Good evening investors!

Every month we publish our “Portfolio Update” — Edge+ members get a full access look into our portfolios, including holdings, performance, activity and our watchlists for the upcoming month.

Let’s dive in.

For those new here, IE+ subscribers get full access to my monthly dividend portfolio updates, which includes:

*Note - this is the ONLY place where people can find our entire portfolios.

As of the end of September 2025, my portfolio contained 49 total positions, one more than the month prior, and that includes THREE new positions to the portfolio.

You can see all the portfolio activity down below, but first, here is a snapshot of my entire portfolio:

In this section, I will highlight the performance of the portfolio both on a MONTHLY and Year-To-Date basis.

For comparison, here is how the benchmark S&P 500 did during those same time frames:

And here is how the equal weighted S&P 500 performed:

It was supposed to be the “worst month” of the year for stocks, historically speaking, but we turned it into one of our BEST months of the year. Although I had concerns, I remained invested and this is why I constantly talk about time IN the market rather than trying to TIME the market. We made a few changes, and not all were great, but we will always manage risk appropriately and take the good results with the bad.

On the year, the portfolio is up over 20% and passed the $400K level, which was exciting. The S&P 500 is up 13.7% on the year with my portfolio up 20.3%.

But where do we go from here?

That is the tough part because the number of headwinds is certainly piling up from:

On the flip side, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates at least one more time in my opinion, but the markets are looking for two cuts, so we will see what the data shows in the near-term.

Given the strong performance from Alphabet of late, it took the top spot in the portfolio for the first time EVER, but when you combine my S&P 500 index fund (VFIAX) with SPY, the S&P 500 is still my largest exposure.

Technology and Financials continue to be main focal point. IF the economy holds together as is, Industrials is a place I want to be invested as well.

Stay tuned within our discord where Edge+ members get TRADE ALERTS, being notified of any changes I make to my portfolio in real time.

In this section, I detail out any transactions that were made within the portfolio during the month.

Every month, Investor’s Edge+ members get updates to my individual brokerage portfolio, which includes:

*Note - this update ONLY includes my brokerage portfolio. Retirement accounts, cryptocurrency, real estate and cash/cash equivalents outside of the brokerage are excluded from this update.

As of the end of September 2025, my brokerage portfolio contained 58 total positions — 58 stock holdings and 0 options contract.

Here is a snapshot of my portfolio:

In this section, I will highlight the performance of my portfolio in September as well as for the full year.

For comparison, here is how the benchmark S&P 500 did during those same time frames:

And here is how the equal weighted S&P 500 performed:

September defied its usual seasonal weakness, as markets rallied following the Fed’s first rate cut of the year, with investors now pricing in two additional cuts before year-end. My portfolio advanced +4.19% for the month, lifting 2025 gains to +16.91%. That once again outperformed both benchmarks, with the S&P 500 up +3.53% and the Equal Weight S&P 500 up +0.90%.

The portfolio’s outperformance this month came from diversified ETF exposure and selective stock positioning. Broad-based funds such as VOO and QQQ provided stable market-tracking gains, while international and dividend holdings like VXUS and SCHD added modest lift. On the equity side, strength from growth and cyclical names, notably Alphabet, Apple, and Alibaba, helped offset softness in more defensive or rate-sensitive positions. Exposure to energy, gold, and international markets also provided balance during a choppy macro backdrop.

Positioning through September remained disciplined: cash levels stayed near 10%, hedges via QQQ and SPY puts remained open, and exposure was tilted toward quality growth and income-producing ETFs. This barbell approach of pairing high-conviction tech with stable dividend and real-asset exposure continues to support steady compounding through a volatile quarter.

Overall, the portfolio has now outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 300 basis points year-to-date, underscoring the benefit of active weighting and selective stock exposure within a diversified core ETF framework.

In this section, I will go through the transactions that were made within the portfolio during the month.

Then you need to join the Discord! See our trades and portfolio moves as we make them and stay ahead of the market!

In addition, you can join Options Edge+ to see how we generate $1000s per month in income by utilizing our portfolio and stocks we want to buy, just at a lower price. Join today!

If you are only reading the newsletter, you are only getting a fraction of the benefits of being an Edge subscriber. Join us on Discord and level up your investing game.

September was another ROCK SOLID month for both our portfolios as we continue to plow through this market, outpacing the S&P 500. I hope your portfolios are prospering just as much and you are seeing the benefits of all we have to offer at the Stock Investor’s Edge.

The markets are constantly changing and we are going to continue to do our best to bring you all the information to help you gain that EDGE in the market.

October is expected to be a little more bumpy given the number of headwinds that are pilling up, but our focus remains unchanged. We will make tweaks to the portfolio, but when I hear people selling out completely over fear, it is hard to hear because they just missed out on $1000s in gains rather quickly. We do not hype and we do not overreact in this community, we focus on facts and results.

Being part of our discord community is vital right now because that is where we post all the up to the minute updates and trades as they are made, so you can choose to follow or not.

Here at The Stock Investor’s Edge, we are laser focused on helping educate investors of all levels, while also giving them full transparency into our personal portfolios.

We will continue to look for new ideas in the market and bring you as much information as we can to give you an EDGE in the markets.

If you enjoyed this Monthly Portfolio Update, then do us a HUGE FAVOR and SHARE THE INVESTOR’S EDGE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY. It’s the best way to help us out as it lets us grow and be able to keep bringing you great investment content.

And don’t forget to LEAVE A COMMENT. Let us know your thoughts on our portfolios, share your watchlist for the month or even just let us know that you appreciate the content.

Thank you, and until next time investors!

Mark & Chris

The Investor’s Edge

Disclaimer

This article is intended to be for educational and informational purposes only. The views described in the article are those of the author’s and should not be construed as financial advice. Perform your own due diligence or contact your Financial Advisor before making any financial investment. I have positions in all of the stocks & ETFs mentioned below as of the publish date. This is a disclosure - not a recommendation to buy or sell stocks.