New Year's Eve

Finally, 2022 is coming to an end. I hope that 2023 means a calmer existence with lower inflation, wiser energy policy and, above all, fewer wars. I also wish young master Dewlar could stop growing. Last night, 11:15 p.m., he asks if he can spend New Year's Eve with his friends.

WTF is happening? I postponed the question until today. The world's most perfect husband thinks it goes without saying, me not so much. According to Junior, they are supposed to be 7 friends going out to watch fireworks. While I trust my 15 year old and his friends, they are all a bit nerdy, there are other teenagers and young adults I absolutely do not trust.

There is so much robbery and assault in that specific age group in Sweden. We have close friends whose teenager was robbed. I wish you all a Happy New Year, I myself will most likely spend the stroke of twelve anxiously waiting for the world's most perfect teenager to come home.

Sometimes age is an advantage, (but usually not)

I am grateful that we sensed that the previous negative repo rate was wrongly timed and unrealistic and therefore unsustainable in the long run. We made an active choice to save the difference between the actual and what we consider to be a realistic interest rate. We lived as if there were more normal interest rates on the market and instead managed to build up a proper savings capital.

Now that we actually live in a normal interest rate reality, our mortgage rates have doubled, we can't save money the same way. Our savings will stop completely in March next year. Until I realized that the world's most perfect husband receives a pension these days, which he saves in his endowment insurance. Even if it is his money, in the future it will contribute to our common living. Going forward, "we" will be able to save $700 instead of $1,200 per month.

Nordea excels

On our endowment insurances with Nordea, both me, my husband and our joint received a larger amount today. As it is Nordea, you cannot see which dividends it refers to. The transaction history is not updated until the following day. My guess is that it is the dividend from, among others, Newtek Business Services Corp. Common Stock (NEWT) that has already arrived.

Since I haven't followed up on our dividends for almost 2 years, Nordea's prompt handling of dividends was a pleasant surprise. A good consequence of their quick handling is that I will meet the dividend target for 2022 with flying colors. All the adjustments in my spreadsheet are done now and as of tomorrow all the numbers are set in stone. I will eat, sleep and breathe Google Sheet for the coming month.

Already done

Although the year is not over, we will not be acquiring shares today so we have a summary. The breakdown of our holdings in the joint portfolio, named Family First, is shown below in the chart. The size of each holding in percentage is calculated on the value of the holding versus the value of the portfolio.

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Schadenfreude is the only true happiness

Yesterday the world's most perfect husband bought a number of shares of Owl Rock Capital Corp. Common Stock (ORCC) to his portfolio. He was very pleased with his acquisition due to several factors.

However, the main reason for his joy was that he managed to buy before the Ex-dividend date. To say I rained on his parade by letting him know he had messed up the dates would be an understatement. It was still a good buy, their yield is currently 10.35%, even if he has to wait 3 months for the dividend.

I should listen more to my spouse

The world's most perfect husband always says you can't live tomorrow. He has been "harassing" me with this since 1994 when we became a couple. In retrospect, I have to agree with him.

The last time we went away on holiday was 2019. We started the year by being away and ended 2019 the same way. In between, we also managed 2 more trips. In total, we were away for 8 weeks that year. I had never before or since (for so long), had so many weeks off in a year.

The following year, 2020, the pandemic hit and we haven't traveled since. I hope and believe that we will go on a proper trip in the summer. Even the world's most perfect teenager, who was tired of traveling, is keen now.

In the long term, it always pays to own your home

As we changed mortgage lenders, our apartment was revalued. An appraisal is just a snapshot of the value of a home and really completely uninteresting if it is not followed by a sale. Despite that, it is nice to know that our loan-to-value ratio is not higher than roughly 32% of the current valuation, or just under 51% of the purchase price for the price 10 years ago.

The increased interest & energy prices have already started to affect sales prices negatively. We hope we have the opportunity to buy a studio apartment in the near future that can be used as an office. It doesn't work that we have the office at home because I was brought up not to put anything off, so all time becomes work time.

