My Biggest Investing Mistake? A World ETF Beat My Dividend Portfolio – Update 09/2026

This update isn't an easy one for me, because I have to make something of a confession: a plain world ETF would have beaten my painstakingly hand-picked dividend portfolio over the last few years. So I'm drawing a conclusion – and I've added a broad world ETF to my portfolio as a new core. In this detailed dividend portfolio update (as of 14 September 2026) I'll transparently walk you through all the numbers, the new ETF, my 7 sells, my remaining 16 positions and the dividend forecast to 2027.

As always, the most important note first: this is not financial advice and not a buy recommendation. I only show my personal opinion and my personal investments. I'm responsible for my money, you for yours – always make your own decision.

The portfolio at a glance

For context: my dividend portfolio currently stands at €262,254.00. I've invested a total of €274,423.67, so I'm sitting on a paper loss of €12,169.67 (−4.43%). That sounds ugly at first, but it looks different once you see the other side: I've already collected €8,895.56 in dividends and locked in €26,092.15 in realised gains – a large chunk of that in the last few days from the reshuffle I'll get to shortly.

My portfolio's internal rate of return (IRR) is currently 7.70%. For context: on 27 August, a good two weeks before this recording, it was still at 10.94% – so the recent market dip has cost some return here. The portfolio is spread across 16 positions.

By the way, my entire portfolio is shared live via Parqet – so you can look at the composition, dividends and key figures yourself any time.

My confession: the world ETF beat me

Now for the real reason behind this update. I do stock-picking with dividend stocks out of passion – but I want to be honest with you (and with myself): over the last 5 and 10 years, a plain, broad world ETF would have performed better than my hand-picked strategy.

The numbers are clear. The MSCI World returned around 11.71% p.a. over 5 years and 13.56% p.a. over 10 years (USD, gross return, as of 31 Aug 2026). The even broader FTSE Global All Cap came in at 10.80% and 12.63% p.a. – about 0.9 percentage points per year less than the MSCI World, but still more than my stock selection has delivered net. In other words: both broad world indices would have beaten me.

For me that's no reason to throw dividend investing overboard entirely – I simply enjoy the predictable payouts and the psychological effect too much. But it's a clear nudge to give my portfolio a broad, cheap foundation that doesn't depend on my stock selection. And that's exactly what the new ETF is.

The new core: Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap ETF

My new building block – and immediately the largest position – is the Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap UCITS ETF (USD) Distributing. Here are the key facts:

• ISIN: IE000CVUM3N6 · Ticker: VGLD
• Launched: 18 August 2026 (first trading 20 Aug) – so the ETF is barely four weeks old
• Cost ratio (TER): 0.07% p.a. – extremely cheap
• Replication: physical via sampling (a representative selection of index constituents is bought, not necessarily every single one)
• Distribution: distributing, quarterly
• Index: FTSE Global All Cap – per justETF 10,017 holdings, i.e. maximum diversification including emerging markets and smaller companies
• Price: €4.29 per share

One point I put too briefly in the video and want to set straight here: I mention a fund size of "only €9 million". That's true – but only for the distributing share class on justETF. The entire fund is much larger at around $660 million per Vanguard, and the accumulating sister class (IE000VAHT5T0, ticker VGLA, also 0.07% TER) is already at around €556 million. So if you'd prefer it reinvesting, it's available as an accumulator too.

Regionally the USA dominates at 58.38%, followed by Japan (5.71%), the UK (3.30%), Taiwan (3.02%), Canada (2.91%) and China (2.49%). By sector, technology leads at 32.99% (about a third), ahead of financials (19.02%) and industrials (9.72%). The ten largest holdings together make up 21.18% – NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (two share classes), Broadcom, TSMC, Meta and JPMorgan Chase.

On the dividend: as such a young product, the ETF hasn't reported its own distribution yield yet. The underlying index sits at around 1.6% per Vanguard's factsheet – so my estimate of "about 1.5%" is reasonable. I currently hold 15,000 shares at €4.29, which is around €64,350 and thus almost 24.5% of my entire portfolio.

