€735 in Dividends in September: An Update on My €270,000 Stock Portfolio

September is over and all the dividends have landed – time for my monthly dividend update. As always, I'll show you fully transparently how much came in during September, which companies paid out, how my dividends have developed over the last few years and what the forecast through 2027 says. All figures come live from my Parqet dashboard; the cut-off date is 3 October 2026.

As always, the most important note up front: this is not investment advice and not a buy recommendation. I only ever share my personal opinion and my personal investments. I'm responsible for my money, you're responsible for yours – always make your own decision.

Portfolio overview: €269,928 in the portfolio

Before we get to the dividends, some quick context: my dividend portfolio currently stands at €269,927.65. I've invested €288,676.80, so I'm sitting on a paper loss of €18,749.15 (−6.49%). That is offset, however, by €9,510.26 in dividends received and €26,092.15 in realised gains. All in all, that works out to an internal rate of return (IRR) of 5.17% – and honestly, I'm not happy with that.

The performance chart shows clearly that the return only slipped this sharply in the last few weeks: at the start of September the IRR there was still at roughly 12% (that's how I read it off the chart in the video). The reason is a handful of individual stocks that have dropped very sharply lately – more on that in a moment.

My entire portfolio is shared live via Parqet – so you can look at the composition, dividends and analytics yourself at any time.

My 16 positions: winners and losers

If you read the last portfolio update, you already know the new building block: the Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap UCITS ETF (Dist) is my core for the future. With 17,500 shares and €77,175.00 by now, it makes up 28.59% of the portfolio and is currently up 2.54%. Alongside it I still hold 15 individual stocks. The largest single stock remains McDonald's at €22,698.50 – although it is now down 14.68%.

Important context: the following figures are not September movements, but the total performance of each position since I bought it.

On the losing side:

• Novo Nordisk: −33.30% (−€4,552.04)
• Zoetis: −28.27% (−€5,363.50)
• LVMH: −26.57% (−€4,144.55)
• Hermès: −18.50% (−€2,378.50)
• McDonald's: −14.68% (−€3,904.25)
• PepsiCo: −13.67% (−€1,950.46)
• VICI Properties: −12.45% (−€1,434.00)
• Realty Income: −6.24% (−€705.67)

In the green, on the other hand, are Coca-Cola (+20.85%, +€2,102.71), Allianz (+19.46%, +€2,043.10), Main Street Capital (+2.61%) and Procter & Gamble (+1.60%).

That's not pretty, of course. But I also have to say: there are several companies in there that I'll probably hold for the rest of my life – a McDonald's, a Coca-Cola and so on. With McDonald's in particular, I'm personally fairly sure the stock will recover and the company will remain a big player: a huge network, a huge moat. Sure, there are problems and declining sales at the moment – but that's my assessment, not a guarantee.

My dividends in September: €734.85

Now to the actual topic: in September I received €734.85 in dividends – spread across 13 payouts from 10 positions. That is more than double the August figure (€343.28). Parqet shows gross amounts here; the taxes withheld are listed next to each entry in the activity list.

The payouts in detail:

• PepsiCo: €137.20 (105 shares, 30 Sep) – my strongest payer this month
• McDonald's: €121.04 (75 shares, 16 Sep)
• Main Street Capital: €110.90 in four bookings – the regular monthly dividend on 15 Sep (€34.37 for 150 shares + €17.19 for 75 shares), then another €39.56 + €19.78 on 28 Sep (in the video I refer to this as the special dividend)
• Zoetis: €91.34 (200 shares, 1 Sep)
• Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap ETF: €70.20 (15,000 shares, 30 Sep) – the ETF's very first distribution
• Waste Management: €58.05 (70 shares, 25 Sep) – in the video I mistakenly say €58.15; Parqet shows €58.05
• Realty Income: €51.56 (220 shares, 15 Sep) – the monthly payer
• Microsoft: €35.18 (45 shares, 10 Sep)
• Chevron: €30.58 (20 shares, 10 Sep)
• Visa: €28.80 (50 shares, 1 Sep)

Two remarks. First: I sold Microsoft, Chevron and Visa in September to fund the ETF – the dividends still arrived. Second: the €70.20 from the Vanguard ETF was its first payment ever. The ETF only launched in August, so not much had accumulated by the September distribution. I expect the upcoming distributions to be considerably higher.

