Now I’ve talked quite a bit online and offline about building passive income generators, and my M1 Finance Portfolio was a large part of that conversation. However, my M1 Finance Passive Income Portfolio was driving me crazy.
Why My M1 Finance Portfolio Was Painful.
My M1 Portfolio became a perfect vision of a Passive Income Generator. Set it and forget it was my goal, and just sit back collecting dividends to the very end.
Well it wasn’t perfect for one good reason, it wasn’t simple. Keep It Simple Stupid should always be my goal, and it was not here.
I Had Over 100 Stocks!
Now M1 Finance makes managing a portfolio simple, but M1 doesn’t have safety catches like stop losses or trailing loss stops. Both of these stops help protect an investor against drastic price swings.

Since my M1 Finance Portfolio was made up mostly of stocks, some volatility existed I could not manage. Both in time and tools.
Fixing My M1 Finance Portfolio.
Now re-looking at the tools available on M1(Dividend reinvestment plan and percentage portfolio management for new purchases), I want to turn my
Here Is My M1 Portfolio Before The Do-over Plans.
(K)eep (I)t (S)imple (S)tupid.
Yes, KISS.
I don’t want to worry about dropping stock prices, even with my “buy the dip” attitude.
Having the platform auto-invest deposits and dividends into crashing stocks concerns me. I’ll leave the ‘catching falling knives” act to myself.
So…. how do I fix this? Move my money to another investment platform. Well can tell, I’m trying to fix my M1 Portfolio, not leave it. I need to capitalize on the ability of M1 to be a set-and-forget passive income system.
So the answer is…. No more volatile stocks. I am going to focus on rebuilding this passive income generator with good ETFs, and large REITs. This way, the volatility of single stocks is minimized and I can focus on generating income from other sources.
My M1 Finance Portfolio is the final destination of ‘excess’ cash I’m generating from my other sources. So I want to not let it distract me from less-passive income streams.
What Did My Old M1 Finance Portfolio Look Like?
Prepare yourself, you’ll see utter confusion and over-complication in building a PASSIVE Income Generator. I behaved like stocks were Pokemon and I had to collect them ALL!
Symbol | Stock Name |
AVGO | Broadcom Inc. |
IRM | Iron Mountain Incorporated (Delaware)Common Stock REIT |
HRB | H&R Block Inc. |
SCCO | Southern Copper Corporation |
AEO | American Eagle Outfitters Inc. |
IBM | International Business Machines Corporation |
MPW | Medical Properties Trust Inc. |
NEM | Newmont Corporation |
WELL | Welltower Inc. |
GLP | Global Partners LP representing Limited Partner Interests |
VFC | V.F. Corporation |
T | AT&T |
C | Citigroup Inc. |
SBRA | Sabra Health Care REIT Inc. |
SPG | Simon Property Group Inc. |
WMB | Williams Companies Inc. (The) |
OKE | ONEOK Inc. |
JPM | JPMorgan Chase & Co. |
CFG | Citizens Financial Group Inc. |
EXR | Extra Space Storage Inc |
CMI | Cummins Inc. |
HTGC | Hercules Capital Inc. |
BAC | Bank of America |
HBAN | Huntington Bancshares Incorporated |
PBA | Pembina Pipeline Corp. (Canada) |
PRU | Prudential Financial Inc. |
LMT | Lockheed Martin Corporation |
ABBV | AbbVie Inc. |
KMI | Kinder Morgan Inc. |
CCOI | Cogent Communications Holdings Inc. |
ABR | Arbor Realty Trust |
VZ | Verizon Communications Inc. |
BMY | Bristol-Myers Squibb Company |
ALLY | Ally Financial Inc. |
PAA | Plains All American Pipeline L.P. |
GILD | Gilead Sciences Inc. |
HPQ | HP Inc. |
GOOD | Gladstone Commercial Corporation |
PM | Philip Morris International Inc |
MAIN | Main Street Capital Corporation |
TXN | Texas Instruments Incorporated |
CLX | Clorox Company (The) |
SPHD | Invesco S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF |
MO | Altria Group Inc. |
SPYD | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF |
NUSI | Nationwide Risk-Managed Income ETF |
CE | Celanese Corporation |
ET | Energy Transfer LP |
GLAD | Gladstone Capital Corporation |
OMF | OneMain Holdings Inc. |
NWL | Newell Brands Inc. |
AB | AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. Units |
TSN | Tyson Foods Inc. |
