My Dividend Portfolio. Month 27, Week 5 (+Video)

⭐️ For Premium Partners Only

Hi partners — Max here!

It’s been a pretty busy week — although, as usual, not when it comes to portfolio moves. Everything there is moving right according to plan.

First, we’re kicking off our second MaxDividends Workshop on September 28, and I think this one is going to be a lot of fun. Together with Dave, founder of Dividend School, we’ve been putting together new materials and stock lists, updating our videos, and preparing quite a few new things for everyone joining us.

Second, the MaxDividends Research Platform just got another long-awaited update — in fact, it went live today. Our Premium partners already know exactly what I’m talking about. :)

Third, a few more companies in my portfolio announced dividend increases this week, which means my passive income keeps moving higher. I’m now making about $10 more per month than I was just last week — without doing anything extra.

And one more thing: next week marks the beginning of October, which means it’s time to reinvest the dividends I collected in September. That’s about $1,400 in additional capital going to work on top of my regular weekly investment.

Below, you'll find the usual detailed breakdown of what I bought this week, how the portfolio is positioned today, and what I'm planning for next week and beyond.

And this time, you'll also find the complete video review with my personal commentary and the full investment process behind this week's decisions.

My portfolio is a fully transparent, real-time journey — no polishing the numbers and no adjusting results after the fact.

It’s a path anyone can follow with the right system, such as the MaxDividends Income System, and the MaxDividends Platform.

Alright — let’s get to today’s buys. So grab a coffee — let’s dig in ☕💪

What I Bought, How Things Look

Every Friday, I put $3,000 plus dividends to work with one clear mission: reach $12,000 a month in dividends within 120 months.

But the real reason this works isn’t willpower or motivation. It’s the system — and the technology behind it.

The MaxDividends Income System defines what to buy, when to buy, and what to ignore. The MaxDividends Platform keeps the compass steady — tracking income, scores, risks, and signals whether I’m at my desk, out walking, or fast asleep.

The portfolio doesn’t need me to be “on.” It doesn’t care if I’m busy, tired, traveling, or doing absolutely nothing. The process keeps running.

What I enjoy most is watching the portfolio do its job — seeing which positions keep quietly compounding, and which names stay on the watchlist until the data finally lines up.

That’s how the snowball really builds. Just repeatable decisions, steady dividend deposits, and a system that keeps stacking progress week after week.

When you step back and look at the full picture — essentials, lifestyle, family needs, small trips, and a buffer — dividend income stops being a theory and turns into a practical roadmap.

Here’s where the journey stands today:

Freedom Bar:
█████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ~46% complete (+1% vs last week)

(based on current projections)

My dividend income is now running at about $1,234 per month. It’s not a headline number. It won’t trend on social media. But it does matter.

Because this is what real progress looks like when income is built the right way. Quiet. Measurable. The income base keeps rising.

Every reinvested dollar tightens the structure. Every dividend hike raises the floor. And over time, that turns into momentum you can actually feel.

Community Trust Bancorp is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Kentucky. Through Community Trust Bank and its wealth management operations, the company provides commercial and personal banking, lending, trust, and investment services across Kentucky, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

It’s a traditional regional banking business with a long operating history, a strong deposit franchise, and an established dividend record — giving me another way to build exposure to the Financials side of the portfolio.

Why today?

The timing here is interesting because Community Trust Bancorp is coming off a strong first half of 2026. The company reported record earnings for the second quarter, supported by higher net interest income and continued profitability across the business.

Then, at the end of July, CTBI raised its quarterly cash dividend again — another positive signal from a company with a long history of returning cash to shareholders.

Regional banks are also operating at an interesting point in the interest-rate cycle. The environment around rates and the yield curve continues to evolve, which can create both pressure and opportunity across the banking sector.

🔗 View the live portfolio: MaxDividends $12K in 120 Months Strategy Portfolio

The snowball keeps rolling — heavier every week.

Each raise locks in more lifetime income and lifts my yield on cost. Quiet, steady, automatic.

This is what a real dividend roadmap looks like. No guessing. No spreadsheets. Just a clear plan — tracked, forecasted, and executed inside the MaxDividends Platform.

