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The UK Dividend Stocks Portfolio

I launched this portfolio in 2011 to hold my investment strategy publicly accountable. It holds around 25 stocks, mostly from the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, and you can follow along with every trade in the UK Dividend Stocks Newsletter. 

A Portfolio of Quality Dividend Stocks

The UK Dividend Stocks Portfolio is (as the name suggests) invested exclusively in UK-listed stocks. At least 80% of its holdings are members of the FTSE 100 or FTSE 250, with the remainder invested in stocks from the FTSE Small Cap, FTSE Fledgling or AIM UK-50 indices.

In most cases, these companies have long track records of progressive dividend growth and at least 20% of them operate in defensive industries.

Although this is a virtual portfolio, virtually all of my real-world portfolio is invested in the same stocks.

I also want this portfolio to be as realistic as possible, so it takes account of all real-world expenses including trading fees, stamp duty and the cost of an annual subscription to The UK Dividend Stocks Newsletter.

A Systematic Investing Strategy

I manage the portfolio using an updated version of the strategy detailed in my 2016 book, The Defensive Value Investor. If you don't want to read the whole book, you can read a summary of my investment strategy in this blog post: 

You can also download my investment checklist from the Dividend Investing Resources page.

Three Performance Goals

The portfolio has three performance goals covering both the decumulation and accumulation phases of investing:

  • Decumulation goals:
    • Dividend Yield: Should be higher than the FTSE All-Share's yield at all times
    • Dividend Growth: Should be ahead of CPI inflation over ten years
  • Accumulation goal:
    • Total Return: Should be higher than the FTSE All-Share's over ten years
UK Dividend Stocks Portfolio - Dividend Yield
UK Dividend Stocks Portfolio - Dividends per year
UK Dividend Stocks Portfolio - Total Return

Portfolio Diversification

To reduce risk, the portfolio is broadly diversified by company, sector and country:

  • The portfolio has 25 approximately equally weighted holdings
  • The target position size for new holdings is 4%
  • Holdings that grow above 6% are trimmed back to 4%
  • Holdings that fall below 2% are either topped up to 4% or sold (double or quits)
  • No more than two holdings can operate in the same sector
  • No more than 50% of the portfolio's revenues can be generated in the UK 

Interim and Annual Portfolio Reviews

I review the portfolio at least twice each year. These reviews cover performance, recent changes to the portfolio's holdings and any other relevant news:

You can find earlier reviews on my old website:

Buy and Sell Reviews for Past Holdings

The portfolio follows a long-term investing strategy so there is relatively little in the way of trading activity on a day-to-day basis. 

In a typical month, there might be one new holding added to the portfolio, or one existing holding removed. With 20 to 25 holdings, each holding usually remains in the portfolio for at least several years. 

When companies are added to or removed from the portfolio, a detailed review (typically around ten pages) is published in the monthly UK Dividend Stocks Newsletter and you can download these buy and sell reviews for all past holdings below.

This website provides information, education and tools for investors. It does not provide financial advice or recommendations to buy or sell any specific investment. If you're not sure if an investment is right for you, you should speak to a regulated financial adviser. Please read the disclaimer for more details.