Salary Day Investing — June 2026: Down 1.8%, But Still in the Green

 Salary in. Transfer done. Shares bought.

June wasn't a great month. I'll be honest about that upfront.

The portfolio dropped 1.8% this month, pulling my overall return down from +2.22% to +0.96%. That thin green line is hanging on — but only just.

When I saw the numbers, I felt a little flat. Not panicked. Just… deflated. You build something up slowly over months, and then one rough month quietly takes a chunk of it back.

But the plan doesn't change because the mood does.


June Portfolio Breakdown

Stock    Opening    Closing    Change
BRK.B    $474.48    $500.39    +5.46%
JEPQ    $61.15        $61.46    +0.51%
O    $61.28    $61.96    +1.11%
QQQ    $738.31    $736.40    -0.26%
VOO    $695.59    $686.81    -1.26%
SCHD    $32.50    $31.71    -2.43%
NVDA    $211.14    $200.09    -5.23%

The standout this month was BRK.B, up 5.46%. Warren Buffett's company quietly did its thing — steady, reliable, no drama. Exactly what I need in a volatile month.

The weak link was NVDA, down 5.23%. AI-related stocks pulled back broadly in June, and NVDA wasn't spared. I knew going in that it would be volatile. Knowing that intellectually and watching it drop in real time are two different experiences. It still stings a little.

VOO and SCHD followed the broader market lower — nothing alarming, just the natural rhythm of markets doing what markets do.


New Addition: XLV

This month I officially added XLV — the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund — to the portfolio.

As a pharmacist who has spent years working in healthcare, buying XLV carries a meaning that's hard to explain to someone outside the industry.

During the day, I help patients understand their medications. In the evenings, I'm a small shareholder in the companies that make those medications.

XLV holds the largest healthcare companies in the S&P 500 — UnitedHealth, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, AbbVie, Merck. These aren't exciting growth stocks. They're the infrastructure of global healthcare.

And here's what I know from working in this industry: people don't stop getting sick when the economy slows down. Demand for healthcare is one of the most durable forces in any economy. An ageing global population only makes that more true over time.

For a dividend investor, that's a tailwind worth owning.


June Dividend Income

StockDividend
O$0.08
XLV$0.08
NVDA$0.03
Total$0.19

The portfolio was down. The dividends still arrived.

XLV paid its first dividend — $0.08 — the same week I added it to the portfolio. NVDA quietly dropped $0.03 as well. Small amounts, but the cash flow is widening.

Last month my total dividend income was $0.08. This month it's $0.19. That's more than double, just from adding new positions and reinvesting consistently.

The compounding is slow. But it's moving.


How I'm Thinking About This Month

June's results weren't what I hoped for.

But I keep coming back to the same question: has anything changed about why I own these positions?

NVDA is still the dominant AI chip company. VOO still tracks the S&P 500. SCHD still holds decades-long dividend growers. BRK.B is still Berkshire Hathaway.

Nothing in the underlying businesses changed. Only the price did.

And when prices fall, the same monthly transfer buys more shares. That's not a silver lining I'm forcing — it's just how dollar-cost averaging works.

I don't enjoy down months. But I've stopped being surprised by them.


Wrapping Up

June: portfolio down 1.8%. Overall return: +0.96%. Dividend income: $0.19, all reinvested.

XLV joins the portfolio. The income streams grow a little wider.

Same plan next month. Same transfer. Same purchases. One paycheck at a time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SpaceX Is Going Public — Should I Buy?

 Honestly, when I first saw the news,  my immediate reaction wasn't "let me research this." It was: "What does this have to do with me?" I'm just a regular salaried dad, slowly building my portfolio one paycheck at a time.  A company like SpaceX feels like it belongs to Wall Street giants — not someone like me. But I kept thinking about it. And I decided it's worth talking about. First, Let's Understand How Big This Actually Is SpaceX has officially filed its S-1 with the SEC and is heading to Nasdaq. Expected fundraising: USD 75 billion. Market valuation: USD 1.75 trillion. Reported order book: Over USD 250 billion   more than 3x oversubscribed. This would break the record previously held by Saudi Aramco for the largest IPO in history. Why Is This Company Worth So Much? Most people think of SpaceX as a rocket company.  The kind that burns through cash and promises a future on Mars. But the story has changed. The real engine behind that U...
Read more

Korea's Stock Market Crashed 10% Yesterday. My Dividend Still Arrived.

 Yesterday, June 23rd, something dramatic happened in South Korea. The KOSPI — South Korea's main stock index — dropped 9.99% in a single day. Trading was halted for 20 minutes after circuit breakers were triggered. Foreign investors dumped over 4 trillion Korean Won in a single session. Retail investors rushed in to buy the dip. It was, by any measure, a historic day. How Did It Come To This? South Korea's stock market has been one of the hottest in the world this year, riding the AI wave almost entirely on the back of two semiconductor giants — Samsung and SK Hynix. SK Hynix alone surged nearly 350% year-to-date at its peak. Retail investors piled into high-leverage ETFs tracking these stocks. Margin accounts stacked higher and higher. The market was a balloon inflated to its absolute limit. Then the foreign money started leaving. Leveraged positions got force-liquidated. Margin calls cascaded. Retail investors who had bought on borrowed money were wiped out before they cou...
Read more

$0.08. That's What I Received This Month — And It Changed How I Think About Everything

 Last week, a notification appeared on my phone. A dividend payment from Realty Income — $O. The amount: $0.08. In Malaysian Ringgit, that's roughly RM0.35. Less than a piece of candy from a vending machine. My First Reaction Honestly? I stared at it for a moment. Not because it was a lot. Because it was so little. A voice in my head said: "Does this even matter?" I sat with that question for a while. And I came up with an answer that actually made me feel something. How That Money Arrived The day that $0.08 landed in my account — what was I doing? I was at work. Sitting at a desk, answering emails, attending meetings, getting through the day like everyone else. Then I clocked out, picked up my son, gave him a bath, sat with him through dinner. After he fell asleep, I picked up my phone and saw the notification. Realty Income had put money into my account while I did absolutely nothing. I didn't sell anything. I didn't provide any service. I didn't tra...
Read more