Here’s a look inside my portfolio this week:

Passive income now covers ~52% of my grocery expenses. The snowball keeps getting bigger every week.

All of this is tracked inside the MaxDividends Research Platform | Portfolio Tracker — my roadmap and compass. It shows payouts, raises, and exact progress toward the $12K/Month’ finish line.

If you’re not using it yet, you’re leaving a serious edge on the table.

09/25 Update — email me anytime: [email protected]

Alright partners, there’s quite a bit to talk about this week.

This week, I kept things pretty simple and conservative. I took a look at how the portfolio is currently balanced across sectors, and Financials was the area where I saw the most room to add.

I could have added a little more to Technology as well — including more shares of Badger Meter, which I started buying more actively about a month ago. But at this point, I don’t think it makes much difference whether I buy two companies today and two next week, or focus on one today and another one next week.

The portfolio has reached a level of maturity where a more focused purchase in a single position simply doesn’t move the overall balance very much anymore.

Next week should be a little more interesting. I’ll have close to ~$4,500 to put to work — my regular weekly investment plus the dividends I collected in September. With that larger budget, I’ll probably be looking at two or three positions to add to.

My first priority will be the sectors that are still underrepresented in the portfolio, and then I’ll look for the best opportunities within those areas.

I’ll continue focusing on Healthcare, Financials, Utilities, Energy, Basic Materials, and Technology. Those sectors currently offer the best opportunities to further improve the balance and diversification of my portfolio.

The system stays the same. Capital stays disciplined. We keep building. Steady steps. Clear roles. Long horizon. That’s the rhythm.

The MaxDividends Income System — combined with selecting high-quality dividend companies using our 5-step secret formula, and supported by the MaxDividends Platform — allows me to build my own path toward financial freedom.

Every week I place another brick into the foundation of that future freedom. And today those bricks are already hard to miss. The results are becoming visible. They are becoming tangible.

The most remarkable thing about this seemingly simple formula for success is that it’s repeatable. I invest in businesses I genuinely like. I choose companies I trust. And my passive dividend income keeps growing.

Live off dividends on your terms! 💪💰

Over the past few days, we’ve been doing a lot of testing, and we’ve just rolled out another interesting update for the Dividend Tracker on the MaxDividends Research Platform. It’s currently in beta, and it’s called Co-Pilot.

Co-Pilot lets you set your own rules for when to sell.

For example, you can set a rule to sell if a company cuts its dividend or stops paying it altogether. Or if the company’s Dividend Safety Score falls below a safe level.

Instead of keeping track of all these events yourself, you can automate the process with Co-Pilot. It will monitor the conditions for you and flag a company when it meets the sell rules you’ve set.

This is a new feature inside the MaxDividends Research Platform, available in your portfolio settings.

You can turn it on to automatically monitor for events that may signal it’s time to sell a company.

For example, a classic DGI strategy says that if a company cuts or suspends its dividend, you sell the stock. With this new setting, you can now automate the monitoring of that event.

If any company in your portfolio cuts its dividend, Co-Pilot will flag it for you and send you an email notification.

This isn’t gambling or chasing hype. It’s a proven system:

That’s why the income snowball keeps rolling — heavier each month, stronger each year.

Every quarter I put $300 into each of my three kids’ portfolios — building generational wealth one brick at a time.

Kids’ Portfolios:

Donaldson is a global leader in filtration systems used across industrial equipment, transportation, aerospace, and life sciences. The company benefits from a large installed base and recurring replacement demand, supporting steady cash flow and consistent long-term growth.

IDEX manufactures highly engineered products used in healthcare, industrial, water, and scientific applications. Its portfolio of niche market leaders, combined with disciplined acquisitions and strong margins, has made IDEX a reliable long-term compounder.

Lindsay is a leading provider of irrigation equipment and transportation infrastructure solutions. The business is supported by long-term demand for water efficiency, agricultural productivity, and infrastructure investment, providing a solid foundation for future growth.

Aptar specializes in dispensing and packaging solutions used across healthcare, beauty, and consumer products. The business is supported by recurring demand, innovation, and long-term customer relationships, creating a solid foundation for steady growth.

Gorman-Rupp designs and manufactures pumps used in water, wastewater, construction, industrial, and municipal applications. The company serves essential infrastructure markets, generating resilient cash flow and supporting steady long-term dividend growth.

