£800,000 Dividend Portfolio Update July 2026 | Stocks and Shares ISA

In this video, I'll reveal my entire share portfolio on my Barclays platform. I'll show how it's performed this year so far and since I started investing way back in 2009. And if you stay till the end, I'll reveal everything I've been buying recently and my plans for the months ahead. This is not investment advice and I'm only showing you my own journey. I'll go through each sector of my portfolio in ascending order of performance for the year so far. My worst performing sector this year has been in house building and I've only one company, Persimmon. As I go through the slides, this figure is the year-to-date average change in value of the shares in a given sector. It's a weighted average based on the value of those specific holdings. This figure shows the current size of my holding for each company. Here is the year-to-date price change for that company. And as it's the only house builder I own, it will be the same as the average figure at the top of the screen. Finally, here is the yearly dividend yield. Quite decent at 5.7%. Persimmon has been having a really tough time this year and the share price is down nearly 22%. In the information technology sector, I have three companies and here are the first two, both with share prices down more than 20% this year. There has been panic over AI disruption. The sell-offs were largely triggered by the release of advanced AI tools, in particular, Anthropic's Claude. Investors fear such technology could render these companies own high margin services obsolete. Perhaps the panic is overblown, we'll have to wait and see. The third company in the sector is Sage and as you might expect, it's also been hammered by more than 20%. Now for the consumer goods sector and I have three companies. The sector is down 4.4% at the time of this video. With the cost of living going up so much, consumers have been trimming expenditure on non-essential items. However, these two companies have very strong balance sheets and high barriers to entry. Their dividend yields are above average, too. The third company, Halma, has fared slightly better, but is also down this year. In the insurance sector, I've two companies, Aviva and Legal & General, the most recent addition to my portfolio and a big favorite of viewers on this channel. It's had a good year so far, up 11% and just look at that tasty dividend yield of 7.5%. I can see why this company is so popular. If you are finding this video useful, then I'd really appreciate a quick tap of that like button, as it really helps out the channel. Next is the renewable energy sector and I've just one company, Greencoat Wind Energy. It's up slightly this year, but pays a very high dividend of 10% spread over four payments a year. With this company, the share price probably won't change much as the years go by, but instead you will hopefully receive inflation-busting dividends. Next is oil and gas, which was my highest-performing sector in the first quarter of this year. This quarter, however, it's still up by an average of 5.6%, but on top of that, there are some decent dividends, with 6.4% from BP and 3.8% from Shell. I've held both of these companies for more than 15 years. Now for the retail sector and I've only one company, Tesco. It's up 5.6%. The dividend yield is fairly average at 3.1%. You could say that owning Tesco shares is not that exciting. It's one of those rather boring, lumbering giants which should just plod along and churn out a reliable stream of dividends way into the future. Now we have an exchange-traded fund. This one has a ticker code ISF and it's a bit like owning the largest 100 UK-listed companies all in one share. It's up over 7% this year and pays a dividend of 3.3% Next is the pharmaceutical sector and I have two global giants, AstraZeneca and GSK. The sector as a whole is up nearly 8%. Whatever the state of the economy, we all need medicines. Buying shares in companies that make products we can't really live without is not a bad thing at all. In the food and tobacco sector, I have three companies. These two have experienced very mixed fortunes in 2026. Both pay a decent dividend. The sector as a whole, however, is up 9% mainly because of what's happening to Tate & Lyle. The share price is up over 50%. This is because the company is set to be sold to the US food company Ingredion. So, I guess I'll soon be saying goodbye to Tate & Lyle. What will I buy in its place? I'll discuss this later if you stay till the end. Next is a utility sector and I have three companies. In good times and bad times, we all need things like electricity, water, and gas. These two electricity providers have done fairly well in 2026 so far. The third is the water company United Utilities, which is also up this year and pays a fairly decent dividend of 4%. It's been a solid year so far for the utilities. Now for my S&P 500 ETF and the one I have as a ticker code IUSA. It's done well this year, up 10.7%. I've been putting quite a lot more money into this one recently. It only pays a small dividend, but it gives me more diversification as well as capital growth. It's now the second largest holding in my portfolio. Now for my world ETFs, the sector as a whole is up 11.8% in 2026. VWRL is like holding the whole global economy in just a single share. VH YL is similar, but focuses on companies paying higher dividends. And finally, the EVE focuses on companies in developed markets. There is quite a lot of overlap with these ETFs, but it's not something I worry about. Now, just before I reveal the top five performing sectors, a quick reminder that if you are thinking about starting your own portfolio, then Trading 212 will give you a free fractional share worth up to £100 if you sign up using the link in the video description. Or you can just