Building a Dividend‑Growth Portfolio From Zero
Week 11, 2026
Introduction
I mentioned last week, in my first post, that I decided to start the newsletter you’re reading to share my journey of building a dividend growth portfolio from zero. Apart from connecting with other investors and exchanging ideas and opinions, the goal of this journal is also to document the process and progress over time — the wins, the mistakes, but most importantly the learnings, of which hopefully there will be many.
One thing I wanted to bring up, which I did not mention previously, is that even though this portfolio is new, I am not new to investing. I have been following the market and the news for many years, but excluding my stable pension fund contributions, I have faced the same issue many investors do: commitment.
I have started — and unfortunately ended — different portfolios in the past, so by publicly sharing my progress I also hold myself accountable. The number one fear of the average person is always the same: public humiliation.
At 37, I would very much like to avoid that, so this portfolio is here to grow, last, and prosper until its fruit — a reliable recession- and market-proof cash flow — is harvested many years from now.
Portfolio updates
It’s time to get to the juicy part: what I am holding and why.
What are my targets in terms of (dividend) yield and (dividend) growth, and how am I going to get there? Which were the first picks in this new portfolio, and what are my allocation plans to reduce company and sector exposure?
There’s a lot to unpack here, but since my plan is to publish this newsletter weekly for years — and maybe even decades — there will be plenty of time.
Let’s start with my targets.
The target dividend yield for my portfolio is 4%, with an annual dividend growth of 6%. The price of each individual stock in my holdings does not matter that much, as my ideal holding timeframe is forever.
Ideally, I would never sell a position. Is it realistic? Certainly not. But the only reason for selling would be a change in the investment thesis — meaning the company no longer serves its purpose in my portfolio.
Even though for most it may be obvious, it is worth mentioning that if a company pays a dividend, it means it is profitable and allocates a portion of its earnings to its investors — that’s what a dividend is.
Now, if a company raises its dividend year after year, it means its earnings are growing — otherwise it would not be able to sustain those increases. And when earnings grow, the stock price tends to follow.
As of today, 14 March 2026, there are 7 stocks in my portfolio, listed on 4 different stock exchanges.
I have 3 companies listed in the Netherlands, 2 in the US, one in Denmark, and one in Sweden.
Some of them have dual listings (for example, in their home country in € and in the US market in $), but since I’m based in Estonia, I prefer the euro listings.
Now let’s cut to the chase.
Here are my holdings and their current allocation in the portfolio:
Wolters Kluwer — 40.20% (ticker: AMS: WKL)
Realty Income — 16.86% (ticker: NYSE: O)
Novo Nordisk — 13.17% (ticker: CPH: NOVO-B)
VICI Properties — 12.39% (ticker: NYSE: VICI)
Vopak — 9.54% (ticker: AMS: VPK)
Evolution Gaming — 5.49% (ticker: STO: EVO)
KPN — 2.35% (ticker: AMS: KPN)
My allocation at the moment is quite unhealthy, since I would ideally like to keep each company’s share in my portfolio capped at around 5%.
However, since I’m only three months into the journey, I have started building positions in companies that I believe are either fairly priced or undervalued — based, of course, on my own criteria and preferences.
The reason Wolters Kluwer holds such a large portion of my portfolio is its current pricing, which I believe reflects a market overreaction to AI threats to its core business. In my view, AI is not a headwind for the company, but a tailwind.
In fact, I even took the risk of using next month’s available cash for this portfolio to grow my position as much as possible.
Sometimes conviction pushes you to take bigger-than-usual risks, and my conviction — based on the company’s forecast — is significant.
I plan to share my thesis on each one of my holdings, so I will occasionally publish mid-week posts to cover more analytical and in-depth details on the companies I have conviction in.
If you’d like to see portfolio updates as they happen, you can also follow me on X, where I share my thoughts daily.
Market news
The S&P 500 is now down a bit over 3% since the beginning of the year.
The situation in the Middle East seems slightly calmer, but certainly not calm. It has already been two weeks since the attacks began, and even though oil prices have increased, I would have expected them to be much higher.
Do you know what the most interesting thing about the stock market is?
There’s always something on discount.
It’s a market of stocks.
Since the beginning of 2026, Microsoft is down 16.36%, Apple 7.71%, Visa 11.35%, and Tesla 10.70%.
Which stocks are not down — or at least not down enough?
The ones on my watchlist.
Have you ever felt that?
I’m half-joking, but it’s good to see a pullback.
For investors with a long-term horizon, a market downturn creates opportunities to buy companies they like at cheaper prices.
I’m neither a bear nor a bull, but I do expect a further pullback if a resolution in the Middle East does not emerge soon.
I’m not pro or against anyone in this conflict, but Iran is not Iraq, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to go down without a fight. And the longer this conflict continues, the longer the market may keep drifting lower.
Final thoughts
I don’t think I have even a drop of the knowledge pool that big investors possess, but I will say this:
Unless you are on the board of an airline and/or have inside information not available to the public, don’t invest in one.
Your company might be doing everything correctly — offering the better product at competitive pricing. You might be a regional — or even global — market leader, and your business can still come to a halt for a long time due to factors beyond your control: regional conflicts and airspace closures, volcanic eruptions, or prolonged strikes caused by government policies.
And I’m saying this as an avid aviation fan who pays for a Flightradar24 subscription, dreams of attending a pilot academy one day, and has recently gotten into skydiving.
Don’t forget to connect on X and if you’re also into YouTube, you can find me there as well, where I am expanding on my thoughts every Sunday.
Stay invested,
Panos