The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that for a lot of dividend portfolios, November was a struggle. The Globe's John Heinzl writes that hit by rising government bond yields, his model portfolio tumbled 2.93 per cent last month. It was the second-worst monthly performance for the portfolio since the launch of his Strategy Lab in September of 2012, outdone only by the 3.93-per-cent skid in August, 2015. Mr. Heinzl puts the November drop into context. Despite the lousy November, his model portfolio still finished the month with a year-to-date total return of 17.3 per cent. A second point worth mentioning is that short-term setbacks such as this are a perfectly normal part of investing. If you want to increase your wealth over the long run, you have to live with short-term volatility. As soon as the calendar flipped to December, a chunk of cash arrived in Mr. Heinzl's account. Canadian Utilities, Fortis and Enbridge -- all of which have the same dividend payment date of Dec. 1 -- sent him a total of $186.53. All told, Mr. Heinzl made $404.05 in less than five weeks. The columnist quotes John D. Rockefeller: "Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It's to see my dividends coming in."