Monthly Review: October 2012

Here is a review of what happened in October:

Dividends: I received a total of $124.52 in dividends from the following stocks:

• CNI: $6.47
• GPC: $24.75
• ITW: $15.20
• KO: $15.30
• MDT: $14.30
• PM: $42.50
• UNP: $6.00

This was a satisfactory month for dividends. I now have a year-to-date total of $1,274.19, which puts me 98.0% of the way toward my goal of receiving $1,300 in dividends for 2012. I actually achieved my goal today (November 1) thanks to a couple of dividend payments.

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):

• KMI: 2.9% increase, $1.60 more in annual dividend income

Thus far this year, there have been dividend increases for 23 of the 25 dividend growth stocks in my portfolio. I expect increases for the remaining two stocks (ADM and BDX) to be announced in November, as well as some increases that will be effective in 2013.

Savings: This month I saved $1,662 (55.9%) of my net income, which is almost identical to what I saved in September and results in year-to-date savings of $14,310.

Transactions: I bought three stocks this month (click on the transactions to see my posts about them):

• 40 shares of KMI
• 15 shares of CMI
• 50 shares of INTC

It was one of my busiest months for purchases this year. KMI and CMI are new positions that increase my portfolio's exposure to the energy and industrial sectors, respectively. My purchase of INTC increases the position I started in September. These purchases will increase my annual dividend income by $132.60. I did not sell any stocks for the 10th consecutive month.

Portfolio: My portfolio currently consists of 25 stocks and has a market value of $61,285.58 (including cash), which is a 1.4% increase over last month's value. The increase reflects gains from new capital and dividends being partially offset by capital losses on some existing positions.

Seeking Alpha: I published two new articles on the investing website Seeking Alpha (click on the titles to go to the articles):

• Examining Another Dividend-Growth Large-Cap Fallacy
• Dividend Growth Analysis: Rate Versus Length Of Streak

These articles each received a modest number of page views. In October I earned a total of $92.07 from these articles and additional page views of my previous articles, increasing my year-to-date total to $671.67. I also received my Q3 payment of $235.66, which was not included in my savings above.

Looking Ahead: November will be a slightly better month for dividends and my savings rate should remain stable. As noted above, I am expecting a few dividend increases to be announced, which is exciting. Given that I depleted my cash in October, the new capital from savings will enable me to make just one purchase this month, although I have not yet made up my mind about what I am going to buy.