Salary Day Investing — May 2026: Slow and Steady, Portfolio Crosses USD270

Salary in. Transfer done. Shares bought.

May was another quiet month on my end — no panic selling, no dramatic moves. Just the same routine I've been building since I started this rebuilding journey.

The portfolio climbed 2.15% this month, bringing the overall return to +2.22% since I started. More importantly, the total value grew from USD222.05 to USD278.20.

Not life-changing numbers. But for someone who started from zero, watching that figure climb steadily every single month feels more meaningful than any percentage ever could.

📊 May Portfolio Breakdown

StockSharesOpeningClosingChange
BRK.B0.048$22.73$22.78+0.22%
NVDA0.15$29.94$31.67+5.46%
O0.4$25.70$24.51-4.85%
SCHD0.8043$25.79$26.14+1.33%
VOO0.1443$95.32$100.36+5.04%

The stars of the month were VOO and NVDA, up 5.04% and 5.46% respectively. The broader market clearly had a better mood in May compared to the turbulence we saw earlier in the year.

The only red was O (Realty Income), down 4.85%. Honestly? I'm not worried. I didn't buy O for price appreciation — I bought it for the monthly dividend. When the price dips, I'm just buying the same income stream at a cheaper price.

🆕 Two New Additions: JEPQ and QQQ

This month I added two new positions to the portfolio.

JEPQ (0.4623 shares, closing price $26.07) The JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF. It tracks the Nasdaq 100 while using an options overlay strategy to generate higher monthly income. For me, it sits nicely between pure growth and pure dividend — I get some upside exposure to tech while still receiving a monthly payout. That monthly cadence matters when you're building income streams from scratch.

QQQ (0.0338 shares, closing price $24.95) The classic Nasdaq 100 ETF. Pure growth exposure. My position is tiny right now — just dipping my toes in. The plan is to add gradually as the portfolio grows.

Adding these two is part of a deliberate shift — I want the portfolio to balance three things simultaneously: stability (VOO, BRK.B), dividend income (SCHD, O, JEPQ), and growth (NVDA, QQQ).

💰 Dividend Income This Month

StockDividend
O$0.08
Total$0.08

Yes, just $0.08 this month. One cup of teh tarik in Malaysia terms.

But here's the thing — with JEPQ now in the portfolio, next month I should start seeing contributions from it too. Every new dividend-paying asset I add is another small stream flowing in, regardless of what the market does.

Small streams eventually become rivers. That's the whole idea.

Wrapping Up

Two consecutive months of gains. Overall return now firmly in positive territory.

The journey from the red back to green hasn't been dramatic — no big bets, no market timing. Just consistent monthly buying, dividend reinvestment, and trusting the process.

I don't have a lot to invest each month. But I have clarity on what I'm building and the discipline to keep going. For a salaried dad rebuilding from zero, that's enough.

Same plan next month. Keep buying. Keep compounding.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Was 40, Broke, and Starting Over With RM100

 There's a kind of silence that you only understand after you've lost everything. Not the peaceful kind. The kind where you sit there, run the numbers for the fourth time, and hope the answer will somehow be different. It never is. That Year, I Was 40 That year, I sold the pharmacy I had spent years building. Not because business was good and I was riding off into the sunset. Because I couldn't hold on anymore. Bills. Debts. My son's medical and therapy costs — coming at me one after another. It wasn't dramatic. It wasn't the kind of story that makes the news. I was the kind of person who still showed up to work on time, still smiled at people — but inside, the numbers never added up no matter how many times I ran them. I was 40. I thought I had life figured out by now. Turns out, I really didn't. The Hardest Part Wasn't the Money Everyone assumes that starting over is hardest financially. It's not. The hardest part is identity. I ha...
Read more

The Day I Chose to Start Over

In 2025, I made a decision I could no longer avoid. I closed the pharmacy I had built and poured years of my life into. And I walked back into the workforce — as an employee, starting from scratch. The business had never really turned the corner. For months, I stopped drawing a salary just to keep the doors open. But when the weight of reality stacked up all at once — my eldest son's therapy costs, the family's daily expenses, the bills that kept arriving regardless of how the business was doing — I knew I couldn't keep delaying the inevitable. If it had only been me, maybe I could have held on longer. But that's the cruelest part of this kind of failure. You don't fall alone. Your whole family falls with you. So when it was time to cut, I cut. From Boss to Employee The family needed stable income. The grand ambitions I once had quietly gave way to something far less glamorous — a pile of debt and a fresh start at the bottom. This isn't a declaration of ...
Read more