I wish my parents had done this for me too

In addition to a lot of presents, the world's most perfect teenager also received $250 in cash for Christmas. Even if he doesn't ask me to put over 50% into his endowment insurance, it's no big deal when I remind him. To make him part of the transaction, I always have him add up the sums and have him tell me the amount he wants me to transfer.

This year he did a logical fallacy, he added up his Christmas gift money but divided his total in the account and gave me an amount. The first impulse was to transfer that sum but alerted him to the mistake and transferred the correct amount.

It's always a surprise

The payouts at Nordea are a bit like the Christmas presents my dad wraps. There is always a missing label from who the gift is from. You always have to ask. Today I logged into the account and got my answer. It was Armor Residential REIT Inc. (ARR), BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. (TCPC), Capital Southwest Corp. (CSWC), Main Street Capital Corp. (MAIN) and NexPoint Residential Trust Inc. (NXRT).

I have no idea if it's regular or special dividends, I'm just happy for the money we get. From January 1, I know exactly what type of dividend we will receive and roughly when we will receive it. We are still $1,161 short of reaching the calculation for the full 2022 dividends. However, there are still 2 working days left, so l'm still hopeful.

I was wrong

We intended to buy a small number of shares in Coca-Cola (KO) at the same time as we made the other

acquisitions yesterday. Luckily, we entered a purchase price that was too low, so there was no purchase. 

That money, together with the money that came into the account today, enabled us to acquire more Coca-Cola shares today instead. Although their yield is not very high, we have chosen to include them in our portfolio, the current yield is 2.76% on an annual basis. Selling water cannot be anything but profitable.

Although it takes 9 liters of pure water to produce 1 liter of Coca-Cola.

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

It felt like a no-brainer that Avanza would respond to Nordnet's new function with fast refund of foreign tax. They offer 100% refund of the foreign tax the following year unlike Nordnet which will give around 85% as they use a standard calculation to be able to pay back the money within 4 weeks.

Despite Nordea's shortcomings such as delays on the transaction page and the absence of notifications, we still think their site is the best for us. Given the improvements they've made so far, I suspect it's only a matter of time before they fix this as well. Although they took their time, I have to commend both Avanza and Nordnet for acting and responding to Nordea's service regarding the tax refund.

Even Nordea can't deny that there are still some teething problems

Today we received money into our Nordea account. I know it's dividends but since Nordea doesn't show transactions in real time but with a 24 hour delay, I won't know until tomorrow which shares it refers to.

If only Nordea could show transactions in real time and send a notification when there has been a transaction on the account, I would be very happy with them. At the moment, their page showing the transactions is like a black hole.

(Probably) last purchase of the year

We decided to not rock the boat and bought Main Street Capital Corp. (MAIN), Pennantpark Floating Rate Capital Ltd (PFLT) and Stellus Capital Investment Corp. (SCM) instead of Volkswagen AG ADR (VWAY), this time. This is most likely the last acquisition of the year.

Any remaining dividends that may be credited to the account before the end of the year will be far too small for it to be financially justifiable to make more purchases with regard to the commission.

Can (probably) just go wrong

We are thinking of taking in some growth stocks to complement our dividend stocks. Volkswagen AG ADR (VWAGY) has caught our interest. Their share value has fallen by almost 50% since January of this year.

The Germans are known for their engineering and the fact that they have rebuilt the factories to build electric cars portends future fortune. Considering Dieselgate and their previous slogan, Das Auto, that later became Das Problem, I can only hope that a possible acquisition does not mean - Mein Problem.

Merry Christmas from PostNord

The Swedish post office, aka PostNord, is not like other postal services. They are literally dismantling themselves. In our district of Stockholm, Sweden's capital, mail is delivered on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

In addition to the substandard postal delivery, letters get lost. As I don't want to incur either late fees or late interest due to the post office, I have all our private invoices as e-invoices. Or so I thought, today we got a reminder regarding the insurance of the world's most perfect teenager. You could call it a belated Christmas present from the post office at $425 including late fee. It won't be a Christmas Sale for me.