What I sold for it: 7 positions

An ETF entry that size has to be funded, of course. To do it, I fully or partially sold seven positions in September – €69,526 in total:

Sale	Shares	Price	Amount
Microsoft	45	€423.75	€19,068.75
Visa	50	€317.00	€15,850.00
SAP	75	€176.74	€13,255.50
Ferrari	25	€351.55	€8,788.75
Public Storage	20	€253.45	€5,069.00
Deutsche Post (DHL Group)	70	€54.72	€3,830.40
Chevron	20	€183.18	€3,663.60

The biggest chunk was Microsoft – one of my winning positions, but not a classic dividend stock. With Chevron and DHL I closed rather small positions, likewise with Public Storage. The proceeds then flowed into the ETF in two tranches: first 10,000 shares (10 Sep), then another 5,000 shares (11 Sep). On the side, I topped up VICI Properties (100 shares) and McDonald's (in two tranches, now 100 shares).

My 16 positions at a glance

After the reshuffle, my portfolio looks like this – the world ETF at the top, then my dividend stocks, sorted by position value:

#	Position	Value	Share
1	Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap ETF	€64,350.00	24.5%
2	McDonald's	€22,005.00	8.39%
3	Munich Re	€15,261.00	5.82%
4	Procter & Gamble	€15,183.60	5.79%
5	Zoetis	€14,016.20	5.34%
6	Allianz	€13,324.50	5.08%
7	PepsiCo	€13,083.40	4.99%
8	Waste Management	€12,994.10	4.95%
9	Nestlé	€12,499.50	4.77%
10	Coca-Cola	€12,348.80	4.71%
11	LVMH	€12,342.00	4.71%
12	Realty Income	€11,433.40	4.36%
13	Hermès	€11,254.00	4.29%
14	Main Street Capital	€10,935.00	4.17%
15	VICI Properties	€10,900.00	4.16%
16	Novo Nordisk	€10,323.50	3.94%

The largest individual stock remains McDonald's at 8.39%. On the winning side, Allianz (+42.57%) and Coca-Cola (+32.87%) are still ahead; my problem children remain Zoetis (−26.12%), Novo Nordisk (−24.47%) and LVMH (−20.88%). It's nice to see how the ETF now cushions the single-stock risks: even my largest stock position only weighs a good 8%, while the broadly diversified world ETF carries almost a quarter of the portfolio.

What this means for my dividends

A world ETF yielding around 1.5% obviously pays out less than some dividend stocks – yet I don't need to worry about my dividend goal. A look at the Parqet dividend calendar:

• 2026: around €6,790 in distributions
• 2027 (forecast): currently around €8,060 – plus an estimated €975 from the new world ETF (about 1.5% on around €65,000)

Together that gets me to a good €9,035 for 2027 – so I'd break the €9,000 mark for the first time. Important: the ETF only shows up in the calendar with a first small payment so far, because it's so young; the full quarterly distributions are still to come. And since I keep investing, the actual sum should end up higher. My long-term goal remains €10,000 to €12,000 in annual dividends – about €1,000 per month on average.

The tool I track everything with: Parqet

All the numbers in this update – portfolio value, IRR, dividends, forecast and the composition – come live from Parqet. I use it to track my entire portfolio and share it publicly, so you can view it any time. If you'd like to try Parqet Plus yourself: via my link* you get 15% off the first year as a new customer – the discount is applied automatically at checkout.

Conclusion

Admitting that a simple world ETF would have beaten the strategy you've painstakingly built isn't pleasant – but moments like these are exactly what move you forward as an investor. So I'm not turning my dividend portfolio into a pure ETF portfolio; instead I'm giving it a broad, cheap foundation with the Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap and keeping my dividend stocks for the predictable cash flow. For me, that's the most honest and most relaxed combination.

How do you handle this – pure dividend portfolio, pure world ETF, or a mix like mine? Let me know in the comments, I reply to everyone. And if you want to follow my portfolio live: it's viewable any time via Parqet.

Links marked with * are affiliate links. If you start through them, you support my work – at no extra cost to you; on the contrary, you secure the discount. Thank you!