Dividend Update: November 25

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Hello fellow investors - so, what did November bring?

From an investing perspective, I checked my portfolio today and I was pleasantly surprised: My portfolio climbed by just about 2%. Moreover, November tends to be weaker dividend month, but my new position in IncomeShares Silver+ ETP paid an unusually large dividend this month, which meant that in total I received a very comforting 577,62€, which for those months February, August and November is ok for me.

Unfortunately, 2025 also closes with a bit of a downer as both Alexandria Real Estate and FS KKR Capital have decided to cut their dividends quite substantially. One could anticipate those cuts, but still they hurt and I'm down in both positions. For now, I'm keeping them, but if things don't turn around in a few quarters, I think they'll be out.

In my daily life, November was marked by both musical & athletic highlights. Shakira came to Quito this month and I managed to get a couple of tickets to see her last minute. True to Latin American customs, she started the concert 90 mins later than announced. I have to say that I am not really a fan of her music nor do I know a lot of songs of her, but I thought this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing to do, to see her here in Latin America, and looking back on it, I don't regret it. Even though Shakira (or "Shakis", as she is lovingly called here) is getting up there, she still had quite a show. She lip-synced some of the songs, but that was especially for those songs which also had a rather elaborate choreography and those hips still don't lie ;-). One day before the concert, I had a sort of brief intro to her career and her songs and I have to say that I prefer her earlier songs to the newer ones.

There was also the Quitofest last week when a lot of Latin American artists came to perform here and even though I didn't know any of the artists before (again!), I had a good time and there were a couple of artists and songs which I rather enjoyed. You find a couple of songs from bands I enjoyed below.

When it comes to sports, I did my first 10K trail run here. I of course have already run quite a few races (half-marathons, full marathon, 10Ks, etc.), but I had never done a trail run before. In short: it was awesome. I feel like I was thrown in the deep end as the trail had not only lots of ups and downs (with cows watching on as we runners nearly tumbled down the hills as it was so slippery), but I also had to cross a tunnel in which I was at times ankle-deep in water, at times waist-deep in it. I had to cross rivers, walk behind a waterfall, climb muddy trails in which I sank up to my ankles in the mud up and had (at the end) to climb more than 300 steps to reach the goal. It was awesome and I can't wait to do the next one.

Now, the last month of the year awaits. Christmas at work is always a busy time, but I can't wait to get the holidays to relax a little, travel a bit and recharge the batteries for the next year. December always promises to be a good month when it comes to dividends, but I think I won't be able to cross the 1000€ barrier just yet. This goal has to be postponed to 2026!