SUN | Sunoco LP representing limited partner interests |
CCI | Crown Castle Inc. |
SCHF | Schwab International Equity ETF |
O | Realty Income Corporation |
PG | Procter & Gamble Company (The) |
NYCB | New York Community Bancorp Inc. |
GAIN | Gladstone Investment Corporation |
RIO | Rio Tinto Plc |
JEPQ | JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF |
VALE | VALE S.A. American Depositary Shares Each Representing one |
VICI | VICI Properties Inc. |
GLPI | Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. |
LTC | LTC Properties Inc. |
PFF | iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF |
UPBD | Upbound Group Inc. |
IEP | Icahn Enterprises L.P. |
USAC | USA Compression Partners LP Representing Limited Partner Interests |
JEPI | JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF |
PFLT | PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd. |
ARCC | Ares Capital Corporation |
PSEC | Prospect Capital Corporation |
WPC | W. P. Carey Inc. REIT |
KHC | The Kraft Heinz Company |
EOG | EOG Resources Inc. |
QYLD | Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered Call ETF |
CAG | ConAgra Brands Inc. |
XYLD | Global X S&P 500 Covered Call ETF |
PFE | Pfizer Inc. |
MRK | Merck & Company Inc. |
BXMT | Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc. |
UAN | CVR Partners LP representing Limited Partner Interests |
DOW | Dow Inc. |
SAR | Saratoga Investment Corp New |
DVN | Devon Energy Corporation |
FSK | FS KKR Capital Corp. |
RYLD | Global X Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF |
VOC | VOC Energy Trust Units of Beneficial Interest |
PEP | PepsiCo Inc. |
CQP | Cheniere Energy Partners LP |
SBR | Sabine Royalty Trust |
SLRC | SLR Investment Corp. |
LYB | LyondellBasell Industries NV Class A (Netherlands) |
HRZN | Horizon Technology Finance Corporation |
BEN | Franklin Resources Inc. |
RC | Ready Capital Corproation |
WBA | Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. |
AAP | Advance Auto Parts Inc. |
Wow, that stock list was long. Mixed with different stock/ETF types, and is very complex. I didn’t want to keep tracking individual stocks, again, Just Set It And Forget It is my goal.
What Does My New M1 Finance Passive Income Portfolio Look Like?
Well after some tweaking, this is what I’m going with now. Simple, easy to just ETFs, and a few REITs:
Symbol | Stock Name |
JEPQ | JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF |
FDVV | Fidelity High Dividend ETF |
DIVO | Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF |
DGRO | iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF |
SCHD | Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF |
SVOL | Simplify Volatility Premium ETF |
GLAD | Gladstone Capital Corporation |
MAIN | Main Street Capital Corporation |
GAIN | Gladstone Investment Corporation |
VICI | VICI Properties Inc. |
SCHH | Schwab U.S. REIT ETF |
O | Realty Income Corporation |
RITM | Rithm Capital Corp. |
As you can see, the portfolio is shorter. I went over the fund goals for each ETF and REIT and found them to be diversified enough to weather any storms while I’m not watching, while still generating income and growing that income too.
If you see any issues with my setup, and suggest more investment types for my M1 Finance Passive Income Generator portfolio, please leave a comment below.
Thank you for reading along.
![]() Myself with an interesting Bull Sculpture. Notice: No Lambo’s. :/ | Hi I’m Tom, A Blogger And A PIG Farmer. PIG Farmer as in I grow Passive Income Generators(PIG’s). I’ve been playing with stocks, mutual funds, and options for decades, as well as always working on my side hustle stacks. Unlike what you read online, I’ve yet to find a way to get rich quickly. Get Rich Quick isn’t happening for me. My journey has been long and continues. I hope to have so many PIGs I can stop working at my current job and volunteer as a medical worker overseas. Still waiting, but getting there. I still am a family man, and while on this Journey of Growing PIGs. I wanted to share my adventures(ups and downs), hoping you will contribute with your feedback and comments. Fun Fact: In my spare time, I am a Band-Dad! |