* Progress Update - Jan. 2008

January has come and gone and that means it is time for a goals/progress update. 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.

Description	Dividend Income Annualized	Yield on Cost
2027 Goal	110,000	20.00%
2017 Goal	30,000	10.00%
2008 Goal	4,000	4.90%
Jan/2008	3,280	4.99%
Purchases	212	-0.11%
Div. Changes	41	0.06%
Sales	(27)	0.04%
Dec/2007	3,054	5.00%
Net Changes	228	0.12%
Nov/2007	2,826	4.88%

For the month dividend income increased $226, while Yield on Cost (YOC) declined 0.01%. These changes were driven by new purchases, divided changes and sales. Let's examine each of the these categories:

Purchases: The $212 increase in annual dividend income and 0.11% decrease in YOC related to the following purchases (yield at the time of purchase):

• $71 USB (5.48%)
• $36 PAYX (3.46%)
• $32 GE (3.37%)
• $43 VFH (2.90%)
• $30 SYY (2.89%)

The USB purchase was the only one that raised YOC, but it was not enough to offset the other purchases. I continue to 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. The drop will be tempered with an occasional purchase of a high-yield security.

Dividend Changes: The $41 increase in annual dividend income and 0.06% increase in YOC related to the following dividend changes (a=dividend stated in annual terms, q=quarterly, m=monthly):

• $21 SDY (ETF - 1.77a>2.76a - 0.03%)
• $6 GE (0.28q>0.31q - 0.01%)
• $7 FR (0.71q>0.72q - 0.01%)
• $1 O (0.136125m>0.13675m - 0.00%)
• $6 CNI (correction .01%)

Sales: As discussed in my Stock Analysis: KO article, KO was no longer performing at the level I required. I opted to liquidate by position in KO during January. This resulted in a decline of dividend income of $27 and increased my YOC by 0.04%. Hopefully, there will not be much to talk about in this category in future posts.


Related Articles:

• Goals/Progress
• Investing Goals
• Yield on Cost: Measuring for Success
• Stock Analysis: KO

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