Domestic currency market

In 2003, Sweden had a referendum on whether we should exchange our Swedish krona for Euro. Back then €1 cost 5 Swedish kronas, now we pay over 11 Swedish kronas for €1. Unfortunately the "no" side was bigger than the "yes" side which both my husband and I were supporters of.

We thought that Sweden, which became a member of the EU in 1995, should also have the same currency as the rest of the free trade area in order to more easily take advantage of all the advantages that the free market within the EU entails. When the "no" side won, we chose to invest our money in the American stock market instead. During the years we were relatively cautious with our investments as we knew nothing about that market plus the commission was outrageously high.

Now there are voices from the Swedish financial market that we should change to €, but for other reasons we had. There are contractors who voted against it then but have changed their minds over the years. The biggest reason for this is that the Swedish krona is an extremely small currency relative to the rest of the world, which makes it an unstable and uncertain currency. This uncertainty surrounding the Swedish krona makes Swedish citizens poorer and poorer.

Boxing Day

Today we competed in the unofficial Dewlar's Indoor Golf Championships. It was just our little family and a golf simulator. Before the last hole, the world's most perfect teenager led by 1 point. He had 37 points to my 36.

When the last ball went in the hole, Junior had won over me with 39 points against my 38. The world's most perfect husband finished on 20 points.

My husband is much better than his score shows. On a golf course, I have no chance against both him and the offspring, so I see today's result as a win. The hubby is not as happy with the day.

Another loss

No matter how much I both double and triple check the numbers, I will not reach expected dividends for 2022. With luck we will get the dividends for Armour Residential REIT, Inc. (ARR), Capital SouthWest Corporation Common Stock (CSWC) and T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. Common Stock (TROW) in one of the last 4 business days of the year.

At best, the four dividends together add up to about $295. Assuming no special dividend is credited to the account during these four business days, I will miss my 2022 calculation by $1,850.

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It's not about if I'll lose, it's about how much I'll lose by

The world's most perfect teenager received several gift cards for an indoor golf course as a Christmas present. Because all his friends have gone away during the Christmas holidays, it will be me and the husband who will have the honor of accompanying him.

He wants to practice extra this Christmas holiday because he has changed golf club for the coming season. He starts training with the new club on January 9, 2023 and I think he is a bit nervous. He and I are both competitive, but for him the glory is not enough. He wants to win something too so it will be expensive for me.

Merry Christmas

I hope Christmas turns out exactly as you wish.

My father - the workaholic

My 76 year old father who still works 6 days a week is the workaholic personified. Now, in the name of truth, it must be admitted that he doesn't do manual labor but runs a small consulting firm. It is not money that drives him, some assignments he barely gets paid for. I do his bookkeeping free of charge. Always have and always will.

My parents will celebrate Christmas with my younger sister, we will have our best friends at our home. Tonight, when I unpacked the bags with Christmas presents from my parent, mom brought them earlier today, I found accounting that he had slipped into one of the bags.

Since I can't/don't want anything lying around over Christmas, I had to get back to the office and resume the working day. I count my lucky stars that I unpacked the bags today and not tomorrow. Merry Christmas to you too dad...

History will punish the environmental movement severely

I have no personal agenda as my electricity consumption is minimal due to the fact that we live in an apartment and do not own a summer house so my increased electricity costs are negligible. I get angry when I think that our previous government, the Social Democrats, chose power over Sweden and Sweden's citizens.

In order for the Social Democrats to take office in 2014 and their party leader to become Sweden's prime minister, they needed the support of the Green Party. The two parties entered into an agreement which stipulated that the Social Democrats received the post of prime minister and power in exchange for nuclear power being phased out. This was done in 2 steps, roughly simplified.

The effect tax on nuclear electricity was raised, when it was at its highest it constituted 1/3 of the operating cost. It made it unprofitable and you could blame the "market".

