The shift from being a pure dividend investor to also holding growth stocks has not been easy for me. I hate change. I really, really hate change.
My husband, the world’s most perfect husband, is thriving in this new setup. Of course he is.
What surprises me the most is that it’s not primarily my conservative side that is struggling — it’s my extremely competitive side.
For me, our portfolio isn’t really about money right now. It’s about charts and bars. Pretty colored bars that are supposed to compete with last year’s performance. And right now… we are clearly losing.
I even created a new chart comparing the total value of our holdings. But since I only have the starting point from January 1, 2026, there isn’t much of a race going on yet. Just a slow, painful start where I’m already behind.
I’m still convinced that this new strategy will pay off in the long run. We will catch up, and eventually we’ll get both better dividends and stronger total returns.
All I can hope for is that my hyper-competitive self survives the journey…
because right now it feels like I’m losing a race I didn’t even want to enter — and losing is simply not acceptable.
Some people get a participation trophy.
I get a husband who keeps winning without even trying.
Update – August 2026
Four months later I finally admitted the full extent of the problem.
I spent nine years tracking dividends while almost completely ignoring the total portfolio value. The realization (and the 17.89 % YTD number that finally forced me to look) is here:
I Tracked Dividends for Nine Years and Completely Missed the Point
Turns out the competitive side that was screaming in this post was right to be annoyed. It just took me half a year longer than it should have to figure out why.
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