This is where the long game plays out. Beyond the weekly $3,000 experiment, my family’s core portfolio is the real backbone — built for high-yield dividend growth, steady compounding, and financial security for years to come.

Here I’ll break down where things stand today, how the plan for this quarter looks, and why this portfolio is designed to cover every family expense while still growing stronger over time.

I’ve spent the past 20 years building businesses. That’s where most of my capital came from. But now, at 40 and with three kids, I want to stay involved in business and investing on my terms.

My goal? More time with family, freedom to focus on what matters, and a portfolio that pays me whether I’m working or not. That’s why in 2025, I’ve started transitioning to fully living off dividends.

The mission hasn’t changed: build a high-yield, dividend-growing portfolio that delivers steady cash flow and strong long-term returns.

With the MaxDividends Concept, my team and I scan markets across the U.S., Europe, and Asia to find financially strong companies with a track record of raising dividends. This way, I’m not just chasing price growth — I’m building a paycheck that grows by itself.

(*Dividend totals vary slightly due to exchange rates.)

This portfolio alone now pays over ~$8,009/month in dividends. Every dollar is reinvested, fueling even faster growth.

This week, I decided to add a few more shares of Zoetis Inc. I like the current levels, and I like the business.

The way I see it, the current situation looks like a manageable opportunity, especially since Zoetis still represents a very small part of my overall family portfolio.

So today, I’m putting another $1,000 from incoming dividends to work and adding more shares.

✅ 90% High-Yield Dividend Growth Stocks – These names pay me consistently and raise dividends year after year.

✅ 10% Capital Growth Stocks – A smaller bucket for faster-growing companies. When I sell, half the profits go into new growth stocks and half into high-yield dividend payers.

Each hike locks in more income for life — steady raises with zero extra work.

My plan for 2026 is simple: keep adding new money and keep reinvesting every dollar of dividends.

A new quarter means it’s time to update the plan.

Looking back — starting from Q4 2025, my goal was to cross $7,000 in monthly dividend income. Then I set a more conservative target of $7,300 per month by the end of Q1 2026.

As of today, my portfolio generates about $7,700 per month in dividends. That means I’ve hit my targets — and I’m running ahead of schedule.

For Q2-Q3 2026, my goal is to cross $8,000 per month in dividend income.

This projection is based on the May and June payouts — typically the strongest months of the year. I expect total dividends during this period to come in around $40,000, plus additional increases from Japanese companies following their fiscal year-end.

All in, I believe it’s very realistic to reach this milestone by mid-summer.

At the start of Q3, my projected monthly dividend income is fluctuating between about $7,930 and just over $8,000, depending on currency exchange rates. At the same time, dividends continue accumulating in my brokerage account, waiting to be reinvested.

That makes July-August a great opportunity to finally establish a consistent $8,000+ monthly income run rate before setting the next milestone at the beginning of September.

That's how this works: steady contributions, rising payouts, and the snowball doing the rest.

The strategy doesn’t change. I’m looking for stable, undervalued Dividend Eagles that start with solid yields and have the strength to keep paying and raising over time. Dividends are my lever — I collect them, reinvest them, and let compounding do the heavy lifting.

I won’t lock in specific tickers right now — opportunities shift as the quarter unfolds. What matters is scanning the best markets worldwide: the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, the U.K., and Europe, and picking financially strong companies that fit the MaxDividends Income System.

And for my kids? The playbook stays the same: $300 each, every quarter. Three kids, three portfolios, one steady strategy to build generational wealth.

The mission stays the same too: steady income, steady growth, and the freedom that comes from reinvesting.

Right now, it’s all about speeding up the cycle — dividends keep rising, capital keeps compounding, and every reinvested payout brings us closer to true financial freedom.

By 2033–2035, I expect my Core Portfolio alone to generate $16K–$18K/month in dividends. Combine that with my $12K-in-120-months experiment, and the total passive income goal is $30,000/month.

That’s full financial independence: family expenses covered, reinvestment rolling, and freedom secured.

That’s all for today’s update.

Wishing you steady growth and financial peace,
Max

💌 Questions or thoughts? Reach me anytime at [email protected]

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