The government also replaced 2 people in the management of the state-owned company Vattenfall. Along with the management change, a change of course could be implemented, so-called "informal governance". "It means that you tell your state company what you want from them." All according to Lise Nordin, former energy policy spokesperson for the Green Party.

So instead of planable, stable, safe, cheap and clean energy, Sweden is currently burning oil to meet the energy supply. The worst thing is that Sweden is not alone in Europe in this madness. I feel great empathy for all the people who have or will find it difficult to pay their monstrous electricity bills.

We are very satisfied

This first month with the new mortgage lender has been completely frictionless. They, Skandiabanken, managed the whole thing with flying colors. This was the third time we changed mortgage lenders in 19 years in total and we are incredibly satisfied so far. With the switch itself last month, we amortized $500 instead of investing it in the stock market. This time we chose to once again repay the loan.

We have 2 months left before the interest rate on our 3-month loan is renegotiated. If Skandiabanken's current 3-month interest rate does not change, we have $200 to either invest or amortize without having to increase our housing costs from March onwards.

Murphy's Law

Historically, TriplePoint Venture Growth (TPVG) has had an ex-dividend date at the beginning of the month and pay date in mid-December. This year, they have chosen to advance the dates by 2 weeks. This year's dividend pay date is set for December 30, 2022. There is a slight delay in the payout for us Europeans, so it is likely that we will receive the payout on January 3, 2023.

TPVG makes up just under 4% of our holding. Due to the size of the holding, it is likely that this very change will mean that we will not reach the expected dividend for 2022. I corrected everything in accordance with previous years' dates of payouts, of course, the dates changed this year - Murphy's Law.

My expectations for Christmas are not high

Two days until Christmas Eve and we are not done with the Christmas presents. I have no idea what we should buy the world's most perfect teenager. His grandma and grandpa have already bought the one thing he really wants. Whatever we buy, it won't be as appreciated as the gift they bought. Maybe we should do the opposite and only buy things he needs but doesn't want, such as clothes.

The world's most perfect husband and I have decided not to buy each other any Christmas presents this year. It goes against all my principles but since I can't think of anything I want, apart from a Birkin bag from Hermes, I've agreed to this. I already know I will regret this decision come Christmas Eve.

I miss being on vacation

Other than a one week road trip this summer with our best friends, I haven't had a single day off in the last 3 years. Even though it was 5 fantastic days when we went around southern Sweden, I miss flying away and being able to walk on the beach. Or lie in the shade on a sun lounger and read a book.

I need to be forced out of work. I have had the office at home for almost 3 years and I can never feel really free. Every time I see that an email has arrived, I feel compelled to deal with it immediately. I can go back to the office both 3 and 4 times in one evening. I sincerely hope we can go on a long vacation in the summer, I miss Florida.

Exciting times

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. Common Shares (APLE) has declared a special dividend of ¢8. The actual payment will not come until January 10, 2023 and will end up on next year's compilation. Unfortunately, our holding in APLE is minimal.

Since we didn't receive a single dividend today, one of the last six working days of the year must give a proper payout. I'm still $1,700 short of breaking even with expected dividends according to my Google Sheet.

I apologize most humbly

If I had known that my father was coming by last night to be helped by my husband in investing a large sum of money, I would have warned you.

Most of the time, my father accidentally succeeds in investing just before the rebound. One of his major acquisitions yesterday was PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd Common Stock (PFLT). My father is the family's Gladstone Gander.

I want to believe in Santa

With only 7 business days left in 2022, it is already clear that the portfolio will end bearish. The market has been brutal to our portfolio in recent days. The function that both Avanza and Nordnet have where you get a notification every time you get a dividend has changed from being a vanity feature to being the difference between keeping my cool or losing it.

Having to log into the account with Nordea, where we also have the absolute largest holding, to be able to see any dividends is hard right now. Having to see the red numbers is not easy. Hoping for the portfolio will end up bullish before the end of the year is like believing in Santa, but I still have hope of our dividends.

Below is a snapshot of what it looked like yesterday regarding this year's dividends.

