Dividends4Life: Progress Update - August 2008

Progress Update - August 2008

Posted by D4L | Saturday, September 06, 2008 | | 2 comments »

Once again it is the first Saturday of the month, so it is time for a goals/progress update. My dividend portfolio continued to improve in August after the June collapse. Annualized dividend income has increased every month since I began tracking it in November 2007. I am still concerned about some stocks reducing their dividend. However, since I am well ahead of my 2008 goal it is unlikely I will fall below it. Now onto the numbers.

My goals were defined in this December 1, 2007 Investing Goals post. Below is an updated version of the table found in the original post.

DescriptionDividend
Income
Annualized
Yield
on Cost
2027 Goal110,00020.00%
2017 Goal30,00010.00%
2008 Goal4,0004.90%
Dec/20073,0545.00%
Purchases YTD2,221
0.24%
Div. Changes YTD56
0.08%
Sales YTD(120)
0.06%
August/20085,2115.38%
Purchases2990.07%
Div. Changes0
0.00%
Sales00.00%
July/20084,9125.31%

The above information covers the current month and year-to-date through the current month.

Click here for a Detailed Historical Progress Update Table.

For the month, annualized dividend income increased $299, and Yield on Cost (YOC) increased 0.07%. These changes were driven by new purchases and dividend changes (no sales in August). Let's examine each of the these categories:

Purchases: The $299 increase in annual dividend income and 0.07% increase in YOC related to the following purchases (yield at the time of purchase):
  • $174 ETO (7.91%)
  • $50 GE (4.40%)
  • $75 BBT (6.15%)
The ETO and BBT purchases increased my YOC, while the GE purchase lowered it. As noted in earlier updates, I expect for most months YOC to drop since most new investments will yield less than my current YOC, and dividend increases will not be sufficient to offset it.

Dividend Changes: The $0 net change in annual dividend income and 0.00% net change in YOC related to the following dividend changes (a=dividend stated in annual terms, q=quarterly, m=monthly):
  • $2 BBT : $0.46q>$0.47q : 0.00%
  • $3 PAYX : $0.30q>$0.31q : 0.00%
  • ($-5) RY : $0.50576q>$0.47755q : (0.00%)

The decrease in RY related to currency conversion from Canadian dollars to U.S. dollars. You can't fault the company for that. Year over year, I still anticipate RY's dividend will increase on a U.S. dollar basis.

Sales: I did not sell any income portfolio investments in August.

The next monthly progress update will be on Saturday, October 4th.

(Photo: sanja gjenero)

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2 comments

  1. Anonymous // September 7, 2008 at 4:12 PM

    what size of portfolio would you recommend to start dividend investing?

    What size of portfolio do you anticipate to meet your 2017 goal?

  2. Anonymous // September 7, 2008 at 8:45 PM

    Anon: As previously noted, I am not a licensed investment professional, thus I can't make recommendations, but I can tell you what I do. If I were starting today, I would probably save $1,000 and open a discount brokerage account and buy my first stock with it. For me $1,000 is the smallest block I work with, otherwise the commission as a percentage is too high.

    As for the size of my 2017 portfolio, if I meet my 10% yield on cost it will be $300,000. At today's yield on cost of 5.38%, it would have to be $557,620. The final answer will likely be somewhere in between.

    Best Wishes,
    D4L

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