July markets are closed and so here is another update on my portfolio performance, dividends, significant events, the site, and some personal stuff.

Growth Portfolio

For the most part, my growth portfolio has been incredibly well-balanced. My major positions have moved around a percent while everything else has stood mostly still. Nvidia (NVDA) completed its stock split and I now own 4 times as many shares at 1/4 the price. I love stock splits on "expensive" stocks and would love to see it elsewhere. Particularly with Amazon (AMZN) where new CEO Andy Jassy has now taken over from Jeff Bezos. Amazon trades at above $3000 USD and for many investors that make it an unapproachable stock. In the final trading hours of July, Amazon stock has however tanked more dramatically than I have seen in a long time. The drop of about 7.5% seems related to a near-billion-dollar fine issued to the company for data mismanagement by the EU. I am however still above 2x gain on the stock and remain fully optimistic about its future and new leadership. If things go the opposite way under this new management, however, I do have my eye on their eastern competitor of Sea (SE) which has proven incredibly exciting as well.

In the meantime, it seems Jeff Bezos is not quite yet enjoying retirement. I witnessed both him and Sir Richard Branson fly to space live (on stream) for the very first time. An incredible feat for both their companies and I continue to be excited about private space. I still own a tiny bit of Virgin Galactic (SPCE) as part of a short-term play on these events though I am still not looking to keep invested in this company long-term anytime soon if ever.

Speaking of space enthusiasts - Elon Musk's Tesla (TSLA) reported earnings a few days ago. Another record quarter and hitting a milestone of above $1 billion in profits for the first time ever. Interestingly the market did not catch up until yesterday (29th) when we saw the stock rally almost 5% in a single day. Tesla is my prime position with long-term gains above 1000%. They are taking the world by storm and are moving faster than ever.

The most insane and exciting thing of this entire month however is what happened in the Chinese markets. Xi Jinping in his continued effort to strike down on those he finds too greedy and decentralized from the state, by shocking the markets with a plan to turn all online-education platforms non-profit. Ever since Ant Group's IPO was rejected when Jack Ma became a little too confident in his position as business leader of China and had to go underground, the markets in China have feared more regulations. They came this month and we saw a defined crash over a few short days. I took full advantage of this and added as much to my position in Xiaomi (1810) as I possibly could. It now makes up 1% of my entire portfolio, which is still not quite enough, but something I am consistently working on, Xiaomi overtook Apple (AAPL) as the world's number 2 in smartphone shipments this month and is well on their way to take the first spot from Samsung (005930) within long. Xiaomi is severely underestimated at the moment and there is so much more to this company than its phone sales. That is exactly why I am trying to build a position in the company sooner rather than later.

Dividend Portfolio

Not too much has happened this month in my dividend portfolio - exactly like it should be. This portfolio is made up of consistent giants of their industries and I hope to continue to see stable and consistent growth (mainly in the form of dividends) from all of these. My danish ETF which is on a reoccurring automatic buy, has been doing particularly well this month, although all these positions remain in place from last month.

Here is a rundown of the dividends I received this month:

Total dividends received this month across all my portfolios – before taxes.

There is not too much to report on my dividend portfolio this time around. From the payout contributors in July, the two most interesting ones are actually coming from my growth portfolio. The smallest is Nvidia's which has a pretty laughable dividend payout ratio. I wonder if they will ever raise to any worthy level of significance. The largest contributor is TSMC and both of these positions I own for their potential growth and not so much for the dividend. TSMC recently made it into the top 10 companies by market cap and Nvidia is getting closer by the day.

Website updates & Statistics

Seeing these numbers I am glad I decided to give a more relaxed approach to sharing my articles and site on the platforms. The growth seems much more organic now and is far less stressful. It just makes more sense this way. I set a goal to reach 25000 visitors for the full year - and by this pace, I might not make it, but we will see. Either way, am I happy with the continued support and welcome all new subscribers to my email list, which is now a much more common occurrence in general.

Personal

For the majority of this month I have focused on enjoying my summer vacation. I have been on a short 4-day trip to Rome, one of my favorite places on the planet with my girlfriend and visited relatives. I received my final grade for my first year of University at the beginning of the month and with the Netflix design project I showed off in update 5 I am happy to report that I passed with flying colors!

This month I also celebrated my birthday, turning 28. I feel okay, although 30 is sneaking in on me. But as long as my set goals pan out as I want them to in the next two years I feel great about where I am in my life. I was gifted a Xiaomi Robot Vacuum Mop which is currently sweeping the floor of my apartment as I write this. I am very happy with its capabilities and I love to get hands-on with a product from a company I am invested in.

I will be returning to University about a month from now, so in the meantime, I plan on working more hours to fill the time at my current job. Last month I teased that I was in talks with a tech company for a new opportunity. That company is Lenovo (0992) and I can now safely share that I will be joining them in September in the new role of 'Retail Specialist'. Lenovo is the single biggest PC maker on earth and commands a vast product portfolio which I will have the privilege to promote and educate to the staff of their retail partners. It will mark a new chapter of my working life and the role will be vastly different from what I am used to. More details to follow as soon as I figure out what is up and down, of course.

That is all for now. Hope you enjoyed the read. Thanks for being interested.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, the opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own – always invest at your own risk.