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We are sinking faster than the Titanic

It's our second largest holding, Newtek Business Services Corp (NEWT), which has fallen like a rock. It has so far fallen by almost 8%.

My guess is that it is their decision to become a bank that affects interest in their stock. If we weren't already so heavy in them, we would have increased our holdings even though it is better to buy on the rebound than the dip. We have some cash from dividends that have come in the last few days. Whether we try to buy something in the dip or wait for the rebound remains to be seen.

The opposite of indecisive

Given the decline in the stock market in recent days, we will most certainly invest the money instead of making an extra amortization this month. But if I know us, we've probably changed our minds several times before Friday, when I make the transfer to either Nordea or Skandiabanken, depending on which decision we've made.

The world's most perfect husband has always found it easy to reassess decisions, even if there have been no significant events. I am very grateful that he has this quality. He is never indecisive, on the contrary. He makes the decision but reevaluates to the end.

Sometimes I wish I had the ability to just refrain from it

Everything is a competition for me, I compete with everything and everyone. Even when I know I'm going to lose, I can't help it. The world's most perfect husband thought enough was enough when we were at a red light with our Audi A6 Allroad and a Ferrari pulled up next to us.

Our Audi shut down at every stop, you started it by pressing the gas. He wasn't happy when I kept my foot on the brake while lightly pressing the gas to start the engine waiting for the green light. The Ferrari was gone before I even reacted.

It's the same now but with my Google Sheets instead of the Audi, dividends instead of speed. I know we won't reach the 2018 dividends, but I still hope that special dividends or a miscalculation on my part will lead to success. 

I intend to be bold

Although I am far from my goal despite adjusting the spreadsheet regarding 2022 dividends, I am going to be bold and claim that I will exceed the expected return.

It's certainly not one of my character traits to do so, but I claim (hope) that the left bar will be higher than the right as of December 31, 2022.

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When I look up at my 15-year-old, 6", 130lb son, all I see is a baby

Yesterday was the end of term at the world's most perfect teenager's school. His school has one week longer winter break than most other schools in Sweden. Instead they have one week less summer break.

The reason for our traditional long summer break is that when we were a farming community, people took their children out of school to help with the harvest. In order for the children not to miss their education, it was decided that there would be a 10-week long summer break.

A 9-weeks summer break is more than enough for Junior, he even misses his friends and school at the end of the summer. After the end of term ceremony I just got a quick hug before he disappeared with his friends to celebrate the start of winter break.

It feels so weird watching my baby disappear out the door with all these teenagers. He was allowed to stay out with his friends until 7 p.m., but the cold meant that everyone went home earlier and met up in the digital world instead.

Don't shoot the messenger

After the publication of the article where Boston Consulting Group disparages remote work, I have seen several posts on various platforms where people try to bring down both BCG themselves and their evaluation.

I can understand the people whose remote work has become a new form of part-time work fighting tooth and nail to keep their newfound profits. I really hope they will find new and improved routines in their remote work so they become a financial asset for their employer again. Otherwise, there is a risk that they will not retain their employment in the future. As hard as it may sound, you have to be profitable at your workplace.

I hope for the best

When I know I've done something wrong, I can't help but correct it right away. I took the time to correct all the dates on upcoming payments regarding our dividends. My suspicions were confirmed, we will get $3,500 in December not $5,000.

Fortunately, there were no plans other than reinvestment for the money. It would have been a tragedy if we had planned to use December's dividends for the mortgage and current bills. This time I really hope I have entered all the data in the right place so the document is flawless. It is only when I compare the estimated dividends for December 2022 and January 2023 with the actual dividends for the same period that I know if all the data is correct.

Almost doesn't count

The dividends have so slowly started to come .Today we received both the ordinary and special dividend on both Horizon Technology Finance Corp (HRZN) and Stellus Capital Investment Corp (SCM).

Along with the usual dividends from Main Street Capital Corp (MAIN), Owl Rock Capital Corp (ORCC) and Gladstone Investment Corp (GAIN), we received just under $309. Not huge amounts but I'm grateful for every penny. It's a long way from my estimated $5,000.

