REVEALING MY INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO - April 2026

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]What's up guys? Welcome back to Investing PH. It's been months now that we haven't seen much movement from our market. Ever since March, our index has been stuck below the 6,000 level.

[00:00:10]Looking at the bigger picture, the 5-year view, our market hasn't even moved. Expand even further to 10 years, and it's still the same story. Actually, it's been more than 13 years that our market has been trading sideways. Our highest point was still back in 2018.

[00:00:27]Well, of course, we could relate this to what has happened lately, the pandemic starting in late 2019, which crashed our index in March 2020, the China-US trade war, the Russia-Ukraine war, and now the conflict in the Middle East, which has caused historic oil prices. No wonder the market has been like this, right?

[00:00:45]But then again, we see markets like the US reaching all-time highs after all-time highs. Japan is finally hitting all-time highs, too. By the way, if you didn't know, ever since the 1980s and '90s, Japan had never recovered past its historic high. It's only now that they've finally broken through. If you look at similar countries, Vietnam has also recovered well after the pandemic, and their index is moving up. Thailand, on the other hand, is still down from the pandemic, though they are nearing their pre-pandemic levels. So, they are doing better than our market.

[00:01:17]Indonesia's market is doing well, too.

[00:01:19]Now, going back to the Philippines, we've been stagnant for more than 13 years. Yes, looking at a much wider 30-year picture, the Philippines has actually performed really well. And we can see our market is currently in line with our neighboring countries. But you see, the past isn't a guarantee that our market will eventually rise again. It does, however, lead us to a good conclusion. If you have a longer time horizon, you have a better chance of success rather than just having a two, five, or even 10-year horizon. That's why most successful investors point out the need for a horizon of more than 20 years. Still, I can understand why a lot of investors are questioning the integrity of our market, but I don't get why some who have been investing for only months or even just a year or two are so inclined to see their stocks rise fast. They haven't even invested ample amounts yet for it to be life-changing.

[00:02:13]In fact, I don't even look at the index performance nowadays. It's only for my dashboard and these monthly updates that I even bother looking at a PSEi because the index is always rebalancing. It often removes stocks that end up overperforming or adds them back only after they've lost momentum. You see, a lot of individual stocks in the PSE have outstanding performance and that's only accounting for capital gains. That's why you see some investors outperforming the index by so much. My portfolio, for example, is actually performing well enough to go side by side with someone cost averaging into the S&P 500. You can see that in the graph on my right. This shows what would happen if I invested monthly in the S&P 500 using the same amounts I put into my own portfolio.

[00:02:59]You see, the strong point of our market is that we have a lot of dividend stocks. These are solid companies with good growth that offer high yields, yields ranging beyond 6%. This is what actually pulls my portfolio up. If you look at the PSEi alone, yes, it looks off, but if you look past that and pick great companies that offer good dividends, you see performance on par or even higher than other markets. A lot of companies in my portfolio are booking record high earnings year after year.

[00:03:28]They are booking record high dividends as well and this isn't just limited to companies in my portfolio. It is spread throughout the market. Most investors panic sell or become doomsday preppers because they only account for the market rising tomorrow. They don't account for the market staying flat for years or even decades. By accounting for the worst-case scenario, you can strategize so that if that happens, you still make money. I don't want to put my chances on the government doing a better job this year or next year or the sentiment of foreign investors improving. No, I want to do what I can to maximize my returns.

[00:04:04]And this is what I've done for the past few years. Whenever I invest in a company, I don't assume it will give me instantaneous gains. I even assume it might only give me the dividend yield return, but I control certain things such as only choosing companies that have historic earnings growth, good debt management, and consistent dividend payouts. I also compute a good price to buy in. By the way, if you don't know yet, I recently uploaded a video about the dividend discount model. If you haven't watched it, the link is down below.

[00:04:34]By taking this approach, even if this sideways trend continues, I would still be receiving dividends year after year as I wait. Plus, there's a higher chance for the company's stock price to go up as investors and fund managers eventually see its true value. It doesn't guarantee it will, but it gives you an edge. That's why I don't mind the comments saying the Philippines is a dead market or that it's going south.

