100% higher than April 2017 🙂
    • I know I know….this is cheating a bit.I sold funds which distribute dividends quarterly and bought funds which distribute dividends monthly. Details below.
    • The June, September and December dividends are going to be much less. The total dividends for the entire year should be the same OR slightly higher though.
• Additional Investments
  • Investments in taxable accounts
    • I sold some more stocks…primarily international funds, captured the gains and moved the money into my MUNI funds. Why?
      • Tax equivalent yield for MUNI funds are close to 4%
      • VTMGX and VEMAX yield is roughly 2.5 to 2.75% and I get taxed on top of that. It is possible that VTMGX and VEMAX might add some capital gains….but I am okay with this risk.
      • When the prices drop later this year, I will invest back into these funds…lets cross that bridge when we get there.
    • In addition, I took a bunch of money from my house down payment fund and deployed them as well….a house purchase does not seem to be on cards this  year….so, why let the money sit idle?
    • I also took a bunch of money from my emergency fund and invested them as well. If I need money, I would have to sell some bond funds….hopefully the funds do not lose too much value in case such a case comes….touch wood to avoid taking such a loss.
  • Investments in tax-deferred account (IRA)
    • In the last few months, I have taken some profits and set up a a cash fund to take advantage of the next investing opportunity. Unlike 2008, I want to have a cash fund ready to take advantage of lower asset prices in the next bear market!!
    • I bought some VEIPX (Vanguard Equity Income Fund).
      • Every fund in my tax-advantage portion is earning money for me: stocks and bonds and REIT funds. The stocks are primarily International funds.
      • I am slowly going to dollar cost average into US equities using VEIPX with the cash fund I have developed over the last few months.
      • Basic strategy is that I can get access to entire vanguard funds inside my IRA. A generic total market fund is easy to get from any 401K provider….so, I will add more US equities via my 401k using a total market fund.