I have discovered another flaw in my spreadsheet. When I created the document, I entered the date of the dividend pay day. As we live in Europe, we suffer from a payment delay of a couple of days. In combination with the New Year, the probability is high that many dividends that I entered in December will come in January instead.

I will fine-tune the document during the last working days of the year when all dividends are executed. I will most likely miss the $5,000 goal but instead January will be much better.

Partly man-made inflation in my opinion

Considering how several governments around the world acted during Covid-19, even I, who am a nobody, could foresee this inflation that is raging around the world now. If someone like me could see this coming, then those who are experts and are well paid to anticipate and act in time must have seen this coming too.

I guess they were fully aware that inflation was coming, though not with the enormous force it actually did mainly thanks to energy prices. Even before Covid-19 started, the majority of governments in Europe had been kept on a leash by the environmental movements and took everything they said as truth without thinking either critically or logically.

When they realized that they had dismantled large parts of their energy self-sufficiency, nuclear power plants, and became dependent on gas from mainly Russia and Iran to ensure the energy supply, the damage was already done. Then they let inflation kick in full blast to put all the blame on skyrocketing energy prices due to a country near us invading its neighbor.

Change of plans

Fed's early Christmas speech yesterday put the cart before the horse for our sale of PMT. We chose to hold our meager holding for a day or so to see if the market recovered somewhat. If not, we still sell.

It feels like America is getting its inflation under control, unlike Europe. While I understand that this was not the last rate hike before inflation comes down to acceptable numbers, I hope that future hikes will be 25 basis points instead of 50. We will see how long we hold on to our holding in PMT.

Patience is a virtue

My intention is to turn yesterday's stock market decline into something positive. We have, if my calculations are correct, about $5,000 in upcoming distributions within the next 3 weeks.

I sincerely hope that the stock market has not recovered before we received the money. Now we need to step up our game and play it cool before rushing to buy stocks when the payouts start rolling into our account. This will put me to the test, I am known to jump the gun.

The Fed just ended up on Santa's naughty list

The interest rate announcement from the Fed was not an early Christmas present, quite the opposite. Federal Reserve downshifts to a 50 basis point hike while seeing more increased rate ahead. The central bank's policymaking committee still sees more rate increases ahead "in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time" it said in a statement.

It was pointed out that inflation remains high and that job gains have been robust over the past month. It reiterated that they are "highly attentive to inflation risks" and "strongly committed to returning inflation to is 2% objective". In the minutes after the announcement, all three major U.S. stock indices sunk into red, erasing gains from the earlier in the session. Our portfolio value fell by just under 5%.

Heaven and hell

When the pandemic hit full force and I had to devote all my time to our business, my spreadsheet suffered, for several reasons. Up until now we have continued to buy and sell but have not entered anything into our sheet, until recently. From January 1, we will start our date nights again, albeit with a slight difference.

The world's most perfect teenager spends pretty much all of his time in his room, playing with his buddies. Since YMD is our trial and error child, I have asked my friends if this behavior is normal. According to them, I should be worried if my 15-year-old son wasn't sitting in his room behind a computer screen playing games with his friends. I turn into my old aunt who had no understanding of youth and its behavior.

I got off easy

It turned out that it was one of my dental crowns that broke. I was prepared to replace the dental crown, which costs just over $1,500. Although there are more fun things to spend $1,500 on, it was mostly the thought of having to remove the remnants of the dental crown and all the return visits before the tooth would be fully restored.

I am extremely grateful that my dentist was able to fix the crown right away without a major procedure. He believes the repair will last 2-3 years and will examine it carefully at each annual exam. I will make a scheduled change when the time comes. Teeth are not covered by our welfare, each citizen must pay for himself. The cost was significantly less than I expected, I only paid $355. Even the pain was less than I expected. Yesterday was a good day, in many ways.