[00:04:57]It's nothing new to me. I've seen these comments again and again for the past 5 years that I've been making these videos, but I just keep doing what I always do. As I've always said, control what you can control, account for the worst-case scenario, and adjust your risk and margin of safety based on what is actually happening. Take DMC for example. We don't know how the auction results will turn out, so I've adjusted my portfolio position well enough that regardless of the outcome, I'm still okay. I won't get burned because I'm not going all in. Then there's Shang Properties. They booked lower earnings this year, but if you look closer, their previous year was only that high because of a one-off gain found in their non-operating gains. This year, things just returned to normal. This is another important fact. Don't just look at a 1-to-2-year earnings report. Look at a bigger horizon. One year's data won't tell you anything. Anyways, by knowing this, I can adjust my buy price to better suit the present earnings, effectively lowering my risk and securing a better deal under dividends.

[00:06:01]This is how I do things. I don't rely on external factors like government policy or mass market sentiment. I control what I can control, and it has worked well for me, and it shows. My portfolio is still up 36.58% even as the market is down significantly, -27.2% since I started investing. FMETF is down 18.35%, which by the way is a better metric as it accounts for dividends. My annualized or compounded return is 9.4%, which for me is a great achievement for a market that is this stagnant. Now, I'm not being too optimistic that the Philippine market is going to shoot up in the future. Honestly, I'm not even betting on it. That's why I've been focusing on dividend stocks for years now. This has always been my expectation. So, if it stays stagnant, that's okay. I expected that. But, if it does go up, then I'm happy as well.

[00:06:55]Preparing for the worst-case scenario allows me to be more cautious. Now, before we move on to the next part of the video, if you wish to invest in the Philippine stock market and don't have a broker yet, then look no further than Dragon Fi. Their platform stands out above the rest and has truly made my life easier as an investor, from tracking my dividends and transactions to staying updated with news, research, and market updates. Plus, if you don't know how to compute the buy price of a company, they have a signature portfolio feature. You can look at their recommended buy prices from Dragon Fi's own investing team as well as fellow investors like me, Theta Globe Money Wise Engineer, and many others. How great is that? Their platform is beginner-friendly, and the functionality goes beyond other brokers here. Also, we haven't even talked about a pair of portfolio yet. They've integrated it so well into their platform that managing it is now a breeze. So, if you want to sign up for Dragon Fi, use my referral link below. Both of us can get up to 1,500 depending on your initial funding. All right, now back to the video.

[00:07:59]Now, if you notice, my dashboard has changed a bit because I've added another graph here that shows all the stocks in my portfolio and their total returns.

[00:08:09]That's capital gains plus dividends. I'm accounting for dividends after taxes here. As I mentioned earlier, that some companies in the PSE has over performed.

[00:08:19]Here, some of these companies have returned 100% or even 200% in this graph. Only five of my companies are in the red, but if I look at my brokerage account, I actually have 10 stocks that are in the deep red. However, when we compare this to my total return chart, those that are down big are now showing positive returns. And if your remaining negatives are only slightly, and DNL still down big, reduced quite a bit.

[00:08:45]This is what I meant when I said that even if the market stays flat, I would still be earning. All thanks to dividends. This is how dividends play a massive role in your overall returns.

[00:08:55]Looking at this graph, AUB is my top performer, giving me more than 207% in total returns. Next up is DMC at 160%, LTG at Cosco at 62%, and Puregold at 51%. Those are the top performers in my portfolio. As for my dividends, the total has dipped to 19,800.

[00:09:20]I only received 11,226 this April compared to last year's 30,000. This is because some companies moved their payouts to May instead, and others like DMC haven't announced their payouts yet. I don't know if they will pay this May. There's still no news about it, but I'm expecting lower payouts from them at the end of April.

[00:09:41]The dividend yield on cost of my portfolio sits at 7.1% For the stocks I bought, I'm sticking to the same ones I've been eyeing since the start of the year. RFM, MBT, and a bit of LTG. I also added C REIT and A REIT because their prices fell below my buy price. And for my bear portfolio, there isn't much movement as I'm only adding small amounts every month. The stocks I bought there are AREIT and MBT. By the way, I made a video discussing some of these stocks, link down below. With that, that wraps up this video. Again, it's not bad to be optimistic, but for me, the better way is to weigh your risk. Prepare for the rain so that when it comes, you're ready. And if it's sunny tomorrow, you're just more prepared than the rest to enjoy it.

[00:10:27]After your preparation, sometimes the best thing to do isn't to overanalyze everything that's happening just to find an answer or try to predict the weather.

[00:10:35]Nobody knows the future. Sometimes, the answer is simple. Just step back and be patient. I hope you've learned something from this video, and if it did, I'd appreciate it if you hit the like button before you leave. If you want to show further support for the channel, you can do so by becoming a member for only 39 pesos a month. Your support means so much to me. Thanks for watching and see you in the next one.