Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Monthly Review: May 2012

I returned this week from a road trip to visit some friends (I had a great time), so I am now able to post a review of what happened in May:

Dividends: I received a total of $114.30 in dividends from the following stocks:
  • ABT: $22.95
  • GD: $10.20
  • GIS: $21.35
  • HRL: $7.50
  • PG: $28.10
  • T: $24.20
This was a pretty good month for dividends. I was happy to get my first dividends from GD and HRL, which are positions I started in January and April, respectively. I now have a year-to-date total of $568.80, which puts me 43.8% of the way toward my goal of receiving $1,300 in dividends for 2012.

Dividend Increases: I was pleased to see a dividend increase announced for one of my stocks (click on the stock to see my post about the increase):
  • VOD: 7.0% increase (amount in USD to be determined)
At this point, 13 of my 22 dividend growth stocks have increased their dividends this year.

Savings: This month I saved $1,226 (42.0%) of my net income, which is my lowest monthly total thus far this year. I mentioned in my monthly review for April that I anticipated my savings rate would take a hit in May due to some large annual expenses and travel costs. This results in year-to-date savings of $7,390, which puts me 61.6% of the way toward my goal of $12,000 in savings for 2012.

Transactions: I bought two stocks this month (click on the transactions to see my posts about them): These purchases will increase my annual dividend income by about $115 (the exact amount of the VOD dividends will depend on the exchange rate). I did not sell any stocks for the fifth consecutive month. My portfolio has 22 stocks with a market value of $51,861.12 (including cash), which is a 0.5% decrease compared with last month's value of $52,106.60. Even though I added new capital in May, my portfolio was dragged down amid the broad decline in the stock market.

Seeking Alpha: I published only one new article on the investing website Seeking Alpha (click on the title to go to the article): Surprisingly, this turned out to be my most popular article thus far, in terms of both page views and comments. In May I earned a total of $122.19 from this article and additional page views of my previous articles. Payments are made on a quarterly basis and my Q2 total (to be paid in July) is currently $337.35.

Looking Ahead: I expect to receive more in dividends in June than I did in May, which will be nice. My savings rate will take a bigger hit in June than in May as I deal with some remaining annual and semi-annual expenses. Even though I will have limited new capital for investment, I still think I will be able to make one purchase per month.

6 comments:

  1. Great job man.

    Another solid month! 6 quality companies paying out.

    Hopefully you're off to another solid month in June.

    Best wishes.

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    1. Hi Dividend Mantra,

      Thanks! It was indeed a fairly solid month. June should be more or less the same, but I'm looking forward to a rebound in my savings rate starting in July. I hope May treated you well, too!

      Cheers,

      Deedubs

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  2. Congrats on a great month and a good article on SA. I didn't realize you could make that much from one article. Good for you!

    We are definitely on the same track for dividends this year.
    I'd like to eventually add some VOD and MCD. MCD looks really attractive with the recent pullback and I have sold puts on VOD so I may end up owning it in July if it stay below $27.

    Take care.

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    Replies
    1. Hi austinbroker,

      Thanks for your comment. I was surprised that I made so much from one article on SA, but for whatever reason that one was popular.

      MCD and VOD would be good additions to your portfolio. I'm satisfied with the size of those positions in my portfolio for the time being, so I'm going to try to focus on adding to other positions, although I'm having difficulty deciding what is most attractive to me at the moment. For that reason, I might just wait for a bit before making my next purchase.

      Cheers,

      Deedubs

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  3. I want to read more of your articles at seeking alpha, you have great ideas. Congrats on a another solid month.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Compounding Income,

      Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I plan to write more articles for SA, although I have been struggling a bit to think of good topics. I welcome any suggestions from you and other readers.

      Cheers,

      Deedubs

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