Nicholas Ward's Dividend Growth Portfolio: February 2020 Update

The value of my holdings decreased by 8.01% during February, outperforming the broader markets.
My dividend income stream was up 12.9% y/y.
I made 14 trades during February: 13 purchases and 1 sale.
Another month in the books; another step towards financial freedom.
Actually, speaking of dividend growth, February was the perfect sort of month to remind me why I love dividend growth investing so much. Admittedly, my net worth decreased in a meaningful way as the market sold off in the final days/weeks of February. However, neither fear nor panic invaded my peace of mind. A focus on my passive income stream allowed me to maintain my cool, focus on the fundamentals of my holdings and the stocks on my watch list, and avoid the fear running amok in the markets. During February, I made 14 trades. Yet, only one of them was a sale (and that sale involved locking in massive profits on what appeared to be an overvalued stock so that I could redeploy the funds into other high quality names with much higher dividend yields and much lower valuations).
When I think about market sell-offs, I think about this chart provided by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

Source: JPM Market Insights
I’ll never forget the first time I saw this chart. It spoke volumes to me. Thankfully, by the time that I came across this data, I had already established a successful track record in the market, so the data didn’t cause me to doubt myself as a money manager. But, this graphic did inspire guilt and remorse.
When thinking about this graph, I often wonder whether or not the “Average Investor” returns are calculated accurately. I acknowledge that this is exactly the sort of chart that an asset manager would produce when attempting to persuade retail investors to pay for their services. For a while now, I’ve felt as if professional managers are oftentimes deceitful when attempting to convince a mom or pop investor that it is impossible for them to do well on their own.... Read more