My Dividend Growth Portfolio At The Half Year Mark

What did I think at my last portfolio review?
I have a blog that contains background information on the portfolio as well as links to all the articles about it here. I have also published an article on my investment strategy here. Those articles are not behind the paywall and contain background information that new readers might find helpful.
As many people know, the stock market went down quite a bit right around Christmas last year. My portfolio was no exception, it dropped quite a bit and ended up down for the year. While I don’t focus much on portfolio balance or total return, it wasn’t exactly a good feeling seeing my portfolio down to $511,421. That was around $20,000 below where it started the year. By the end of February, the portfolio value had recovered and was even higher than it started in 2018, as can be seen in the chart below from the last article on my DGI portfolio.

Figure 2 Source: Broker data and Author records as of market close February 28, 2019
All data presented in this article comes, either, from my broker, or from this tool. It is free to use, so you can run your own comparisons if you wish. My old broker sold all of the investment accounts to E*Trade which went active November 5. All broker screenshots below are from E*Trade.
What has happened since?
Below is a screenshot of the Excel worksheet where I track the holdings in my IRA Dividend Growth Portfolio. This is a real portfolio, not a model, and is part of my retirement... Read more