Return of the Dogs!

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I can’t think of a better time to post about my Dogs of the FTSE experimental portfolio, just as the markets are apparently tanking!

Is this just a blip, or the beginning of the inevitable end of the bull run?

Whatever, I’m still investing and I intend to document the bad times as well as the good times.

As a reminder, here’s the Dogs of the FTSE strategy:

  1. Choose the ten FTSE 100 shares with the highest yield (subject to my criteria*)
  2. Invest equal amounts in all ten shares
  3. Hold for a year (give or take a week)
  4. At the end of the year, sell the ones no longer in the top ten, replace with new shares with highest yield
  5. Repeat from step 3

[*criteria being that shares already in my portfolio are not included, nor any where a dividend cut has been announced]

Note that this is my ‘fun’ portfolio and represents less than 2% of my Future Fund.

Here’s how my last portfolio finished in Feb 2019:

Full end of 12-month update is here if you’re interested.

There was a delay in setting up the next portfolio as I had to wait for the 2019 tax year to commence to open my new ISA with a new provider.

So in June, I went about setting up my Dogs of the FTSE 2019/20 portfolio! Been a bit busy so this post has been languishing in my drafts!

So, in accordance with the strategy:

Six Dogs Set Free (Sold):

  • Marks & Spencer Grp plc (MKS)
  • National Grid (NG)
  • Rio Tinto plc (RIO)
  • Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDSB)
  • SSE plc (SSE)
  • United Utilities Group plc (UU)

Total received from sales = £1,333.20

Total Dividends received = £175.90 (note I continued to receive divis until I sold in June)

Profit/Loss from original investment = £57.94 (3.9% gain)

It was not easy at all pushing the ‘sell’ button for some of those but I am committed to the strategy.

Also, it was hard swalllowing the 6 x £9.95 trading fee (with AJ Bell) – if not for the fees, I would have doubled my profit/gain and this is the main reason why I moved to another provider, where the fee for buying/selling will be a big fat zero.

Next, in accordance with the strategy:

Six Dogs Rounded Up (Bought): 

  • Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA)
  • ITV plc (ITV)
  • Aviva plc (AV)
  • British American Tobacco plc (BATS)
  • Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG)
  • HSBC Holdings (HSBA)

I’m not timing the market, just bought at whatever the price was in June.

So here’s how the Dogs of the FTSE Portfolio 2019/20 looks as at today:

Best of breed or mangy mutts? All pretty much looking like they’re the latter right now!

Over this same period, the FTSE 100 Total Return was minus 1.46% so the Dogs are lagging a bit on -5.10% including dividends.

I’m not sure I can do quarterly updates as before – perhaps half-yearly updates on how this portfolio is doing.

Random Shares Portfolio

I’ve been testing Freetrade’s free share referral scheme and now have a bunch of free shares, thanks to those who have clicked on the link and topped up their accounts – hope you were all allocated decent free shares in return.

When I get round to it, I’ll provide an update on what random shares I was awarded and how they are getting on.

If anyone would like to try out Freetrade’s app and bag a free share in the process, drop me a note via @QuietlySaving or my Contact Form.

The free share referral scheme will be rolled out to all shortly, which will allow all Freetrade account holders to be able to refer.

And finally….

Possible Blog Delays in Future…

D-Day is imminent, my living situation will be completely changed from this weekend.

I’m feeling both excitement and dread. And rather stressed.

I have no idea how I will be able to continue to post regularly and keep my blog secret from my family so don’t know when I’ll be able to post again.

I hope I’ll work something out.

21 thoughts on “Return of the Dogs!”

  2. Hey Weenie!

    Looking forward to tracking the dogs this year. They’ve certainly had a tough starting ride!

    Wish you all the best moving in with your family – I moved in with my sister last year and to be honest have really enjoyed it, we get on like a house on fire but we make sure we get our own private time too. Hopefully your place is big enough to give you all plenty of room (especially with a teenager around!)

    • Hi IFAL

      Thanks for the encouraging words.

      Yes, need to make sure we all have private time and space!

      Tough start for the Dogs yes but we’ll see!

    • Hi David

      Yes, the Dogs portfolio goes against all things FIRE but it’s just a fun part of my portfolio – I wouldn’t want to use this as my main strategy!

      I don’t invest in many funds (to keep platform costs down) but I do have a small holding in iShares UK Dividend ETF (IUKD) which is also mentioned in the article you linked.

      Thanks and happy FIREing to you too!

  4. Ouch, that AJ Bell trading fee is painful! Good thing Freetrade exist now, they seem much more reasonable. Looking forward to seeing how the Dogs do in a years time!

    Good luck with your new living situation. Hopefully you can continue to find ways to blog in secret!

    • Yeah, Freetrade is ideal for this experiment as well as being such a cheap option for the rest of my portfolio.

      Right now, I have time to respond to comments at work!

  5. I think its an interesting strategy, with freetrade and will investigate further. Hope you keep the blog going.

  7. What evidence do you have for this? As far as I can see, you will only make an already high risk strategy even riskier…

    • O’Higgins created the Dogs portfolio theory but research will indicate that his mechanical 10 qualifying stocks systems will have sometimes stocks from the same sector (why have 2 or more)and sometimes likely ‘value traps’.
      Currently filtering them down from 10 down to 5 stocks leaves:
      Aviva,BT,Evraz,Persimmon and ITV.

  8. There are many factor-driven approaches out there, and IMO they all work until they don’t. This one seems vulnerable to rising interest rates and recession, but hopefully these won’t occur for the next 7 years… Good luck!

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