Saturday, August 2, 2008

* Progress Update - July 2008

Once again it is the first Saturday of the month, so it is time for a goals/progress update. Like June, July left me glad that I am a dividend investor. Annualized dividend income has increased every month since I began tracking it in November 2007. It is good that I am running well ahead of my 2008 goal because I am beginning to sense a few dividend cuts coming down the pipe. At this point, it would take a major melt-down for me not to meet my goal. 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 YTD1,9220.17%
Div. Changes YTD560.08%
Sales YTD(120)0.06%
July/20084,9125.31%
Purchases175-0.05%
Div. Changes60.01%
Sales00.00%
June/20084,7315.35%
Net Changes101-0.12%
May/20084,6305.47%
Net Changes4240.27%
April/20084,2065.20%
Net Changes188-0.06%
March/20084,0185.26%
Net Changes4610.13%
February/20083,5575.13%
Net Changes2770.14%
January/20083,2804.99%
Net Changes226-0.01%
December/20073,0545.00%
Net Changes2280.12%
November/20072,8264.88%

For the month, annualized dividend income increased $181, and Yield on Cost (YOC) decreased -0.04%. These changes were driven by new purchases and dividend changes (no sales in July). Let's examine each of the these categories:

Purchases: The $175 increase in annual dividend income and -0.05% decrease in YOC related to the following purchases (yield at the time of purchase):
  • $21 CNI (1.87%)
  • $25 PG (2.51%)
  • $85 ETO (8.41%)
  • $44 PID (4.26%)
The ETO purchase inreased my YOC, while the other three purchases lowered it. As noted in earlier updates, I expect YOC to drop monthly since most new investments will yield less than my current YOC, and dividend increases will not be sufficient to offset it.

Dividend Changes: The $6 increase in annual dividend income and 0.01% increase in YOC related to the following dividend changes (a=dividend stated in annual terms, q=quarterly, m=monthly):
  • $6 ACAS : $1.01q>$1.03q : 0.01%
  • ($1) CNI : $0.2318q>$0.2277q : 0.00%
  • $1 O : $1.3737q>$1.38q : (0.00%)
The decrease in CNI 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 CNI's dividend will increase on a U.S. dollar basis.
Sales: I did not sell any income portfolio investments in July.

The next monthly progress update will be on Saturday, September 6th.

(Photo: sanja gjenero)

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