May 2025 Newsletter

Welcome to the MAY edition of my DivGro 2.0 newsletter!

April was a tumultuous month, instigated by the Trump Administration’s so-called Liberation Day tariff announcement on 2 April. President Trump slapped reciprocal tariffs on 185 countries, with the new levies ranging from a 10% baseline tariff to additional duties for nations considered to be the “worst offenders.”

The announcement caused widespread panic selling and a significant increase in market volatility. Some estimates place the global stock market loss at $8.56 trillion between 2-8 April. 

My DivGro portfolio wasn’t spared from the turmoil. I closed five positions, including two of my largest closed-end fund holdings, so DivGro now contains 87 positions. Of these, 71 are dividend growth [DG] stocks, one is a dividend-paying stock, five are closed-end funds, and ten are small investments in high-growth stocks. By convention, I label stocks with dividend increase streaks of five or more years DG stocks.

More than 1,500 members have joined DivGro 2.0 since its soft launch in February 2023. I have decided to delay the formal launch of DivGro 2.0, allowing members to continue with complimentary access to all content on DivGro 2.0, including my DivGro Portfolio.