scan this handy QR code and start building wealth today. My fifth best performing sector this year so far is banking, and I have three companies. On average, the sector is up 14.1% in 2026. Barclays was the first ever company I bought in this portfolio way back in 2009. HSBC has really been doing well, up nearly 22% and it pays an above average dividend on top. Lloyds has also had a good run, up 15%. Elevated interest rates and strong balance sheets have attracted investor interest in the banks. At number four is the industrials, and I have two companies, Bunzl and Croda. After a long period of calamity, these two seem to be bouncing back strongly with the sector up 16.7% on average. I'll be keeping a close eye on these two. At number three is the mining sector, and I have just one company, Rio Tinto. It's up 18% so far this year, and the dividend is good at 4.2%. Demand for copper has been soaring recently, and this is due to rapid expansion of data centers, EV batteries, and electric grid upgrades. Rio Tinto is benefiting from all of this. My second best sector in 2026 is defense and aerospace, and I have two companies. The sector is up 22.6% on average. The order books of BAE Systems is bursting at the seams as countries around the world boost their defenses and military capabilities. Rolls-Royce, which is the largest holding in my portfolio, has benefited from increased rising defense spending also, in addition to increased revenue from long-haul civil aviation and new power solutions for AI data centers. And my best-performing sector in 2026 is brokerage services, almost entirely driven by IG Group. This company has recently been promoted to the FTSE 100 index. As a broker, the more volatile a stock market, the more money IG Group generally makes. And 2026 has certainly seen its fair share of volatility. So, what have I been buying recently? With my portfolio now paying over 1,600 pounds in dividends per month after tax, I don't always need to deposit new money in to buy more shares. I can simply use the dividends and look for bargains. Over the last 3 months, I've invested a further 10,000 pounds into my S&P 500 exchange-traded fund. It gives me exposure to all those big American giants, and with its relatively low dividend, I can keep it outside my ISA. There just isn't enough room to keep everything inside. The ongoing charge of this ETF is just 0.07%. I've also added a bit more to Legal & General, as it's the newest holding in my portfolio, and I've been gradually building up my stake. I've also added more to National Grid when its share price fell earlier in the year. Bunzl has been on the increase recently, and I bought into this upward momentum. And finally, I've added a bit more to Persimmon. It's had a terrible year, and I often buy into the dips. Each month on the channel, I show exactly what I've been buying and selling. So, why not subscribe to be notified of future videos? And now for my plans for the months ahead, and take this with a pinch of salt as I often change my mind from week to week. The only sure thing is that I'll be buying more of my S&P 500 ETF as I'm sensing upward momentum. I may add a little more to Legal & General and also my FTSE 100 ETF. I'm also exploring a new ETF called IUKD. This one gives you exposure to 50 UK large to mid-cap companies which pay higher dividends. The average yield is 4.6% and the ongoing charge is 0.4%. I've not entirely made my mind up about this one as the fees seem a bit steep compared to a standard FTSE 100 tracker such as ISF where the fees are just 0.07%. IUKD is up nearly 8% so far this year. And the final company I might take a look at is Halma. It also pays a dividend in August, the same month Tate & Lyle pays out, which I'll shortly be losing, of course. Cash in the portfolio sits at just over £11,000. Now for the performance so far in 2026. At the end of 2025, the portfolio stood at the portfolio stands at 800k. 20k of new money has gone into the platform this year from wages and savings. Because of the market volatility earlier in the year, I've utilized a lot more of my savings to add more money in than I would normally do. So my net gain in the first 6 months of this year is £88,903, which equates to a net percentage increase of 12.9% so far this year. So despite the stock market chaos in 2026, the portfolio is at least showing a net gain. Of course, this is all unrealized gains as I haven't actually sold my shares and taken profits. I'll now compare the performance of the portfolio this year with other indices. And to do this fairly, I'll strip out any dividends I've been paid so far this year. With dividend payment subtracted, the share price growth alone is up 11.3%. You can see in this table the portfolio has outperformed the FTSE 100, 250, and All-Share Index. And it's also beaten a typical S&P 500 ETF. But it hasn't quite beaten an All-World ETF, which is up 11.5% compared to my 11.3%. Now, for my overall performance since I started in 2009, I made plenty of mistakes in the early days as I was learning the hard way, and all my figures include everything. I try to be fully transparent. The total amount I put in from my wages since I started is 321K, but I didn't put this all in in one big lump sum at the start. I only started with 5,000 pounds at the beginning and then proceeded to drip feed in spare money each month. As you have already seen, the value of the portfolio stands at around 800K, giving me a current net gain of 478K or 149%. Many investors will have done much better than this, of course, and I am only showing you my own journey. In terms of dividend payments, last month was my biggest ever. My dividends went absolutely bananas. To see how much passive income a portfolio of this size can generate in 1 month, then click this video here. See you next time, and happy investing.