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 August 2025, my portfolio contained 47 total positions, one less than the month prior, although we did have a new position added to the portfolio and one position we exited filly.

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:

Another month goes by, another positive month for the portfolio, something we as investors love to see. We have had a positive month in 6 of the 8 months thus far and the portfolio on the year is up nearly 15%. With gains at those levels, we are doubling the performance of the S&P 500 thus far.

However, with investing, a few bad trades can lead to a few bad months and those gains could be gone, so we need to keep up our focus and how we manage our portfolio. The options side of the portfolio, for those of you that have an Ultimate Edge subscription, you know how strong our options portfolio has been doing well, so all things are clicking right now.

Given all that, here we are in the month of September, historically the worst month of the year for stocks. So far, as of this writing, the month has been OK, but it is historically the back half of the month that investors need to be concerned about. With my portfolio, I still have a decent amount of cash available to invest IF we in fact get a pullback. I am concerned about the near-term economy and labor force, but still bullish into year-end, as long as nothing falls off the rails.

Technology and Financials continue to be main focal points, but REITs could be an area that soon awakens with rate cuts set to begin soon.

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 August 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 August 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:

August delivered a +3.22% gain for the portfolio, adding $16,396 in value and lifting year-to-date performance to +12.20%. That outpaced the S&P 500’s +2.17% and the Equal Weight S&P 500’s +2.52%, extending the year-to-date lead over both benchmarks. The strength was again driven by broad-market ETFs combined with surges in several high-weight growth and cyclical positions.

The biggest contributors came from VOO (+1.32%), SCHD (+5.06%), and VXUS (+3.51%), which collectively provided steady index-level gains. On the growth side, Alphabet (+10.14%), Shopify (+13.77%), and Apple (+10.79%) were standouts, benefiting from earnings momentum and renewed investor appetite for large-cap tech. Alibaba (+14.86%) also delivered a meaningful lift, while defensive exposure such as Procter & Gamble (+5.71%) and McDonald’s (+5.23%) quietly added stability.

Not all large holdings participated. Meta (–4.96%) lagged following cautious commentary on digital ad spending, while Salesforce (–2.12%) gave back some recent gains. Cash and equivalents (–2.26%) also detracted modestly as short-term yields dipped. Select smaller holdings showed mixed results: Uber (+5.77%) and Netflix (+4.72%) moved higher, while Amazon (–3.75%) slipped on weaker consumer signals.

Overall, August was a strong month where broad diversification worked: index ETFs provided a base, while high-weight growth names and cyclicals compounded gains. Year-to-date, the portfolio continues to run ahead of both cap-weighted and equal-weight benchmarks, with positioning balanced between core ETFs and targeted single-stock exposure.

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!

And did you know we started an Edge+ Portfolio where we invest $250 per month to show you exactly how we would build a portfolio from scratch. You can follow along and build your portfolio with us!

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.

Here we are, reporting our August results and nearly 75% of the way through another year, and we are happy to report that both portfolios continue to outperform the S&P 500, which is the goal we set out to do year in and year out. With these past few months, I hope Edge+ subscribers have found value and been able to follow along on our journey of building wealth and navigating these markets.

Now that we are firmly in the month of September, this is when things could get shaky one way or the other depending on inflation news and more importantly, the state of the labor force, which has shown some signs of cracking.

For my (Mark) portfolio, I have decided to raise a little cash in the event that we do get any sort of pullback. Am I looking for a pullback, yes, but I am not going to alter course as my goal still remains on building long-term wealth and the turn of the calendar won’t change that.

Now, as a portolio manager, it is my job to constantly look at the macro environment and where things are headed, in my opinion, and ensure my portfolio is positioned appropriately, which is why you see me in and out of certain positions on a monthly basis. Rarely do I take a traders mentality, instead always taking the long-term view point in most positions. For the options community, that is more short-term focus for sure.

Right now, I am happy with how the portfolio looks at the moment and I want to remind you again, the back half of September is the area to watch most closely.

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.