My dividend metrics

A look at the dividend dashboard: in total I've received €9,510.26 in dividends since the start in April 2023 (gross; net it's €7,153.01). My personal dividend yield currently stands at 2.27%. Dividend income over the last 12 months is €6,551.25 – an average of €545.94 per month.

What's interesting is comparing individual months across the years, which the heatmap in the dashboard makes possible:

• May: it was €509.59 in 2025, already €1,495.24 in 2026 – and the forecast for 2027 shows €1,576.90.
• December: €39.42 in 2024, then €702.39 in 2025. For 2026, €702.68 is expected (though I'll keep investing until then), and for 2027 it's €773.59.

The strongest dividend payers

Looking at which position has paid out the most over the whole holding period, Realty Income leads with €723.28. Main Street Capital follows in second place with €606.04, then PepsiCo (€577.86), Allianz (€543.80) and Novo Nordisk (€540.15). The rest is spread across the other positions.

Nice to see: right at the top are two monthly payers, Realty Income and Main Street Capital, followed by a mix of quarterly, semi-annual and annual payers.

Dividend growth: 2024 to 2027

My favourite feature in Parqet is the dividend calendar, because it shows the development so well. The annual totals:

• 2024: €59.75 – the year I started with dividend stocks. The first payments were €3.00 from McDonald's and €2.14 from Realty Income.
• 2025: €3,939.56 – a huge jump, simply because I invested an enormous amount. The strongest month was December at €703.58.
• 2026: €6,849.80 in dividends received and expected. Of that, €5,522.23 has actually come in as of the cut-off date.
• 2027 (forecast): currently €8,332.02.

One important point: the new world ETF is barely included in the forecast yet. Parqet calculates expected dividends from historical distributions – and because the ETF has only paid once so far, it only appears in the calendar with that single September payment. The next distribution is due in December and is missing from the forecast. So by my estimate, another €100 to €200 should come on top for 2026, and the €8,332 for 2027 is also calculated without the ETF's other distributions.

There are already some strong months lined up for 2027: March at €1,038.69, April at €1,289.08, May at €1,576.90 – and September (€795.68) and December (€773.59) are nothing to be ashamed of either. Since I keep investing, the actual figures should end up higher.

A note on the numbers: Parqet rounds slightly differently across its views. The dividend dashboard, for example, shows €3,928.31 for 2025, while the dividend calendar shows €3,939.56; for December 2025 it's €702.39 versus €703.58. I always quote the figure from the view being discussed.

Outlook: top-ups and a holding company from January

My dividends keep rising – partly because I invest a lot. At the same time, the internal rate of return of 5.17% is close to disastrous right now. That's mainly down to the losers of recent weeks: McDonald's, LVMH, Hermès, VICI Properties, Realty Income and Novo Nordisk, which has been struggling for months.

I expect these companies to have their day again at some point. I'm topping up some of them – but not blindly: I'm currently not adding to Novo Nordisk, whereas with McDonald's I see interesting buying opportunities right now. That, too, is my personal view and not a recommendation.

On top of that, a bigger change is coming to my stock investments over the next few months: I'm setting up a holding structure above my operating company and plan to invest in stocks through it as well – mainly in growth stocks. The reason is tax: as I understand it, gains on stocks inside the holding are effectively taxed at only around 1.5%. That pays off more with growth stocks than with dividend stocks. So dividend stocks like McDonald's will stay in my private assets, while I build a second, growth-focused portfolio inside the holding. The holding will probably not be founded until January, so that I don't have to prepare an extra set of annual accounts this year. (This is my personal plan under German tax rules and not tax advice – I'll keep you posted.)

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

€734.85 in September was a strong month – more than double August, including the first distribution from my new world ETF. So the dividends keep growing reliably: from just under €60 in 2024 to an expected €8,300-plus in 2027. The price performance of some individual stocks, on the other hand, is anything but pretty right now, and I show that just as openly.

How was your September – how much did you receive in dividends, and how do you deal with positions that are deep in the red? And if you have questions about the holding: let me know in the comments and I'll make a separate video about it.

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