They are becoming more and more alike

I'm guessing that Avanza which, in my opinion, has the absolute best user interface already has the technology to be able to refund the foreign tax in the same way as both Nordea and Nordnet. Another guess is that they take it coolly and expect that the loss of customers will be less in terms of costs than being able to wait for the refund of the tax from abroad.

Nordnet uses a standard calculation when they must repay the foreign tax and their goal is that 100% must be repaid. I have no idea if Nordea also uses a standard calculation or actual figures for the foreign withholding tax. However, Nordea has refunded the tax since 2018.

If even Avanza were to change their procedure regarding the tax refund, we will not make them our main bank again. Considering that Nordea already had this function in 2018 and has since then developed and improved its site, we will be loyal to them. Unless conditions deteriorate.

Hit the road PMT

As soon as the market opens tonight, our PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT) holding will be sold off. Fortunately, we only have a small number of shares in the company. Tearing off the band-aid should be relatively painless.

The reason we choose to sell PMT is that they cut their dividend by 14.9% to ¢40/share. Their annual yield will be 10.86%, which is very good, but experience is that when the moving backwards starts, it usually stays. We will keep an eye on the company to see how it develops going forward. 

Time will tell

The world's most perfect husband still uses packaging companies as a measure of the economy. It is one company in particular that he has followed in recent years. This company has lost 6% in turnover compared to last year.

There can certainly be several explanations for this, for example such as lost market share to competitors. Since almost all sales require some form of packaging, he believes that part of their reduced turnover may be due to a deepening of the recession we are experiencing has already started. I think that we, the market, feel the fluctuations earlier than what is seen in the GDP gap.

It feels like they are playing with you

If you own your home and, for example, the washing machine breaks down, there is a deduction you can make that reduces your tax burden. The maximum amount of the deduction is $5,000 per year per person.

This deduction is conditional on you owning your home and paying tax in Sweden. Our left-wing party and social democrats consider this deduction to be a grant. I don't understand how they can begrudge the people who worked hard for their money to have a reduced tax burden. These are the same people who defend that we should continue to give aid to countries where the National Audit Office's review has shown that most of the money is lost to warlords and corrupt politicians. I don't understand how they justify their reasoning.

I'm not sure he feels the same way.

In one of my pension insurance, I bought 35 shares of Medical Properties Trust, Inc Common Stock (MPW) today. This particular pension insurance is locked until 1 February 2025. How big the value is when it is paid out to me is difficult to predict. Especially with everything going on in the world.

My largest pension insurance won't payout until 2035. It annoys me very much that I chose such a late payment date. The world's most perfect husband was so much smarter who opted for an early payout. If we don't need the money when it will be paid out, I will reinvest it in my portfolio.

When my first insurance is paid out, the world's most perfect teenager still has 1.5 years left in upper school. Today, he is set on studying at a university abroad. How he feels in 3.5 years remains to be seen. If he leaves the country, I hope we have the financial means to follow him. I can't imagine not living in the same country as Junior.

I knew that TPVG would not disappoint

The payment date is December 30, 2022. As we are residents of Europe, we will not receive the money until the beginning of 2023. The special dividend for TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. Common Stock (TPVG) will be a good way to start 2023. The small bonus adds $56 to the annual dividend for 2023.

I can't wait until January 1st when my Google Sheets go live again. Seeing the charts grow in step with the dividends and hopefully grow bigger than expectations is a hard feeling to beat. While I really enjoy making money, the feeling of seeing my Google Sheet work is almost as good. I know I'm a nerd but I love spreadsheets, especially Google Sheets. Numbers are my thing.

Special dividends

Our fourth largest holding, Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS), made a special dividend on December 1st that will be paid on December 16th. We will receive an additional ¢25 per share. It will be a good addition to the monthly dividend.

We have a few more special distributions this month, including Ares Capital Corporation Common Stock (ARCC). While the amount, ¢3, is not high, it adds pressure along with the other special dividends on my spreadsheet to exceed the projected 2022 dividend amount. I really hope we surpass the total, and if we do it will be a New Year's present.